LAJ

I'll preface this with: Our club is known for fast. We have the more stereotypical Rando's, that ride to eat, and the butterflies along the route are to be seen, and will stop to enjoy. Others, hammer that dog out, so they can go for the Charlie Miller at P-B-P.

That said, if it's flat, which is around 4k climbing in the whole ride, those are 6 hours. I haven't broken into the 5 hour range, but came close. Hills and heat mean 6:40 to 8.5, or so. Wind, rain and blindness mean more. Hardest was a 192 mile 300k, with 18k climbing. That one hurt, and took almost 15 hours, which is my 400k time, with 10k climbing. 600k was 25 hours. I was shooting for 24, but my charging strategy of lights and stuff wasn't sound. I should have sourced a spare battery, instead of charging the single I had.

My point is: Ride your ride, and should you want to go faster, do so, but not at the risk of destroying the fun. I stepped over to racing, because competition, and fast, is my drug. The ride is fun, the training is fun, and the jolt is real.

WhyFi

Not mysterious. Cold air doesn't hold moisture as well. In the dead of a MN winter, you need to beware the days when you look outside and see bright, clear skies... like today.

MoAlpha

Well if we want to be picky, which I'm just sure we do, it's the interface between relatively warm and cold air masses where precipitation takes place. It is dry after those interfaces (fronts) blow through. The air on the back side of a low pressure system, behind the cold front, is always sucked down from the north, hence relatively cold. Clouds often develop, especially in winter, with the approach of a low, since the warm air on the leading edge slides over the top of the local cold air and causes clouds to form at the interface.

abshipp 

Yeah, that's quick

The majority of our club is more about the butterflies, I'd say. Like any group, there are a few that jump off the start and are never seen again, but I know that I'm not one of them so it's fine to see them go.

Like I said, I think if I could get into the sub-10 hour range I would be happy. Not trying to ruin the fun but the difference between getting home at 5pm vs 6pm would be nice enough to warrant trying, at least.

I'm content right now that I'm at least fast enough to not have to worry about busting the 13h limit

LAJ

Course, Bill Elliot had it right. "Is it going to rain today? Depends on the weather." That's all I need to know. Of course, that thought process has also caused some real life near death experiences, so it's probably not a good idea to adopt that strategy.

WhyFi

Well, if Addiction isn't a safe space to elaborate then no place is.

WhyFi

Oh, did he become a meteorologist after his dancing career was over?

Trsnrtr

Happy Valentines Day! 1967

LAJ

No, but it seems drivers have their own thoughts on weather. Ol' DW says the Vortex Theory is real, and as long as the cars are going at speed, the "waves" the cars produce keep the rain in the sky. Once a wreck or a caution comes out, and the cars slow down, the rain then comes.

bampilot06

just a bunch of crazy neighbors with nothing to do but complain about each other

MoAlpha

Thanks. It's a bit of a compulsion for me.

LAJ

Nascar people have a preoccupation with weather.

BillyD

My guess was that you’re getting old.

I’m also guessing you like their explanations better.

rjones28 

People are possessive of their ****. "Don't put your **** with my ****."

BillyD

indyfabz

One thing overnight cloud cover does is act like a blanket to keep heat in (i.e., it prevents radiational cooling), so the next day it's often warmer than when the sky is clear at night. Our clouds went away last night. It's now far colder than yesterday. Clearing skies also can be the result of a cold front moving through. That's what we have happening right now. Supposed to get down to 17 tonight.

indyfabz

Great photo. I love to see the way people dressed and furnishings of the time.

I was 2 Y.O. in 1967. (That's me standing and rocking the overalls.) Check out the slip-covered lamp shade in the background.

LesterOfPuppets

me too, but with a 36 hour cutoff

WhyFi

Doesn't count if there's a 8-hour nap in there.

LesterOfPuppets

Google just alerted me that a new Huey Lewis and the News album dropped.

Holy cow!?!

abshipp 

I've been looking into how to use a heart rate monitor to help my rides be more productive.

I have never done a max heart rate test, but the highest I have ever seen when I've been on the bike is about 195 bpm during an unrelenting series of steep rollers in the middle of summer, about 40 miles in to a 65 mile ride.

Is there something special about doing an actual max heart rate test or would that 195 number be good enough?

indyfabz

Is it entitled "I Want a New Rug"?

abshipp 

I actually feel like my max HR may be a bit higher than 195. I can typically ride all day if I keep my heart rate around 140 - 150, but using the 195 MHR number that would put me at 70% - 75% of MHR, pretty solidly in what most people identify as zone 3 or "tempo".

datlas 

The Heart of Rock and Roll is Still Beating??

MoAlpha

Forget about max HR, which is a useless number. Get a measurement of the max HR you can sustain for a 20 min all-out effort, take 95(?)% of that, and call it your "threshold HR." Then use that to set your zones by the Coggan method. It should correspond roughly with your FTP and will also predict your max fairly accurately.

This isn't as good as power, but it's certainly good enough for thousands of dead serious runners.

If you have a trainer that reads power, you can use free software to construct a linear model relating HR zone time and power over a ride and once you have enough data you can use it to estimate the training stress load for rides with HR only. That's very useful too.