Machka 

Welcome to the first weekend of November!! Tell us all about your cycling or other sports. Anyone have snow yet?

Machka 

Saturday -- rainy day. Much needed this spring. So the exercise was indoors today.


Rowing

Distance: 2,059m
Time: 13:09

............... Avg.... / ...... Max
Speed: .... 3:11/500m / 2:46/500m
Cadence: . 28 ... / ... 30
Power: .... 50W ... / ... 66W


Treadmill Run/Walk

Distance: 3.06km
Time: 30:22
Pace: 9:55/km


Plus some weights.

TheDudeIsHere

50 miles today. Breezy but managed a 17.4 average speed over the 50. Beautiful skies today!

Machka 

Sunday -- we participated in a shorter version of the first ride of the Audax season!! It was a lovely ride, and the organiser and his family put on a good BBQ after. There were about 17 or 18 riders, a good turnout for us, and I think everyone else rode the official 100 km.


Distance: 30.21km
Elevation: 279m
Moving Time: 1:48:23
Elapsed Time: 1:54:43
Speed: Avg: 16.7km/h | Max: 39.2km/h

Clipped_in

We had a serious cold snap this week with nighttime low temps in the single digits Fahrenheit. It warmed up a bit for the weekend so I went out for four hours on Saturday. It was beautiful, with cold temp around 33 degrees in the shady sections of the canyon, but in the sun it got up the low 50's. It's likely the last ride of that length I'll get until February.

End of the pavement at Maple Creek Canyon



Wallsburg valley



Wallsburg Arm & Mount Timpanogos

canklecat

Miserable week, feeling flu-ish despite getting my flu shot. Maybe just a cold, I dunno. Mostly did indoor trainer sessions, easy efforts for 60-90 minutes.

After doing my first solo century in a couple of years at the end of September I decided to try for a solo century every month, but missed October. So I decided to make up for it Saturday. Only did 25 miles before I was gassed out. Went home and slept for 12 hours.

So, now that the silly autumn time change ritual is over, maybe my body will reset and I'll try again next week.

Ogsarg

82 miles. 15.9 avg. 1500 ft. A bit of wind over at the coast, but nothing like last week.

NoWhammies

64k ride. Lovely sunny yet cool weather. Not sure how many more days I'll get in before the rainy season takes over. Happy to be out on my bike.

jbchybridrider 

I had a sunny but chilly days ride on a typical route. Took an original 1990 road bike with 42-25 lowest gear so not a fast ride until going down hill. climbed 3200f

TheDudeIsHere

Another 31 miles with the wife today, 16.3 average speed. On the comeback trail after some time off for family matters.

canklecat

I finally had to compromise with my age and switched my '89 steel Ironman over to Vuelta 50/39 or /38 chainrings and 13-28 freewheel. Much better on days with serious climbs when my legs are wobbly. I haven't lost any speed, really, it's just easier on climbs and I spin more around 90 rpm instead of grunting and stomping up climbs at 50-60 rpm.

jbchybridrider 

I've kind of lied about the bike being original I have put a Sunrace 12-25 freewheel and 9s chain on you may have already been aware of.
But have a few dropout extenders laying around so been thinking of trying one and a 13-28 to help climbing and wouldn't be changing the bike anymore from original other than the extender. The Sprint derailleur won't take another tooth as it is.

Kabuki12

Sunday in Southern California , spent a couple of days stressed out about fires close by. Got up early and just did 15 miles due to poor air quality. Next weekend will be fantastic, the mornings are cool now and the riding is wonderful. Joe. joesvintageroadbikes.wordpress

goenrdoug

Big weekend of riding here in SoCal.

Saturday, some friends and I took it relatively easy and skipped our typical club ride in favor of noodling around some flatter roads, stopping for coffee, etc. We ended up getting about 43 miles and 2500 feet of climbing in with the roll-y terrain. https://www.strava.com/activities/2836180549




It was a good prep ride before the big day that 3 out of the 4 of us had planned for Sunday:

Sunday was the 11th annual Mike Nosco Memorial ride.
From their site:
"The Michael P. Nosco Foundation, Inc. supports our Southern California communities whose mission is to provide financial relief to families and/or individuals who are confronting a life threatening illness. The foundation's mission is realized by organizing an annual cycling event, the Michael Nosco Memorial Bicycle Ride, to generate revenue."

It's a big ride with three major climbs (and a bunch of smaller ones!) in it. 82.5 miles and 8600 feet of climbing. Given that the beneficiaries are local people and the organizers are firefighters to whom the entire community owes plenty, emotions run high for most-everyone involved.

The first climb comes at about 20 miles. It's one of the most challenging road climbs around here and well-known to locals. Deer Creek Rd is 2.25 miles long and averages 11.5% (with pitches over 20%!) Its relentless and never gives you a breather. It was freshly paved last month for the first time in over 30 years. That has changed the character of it somewhat. It's still difficult, but now you can actually look around at the amazing view, other riders, etc. as opposed to steering around cracks in the pavement wider than your entire bike. I managed to grind out a PR, shaving almost a minute off the PR I set on a training ride up it the previous weekend. Given that I'm generally in the 'grupetto' on climbs, I was pretty stoked about that.

Here's my pain face, trying to twist into a smile for the photographer:



From there, we faced a series of exaggerated rollers (made all the more exhausting after climbing that monster) before descending down a notoriously badly-paved road (Yerba Buena) to PCH.

The iconic stretch of coastline delivered on its reputation with fantastic ocean vistas, perfect conditions, and plenty of riders to paceline with.

The next big climb is a local favorite, Mullholland. It's 7 miles long at an average of a bit over 4%. That's kind of misleading, though, due to a number of downhill stretches thrown into the climb. This road has been a staple climb for local clubs for decades. It was repaved about a year-and-a-half ago and has been closed to vehicular traffic for about 3/4ths of that time because last year's Woolsey fire tore through and completely destroyed the entire canyon. It is now a shadow of what it once was. It used to be a beautiful green valley with plenty of trees and enviable homes dotting the hillsides. Now, not so much. The road has, however, been unofficially open to cyclists for quite a while now. The event was able to get official support from the authorities to ride it. My ride buddy and I took it easy on this one, knowing that we had the grandaddy climb still-to-come:

Latigo Canyon. It's 9+ miles long and seems never-ending. Again, the listed 4.2% average is deceptive in that there are two short descents tucked-into the otherwise unrelenting climb. My PR on it is just over an hour. Sunday, it took more like an hour and 20 minutes. Thankfully, the Nosco ride is well-supported and my ride buddy and I were attentive to taking in salt/water/food/etc. throughout the day. Last year we both fought cramps toward the top of this climb. This year, we took it slow and survived cramp-free.

The top of Latigo is far from the finish, however. One still has a major twisty descent (one that has previously sent me to the hospital!) and a beautiful wide valley to cross. We survived, to make it to the finish-line and enjoy our well-earned meal/beers.




This is one 'charity ride' kit that I will wear with pride. The symbolism of the fires, cracks, and "T.O.Strong" (referring to the Borderline mass shooting and a local police officer who lost his life in it here last year) are all powerful talismans that will carry me along like a tailwind on future rides.

And hey, it doesn't hurt that it matches my bike!
https://www.strava.com/activities/2839517314