RR: Roadie Report

MattB said:

Yep. I got out on the road bike yesterday. Beautiful
day here with temps up to about 45 F. I just did a 30
Mile out and back taking the route I thought would
have the least traffic. It wasn't bad and I managed to
generate a nice burn in the legs.

Spring has sprung! I was going to do some spinning on the
stationary bike yesterday morning, but stepped outside to
find it 60 degrees & sunny! So I took to the road on my
MTB/cruiser. A little fireroad too, but it was really soupy.

So I'm assuming you're riding a "real" road bike?

Putting the 3.5" riser handlebars on my old Marin really
changes the riding attitude. Its an entirely different
seating position - far more upright; it took some getting
used to because of the instability. It feels like the bikes
I rode when I was a kid, and I find myself riding not simply
for exercise but just for the heck of it. I've intentionally
avoided putting a computer on this bike to keep from
thinking about how fast I ride. My overall ride times are
about the same, so I think its more a change of mindset than
a change of speed. I'm looking forward to trying this "new"
bike on some long fireroad rides.

The downside is I no longer have a loaner MTB; with the high
center of gravity, it'd be pretty useless on singletrack.

Quoted message said:

Still lots of snow and/or mud on the trails but this
is a start. If the weather holds Hartman's will be dry
pretty quickly. Looking forward to some real rides in
the coming weeks!

Hear that...

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail
address, at least)

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Yep. I got out on the road bike yesterday. Beautiful
day here with

temps

Quoted message said:

up to about 45 F. I just did a 30 Mile out and back taking
the route I thought would have the least traffic. It
wasn't bad and I managed to generate a nice burn in the
legs. Still lots of snow and/or mud on the trails but this
is a start. If

the

Quoted message said:

weather holds Hartman's will be dry pretty quickly.
Looking forward to

some

Quoted message said:

real rides in the coming weeks!

--

Matt

"Gravity. It's not just a good idea, it's the law!"

Good to hear you're back on the bike. 45....[censored], it was 86
here yesterday and supposed to be again all week. Started a
ride yesterday at 8 a.m. and it was already in the mid 60's.
Finished at 11 and it was 78. And it was flippen humid for
Phoenix, I shed a few pounds of water.

It was nice not having to lug around extra layers, though!

Gary

BB said:

MattB said:

Yep. I got out on the road bike yesterday. Beautiful
day here with temps up to about 45 F. I just did a 30
Mile out and back taking the route I thought would
have the least traffic. It wasn't bad and I managed
to generate a nice burn in the legs.

Spring has sprung! I was going to do some spinning on
the stationary bike yesterday morning, but stepped
outside to find it 60 degrees & sunny! So I took to the
road on my MTB/cruiser. A little fireroad too, but it
was really soupy.

So I'm assuming you're riding a "real" road bike?

Yeah. It's the one I bought early in college, about 1992
IIRC: mattb.netTrek2100 web.jpgOpen ↗

Not state of the art (notice the downtube shifters) but it
does the trick for the few road rides I do every spring.

Quoted message said:

Putting the 3.5" riser handlebars on my old Marin really
changes the riding attitude. Its an entirely different
seating position - far more upright; it took some getting
used to because of the instability. It feels like the
bikes I rode when I was a kid, and I find myself riding
not simply for exercise but just for the heck of it. I've
intentionally avoided putting a computer on this bike to
keep from thinking about how fast I ride. My overall ride
times are about the same, so I think its more a change of
mindset than a change of speed. I'm looking forward to
trying this "new" bike on some long fireroad rides.

My SS cruiser with big bars and the kid trailer hitch fills
that niche for
me. Pulling the kid on an SS is a whole new level of
workout!

Quoted message said:

The downside is I no longer have a loaner MTB; with the
high center of gravity, it'd be pretty useless on
singletrack.

I found when I had a loaner it didn't get used much anyway.
I still have an old Cannondale HT that I keep for when my
dad is visiting. It's available if anyone really wants to
use a loaner, which never happens (apart from dad).

Matt

GeeDubb said:

Good to hear you're back on the bike.

Oh [censored], I'd forgotten about the surgery - yes, Matt, good
to hear you're back on a bike!

