69 miles and 4900' of climbing on my XC MTB this morning...it was actually a gravel race, but I took the XC bike to have an excuse for not doing well. I was at the end of a couple of hard riding weeks and I originally didn't want to really do a racing effort. So the plan was take the MTB and just treat it like a supported ride. Well one thing led to another and before I knew it, I was fighting for position going into the first climb of the day.:fred:

Luckily for me, the bottom was a mix of big ruts, sand, and cobbles, and I passed a lot of the drop bars in the opening miles of that segment. I eventually got passed back by a lot of them once the climb smoothed out, but I still came out better than I entered. I still thought I didn't have a chance for a high O/A result, but I eventually pushed harder on each consecutive segment. Finally, I was riding as hard as I could on the final segment. I eventually finished 15th O/A in the men's category, out of 325+ participants...not exactly a weak field either. Some gravel guys, a certain Lachlan Morton, even Levi Leipheimer(he's still inanely fast.) The course terrain and timed segments certainly suited my strengths, but still an unexpectedly good result for me.

Got a little warm out there:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...347de706ae.jpg

Got up to no water... decided to go to the rec for a few bottles of water & then rolled 53 miles. Back to the community center for a wash & back to the dry house.
prohibition on water day that it seems ugh

Two consecutive days of one hour sessions of Z2. Lots of thunder showers this weekend so headed indoors. Between downpours, power washed the back porch awning yesterday, which sucked. Today was the aggregate patios’ turn. It sucked less, but took a few hours. Built a movable platform for an extremely heavy plantar from this and that I had in the garage. The first attempt was a fail, but got it right the second time around.

Congrats, Sierra for losing control and doing so well on the race, even if it was unintended.

Call it 23 miles. Almost 90 deg F, but a lot of shade on the trails really helped.

Otto

Rode my first timed Fondo yesterday.

60.5 miles, 4700+' of climbing, all short punchy climbs. Up and down all day.

Had my best 3+ hour power numbers and was able to hit the climbs hard at will.

Was also humbled by the Cat 1+ guys on the ride. I don't experience being around riders of that nature very often, or ever for that matter. But damm - them boys are fast on that type of terrain.

I had a busy weekend, didn't get any riding in at all
Friday was a long drive to Rockford, IL to see Nate Bargatze. (a really funny comedian; look him up on YouTube if you don't know who he is)
Saturday was a Miata club event; attending vintage races at Road America. (Elkhart Lake, WI)
Yesterday was a bonus day with my daughter; we saw the 40th anniversary screening of the 1st four episodes of The Transformers... on the big screen. They had the original voice actors (the ones who are still alive anyway) re-voice the 1st episode; It was awesome. Then a picnic on the lakefront. Now today, we're forecasted to have T-storms all afternoon and evening, ruining our club ride. It seems like it rains at least 50% of the time in the spring in this part of the country. Mosquitoes will be getting bad soon.
I am enjoying this family/child-rearing time of my life, but I will also appreciate having more time to ride in 6 years or so, when my daughter goes to college.

Nate Bargatze's SNL skit about introduction of US Weights and Measures. As someone working in this field, we gathered around and had a great laugh and then immediate reflection on how absurd our system is.

Today I did my 25-mile ride. Did not make 100 last week due to bad weather.

Got in 38 and 1K of climbing today inside.

Rest day yesterday and for today, a fake 10 and 2300' in fake Yosemite. Giving myself an easy week, as the last couple were fairly high effort.

55 miles (88K <-which sounds more impressive) with 2,300’ (701 meters <-doesn’t sound that impressive) and 3 PRs on an ideal day temperature wise - low 60s. OK, haters - there is some fresh meat for ya. :)

I usually try to hammer this kind of distance and try for 17 to 18 MPH average and feel wrecked when I finish and for the rest of the night, but then I am old. But, after several rides of Zone 2, which is super easy, I thought, why not keep a more moderate pace and see how I feel during the big climbs and at the end. The answer is, the climbs went really well and at the end I felt fine and could have easily done 20 more. Nothing wrong with taking it to the max to improve VO2 once or twice a week, but not feeling wasted at the end of a 50 mile ride is fantastic. No rest day tomorrow.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...db97a3591.jpeg
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dont have a cow, man.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11460040202

I wound up getting 23 miles in last night. It was one of those evenings when the weather sites were vague. Radar showed some rain moving through just north of our route. It was cloudy for the first few miles, then it cleared and the wind kicked up.
I showed up to one of the club's faster road rides on my gravel bike with fenders and its less efficient IGH, so I busted my butt just to average 15.3 mph. On my road bike with this effort, it would've been close to 17.
One other club member held back and rode with me, and we had some good conversation about Road America and car racing. (he used to be pretty seriously into it, having done Formula Ford, then RX-7s, then Porsche road cars)
For the first leg of the ride, it felt like a 15-20 mph headwind; just brutal with my knobbie & fenders. The tailwind on the return yielded a nice easy 19 mph.
I'm a little sad because this guy who hangs back with me instead of going Zone 4 & 5 all the time has developed A-fib (maybe from going Zone 5 too much over the years?) and is now shopping for an eBike. I'll be all alone and may just stop going to this ride. I may try to start a separate moderate-paced ride of my own on Monday nights.

