Ride reports, anyone? . . . Laid the Queen (down) and I’m SORE!

[BumbleBeeDave]

Last Sunday . . . 42 miles with the Serotta gang in Saratoga. I actually had a faster average than the day before on the HOTTED UP DEATH RIDE FROM HUMIDITY H#LL, but that was only because I sat in and sucked wheel the whole time . . . Let the SN pros and Kiefel haul my sorry exhausted @ss the whole way. The battlefield was really pretty, though, and no deer jumped across our front wheels like last year.

Monday . . . ex-HAUSTION.

Tuesday . . . See above

Wednesday . . . Other stuff.

Thursday . . . 31.5 miles on river loop with “Warp Speed” Tom at friggin’ SIX A.M. Everyone wondered why I was so mellow at work. It was because I could hardly move. I guess I’m just not a morning person.

Friday . . . Work. Life. Went to see “Batman Begins.” Great movie. Dark. Ominous. Murky. Just like the Forum.

Saturday . . . 40 miles with MHCC out of Voorheeseville. A route called the “Altamont Crazy Eight” because the route map is shaped like, well, like an “8.”
It rained on us the last 2 miles and the %#$@ ONE-INCH curb coming back into the parking lot was my undoing. Crossed it obliquely, tire caught on the curb, then flipped back the other way, and I was down on my left side before I knew it, with the Queen on top of me yelling, “You $%#&* IDIOT! How DARE you fall while riding ME!” I was barely 50 feet from my car--Soooo embarrassing! I sat there about ten seconds, with the 5 or 6 riders who were already back just staring at me with that “deer in the headlights” look. Then some brain surgeon calls out, “Hey, are you OKAY???” Considering I was lying in the street dazed, after falling on my @ss, I yelled back, “Well, NO!” So they came over and helped me up. I got off easy, Small hole in my arm warmer, scraped right brifter to match my left one, couple of raspberries on my leg, bruised up hand--and a cauliflower lump on my hip half the size of a basketball. Well, maybe just a softball.

Sunday . . . Figured the best thing to do for the sore was another ride, so I went out with the Schenectady Cycling Club. They were going to $%&@# Caroga Lake--at LEAST 75 miles round trip loop. So I turned around in Johnstown and rode back with Eric, who had promised his wife he would be back by 3pm. I think he ended up being an hour late. I ended up with 65 and an 18 average by the time I got back to my Ibuprofen bottle--er, I mean home. Found out later the rest of the group ended up with 85 miles.

Man, I am gonna sieze up like the Tin Man sitting at work today.

BBDave

[csb]

60 sat solo
60 sun solo

hill + dale

[Kevan]

Thursday's commute home was squished by violent storm, but managed 10 miles when I called home for alternative transportation. :crap: for leaving my red blinky light at home that day. Just managed avoiding a true soaking by finding cover just seconds before the faucet was turned full on.

Friday, let's try this again, but being Friday evening I can't leave the Missus hangin' so I beat it home pronto 20+ miles

Saturday, is son's day so we pal around and get the pc set up for video editing. Went to see the film "Crash", which I would recommend.

Sunday, met up with Mikemets and pals for a father's day romp. Wonderful ride more casually paced with only a few hammerfests mixed in, the guys had been tenderized the day prior. Metric century.

Next weekend's riding forecast: bleak. Daughter's highschool graduation, grandparents, barbeques, and brunches...

[Tom]

- Sunday: Stillwater Century. As posted before, got shelled by the front group pretty good. Learned some stuff, though.
- Monday: River loop. Felt good.
- Tuesday: Snooze.
- Wednesday: River loop.
- Thursday: River loop.
- Friday: Stared down the alarm clock. I won.
- Saturday: Three of five. The easy part of Crawford felt difficult. The difficult part felt bad. Stirling beat me stupid. I got to the top of Enniss and instead of turning right I turned left and went home. It was damn cold up there and twenty minutes after I got home it monsooned. Later that day I went to move my bike and the rear tire was flat, the valve broke at the tube. I guess I got lucky. That could have happened in the rain and on one of the downhills.
- Sunday: The 85 miles with the SCC group. In addition to hills, I have to start intervals like a bunch of people have said. Also learned something that everybody knows but easy to forget when you're on the bike... one of our guys takes off with about 1/2 of a mile to go on the last road part, the traditional run in for these guys. He gets fifty yards on me before I get up and clear and running. I run up on him and make the rookie mistake - I let him get on my wheel at about 30mph, I can't shake him and with 100 yards to go he pops around me and I can't accelerate at all. He beats me to the sign. Good to learn in a friendly.

