Your Ride Today - 7/20

[weisan]

I will start first. This is my regular route "To the lake (Creve Coeur) and back." I started at 6 in order to beat the heat. It's very predictable 25-mile loop, going through quiet neighborhood roads, before zipping down a steep descent at Hog Hollow, going through cornfield and farmland along a straight stretch of road that runs about 2 miles, often used for testing fitness by time-trialing the whole way, then into the park along the bike path, passing a big field of magnificent-looking lilies, before getting to the lake where people traffic picks up with morning joggers/walkers and other cyclists. I tend to slow down quite a bit to about 10-12 miles an hour once I get into this area for safety and also just to relax and enjoy the view. I can make as many stops as I like to smell the flowers or take pictures because I can usually make up time on the return trip along the time-trial stretch or on the main road. What I like about this route is that it is very predictable, I can usually make good on my promise barring no accident: "I'll be back 2 hours, honey." As usual, the climb back up Hog Hollow is not the most pleasant experience with morning traffic held up by slow moving object (moi) up the steep narrow one-lane road. But there is really no other good option to get back to the start point.

Anyway, it was fun, and I got my fix today, what about you? :D

http://alicehui.com/pics/today/today/img/mini-P1100863.jpg

http://alicehui.com/pics/today/today/img/mini-P1100876.jpg

http://alicehui.com/pics/today/today/img/mini-P1100836.jpg

http://alicehui.com/pics/today/today/img/mini-P1100833.jpg

http://alicehui.com/pics/today/today/img/mini-P1100893.jpg

http://alicehui.com/pics/today/today/img/mini-P1100896.jpg

http://alicehui.com/pics/today/today/img/mini-P1100916.jpg

http://alicehui.com/pics/today/today/img/mini-P1100924.jpg

http://alicehui.com/pics/today/today/img/mini-P1100900.jpg

[AngryScientist]

first off, with my luck, my bike would definitely go for a swim if i tried something like this...

http://alicehui.com/pics/today/today/img/mini-P1100876.jpg

i've got my own very predictable regular 25 mile route planned for after work. we are in a serious heat wave here, so it's going to be a hot one!

thanks for sharing the nice pics.

[m.skeen]

Nice pictures.

I got a quick 15mi ride before I had to head to the airport. Flight canceled right before we were supposed to board. So now I will spend the next 9 hrs in airports and planes. I should have gone for longer ride :crap:

[spiderman]

100 degrees and 100 percent humidity has me
riding the trail for shade and pretending the cottonwoods
are draping snow on the trail to cool me off!
i was even glad to see new gravel on a section of my daily route
that had to be torn out from weather effect...
this stretch of road started my tubular flat string
that has me riding the present clinchers.

[Keith A]

All of my riding today looked like the picture below. First day back surfing after my shoulder operation. Felt good to get wet, but I still have some work to do for my shoulder to be completely recovered.

http://www.2ndlight.com/images/reports/07202011418cwh1_640.jpg

[AngryScientist]

nice Keith.

[Ti Designs]

Did the hammer ride this morning. It was a small group this morning, Barry and Byron were there as was Eun Young, the sprinter I've been working with on the Harvard team. We also had a new guy, Jonathan. Eun Young had done a gym workout the night before, so she dropped off pretty early. Barry is a gifted sprinter so it's assumed he's going to clean up on town line sprints. That said, he didn't just sit on the back the whole morning. Byron was the only active rider on the Harvard team there, so I was playing teammate/coach for him. The ride up Strawberry hill is always interesting 'cause there's a town line at the top, but there are hills along the way. Barry attacked early, I got Byron and Jonathan on my wheel and started to close the gap. My goal was to catch Barry on the hill and push past him hard enough to keep him from linking up - that didn't work so well. When I rotated to the back I found Barry sitting in and looking as relaxed as one could look at that speed. I put in another attack to see if I could drag Byron clear. The second acceleration was too much for Barry, so we beat the sprinter to the line. On the way back to Bedford center there's a stretch of road that's almost flat where the speed picks up. The paceline was moving along at a good clip when Barry again attacked. This time there were no hills to slow him down, and he left the group at well over 30mph. I was somewhere between panic mode and sheltering mode, I made sure Byron was glued onto my wheel as I put my head down to close the gap. This time I closed the gap quickly and quietly so Barry had no idea he was towing us along until he noticed that his shadow had grown more legs. The last hard section of the ride is Page hill. Byron had planned on attacking first, but Barry beat him to it. It almost looks like he's trying to sprint up the whole hill, but it works for him. I sat on the two of them, keeping it in a smaller gear and keeping my heart rate down. Past the mid way point I went past and then clear. There's a final little grunt to that hill where Byron bridged back up to me. I was cooked by that point and happy to tootle back home in the small ring.

