Did You Ride Today?

[CAMPYBOB]

File it under life ain't fair.

Seriously. The only upside to this is the nurse bringing you your...medication. I'm glad you're already mobile, working and getting out and about a little. That's about the best outcome you could have after the X-Ray's were read in the ER.

Lastly, you're in Tenn. You'll be riding all 'Winter' as soon as the doc clears you to go back to outdoor riding. Worst case scenario...you drive South just a little bit for even better temperatures while we in Ohio **** and moan about the blizzard that just took us off the roads for another two to three weeks and even when we do get out the temperatures will be in the low 30's for highs and the icy cold winds will be blowing at 20 MPH.

Thanks! I think I just depressed myself!!!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Just a short 24-mile climbing ride with 1275' of vertical. It was almost 80 degrees when I swung a leg over and took off for the Amish hills.

And sure enough...just as I passed an Amish farm with an Amish girl out in the yard a little black & brown Amish rat dog that could not have weighed 10 pounds decided to make a kamikaze run down the long sloping yard to...maybe bite my ankle? Stupid little rodent dog. He was probably the only mutt this month I actually got my Distant Early Warning Phased Array Radar going in time to put the bike into Ludicrous Speed and leave in my dust.

In anticipation of my next muttly crash, I think I need to order a pair of those criterium shorts with the hip pad inserts.

The wind was only 6 to 7 MPH this afternoon, but my legs are kind of tired and reacting to stuff like that with a bigger loss of power than normal. I felt great, the sun felt great, the hills even felt good. The ride stats looked pleasing to me, but my legs just felt like they were lacking conviction on this one.

 

[zipp2001]

Did the TT bike for 15 mile yesterday after PT.

I did my Leominster loop today and checked out the new bike lane added on Main Street in The Burg to finish the ride. Would rather they kept it the old why.
Was a nice day to ride 74 degrees with a very light wind, for a fun stop and go 26 miles.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

22 miles with only 850' of climbing in the 78 degree sunshine. I tried to get out of the office early, but that plan was a failure so there was just time enough for a short blast. Nothing fast, but it was fun!

 

[zipp2001]

Fought the good fight today ! The wife and I are both fighting chest colds, and I was shot from the last two days rides. Put the bike in the car when I left work and figured I'd go home stretch and become a vegetable. Pulled in the driveway and pulled the bike out of the car, and said why waste such a nice day. Got changed up and did 24 miles in 72 degree light wind cool crisp Fall air. Fun time trying to get my breathing under control and wake up the legs. It was a hard fought 17.2 mph ride, but 100% worth it.

I passed an Amish farm

CAMPYBOB I spent a complete summer in Amish country in Pennsylvania several years ago setting up a distribution company. I just loved ripping around the Amish farms as they looked at me clad in neon pink spandex riding a crazy looking flamed painted bike. I sure they thought I was the Devil and warned the kids not to look directly at me or else.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I have not been around the Pennsylvania Amish...just the ones that moved from Pa. and married into our local families. They might be a bit more conservative than our groups? Our locals ride the push bikes while the more conservative orders West of me ride mountain bikes and road bikes. Go figure.

Anyways, the local Amish all wave and are friendly. The Amish boys seem to like the speed I can get out of my road bikes. I did find out our Amish are allowed to have tires with air in them. Some orders require solid tires or the semi-solid tires.


I got a quick 37-mile ride in this afternoon. It was cooler with a high of 73 degrees. The wind was tough at 12 to 16 MPH with gusts into the low 20 MPH range. 2150' of climbing and fighting the wind was all the work I wanted!

 

[Uawadall]

A slacked week....I haven't adjusted to the decrease in daylight, as a result my week has been pretty blank. 2 15 minute runs during the weekdays and 0 rides...Still waiting on getting my good wheels back as well. Starting next week, I need to dedicate at least 30 minutes on the rollers 3-4 days a week.

A 17.3 mile/17.6 mph/920 ft effort. I really only pushed it towards the end. I don't like to force miles that aren't enjoyed, I kept it short. Its not very often that I don't like being out there, but wasn't feeling it today. Feeling like I didn't put it all out there on the bike, I ran a 4.6 mile/7:18 mile pace jog a few hours later. Will try to get some more miles in tomorrow.

