52 mile road ride today.

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IdahoDoug

IdahoDoug

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Snuck out alone and got in a road ride. I knew there were showers in the area, so dressed for it but got hammered. Kept running into individual mile diameter showers, then dry for 10 minutes, then another downpour. By about the 5th one I was laughing at the bizarre pattern. Good times and felt great to put the miles in my log after a hot shower. Anyone else get out this weekend?

DougM
 
sounds like you had a great time! i know some of my favorite rides have been through rain and snow. 50 miles is a pretty decent ride, did you have to do a lot of climbs or was it mostly flat?
 
Wow, you are a better man for that.....
Im scare of riding on wet pavement....don't ask why......all I can say is that it was painful....

I rode today from from 6:30am to 3pm.
Six of started the ride but only 4 finished it..
The goal was to do a 100 miler ride with about 7k of elevation. Starting at 1400 feet...
Boy did I get my butt kicked at 6 k of elevation... I just about bunked on the way back...
Im glad we stop for lunch at around 1:30pm.... once we drop down to 4500 feet I felt much better...
FYI:
we rode at La Canada Hwy 2 just north of Pasadena, CA and rode all the way I-SLIP saddle were the road has been washed out from rain storms 3 or 4 years a go....

Traffic was light most of the time and most was motorcycles ....

Amazing what riding at 6k of elevation and higher does to yah...

Thanks for posting this up..
Its great to know yah not the only one doing a crazy death road ride.....

Oh yeah we ended up doing 90 miles only the 10 miles we skipped involved a 800 foot loss and gain so we decided not to do it...
 
yikes you guys are doing better than me ! i did about 15km yesterday, but it felt like 5 times that- from the second to the 8th km is one huge hill.

sure makes the bbq and beer taste good after !
 
I just got on my Mtn. bike for the first time this year. Rode about 20 miles, and my butt was pretty sore the next day. There is still snow on all of the dirt trails, for another couple of months. I rode a paved bike path and had to cross lots of patches of snow. Riding at 10k feet, but I was taking it easy. It felt strange because I haven't been on my bike for 6 months. I did snowboard fresh powder yesterday too.
 
Wow, some distance riders here as well, then. The 50 miler is about as perfect a ride as you can order - rolling hills and some flats with a couple short steep hills. Really a great ride. A couple weeks ago we did a 112 mile ride and just short of 9000 feet of climbing, which kicked my butt pretty good as my two buddies were stronger and I was always playing catchup.

Sounds like several here are getting some nice miles on and I think I hear a couple resolving to get back in the saddle. I do it for fitness, health and some competition but mainly it is a very simple love for being on a bicycle. There's just something about whizzing along up here on these spectacular and empty country roads that feels like a complete escape from the world. Why do you guys ride?

DougM
 
2mbb... that's probably the best way to build up to a metric.. next thing yah know ya'll be doing a century... I sure look forward to the sag supports every 20 miles... Good on yah...

Sno bored riding at 10k is freaking hard.. that would make me feel like Im way out of shape.... you would do great if you were to ride at sea level...


Doug, I play catch up....most of the time.... I ride cause I love it and its helluva fun !!
 
Last night I got bored at work so I left early and took the long way home, about 18mi road/XC. Well I guess I'll be putting the MTB off for a while waiting a for the dry season and stay on the road for now. I try to commit riding at least to/from work 2.7miles away 4 times a day as long as it's not raining.
I did the ride to work a bit last summer, before that I hadn't been on a saddle for like 15yrs :eek:
 
This is my first post in the bike section but am pretty excited about the upcoming good weather and associated riding and wanted to share my thoughts. Took my first MTB ride of the year this weekend, just a little 10 mile round tripper from my house, but it felt great. I live at 7500' (only been here a year after my first 23 years living on the Washington coast) so that first cardio workout of the year I expected to be a killer, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't too difficult. Ski season must have kept me in shape :D Just got into biking last year and am really looking forward to upgrading to a nicer MTB (riding an old Yeti that is way too small for my frame) as I proved to myself last year that I would actually ride it, and also looking to get on an entry level road bike for a change of scenery and commuting to/from work. I have set a personal goal of entering one local MTB race just for fun (grew up racing motocross and miss the excitement though I understand it won't be exactly the same) and also trying to do my own road ride of the Triple Bypass ride here in CO (Triple FAQ | Team Evergreen Bicycle Club) at the end of the season if I end up buying a road bike. I hope everyone has a good season, stays safe, and most of all has fun!

Evan
 
Excellent - welcome to the addictive, healthy world of cycling! Welcome back (denis) as well..

