Did You Ride Today?

[CAMPYBOB]

84 degrees and sunny for most of the day after rain last night. More rain moving in this evening. Wind at 7 MPH and the humidity was...noticeable.

24 miles in under an increasingly threatening sky. It stayed sunny, but those clouds kept looking darker and getting closer.

I hit the gas after a short warm up and stayed in medium-tall gears trying to keep both the RPM's and the power up on inpromptu course avoiding yet more new chip & seal...road budget money is finally released and private contractors are to our roads on their schedules. From now through October I'll be guessing at which roads are rideable and which have to be avoided for at least a month until they are run-in and then power broom swept of excess stone.

At least this was a decent little workout, if a little flatter than what I was going to ride. Only 650' of climbing on the substitute route. Still, a fun ride and I stepped off feeling great!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Hey, 'U'! I'm up to Episode 17 of Yowamushi Pedal Glory Line Season 4. I'll try to finish it off tomorrow.

82 degrees here today and humid.

Broken Record: Rain last night. Morning showers. Afternoon rain right before I went out.

Only 12 miles over damp to wet roads that were steaming in the humid sunshine that returned after the black clouds rolled away.

Just a recovery ride on a very flat route with only 200' of climbing. Hardly worth going out for the short ride, but it did feel good.

 

[jhuskey]

It's a conspiracy Bob. The more **** they throw at us the tougher it gets. I need a redo.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I started riding yesterday at location '1'. The drizzle started almost immediately and kept picking up into a full blown rain. Back to the car and drove to scout out starting location '2'. The rain had passed, but the roads were just draining off and the puddles were deep. A downpour had obviously just went through that area.

Drove to starting point '3' and the sun came out.

Stupid weather! And I would have got a better workout on Zwift.

Today is partly cloudy, partly sunny and rain after 9 PM tonight. 50% chance of rain Friday. 50% chance of rain Saturday. 60% chance of rain Sunday.

Definitely a conspiracy to keep me from putting the long rides in.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

84 degrees and sunny with the wind at 10 to 14 MPH.

Rode with one of the local fast kids again. No warm up, just kick it in the ass and hold the throttle wide open for 32 miles.

Only 1200' of climbing thankfully and most of that on light gradients. It's still fun chasing someone up 1/4-mile to 1/2-mile long hills. In the big ring. Went so blind stoopid on a little wall that hits 10% that I was cross-chaining the 53 x 25 over the crest. I never cross-chain on purpose unless it's in a race and I'm fishing for any gear that keeps me in contact and not having a coronary. Pretty much what was going on every little climb this afternoon.

Set a new max heart rate of 186...well...new max since I did a factory re-set on the Garmin 520.

The sunshine felt great! Fun workout session.

 

[DenisP]

We’ve been getting a heatwave here in Europe so the weather has been less than ideal for riding. It’s a nice, breezy 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in the shade, and if you’re riding in the sun it’s going to easily feel 40 C (104 F).

As someone who sweats profusely, riding in this weather comes with a severe risk of dehydration so I’ve been waiting until it cools down. I haven’t done a morning ride in a while so I’m probably going to have to start heading out early morning while it's relatively cool, because things don’t seem like they’re going to be cooling down any time soon.

 

[steve]

We’ve been getting a heatwave here in Europe so the weather has been less than ideal for riding. It’s a nice, breezy 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in the shade, and if you’re riding in the sun it’s going to easily feel 40 C (104 F).

As someone who sweats profusely, riding in this weather comes with a severe risk of dehydration so I’ve been waiting until it cools down. I haven’t done a morning ride in a while so I’m probably going to have to start heading out early morning while it's relatively cool, because things don’t seem like they’re going to be cooling down any time soon.

I was in Belgium for 2 months and we had absolutely cracking weather for riding and racing. It was generally between 25 and 35 every day and I didn't do a single ride in the rain over the two months. That's unheard of for there

The humidity combined with the longer days, does make it harder to cope with compared to a southern aussie summer.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Rain on and off starting at noon. 80 degrees and nothing but clouds and rain. Wind was anywhere from 3 to 15 MPH with gusts as high as 38 MPH! when the various rain cells moved through.

I got on the trainer and hit Zwift's new Innsbruck, Austria 2018 UCI World's Course for the first time. The climb is TOUGH! Not Alpe d'Huez tough, but lots of 7-11% for 5 miles. Fast descent back into town. Finale was so fast I completely missed the Finish Line banner, timing and all that and had to do a U-Turn to go back and see what it looked like.

Interesting course.

I put in a moderate climbing effort. It's just too warm in the basement to go all out even with 6 fans roaring on me.

Did a 1-1/2 hour session and the legs felt pretty good.

More rain coming tomorrow and I've got a brake job to pull on one of the vehicles. Meh...

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Brake job done. New rotors and pads. 77 degrees and the forecast changed! 0% chance of rain and the sun is out!

Wind 8 MPH. Perfect! Let's ride!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

84 degrees when I took off with the wind at 3 to 9 MPH.