Jonathan was the new rider, so he got gapped a few times. He's a good rider, one I feel comfortable sitting on at speed. The thing about the hammer ride is that there are bits of speed that training by yourself all the time never gets you. My guess is that in two or three weeks he's going to be a factor in that ride.

A good hammer ride always puts a smile on my face...

[67-59]

Got up early to beat the heat and do my usual 32-mile ride. I live right on the edge of town, so it's a combination of residential and semi-residential streets, and highways out among the cornfields. This has become my "go-to" ride because of the combination of relatively little traffic, no traffic lights, and a couple of brief stints on a bike trail...all of which make it pretty quiet and safe, and usually allow me to complete the ride without so much as putting a foot on the ground (as the only stops are usually quick enough for a stop and go while still clipped in).

[Wilkinson4]

Flight canceled right before we were supposed to board. So now I will spend the next 9 hrs in airports and planes

That was my last Friday. 15hrs in airports or on a plane :crap: No legs Saturday. I finally made it out early today. After 2 tries of getting up early today was the day I actually made it out the door and on the bike instead of back to bed.

I am not a morning person but had to do to the nasty afternoon weather!!! 28 miles and it was nice.

mIKE

[henrypretz]

I love seeing pictures from everyone's rides. Fun stuff.

I got to take a tandem ride with my sweetie. We did the standard route out to the women's prison and back .... 26 miles of pancake flat. It was our tune up for this weekend's 30+ miles in spectacular Kings Canyon Nat'l Park. The bike rode great and I think we're ready for Saturday.

Henry

[DavidR]

Weisan,

I do that same ride pretty often. That's real close to my house. Your 7th shot shows a bench with pavers under it. That was an eagle scout project that my friends son did Saturday. That was my fun at CC park Saturday instead of a ride. Funny you have a photo of it in your gallery! I'm sure I'll see you one day zipping around the lake or flying down hog hollow!

[junkfood]

27 miles in the hot sun after working in it all day. Somehow I always feel better after the ride on Wednesdays than when I am done with work. Really wish we could get something below 100 here though. Unfortunately I do not have any pics from today. I am glad I got to see all of you guys pics though.

Jake

[Mattbotak]

Weisan that is a stunning ride and love the bike....very classy.

[GregL]

Rode the regular Wednesday night ride with the local cycling club. Unlike some of the group ride horror stories I read here, the SYR club has a core of skilled riders who tend to keep it safe. The riders tend to break into fast, tempo, and touring speed groups as they see fit.

Tonight was hot, hilly, and hard. The route had everything from 10+% climbs to screaming 50-60 MPH descents. I rode the "#2" bike (CAAD9, Ultegra, Open Pro wheels) for the first time in a while and remembered how good it was. Solid going up hill or down, corners like a dream.

The first climb was short but steep, everyone staying together. After that, a rolling section saw two strong younger riders (20 yr old cat 2 who races for UC Boulder, 17 year old girl who just medalled at the nationals TT) light it up. I was pacelining with them only to notice that we had dropped the rest of the group. My "uh oh" meter pegged, but they were nice enough to not drop me. I think they needed the old guy (add their ages together plus ten...) who had the map and knew the route. Thirty five miles of beautiful CNY roads later, we pulled back into the lot. Felt great to stay with the kids and even push them a bit on the climbs. Tomorrow, I take it easy!

-Greg

[the night owl]

Left the house around 11 AM, ambient temperature was 92F with about 75% humidity. At the first decision point decided to make the ride 28 miles. At the second decision point decided that it needed to be 24. When I got back to the house, I looked like someone had thrown several buckets of water on me. Wasn't such a fun day on the bike, but if you stayed upright and didn't throw up, there is no such thing as a bad ride. I live in the Charlotte metro and the air quality really sucks right now. Some rain would do us good, at least temporarily.

