I did my quick 17 mile out to Hindman Junction at the Katy and back. Yesterday on the MTB and today on the 700x32 bike. Lots of soft mud and standing water so I was pleased to be able to negotiate it with the skinny tires today. Tomorrow is snow and stuff and probably shoveling for exercise. 😊

Otto

22 Miles I.D.

30 Miles I.D.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f76fb2afb.jpeg
To the top of Mt. Hamilton.

After two chilly pea soup gray days of endless fog and clouds, the sun broke through briefly for 15.2 miles and 601 feet of gain. It was still a bit on the chilly side and the toes were not happy.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...36ce36ea90.jpg

34-spot in the mtns and rain. company was awesome. roads were fantastic. plenty of ridiculous you can't make this up decisions/events.

26 M ID 1K gain. 23 MPH ave speed 187 Watts ave,

A younger friend did the same at 318 Watts. Getting older is such a drag

34km in about 1 hour and 10 minutes at lunch today. Temperatures back above 10 degrees for highs this week, which is warm enough for me to wear a thinner jacket and shorts rather than tights, which is nice. 😊

You ain't seen nothing yet! But you have heard that the alternative is not, well, there is no alternative!

45-spot. started blah. ended nice.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6546136294/overview

29.4 miles today, it was 44F with 15 mph winds. I'm pooped.

I had a surgery 9 days ago to remove a lag bolt out of my ulna bone in my forearm, also some wires and screws. My elbow hurts like hell but the Doc says to use it, no limitations (excepting pain).

Good luck with full and speedy recovery.

My titanium hip remains unless they have to replace it a third time!

25 Miles I.D.

20 minute FTP test today. Raised it a whopping 2 points since early December. Was surprised to see my max heart rate at 189, 3 more than in past efforts. Could it be the HMB? (I’m 67 with an FTP of 228). Just a recreational rider.

Did a 4 mile warm up prior and another 4 cool down.

mine is still smaller than yours.

45 Miles I.D.

40 km on a trainer at home while it’s -18 C outside.

It's 2:09AM and can't sleep so what does one do ??? Go for a 36 mile bike ride of course >>>

https://www.strava.com/activities/6557506349

Easy 20 mile recovery ride ID

Wow. Elaborate crop circles!

With a slight variation on a theme, the same approx 15-16 mile ride with 700 feet of gain. In mixed cloudy, less cloudy conditions. Felt chilly. I need to stop being lazy and claw on the electric socks to make riding more comfortable.

12 miles from south to north and then back to home

First ride in a week. Total distance of 23 miles but about a half mile ended up being a walk over treacherous ice in a shady stretch that had softened up, been ridden on by a couple of bikes and walked by a few others and then all refrozen for the last few days. The other ice patches I managed to ride through. A great workout with plenty of wind and some soft mud in the sunny spots! 😊

Otto

23 miles with quite a bit of climb, never got above freezing, and pretty sure I didn't see another person on a bike though lots out walking and hiking.

Mid-week I had pulled in at the base of a climb by a reservoir dam north of town, and noticed that what I thought was just a parking area was actually a road that appeared to go somewhere. Came home and researched and it seemed like it might connect over the hill to the next town, or might not - google maps didn't want to route all the way through, but it was pretty bright on the strava heatmap.

So set off up the main road to the town at the downhill end, which turned out to be a less than comfortable road ride compared to the rail trail and back rounds route out to that area that bypasses most of the main road. First idea for a side road towards my goal had a bridge out sign, so continued on to the second. Definitely a lot climb, but stayed well plowed dry pavement with occasional cars and some rather nice houses much further than I expected. Crested the hill in full sun and momentarily was warm so removed my jacket, but put it back on again after the first bit of descent. Eventually the paving turned to dirt, still well plowed, much of which was frozen over as dirty ice. Tried to stay in the least frozen part, but never really had any slipping issues, and the direction I did it all the real climbing was paved with the dirt relatively flat and net descent, though the ice made me really glad I'd gone exploring on the bike and not the unicycle that I was up there with mid-week. Came back out at the base of the dam climb where I was Wednesday, almost started up it for laughs but decided it was late and getting cold so turned for home.

Temperatures continued to drop and riding slightly downhill wasn't helping the warmth - at first I figured I'd tough it out, then stopped and switched my leather work gloves (that have worked amazingly well) for some ski gloves, but was still getting cold thumbs and little fingers, so finally pulled out the heavy rag wool mittens and their crudely improvised wind covers. The covers made those quite awkward and by then my fingers were so cold I had to pull my right thumb in and make a fist - fortunately by then I was on the last miles of gentle rail trail downgrade, so resting my palm on the bars and just being able to lightly squeeze the brake was all that was needed. Very glad I had the mittens, but going to need to make more fitting wind covers for them, or as likely improvise some bar mitts!

39-spot. temps didn't register higher than 69 degrees but it felt like low-70's for most of the ride.
felt good on the old bones.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6576966914

A balmy 35F. 11 miles and 1250 feet of climbing. I rode out to a ridge and did some hill repeats on salt covered roads.