This week: Tonight me and Karen are going to celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary by going for a ride and then cooking burgers and roasted potatoes on the grill.

Mornings look like getting out earlier and riding west of town because they're working on the river loop road and I really need to do something different. Hills and intervals, oh boy!

[victoryfactory]

BBDave:

I'm glad to hear that the Queen landed on you, and not the other way
around.

Sat: 35 local miles had to go t CT for family stuff in the afternoon.
Sun: took the ferry from New London to Orient Point, rode a cold and
overcast 50 out there, but at least it was windy

VF

[Too Tall]

In the immortal words of Quick Draw McGraw....."Hold on there just a golllllllll durn min." DAVE. Queen(tm) is my wife and Queen Bee (patent pending) is your bike and the twain shall never meet ;)

M-F Rode the bike
Sat - 40K TT with the REAL Queen. Buried myself deeper than I've EVER raced for 1 hr. in my life and came up with second place and 4 mins. slower than our best time on the same course. Sometimes you just gotta be happy with what the cards deal yah. At least we raced together. Mom squealed when she saw Queen wearing her shiny medal. Life is sore but good.

Sorry for your misshap B-Boy. Ice is your friend.

[Spinsistah]

BBDave, I'm hope you're feeling better today.

Saturday, 42 miles, flat, easy ride.
Sunday, 36 miles, rolling to hilly.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Sorry about the mix-up. Just remember that your wife, uh, I mean the Queen BEE, attacked ME, not the other way around! ;)

BBDave

[TimD]

Friday - 40 minutes making sure the Legend is flight-ready

Saturday - Harpoon B2B ride, 141 @ 18.4, meeting up with LarryD and Bradford (and several other very nice Serotta riders, e.g., Rob from CT) along the way. No crashes, flats, or mechanicals. Some cramping near the end but suffered only one near-cracked experience... Finished with an out-of-the saddle big ring sprint, a hot shower, some BBQ, and four pints of nice fresh Harpoon :beer:

Sunday - 4 miles RT to the fishing hole with my daughter and my nephew. The one and only fish fought hard and broke free at the end. :)

TimD

[Bruce Jacobs]

I used to teach at Fulton Montgomery Community College a few thousand years ago and am familiar with the area that BB Dave left some skin. Lots of climbing from Schenectady. Different stage of my life. Was also head pro at the Schenectady Racquet Club. We are still training. My wife is getting stronger after 5 weeks back on the ride. The Ottrot helps, a big improvement over the Colnago and the hills are much easier for her now. I have been pushing the distance and the hills and we are out to 35 miles with no issues for her (or me). Hopefully 40-45 next Saturday with an early 25 miler on Sunday (I work Sundays). We try to ride 5 days a week, usually 20 milers in the evening. I enjoy the equipment discussions, especially about wheels but I like OPs. The people who ride Legends are the ones who convinced me to buy one. Never quite saw so much love for a piece of metal. (I am old so I will have a little carbon on mine on 7/5). Maybe next year at Saratoga. Meanwhile Boonton will have to do. :bike:

[Too Tall]

No worries Dave. Must have been the pretzels.

B2B - More details! That's all you got. Come on. I missed that ride darnit.

[weisan]

Man, I am gonna sieze up like the Tin Man sitting at work today.

BBDave

Does that mean we gonna get more pictures of the Open House then??! :D
Sorry to hear about your fall, B-pal. I had just that same "moment" a few weeks ago... the car is less than 50 feet away calling me home....and I crashed. No other reason to explain this away except...STUPID, STUPID MOVE! (Er...I am talking about me...) ;) Hope you feel better.

I went out on Saturday and rode with two pals out in northwest of Austin in an area called Liberty Hills. We did three river crossings, the last one we actually took off our shoes and waded through about 50 meters (distance) of water to get to the other side of the river. We did take the opportunity to dip and cool off in the banks before continued on in the 98~103 degrees heat. The Legend performed wonderfully as usual. We ended up doing about 67 miles for the whole course but considered the distance I covered on my own earlier in the morning before meeting up with those guys, it came up closer to 80. The highlight of the ride, other than went swimming in the river, is the monster hill I did at the beginning of the ride which I used occasionally to gauge my fitness. It runs for about 1.5 mile at an average gradient of 10~13%. I still remembered the first time I did it back four years ago when I just started out riding, I had to stop three times by before getting to the top. When I did it on Saturday, I went all the way without stopping and powered it through standing up on the saddle. My breathing was under control (instead of feeling like I have blown the gasket) - I used the technique of "forcing air out" instead of "sucking air in" - youknowwhatImean. It worked wonderfully. Try it sometimes, Sandy ;)

weisan

[Ginger]

