My Most Recent Ride 2012 (Part V in a series)

After my many problems this summer I just had to try riding again. Thinking after the ride, it is amazing that I got excited with the speed I was going. Oh well, it happens.

So I told my wife I would just go on a short ride. Our gravel roads are such that now I have no choice but to drive the car out to a paved road before starting the ride. However, I know some nice people and can park in yards rather than just along a road.

So off I went and headed into the wind. Fortunately, there was not much wind because in my weak condition that would have not been fun. But wait! I was riding faster in the wind than I had rode the last time with the wind. After a measly 8 miles I stopped to take a little rest break....but it didn't help. When I turned the wind was at my back but my speed had not increased. Before I got 3 miles I was going slower. Had to stop to rest again before I got home. I was tired, but happy. I'm going to try to do that same thing today if at all possible. Dang I miss riding....

 

It's Always Something

Sunday morning, the weather was fantastic for a ride;
the riding was fantastic.

Chased down a couple out on a training ride:
they were loafing along side-by-side when I
caught up to them.
It's still fun to surprise people....

I had to slow down at a bridge crossing Falling Water creek.
To wait on a fisherman.
The guy was fly fishing from the bridge and his back-casts
were flying across the road!
When I saw that he'd cast his lure, I sounded my bell
to get his attention and went on my merry way.

Thanks to the rabbits I chased after, my average
speed was up to 16.7mph for 25 miles,
with a top speed of only 31mph.
Not.
Bad.
-----
Fly fishing!

 

Wait until you get your full recumbent legs. That Corsa will SCREAM!!!! You will like it even better once you get the headrest!

 

Dennis keep getting out there man, it's always hard getting restarted.

I was just going to ride 40 or so Sunday as Saturday had been a long day.
6 am waiting, my riding partner overslept so I took a 5 mile loop to warm the legs up. The Cheetah moved along nicely pumping the blood around to my tired legs. I stopped at a store and grabbed a 5 hour energy to give me a bit more kick.

7:11 we started out, right up the hill to a short gravel section (walked) then onto nice new pavement compliments of the US Army. Not 10 minutes later I was stung by a Yellow Jacket that flew into my jersey. He got me on the backside of my neck when I swatted him. I usually swell up pretty good from those and since it was a bit close to my neck I decided I needed to kick up some natural adrenalin to help keep it under control.

A solo hardcore DF in full kit had recently passed us and was still in range. I kicked it up and went after him. It took me longer than it would have on the Dragon but catch him I did climbing a hill no less. We spoke and I dropped back a bit on the downhill before punching it to catch him on the next hill (which was a bit steeper) just to let him know it hadn't been a fluke. I then turned back to meet Liner who was only about a 1/4 mile back.

Over the first 30 miles or so we had a lot of climbs, probably around 2000 feet and even so were holding around 16 mph. The last half of the ride was mostly on MUP and by then there a lot of bike and foot traffic as well as stops, so our time dropped quickly to just above 14.

On one section of road we met two DF riders as the trail merged. They were feeding in and came out right in front of us. The stronger rider pulled a bit ahead of the other and I followed on his wheel. He looked over his shoulder several times at me before I said, "Are you going to get over or do I need to pass on the right?". He pulled over and it was game on. I took a big lead and he couldn't jump quick enough. My friend hung with them while I stayed off the front about 75 yards. I held them off for over a mile when I started having some cramps in my inner thighs from the exertion so I made a big show of slowing down to ride with my pal. The best part was the grins on the riders coming towards us when I walked away from them. Hard to live down with witnesses.

Finished with just over 62 miles in 4:40 total time. The worst part was it was already almost 100 degrees when we finished.

 

Tonight I had a GREAT ride!

The Monday night group is a 'performance' group, several of whom are active in the local racing scene. Long story short, I wailed on everyone. I beat them on the flats, I beat them on the hills, and I destroyed them on the final sprint. Back in the parking lot, one of they guys (who doesn't know my Internet nickname) remarked that I was "blazing-fast" tonight. Top speed was 36 mph, and my final sprint hit 32 mph before a small rise right before 'the sign' got me back down to 26.

B-Savage, I was in your neighborhood on Saturday. My club had a 100-mile ride to Chesaning and back.

 

Ward, glad to see you are back riding again. Love the stories.

Speaking of stories, John yours was great!!!

