Velo Vol 

Upon further review, I recall seeing at least part of this before. Protestors blocked the race over something in a newspaper.

Velo Vol 

Do it.

Eric F 

I accepted an invite to join a few folks for a MTB ride this morning, to start the new year off with some dirty fun. Over an hour and a half of relentless climbing, including some lengthy 15%+ pitches, and a pace that was pretty close to my threshold for most of it, we arrived at Inspiration Point, which is usually a spectacular view of the greater Los Angeles area. Today was not one of those days.

big john

Maybe someday.

datlas 

My office is closed today, thankfully, so I can ride. My fair-weather cycling friends bailed on me the past 2 days, but given the dry conditions I should have a decent size group today.

thin_concrete

Totally impressed by that.

I’ve done lots of 10-15% (and a few at 15%+) climbs on Zwift and they’re tough. The only saving grace is that the cassette on my Zwift hub is an 11-28 and the cassette on my Marvel is an 11-32. Not a huge difference, but it should help a little.

thin_concrete

Wordle 562 3/6

🟨⬜🟩🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I knew whichever I chose as my second word, the third would’ve been the word.

Daily Quordle 343
7️⃣6️⃣
4️⃣9️⃣
quordle.com
🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟨
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨🟩🟩🟨🟩
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Stupidity made today’s Quordle closer than it needed to be.

thin_concrete

Going to bang out a 1,500M pool workout when my wife gets her 16 miler out of the way. Haven’t done that long a swim in a couple weeks. Should be fun. Fortunately, my gym’s pool is indoors and heated. My early June tri is going to be a shock to the system because the water in the lake will still be in the mid-60s. I have to get faster so I’m not in it very long!

phrantic09

I’m hoping to go find some dirt today if I can get the motivation to swap out the cassette and freehub on my gravel wheels. Otherwise it’ll be a ho-hum flattish ride

Mojo31

Working.

bampilot06

you must be the only person. I can’t even get anyone at safelite on the phone to yell at them. Since when is today a holiday?

Bah Humbug

Markets are closed. Holiday (observed).

Velo Vol 

See post #76.

big john

I heard that some people did ride to the top of Mount Wilson yesterday but it was cold and wet. Seems the 52 year traditional ride is about defunct. I've been up there when there were 200 riders on the mountain. Yesterday there were only 7 in the group I know of.

genejockey 

It used to be a tradition to climb Mt Hamilton on New Years. I did it one year, 2000, for the arguable start of the new millennium. The climb is long but not especially steep, but it's one of those with an unfortunate spots where you give up a couple hundred feet you then have to re-climb. It was a cool, cloudy day, but worse than that it was foggy at the top. Everthing I was wearing was soaked and there's nothing at the top but a post office, the lobby of which was open and full of chilled cyclists in soaked kit, trying to warm up. Then the fog actually crept farther down the mountain so that even though it was foggy only the last mile of the climb, it was foggy the first 3 miles of the descent. And that had sand and crap on the insides of the corners.

I was 43, and I did it with no issues, with a 39x25 smallest gear.

EDIT: Here's the Strava segment. I think I started at a different place, but you can see the two descents mid-climb. One is 300 feet, the other 200.

rjones28 

Same

rjones28 

Mrs. rjones28 is also working.

Radio | WCNY

rjones28 

Benson's veterinarian is also working today. She removed Benson's stitches this morning.

big john

I've done the Mount Wilson NYD ride 16 times, iirc. Always from home, making it about 65 miles when we could get to the top. Sometimes too much snow and ice.
I did it when it was so windy I could hear the sand rattling on my glasses. Did it in the rain and one year it was 22 degrees when we turned to go back down.
Mount Wilson Pt. 3 - Mount Wilson | Strava Ride Segment in La Cañada Flintridge, California

Here is a pic from the road to the summit. It's 5 miles and gains about 1000 feet. Gotta be careful coming back down.

Me near the top with full-on aerobelly.

bampilot06

cleaning up the garage. I have bike stuff every where. It’s kind of a mess.

genejockey 

If I were to consider doing the Mt Hamilton climb again, I'd chose a warm, but not hot day, and/or I'd pack some dry clothes for the trip back down. The biggest problem was my hands, which got chilled and tired from braking so much on the descent - too much loose sand and gravel on the turns, plus I'd never descended it before, so I was really wary.

big john

I like this one of me going up there packing extra layers for the descent.

One year my friend drove up to provide sag at the summit. The knucklehead in the white jersey wasn't with us but he was looking for something to help with the descent because he dressed for a warm ride. I think she gave him some papers to put in his jersey.

big john

The biggest concern I have on long cold rides is my feet. My hands are usually ok with glove liners but Wednesday when I did that long mtb descent my hands were still stinging when I got home. Probably from death gripping the bars and braking through all the rough stuff.

I know what you mean about being wary on the road when it's wet or dirty. Wet leaves also scare me.

DougRNS

I'm working today also. From home. I have a painter here so I ordered a pizza from the local place on their app. They charged my cc. 45 minutes for delivery. 75 minutes later no pizza. I called and got a message that they are closed today. They'll be getting a call from me tomorrow.

rjones28 

Mailbox repair, during my lunch break.