Machka 

The first equinox of the year has occurred ... it's officially spring in the northern hemisphere (it has been autumn down here for a few weeks now).

Tell us about your first spring ride ... or your autumn rides.


[HR][/HR]

We haven't been well this week, so ... we'll see. Not sure if we'll ride or walk or what just yet. But would love to hear your stories!!

And meanwhile, it is a lovely day out there. 18C at the moment, going for a high of 20C. Sunny, light winds ...

Machka 

So ... no riding on Saturday.

Just a whole lot of house stuff. I suppose that was a bit of a workout. We were on our feet most of the day ... unpacking, rearranging, putting stuff away, organising, cleaning, etc. etc. We've been meaning to do this for a while now.


Tomorrow will be more of the same, but I'm kind of hoping we might be able to sneak in a walk to the beach or something.

Jakedatc

weekend forecast went to crap.. ran 2mi yesterday. always reminds me why I went to cycling after i stopped running track.. joints and stuff just don't like the impact anymore. but since i want to do my one tri of the year later in the summer i need to pretend once in a while.

wanted to ride today but it is snowing so that will probably not happen.

Machka 

I heard some parts of NA were celebrating the first day of spring with more snow ... as if you needed more snow over there on the east coast.

Jakedatc

yep.. couple inches here.. tomorrow is supposed to be our club's "spring opener" ride.. forecast is high of 33.. with windchill temps at the start time around 18F.. no thanks i'll pass.

Machka 

Don't blame you!!

jbchybridrider 

Last rode to Birdwood three months ago after huge bushfires when the roads were closed to traffic and trees were over the road. I did it again today and the aussie bush is already making a comeback, the black trunks are full of new growth.

Put some cheap as chips but strong wheels on for the rougher roads on this ride also.





Kangaroo Creek Dam.

bbattle

First ride for me in 7-8 weeks. A mostly flat route with one fast descent (41mph) and one easy slog back up (big ring all the way). I did some good pulls at 20mph on the way back then got lost looking for my car. So, an extra few miles thrown in for good measure.

The donkeys and cows were out in full force but my camera had gotten into video mode and so no pics. Spring is here, finally.




CAAD lovers note the bike up front with downtube shifters, no less.

znomit

400k starting 5am Saturday. Good weather, stopped way too much for food, suffered through the wee hours but McDonalds at the 370k mark perked me up for the finish.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/726679245

Machka 

Nice to see the regrowth. Nature is amazing!

alexaschwanden

Saturday: 36 miles
sunday :56 miles

chilidawgnv

Rode 32 miles today, my longest ride to date (hey, I just started three weeks ago), from Sparks to Verdi. Beautiful day, windy as usual in Northern NV. Coming back was a lot more fun as I gained 1,000ft. in elevation on the ride out. Hit 38.3mph on a downhill run coming back. That was fun.

Lemme see if I can figure out how to stick a pic here. Y'all let me know if these show up now.

woodcraft

Solvang (CA) DC Saturday. (actually 192 miles)

Pretty good conditions, & finished in 11:15, 13:00 overall, beating my projected time by over an hour, & getting in before dark. This included one flat, & getting lost slightly near the end.
wOOt!

Green hills, oaks, lots of hawks, & a road-kill (feral?) piglet.

kbarch

Saturday, club race and group training ride both cancelled on account of lingering winter (snowed Friday). Wasn't ready for the race and couldn't have attended the group ride anyhow.
So yesterday, we had the re-scheduled group ride. Just getting out of town was torture. Sun and shadows made it tough to see potholes, gusty cross-winds made it tough to steer clear of them, and it seemed we had to stop at every light, never warming up in the cold and wind.
Once we got across the bridge, out of the worst of the wind and rolling in earnest, it wasn't too bad. But it seemed awfully long. What with some slow drills in the middle and a flat by one of the others, it was nearly four hours to lunch.

I did manage to show the coaches what I was and was not made of. They made fun of how I was one of the weirdest riders, in that I struggled to hold a wheel on the flats, but climbed hills "like helium." One of the other trainees LIVED sur la plaque and was constantly "dancing" as he put it, but the coaches all seemed to have compact cranks and could maintain a fair cadence up the hill at as little as 6-7 mph. I didn't really want to go faster, but even on the biggest cog, with a standard crank, anything below 8 mph put the cadence unbearably slow - I felt wobbly, like I was going to fall over at times, so I HAD to pick up the pace.

The return from lunch was direct and at a decent pace, but again I struggled to avoid gapping at only 19 mph. I wasn't out of breath or anything, I just felt cranky and tired, but when we got to the rollers, where things were more interesting, it wasn't so bad. Still, as I said to the coaches at the final de-brief: thank God for the A train! (There's a stop near the bridge, and the A goes more or less express downtown to save about 45 minutes' - an hour's ride the rest of the way home).

la rosa 

Sat: 64 miles, Sun: 33 miles.

bikecrate

Saturday I went out to the Upper Tampa Bay trail for about 39 miles. Nice day with low temps and clear skies. Local weathermen are calling it the last nice weekend of Spring before summer sets in (not that weather forecasters are ever given to hyperbole). Sunday the wind changed direction so I rode out to Weedon Island and back for 38 miles. My legs were hurting on that one.

nuke_diver

We could use snow on the west coast of NA...it's going to be ugly this summer...and expect food prices to be higher since Calif farmers are expecting to fallow another million acres due to lack of water

OTOH the weather is usually good for riding those this weekend here was very damp on Sunday...not really raining more misty but the roads were very wet in the hills. My wife was not happy with my white shirt and socks being dirty on the back after returning from the ride.

That said it was a good ride for me, 35miles 1550' 16.1mph pretty much normal times for that distance for me and my knee felt great so I think I am fully back to normal riding schedules going forward

generalkdi

It's still winter out here.

So I got the snowshoe out for a 12k on saturday : https://www.strava.com/activities/271895114



Then on sunday it was really cold and windy (-30C), so I just did an hour of stationnary bike while watching MilanoSanremo.

Machka 

Looks good!!

T800CF

Rode 36 miles on Saturday. Gardner - Olathe - Lenexa , then back to Gardner

Carbonfiberboy 

47 mile, 1673' group ride Sunday on the tandem. The group cut it short because of rain. We normally wouldn't do that, but we didn't expect it and most folks didn't bring their full battle kit. We rode it as hard as we could and thus stayed with the group the whole way. Finally getting some early season conditioning. Still had fire in our legs as the finish. Went out in the rain again today, Monday and hit it as hard as we could, but Strava said we were off by 40-50 watts because of Sunday. Low HRs, both of us. Good ride, though.

thehammerdog

Took off to ride GW bridge but it was closed...road up 9w for about 10 miles. Shoulder was a mess snow everywhere.

MikeyBoyAz

I rode over the Golden Gate Bridge and then up to Hawk Hill Thanks @datlas

chilidawgnv

How was that ride? I been meaning to make a trip out to the bay area for a weekend this Spring, might need to take the bike with.

MikeyBoyAz

It was worth it. Traffic around the bridge pillars was dangerous, but as long as your low speed maneuvering is up to date, you should be fine.
I rented my bike, it was a Roubaix with 6700; I had no trouble with the performance.