Last Friday I rode the Coulter Bridge to U-Man and back. Saw Keila and she lent me the recumbent video about two guys from Australia who rode recumbents across Russia to Beijing China!!! They crossed Siberia with snow on the ground. This was incredible footage and these two guys went self contained. The movie is call "Off the Rails". WOW!!!

It rained last night. If the weather holds out I may go riding today...

 

Starting over

OH tell me about it. Did my first "long ride" on the BikeE Sunday. Temps started out great as did I but as the temps grew warmer...my legs grew weaker.

That was a Challenge if I ever heard it...I'm sure he did too.heh heh

I got a nasty leg cramp hammering down a flat...stopped and stretched but suddenly had to fake "adjusting" my seat when a couple of DF ladies came in to view...yeah vanity I know but they didn't need to know I was having a problem.

EXCELLENT ride report! I agree about the heat too, the heat was doing me in quicker than I thought...got to be careful about that. So glad you are out riding again.

 

DFs for dinner...

Oooooh! Words like "wailed on", "beat them" and "destroyed" are very descriptive... indicates the type of story that warrants more details, but that is ok. The report is still a good one...Had me picturing the scene in my mind quite nicely.

 

Starting Over

Well, my last ride was one that taught me many things. Things I already knew but did not put into action. I've dilly dallied around with the BikeE for some time now since I've had it. Not really taking it seriously since the Cades Cove debut. So for the 2nd ride of the summer ride program (Little River Run/"Y") I rode the Bike E. Started out pretty good. Temps were nice and cool. We had 4 folks come on the ride. Then things started to happen. Temps started going up and my strength started going down. I started slipping behind the little group we had and that make me feel bad. I didn't have clipless pedals and my feet kept slipping on the pedals or I would just completely run out of gearing and couldn't get the 'bent to go any faster without over spinning. Got a nasty leg cramp once and had to stop and stretch it out. I got behind a bit more once we got to Townsend. I was so weak and tired. However, I persevered...Original plan was that if I fell behind and time got too far along I was to turn around and go open up the bike shop. So I kept going all the way to the end of the bike path and then turned around. Which is ironic, because I caught my second wind on the way back and I was hauling down the highway as fast as I could with the little BikeE. So I got in 17-18 miles total.

Told my dr. about it yesterday and he thought I was crazy for trying to do so much when I'm basically "starting over". He told me to just bike every day, low-modeate speed and work my way back up. I know I should, but I just had to see what I could do. I know my cardio sucks and I need to stay hydrated and dig out my cooling gear again. Oh well, regardless of my condition...I did it.

 

Rode when it was cloudy so the heat wasn't as bad.

Passed two DF riders but they were older than me so I don't count them.

Nice day for a ride.

 

Serenity, a bit more each day is good but pushing youself hard every once in a while is good as well. It shocks the system into thinking more is coming, it had better prepare.

John, sounds like a great ride. Part do me really misses the Dragon but I have to work harder on the Cheetah and interestingly enough I seem to be getting more respect on it. Go figure. I really like the fact that I can climb all but the REALLY steep stuff as fast on the Cheetah as I did on the Dragon. In the next few months I plan on beating a few more of my Strava times that I set on the Dragon.

The other thing is, I get a workout riding with my friends. They will never be in the fast group usually hanging around 16-17 on pretty flat routes and 14 on steeper rides. On the Dragon other than doing lots of one legged drills I was barely idling. On the trikes I'm working harder than they are.

 

John, I wish I'd known about it as I would also have headed to town. Did everyone gather at the park?

 

Twenty-three miles;
only saw two bicyclists... going the other way;
averaged 17.3 miles per hour.

 

Rode 17.1 miles today. Rode most of a greenway where I normally don't see any other cyclist.

I have met a friend who stays on his front porch most of the time. I used to wave to him and he would wave to me. Then one day I stopped and introduced myself to him. Now we are friends.

Today was very warm and I had about 5 miles to go when I saw Chris on this porch. I stopped and sat down and he offered me some sweet tea. I said sure! (I was hot and thirsty!)

He comes out with a mayonnaise jar fun of ice tea he got from his refrigerator. He was drinking out of a similar jar. So I chugged about 1/2 of it down.

I will tell you I am a transplanted Yankee, and I didn't grow up on sweet tea. But BOY!!!! that sweet tea tasted good!

After 10 minutes I was ready to go and sprinted back to my office to shower, eat lunch and get back to work.

I am a converted sweet tea drinker now!!!

 

You know that make you a real "southerner" now...