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

Never!! Or rather - Only if I can migrate with the season changes!!

Seriously, I thrive on the 19 hours of full day light with 2.5 hour sunrise and 2.5 hour sunset so that there's about a month with no True night during the summer. Milder temps. *dreamy sigh*

 

37F in London today, but dry so knocked off 40 miles on the ICE, it was windy though with a strong and cold Easterly wind. I'm trying to make the most of the dry weather and the wife being away to get some early miles in ! Snow and colder forecast for the next few weeks, so may not get many more mile in this month Roll on the Spring

 

I am slacking but I had my first ride of the year onthe Gold Rush. 17.5 miles..Weeeeeee

 

Glad to see other people out and about. I might be staying off the trike for the next few days. Jens brought home another cold which I'm fighting and the temp has taken a sharp drop. It's about 18 F now, about 7 degrees too nippy for me to wanna go pedal. My thermals can't quite hold that back.

Terii

 

Shook off the cold enough and the temps went up a bit so I got out for a ride.

Yesterday though we got about 1 foot of snow. 12-14 inches actually.

Loke was hysterical to run. Since the snow wasn't nearly as deep as it had been after the mini-blizzard, it didn't feel so bad. Only 1 tiny residential road gave me any real problems.

That said, I think the few days of rest did me a world of good. I felt stronger and fitter in just about every way even while churning and plowing over/through 1-4 inches of loose snow on the plowed paths and roads.

My cable still froze though it was about 5-6 degrees warmer and I'd tried to get oil in the tube. Either I didn't get enough in or I didn't work it through very well. Ah well.

The only other unpleasantness was the return of the heavy snow coming down from the sky. The density of the fall, size of the flakes and angle of the light wind meant every time I inhaled, I got a snoot full of the white stuff. Since I'd left my mask at home, I felt like I was half-drowning the last 2 miles home.

Not a bad 7.3 mile outing even with choking on snow! I'm glad I went!

Terii

 

I wasn't feeling much up to it, but I still went out for another ride today. Having a little over 1 mile to break the combined mileage of Jan & Feb last year was just too much of a pull.

Loke and I put in 7.29 miles which gave us a bit over 6 miles extra toward my next tentative goal of 113 miles. That will beat the combined mileage of 1st quarter 2012. Need something like 45.6 miles.

It was a hard ride though. Just incredibly difficult with me feeling rather weak and out of shape again. Annoying, but not enough to stop me. Just slowed me down. Part of it may be the 1 to 2 inches of fresh snow that hasn't been plowed from most of the roads and paths yet.

26.6 F, moderate winds and lightly snowing. Had a cute moment when Loke picked up a stick on the run and carried it for almost 2 miles. Made a few people laugh as we passed. Funny bike, plump woman and a white husky jogging along with a stick in his mouth. Who wouldn't laugh?

Oh! And Congratulations to those who passed me on our club's leaderboard!

Terii

 

Terii,

Looks like you are the only RRI member getting out to ride these days and you are doing it in the winters of Sweden! :yikes:

As for me, 5 days of solid rain and a forecast of 1 - 4 inches of snow today is keeping me from doing any riding. My waist line continues to grows.

The bright spot for me is I am taking both recumbents to Mark Powers next week to get new tubes and tires, tune ups and maybe new rims for my Strada. And I get to have lunch with my son who works for TDOT in Newport.

Another good event is that I am planning my 2013 summer bike vacation. Looks like I will be riding the C&O bike trail (click name to go to their informative website) from Leesburg, VA to Cumberland, MD. It isn't the entire trail but about 85% of it. I am not starting at the beginning because it starts in Georgetown and it is too congested for my taste. I like rural riding, so I am starting about 30 from the start in Leesburg.

If you would like to read a great monologue of this ride from our own member FeetFirstFella (Don) that combines the C&O with the GAP trail, see the attached PDF file.

So even if I am NOT riding, I am planning a riding recumbent vacation. Helps put my spirits in a better mood since I can't peddle a few miles these days.

Come on.... weather give me a break!!!!

 

23 miles. 25-33°F.

 

It finally warmed up! Relatively speaking anyway.

Walked Loke last night in a very chill 6 F. Woke this morning to 22 F. Around 10:30 am, it edged up to 24 F so I decided to risk my toes.

A huge bonus to the mid-20 temps were the blue skies with a few puffy clouds and the wonderful yellow glow of sunlight.

Loke was overjoyed to be going out. After the really cold days and no fresh snow, the roads and paths had a chance to compress without turning to ice and the snow 'dried'. Except for a very few loose spots it made for a good surface. If not for my frozen gears, our average speed probably would have been around 8.2. It's just hard to manage a brisk pace when getting stuck on a bigger rear cog. I can only spin so fast. Loke managed to pull us fast enough a few times there was no resistance in the pedals even on my largest chain ring.