DougM
 
Bike New York

Great Doug! I am going for 42 miles New York City bike tour (Bike New York) with my family and friend this weekend. I have been doing this for a couple of years now. Quite fun. Too bad you are so far away, otherwise, you would definitely enjoy it.
 
OK I think I'm saving about one minute and a half on each commute trip riding the road bike vs. the MTB. :D
I found an old computer and threw it onto the roadie, today it looks like I logged 53kms in the sun, so I guess the 6minute daily save from above is pretty much pointless :doh:
 
Maybe, but the time in the sun on a bike is priceless, eh?

Touring NYC actually does sound like fun. Never thought about urban touring on a bike but no parking hassles and probably getting around easier than in a car traffic wise sounds smart. Watch out for the swine flu - heh...

DougM
 
wxm said:
Great Doug! I am going for 42 miles New York City bike tour (Bike New York) with my family and friend this weekend. I have been doing this for a couple of years now. Quite fun. Too bad you are so far away, otherwise, you would definitely enjoy it.
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I did Bike New York in the early 90's when I was living in NJ. Thirty thousand people this year! that's a big crowd. I remember going up short inclines (freeway overpass) and having to get off and walk because there were too many people and the whole crowd had to slow down. You either have to be out in front, or hang back and be careful.
 
Maybe I should not have read this post before setting out for a 50 mile ride with the bride on Friday, because the rain came in early and stayed with us for the majority of the ride. Our plan was to ride out 25 miles on the Silver Comet trail (a retired RR line that has been turned into cycling/multi-use trail) and stop for lunch at a nice Italian place that we like. However, it started raining lightly at approximately mile 20 (just before the Brushy Mtn tunnel). The forecast was partial cloudy conditions with scattered thunder storms moving in after 3, so we thought this would be an isolated cell that came in early and we pushed on to lunch. While we were eating, the skies opened and dumped for 20 minutes or so then it started to clear. By the time we finished, it was appeared mostly clear for the ride home, but we were fooled. The rain had come out of the west and we needed to ride east to get home. Within about a mile we caught up to the storm and it stayed with us the rest of the ride. It was not bad though. The temps were reasonable with the work out of the ride, but we were a dirty mess with road grim (bits of leaves & pine straw) by the time we were done.

On the whole, it was a good day. The ride was a belated b-day present for the bride and she was happy with the ride, lunch and that she was in better shape than me (I had leg cramping the last 15 miles and she had no complaints). ... a happy bride makes just about anything turn out well.
 
2mbb said:
I did Bike New York in the early 90's when I was living in NJ. Thirty thousand people this year! that's a big crowd. I remember going up short inclines (freeway overpass) and having to get off and walk because there were too many people and the whole crowd had to slow down. You either have to be out in front, or hang back and be careful.
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30k people - that is nuts!

LDowney said:
The ride was a belated b-day present for the bride and she was happy with the ride, lunch and that she was in better shape than me (I had leg cramping the last 15 miles and she had no complaints). ... a happy bride makes just about anything turn out well.
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I'm still working on getting my wife to ride a little around town with me. She grew up on a farm (think soft gravel) so bicycling wasn't part of her life growing up. She can ride one, but the traffic scares her.
 
trainrech said:
I'm still working on getting my wife to ride a little around town with me. She grew up on a farm (think soft gravel) so bicycling wasn't part of her life growing up. She can ride one, but the traffic scares her.
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I grew up on farm too, so I know what your wife is dealing with. Cycling on gravel just wasn't any fun on the farm, but the wide open spaces offered other opportunities => horse back riding, motorcycles & snowmobiles.

Are there any trails near you for your bride to get into cycling without traffic? Gear shifting was a very alien concept for Carolyn to deal with, so the trail allowed her the space and protection to learn how to shift and build her confidence such that road rides are an option (but we both prefer that safety of the trail).

Good luck with your bride.
 
LDowney said:
I grew up on farm too, so I know what your wife is dealing with. Cycling on gravel just wasn't any fun on the farm, but the wide open spaces offered other opportunities => horse back riding, motorcycles & snowmobiles.

Are there any trails near you for your bride to get into cycling without traffic? Gear shifting was a very alien concept for Carolyn to deal with, so the trail allowed her the space and protection to learn how to shift and build her confidence such that road rides are an option (but we both prefer that safety of the trail).

Good luck with your bride.
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Yes, you have to find a safe environment and build confidence slowly..I was riding once with a friend and his girl friend (now his wife). We were biking on fire roads, but she had not been riding much, only on flat asphalt bike trails. We were not 100ft from the car, going down hill and she grabs too much front brake and goes over the handlebars. The rest of the ride she wouldn't use the front brake at all, only the rear, and the rear tire would fish tail. She was a very good sport about it then, but she won't ride at all today...The bad experience ruined it for her.
 
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