Racer Ex 

I liked climbing Lemmon. It snowed on us when we did it.

valygrl

That's a long descent if it's cold.

There was snow on the side of the road near the top of Kitt Peak today, left over from a few days ago. Today was overcast but warm.

Cleave

valygrl, glad that you and robabeatle had a good ride. I probably shouldn't have ridden solo up the Mt Lemmon, the day I did. Lucky that I didn't get blown off the side of the road. I want to try it again in good weather.

beatlebee 

That is the second half of my daily commute.

How did you like Kitt Peak? Maybe Mt. Graham is in your future?

revchuck 

@valygrl, I'm taking notes. I'll be in Tucson again in late February.

valygrl

Yeah I've done it in those conditions too. There may have been some crying.

valygrl

Kit Peak was great! Very light traffic. A couple of people rode from town through the nasty construction on Ajo Way, I'm happ enough not to have done that.

I've done Mt Graham a couple of times, I really like it, but it's too far and too cold for this trip. I bet there is a lot of snow up there, based on what I saw on Kitt!

Cleave

How did you know I was crying?

Heathpack 

I love Strava. But also hate it. I love connecting with other people. I really like some of their data summary stuff better than the way WKO presents that same info. I love being able to look back at the GPS track of specific workouts to review whether that was a good stretch of road for that workout. I'm all atwitter if I get a stupid QOM. Etc.

But the thing I hate about Strava is the over-emphasis on volume. Just constant tallying of distance, elevation gain, training hours. It really shapes the way Strava users see cycling- huge emphasis on quantity over quality.

So when the year-end summaries start getting posted to Strava, I start to cringe a little. The "ideal" is so many people's minds seems to be riding 10k miles per year. Which of course *might* be ideal for some of us but not others. I feel badly that people who ride less will feel like they're somehow falling short when they might in fact to be riding exactly the perfect amount for them.

Then yesterday, an older (than me!) woman I know posts her year-end summary and comments that she's surprised at how much she actually rode because she always feels like she's 'falling short'. This makes me feel badly, so I post something to the effect of different people needing different volume/intensity.

I then get some PMs from her because she's a recreational cyclist and has no idea what I'm talking about. I make a few points about the basics of training. She comments that she really gets sick of always being last, being slower. I respond very generally about perhaps focusing on a little intensity over volume. I think we're having a reasonable conversation and I'm surprised to hear she has the slightest concern about her speed, I never had the impression she was interested in anything beyond going out to ride around and look at butterflies.

Lol, then I get the inevitable question of the recreational cyclist: Don't I miss the enjoyment & beauty of cycling? When am I going to give up the coach thing?

Sigh.

Racer Ex 

Impossible to enjoy cycling if you have a coach. Everyone knows that.

Heading down to AZ Friday to visit friends, do a retreatish and some longer rides. Actually took my MTB out here last week, bundled up, trails were too mushy so I stick to the road. 40 degrees is plenty doable.

sarals 

Funny, I was thinking the same thing about Strava recently. As I closed in on the end of the year, it told me I had X miles to go reach my "goal of 4000 miles". ? When did I set that "goal"? I like having a coach, in spite of the fact that he takes away my enjoyment of cycling, the ability to smile at butterflies, and the constant pain he inflicts. What's up with all of those other people?

Hermes

Not cycling's finest hour. https://pvcycling.wordpress.com/2017...ittle-does-it/

sarals 

Quite a read. Outstanding POV, totally agree.

echappist

and not just volume in general, but miles in particular. Annual training is not preferentially calculated by time but by distance. If you don't have a wheel magnet on your trainer, then there goes those "miles" even though you've put in the time.

sarals 

The miles mean not a thing to me. Volume, to me, is the time and the efforts contained within that time. Strava can pile up miles all it likes, that style of accumulation doesn't apply to me.

IMHO, of course!

Heathpack 

Is this the ride that @Doge posts enthusiastically about? Lol I think it's funny that the disclaimer offered on that ride is something to the effect of "this ride is attended by RACERS! <Breathless chest beat> Don't attend if you're afraid of RACERS!"

What ******s.

One of the reason I don't love the organized century ride anymore is because of the high number of self-absorbed people riding three abreast, completely obstructing the flow of traffic. It causes me great anxiety to be riding along to the far right of the road, trying to be cognizant of traffic & respectful of faster vehicles on the road. Only to have some clueless cheerful types ride up next to me to chat me up. Looks like I'm a participant in the traffic obstruction then and my overwhelming feeling is: must ride away. Lol I'm sure my escape looks like unfriendliness.

Before I was a cyclist, I HATED cyclists. We'd encounter a strung out group ride on Sunday mornings on Mullholland Dr in the Beverly Hills area. No shoulders and yes it's your right to take the lane. But zero sense on the part of the cyclist that when safe for a car to pass, the non-asshat thing to do is to move to the right so that we could actually pass. I've experienced some real cager rage myself, I will admit.