[Keith A]

The waves were gone today, so I did a 31 mile solo ride on A1A. Nice morning, just a little muggy out there.

Sorry about the lousy quality cell phone picture, but this was my only choice.

[weiwentg]

I got borderline dehydrated on yesterday's 25 miler. Didn't drink enough beforehand. Had barely enough water to make it home.

Plus all the big diesels were either elsewhere or had crashed and were recuperating. I and this other small guy ended up towing the small group most of the way. When you're my size, it's always better to be towed than to tow, especially if it's relatively flat.

[velotel]

Going away ride for my son and his two buddies before they fly back to the states. Left from the house, over the Col du Coq, down to St Pierre de Chartreuse, over the Col du Cucheron, down towards St Pierre d'Entremont, over a small road mostly unknown even to local cyclists with a good climb to a col on a one-lane road, down to the road to the Col de Granier, down towards Chapareillen (way fast and fun downhill), onto the Plateau de Petites Roches road, back to the house. Some 80 kms, around 2500 vertical meters. Excellent.

[67-59]

Going away ride for my son and his two buddies before they fly back to the states. Left from the house, over the Col du Coq, down to St Pierre de Chartreuse, over the Col du Cucheron, down towards St Pierre d'Entremont, over a small road mostly unknown even to local cyclists with a good climb to a col on a one-lane road, down to the road to the Col de Granier, down towards Chapareillen (way fast and fun downhill), onto the Plateau de Petites Roches road, back to the house. Some 80 kms, around 2500 vertical meters. Excellent.

Now that sounds like a ride! Can I be one of your son's buddies? ;)

[Jack Brunk]

30miles in bend along the deschutes river today. I never even realized I was riding a single speed. Big road and mtn racing this weekend.

[Bodid]

How do you people ride in the mid day heat? If I don't get out before 5:30 am I might as well forget it, and traffic is a bear after 7. I think the median driver age in my neighborhood is 82 and they're all driving old Jaguars or Lexus 470's (why that Lexus became the 'old man's car' beat the crap out of me but I saw 4 of them today and the driver were easily 75 and up).

I'm afraid of these people. They can't see, their reflexes are totally gone, and if they hit you they'd think it was a pothole (which we have plenty of). I'm rather jealous of some of the roads I see on this forum.

I don't just need a helmet when I ride, I need a full set of leathers and maybe an air siren, or a megaphone.

[Julian Brooklyn]

Yall are some lucky dogs. I road to work in the morning through a bunch of muggy heat and nonesense to midtown manhattan, sat in my office until about 10pm, and then road home in about the same heat. I suppose the day would have been much worse without the commute, though!

[DRZRM]

Uggg, rode 5 miles into work and stretched my legs 15 on the way home, hot, muggy, awful. Felt slow and tired. The IF SSR felt pretty snappy though, the fault was definitely with me. I need more miles on this bike to see if it really works for me. Missed the Zanc though.

[pegdrgr]

I am down in California on vacation. Managed a 31 mile ride today along the Sacramento River, Sac state up to Lake Natoma and back . No real vertical to speak of, but enough variation and scenery to keep it entertaining. I was happy that this time I was only passed by 1 person on the entire ride, and I made him pay for it. I was doing about 19.5 mph when he went by me, after he passed I stayed about 20 yards behind him so as to not be drafting, but close enough he knew for sure he wasn't pulling on me. He held 20.5 for about a mile while periodically checking to see if I was still there. Apparently he had his fill and kicked to 21.5 and slowly walked away. Took a solid 3 miles before he was out of sight, so I felt a moral victory :)

I am not used to the heat so I headed out about 7:45 and still felt the onset of a 97 degree day by the time I got back at 9:30. I need to get back up to Portland where the rides have vertical and the breeze feels good.

[Bodid]

No ride today. My mother is 92,very independent, but needed my help. Nothing serious, but I had to go. I've got one day to ride in the Summer and this is it. Not happy, but hey, you only have one mom.

[AngryScientist]

No ride today. My mother is 92,very independent, but needed my help. Nothing serious, but I had to go. I've got one day to ride in the Summer and this is it. Not happy, but hey, you only have one mom.


good work Bodid, you're a good man.

[JLP]

Six mountain passes this weekend at Mt. Rainier.

Nearing the end of Paris Brest Paris training.

Put a fork in me.