bruce19

Well...end of season if you're in New England for sure. Mine goes something like this: Thanks to weird weather and other demands, I rode about 1/2 the miles I would ordinarily ride. Part of that was intentional in that I am, by nature, not a long distance athlete. I spent a lot more time riding HIIT solo rides than I have in the past. I found that I am faster and am climbing better than I have in previous years. I had a goal of doing my 6.5 mi. TT at 18 mph. My previous best was 17.4 mph. Not only did I reach 18 mph, I actually hit 19.2 mph! Having just reached age 72 I was stoked. But, the best part has been that I actually enjoyed riding a lot more this year. I'm feeling supple and smoother on the bike. That's my story.

But, I created this post to ask, "What's your story?" Just wondering how everyone has viewed their season thus far.

CliffordK

I have an unending cycling season.

A little short on miles this summer, but still rolling quite a bit. About time to start thinking of getting bikes tuned for the winter.

I have a 11 mile out and back loop for challenges, but I haven't done it hard for over a year. I barely hit 20 MPH on it about 2 years ago. I might try to get back to it in Sept or Oct.

I did hit 20 MPH on a 16 mile one-way commute this year (well, dropped slightly in the last mile, but hit 20 at about Mile 15), but a lot of things aligned for it to be a perfect ride that day.

noglider 

I put on most of my miles commuting, and I commute by bike nearly every day, 13 miles round trip. I'm on target for hitting 3,000 miles in the calendar year. I ride less in the winter, but I don't stop.

Trsnrtr

Same here. What is this end of season stuff? Just need to wear more clothes and maybe switch to winter bike.

DrIsotope

Here in the Land Without Seasons, I barely even need to change clothes-- I think last winter I had to wear my tights about 10 times.

December is traditionally one of my biggest mileage months of the year. I've had my bought-on-sale Le Col armwarmers for over 6 months now, still looking forward to actually getting to try them out. Maybe in November.

Maelochs

I have the extremely unpleasantly hot season, and the unpleasantly cool and wet season, with occasionally the miserably cold season .... but they interchange at will it seems.

noglider 

Heh. We have four seasons here, and we have a whole lot of bad weather days. We are entering our best weather season, but it's only a month or two long, and the daylight hours are short. Where are you?

ctpres

Summer in the mountains almost over - headed south before 10/1 - so sad. Only one personal goal unsatisfied so far and not much chance I will make it from the Rio Grande to Love Lake without stopping. Next stop - TX Gulf Coast for the winter. Flat land will be boring.

Machka 

If there's a season, it's only just begun.

skidder

We only have one season here in Southern California ("riding season"), so riding is do-able all year long. That said, I've only been getting out about 3 days per week (average) and really need to increase both days/per and weekly mileage in the future.

MinnMan

I ride 12 months/year in Minnesota, so I'm not sure how one defines the end of the season. For sure, there's less light now than in August and that's causing changes - my weekday after-work club rides are gone and so I ride solo - usually after dark with good lights. Overall, this means that the miles/week are going down, but except for extreme weather (personal definition= below 10°F or unusually icy or stormy), it's always a good day to ride outside.

Bmach

tcs

The heat as finally broken and I can comfortably ride during the day instead of only at morning dawn. The 2018-2019 riding season has just begun!

talphie

GadgetGirlIL

End of season? Even though I live in northern Illinois, I've ridden every month this year so far and have no intentions on stopping. I'll just add more layers and at some point put the studded tires back onto the heavy bike. Bar mitts, winter cycling boots, and studded tires were a game changer for me last winter. The rest of the gear I already owned thanks to hiking and snow shoeing.

Greenhil

lvolpe

Southwestern Connecticut weather certainly put a crunch on riding time. While there is still some time remaining my weekend rides were limited right from the start of a wet spring which continued through the summer.

BobbyG

This reminded me of the song "Turn, Turn, Turn" by the Byrds (Itself based on Ecclesiates 3:1-8). It seems to be somewhat relevant to seasonal bicycling:

"To everything
Turn turn, turn
There is a season
Turn, turn, turn,
And a time to every purpose under Heaven"

(And especially the beginning to verse Two)

"A time to break down
A time to build up"

noglider 

@BobbyG, it comes from Ecclesiastes.

https://www.chabad.org/library/bible.../Chapter-3.htm

Colnago Mixte

I'm with Dr.Isotpe here, we don't have seasons in California. Beginning in January this of year, I think I have ridden once or twice with my legs covered, and I ride almost every day. Winters are some of the best times of the entire year to ride in the Sierras. It's sunny and warm most days, unless it's snowed recently.

Wildwood 

Dry season done.
Fender season in full swing.


Think I may look for something suitable in a rain cape.

BobbyG

Thanks, Tom. I had never looked at that in hebrew before. And in the first hebrew line I find one more pertinent cycling reference.

The phrase "under heaven" in hebrew is "תַּ֥חַת הַשָּׁמָֽיִם"/"tachat ha-shamayim". The word ta-chat means"under" or "bottom", and in the european (ashkenaz) dialect it is pronounced ta-chas, which then becomes the Yiddish word tuchus (or toochis/tookis) which means butt or derriere.

And that is a big "under"-lying issue for many cyclists.

DeadGrandpa

The humidity and heat are finally on the cusp of fading. My gf and I rode 45 miles yesterday, a welcome boost from our summer training loop of 35 miles. The reduction from 90+ to mid 80s is a definite help. There was a time when I worked all day in the hayfield in mid 90 temperatures, but that was a younger me. I'm glad the autumn has finally broken through. Looking forward to the winter rides, too, though it's distance and endurance we are after, not speed.

BobbyG

Congratulations on a successful season! At 72 any performance improvement is a major accomplishment for a regular rider, and the added "suppleness" and "smoothness" is extra icing on the cake!

dennis336

I'm still hoping to do my 'normal' riding distances through November but, thus far, it's been a good riding season for me. Haven't done the longer rides I anticipated doing (75 miles to a century) as I typically do them on group/charity rides and I just didn't do many of those this year. Kind of lost interest in having to get somewhere at an official start time and I'm now familiar with most of the roads in the charity rides within a reasonable distance of my home so there wasn't that motivation. Having said that, I've really been enjoying my solo rides ... always like to discover new roads - this year, found some new gravel roads in Western Connecticut and Western Massachusetts and Southern Vermont along with a new route in Eastern Connecticut. Made it back up to Acadia National Park and rode the Park Loop and up Cadillac Mountain for spectacular views. I do ride through the winter unless the weather is unusually harsh, albeit shorter distances. I'm hoping my mileage this year will land close to my past couple of years - close to 4,500 miles although I may fall a bit short as my gravel riding distances tend to be a bit shorter than the road rides of years past. But, it's all good!