 

[Uawadall]

A 2 mile run and an entire 12 minutes on the rollers... Have to get use to them again. It was raining this morning and I waited for the evening to ride,17 miles/17.8 mph/837 ft. It was very windy and I'm still waiting on my wheel repair. The $100 shimano R500 set aren't half bad. They are heavy and don't roll great, but they can take a pot hole like no other.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

An easy 32-mile cruise under a sunny sky and colder air. It was only 58 degrees when I started and it was difficult to think that in a couple of weeks I will be looking at that like it is some kind of heat wave.

The wind was up, again, today at 12 to 14 MPH with higher gusts. I just rolled around in medium gears and saw lots of late season hay still drying down. It was just under 1000' of climbing...something like 984' or so.

It was also the first ride of the season in tights and a long sleeve base layer under the short sleeve jersey.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Just 21 miles with 850' of climbing. Toured through an Amish Paradise. Watched them putting up a new barn. No...not a frolic with wood pinned post & beam construction. The Amish got all modern and build pole buildings just like us English do. Steel roofs and a lot of roll-up garage doors used these days. I built my last barn with drive thru split sliders and you would think I had to teach guys how to build such antique devices!

Only 60 degrees for a high today, but at least the sun was out and the wind was low at 3 to 6 MPH. Just a medium tempo workout with a few short high intensity efforts thrown in.

JH...how you doing? Getting antsy and ready to ride? I hope the ortho clears you to get on the trainer soon!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

22 miles with 1200' of climbing under an overcast sky and slightly warmer 65 degree air. I still wore tights and a base layer.

Worked semi-hard on the climbs and tried to hold the power across the valley floors. It was a beautiful afternoon for a workout ride and I felt blessed to be able to try and make the Wilier fly!

 

[jhuskey]

Just 21 miles with 850' of climbing. Toured through an Amish Paradise. Watched them putting up a new barn. No...not a frolic with wood pinned post & beam construction. The Amish got all modern and build pole buildings just like us English do. Steel roofs and a lot of roll-up garage doors used these days. I built my last barn with drive thru split sliders and you would think I had to teach guys how to build such antique devices!

Only 60 degrees for a high today, but at least the sun was out and the wind was low at 3 to 6 MPH. Just a medium tempo workout with a few short high intensity efforts thrown in.

JH...how you doing? Getting antsy and ready to ride? I hope the ortho clears you to get on the trainer soon!

Been antsy but I don't see the Ortho until the 21st but even without xrays I know I am not ready to do a lot. My mobility is getting better but I need another week , maybe 2 before I can start clawing my way back. The problem is the lower fracture which went all the way to the hip joint and then back in a V shape. Prefect weather to train now after a summer of suffering in heat.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

One more week of bike maintenance! Your ride should be polished and lubricated to perfection!

I'm still somewhat shocked you're allowed to walk, climb stairs, etc. That's a good sign. Hang in there! Better days are coming and like the pilots all say, "Any crash you can walk away from was a good one!". No paralysis...hopefully no long term pain or loss of your massive Wattage!

 

[jhuskey]

One more week of bike maintenance! Your ride should be polished and lubricated to perfection!

I'm still somewhat shocked you're allowed to walk, climb stairs, etc. That's a good sign. Hang in there! Better days are coming and like the pilots all say, "Any crash you can walk away from was a good one!". No paralysis...hopefully no long term pain or loss of your massive Wattage!

Long term pain? I think that is destined for us all. As far as loss of massive wattage, not an issue. I didn't have massive wattage to lose.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

All my pains are short term. They only last during the daylight / awake hours! My power meter often displays, "You've GOT to be kidding me!" on my Garmin :^( At least my back is finally starting to settle down. I've felt a little like Zipp for the last full month. Rarely does it go out for more than a couple weeks...more signs of CampyBob going geriatric?

22 miles of speed work. I kept it flattish with only 550' of climbing and worked on drilling it at high RPM's and carrying the revs up to the biggest gears I could sustain. Old age sure makes it painful to look back under your arm and see you're still four gears from top cog!