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail
address, at least)

MattB said:

Yep. I got out on the road bike yesterday. Beautiful
day here with temps up to about 45 F. I just did a 30
Mile out and back taking the route I thought would
have the least traffic. It wasn't bad and I managed to
generate a nice burn in the legs. Still lots of snow
and/or mud on the trails but this is a start. If the
weather holds Hartman's will be dry pretty quickly.
Looking forward to some real rides in the coming
weeks!

That is all I've been able to do lately, it will be 3 weeks
till the lower elevation trails are open. I don't mind road
biking that much, but once the Iron Horse is over, it will
be all (well mostly) trails on the new ride.

BTW, I started road riding last year to ride the Iron Horse,
and I felt that it got me in good shape once the mountain
biking season started. Yeah, I know, I should drive a bit to
Utah or NM and ride, but many other factors make that
difficult in winter or summer.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado (remove ".nospam" to reply)

Craig Brossman said:

MattB said:

Yep. I got out on the road bike yesterday. Beautiful
day here with temps up to about 45 F. I just did a 30
Mile out and back taking the route I thought would
have the least traffic. It wasn't bad and I managed
to generate a nice burn in the legs. Still lots of
snow and/or mud on the trails but this is a start. If
the weather holds Hartman's will be dry pretty
quickly. Looking forward to some real rides in the
coming weeks!

That is all I've been able to do lately, it will be 3
weeks till the lower elevation trails are open. I don't
mind road biking that much, but once the Iron Horse is
over, it will be all (well mostly) trails on the new ride.

BTW, I started road riding last year to ride the Iron
Horse, and I felt that it got me in good shape once the
mountain biking season started. Yeah, I know, I should
drive a bit to Utah or NM and ride, but many other factors
make that difficult in winter or summer.

I've found telemark skiing also does wonders for mountain
biking. Much more so than alpine. It's just quicker and
easier for me to ride than ski (no car needed to ride) and
that's all I had time for yesterday. I got a good day of
skiing in on Saturday. I always like the time of year I can
do sports associated with different seasons back to back.
Kind of fun!

Matt

MattB ran this through spell check:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I've found telemark skiing also does wonders for mountain
biking. Much more so than alpine. It's just quicker and
easier for me to ride than ski (no car needed to ride) and
that's all I had time for yesterday. I got a good day of
skiing in on Saturday. I always like the time of year I
can do sports associated with different seasons back to
back. Kind of fun!

Matt

drifting....

heh, ride or ski? ;-)

Today's my first day I've felt 100% and it's gorgeous and 60
out. I'm playing catch up with everything, compounded by the
fact that I ran my machine needle through my finger when I
attempted to get workdone on Friday... how's that for a sign
not to push it!!! Broke the machine too. ;-(

I did get a call to do a ride with a 1500 ft climb to day,
but I have to get at least shoveled out here.

Sat was gorgeous. I went up to the mountain, but instead of
skiing, I was a scripted "patient' in the region's ski
patrol Senior first aid exam. This is a higher lever
optional certification for patrollers than the standard
training... I have to be a proud mama for a minute and say
my student patroller son passed with flying colors. The bad
part of it was laying on a foam pad in the snow all day, in
the sun, pretending to have various sorts of injuries
depending on what the scenario required. Heehee.... my son
was "treating" me for a pretend disclocated shoulder, and I
just had to say, in character... my you are such a nice
young man...

Yesterday I got a few turns in, but when my ( lack of
correct) wax slowed me down to a standstill I quit for the
afternoon.

You are right about the tele-mtb connection. I'd better get
out my tele skis at least once this year. I'm still havnign
a love affair with my B2's.

penny

On Mon, 8 Mar 2004 08:58:07 -0700, "MattB" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Yep. I got out on the road bike yesterday. Beautiful
day here with temps up to about 45 F. I just did a 30
Mile out and back taking the route I thought would have
the least traffic. It wasn't bad and I managed to
generate a nice burn in the legs. Still lots of snow
and/or mud on the trails but this is a start. If the
weather holds Hartman's will be dry pretty quickly.
Looking forward to some real rides in the coming weeks!

nice, bill The mind serves properly as a window glass rather
than as a reflector, that is, the mind should give an
immediate view instead of an interpretation of the world.
:-]