I'd planned to do a longer route.. until I discovered that I'd forgotten to hit 'start' on my Garmin. As obsessed as I am about recording every inch I cycle, I didn't want to do a ride where I'd have to guess since I've never done 3 of the River Loop extensions when going on the Stenhagen Loop. So, I did a route, I could probably pedal with my eyes close... the full River Loop. 7.88 miles.

People were out in force. Probably more than they were yesterday simply because it's about 15 degrees warmer. It meant quite a bit of weaving around to pass the foot (and paw) traffic on the path. About 1/3 of the way Into The Ride, huge fluffy flakes began to drift down from the blue dome over head. I don't think I've seen snow come out of clear skies more than 3 times since I moved here. Beautiful. Also saw a magpie taking a snow bath.

It was good to get out even if I shot myself in the foot with the Garmin. 7.88 miles with 25 F, light winds, light snows from a clear sky.

Terii

 

And another ride. 10.13 miles. The arctic blast that was supposed to come through and drop us back into the single digits on both sides of 0 F held off so it was about 25 F when I decided to go out. I'd hoped I could push through something like 14 miles, but alas.

Started out gray, but as I did the out-n-back along side the river, there was blue along the edge of the northern horizon. Slowly it crept toward us. By mile 4 though, I knew I had to cut it short. Shoe-covers and thick wool socks or not, the big toe on my right foot was so cold it felt like someone was blasting it with a blow torch. Or twisting it with a pair of pliers. Either way, it hurt. I stopped and managed to wiggle it back into a feeling normalcy so decided to try adding at least another mile or two.

Huge mistake. It hurt even worse and my left foot decided to join in the fun. I tried to hurry back home. Trying to go faster only heightened the pain. Finally, I settled for scurrying into the vet clinic to let my feet thaw though home was only .3 miles away.

Niclas was surprised to see me and once I assured him it wasn't for Loke, but to save my feet, he invited to me go make myself comfortable and take my shoes off so the toes would warm up faster. Bless him.

That short 10 minute break revived me and by then we had blue skies and SUN. I added some zig-zags through a little residential area for another half mile's distance. On the last leg home, I met Emil (my SIL's hubby). We had a brief chat and I made it home in one piece with all toes intact.

The forecast says the temp is supposed to plunge tomorrow, but that's been the case for the past 2 days now. So, who knows? Maybe tomorrow it will still be 'tomorrow' for the arctic front so I can get a 3rd consecutive day's ride and that much closer to breaking the goal I'm hoping for January!

Terii

 

4 days of single digit cold on either side of 0 F finally broke. It was 25.7 F when Loke and I set out. I took us down all the extensions of the River loop, but crossed the 272 to try heading out into the countryside a bit which would have gotten me about 14-15 miles.

Alas, it didn't happen. Though it was warmer than my last toe-torturing ride, as soon as I got out of the city proper, the wind howling across the fields just cut right through my shoes, thick wool socks and neoprene shoe-covers. It helped confirm my belief that it's the wind digging through the soles of my shoes.

Once it got a little uncomfortable, I called Jens. No way I was going to wait until it became painful. I stopped to await the arrival of the husband in the same place I had to be rescued from last year when my Trice's derailleur had a melt down. The parking lot is outside a HUGE wood working shop. The guy who had chatted with Jens and I back then came out and we had a short chat again. He was actually loading a beautiful wooden ice yacht (made in 1936) onto a trailer.

We went 10 miles (10.02 if you wanna be precise). That leaves 17 miles for the month's goal. 5 days to make it.

As for Loke, he's treating the 10 miles as if it was a 15 minute stroll around the block. It didn't even take the edge off his energy levels. This after he underwent general anesthesia for quick surgery to remove a polyp from his eye-lid yesterday.

We're supposed to have a few days of mild temps, so I'll see how much more I can get before Jan 31st.

Terii

 

Better weather in the UK this weekend - much warmer and no more snow Took ICE Sprint out yesterday and clocked up 39 miles and did another 28 today, bringing me close to 250 for January, which is pretty good for me. I didn't enjoy today's ride at all, it was really windy and to make matters worse I had no energy and I got a puncture, I don't know why, but I just didn't seem able to turn the pedals today - hope it's just a one off ! I think psychology has a lot to do with it, once I decide I'm tired and can't push, it just seems to get worse. Think I need to read some motivational books ! That or I need some sun, even British sun would do me - but a week on a tropical beach would be better !

 

I'm with you!!! The weather here is either wet or below 40 degrees. Either way, I won't ride in it.

So got both bents tuned up, new tubes and tires, adjuted everything and waiting for some decent weather. I hope this week will let me get out.

 

Above freezing at 35 F and it came with 3 inches of heavy, wet snow. Hard slog for 3.11 miles which was the river loop cut short by a migraine.

Oh well. At least it was some distance. Now I'm going to lay down with a cool cloth over my head and sip some juice in an effort to get my tummy to settle.

Terii

 

FINALLY got my butt out the door and on my bent. Took it slow. 20.1 miles in 52 degree cloudy weather. I have a whopping 68 miles this month.