John_V 

Started off this morning at 42* with little to no wind. Layered up for the ride and we were on our way. Got 7 miles into the ride and the temp was 64*. Shedded some of the layers. Four miles later, I was in my jersey and shorts wondering what to do with all that clothing and how I was going to get it back to the van? After figuring it out, we went on to finish our 62.52 mile ride. Great day for a bike ride.

jimmuller 

I did get out for a nice long ride today:

Let it be known that as of last Wednesday I have been on this earth 69 years. Hence in accordance with the Honourable Traditions of the 50+ Forum I set forth to do Birthday Ride whereupon one rides the number of miles equal to the number of years one has been on this earth.

The steed of choice was the recently acquired PFN-10, French soul and almost all French components. The temperature was around 40 degrees, the sun shining in a bright blue sky, seeming very November.

Photo Op:




Lunch at Verrill Farm, where I happened up on another interesting bike in the rack.


Curious mix of details, some decidedly new-ish but still bearing Faliero's signature. The owner came out while I was eating so I asked him about it. He shrugged and said it was '09, "nothing special". But he'd had a choice of buying that or some CF thingy and he preferred the feel of steel. We talked bikes for a few minutes.

Of course by then the sun had disappeared. Well, rain had been predicted for the evening. I made the mistake of checking the weather app on my phone. "Snow starting in 42 minutes." Great! I'm 23 miles from home so I can't escape it but a long way from the desired 69. I decided to turn north then instead of going further west. 20 minutes later the phone said "Snow starting in 2 minutes." Hey, what about those other 20 minutes??? At least I was wearing my rain jacket.

I dropped the plan to ride to Chelmsford, figured I'd put in some miles on road that knew if the weather turned bad. The snow never came. Neither did the rain until I got home.

Did I mention that it seemed very November?


At about 15 miles from home my Fitbit said I'd ridden 50 miles. Hmm, gonna' be close hitting 69. I stared thinking about loops I could add to pick up a few extra miles. About 5 miles from home my watched buzzed, a txt msg from my neighbor saying happy birthday and he had a beer from Jack's Abby waiting for me when I got home. That settled it! Heck with mileage goals. About 3 minutes after I arrived home the rain arrived too. Good timing, that beer note. Sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways.

I ended up with only 67 miles. Two short of the goal. I can live with that. The weather and the beer won the day.

And I have to add that the PFN-10 is a superb road bike! Fast, predictable, agile, comfortable.

Machka 

Saturday -- Rowan and I cycled our November Century! We have designed numerous routes in northern Tasmania and the longest route is our 600K randonnee called Hint of Hadspen Hike.

Because we wanted to check various parts of the Hint of Hadspen Hike before we ran the event, we decided to create three shorter routes out of the sections of the Hint of Hadspen Hike. So the Hint of Hadspen Hike I, II and III were created.

Today's ride was the Hint of Hadspen Hike I. It is a beautiful out-and-back ride, mostly along the north coast of Tasmania ... ocean vistas and roaring waves most of the day! But both times we've ridden it, the wind has been a challenge. And there are some challenging little climbs as well ... no Mt Wellington or anything but a few steep pinches.

We're a little out of shape this month, and I'm recovering from dental surgery. My stitches are out now, and it's healing well, but in addition to the aches and pains of being out of shape, my jaw is sore!!

Nevertheless, we made it!

Distance: 162.3km
Elevation: 1,477m
Moving Time: 8:27:21
Elapsed Time: 9:58:21
Speed: Avg: 19.2 km/h | Max: 47.5 km/h

John_V 

40 solo miles in the wind tunnel. Started out nice with little to no wind but less than an hour into the ride, the gusts were everything over. Not fun but it wasn't nearly as bad as the last day of my cross state ride.

MidSouthBiker

I did not ride yesterday because of the storm front bringing 20-30 mph wind gusts all day, and then the rain. After the cold front blew through it dropped the temps from upper 70's yesterday to upper 40's today. Plus that northerly wind has given us that ole wind chill factor. Despite that, I managed a 2 hr 12 min today by heading out north straight into that cold wind. It seemed to take forever to get warmed up, but that big bowl of hot oatmeal and honey must have kicked in. On the rebound it was a leisurely sprint back home.

wait4me

I was able to get 66 miles in today. It was a nice sunny 60 degree day, but the wind was killer out of the NW at 25mph. So half my loop was slow and steady.

MattinAZ

Hailing from Tucson AZ. Haven't posted for a long time.
Anyways, I did 25 miles today and hit my weekly goal of 100 miles. I had a flat tire but thanks to spare tube I always carry it ended up OK. After 20 minutes I was riding again. By the way those CO2 tubes worth the money. It was so painless to inflate the tire back up ...

canklecat

Standard century attempt thwarted Sunday by back and neck spasms. Only made it 27 miles before I couldn't hold my head up to see the road. Was hoping to finish a solo century -- my first in 30+ years -- by my 60th bday this week. I'll try again in a few days. So far I've managed a few metric centuries this year so 100 miles is feasible. Just gotta pick a day when the back and neck are cooperating.

