Did You Ride Today?

[Uawadall]

Woke up at 5:00 am and couldn't fall back to sleep, that means its time to ride my bike! I uploaded a new 20 mile loop that should take me a little over and hour to complete. All was going to schedule until I saw this climb that always gives me a killer workout, it holds sentiment since its the first hard climb I've ever done. If I see it, I climb it, no matter what. I start climbing and my heart rate goes up and my legs start to feel it. I looked up how I did later and beat my old PR by 12 seconds.Starva says 1.2 miles/7% grade, but yet it still feels really tough. I know its not just me who it gives trouble, I place amongst the fastest times on it with some very fast riders in my area.

The downhill that comes after was a different story..I am no daredevil, I take my time on the downhills, especially early in the morning when I'm half awake,lol...I was perfectly safe and perfectly slow. was going an average of 24 mph, gravity put me at least 35-40, but I feathered the breaks throughout.

Finished the ride with 24.5 miles/17.6 mph/1548 ft of climbing.

It was a great ride, but I was dozing off at work all day even with coffee(i'm not a regular coffee drinker) For someone who takes his job seriously, I felt like a real screw up,lol...I stayed an extra 30 to make up for all the times my eyes closed.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

27 miles with just under 1000' of climbing...a pussycat course I use for easy rides. I think I'm forgetting how to slow down and recover. I found myself sprinting up the short little climbs and the last half of the ride I was like a nag running for the barn.

Maybe it was the nice 85 degree sunshine? Whatever it was, the day grabbed hold of me and as soon as my legs started to open up so did the throttle. The road I spent most of the time on was a little on the rough side and I kept mashing the big gears in an effort to smooth out the ride and keep my ass planted on the saddle. Speed was the result. The game was on and for a few miles I was Tom DeGendt flying across the open countryside.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

28 miles of tune-up pace work. 1240' of climbing and every slope, rise, hill and wall got punched as hard as the legs would go. Big gears and lots of power bursts to test long cycle recovery. The legs responded well to the throttle so I'm feeling good about the weekend...'if' it doesn't rain.

The air temperature was 90-91 degrees this afternoon and under the sun and the wind going 10 to 16 MPH I didn't feel stressed at all. The forecast for the weekend is for highs around 94-95 degrees with a good wind forecast and humidity probably higher than most would want to go hard in. As long as the afternoon rain holds off...all is fine with me!

Just some more short recovery rides tomorrow and Saturday...unless the weather reports changes to definite rain for Sunday. I'll blow of the long Sunday ride we've had planned and go hard and long on Saturday. The weather gods will make the call for me. No big deal either way.

 

[glenncz]

It was a cool 52 at first light so I ran down to work and got a couple hours in so I could bike when it warmed up mid morning. As the summer progresses I am widening my coverage of the web of roads around my house and getting to those I haven't ridden yet. I've been cycling for over 25 yrs, but only the last 3 have been super serious. I have 800 miles in for the summer and am pleased that no doubt I am at my fastest ever. Today proved it. 25 mile with 1700 of climbing @ 18.0 mph - that's real fast for me and I felt like a biker all day afterwords.

Around here that's a flatish ride with only 1300 ft of climbing(71 ft/mi). I do wonder about that 1300 from PlotARoute. It's gives ascents 20% higher than MapMyRide. I'll have to look at Strava which maybe?? is more accurate.

Tomorrow I'll take off and have 35 planned for Sat, pushing the circle outwards, after a 12 min drive, on some new back roads. Half the fun is playing with the software to map out quiet rides. That will give me 165 for the week and pushing towards the 1570 I did last year. Yes, it's all about the numbers, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

25 mile with 1700 of climbing @ 18.0 mph - that's real fast for me and I felt like a biker all day afterwords.

25 miles with 1700' of climbing and an 18 MPH average is fast. Period! Good work. You ARE a rider.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Well...fvck fvck fvckity fvck!

I wore out my 53.

Again.

I've already replaced the big ring once on this Record crankset and the replacement is hooked to the point the chain is making ugly noises running over it.

This time, the little ring is also showing some wear...

With the cost of Campy replacement rings being only slightly less than their weight in Rhenium I just ordered a new 4-arm spider crankset. And a new cassette.

