It was nice when I started, high 60's, somewhat humid 85 when I finished. Got in 67, and 45 of them with no shifting on my Checkpoint which is a 1X setup as I forgot to check my battery level on the RD and I also forgot to grab a spare battery like I normally have on me when I ride this bike. At the 12 mile mark, I see the low battery notice on my head unit, but since we are in Florida, no need to worry about shifting a lot, so I made sure I was in my pace gear and re-routed to avoid the one bridge I came over. Basically did a 45 mile single speed ride. I made sure all my AXS batteries had a full charge when I got back.

Today I rode 70 miles.

That just goes to show you that those gears are for show, well done!

LOL... yea they are.

51 miles... no snow, but still cold.

Mellow road ride to spin out the race legs, 48 miles and 4400' of climbing. Mid-70s and sunny, couldn't ask for more enjoyable cycling weather.

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What is the typical grade on a ride like that - or how much does it vary?

This one is a bit punchy on the way down, it actually accumulates about 800' of gain on the way down the hill. The descent punctuated by really short 8-10% grades, on the way down to 1300' elevation(from around 4k'ish start.) The middle part is a long, but gradual slope...about 2% for 11 miles. The bulk of the climbing happens in the following 10 miles, a series of "steps" of about 6-8% grade. Finished up with a few miles of descending. The climbing is very easy on this particular loop, I can spin a cadence of 90 on almost all the climbs without even getting out of zone 2. That's why it's my go-to for an easy ride. It's the flattest ride that I can do from my house, unless I plan on doing some 100+ mile ride down into the central valley(but still with 3000' of climbing back to my house.)

Most of my other routes are significantly harder than this. Either very steep climbs, really long climbs, or even climbs that are both steep and long. My "threshold interval route" has a series of double-digit grade, 2+/- mile climbs. Each takes about 15-20 minutes to complete if done at 100% of FTP. That route will net me around 32 miles and 4800' climbing.

My usual difficult summer route includes either one or both of two of 40-60 minute long climbs, each several miles long with Strava assigned "Cat 1 and HC" rankings. If I do an out-n-back over both of them, it's 36 miles and 6k' gain. The "HC" climb is challenging, but is very manageable with good climbing gears. The "Cat 1" climb is actually a much more difficult climb than the Strava ranking assigned to it. Only about 2400' of gain in 6 miles...although 1000' of that gain is done in the first 2 miles of the climb. That climb is devoid of shade and on a south aspect, so it's usually 90s/100s on that particular climb. Do both climbs together and it's a recipe for feeling completely shot-out.

There are also some really big Sierra pass climbs that I'll also do in the summer, but I'm not counting those, as it's highly variable how many of them I'll do in the same ride.

Yikes! I wish I had your legs. Would love to do that kind of climbing, but will live vicariously through you. 6,000’ in 36 miles is intense.

Today I managed 1100’ climb in 2 miles where I hold the KOM for my age group. Rode it today at a more leisurely rate - a minute slower. It starts at 18% for a quarter mile, then mellows to 10% with a 20% for the last 150 yards to the summit. Glad I have climbing gears. There is another way to the summit involving a long 2-3% climb which is uninspiring and frankly boring.

Pics from today:

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Thanks, it's only been fairly recently that I've had those legs. I looked back at that 6000' ride that I last did last year, and I'm amazed how low my power was. I basically averaged what is now zone 2 power, over both climbs, and I was feeling fairly dead afterwards. Now I'm much lighter weight and considerably fitter, so I'm excited to be able to start hitting the big climbs again.

Double digit grades are no joke, having the segment lead for your age group tells me your climbing legs are better than you want to admit lol. I love most types of climbing, but the low gradient/<5% are kinda boring to me. I really like long, 6-8% climbs, but insanely steep/double digit stuff is actually very enjoyable in some twisted way for me. Probably because I'm actually good at those...the only popular climbs that I feature in the top 10 O/A on, are steep, <5 minute climbs. Hammering out big watts for a minute is my specialty...maintaining a high watts/kg ratio up an hour long climbs, not so much.