The wind was 14 to 17 MPH so that made the effort even more fun! But, the air was a warm 73 degrees and the sun was out! It doesn't get much better that that for mid-October!

 

[zipp2001]

Finally got out for a cool crisp 25 miles after work today. Been trying to shake a chest cold for a week and a half now. Just tuff to get the breathing under control, but man it was great to be out in the Fall air. Had the leg warmers on and my thin pair of arm warmers on, 63 degrees at start and by rides end it had dropped to 58 degrees.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

21 miles in cool 53 degree air. The sun was shining and the wind was going 8 to 10 MPH. Perfect! Let's ride!

Semi fast tempo that, again, alternated high RPM work with pushing the bigger gears for short stretches. The roads were fairly quiet and I made the most of the afternoon daylight.

Tights and a long sleeve base layer again and this time light full-finger gloves. No complaining after that glorious warm and dry Summer! At least no *****ing until it gets really cold and I'm chained to the trainer in the basement.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Sir Campy Newton discovers gravity:

Another 22-mile ride. It was sunny and about 68 degrees as I shoved off. I didn't make it 1/2-mile when a big green walnut dropped from a tree I was riding under and smacked into the crook of my arm, bounce off the top tube and then hit the front brake caliper...all in the span of time it took to think, "What the Hell just happened?!".

I actually had no clue the thing had smacked my brake caliper until I got back to the truck. The caliper arms and both front facing recessed hex bolts had green stuff from the shell packed in them.

I passed two Amish couples out on their push bikes and an English mom and her son on conventional cruiser bikes, an Amish buggy and a young Amish boy driving a pony cart. The roads were pretty calm for a Friday afternoon...while new from the Big City (Cleveland, in this case) was of two morons out street racing...wrecked and killed a guy that was in a wheelchair...in a 25 MPH zone. Damn.

 

[zipp2001]

Every other Saturday morning a group of us men from church get together for breakfast, so today we meet down in Leominster. Leominster is my old home town where I've logged tens of thousands of miles, so I pack the bike in the car and will ride after breakfast. It was 51 degrees at the ride's start with a very chilly 8-10 wind. The chest cold is starting to loosen up, but riding right after a big breakfast wasn't fun. Tasted the breakfast for the entire 34 miles. My main focus was to try and keep the breathing under control, and keep a high cadence.
Man every day on the bike is a great day, even those days when the motor isn't hitting on all cylinders. Finished off a very satisfying rolling route at 16.2 mph.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Nice, Zipp! It was waffles for me this morning.

61 miles, so just shy of a metric. It was a warm 73 degrees here in Ohio at the 1 PM start. The sun was out and I caught a tailwind ride North for the initial 20 miles or so.

The wind forecast had been for a 6 to 10 MPH wind out of the S / SSE. And that's about what it felt like as I jogged East and West while I worked my way North to do a lap of a local reservoir. The wind started picking up noticeably just as was getting close to the turn South and into it...of course!

It kept blowing stronger all the way back to my starting point! I was constantly trying to drop the chain onto the little ring only to find myself already on it. Several times the gusts forced me onto the 39x23 on only mild little upgrades! I felt like a Junior spinning dinky gears as I worked my way across the exposed flat sections that offered no shelter from the pain. I was putting out race Watts to go nowhere fast.

All I could do was drop my nose to the stem and work. And work. And work. Frankly, it wasn't much fun, but I probably got a decent workout in. The Intensity Factor was higher than what I set out to do. All I really wanted was some L-S-D miles to keep the endurance up as we head towards the indoor season here in the land of bone chilling cold.

Let's see...today's highlights included running over a dead squirrel that I missed in a shaded, woodsy area and my sunglasses completely masked him out...a really close pass by an asshole in a pickup truck. The mirror was way too close and he got lots of bird in his rear view if he was looking. Right around 2400' of climbing on this route and the hill work felt much better than the wind. Downed a gel and a couple pieces of candy and went through almost two bottles. It was a nice day for a ride other than that damned wind.