Previous Saturday: Planned a 80 mile road ride while visiting a mmba event. Rode up in a motor home with my buddies, forgot a spare tube and a helmet. Borrowed both...spare tube was pre-patched, supposedly held air. Got through 20 miles of good hills (YAY) got a snakebite flat on the rear. Was changing it out and couldn't find the hole in the tube. So, in goes the prepatched one. Meanwhile a nice gentleman stops to chat (the wonders of a girl leaning over a bike in lycra...) He wasn't heading to my destination bike shop, but he was heading back towards camp and offered me a ride. Let's see...I have my HALT!, I have a spare tube that's obviously barely holding air (tire went soft while I was putting it back on the bike...I can't find the hole in the first tube...ugh). I take the ride.
20 miles of hills for the day.

Sunday: Only one up in camp at 6:30am, no idea what everyone else's plans are, so I pedal into town for breakfast, 20 miles for the day.

It was a cold, wet week in Michigan last week. No commuting for Ginger. I also messed up my shoulder some how the previous weekend. No data.
This weekend I wound up doing so many "things" that I didn't get to ride much at all. 6 and 8 miles for the two days.

*sigh*

But I rode in to work this morning. That's 20 miles in...and will be 20 miles home...wash and repeat 40 for the day. Hope to make three trips this week, that'll be 120 miles for the week if I do it...next weekend is booked with a trail day and a family reunion on Saturday. Sunday? Maybe I'll get some miles in on Sunday....

[Tom Kellogg]

Lemon Hill crit. Saturday morning. Not my type of course, but what a blast! This course is on part of the US Pro race in Phila. Parts of it feel like you are on a roller coaster. Pretty long uphill sprint. Two guys got away, one was one of my teammates. I got second in the field sprint, fourth overall. Pretty good for an old guy who can't climb to save his life.

All afternoon doing yard work in preparation for our youngest daughter's High School graduation party next Sunday.

State Crit Championships @ 8:30 AM on Sunday (woke up @ 5:00). This is my type of course. Uphill sprint, but basically flat. So how do I do? I completely blow it. I just was not agressive enough in the last lap (not normal for me). I ended up behind enough slower riders coming out of the last turn so that all I could do was coast half way up the hill before I could get on it. Way too late. Bummed.

All afternoon doing yard work again. The yard looks great!

[davep]

Sunday - 99 miles, 44.5 with a light tail wind, 44.5 with a stronger head wind. Felt like S### when finished.

Tuesday - 30 before work.

Thursday - "hill" repeats on our only hill, the bridge over the ICW. More miles to make 25.

Saturday - 104 miles, started at 5am to beat some of the heat and get to work by noon. Sure is getting hot and humid here from about 9am on.

Sunday - 25 miles mostly easy with a few intervals thrown in. Went to see Dad for Father's Day.

[pbbob]

sat. rode 90 of the bay to bay on the eastern shore.
sun. same ride, 86 miles but wind was in a totally opposite direction which made for a long section using the big ring and 30 minutes quicker trip.
saw someone riding a brown sachs that I saw a picture posted of recently. but I can't remember who it was.

[Skrawny]

Last Sat: crashed hard on mile 50ish of 80 on group ride. Mostly embarrased as it happened soon after a guy who races said, "you don't want to try cat 5, they're allways crashing..." Real bloody,7cm x 1cm x 0.7 cm deep gash that cannot be stitched but is healing well, thankyouverymuch. No dammage to trigger tho. All of the group guys were really cool and helpfull (adding to my embarrassment, yet preventing exsaguination) until a ranger showed up and I forced them to ride on.

Sun: Easy 30 mile ride over Mt Tam. to Stinson to watch the finish of "The Dipsea" (funky trail running race) with some friends.

Monday: off

Tue: 24miles of Marin Headlands (two "laps")

Wed: RAIN (whimped out)

Thur: 24 miles Marin Headlands

Fri: lazy, made pizza.

Sat: 82 miles of "City Cycle Death Ride" (my name) with bike club out around Nicasio Resevoir, by Pt Reyes back along the coast, up the interminable Bolinas-Fairfax Hill to the 7-sisters (7-bi%ches) then back to the city. Hardest ride I know. Bonked a bit with 2 miles to go. Once again impressed by the strength, quality and camaraderie of this group.

