Machka 

We're into another weekend! Kind of lose track of time at this time of year. Have you been filling your Christmas break with cycling or other sports?

Machka 

Saturday ...

I did a 3.66 km run ... well, it was 2 runs. I ran a loop, felt good, and ran a second loop.

Strava says we also walked about 4 km on one particular walk. I don't think we did because our walk line, on Strava, looks like we were seriously dizzy! However, there was more unrecorded walking including a hill climb and 10 flights of stairs, so including all that 4 km is quite likely.

Machka 

Sunday --

Today I ran the longest distance I've ever run!! It was a lovely day and Rowan cycled behind me much of the way.

Distance: 12.08 km
Elevation: 87 m
Moving Time: 1:34:58
Elapsed Time: 1:40:37
Pace: 7:51/km


Then we went for a bicycle ride (and stopped for dinner) which gave me a chance to stretch my legs a bit.

Distance: 18.12 km
Elevation: 91 m
Moving Time: 1:11:44
Elapsed Time: 2:06:47
Speed: Avg: 15.2 km/h | Max: 25.9 km/h

jbchybridrider 

^^^ I wish I could still run let alone 12k

jbchybridrider 

After a week of negative excesses, bad or to much food and no exercise I opted for the flats and the hybridized mtb. I'm sure I would have struggled a bit in the hills but on the flats today I was stronger than the last time I did this ride. So hills do make you stronger. It was a perfect warm day for riding too.







Setting up for the TDU in the city centre is well under way. This is Victoria Park across the road from the Hilton Hotel the riders and teams stay at. Team setup and work on the bikes here and there's a week long expo. I cant wait, need some new bibs my cheapie's are giving me a rash and can get good deals here on quality gear.

Jakedatc

Sat: 49mi 4000' Organized a good group of friends and teammates that turned out to be bigger than expected.. started with 2-3 and ended up with 6 of us. It was in the 40s but real windy in spots which made things tough. Did a lot of work and felt really good so I am happy about that for a winter ride

NoWhammies

Pretty quiet day today. 40km. Managed to get a ride in between the snow and the rain. Overall I'm happy with 40k.

Rides4Beer

Had my longest ride so far yesterday, club did their Final 50 ride, and I added some mileage by riding from the house, ended up with 78 miles. Then did a 37 mile recovery ride today.

GuessWhoCycling

Severe weather wind alerts here for a week now. Did a 35 mile ride today. Did not see many riders at all, never do when the wind kicks up.

Ogsarg

goenrdoug

Got a spirited Saturday 40-mile ride in hammering around the not-burnt hills with about 8 other like-minded guys. The wind really cranked up on us to make things interesting, but me and a South African guy (I had to ask if he was Belgian, the way he was blasting along into the wind with seemingly endless power) ended up rolling off the front for some heavy self-flagellation until the regroup.

For Sunday, I'd volunteered earlier in the week to lead the suddenly leaderless Sunday club ride. When I set the route, however, I thought I was volunteering for Saturday... Typically, the Saturday route is a bit hillier/more-difficult than the Sunday route. Needless to say, I got some grumbling as we set out, but once we got out there, it was great.

We ventured into the burnt hills of the Santa Monica mountains, and immediately up Westlake blvd (2.2 miles / 7% with a nasty stretch in the middle of about 12%.) Once up that, we were in the thick of the burned area. Most of the vegetation and many homes were burned to the ground. Sometimes a home that was apparently untouched was literally feet away from a blackend pile of rubble where its neighbor once stood. This was the theme all the way down Encinal canyon all the way to PCH and the ocean.

It took a while to cross PCH as a massive convoy of vrooming little cars straight out of the Fast and the Furious screamed past for literally about 3 minutes. That was okay, though, as me and two of the other larger daredevil guys flew down the descent together hitting 45+mph. We had to slow a bit for some road workers who were replacing guard rails where the wooden pylons burned away, leaving the big chunks of aluminum laying by the side of the curvy road, otherwise I might have possibly touched my PR on the 5 mile downhill strava segment. No matter, though -- I've become somewhat less interested in downhill segments since my accident and subsequent emergency room visit back in August.

