Did You Ride Today?

[Mr. Beanz]

...back to the real world.

Rudely smacked in the face by the real world to the tune of thirty-seven, yes 37, degrees! The wind was going 8 to 10 MPH and the sun was peeking through every now and again.

Perfect! Let's ride!

Screw that ZWIFT ****! Nose in the wind, baby!

I switched over to the Emonda for the Winter and did a short, flat out & back course good for all of 12 miles and 280' feet of climbing. Dressed to the nines in my Flandrian best! Mr. Beanz probably wears more layers for 99 degree California heat! I did put on two base layers and a short sleeve jersey with shorts, tights and shoe covers. Medium weight long finger gloves and...throw a leg over and make sure all the sensors are synced.

I would like to say it was a nice ride...and it was...but, it was cold!

Prayers out to the cyclists killed on the NYC bike path by the terrorist scumbag.

Ha ha ha yeah! 100 degrees and I have an under layer ha ha!

Ya know, everyone has their own thing and own reasons. Snow, ice, I can see but there are too many people out here using Zwift!

THIS IS CALIFORNIA! I will say riders whine about 60 degrees but it's been hot, warm, nice spring looking day s here and the roads are nearly empty too many times. We used to see a couple hundred riders every ride. Now we see like 20.

I know half of my friends are at home on a trainer riding Zwift.

Like I said, snow, freezing is one thing. But I have strava followers that have way more miles than I do without ever touching the road, in California! Just way too easy now.

Hell, half of riding for me is getting outdoors into the wind and heat, and little bit of rain when we get it!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I couldn't imagine using Zwift much in Cali. As long as the roads are dry and clear of snow I'll ride outside down to about 25 degrees.

Any colder than that and only if I've been off the bike for a few days will I go out in those temperatures.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Ha! You just described 360 days weather in California.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Yeah, yeah! Rub it in! Cali is all warm and sunshiney!

Ohio sucked AGAIN today. Cold at 42 degrees with moderate rain falling from just after sunrise to...well at 7:30 PM it's still raining. The wind was up all day, but settled down to about 6 MPH now. Not a good day for anything outside other than deer hunting.

I did a little more than an hour on the trainer with Zwift...Watopia Flat Loop with a ride part way up the Volcano. I was bored and wanted to climb (TRON Bike...only forty gazzillion meters more to go!) to the top, but I got lost or the auto course turned me off the climb at an intersection to get me back onto the flat loop? No clue. I'm still learning the routes and didn't have the Zwift road map that I printed out beside the laptop. I can't make head nor tail of the little map window in the upper right part of the screen. Yeah, I'm a noob!

I did run into Kopride over on the Zwift 50+ FaceBook page. It was good to see a friendly face from the Forums over there.

I tooled around Watopia almost in ERG mode, just holding Watts and trying to draft fast guys on multi-gear road bikes with my pathetic legs and the track bike. It's really fun to push myself into the red repeatedly. Watching the road machines descend away from me like I was riding my non-existent brakes? Not so much fun!

 

[limerickman]

8 celsius here today (this afternoon) : winter daylight hours apply meaning it is dark by 5.00pm. Difficult to get time out on the road, except for weekends at this time of the year in this region of the world

 

[Mr. Beanz]

HS that's cold! Getting dark here about 5:30 now. Somehow I enjoy riding in the dark with lights vs daylight on weekday evenings. It's about that time. Time change in a week or so, won't have a choice. Be getting dark at 4:30.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

8 celsius here today (this afternoon) : winter daylight hours apply meaning it is dark by 5.00pm. Difficult to get time out on the road, except for weekends at this time of the year in this region of the world

We switch over to Daylight Saving Time this coming Saturday night. Sucks.

I'm headed out for a short ride right now! 64 degrees F and overcast with the wind at 12 MPH. I'll take it! (Knowing what the next three or four months will probably bring)

 

[jhuskey]

I got home planning to ride but my sinuses were so bad I was nauseaous. I did some saline rinse and layed down for a while. I decided I could do a short stage on the trainer. This the result, a personal best. This may be pathetic for others but it is my highest wattage on this trainer.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Just 18 miles, but it felt great to be outside and on real roads! Only 560' of vertical on a lightly rolling course.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

That decent Watts, JH! Nothing to sneeze at. Get your ass on Zwift and try some Masters racing. Looks like fun and as soon as I'm acclimated...I'm still more on the road than the trainer...and learned the ropes a little more I'm going to enter the low classes and see where I get booted up to or get my ass run into the road by a bunch of old farts that fly like they were 35 years old!

Just another 18 mile loop again this afternoon. 53 degrees, but it was sunny! The wind was at 9 to 13 MPH and it was just an easy ride. Right cleat seemed weirdly positioned to me so when I got back to the house I shifted the shoe forward. Probably going to get another pair of shoes that fit a bit more snug. These are good would heavy winter wool sock or two pairs of cotton socks...set up for Winter riding. With one pair of light socks the just don't feel right to me.

About 560' of vertical, but I didn't force a single foot of that other than to try and cram mt foot a little deeper into the toe box of the right shoe in an experiment to see if I could stop flexing the sole by my foot being positioned a little too far behind the pedal spindle.

It was a nice ride in that bright Fall sunshine. Sucks to be turning the clocks back tomorrow.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Good day but sucky ride! Had to get ready in a rush as Gina screwed up my breakfast this morning bigtime, couldn't take a dump like I wanted. So headed out for a 50 miler having to take a dump. Do you know what it's like to be in the middle of a 50 miler knowing you can't stop to mess up the momentum while having the feeling of having to take a dump?

