OldTryGuy

Made it out at 9:13pm yesterday for a warm up spin around the neighborhood. Looped for 10 miles and realized I needed some extra warmth on this geezer body. Absolutely disgusting feeling knowing that back in the 80's I enjoyed riding even with a bit of snow around and yesterday with the temps in the 60'sF I needed leg warmers then shorts for lower and upper I had on arm warmers, long sleeve tech. shirt from a marathon, jersey, winter jacket, riding gloves and long fingered gloves on top and as I rode I was still cold. A 67yo former Jersey Boy relocated 31 years ago to sunny/warm Florida and can't ride without freezing in 60F+ air.

I put up with the discomfort as long as I could, decided to call it quits and head back to the barn. Finished the ride with a loop around the block and totaled out with 72 miles. Maybe if I had Rudolf to draft behind I would have gotten in the 100 miles I was hoping for but alas he never descended from the sky. Maybe he was too busy pulling a pace line for the evening.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL and safe biking.

Greybeard712

4.4 miles (7.1k). I'm baaaack. 1st ride in 5 weeks since the shoulder replacement surgery. very short ride, shoulder lightly stressed, but it felt good to ride. Shoulder healing nicely, the rest of the body is falling apart. I really needed the exercise and movement.

2017:5,934m(9,549k ♂ Total:20,922m (33,671k)

Bob Ross

Just got back from 43 miles with a couple of crazy guys, all of us in denial that it's officially winter, cold AF, and not the sort of weather sane folks should be out doing 43 miles in.

otoh, it's supposed to be even colder the rest of this week, so good to get the miles in when you can!

Greybeard712

13.8 miles (22.2k), almost a full ride. Shoulder and legs are a little tired. Brand new Turbo Pro tires (18 miles on them) and already a flat (rear, of course). Damned Goathead stickers will penetrate anything. Thank the powers That Be for portable CO2 bottles.

2017: 5,948m (9,572k) ♂ Total: 20,936m (33,693k)

OldTryGuy

Got to ride a whole 6 miles today with the guys before they completed chewing me up and spitting me out the back. It was such a beautiful day; however, I figured that calling it done would be wrong so I continued pedaling and had 106 miles when I stopped.

PaddleFoot

The Midwest Winter has officially arrived in the Chicago area. It is cold. Only riding is indoors until further notice. I had a wonderful Holiday and I ate some great food with family and friends. It was a no-ride rest day and I removed the bike from the KickR for maintenance. I also ordered my Bow Flex after twenty years of wanting one. I now need it to avoid the too-skinny look as I am losing much body fat from riding. $500 off for a Holiday sale was icing on the cake.

I rode on Zwift yesterday and felt quite strong after the rest. My main training goal is endurance, but as of late I am adding leg strength and raising FTP to the mix. I have come to learn that I was kidding myself with the default gradient setting of 50%. I experimented and found 7/8 to be the sweet spot for the most realistic ride. I now feel every bit of incline, even before it goes to 1%. It took me a bit to adjust to the change and others just seemed to pull away from me. Gear selection, timing and shifting technique now are much more important, not to mention the realistic speeds when climbing. The Metric and Century jerseys I was so proud of needed to be re-qualified for and I did my Metric last week.

I felt good riding and after a 12 mile ride and short break, I did a 21 minute bender as a FTP test. It was an honest effort and I gained 15 points to my FTP. Back to leg strength training and up the mountains! I decided it was time to attempt a Century early on in the ride and it was now on. I did not mess around and I set PR's for every KOM and segment during my Metric. I finished my 10,000 calorie challenge and set sights on my Everest challenge. I climbed every mountain I could, including the Radio Tower 4 times. I felt OK until 84 miles, then I had to start digging deep. In fact, I cheated by riding with my eyes closed during some long slow climbs. I needed to use every gear I could from the cassette.

I covered the entire Watopia map and finally reached my 100 mile goal. I put that jersey back on as I earned every foot of those climbs and miles. I fell 1000+ points and feet short of my level 18 and Everest challenge. I did not have any more climb in me and it could wait for another day. I am very glad I made that change in Zwift and it is wonderful to ride whenever I want.

Bob Ross

Inexplicably, yes: 12 mile solo ride at 6:30AM when temps were 19°F with a wind-chill/Real Feel of 11°. Da hell was I thinking?

dunelt_1954

High temperature here today was about 7 F. Made mail run from east side office to the Indiana Government Center and back, slightly less than 20 mile round trip. Next time, I will wear my Mickey Mouse boots when it is this cold. My Doc Martens weren't wholly adequate. Nice feeling of accomplishment, anyway.

There are new bike lanes on the near east side of Indianapolis, along Michigan and New York streets. They have nice median type barriers to give one some space from the cars. They were not cleared of snow. It was a studded Nokian tire appreciation ride.