One's life is measured in worn out bike parts. They are the storyline of where life has taken us.

The old crankset will go in the Campagnolo Curio Cabinet next to the classic C-record and 1970's Record cranksets. Life has been very good to me!

Hopefully, I will be around long enough to wear one more crankset out. There are many finish lines I still wish to cross.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

A mellow 18 miles and fi' hunnert an' fiddy feet of gentle climbing on a mirror-bright freshly cleaned chain...running on a very hooked 53T ring!

90 degrees on the money. Hot and a little humid, but sunny and just a spectacularly beautiful afternoon!

I did a couple of moderate and short efforts. Not much was happening along the course...probably too hot for most folks. Other than one guy brave enough to run a push mower along his roadside ditch and soak his shirt, everyone was in the air conditioning.

The Wilier ran silently (at least temporarily...until I get the new crankset and get it bolted on the bike) and smoothly with the chain well slathered in synthetic heavy gear oil. That stuff clings like maple syrup to my moustache! It'll work until more normally shaped gear teeth arrive in my mail box.

 

[zipp2001]

Nice hot and humid day today, so went out and did 40 miles playing on some hills.

 

[Uawadall]

Hot......Nearly August and I'm not acclimated to the hit yet. The strange thing is, I usually like the heat. Must be all those 5:30/6:00 am rides making me soft,lol...Did a short ride with some climbing, one of the climbs had my heart rate up.

19.4 miles/16.3 mph/1429 feet.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

94 degrees in Ohio with the sun out and the wind at 8 to 9 MPH. The Garmin thermometer recorded a 97.5 degree temp out on the course, but that thing is generally whacktarded. Yeah, I washed the heart rate strap, the gloves and the helmet pads again after today's ride. My jersey was just wringing wet and the shorts did the usual peel off and into the washing machine.

I sprinted through a short 23-mile effort with just 620' of climbing to get my heart rate up to max a couple times and ride in the red for some short bursts. Getting used to high temperature speed work...tomorrow will be an epic heat index ride 'if' it doesn't rain.

Two bottles on the bike and two throw away bottles in the jersey pockets. Four gels, a pack of Shot Bloks and some gummy bears for fuel. I deal with heat pretty well, as a rule. Let's hope the wind and rain cooperate and everyone gets through the event without dehydrating or heat stroke.

 

[zipp2001]

Today was a day in the woods to spin the legs out. No set route just go where ever and enjoyed 2 hours playing out in the woods. The temp was 89 degrees and the legs felt good after the climbing from yesterday.

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[Weatherby]

Just returned from vacation with no riding in 10 days. Yesterday, I went for what I thought was a fairly easy 26 miler and 1100 feet climbing and 95F. For giggles, I loaded the data into STRAVA and low and behold, I had ten new personal bests. I guess not riding makes you faster. If I take another ten days off, will I have 20 new personal bests? I also drank beer on vacation. YMMV.

 

[jhuskey]

Yes I rode, still hot so nothing new to report. Spent the afternoon in and on the water shooting the **** with friends on the lake. Once again nothing new to report.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

72 miles with 4,000' of climbing. The biggest hill on the ride was 520'. That's considered 'big' for this part of the country. The steepest ramp on it that I saw was 10% with most of that climb going an easy 3% to maybe 5%.

The day dawned with ugly sky and humidity, but the temperature was a perfect 70 degrees at the start. The sun soon came out and the clouds parted...temporarily!

The riding was fast and moderately hard work. I worked on drinking, but still only downed a little better than one bottle for the ride as the temperature climbed to around 91. Got half a package of Shot Bloks in me and I felt good through out the ride.

The weather...you got to love Ohio. The 4 AM forecast on the computer said .12" ( !/8" ) of rain around 1 PM. I asked the Boy Scout Troop Leader that helped park my car what he had heard about the time the rain was going to start this afternoon. He said, "12:45.". I thanked him and made a mental note to be back to the car by no later than 12:30.

I pulled the bike back up to the car at noon with a really dark sky on the Western horizon. I drove to a friend's house in a nearby town to shower up and hit a micro brew restaurant for a late lunch. When I got out of the shower and dressed for dinner the skies opened up with driving rain that foamed in the roads and quickly formed rivers in the streets 4" deep! I looked at my watch...1 PM where we were just East of the ride location. Probably 12:45 on the money when it started raining over there!