So 3 of us rolling pretty good, 30 miles in hit something that splits the sidewall of a brand new tire, Conti GP4000, second ride, only 60 miles or so!

I stopped my Garmin while fixing the flat then forgot to restart it once we were rolling again so I lost 2 or 3 miles.

Running a bulge so we turn back and hobble home. Still got in 31 miles at 18.1 average.

SO upset when I got home that my new tire was thrashed that I still couldn't take a dump!

Trying to take a pic of the back of my helmet while trailing the others. Pretty close to what I was aiming for, now to perfect it.

Good to be Mr. Beanz having lots of cycling buds. Alex stopped to offer up a rubber boot he had in his pack. Got me back! I'll pack it up and return it next time we cross paths.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I swear...Conti has the weakest sidewall of any of the major manufacturers. I used to use Conti tubulars. They didn't last any longer than the el cheapo training sew-ups fro The Yellow Jersey. I went back to the Italian junk fast.

51 miles today with only 52 degrees for a high and very much overcast. The wind wasn't bad at 6 to 10 MPH, but I had to keep an eye on the darkening sky and make it back to the car before the rain moved in.

2000' of climbing. I rolled easy with the wind at my back for the first 20 miles. A little more work the rest of the way back. No biggee. I stopped once to adjust a cleat and kept the power on an even keel coming down the home stretch. This wasn't the weather or temps to get heroic. Just maintain the conditioning and enjpoy watching all the combines out in the fields taking off the corn and beans.

A nice little ride and with the clocks going back tonight, all day rain in the forecast for tomorrow and the generally lower temperatures headed our way, there will be fewer long'ish road rides and more Zwift sessions on the trainer.

 

[zipp2001]

Had the TT bike out for a very chilly raw day after service. Temp was mid 50's but had a light drizzle the entire ride with a 6-8 mph wind. The good part is the legs are in good form so it only took a few miles to get loose. Rolled out 25 miles on a light rolling route, but broke one of my seat clap bolts with about 9 miles remaining so stayed out of the aero position so not to stress the other bolt to much. All's good because I have extra bolts for such problems, which are part of the design downside of the Zipp2001 seat post.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Rain all day, Sunday even if it did get near 70 degrees!

6:45 PM I'm down in the basement riding in London on Zwift. The wind came up fast and hit 70 MPH, the lights flickered a few times and went black. My cooling fans quit and I immediately started sweating buckets.

The laptop kept running on battery and the Garmin was fine, of course. Both screens got me through the last 20 minutes of a 45-minute workout.

I left for work this morning and the power was still not restored. Thankfully, the standby unit was ready to go. Trees and limbs down all the way into town.

 

[jhuskey]

I got on the road yesterday. Nice cool fall weather but know it was my last time to be on the road until maybe Saturday since it is near dark when I get home. BTW: Bob Proform only speaks IFIT, the sorriest fitness software in the universe.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

BTW: Bob Proform only speaks IFIT, the sorriest fitness software in the universe.

I hear ya, JH! Kurt Kinetic has screwed the pooch in the software department also. How did they NOT get the memo that ANT+, ANT+ FE-C and Bluetooth were anything but the universal code writers' tools to communicate with our hardware?

I 'think' the very latest Kurt Kinetic stuff...uh...and that's as of late October if what I'm hearing is correct...works with Zwift, Rouvy, RGT, Trainer Road, Golden Cheetah and the other training packages I know next to nothing about.

Even if all you can install on your trainer are the usual speed / cadence and HR sensors with an ANT+ Dongle to read them reliably your trainer bike 'should' be able to play on Zwift as a dumb trainer like mine.

After the power outage last night I had to re-pair my headphones and Garmin 520. The headphones took MULTIPLE attempts while my iPotato phone paired instantly...like it could actually talk to a non-MAC PC! LOL!

I was dead from the weekend and only did 53 minutes worth on the trainer riding along to Zwift's Greater London Loop. Note to self: Track bikes have limited top end and the engine has very limited horsepower.

I jumped for some guys that blew by me and mostly failed to catch them or stay with them for long. Something about not having 20-second power in the 5+ WPK range.

Still a fun workout and I did get to ride with a couple of fast (enough) guys out on the course. I'm constantly amazed I can catch and pass ANYONE else!

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Local loops, rectangles, whatever you want to call them ha ha! Midweek ride in the dark, 16 miles with 1,345 ft of gain. Riding up to 24th street 3 times. Second two times were to 17th street to avoid traffic and parked cars.



Nice little ride to spin up the legs during the week. Strange but I'd rather ride when it's dark vs day. Actually kind of glad the time changed. Makes it easier to ride in the evening.



Plus, I get nothing but courtesy from the traffic out there. Sometimes too nice ha ha! Like when you hit a stop sign and you want a 3 second breather but they wave you on ha ha!

Pretty tough to get a selfie climbing a 5% grade with a cell phone, they suck ha ha!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

37 degrees this morning with an afternoon high around 45 degrees. If the roads dry off, I'll go out for for a real world ride this afternoon. You are correct, Mr. B. Daylight is not lasting all that long!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

41 degrees and overcast after a little morning drizzle. The wind a mild 5 to 7 MPH.

Thanks to Daylight Wasting Time I only managed to get in a fast 12 miles worth...better than a trainer and computer screen though. 250' of flat course elevation gain.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

43 degrees, wind at 3 to 5 MPH. The sun was shining. Perfect! Let's ride!

Another quick little 12-mile out & back course with 525' of climbing on it.The sun felt good and I was't even chilly on the outbound leg. Coming back I could feel the temperature drop and bombing off one hill into the valley it went right through my light clothing.

The roads were deserted and it was a great ride!