Machka 

How were your weekend rides this weekend? Did you do some other exercise activities as well like ... canoeing, hiking, skiing, etc?


Rowan and I attempted a 400 km Randonnee this weekend, with me on my new titanium bicycle. The route was gorgeous, going down to Wilson's Prom, and following the coast line. The weather was decent ... cool, but mainly sunny with light winds.

But I discovered two things:

1) I am out of shape!! I've hardly ridden since the 300K last month, and I was working right from the get-go.

2) The fit on the titanium needs tweaking. It was fine for the 30 km rides last weekend, but by the time I hit about 50 km on this ride, my right knee was giving me a lot of trouble.

Once night fell, the temperature dropped way off, I was exhausted with the effort I was putting in to keep up the pace, and my knee was screaming, so we decided to call it a day (or night, I suppose, by that time).

We did 230 km.

MegaTom

I'm working all weekend, so there was never any riding to be had for sure today (Saturday), but maybe if I can get up early enough tomorrow (6AM or earlier, 6.5 hours from now), then I should be able to get in a good 1 1/2 - 2 hour ride in and around the airport before I start opening up show @ 8AM.


Here's hoping and thinking good thoughts about that pre-dawn wakeup call........

PeddlingPilgrim

i ran 8.5mi yesterday and got in about 5hrs on the bike today.... finally got to try out the mavic ksyrium SLs on a long ride in great weather. i'm cooked and sore now.

nahh

30 miles today, checking out a new-ish route. good ride, kind of hot.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go on a meandering ride with the girlfriend, but that depends on if it's raining or not.

Machka 

Today, Rowan and I did a 6.8 km hike up a mountain and back. A cool-down hike to stretch the muscles out from yesterday's ride. Actually it was a lot further than I thought it would be.

On my ride yesterday, I saw ... two emus, several wombats, several foxes, a feral black cat with big green eyes watching some waterfowl, and numerous other birds. And today on our drive and hike ... a whole bunch of large kangaroos, several wombats, and a large collection of parrots.

Yes, I got some photos, but I forgot my camera cord and can't download them.

Falcon64

40 miles yesterday, half of which was my first group ride. Visited the very rural part of town and kept wondering why, in the 20+ years I've lived here, have I not been out this way before??? Early morning rain and leaving on a business trip means no fun for today...

StephenH

I did a 64 mile charity ride yesterday. The ride was mainly east-west, what little wind there was, was out of the north. The ride is mainly either flat, or small enough rollers that you can go up one and down the next without much loss of time. Result: My best average speed ever on a ride, 19.1 mph. I realize there's folks that could do that with one leg, but for me, that was good. My previous best on a closed-loop ride was 17 mph back on New Year's Day.


And update: Got in 52.9 miles this afternoon at a less-impressive speed.

icyclist 

My Sunday ride was especially satisfying. It was the same ride to Griffith Park I made two weeks ago, when I stood my bike up against a wooden post to make a photograph of the landscape far below. '

Unfortunately, the bike somehow slid to the ground, and in the process, the little nose-cap on my expensive Specialized Toupe saddle popped off, which I didn't discover until I'd ridden down several miles. Without that nose-cap, castration was a possibility, so I carefully rode the rest of the way home, annoyed at the possibility of having to purchase a replacement Toupe.

Of course, it was possible that cap had come off somewhere else. Still, I was glad the group I ride with occasionally on Sunday was going to return to Griffith Park. We had a terrific ride through the mostly empty streets of Los Angeles, climbing first up Nichols Canyon into the Santa Monica Mountains, then flying down famed Mulholland Drive into Cahuenga Pass, before reaching the start of the climb to the top of the park.

When I reached the spot with the wooden post, I dismounted, looked around and then picked up the little cap off the ground, which somehow ha flipped to the back of the wooden post.