53 miles of fun with just under 2000' of climbing. Traffic was light and the Wilier felt great.

 

[Uawadall]

Campy bob, surprised that their is still one more season of Yowamushi Pedal to finish of the 2nd inter high.

I've been out there, nothing too exciting. A lot of rain lately and I've been using Zwift to supplement the outdoors. 8 miles outdoors before the rain and another 15 on zwift (1.5 hours in total). They have some steep courses on there, one of them is is over 2000ft for the first 11.5 miles. A good way for people who cant get hills outdoors to train.

Been exploring my local roads a little, haven't tested them out too much since the move. Its easier to ride roads your use to, but exploration is much more enjoyable. Have some steep stuff to try out when its dry, 1000ft per 10 mile territory.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

U, yeah saw you were on Zwift a few times. Gave you Ride On!'s long after your sessions. There's been lots of rain here in Ohio too. It's kept many of our rides on the short side and lots of guys are posting 'I got drowned!' pics.


I finally rode the Innsbruck UCI Short Lap Course and found it underwhelming. It's like London with a longer Leith Hill or Richmond with a big KOM added. Maybe if I had a smart trainer with a road bike on it those long climbs would be more fun. As is, They're as boring as riding Rouvy. I prefer fast miles with lots of riders around me. Less focusing on the warm basement and more trying to stay with a fast crowd while toweling off repeatedly!

I, too, was surprised it was going to take 2 seasons to do one Interhigh! So much filler material, but I'll admit I liked the background on Midso with his mother dying in the hospital. Almost makes it understandable as to why he turned out the way he did.

The race up the hill that Onoda observed with Makashima in the "A Small Pass" episode was also cool.

The animation and graphics have steadily improved and the story line is improved over last season's IMO.

Still not liking the music as much as the first two seasons and I noticed they played some of the old stuff as background tunes in a couple episodes...Last Gasp's "Determination" was one and Dirty Old Men/The Magic Of Life's "Season Two Opening" is another.

That rap tune used for the opening...I heard that WAY too many times on Crunchyroll! LOL!

 

[Uawadall]

Cloudy skies, kept it on rolling terrain just in case it downpours. I was thinking about my wheels sluggish braking recently and decided to take a closer look before the ride. Scrubbed them with rubbing alcohol and was surprised to wipe off a significant amount of stuff imbedded on the surface. Was glad I did so, I assumed the wheels were on their way out. Had no sluggish braking.

Nice scenery, low traffic, cool temperatures. Finished with 27 miles/1200 ft/18.1 mph.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

83 degrees and sunny again! The wind was a light 3 to 7 MPH.

I hit some easy rolling terrain for 42 miles and 1525 feet of climbing. Just out for some recovery time. Kept the gearing light and the pedals turning over fast and no huge pressure.

A beautiful day to be on the road!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Afternoon rain with the temperature dropping from a high of 84 degrees down to 73 degrees as the rain moved through. The wind was 8 to 14 MPH.

I hit the trainer for 1 hour and 45 minutes on Zwift's 2015 UCI Richmond Course.

I knew this was going to be a tough ride. Only about 1000 riders in the game and 999 of them wanted to kill it and drill it. Pain was the name of the game.

My average and high heart rates were up there and despite my speed being off a little bit I was climbing like a madman, trying to keep the track bike in the mix. Groups were shotgunning me and I was hopping from group to group to group in an effort to stay on cam and going as hard as I could.

Finished totally fried. Need recovery.

 

[jhuskey]

Ok. Here is my oh **** moment for the week, I hope. Luckily it landed in the other lane. Good ride today overall.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

WTH is that thing, JH?

Back in 2005 I had one of the Harley's up at the Sturgis Rally and was on an interstate doing 85 with my buddy sitting off my left shoulder. We were in the fast lane. A mini-van flies up an on ramp just ahead of us as as soon as he gets it up to merge speed the large roof-top box carrier launched off the van and into orbit. It must of climbed to 25' off the road and sailed over my right shoulder! Couldn't move and no time to think of anything except, "Is this **** even happening?!". Missed me by a couple feet. When it hit the pavement just behind me it split open and clothes and **** went flying all over the place. Cars spun...hit the center wall dodging each other...what a mess.

84 degrees and sunshine today with the rain staying 10-20 miles off to the East. The wind was a steady 10 MPH.

I only had time for a quick 18-mile ride with legs that took a few miles to come to after yesterday's Zwift session. 700' of medium climbs and a fun time was had!

 

[jhuskey]

That was a mattress flying off a trailer. Luckily it flopped in the other lane. The dude did turn around a ways down the road and I assume he went back to get it. It was gone on my trip back.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

At least you would have had something soft to land on! Flying mattresses are somewhat common up here as most people never heard of tie down straps or how to use them properly. That, and they dump old ones along back country roads on purpose...

 

[jhuskey]

Those bungee cords are so complicated. I would probably have sailed over it or would have had in on top of me.