Ride reports please

[paulh]

We did a great 60 mile ride in the hills north of LaCrosse, WI on Saturday. Perfect temps, a little breezy coming back downriver. A couple of brutal climbs but the 45 mph descent on the other side made it worthwhile. FUN!!

I was thinking how lucky I was to be riding while folks just south of here and back west into Iowa are dealing with major flooding... Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, etc. My thoughts are with them.

If you get a chance to ride in western WI, it's great. See Hansolo thread... this is the area to ride. I recognize the road going up the Apple Blossom Scenic Drive on the MN side. The blossoms are gone now, but it was beautiful a few weeks ago.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=47052

[regularguy412]

Did an easy 30 miles on Saturday afternoon with my old racing buddy. This was just a clean-out ride in preparation for Sunday morning's State Time Trial Championship.

Had my alarm set for 3:00 AM, but woke up at 2:30 anyway. Got to the venue at 5:45. First rider went off at 7:00 AM. My turn came at 7:17. I had a good ride. My average heart rate was right at my target. Unfortunately, I did not equal my previous personal record. Had I equalled my PR, I would have taken first in my age division. I was still good enough to get third place. I decided that third wasn't too bad for the first attempt at a 40K TT in ten years.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I did the TT on my steel, CSI with only a clip-on TT bar and Ksyrium clinchers. So the numbers pretty much translate to other, real-world riding situations.

Strangely, I have muscles that hurt in places that never hurt after the other nine State TT's I've done before. Oh well. I guess the body changes over time. I'm just glad to be back on the bike and fit enough to ride well.

Mike in AR:beer:

[Cdub]

On tap was a Three hour Shop ride. Good group showed (a couple cat 1's, cat 3's and smattering of really strong rec riders)up for a pancake flat hammerfest ride. South then back north. 97% humidity and 81 degrees at 7:00 am. HR before I left the parking lot was 110. Uh oh, going to be a rough day.

We head out and have a good half hour warm up and then we give it a go. Rotating pace line at 26 plus for the next 45-55 minutes. Then an attack, off the front go three riders. Look around and no one wants to chase, awww man, head down and go. one other rider came along, rotate off and get on his wheel. We catch and the usual happens, another person goes. This time I was on his wheel. We stay out there for a while and decide to sit up. group catches back on as we have the only sprint point coming up. I was sitting on the wheel of a 6.7 guy (nice draft), but could not see around him very well. About 300 meters out from the sprint, two guys go for it. Shi!t, no way I will get them, then to my left from behind comes another rider, i jump, ride him for about 100 mtrs and jump again to take the sprint . HR 197.

The ride home was a little more tame until we got stuck at a light. Four riders got off and opened a big gap. We decide it was time to close. The call goes out and six of us start taking 20-30 second pulls at 29-30mph. It takes us a good 15 minutes to catch and by the time we do, I am toast. We dropped one of our team mates so I turned around to go get her (lots of dougs and less than friendly pickup out there) and recover for the rest of the ride.

3hrs 20 minutes of really hot fun!!! Avg hr was 155 bpm with 3026 calories burned.

[Larry D]

Saturday morning I had a craving for a beer, so I got up at 3:30am and left South Boston at 6:00 am with a group of other beer starved cyclists. The destination was the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, Vermont and a couple of UFOs.

Saturday, I completed my third Harpoon Brewery to Brewery Ride. Over 600 riders made the pilgrimage for beer on Saturday from the Harpoon Breweery in South Boston to the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, Vermont. This year they made a slight change to the route which added ~10 miles, bring the total to 146 miles. The addition also added a 5 mile 7% climb to the route. The total climb for the ride is now ~7500 feet.

It was a beautiful day. We caught a few sprinkles outside of Rindge, NH and then it was dry and in the upper 70s the rest of the way. Riding througn the hills in North Central MA and Southern NH is beautiful as well as the Connecticut River Valley. The rain in Windsor held off until around 4:30.

Those UFOs have never tasted so good.

I know there are easier ways to get a beer, but not as rewarding. Coming down the hill to the brewery with a new friend who I had been riding with all day and having the folks at the finish cheering you for a great ride is a great feeling. That followed by a good shower, the beers and a great barbeque put on by the Windsor Volunteer Fire Department makes a perfect day.

:beer:

[fierte_poser]

Nothing special...although these were my first rides in two weeks as my parents were in town for a while:

22 miles on Friday night with a 17 year old I'm trying to get into the sport. He is always worried that I am going to drop him, but he does fine. I just need to convince him to start riding by himself during the week.

55 miles on Saturday. Mid-80s, single digit humidity. Clothing was completely dry when I arrived home. Winds were swirling...no fun.

55 miles on Sunday (reverse loop from Saturday). Mid-80s, single digit humidity. Winds were more favorable, picked up 1.2mph from the Saturday version of the ride.

Getting ready for the MS150 in 2 weekends. Next weekend will be back to back 65 mile rides.

Kent

[Fixed]

i went to our state t.t. once I was allready ride my old caad 5 reg drops racing bike some cat there said no bro use my extra tricked out t.t. bike .. I got 15 th on his bike but bro i could not walk it took a couple of hours for me to walk right and a week to ride right and i was racing everyweek then ..cheers :beer:

[paczki]

Twenty five easy miles on the fixie on the Hub on Wheels route in Boston. Testing to see how sick I was -- turned out I was sick! So no real riding until Wednesday. Beautiful day though, especially the water in Dorchester.

