Smaug1

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.

WaveyGravey

25 miles for me today.

XxHaimBondxX

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

Sierra_rider

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.

Troul 

31 miles. 71°F

Smaug1

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.

WaveyGravey

25 miles. Great weather. 85 degrees.

jaxgtr

Slacker

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

Sierra_rider

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.

Troul 

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.

Smaug1

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.

HectorStorm

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.

Smaug1

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...

XxHaimBondxX

Quick 11 mile ride on the Orbea. Would've been longer, but I messed up shifting and didn't have a screwdriver with me to adjust limit screws.


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WaveyGravey

Another 25 miles today getting my 100 mile goal. If rain doesn't come in my try for another 50.

rsbob 

25 miles at 18.6 MPH on the Orbea (HaimBond). Chased by a dog which got my pace WAY up, but managed to out sprint it. Was going for a PR on a 2.5 mile segment but was rudely stopped by a school bus with red lights flashing. When resuming, managed 2nd fastest times-argh. .

Sierra_rider

I did a little riding through the hills today...60 miles and 7500' of climbing...my average speed(14.8mph) wasn't bad for a solo ride at this mileage/climbing ratio. All of the ride was at elevation, the low point in the ride was 6k', the high was 8.7k'...still lots of snow and frozen lakes up high. It was a bit chilly too, it started sprinkling on my final descent, made it back just before the sky unleashed a downpour and the temps dropped 10+ degrees into the 40s.

It was my first time doing this out and back route this year, I PR'ed almost every segment...the standout segments were a 58 minute climb, a 31 minute climb, and a 17 minute climb. I was even able to leave some gas in the tank on every segment, gives me something to shoot for in the future. I'm pretty stoked how I can ride a zone 2/3 pace and PR segments that I previously rode at threshold. The KOMs are held by certain individuals with names like Levi Leipheimer, Pete Stetina, Laurens Ten Dam, Robert Gesink, etc, so I'm pretty happy with my modest times.

Sierra_rider

Speedy! It's never fun when vehicles get in the way. I narrowly missed a PR on the descent of the HC climb today, just because I caught up to a truck before the bottom.

rsbob 

Damn! Hate that. Happened to me on a 1/4 mile descent where I was gunning for a PR. Was running about 38 when this white Land Cruiser decided to cruise in front of me at 33. Didn’t know if he was going to turn into a driveway, so didn’t overtake him.

Enjoy the pics you post. Good eye. 24%? Seriously?

Sierra_rider

I wasn't even going for a PR on that downhill, it started sprinkling and I was just trying to get back to shelter as quickly as possible. I only saw afterwards that I was only a handful of seconds off my best time on the 10 mile downhill. The downhill is reminiscent of an alpine climb in Europe, so not much the truck can do to not be in the way of a bike.

Thanks, I used to be into art when I was a kid, so I still know a thing or two about picture taking...although I mostly just take a lot of pictures and post the good ones. I think that 24% road sign is a bit optimistic. There are a few steep pitches, but maybe the only thing approaching 24% might be the inside of the hairpin turns.

HectorStorm

Today's ride:
Round trip to the charming town of Crapperbowl.
12.45 miles, total moving time: 1hr, 8 minutes, 33 seconds.
Moving average speed: 10.9mph
Maximum speed: 41.9mph

Speedy!

rsbob 

Uh…Apple Maps can’t find that esteemed location. What is the real name for us uninitiated?

HectorStorm

Apperknowle. I must have been tired when I wrote that report.

rsbob 

Ah in Derbyshire. I’m sure the residents of said town would be quite chuffed at their new name.

jaxgtr

Had a long, long, long day, started work at 2 am, reporting server crashed, worked through that, had way too many before holiday meetings, and signed off way too late. So I got in 37.5 and 1.3K of climbing inside. Now I am off to walk the dog and the food and then bed.