Weekend Ride Reports

[mtnbiker]

Dammit. It fell off again today and I couldn't find it this time. I don't get it. I have been religious about making sure it is secure. It is hard to pry out when I need to charge it. How does it come out while riding?

No testimony from me tomorrow.

Major bummer, JL. Sorry to hear that. Maybe you should invent a mini gps for your gps.

[dhendriksen]

Dammit. It fell off again today and I couldn't find it this time. I don't get it. I have been religious about making sure it is secure. It is hard to pry out when I need to charge it. How does it come out while riding?

No testimony from me tomorrow.

That bites. I never had that problem with my 305, but I heard a lot of people did. For what it's worth, they have fixed the problem on the Edge 500 and Edge 800...they have a much better mount. You can know the one you replace it with will be secure...

[Parrot Head]

Note to self: When the temps have dropped by 15 degrees, it is not necessary to chug as much liquid prior to riding.

I spent the last 8 miles wanting to ditch the group for a nature break, but couldn't bring myself to do so. I arrived home almost in pain, needing a bathroom.

[Parrot Head]

I am now a convert to bib shorts. I took my new pair of Giordanas out tonight and they were awesome. They have less padding than my other pair of shorts so that will take a little getting sued to, but other than that I just kept thinking, "Nothing at all! Feels like NOTHING AT ALL!"

[mtnbiker]

Had a close call while riding today. Grinding to the top of a section of singletrack, I almost ran over a rattlesnake. It was in the shadows on the left edge of the trail, which was about 14 inches wide, and I didn't see it until it suddenly moved and started hissing and rattling just as my front tire got to it. I might have actually brushed up against it. I felt pretty lucky that my left foot was at the top of the pedal stroke and as far away from the snake as possible. From the girth of the snake that I could see, I'd guess it was probably 3 ft long. It's curious that it didn't seem to hear or feel me coming and wasn't coiled up to strike. No, I didn't stop to ask it to pose for pictures. I figured it would was pretty grumpy.

[PaloAltoCougar]

With Mrs. PAC on the road, I ventured out for 42-miler up to Calaveras Reservoir and The Wall. It's a gorgeous day in the Bay Area (Welcome, Utes!) and there many dozens of cyclists (not to mention >50 motorcycles) along the otherwise car-free route. This is a great time to ride in the Bay Area. You're all invited.

[mtnbiker]

With Mrs. PAC on the road, I ventured out for 42-miler up to Calaveras Reservoir and The Wall. It's a gorgeous day in the Bay Area (Welcome, Utes!) and there many dozens of cyclists (not to mention >50 motorcycles) along the otherwise car-free route. This is a great time to ride in the Bay Area. You're all invited.

Wish I could have ridden with you. What are the temps there? As it cools down here, it seems like I just can't get the legs and energy going. I took the day off yesterday and ended up with a 42-mile ride, although I'd planned for more like 30. I felt sluggish the whole time. Didn't help that I was riding into the wind for 2/3 of the ride.

The day before that, I biked to the top of the Squaw Peak overlook, and was slow and sluggish the entire time, too. Just as I was getting to the parking lot at the top, 2 guys came screaming by on 4-wheelers. The first thing they said as I rode up to them was "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a bike pump on you, would you?" They'd ridden from Hobble Creek along the back dirt road above Rock Canyon campground. One of them had hit a rock and rolled the machine, and a tire either got a leak or burped pretty good.

There were several paragliders up there at the overlook, and it looked really sweet as they just stepped out into the wind and flew away.

[RC Vikings]

40 miles yesterday in the crisp autumn air. I love the fall for riding and golf and I'm always surprised when our group rides dwindle to almost nobody and the golf courses are empty. With winter right around the corner I try and make the most out of every nice day left. BTW I'm jealous of PAC once again.

[PaloAltoCougar]

The roads are still damp from yesterday's rain, so I wussed out in favor of a spin class at the local club. Led by Mme. Suzette, a surprisingly hefty dominatrix, we went through a 60-minute ordeal accompanied by loud hip hop and other tunes. Hitting the lactate threshold while listening to "my hump, my hump, my lovely lady lumps" or some such was unpleasant, but I felt great after it was over. It's also amazing how much one sweats on a stationary bike--it was as if a pipe had burst under my iron steed.

Can't wait to return to the outdoors.

[Parrot Head]

I headed out to the LBS this morning to meet the Felt demo truck and put a few miles on an AR1 and an F1.

Holy cow, what amazing rides. Both were Dura-Ace Di2 electronic shifting and it was the first time I've ridden either DA or an electronic gruppo. Both have an MSRP of $10k so I don't expect to ride one full time anytime soon, but they can go. I liked the F1 slightly better, but the AR1 is very aerodynamic and I crouched down while taking a small descent that I know well and I zipped down it on sheer momentum much more quickly than normal. I also think Felt makes the most attractive bikes of any American mass manufacturer.

Of course, I'm making these comparisons against a 105 set on an aluminum frame with merely a carbon fork, but you could tell....

[RC Vikings]

A cold 38 miles yesterday. With temp in the mid thirties and not many miles in my legs lately it made for a tough day.

[bluegoose]

I did my first road ride in a couple of months yesterday morning. What was initially planned to be a 2 hour ride starting at 8:00am changed very quickly upon learning that it was 26 degrees at the start time. Instead we did 1 hour, starting at 10:00.

At start it was 36 deg, but had warmed up to about 41 by the finish. I was dressed pretty well, so the cold wasn't a huge problem. But it sure is a pain in the butt having to get all of that cold weather gear together just to go ride for an hour.

Leg felt good, so I don't think I've suffered too badly from all of the running that I've being doing this winter.

[HawkeyeUte Scads]

I did my first road ride in a couple of months yesterday morning.

I'm debating if I want to go out today. The high is going to be 43, but I haven't been out since October.

Last night I made some adjustments on the bike after reading about competitive cycling positions, cleat positioning, and knee health. Ended up completely changing the position of my cleats on my shoes, putting my seat up and back a couple of centimeters, and then changed my handlebar tape because I was already going.

The reason for the changes was I was worried about some anterior knee pain this last season and I had never really made any adjustments to my bike. And my cleat positioning was horrendous, not even close to being placed over the ball of the foot or the same on each side.

Anyway, long story short I want to go check everything out to see how it feels.

I used this site's Fit Calculator to assist with some of the changes.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Final ride of the year (yesterday) was a 40-miler up to Calaveras Reservoir. We rode with the couple who did the Giro d'Italia climbs last summer, and they pushed us pretty hard, although the 21 mph paceline over the final four miles was pretty cool. Not bad considering I was carrying about ten extra pounds of holiday corpulence.

[bluegoose]

I also got a final 2011 ride in on Saturday. 32 easy miles. When I left my house the temp was 41 degrees. When we dropped into a neighboring town the temp dropped down to 26 degrees and stayed there for about 15 miles. I was dressed pretty well, but my toes absolutely froze. Hopping in the shower when I got home caused much burning.

It was a good year of riding and I'm really looking forward to having another good year in the paceline in 2012.