We drove about 7 miles to lunch and the streets were just flooded and the rain never slowed a lick. The wipers ran at their fastest and vision was still very poor. We passed several cyclists still out on the course and they looked miserable.

Lightning crashed, the wind picked up to 40 MPH, trees and limbs came down and the road flooding increased even more! We drove along a river and the debris being carried downstream was amazing. Just insane amounts of rain fell in the hour to hour and a half it poured.

Cutting the ride short was the best decision of the day.

 

[zipp2001]

Before I even put my leg over my top tube I knew the legs just didn't have much power in them. I didn't do much to help them today by not having any breakfast. After church and during Pastors class I did have a piece of cake and a cup of coffee, so that was breakfast/lunch. Went out and did 48 miles anyways and at the 30 mile mark starts the bulk of my climbing with the next 7.5 miles of all sorts of climbs and grades. Struggled to find a rhythm and felt like I was peddling squares the whole day. I couldn't get over my gears even when descending. Temp was a nice 85 degrees with a not so bothersome 9-11 wind. Kept telling the legs push it because Mondays your day off.

 

[Uawadall]

Did a solo ride with a decent amount of hills. 38.2 miles/18.1 mph/2,065 ft. I left at 6:45 to beat the heat, it worked out well. A few of the climbs were tough and seemed to last. I love riding on Sundays, the roads are usually clear and you can really go all out on some roads. As my ride was ending, I rode past a group from my bike club. I waved, but some of these guys aren't very personable. Walker, jogger,runner, cyclist, you'll get a wave from me.

Spent the rest of the day helping my brother put up a wood fence. By 4pm, I was spent. A good riding weekend, back to work tomorrow.

 

[Weatherby]

As my ride was ending, I rode past a group from my bike club. I waved, but some of these guys aren't very personable. Walker, jogger,runner, cyclist, you'll get a wave from me.

Me too.

I noticed the cool kids stopped waving to me. I suspect my unshaven legs are the culprit. Funny how I only see them going the other way.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I suspect my unshaven legs are the culprit.

Damned freds!

Do they know you just crossed the nation and can probably ride their 'cool' asses into the pavement and not break a sweat doing it?

The largest area bike club is comprised of several cliques. Or clans...whatever. The snobbery had reached the point TWO new bike clubs popped up from ex-members that were fed up with the idiocy.

 

[Weatherby]

I do need to shave and get my **** back together. I want to do a 40 km TT in under an hour in a few weeks. Sounds slow but at my age, that would podium at the districts level.

I was in Hawaii vacationing for almost 2 weeks (did some excellent sporting clays on Maui) and fresh legs were a revelation on Saturday. Not sure if I posted or not but not even riding hard I busted over ten of my personal bests on Strava. I blew by a Tri Guy while on the hoods and casually said hello, I think he was surprised.

You want to see what a stud looks like, check out this out. At about 120 miles in, I was going up a climb alone feeling really good given my speed and incline. I noticed I was riding at 310 watts which is too much. I debated if I should slow down. I hear this steam locomative sound like a cho cho train. Lael Wilcox comes by me like I am standing still. I fairly quickly calculated she had 3-4 days advantage on me on the climbs and probably was making around 4.7 to maybe close to 5 watts per Kg.

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-medi...ogressive,q_80,w_800/gjavffrexwdhmjxmegsm.jpg

 

[Uawadall]

Me too.

I noticed the cool kids stopped waving to me. I suspect my unshaven legs are the culprit. Funny how I only see them going the other way.

Damned freds!

Do they know you just crossed the nation and can probably ride their 'cool' asses into the pavement and not break a sweat doing it?

The largest area bike club is comprised of several cliques. Or clans...whatever. The snobbery had reached the point TWO new bike clubs popped up from ex-members that were fed up with the idiocy.

Some people and my bike club are great people, others are just pure snobs. The most common type of snobbery is "speed snobs", you must be able to hit a certain speed to be acknowledged. The funny thing is, most of those types rely on big groups to get any type of speed. Not everyone is like that, many of the speedsters have given me encouragement, practical advice and compliments when they see improvement. A mixed bag, just like in life.