Once on PCH we broke into two groups of five riders as we hammered our way to Malibu and Zuma beach to jettison/obtain water and chat with some of the more colorful beach characters to be found hovering near the restroom/water/shower facilities. We pushed on through Point Dume where the same this-house-burned-but-not-those theme continued. These are $10+million homes and so many of them were just flattened. It was kind of tough to see, at times.

From Point Dume, we got back up to PCH and pointed the train toward Latigo Canyon. For me, it's an hour-long climb (PR=1:02); for Phil Gaimon, it's exactly half that. A bit of PCH traffic left some of us waiting a couple minutes to take a left while some of the faster guys in the group had made the gap. Suffice to say, we never saw them again as our little back group of 5 were all pretty close in ability. Regardless, the traffic issue and the climb, itself is 9.2 miles @ 4%, but that's a bit misleading as there's a ~1 mile downhill respite about 2/3rds up. As a result, we split up a bit on the way up and all pretty much climbed alone, with someone to chase (or be chased by) in sight.

Just as I reached the first (false) summit, having just passed one of my compatriots (who is relatively new in town and didn't know we were approaching the respite) I saw two guys in my mirror approaching fast and passing my guy behind me. In some macho-competitive thing, I made sure I got to the first summit before they caught me. As the road flattened out and they pulled up along side and we said our good-days, I noticed that the guy closest to me was in full Team Sky kit, riding a Pinarello F-10 and had Thomas written up the side of his Jersey.. Man, what a poser, I thought.. But then, oh.. it F***ing IS Geraint Thomas. I see. I kept pace with them (I believe they were oblivious to me) for the next mile-and-a-half and, over the wind and my own breathing, could hear what sounded like English accents -- serving to further confirm that this was no poser, but, in fact, the current Tour de France champion (and an unidentified red-haired guy who seemed just as at-ease conversing on this long/tough climb.) Eventually, as the road rose again, I put in another dig or two to keep near them, but it was completely useless and they rolled away up and out of sight through the blighted switchbacks. I hoped they'd stop at the top of the climb (where I was hoping the faster guys from our group might have also stopped, and we could bother G for a photo, but, alas, by the time I reached the top, I found nothing but the burned remains of the old-timey gas station house that usually marked the official top of the climb and unofficial club regroup spot.

I rolled on to the next clear spot at a major road, Kanan, where I waited for the guys behind me, asked if they'd seen who/what I had seen and, in fact, they did. One of our guys was on a Pinarello f10 and reported G telling him, "Hey, nice bike!" as he rolled by... Fun.

We finished out with a descent down the same early-morning hill that we started on and finished the weekend with a harder-than-average 45-miler for Sunday and a story to tell on the club's facebook chat page (where the red-haired rider was identified as Cameron Wurf, an Aussie Triathlete who holds the Kona bike segment record among other esteemed accomplishments.

I finished the day taking a neighborhood kid to the bike shop to buy two tubes and a new rear tire (she does a lot of skid-stopping and had work multiple holes in her little bike's tire.) Followed that up with a lesson on changing the tire/tube and oiling up the terribly rusted chain. $25 later, she's ready to tear it up for the upcoming new-years block party where we close off the street and all the neighborhood kids bring out everything with wheels and all the adults roll out TVs and BBQ bits and beer and fun is had by all well into the night.

Happy New Year, folks.

bikecrate

The weather has turned back to warm, muggy and foggy. Saturday did the S. Tampa Picnic to Davis Is. ride for 40 miles. Sunday I rode out to the Courtney Campbell trail and then returned via Philippe Park, Town and Country. 42 miles total.

woodcraft

78 chilly, hilly, & wind-addled miles.

The modest average speed did not match how whupped I felt afterward.

canklecat

17, 41 and 28 miles over the weekend and 12/31/18 to finish off the year. Good riddance, 2018. I don't even want to see it in my rear view mirror.

GuessWhoCycling

Solo 35 miles at 13.7 average speed. I saw the wind advisory today but went anyway,..for the fun of it!

Usually I see a ton of cyclist, can't say that was the case today! Good workout and lots of fun. At times pushing hard and holding 9 MPH.

Machka 

I know we're 4 days into January, but this is what I did in December. In January, I'd like to do a bit more of the exercise stuff.

I also completed my 4th uni course, took on an extra job at work, attended medical appointments for me or Rowan just about every week day and, at last, started a holiday from it all.