And the thing is: encountering a large group of asshats is way more memorable than the 50 cyclists you passed in small groups riding sanely and non-asshattedly. So the impression becomes: cyclists are asshats. It's human nature.

Doge

I'm just enthusiastic. I never did that ride. There was a reason. But sorry, I did not know they were going to behave like this.

I did speak to one who was on it. He knew nothing of the EMT situation, but heard about it.

On Christmas Eve 1990ish I was on a Como Street ride. The turn light was red, we stopped. A rider/father cut the light, got hit and flipped in the air and died later. Not too many of the folks on that ride run lights.

Heathpack 

The first organized century I rode was the Palm Springs Century. I had started with some friends but got ahead of them, so I was out there solo in the wind.

I came upon the aftermath of a group that blew a stop sign out in the desert. A woman trying to hang onto the back of that group was hit by cross traffic- a pick up truck pulling some horses in a trailer. No way could the driver stop in time.

Mangled bike and they were doing CPR on her as they loaded her into the ambulance. Since you don't do CPR on living people, I knew she was dead. I'd been riding less than a year at that point. Made an impression. The moral of the story: don't hang onto a wheel at all costs.

Hermes

New York Law...I could not easily find California but suspect it is similar. One could argue that the cyclists were not intentionally disrupting service but I would argue that they knew exactly what they were doing and did not care.

S 195.16 Obstructing emergency medical services.
A person is guilty of obstructing emergency medical services when he
or she intentionally and unreasonably obstructs the efforts of any
service, technician, personnel, system or unit specified in section
three thousand one of the public health law in the performance of their
duties.
Obstructing emergency medical services is a class A misdemeanor.

A Misdemeanor is an offense other than traffic infraction of which a sentence in excess of 15 days but not greater than one year may be imposed (New York State Penal Law, Article 10). A misdemeanor is a crime. Petit larceny, criminal mischief in the fourth degree and assault in the third degree all fall into this category. Misdemeanors are grouped into one of three classes: Class A, Class B, or Unclassified. Upon conviction of a Class “A” misdemeanor, a court may sentence an individual to a maximum of one year in jail or three years probation. In addition, a fine of up to $1,000 or twice the amount of the individual’s gain from the crime may be imposed. Offenders found guilty of Class “B” misdemeanors face maximum penalties of up to three months imprisonment or one year probation. In addition, a fine of up to five hundred dollars or double the amount of the defendant’s gain from the commission of the crime may be imposed. An unclassified misdemeanor is any offense not defined in the Penal law (other than a traffic violation) for which a sentence of imprisonment of greater than 15 days but not in excess of one year may be imposed.

shovelhd

Our New Years Day ride had none of that nonsense.

revchuck 

Ours was too small for that to be an issue.

sarals 

I was working New Years Day. I picked up no cyclists. Good thing.

I tend to avoid group rides. I was once an enthusiastic proponent of them, and for the most part, the people I rode with were cognizant, sane, and relatively respectful. Stop signs did get blown, but rarely did a red light get ignored. I'm not ever going to run a light, anyway, group or not, it's just suicide to do that. My enthusiasm for group rides waned as I became a better racer, and came to understand pack dynamics. It was more of a self preservation thing for me to stay away from the groups. The level of sketchiness became intolerable for me.

I used to ride with a woman who REFUSED to ride to the right. Time and time again I'd tell her "car back, MOVE OVER". And she wouldn't. She said she was afraid she'd hit dirt or gravel and she'd go down, and she had osteoporosis and knew she'd break something. Oh, okay. But the car that hits you from behind will definitely break something, and you'll be knocked into me, that will break something on me. Yes, I said that to her. No, I don't ride with her any more.

Courtesy seems a waning commodity. I was was raised to be courteous, so it really grates on me, this trend going on now. I understand the mob mentality, and that's a different animal, but to be in a small group and to just obliviously ride along and feel you're somehow entitled is beyond me. And it pisses me off.

LAJ

There was a bus in front of our house checking out our lights over the holidays, and the gal across the street decided to park directly in front of our house, while the bus was there. She actually had to walk around the bus to get to her house across the street. I watched in disbelief. I put on my coat, wandered across the street, and asked her roommate if she could move her car, and maybe not do that for a couple more nights.... "She wouldn't have done that if there wasn't a car parked in front of our house". I just said thanks for listening, and went back home.

She ended up moving here car to a spot right behind the other car in front of her house.

Same mentality, and not exclusive to cyclists. The blindness to anything but "me" related, is really getting old.

End rant. Now I get to deal with some needy soul that can't fix their own car.

happybday29475

My favorite is when people stop in the middle of a doorway to have a conversation. They are either idiots or ***holes.

happybday29475

I put a new battery in my girlfriend's car last night, in the cold and dark, while it was snowing, thereby narrowly avoiding being the target of your rant.