John00

56 Miles, after 4 days of 24° weather with some snow thrown it, today was in the high 40°s. But there was still snow on the ground on the back rural loads I ride. Took by baklava off and unzipped my jacket and jersey right away. But it got cold late in the ride and everything was zipped up by the time I got home

Cykilist2

19.3 miles this morning, with 1400' of climbing.
Coffee
Afternoon ride of 33.5, my first time showing up at an LBS group ride. After 5 miles, I was dropped. I was a little perturbed by that, kept going at a pretty fast clip, saw them regroup, blew by them, saying to myself, "F this, I may as well ride solo". And did, making my own way back. Average 18mph on a pretty flat ride, with one 1/2 mile climb. Should probably just keep getting fed my medicine each week.. Maybe, I'll be able to keep up 10 miles next time

John_V 

25 miles with my buddy and 15 solo miles on a very overcast, cool and windy morning. The sun didn't start to come out until I was almost done with the ride. Good ride.

JanMM

Too danged cold! Don't know when next ride will be...................

Greybeard712

13.7 miles (22.0k). Too cold and blustry in the morning so I decided to go play in the traffic (damn lot of people out in the afternoon). Saw the sun for the first time in a few days. Both shoulders are tired and achy but one is healing from replacement surgery and the other is just ... old. I'm pooped but it felt good to ride. Maybe I'll make it to 6k miles for the year.

2017:5,978m (9,619k) ♂ Total: 20,965m (33,740k)

Bob Ross

Did 15 miles in 20°F with the missus, basically just tagging along behind while she did her coach-prescribed workout. Afterwards her coach said "You did that outdoors?!?!? I was sure you'd be working out on the trainer!"

OldTryGuy

Was hoping to make today's ride another Midnight Express but missed it by 2 minutes. Had a 12:02AM departure with temperature a bit on the cool side and some wind that helped keep the fog away. Tried lowering the tire pressure a tad on the 28's with results feeling like I was riding up a hill even when the breeze was at my back. Got back to the house at 5AM with 81.5 miles completed.

Now I have to rest the legs for next Sunday's WDW Mickey Marathon. It's going to be my slowest ever since I've done no training due to the ever present knee issues.

MidSouthBiker

Because of inclimate weather I have not done a ride for the past two weekends. Today my legs convinced me to get out into this incoming Arctic Blast. I waited until the heat of the day, almost 40F.

Despite all the wind chill warnings and advisories, I headed straight out into that 12mph really cold, northerly wind. And it was brutal. That cold wind cut through every piece of clothing except my wool Walz cap with earflaps under the helmet.

Now the temperature is starting to drop, and we will not get above the freezing mark until Wednesday. So, my legs are happy they got in a 65 minute ride today despite the elements.

jppe

Today’s weather in Piedmont NC was nice for riding. 30 degrees at the start and high 40s later on. I took some new roads mixed in with some roads I hadn’t ridden in a long time. 92 miles with 4600’ of hills. I could certainly feel the extra weight I’ve added over the holidays. Not a fast pace but very enjoyable. I managed a quick lunch stop midway for some NC bbq. It’s why I ride!!!

canklecat

41 miles Friday evening, my longest ride of December and final ride of 2017, since Sunday's weather looks icy. I took Saturday off due to neck spasms.

My December mileage was way down from my 400-450 mile monthly average the rest of the year. I wasn't logging everything but probably did about 200-250 miles in December, between cycling and walking, mostly errands and commutes.

Busy looking after my 78 y/o mom, transitioning her from home to probable long term nursing home care. Her health declined badly in 2017 and we'd talked about the probability of her needing nursing home care since we don't have the budget for 24/7 in-home care.

That decision was hastened unexpectedly in early December when her femur snapped just walking indoors at home. Her osteoporosis is much worse than the doctors has estimated. And with her rapidly worsening dementia it really isn't feasible or safe for her to live at home anymore, even with me there and limited in-home assistance. She'd begun wandering off without identification or emergency calling devices, taking huge risks, and then forgetting or denying she'd done it. I wish we had the budget for 24/7 in-home care but it just isn't feasible.

rumrunn6

sorry to hear that for you both. sounds stressful. good that you got in that cycling time. you can't take of anyone, unless you take care of yourself. hang in there

Machka 

32.6 km ... last ride of 2017!

Greybeard712

18.3 miles (29.5k). Well, I came really close to 6,000 miles for the year. I pushed the ride as far as I could today. The shoulder is still a little sore but so much better than before. Mostly cloudy and still cold but then that's what "winter gear" is for.

2017: 5,995m (9,648k) ♂ Total: 20,983m (33,770k)

John_V 

44 miles yesterday with two of my cycling buddies. We were shooting for a 7:30am start and 60 miles but it was too cold and foggy so we waited until noon when the temps were in the low 70s.

The wife decided, at the last minute, that she wanted one last ride before the end of the year. It's her first ride in nearly a month since she started having bad cramps in her thigh. Today, she did great with a nice 15 mile ride. I didn't want her to push it and try to do her normal 25-30 miles, so I rode with her just in case. Nice ride and good weather.

Bob Ross

Did 16 miles in this ridiculous 14°F windy day, just so I could hit a nice round number for my yearend total mileage. Last ride for 2017!

...and, from the forecasts I'm seeing, probably for the week.

Then again, tomorrow is supposed to be a balmy 24°!

OldTryGuy

Closed out the year with a RTNNTR 26.3 miler even though I had no intentions of riding today. Total for 2017 was 11,070.8 miles as per Strava

Ridiculously Too Nice Not To Ride

GTryder

Did 80 minutes, went 17 cool Km, in -22C with a Windchill of -29C
Happy New Year 🎉