I hear ya on the climbing gears. I sometimes think about my gear selection as I've progressed through cycling. My first road bike was an old steel-framed Spesh with a 3x8. I heard triples weren't "racy," so I took the inner ring off.:fred: I don't know how my knees survived that bike or equally oppressive gearing that followed on the next bike. I so wanted to spin like Lance, but just thought I wasn't gifted with the ability to spin. Obviously I wasn't a particularly bright young adult, so it wasn't until my first compact 2x11 w/11-32 road set up, that I realized that I actually can spin up climbs.:lol: I gotta say that my new bike with that compact 2x12, 11-34 rear, just about makes the perfect climbing bike for me.

Cracked me up. Think we all wanted to spin like Lance - but powering over a crest in a higher gear is just so damn satisfying. Am reading your post and got a massive cramp in my left inner thigh and dropped my iPad launching out of my chair. Maybe I need to stop reading your posts. :D So much for living vicariously.

40.5 miles, with a headwind hitting at 18mph.

50 miles with 1,400’ around Lake Washington/. Tried to keep it to Z2 but had over 30 mins of Z3 with 650 Watts some how appearing some where. Low 70s and high times.


Garmin scolded me again for ‘over extending’ and being ‘unproductive’. Se la vi

I was out there too starting at Log Boom Park heading southbound around 3:15pm. I went over to the UW, Gasworks, Fremont, and Ballard a little bit past the locks. I got in 39 miles today. The weather was very nice. I'm so glad that they fixed some of those bad tree ruts. Looks like they were doing some other work too as we were detoured on to Riviera PL NE for a few blocks.

We may have crossed paths - at least we rode the same path to UW. So encouraged the BG is being fixed. So many bone rattling sections where I don’t dare grab a water bottle. I started at Enetai Beach in Bellevue and went anti-clockwise starting at 2:30. Total ride time was 3 hours 15 mins - with a quick stop at a Leschi bike shop for minor repair.

Did a quick 18 mile ride yesterday to test my Brooks C17 saddle and what a weird feeling. No padding, hard plastic, yet I didn't even feel the seat underneath. Seems like it also helped with back and knee pain. No pain next day either! I also ordered B17, but not sure it's worth going through break-in process.

frosty 30 miles in the blazing 19F... Spring was good while it lasted...

25 -30km in a not so well lit gravelly terrain near the river then some portions of road. My 1992 upgraded Giant Tourer proved me that long rides on bumpy and gravelly roads can be done without issues. The mavic A719 rims fitted with XT 780 T hubs,Schwalbe Marathon 700*35 tires and Slime tubes are a must gravel/hybrid bike wheel combination and the full XT 780Ttransmission proved once again both very reliable ,trustworthy and responsive components of the bike, the upright position of the Giant Tourer allowed me to ride in comfort and safety. Very delighted by this everning ride

got in 26 outside today, too nice of a day to ride inside.

WTF... its almost May, do you live at the north pole?

It was 27F when I rode to work earlier this week. Not the north pole, or even the great white north. Just beautiful Fargo ND in all it's glory.

I been told ND is the North Pole lite... :lol:

Spent the last few days in out of town for a work assignment, so I was speeding home today to get a ride in. I ended up running into my "training partner" down in town and we raced up one of the local climbs(I lost.) My legs were a little sore from some running this week, but I decided to go ahead and do some threshold intervals today...which I'm now glad I did.

Anyway...a measly 22 miles and 2600' of climbing. I managed to set a couple of time PRs, including 2nd O/A on a climb. More incessant bragging from me, my power numbers were quite spicy on this ride...averaged 350 watts for 11 minutes on the first climb and then backed it up with 375 watts for 12.5 minutes on the following climb. Normalized power of 303 watts for the ride.

113km, following my usual route. The day was hot and sunny, and the bugs are getting thick. I rode out to the countryside in Saitama, had lunch next to the river under a nice shady tree. Then I rode 60km to Kasai Rinkai park by Tokyo Bay and had a double cheeseburger and fries at Burger King, then rode the rest of the way home. I had to fight through the usual headwind for most of the ride, but managed to finish feeling good. I’ll shoot for 125km next week.

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