On the plus side it was a beautiful clear, cool, crisp day, very little wind after an extremely windy Saturday, and I improved my times on a few Strava segments even though I wasn't trying to. Just let it come naturally and did better on some tricky roller coaster segments, no wind assist. I'll take it.

OldTryGuy

Horrible Hundred in Clermont, FL today. Weather front was forecast to work through between 12pm-2pm bringing rain and wind. Don't mind the wind but NOT THE RAIN on my 2018 Roubaix. Shortened the ride to 81.9 miles and by doing some hill repeats like 4 times up the front of Sugarloaf plus a back climb was able to have 4557' gain instead of the 4335' of gain for the 100 miles. Made it back in a mist coming down while others were out getting drenched.

2manybikes

100 miles, 50f start down to 30 at the end. Windy. I lived.

John00

38 Miles, my shortest ride of the year. Started up the road to the ski resort just to warm up and get some miles in. Came back down and headed West, uphill again to Tumalo Falls. About half way up the snow that fell over a week ago was melting and covered both lanes of the road with water, soon to be ice. Didn't want to get wet in 40° weather so I turned around and just road around. Going to rain the rest of the week, want to get some more miles in before the snow gets deep, with luck I'll get close to 6,000 miles for the year. Haven't ridden that far in a year since way back when I was a young pup of 54.

rumrunn6

I know, right!?

PaddleFoot

Sunny today, with forecast high of 49 degrees. Winds up to 30 mph. Had a nice 13.1 mile ride on my Sutra. Very sweet bike. I've been riding a lot indoors on my KickR and I am actually loving that also. Feeling great.

JanMM

Had planned to bike to work today but at 7am temp was 26F instead of expected 32 so I wimped out and drove. But, 50F now so hope to get out for a ride after work.

2manybikes

When it gets down below 20 f they freeze up and plug up. So.. get everything ready, put the inflator under your jackets for a couple of minutes. Then as fast as you can before it gets too cold, fill the tire. It will still put just a little in the tire. Best to carry a pump below freezing.

rumrunn6

oh interesting, thanks. I normally keep them in my trunk bag so they would be the same temp as the air. I have 4 in a baggie w paper towel folded between ea one. I could separate out two & pop them in a jacket pocket before I start riding

& yeah I still carry a pump, cuz why not

2manybikes

You need to warm the inflator and the cartridge assembled, next to your body. Then put them on the stem as fast as possible. And I mean FAST. Faster than you could do with gloves on.

JanMM

Eight miles after work in balmy almost-50 degree weather. Darkish but that's what lights are for, eh?

wait4me

I got 21 miles in today. I also got a KOM. Man that was a tough one. 55 degrees out and sunny with a slight wind. Nice ride but my legs still are feeling my 66 mile ride from Sunday. I'm currently 179 miles behind my pace for 4k this year. Need to get my butt out there.

JanMM

19 miles as a bike commuter today. Dry/cool. Wet and colder now.

canklecat

15 miles Tuesday night. Cool, very windy, so much slower on some downhill northbound routes and faster than usual on some southbound uphills. Fair trade.

ButchA

Finally... FINALLY... I got my old C&V '85 Fuji road bike out, even if it was just for a quick 6.25 mi spin around the neighborhood. I didn't disappear from this site, but was down with a cold for a week & a half! You just gotta love little kids who get on my school bus, come right up to me and say, "Good morning, Mr. Butch!! Cough, cough, hack, hack, sneeze..." RIGHT IN MY FACE!!!

Worse yet - the mom is standing there at the bus stop, smiling, knowing full well, that little Johnny or little Susie is sick with a cold!!!

Anyway... I finally got over this {expletive** and it finally warmed up to a nice 62° outside here in Richmond, VA, so I wanted to do a quick "test ride" after getting over the cold.

Simple, short, 6.25 mile ride... Nothing special... It's normally my jogging route too in the spring/summer months.


Stopped briefly at Tarrytown and El Dorado (top right corner of the skinny rectangle in the map above). Lots and lots of leaves all over the roads too!


Here is the back entrance of the Collegiate School (bottom left corner of the skinny rectangle in the map above). Collegiate School is a private school and loaded with $$$... I have a very good friend of mine who is the football coach for Collegiate's high school dept. Honest truth - guess know who is a product of Collegiate and a very famous NFL Quarterback? You got it... Seattle Seahawks QB, Russell Wilson.

John_V 

Got a nice 40 mile ride in yesterday and a 60 mile, Pre Thanksgiving Day ride in today with my buddy Frankie. It was a little too windy and I didn't feel like fighting the wind so today's ride was an easy, relaxing ride.

Sojodave

I rode 17 miles today, but my Garmin only gave me credit for 7. And they were a fast 10 miles to...

John00

51 miles on a 65° day, just a few weeks ago it was 35° was 45° 3 days ago. I didn't know what to wear, took several layers off real quick, left them off for the rest of the ride.