My Most Recent Ride 2013 (Part VI in a series)

I got out for my first club ride of the year today. I had a 22-mile group ride in January, and a solo 11-miler in Feb, and then this one -- 33 miles. So this one doubled my year's mileage!

It was still chilly - 36F at start and 44F by the finish. Route went more-or-less north out and south back; and the 10-15 mph wind was out of the north. I rode my highracer, so I caught a lot of wind.

After all that, when I got home I spent a couple hours on my tractor, cleaning up the ~2 acre horse pasture. They sure got that place dirty over the winter! First I had to rake 'horse debris' away from the fences so that I could drag the messes flat with a harrow, then I rolled it. Looks much better now! Man did it feel good to get in the house and finally put my feet up! Without having to pedal, that is!

If I do tomorrow's club ride, I think I'll take my Baron, maybe get below the wind.

 

Hi Buddy - I often pilot a GTT tandem, my cycling mate is registered blind, he still manages the odd trip out solo (he has some peripheral Vision) but enjoys the tandem more.

Managed 36 miles today - felt hard riding, but sure the legs will come back quickly.

 

I've wondered what happened to you Adrian. You shot out on Bike Journal then stopped. Now I know why. Glad you are getting back in the saddle.

 

OK I am NOT riding this weekend but at my cabin in the Smokies. The weather is PERFECT. Sitting on the back porch watching the sunset and it is WARM!!!

Plan to ride a lot next week. Weather is finally getting warm and dry!!!!

 

Beautiful day today and I convinced Betty to get out on her Fujin. She has only been on it twice before so she was off to a shaky start but it didn't take long for her to settle down. She rode with just tennis shoes using a wide clip in MTB pedal because she doesn't feel comfortable yet clipping in.

The first six miles was all rail trail whiched helped bld her confidence. We then rode out a nice rural area very little traffic but a few horses beside the road. There were a few hills and her light little Fujin handled them easily.

By the time we finished her legs were pretty tired. 27 miles with an 11.8 mph moving average.
http://app.strava.com/activities/47562603

Tomorrow morning, it will be out on the MTB.

 

Heal up, Adrian!

Great you got out with your sweetie, Ward. That's awesome.

Just back from my own ride. I went over older ground in search of runestones. I had about 10 marked on maps. I found 4 or 5.

3 were no to be found on the places I gleaned from an on-line database of runestones. Those drove Loke nuts because I kept rolling back and forth looking for them.

2 were in the middle of fields. The first of those two, I had no place to leave the trike without having to cross a busy road and then walk half a mile across a recently plowed field all soggy with snow melt. The other 'field runestone', I had a decent place to park the trike and it was only 300-400 yards over a stretch of flat, pale green sprouts. 'No problem', I thought. Heh, until about 10 yards in when I had to turn around, nearly falling over with 10 pounds of gooey mud adhering to my shoes. It did NOT want to let go. Took me almost 20 minutes to clear my cleats enough to click in again.

About then, I saw heavy, dark clouds coming my way. Though it was quite cold today (34 F and a very nasty north wind), I was worried it might be rain. I needn't have concerned myself. It was a series of snow-squalls. Dense showers of frozen white, driven on the wind with such intensity even my sunglasses wouldn't keep it out of my eyes. One would pass and I'd have a taste of warm sunshine... then the next one would come like a wave. You could even see the edges of the showers sweeping in. Kind of impressive really.

Still, not a bad ride. I'm glad I went. I'll be posting it on the blog of course.

Terii

 

Yep, she rode with me again today. She was a little sore from yesterday's ride but managed 21 miles.

 

Yesterday's ride blogged with a long, detailed report. Photos of scenery and runestones. One of my most favorite pictures of Loke which I caught completely by accident.

Terii

 

Went our riding today. 75 degrees. Partly cloudy but very WINDY! Felt more like a kite than a cyclists!!!! Had to put on SUN block!!!

 

16 something miles. Somewhat of a disaster. Went looking for runestones. Failed to find the first 2. While looking for the third, a horse spooked and broke through the fence. Horses went running everywhere while I ran around trying to find the owners and waving at people to slow down so they wouldn't hit them.

*sigh*

After that fiasco, I just came home without even trying to look for more stones. Felt too bad about the horses.

Terii

 

Yesterday's disaster ride posted. Not much in the way of photos. The first crocus I've seen of the year, a couple photos of old stone bits (a strange pit and an old outline of a building), and some horses. The ones who escaped and another pair who were blissfully calm and curious.

Terii

 

Hit it hard last night on the Cheetah. 28 miles with lots of rolling hills and one really good climb. The Ultremo's pumped up with 120 psi for the nice new pavement along with the tailbox and she was set to go. The first section has been set up as a segment on Strava by the locals. I beat my best time by almost 3 mph and jumped into the top ten, and that was with a cross headwind. Can't wait to see it with the wind at my back.

I am running a corncob cassette now (12-24) with the triple on the front. I also added a 53t Q-ring. Wow, do I really like this set up. So nice to have the tiny little increment gear changes when hammering.

http://app.strava.com/activities/48073625

17.3 mph average with over 2200 feet of elevation gain in the 28 miles.

 

Ward, you are such a machine.

I also rode yesterday but nothing to compare to Super Ward!!! 15.6 miles in 1 hour 15 minutes. This was on Knoxville Greenways riding my V Rex.

[Side note, I had Mark put on a new seat (my old one had holes in it) and fenders making it a great commuter bike. I also did it because this is my vacation bike and someday I am going to have to ride in the rain on my trips. Didn't want to look like a skunk at the end of the day.]

Yesterday the greenways had TONS of bikers, walkers, joggers, moms with baby strollers, etc on the trail. So I had to slow down and maneuver a lot through the greenway.

But I was a fun ride and the weather was beautiful. Not a windy as two days ago, but still present.

 

Go guys!

I might have to live vicariously for a few days. So hope you can get lots of rides in for me!

Terii

 

Rode yesterday but it was on the MTB...I almost feel guilty. So much fun though, the fire roads were muddy and there were multiple small creek crossings that a 29er is great for. Tomorrow, back out on the Cheetah.