Machka 

Where did you ride your bicycle this weekend? It's a long weekend in Canada ... if you're there, are you out on a weekend tour or taking advantage of the extra day for an extra ride? Wherever you are, tell us about your rides this weekend and post pics if you've got them!


[HR][/HR]

Friday ... about 6 km walking and lots of stair climbing.

Saturday ... we'll see!!

Machka 

Saturday -- chilly (9C) and windy (30 km/h gusting to 57 km/h) with a "feels like" temp of about 5C and a little blast of sleet just to keep things interesting.

And we cycled 38.5 km up the cycleway and back on our Thorn touring bicycles.

Jakedatc

Sat: 40mi at a good pace with the shop ride B group. then a quick 4mi spin around the block to cool down.

HardyWeinberg

No riding since Tuesday the 22nd. 53 miles this morning around the county, then back home and another 4 miles on the tandem bringing my daughter and her friend to a play at the high school.

Machka 

Sunday -- it was a cold and blustery day today.

So ... we walked 2 km on a shopping expedition. Then we went to the local aquatic centre and swam for about 45 min.

bikecrate

Rain...rain...rain...it has rained everyday, multiple unpredictable times a day since early July. This is not normal. I think I've only seen about 15 minutes of sunlight this past week. Saturday was the worst. Tampa set a daily rainfall record by early afternoon and it still kept coming. Sunday hasn't been as bad, but enough to scrub bike riding. So no cycling this week. Mostly doing chores around the house.

Here is a pic on Saturday from my driveway looking down the street.

kbarch

Yesterday was race day. It was going fine, and I thought I would do well, but like the no-account Cat5er I am, I was hanging out at the back of the peloton when WHACK, CRACK, OOF.... three guys go down in front of me. I didn't see what happened exactly, only I saw bikes flying and limbs flailing right before my eyes. Fortunately, only one of the guys needed medical attention (and wasn't too bad off at that) and I escaped unscathed. Unfortunately, I was the last to escape, and suddenly there was a big gap in front of me. I worked extra hard for the next couple of miles (which were flat) trying to close it, but no one fell back who might have helped me bridge it, so when I hit the hill and couldn't see them around the corner (they weren't really that far away, just seemed so) that was that. It was rather depressing afterwards, as I became acutely aware of my lack of teammates, and couldn't do anything to help the guys who went down, but I was happy that I was able to maneuver safely through the crash scene and keep going.

The race was in Brooklyn, so it was a drive there and back, but once I got home, I just took my number off, put the bike back together, and went for a more or less leisurely ride up for coffee and a ham & cheese croissant - round trip just 16 miles.

Today, I stopped at the same place for the same snack, then continued of for pie. There's a place up in Nyack (about as far as most city folks like to ride when they come over this side of the Hudson) called The Pie Lady & Son. They just sell pie, and they have ice cream, so I got some of each. It was pretty good, but I got the wrong kind. Wanted peach, but they only had peach walnut crumb, which was more like a crumble with some peaches in it than any kind of peach pie. Should have gotten plain apple, or berry. There was a gaggle of riders in local team kit that overtook me at one point on the way up there. I followed them into town, but went around and dropped them like a hot potato once we got to a little bump. I wanted PIE; I didn't want to watch them play laughing group.

The ride home was mostly uneventful, except I did make a run up my favorite hill. Since it's downhill on the way home, that meant I'd have to descend it twice just for the one climb. It was kind of funny; I could tell I was not at my best. There was a steep bit before I got to it that seemed steeper than usual, and as I was going down the first time, I started to have second thoughts about doing the climb. So, I do the U-turn at the bottom and go charging up the start, which is actually the steepest bit. OOF! I realized I made a big mistake because as the grade eased up a bit, it didn't get easier and I just couldn't speed up accordingly, I kept slowing down! So I just turned around and went back down, to do it RIGHT. And sure enough - a little less aggressive at the start, and the rest of the way was as fun as usual.

Jakedatc

Sun: 33mi with a friend. fairly casual with a bit of KOM chasing along the way. Had some fun and switched bikes for a few miles. I wanted to try a carbon frame and we are about the same height. unfortunately he was fitted to a 56 when i ride more of a 52 so it felt weird.. and he rides 172.5 cranks and i ride 170's so that was real weird. but a fun exercise anyway. Got back and flipped my stem since i was due for a handlebar lowering.

nastystang

Saturday was a back to back ride on two different bikes. 14 miles on my F2 and followed that with the exact same route on my new Tarmac Sport. A bit of a comparison between the two but really just trying to dial in the Tarmac for rain/winter riding. My answer to keeping carbon clinchers on my main bike.
Sunday did a short 20.

pakk

Sat-Did my first 40miler on mostly flats. I had to ride in circles a few times in front of my house to get a full 40, but I got there.
Sun-26miles through the hills with some challenging elevations changes for me.

Both days, the wind was pretty bad. Today through the hills, at some points, I had less resistance going up the hill with a tail wind than I did going down the hill with a tail wind.

sakau2007

Saturday afternoon - HOT. Supposedly lower humidity than normal, but still well into the 90s in Alabama is going to make for a rough go of it for a novice like myself. But I did my longest ride to date... Accordign to mapmyride, a 17.62 mile loop in 1 hr 27 minutes with 1102 feet of climb. I took a quick break at around mile 9 and again at mile 14 and 16 because I was hurting..

