My Most Recent Ride 2015 (Part VIII in a series)

Haven't posted much in a while, I have been mostly MTB riding preparing for a long off-road ride in Idaho. Now that that is done I will start cranking out some road miles on the VKhi.

Road 80 miles yesterday with well over 4000 feet of elevation gain. The VKHi has gearing that doesn't really like the steep stuff but I am okay up to about an 8% grade. One long steep climb up to the top of the Pine Mountain Ridge hurt. My classic double on the front and the 28t on the back had to do, it didn't want to shift to the 30 or 32t. Probably my own fault for not paying her much attention over the last few months and not luring my chain before the ride.

I also updated my bikejounal account, now it's time to catch a few people.

 

Beware

Riding seductively fast bikes is addictive.
So much so, in my case, that some things get put off so that more riding can happen.

The pool is green.
It's my fault.
One day it was crystal clear, as always, and a mere few weeks later it suddenly turned opaque.
How'd that happen?

There was a break in the rain, so, went out to climb some of my most
hated hills... the kind that start steep, get steeper in the middle and then
are steepest at the top.
They were also damp and sandy.
I made it, so it was fun, I guess.

Coming back, I sprinted up over 30mph, tying my record for that road.
To go much faster, I'll have to wear tights... my loose clothes are parachutes
at speed.

No rabbits, but that's fine. The hills were the day's workout.

 

Thought it was unusual your mileage was less than mine - now you're suddenly 300 miles ahead of me - still gives me something to chase ! Hoped to go out on bike today, as it's a public holiday here in UK, but as usual on our public holidays - it's raining ! Adrian

 

Rode from the office today planning on an 18 mile ride. After 4 miles the road was closed so I came back. Bah humbug!!!

Put I did manage to take these two pictures along the way.

 

Sun Sphere

It's still there... and the park looks nice too.

I went out for an all-out sprint.
I faded, my heart was not in it, & only went a little over 14 miles.
But, like your pictures of Knoxville show, the weather was outstanding!

18.4mph average.

 

Beautiful day for a ride! Nice pics...need to put some swans on that lake area. That would be pretty.

 

Glad I can be a bit of a rabbit for you Adrian. With Strava being so easy to keep track of my rides, I usually wait until I have some collected up to post on BJ.

 

*^)

14 miles.
Fast cadence practice.

A fellow American expressed himself freely with his (*^((^&T$Q&*$(*

 

I was excited. I got a 26 mile ride from the Smoky Mountain Wheelmen site. I even was able to download it to my Garmin 605 so I would have a map and turn by turn directions. This is part of their last year Fall Century ride. If you ride with them and register that day it was $50. So I decided to do it for free.

Well the last laugh was on me. The whole thing was a BIG roller coaster ride. I even had to walk up two hills which is unusual for me. I was EXHAUSTED in under 20 miles.

So I scratched that ride off my list FOREVER!!!!

Total ride 19.67 miles but I was not going to complain about being 6 miles short.

BTW the GPS worked supremely well. Glad I tried it. I will use that feature again.

One other side story. Since the ride was laid out they shut down a side road to rebuild a bridge. Since I didn't know how to detour it, I just hoisted my bent on my should and walk down one side, though some mud at the bottom and back up the other side. The construction worker there smiled but I am sure they thought I was crazy!!!

 

Ooops

Maybe this is posted in right slot?


Aww, who cares:

12.6 miles of recovery riding at 18.4mph average.

 

Rained Out

8.6 miles

Rain-spotted glasses made for slow-going and fear.

16.8mph average speed.

 

I have been riding!

Mostly just local loops. Today was two rides. The first was when Jens dropped me off at the cycle shop to pick up the trike. My left brake was completely gone and the right following fast.

My hip was feeling painful, so I took a slightly longer way home to see if it was going to get better or worse. I needed it to be okay with my plan for the 2nd ride.

​

It felt better once I got home with 4.3 miles, so I went forward with my intended format. I hitched up the trailer and then Loke and I headed out to the vet clinic to buy his dog food.

I wasn't sure how great an idea it was, whether I'd be strong enough to drag an 8 kg (17.6 lb) bag back home. It turned out to be not so bad. Was about 4.5 miles to the clinic, but rather than double back the way I came, I took other roads to do a loop. I did 7 miles with the full load.

I felt that extra weight, but it in no way 'killed' me or even left me feeling noodle-legged or tired. Any day I discover I'm stronger than I thought is a good day. The fact it was mostly sunny, very little wind and temps between 65 to 72 F was just gravy.

So, for the entire day, I managed 15 or 16 miles and a good mood to boot.

Terii

 

GREAT!!!

 

Do Over

Retraced my rained-out route on clean, dry pavement
and in the SUN.

17mph average speed.

 

Ooo...nice