My Toupe is back on my seat post, my cojones are safe, and I had a fine 27 mile, 2,200 foot ride that left me in a great frame of mind.

wxmcpo

Got in a 54 mile ride yesterday in a little over 3 hours. Got in another 34 miles today right at 2 hours. Showered up and hit the golf course.

PeddlingPilgrim

i put in another ride today to get over 100 for the weekend, let alone running... and this was a climbing route to boot. plus i found a few water fountains @ a baseball field @ the top after exploring a few side streets. #score.

SkinnyLegs

I finally tried out a new route I've been wanting to do since the beginning of the year. 70 mile trip riding up north to Patapsco State Park and back. On the way up I came across some geese crossing the road. Mama geese let out some truly loud hissing to scare me away. I was impressed. Stopped to munch on some snacks in front of a Womens Correctional Institute. The guard in the watchtower gave me the suspicious eyeball treatment the whole time.

Had two short but impressively steep climbs, reaching 18% gradients at times, thrown in the middle. On the first climb up the aptly named Hilltop Dr, I passed by a couple walking and overheard the woman wishing she had brought her bike so she could ride up the hill. That brought a smile to my lips. The second climb up Ilchester Drive caught me totally offguard because my buddy who gave me the cue sheet told me it was pretty much flat from that point. Kinda made me chuckle as that was definitely the hardest climb of the ride. I'll have to figure out a way to get back at him somehow.

On the way back I got lost and stopped at a fire station to get directions. An hour later the cue sheet I had taped to my stem ripped loose, flew over the side of the road, and down a steep embankment into a stream. I spent the next half hour navigating generally southwards judging by the sun until I hit familiar roads. Passed through some decidedly non bike friendly roads during that time. But there was virtually no one on the road at 7pm on a Sunday afternoon so everything worked out ok. Arrived home at 8pm. Sunset at 8:15pm. I'll have to get an earlier start next time around

asok

Lets see. Was supposed to get out at noon for around 60 miles. I have been having some trouble with my shifters (not shifting into smaller cogs) so I took a look at those before heading out. Turns out the wire was frayed inside the shifter. It wouldn't shift properly because the frayed cable pieces were not allowing the cable to move. There were about 2 strands holding the thing together.

Quick cable replacement. Hit the road about 2 hours late in the rain. I shortened the ride to 30 miles and called it good. I made my goal to hit 3k on the odometer on that computer. Replaced cable worked great though and only required a turn of the barrel adjuster once the cables set.

Machka 

I've got the photos from the 400K attempt on Saturday. They are the ones entitled "15May10_Gippsland" ... pretty area ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/1430288...detail/?page=7



And me with my titanium ...

runnercyclist

Our ride this weekend is nicknamed the Trail of Tears ride. 97 miles, 6000' of vertical climb, and roughly 20 miles in a downpour. AWESOME! Thanks to spinmandan for designing the route! What a ride!

Take a look...https://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...27276459392714

Honu

Saturday 5/15 - Another great ride with the OK Freewheel training group (well, with the "caboose" portion of the Freewheel training group!), 45 miles from Draper Lake to Lake Thunderbird and back. I liked watching non-cyclists blanch when I told them that Sunday. But what I REALLY liked was... drumroll... NO WIND. In Oklahoma, that's RARE! It was cloudy and in the low 60's, basically perfect.

Quel

On Saturday I set out for a 40 mile ride alone in the early afternoon. About 12 miles out, I flatted on some big rocks that were part of a temporary driveway at a construction site. The tire went from full to flat in about 2 seconds. Screw up my tire too, so my backup tube flatted a short while later. When I was changing the tire I noticed a guy 100 feet up the road who flatted on the same crap. I went back and cleaned up the road there, then called my roommate for an emergency pickup. Sucked. Going to start carrying a patch kit now.

