Short little MTB ride before visiting some family this morning. 10 miles, 1000' of climbing, and it brought me to over 15 hours of rolling time this week.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...61439c9adb.jpg

36 miles, 1900’ climbing. Bested previous PR on 3 mile climb by 40 seconds. Still 2nd fastest per bracket but will never take the KOM. The winner is too damned fast.
Got a KOM for bracket on 2.1 mile segment that Mr Speed-demon didn’t ride. :)

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cf2371536.jpeg

Saturday: I did the Hungry Bear 100 gravel race. (though I wasn't racing) That was 60 miles, and I added in a few more at the end to round up to the metric century to get my May Gran Fondo in Strava. That was the toughest ride I've ever done. Lots of climbing for this part of the country. Details here: https://www.strava.com/activities/11387948578

Today: just the 4 mile eBike commute, but my battery died halfway to work, so I had to pedal that 60 lb. bike home (half uphill) and got a decent workout anyway.

Just noticed today I'm down 8 lb. I only started riding a month ago, couple of 20-30 mile rides per week, much greater appetite, yet still down. Hopefully I can shed another 20ish by the end of summer.

That is remarkable losing 8 lbs only doing a couple of 20-30 milers per week. You must still have quite the metabolism. Shedding another 20 shouldn’t be too hard. What is your age - and resist the urge to eat - or just eat healthy snacks if you must give in.

must be nice to have that metabolism!

In my 30s, I could drop 4-5 lbs on a weekend if I was active and didn’t eat. Back in those days, I saw eating as an inconvenience so skipped it quite a bit. Rather be hiking or biking than eating. Now, I have 2 lbs to get me down to my semi-idea weight but 5 to get me to an ideal weight for power to weight ratio. Not so easy anymore.

I'm almost 43. Last time I weighed myself was right after winter holidays, so I bet 8 lb includes a turkey and whatever comes with it. Eating less is definitely a challenge, especially since my wife's cooking is pretty good. I do try to stay away from late night junk foods binges.

19.6 mile mountain bike ride this afternoon at York River State Park. A cool 79 F. Did not see any Cicadas but heard them. I don’t know how to upload a video from my iPhone so trying a could have links to the Video I uploaded to YouTube as a short. Hope it works. Just the sound and panning.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f8a60761f.jpeg

Cicadas

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZbyrQmMlCGg?feature=shared

31 miles and 4500' of climbing.

My favorite local "HC" rated climb was finally free of snow, so I did that today...the climb itself is 10 miles, 3200', and a 6% average gradient. The average doesn't quite tell the whole story, as it's punctuated with a handful of short false flats. Anyway, averaged over 290 watts for the bulk of the climb...I managed to lift the tempo towards the top and average 4.0 w/kg for the last 20 minutes of the climb. Humblebrag...beat my PR by a minute and if I can find another minute(actually doable IMO,) I can overtake a pro CX'er for the #2 spot on Strava. It's seldom done as a segment, despite being a legit road climb, otherwise I'd normally not feature anywhere near the top 10 on a big road climb like this.

Partway down the descent...you can barely see the road ahead on the 2nd away ridge:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bdbc8941c6.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...913f8a2e37.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f336e7743b.jpg


Thunderstorms started moving in on the way back up...was hearing thunder in the closing miles of the climb:
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...36d7a47f08.jpg

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Wonderful pics. What a gorgeous area.

Nice power numbers. And to have enough in the tank to kick it up for the last 20 minutes is remarkable. Well done

Thanks. It's pretty much my back yard for me...I can ride to this particular climb, but driving to the top saves about 40 miles of riding. Starts at the top of the ridge (6600') and drops down to the river at around 3400', once at the bottom, there are some options to add mileage/elevation. During all those hours of uber boring wintertime trainer sessions, I'm just thinking of riding the high country.

I'm really stoked with my power numbers this season...I never thought I'd be able to bump up the wattage in the last 20 minutes of an hour long effort. It's been a process over the last 5 years. Circa 2020ish, I was near my ideal race weight, but didn't have the power that I've had more recently. late 2021-2022 were terrible fitness years for me. 2023's power numbers killed the previous good years by a considerable amount, but I was also 20ish pounds heavier...so I was generally slower on all but the short, explosive climbs. This year, I managed to get below my 2019-20 race weight, yet retain similar or even better power numbers than last year.

Maybe this will help with those boring trainer rides: Holograph

Beautiful outdoor pics :thumb:

very nice

Slightly caught off guard with the weather.. was not planning on a ride, butttttt the forecast went from predicting heavy moiiist to just a stupid headwind on the return.
30.3 miles.

Weather was spot on outside, but I'm stuck near the house helping my wife that just had back surgery...

Zwift is my friend.

34 miles, including the Mt Fuji climb portal.

Pretty interesting, but I sense the next "Peloton" saga.

Short Answer: 15 miles yesterday.

Long Answer: I went to the club ride last night, rain was forecast, but not serious. Only 5 of us showed up. One bailed immediately, as he forgot his floor pump and couldn't get his tires hard enough with the compact pumps available. Another one rode 20 miles to get to the ride, then rode with us for ~ 5 miles, then headed back toward home. He didn't mind, just didn't want to get caught in the heavy rain, which we could then see coming on radar.

That left three of us. The rider leader picked a shorter alternate route, as he lives in the area. We got 15 miles instead of the usual 27. There were no slower riders (than me) so we got a 17 mph average. That's between the usual A and B groups that ride this ride. (on nice days, we have upwards of 20 riders)

Just after we returned to the starting point, the rain got heavier. It had been drizzling the whole ride prior to that. We took shelter under the eave of a shed and had our usual beer and snacks.

I almost fell over in the parking lot at the start of the ride and gashed my right calf pretty good on the big chainring. (pic in Strava post below)

https://www.strava.com/activities/11404938828

43 miles, 4200' climbing, and a 16.4 mph average this morning.

I scored a PR on a 1 hour and 20ish minute segment, that I chock completely up to the "aero-ness" of the new bike and my position on it. My previous PR was a couple months back...I averaged 15 less watts this time, yet did it over a minute quicker. My pace was pretty similar on the steeper bits, but I was considerably quicker on the not-so-steep parts. I was going for an easyish ride this morning, as I don't want to accumulate too much fatigue this early in the week...managed that goal just fine, I managed to keep the power well down into zone 2 levels, even on the PR'ed segment.

Wow, that must have bled like a mother. Yikes.

Headed out today without any expectations. Even after yesterday off, except for core and leg strengthening, I thought I would just cruise along and enjoy the ride and not stress myself. I managed to keep things sane for the first couple of climbs, and then the red mist descended. I logged my second fastest 10K being only 0.06 seconds slower from 2021 @ 21.7 MPH. Took a KOM on a 0.6 mile for my bracket, running 29.8 MPH on a slight downhill, with a generous tailwind, and a car I could almost draft - but a win is a win. The fun part was hitting almost 35 MPH on a one mile downhill. Good times.

Now why do my legs want to cramp?

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4d629ce7b.jpeg
Where the 1 mile descent began.

25 miles yelling at the headwinds that seemed to adjust with my direction...

Might force a day of rest this week... operative word is "might"
Gotta git while the gittin is gooders being in the moiiist mitten

You been drinking again? :D

don't encourage me!