25 miles for me today.

17.4 miles and a shameful wet ride. Rain came in half hour early. So the ride back wasn't as planned.

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Just a little over 30 minutes on the trainer today...did a FTP ramp test. It wasn't the most ideal time to do one, but I was feeling really well rested and it wasn't enough intensity/duration to screw up my plans of an easier week. The results were a big improvement from my last test back in early April...I ended up with an estimated FTP of 358 watts, which is good enough for a 4.5 w/kg FTP ratio.

31 miles. 71°F

8 miles on an eBike yesterday, recovering from Monday night's ride: to work: 2 miles, home and back for lunch: another 4. Home after work: 2 more.

Today, four miles again on the eBike for commuting. I had a strong tailwind on the way in this morning, coasting down a shallow hill in a still pocket of air at 20 mph. I don't need the eBike for that, but the motor will save my legs a bit during the ride home into the strong headwind for the club ride I lead Wednesday nights. Should be interesting, with the 16 mph wind gusting to > 25 mph. However, it's a west (WSW) wind, and will taper down to ~ 10 mph during the time we're riding, so I think I will start us out heading mostly east, then north when we hit the lake. I'm sure there'll be a lot of b1tching about it anyhow, hehehe.

25 miles. Great weather. 85 degrees.

Slacker

I got in 31 and 2.5K of fakery, but the legs felt really good today.

An easy 23 miles and 2600' of gravel/forest roads this afternoon...perfect weather too, warm but not hot.

I'm telling myself this is supposed to be an easy week, but I'm having an internal conflict on whether or not I should go out for a big day of climbing tomorrow.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...36291ec9c7.jpg
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haha. This chain link may be old, falls a part at random, & makes a lot of noise......... where was i going with this again. nvm. :D

25 miles on yesterday’s ride. Brutal 20 mph headwind for about a third of it. I pulled for about half of that, and then a stronger rider and an eBiker finally took their turn. The e-biker got two flats: one rear, one front. Luckily, it was a road bike and the wheels were very easy to remove and replace. (on the cheaper e-bikes, the wheels don’t come on and off very easily, especially the rear.) We barely made it back before dark.

Funny story: to change the second flat, we pulled off the road into the parking lot of a Jehovah’s Witness kingdom hall. People were pouring in ahead of a service. One guy came out, said we were blocking traffic, and asked us to find a spot in the back of the parking lot. I looked around and noticed that we were in fact not blocking traffic, but I moved closer to the building onto the rocks and off of the pavement altogether. Two of my buddies followed suit, but this was not enough for that particular parishioner. “I ASKED YOU TO GO TO THE PARKING LOT.” He repeated, starting to raise his voice. I was getting mad and said: “Oh, are we STILL in your way?! Just trying to get some shade…” as I gestured at the rocks we were standing on. He repeated himself again, looking a little heated. My buddy said in a normal tone of voice: “You’re kind of a prick, aren’t ya?” And we walked off the property. It was hilarious how he said it.

I was not getting the best impression of Jehovah’s Witnesses when they are not recruiting, but then another family pulled in, parked, got out of their car and offered to help us and whatever way they could. Then, another parishioner came out of the kingdom hall and chatted with us for a while; turns out he was a cyclist too. The JH’s are redeemed a bit in my eyes.

Later, the faster three guys made a sprint and dropped the other four of us. I had brought my gravel bike, as this was supposed to be a 13-15 mph, no-drop, beginner-friendly ride. I could barely keep up on the downhills, but I was OK with getting dropped at that point. Because of the wind, only veterans showed up, and we all knew where we were going by that point. Also, it was FINALLY the time for the nice 20 mph tail wind and there were some nice downhills, so I was OK with it. It was a glorious stretch; I set my record pace for 10 km, even on the gravel bike!

However, the guy who called the JH a prick earlier started yelling at me about them dropping us on a no-drop ride. I told him I didn’t really have a say in the matter since they’re faster than me. He asked if I was going to talk to them about it when we got back to the parking lot, or if it's going to be like this every week. He’s actually a faster rider and could’ve joined them, but he likes this ride to get a ride in and still save his legs for the fast Thursday night ride.

We’d had a discussion in the Facebook group a few days before about tubeless and whether it’s worth it on road bikes. I teased the guy with the flats about it: “Jerry’s going tubeless tomorrow.” That prompted him to talk about flats for the entire rest of the ride. He’s 70 and has been cycling for most of his life, so he had a lot of stories.

It was a fun time despite all the drama. :D

Backdated to 21st May, 2024.

Cycled the Trans Pennine Trail . Did a 20 mile round trip. Had a few weeks off because I crashed in early May (not very badly though) but it was recently after crashing last year in October.

Anyway; distance: 20 miles, moving time: 2hr, 16 minutes, average moving speed: 9mph, maximum speed: 24mph.

Took the eMoped for the commute today, zero miles.
MAY get a short local ride in this evening, but maybe not as my legs are a bit sore and Garmin recommended 3 day recovery before I do another strong ride.
Maybe eBike tonight and keep in Zone 2...