coasting 

i dicovered there is fitness and then again there is fitness. Saturday I did 75 miles faster than I have ever done that same route. I was really pleased. Sunday I was out with some strong cyclists looking for the steepest hills in the area. This area is full of nasty steep hills and I usually circumvent it on my rides or if I just go through I can get away with doing just 2 of the hills. Sunday we went up and down and round and up again. Climbed 7 of them and faster than I would care to if I was on my own. I hurt all over my legs. Even my butt cheeks hurt.

mrbUSA

After almost 4 weeks off the bike, I managed a simple and quiet 25 miles on Sunday, solo and at a pace to clear the head. I find that when I cannot ride for a long period of time, it takes me to kick myself in the ass to get back into it. Then once on the bike I remember just how much I love it. Kids, family committments etc... "me" time is sooo important.

icyclist 

Saturday's ride was a festival of hills. I rode north from my house in Los Angeles, 3 miles to the base of the Santa Monica Mountains. Then up and down for 11 miles and 3,000 feet of climbing on some of the steepest streets in town, including a few, short 20+% slopes. With virtually no flat ground, the average grade for the 5.5 vertical miles of the ride was about 10%.

Tsuru

Me and two of my buds did a fast 75 mile loop from Clintonville to Granville (OH). Here's the map for the ride:

https://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...27291302212318

There was a few detours due to some road construction, but not enough to warrant updating the map. One guy was sick, one had a sore back, and my left leg got all crampy at mile 63ish but we maintained a fast pace.

LAJ

300K on Saturday. Decided to take the commuter as it has fenders and a rack for the odd weather that was expected. Hung with the speedy bunch for a bit, but the uneven pace was pissing me off, so at about 35 miles, I just went steady. First checkpoint there were some folks left from the front group, but I had to do some minor repairs on the old Puch, so they took off. I left into a headwind and hills, and about halfway to the next checkpoint, met up with a fellow, and we rode together. His wife was his supply wagon, and she was supposed to meet him at each stop, but she kept getting lost. So each checkpoint, the stops were way longer than I planned on, but, he and I were about the same speed, so it was OK. My Edge 500 didn't save the ride, it was wet, it was windy, we left at 5 am, and I actually had a good time.

I mowed the lawn on Sunday.

palesaint

Absolutely superb weather for the 2010 Santa Fe Century yesterday. Not too cold at 7am, and it didn't get too hot either. Light wind, mostly blue skys. Wonderful.

104 miles, little over 4000 feet climbing, 19mph avg. Best time so far. Hope to beat it next year.

songfta

This weekend's riding for me was tough, tough, tough.

Saturday's ride out of Wardensville, WV, was extremely hard. Click here for a map/route. The final tally:

- 92.54 miles
- 6:24:25 rolling time
- 9,342' of climbing

What made the ride tougher still was that I was battling a nasty stomach bug from Thursday night through late on Friday. That meant very little in the way of quality fueling for such a ride. So I likely started the ride in nutrient deficit, which made the second climb of the day (the aforementioned 1,900' grind, which maxed out at 19%) a real bear. After eating a whole turkey and cheese panini at our rest stop at mile 57, things started to improve. That was good, because the climb after that stop included a long dirt stretch: 3 miles of uphill and almost 5 miles of downhill - all on skinny road tires. Luckily, there were no crashes or punctures in the group, given the rough road. By the final climbs, I was able to hammer a bit: more out-of-the-saddle stuff, dropping all but our lightweight jackrabbit of a climber.

The big plus of the ride: the scenery! The Blue Ridge Mountains are really spectacular right now, and the big climbs led to big vistas. Alas, no pictures this time, but this won't be the last time I take on this route. And tiny 'ol Wardensville has its own brewery and brewpub, and they treated weary cyclists very well.

Yesterday's recovery ride (map/route) was perfect: 65.5 miles at an 18 mph average pace with lots of spinning and nothing big in terms of out-of-the-saddle sprinting or climbing. The operative word of the day was smooth: smooth cadence, smooth pace, and (mostly) smooth roads. It was a great way to start out my birthday, that's for sure!