Sunday morning - Had grand intentions of repeating my same route... maybe even adding a mile or two, and wanted to get out before it got too hot. But very early in the ride I could tell my legs were just not recovered so I cut it way short. 5.05 miles in 21 minutes with just 211 feet of climb.

celticfrost

Mt. Evans yesterday and lots of 10k+ passes this season in general -- yay.

growlerdinky

Sat: 25 miles, 1900 ft (roughly) with the wife. Sun: 34 miles, 1800 ft solo.

happyscientist

Celticfrost, I am jealous!

Sunday was one of those rides that was only great if you are a cyclist. Everyone else thinks it sounds like a nightmare. My husband and I ran some errands, and I had him drop me off with my bike when we were done. I took off down some backroads that I have never been on, with the intention of meandering my way home. My legs felt like lead, and I had no energy. I just wanted to throw in the towel and take the shortest route home. Then I hit a beautiful, rolling, winding, carless, freshly paved road. The sun was shining through the dappled shade, and I felt fantastic.

Then I got a flat.

Not knowing where I was and being down to an old patchkit, I decided to use my Garmin to plot my way home. Garmin kept trying to send me down beat up, rutted jeep roads with my skinny tires. It was sending me in circles because I wouldn't take those roads, and I had to reboot it to get it to cancel the route.

By this point, I realized that I was only a few miles as the proverbial crow flew from a town that I knew, but I was in an area with a bunch of dead end roads, so I tried again to get directions from Garmin. However, based on the roads and fields that Garmin tried to send me through, I decided that it wasn't the best route.

At that point, I just started using it as a compass. I found a large creek that flowed in the direction that I needed to go. I knew that it had to eventually flow into the river that flowed near my house (I put my brain in hiking mode). The creek wound around, and for a short stretch I had to take a not-so-bad gravel road, but it ended up less than 10 miles from my house.

It ended up being a nice little adventure.

Xir

I did a 50mi ride with the Sunday group. Pace was advertised as a leisurely 19-22mph. That doesn't sound leisurely to me at all, but I went because I won't get faster if all I do is potter around at 15 average.

I bonked hard, of course.

I had gone pretty hard on some hills to maintain contact with the group and was in trouble after we crested one and on the way down began hammering the pace up to 25-27. I held on for as long as I could and then began to drop. The group got twelve feet of separation and then was gone. I dialed back to 18 and decided to just ride until someone came back for me or they slowed up to see where I'd gone. I caught up and the pace went back up (of course). I stayed in as long as I could and came off from near the front and tried to catch on at the back. The last rider allowed a gap to form and then surged hard to close it. I had no kick left, but I started trying to sprint back in. Best I could do was to hold 22.5 in the wind and the group got away again. I dialed down again and rode.

I reconnected with them about three miles later and realized I was feeling pretty crummy, moreso than I would expect. I didn't put two and two together until about ten or fifteen minutes later when I was having a hard time holding 13mph. A Gu and more water later I was back on the bike but that lapse in feeding ruined me for the next twenty miles. I limped in with two of the group, having sent the rest on. I had been so focused on my hydration (which had caused me issues in the previous two weekend rides) I'd neglected to eat. We were at the 2 hour mark when I ate for the first time and I should have probably eaten 30 minutes before that.

I had to have my wife meet me at the meet up point, I didn't have the energy left to ride home. I had a knot forming in my right quad and all I wanted was a shower, a peanut butter sandwich, and some water. I'd been sick the week before so I imagine some of my difficulty was from the remnants of that as well as the sinus infection that I was just beginning to kick.

Ah well, I'll do better next week.

Machka 

Wonderful!!

Jakedatc

Tues: 30mi while my car was getting it's recalled Airbag fixed. Stem flip was successful I think. didn't have any soreness or tight back/neck so i'm happy. Also took the padding out of some gloves i have had for over a year but haven't worn since they were too padded. Without padding they were still softer than my Pittard style but were comfortable so they should be nice.

snow_echo_NY

we rode summer streets here in NYC. we went with kidical mass nyc and it was so much fun. i am excited to do it again this weekend. i will have to come back and post photos...

Carbonfiberboy 

Not over this weekend, but last Thursday, July 30, my wife and I rode RAMROD on our tandem. 149 miles and 8800' elevation gain in a very un-PNW heat wave. The climbs were really tough in the heat. Many people were sagged off the course. Bib numbers are assigned in order of age, oldest having the lowest. In an 800 rider field, I was #19 and Stoker #46 . AFAIK, we were one of only 4 tandems to finish the whole ride. It's not tandem-friendly . . .


We took 2 days off and then went backpacking on Sunday to one of our favorite camps, 6.5 miles and 3000' above the road. Weather was good, no bugs, lots of fun.

alexaschwanden

Tuedsay :75 miles on two bike together, san jose to fremont and back. I finally bought a iphone holder that worked well. The app i run is MapMyRide.

Machka 

Love the mountain goats!! Great scenery!

bikecrate

The sun finally came out yesterday. I went for an evening 35 mile ride. Nasty clouds of gnats and it was hot, but it was nice to get a ride in.

Machka 

Yeah ... we cyclists get it. It does sound like a nice little adventure! But I bet if you told that story at work, they'd think you were crazy.

snow_echo_NY

Kidical mass nyc on Saturday Aug 1.

we rode over the brooklyn bridge together and then up summer streets to Union Square where we then had popsicles. the street was closed off to cars so bicyclists and pedestrians could travel with no worries. we rode for a little bit more (up to 32nd St) then rode back down to Manhattan bridge. it was awesome to ride and with so many families!