Weekend Ride Reports

[PaloAltoCougar]

That is quite the difference between in elevation measurement - is it usually that much?

MapMyRide is always much less than what our Garmins report, and I think MMR is more accurate. MMR shows today's ride as having 996 feet of climbing, while our Garmins reported 1900 and 2015 feet, respectively. I think part of the difference is due to Garmin counting every little up and down, while MMR tends to focus on the difference in elevation over longer distances. And oddly, the same ride will produce different elevation reports each time we ride it. I assume it's due to seismic activity and shifts in the tectonic plates from one week to the next.

[Pheidippides]

http://connect.garmin.com/player/97881733

Rode the 5+ miles up to my local bike shop for the Saturday ride. A few different groups have consolidated for the time being so we have a great crowd - 50+. Somehow I found myself among the really strong riders at first, but no problem up front. There's a bridge over some railroad tracks a couple of miles in that marks our only "hill" and people take it easy until the downhill - after that it's a free-for-all. I decided to see if I could hang with the top group until the Starbucks that marks our first stop about 12-13 miles down the road.

Holy cow. Those guys were pulling at 27+ the entire freaking way. I kept praying for stoplights the entire time (my prayers were only sometimes answered, these being ruralish roads). It was all I could do to hold the wheel in front of me. And just when it's getting crazy and we're starting a mild uphill, a couple of guys attack just to see if they can do 30+ up it!

Thankfully, the first stop came just before it was my turn to take a pull - I'm not sure I could have eked out anything greater than 24. When it became apparent that the leaders were going to skip Starbucks altogether, I gracefully - if cowardly - peeled off to take my own break. I made an instant friend of a guy who saw his excuse to do the same.

I spent the rest of the ride at a much more leisurely pace with a chatty group (a few of whom had done that ridiculous 27mph stretch with me - nice to know I was not the only one who couldn't hack it. We had to go around a nasty thunderstorm, so this ended up being my longest ride yet, at 60. Needless to say, the two mile brick I tried to do afterwards was not spectacular.

[RC Vikings]

Holy cow. Those guys were pulling at 27+ the entire freaking way. I kept praying for stoplights the entire time (my prayers were only sometimes answered, these being ruralish roads). It was all I could do to hold the wheel in front of me.

This is when I get my biggest rush in cycling, a bunch of guys pushing it mid-twenties and up and just flying. It's the working together, the speed, the feeling of being fit and fast that is a real high. Niku keep riding with those guys and just hang on a little farther every time and it won't take long for you to be right with them.

[Pheidippides]

This is when I get my biggest rush in cycling, a bunch of guys pushing it mid-twenties and up and just flying. It's the working together, the speed, the feeling of being fit and fast that is a real high. Niku keep riding with those guys and just hang on a little farther every time and it won't take long for you to be right with them.

Oh, I agree. I may need a couple of weeks to recover but I plan on that nuttiness again.

[Jarid in Cedar]

This was my weekend ride:

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/40780286

Ummm. I am able to ride about 30-35 miles on 1-2% grade without much difficulty, so I figured I needed to do some climbing to get ready for the CUF ride. But yikes. I had to stop every 1/2-3/4 miles up the hill to get my heart rate down out of the anaerobic zones. I plan to try this ride 2 more times before Aug. 6th. Am I setting myself up for embarassment?

[mtnbiker]

This was my weekend ride:

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/40780286

Ummm. I am able to ride about 30-35 miles on 1-2% grade without much difficulty, so I figured I needed to do some climbing to get ready for the CUF ride. But yikes. I had to stop every 1/2-3/4 miles up the hill to get my heart rate down out of the anaerobic zones. I plan to try this ride 2 more times before Aug. 6th. Am I setting myself up for embarassment?

Maybe a little, but you'll probably be ok. MMR shows an average grade for that ride of 7.5%, and gives it a category 1 rating, which is quite respectable. The first time up any climb is the toughest, since you don't know what to expect and don't know how much to pace yourself. Do it a couple more times and you'll probably be sailing up it. I doubt the CUF ride has 7.5% grade for 3.5 miles (although you never know what PAC might do at the last moment).

[PaloAltoCougar]

Jarid, none of the climbs in this year's CUF ride are as tough as the one you tackled today. Note that it was a Category 1 climb, the most difficult rated climb (other than the HCs which are off the charts). We'll do two Category 2 climbs (here's the climb summary, and I apologize for having named the ride CUF Ride 2010--it takes me until around August to finally stop referring to the previous year). Both of the Cat 2 climbs are hard, but by no means overwhelming. Mrs. PAC and I have done both, just settling back in our Grannies, content with a 5-6 mph pace, if necessary. Keep riding, and you'll do fine. And the views from the top are worth it, especially Donner Pass.

[Babs]

Oh, I agree. I may need a couple of weeks to recover but I plan on that nuttiness again.

btw, I thought of you the other day when I saw an article on "how to know if you're addicted to exercise."

[Pheidippides]

btw, I thought of you the other day when I saw an article on "how to know if you're addicted to exercise."

You are not the first to make that observation - SHW beat you to it. But she prefers addiction to exercise to addition to food.

[ERCougar]

This was my weekend ride:

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/40780286

Ummm. I am able to ride about 30-35 miles on 1-2% grade without much difficulty, so I figured I needed to do some climbing to get ready for the CUF ride. But yikes. I had to stop every 1/2-3/4 miles up the hill to get my heart rate down out of the anaerobic zones. I plan to try this ride 2 more times before Aug. 6th. Am I setting myself up for embarassment?

I've done the Right Hand Canyon ride. Once. And never again. It's brutal.

Summer Games does a race up that thing.

[Babs]

You are not the first to make that observation - SHW beat you to it. But she prefers addiction to exercise to addition to food.

Those are the only options?

[Pheidippides]

Those are the only options?

You'd prefer heroin, I take it?

[Borg]

My loverly ride home yesterday. Trying to get in miles in a commute to work. 30 miles one way. Nothing too challenging...other than just the distance.

However, as I left, I had not gone 2 miles into the ride, when it started to rain. Just spitting...but, before long, the winds kicked up, and at about mile 6, it was 'raining'.

Fought a freaking headwind and a steady rain for 25 miles. Drown rat I was. What made it so bad, is...that there was a hefty headwind blowing from the south....in my face the entire ride. Steady rain...so, I had to slower to be more cautious for slipping etc.

Ugh...what a ride.

[bluegoose]

Thats what you get stacking the deck against us in the CUF fitness challenge.

I had taken a week and a half off the bike for vacation, so I snuck out for an hour after work today. Temps were just under 90 degrees, but a decent south wind made it feel a bit cooler. Just a quick 18 miler. The legs were a little sluggish if I tried to get the cadence up, but I finished with a decent average.

I've actually kind of enjoyed doing more warm weather riding this summer. In years past, I have been strictly an early morning rider. This made it really tough on me once the temps hit anything above 85 degrees (see the last climb at the Tour de CUF last year). Now, as long as I take plenty of water and eat something before I go, 90-95 degrees doesn't seem too bad.

[RC Vikings]

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/98806410

We are about to lose some of the faster kids because it's almost break time at BYU-I but it's been fun trying to follow them this summer.