Riding a fixie you discover that the muscles that move your legs in a backwards pedal stroke to slow are different than those which move forward! Ouch.

[sloji]

I thought i'd take a detour on Saturday up Cuesta Grade by following the old route called Stagecoach Rd. but little did I know how different it is from the 7 mile 7% grade of the freeway. First, it's all dirt and for some reason I thought it was old concrete with some scattered dirt sections (who told me that?) and second the grade rises from 3-15%. I began the ascent with two others I met on the freeway entrance and cranked it up to the top, not too bad...not like the ride from hell. I waited for them to arrive ( I actually beat two riders?) and then tried to follow them down the other side...no way i'm going as fast as they are nor am I going down the more technical sections (one or two) which ended near the railroad tracks and was more suited to a mtn bike. Shortened version rode about 40+ miles.

Sunday rode with a group of faster riders and ended up on the 22 mile stretch back averaging 24 mph behind the local mtn bike racer who works for Trek. At 27mph he wasn't even breathing ...the other few riders dropped off as he climbed the long hills like it was childs play and I huffed and puffed on his wheel. When does I get stronger? 44 miles in all and 86 for the weekend in beautiful weather!

[TAW]

Only had time for a 40+ mile Saturday ride solo. Normally I do a group ride with an LBS in the mornings on Saturday, which is a fairly fast pace, but had an appointment so didn't get out. So I headed out in the afternoon and didn't feel too strong. I felt drained after about 30 miles and limped home the last 10 or so.

[biker222]

Ottawa - Canadian Report

Friday did an 80km loop with one other person. This included a loop in the Gatineau Park then we had lunch at a Chinese Rest.

Saturday was a solo ride for 96km form Aylmer Quebec to Dunrobin Ontario. Flat ride with some headwinds just south of Dunrobin.

Sunday rode to the start of the club ride, heading out to Merrickville Ontario, had head/crosswinds most of the way out. Stopped for lunch then headed back to Ottawa. Just after I broke off from group it started to rain. Got drenched pretty good as a thunderstorm was going thru. A 1/2 hour after I got home got hail approx twice the size of peas. Distance for ride 185km. It was time for some of these :beer:

[staggerwing]

I'm mainly a bike commuter, and generally ride <20miles daily. I do try to add in an extra 10-15 miles 2-3 afternoons per week, plus extra hills, which are plenty common in Cincinnati. As my fitness level has ramped up, I've been itching to try something a bit longer and finally got the chance Sunday.

Set the alarm for 5:45, suited up, had a quick bowl of granola, and was heading for the terminal end of the Little Miami Bike Trail in Newtown, by 6:00AM. Almost no cars, riding over, and very little traffic on the trail. After hilly and curvy Cincinnati, its strange to ride on something arrow straight and level. For the most part, it is just a 10' wide, paved, tunnel of green foilage, occasionally interrupted by a road crossing, vista to the Little Miami River, small town or farm field. Weather was flawless, although the air was dew laden along the river, which condensed on my glasses. Ended up in Yellow Springs, about 4.5 hours later.

My wife and children were going to meet me there for pizza at HaHa's and hiking around Glen Helen, but they still hadn't left Cinci. Feeling restless, I clipped back in, and took off for Springfield, riding until losing the trail to Yellow Springs road. Took that about 2 miles into town, noting there wasn't much to see, turned around, and ended up back at Yellow Springs about an hour after leaving. Finished with a cool pint of Arrogant Bastard at Peaches, and ambled over to the Village Bike Shop.

The guy that runs it can be a little cranky at times, but the whole of Yellow Springs is an alternative universe of cheap skates, hippies, and eco-vegan types. It is an endearing town to visit, and a place my kids, wife and I love to visit, but its tough to make money off of a bunch of college students, and almost impossible if their school is Antioch. To wit, he had an as new, steel railed, patterned leather Regal hanging on the wall. Without a price, I cautiously inquired. Somewhat cranky owner responded that only yesterday, a customer had inquired, and given him a proper beatdown for asking $25. Asked if the price was the same today, and he said sure. It has been on my saddles to try before dying list, and modicum of cash was promptly tendered Score.

The family arrived shortly thereafter, and we enjoyed our pizza at one of the town picnic tables. We then hiked around the Glen for a couple of hours. The 12yo son wanted an adventure, so we hiked off in a direction we had never been, only to find out the bridge, crossing the creek was out, and we could either turn back a couple of miles, or forge ahead a couple of more. We forged ahead, but the trail seemed to peter out, and we had to end up bushwhacking out. He received the adventure he was looking for. Great fun was had by all.

It was great to get the first long ride behind me. I tried to push it a bit, but not "blow out" early and averaged somewhere around 15-16mph with a couple of short stops. Don't know for certain, as that is simply marked distanced over clock time; I don't have a computer on that rig. In hindsight, if I wanted to finish as a 'wet noodle' I could have pushed harder but hiking later would have been an issue.

Total mileage was around 80. I now need to get a proper century behind me. It would also be fun to partner up with someone but I don't have any proper group riding skills.