Sun: Only one other from Sat group showed to ride (way to go ericmurphy!), we joined another friend for a sedate 40 mile Paradise loop (around Tiburon) on a stellar day and then finished with lunch in the Marina. Ahhhhh, life is good... :D

[BumbleBeeDave]

Do the locals still steal the Bolinas sign out on rt. 1 so nobody can find "their" town? And does the ride actually go into Pt. Reyes seashore? REALLY pretty place--used to go hiking their a lot when I lived in CA '89-'92.

BBDave

[Skrawny]

Yup, the locals still swipe the sign! (I haven't checked recently to see if it's there, tho)

No, the ride does not go along the seashore, although on more sedate days I have taken a side-trip and mini picnic to the shore. The ride goes to the town of Pt. Reyes, then along Rt 1 to the Bolinas Lagoon, then up, up, UP!

Yes, you're right, the place is gorgeous. I count myself very lucky.
-s

[mikemets]

Sat - did 53 miles with almost 5,000 ft. of climbing at a pretty agressive pace.

Sun - got dropped by Kevan multiple times, and did the ole "uh oh, didn't unclip fast enough at the stop sign" trick...you know the one :rolleyes:
But, 63 friendly miles :D

[Kevan]

who's gonna fry my @ss if the fresh legs are brought to the parking lot. Damn that C50!

[Dr. Doofus]

only thing that's been getting ridden is the stupidass EFX at the stupidass ymca of rock freaking hill...

M -- 90 minutes
Tues -- 90 minutes
Wed -- 120 minutes (thank god for tall buff chick)
Thurs -- 90 minutes
Fri -- rest
Sat -- 90 minutes with 3 x 10 at threshold (yes, doof did an interval workout on a freaking stupidass machine at the gym. it beat watching the stupidass golf on tv)
Sun -- 120 minutes

[shinomaster]

Such a dramatic post title! I thought you finally wrecked your crazy bumble bee bike.... Thank Golly!! :bike:

Sad days they would have been. Sad days..

[jerk]

thew jerk doesn't get it. he's racing this sunday though. gonna find a fat fast guy to sit behind and then the jerk will own that race.
jerk

[Ray]

Saturday - 50 something hilly miles. Fun ride, but again with the upper back/shoulder/ neck discomfort. The Spectrum rides perfect, but I've finally had it with this aggressive a position. I feel super efficient up to about 50 miles, but haven't done a metric or longer in this position without upper body discomfort - even when my legs are feeling fine. Got home and shoved everything back a cm. Kept the same leg extension, but the seat is setback 1cm further. Flipped the stem, which brings the bars back 1cm and raises them a little over 1cm - looks dorky and not Jerk-approved - oh well. Basically just rotated everything backwards a little bit around the bb. All still well within the range Tom designed the frame for. Now the 42cm chainstays get to earn their keep.

Sunday - spent Dad's day with the kids and went to see Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson that night with my wife. Willie's still charming but REALLY sedate. Dylan reinvents his old songs every time I see him and when he's committed, still sounds phenominal. Great, wonderful, set of very live music.

Monday - 40 moderately hilly miles in adjusted position. Jeez, what a relief. Not enough miles to really find anything out, but no fatal flaws.

Tuesday - 63 hard, hilly, windy miles at a fast pace for me. Felt GREAT. I may not be quite as efficient in this position at my strongest, but at the end of the ride my legs were screaming and everything else felt fine. The way the good lord intended. And the Spectrum still handled as well as it had in the more aggressive position. Very cool. I'm gonna stick with this for a while.

-Ray

[Ozz]

Last Saturday, "Tour de Blast". 82 miles, 8000 feet of climbing according to the brochure....84 miles and 7000 feet climbing, 4200 calories according to my computer...

Weather was perfect, 65 to 75 depending on elevation...sunny...me with no sunblock...got funky tan lines now. Completed ride in 6:30 hrs, including rest stops, pictures, chatting...5:30 actual riding time. When I got to top of Johnson Ridge, I thought for sure I would be riding the sag wagon home...got second wind and finished well.

Terrific ride...I don't know who maintains the highway there, but it is in great shape. Glass smooth asphalt and NO gravel whatsoever on the shoulder! Traffic is virtually nil and very polite.

Spent last three days camping with family at Lake Chelan....now I need a vacation. :)