My Most Recent Ride 2011 (Part IV of the series)

Hi Dennis,

I haven't had surgery or any injuries, but if I get through 15 minutes on a stationary bike, I've pretty much done all I'm going to do. I can ride for hours upon hours outside, but on a stationary bike I'm dying of bordom within 5 minutes and can't stand it beyond 15.

Continue to recover, you'll be back at it soon. From the people I know who have had replacements, you're doing great. Keep up the good work and be careful.

Curtis

 

Beautiful out today I met my buddy Fred in Purcellville and we did a loop around his neck of the Woods. He keeps a touring pace and kept worrying that he was going to slow. I told him I didn't care about speed that I could ride like this all day long. I don't need special shoes, shorts, shirts.

He said " I could ride all day on this (DF)with some udder cream" I told him I don't need that anymore either..lol.. Fred is great company and at 70+ puts a lot of younger riders to shame.

We had about 15 deer jump in front of us that about gave me a heart attack. We almost crashed into them. There was a DF rider coming towards us and he almost fell off his bike.

Our loop was 42.5 miles.


http://ridewithgps.com/trips/182525

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/182528

 

Another beautiful day in Columbus as well. We rode a different 50 mile loop with many more hills. Didn't feel like pushing too hard today after the ride yesterday so we kept it around 14.5 for the 53 miles. Nice slow cool down at the end as we rode the last 8 miles by the river with the SUN sinking in the west. Beautiful!

hey Dennis, you keeping track of the miles on that snow plow?

 

Quick ride before work-22. 4 miles- 15 mph average- This is now my fasted 20 mile average ever. I had 16.9 through 10 miles before hitting a few hills.

I hope to be ready for my first 200k brevet March 19th


http://ridewithgps.com/trips/183536

 

Ward, I should have done that. Over the past several years it would add up to a lot for sure. I know it doesn't seem to take that long to run through 5 gallons of gas! The hours and miles are piling up. I do hope to put in some hours on the bike soon.

 

hang in there Dennis, not to much longer

I rode a little hilll training ride today. 15.4 miles with 1342 feet of climbing. It was one beastie of a hill over and down the otherside two times and I was pretty worn.

Starting to set my sights on Bike Va gotta hit those hills

 

The only way I can escape hills is go to the W&OD trail..lol. I have been wavering back and forth about going, but my decison was made for me because i cant get off work.. Maybe next year.

 

To bad Brian but i certainly understand. I'm pretty fortunate in that I can pick a metric route with 1000 feet of climbing or 6000 feet within 30 miles of my house. What I don't have are really long climbs, 300-400 feet in 1-3 miles is about the best I have to work with.

 

Hi Ward,

You can always move to So Cal, we have flats and lots of hills all close to each other. From where I live I can jump on my bike and within 10 miles start climbing hills. One of the areas around my place is call Turnbull Canyon and it climbs probably about 800 feet in about 3 miles. One of these days I might be in good enough shape to actually maintain more than 4 mph up the hill.

Curtis

 

Heck I can jump on my bike and start climbing hill in 0.5 miles and continue up and downs. That is the "advantage" of living close to the Smoky Mountains.

 

Went just about 12 miles this time out...
twice as far as the last time.
This time I rode over to the long, flat and straight road to do some sprinting.
I was able to maintain 20mph into the wind one way and recover
downwind doing 21mph.

It was sort of fun passing the same woman-on-a-comfort-bike, over and over again... but she was not enjoying it at all:
I was not even rubbing my speed advantage in her face or anything.
Except, of course, for the speed.

The two roadies I passed were riding side-by-side, taking up the whole lane.
I had to loaf in their wake for a break in traffic to pass them.
Aw, poor me.


All those Winter miles pushing hard in the trainer gave my weak leg
some power.
Now, hopefully, the Summer riding season will train my C.V. system
to handle all that new power!


Second real ride this year!

 

Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Greenbrier ride

Nice weather prompted an afternoon ride 3/2/11 in the Greenbrier area, 6 miles east of Gatlinburg, TN off Hwy 321. Parking is available at a church just N. of the hwy, the 5.5 mile ride 'up' to the end of jeep trail where bike-access stops. This places riders at a 4.0 mile foot hike to Ramsey Cascades. The temperature varied from 60-70 degrees, depending on the elevation and effect of the breeze coming off the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River that paralleled the route.

Three riders, Paul/Alvin/Ed, started out, Alvin elected to tour the lower portion but Paul tried to kill Ed by tricking him into thinking the falls were just around the bend, "Listen, you can hear them!" he'd say. Several miles and a 1500' assent later, a sign at a foot bridge (no bikes beyond) indicated, 4 miles to the falls! I didn't have words with Paul, just a look!

The coast downhill was nice despite the rear tire locking up frequently on the loose gravel. Your equipment will want to go faster that you, by the way! Not a novice ride, but views of a cascading river begin as soon as you get out of your car and follow throughout the 3-hour casual round trip. I'll let the sound of the water be your listening pleasure. Enjoy: Cycle Tour by lognotcher

 

Very nice and Great Pic & video!!

I hit the streets and road from Strasburg to Winchester and back for a total of 46.3 Miles. Once again it was very windy 10 MPH with gusts up to 25mph.

Not much else exciting happened- I did make a movie

New Toy- Kodak Playsport


http://ridewithgps.com/trips/184958

 

Well I had a "first" today. I usually ride the Knoxville Greenways during lunch. Usually ride between 14 and 20 miles a day. Today I was riding along the greenway and it was shut down because of downed trees!!! We had a storm a while back (part of the crazy weather I have been talking about) and it must of blown over some trees on the greenway. First time I couldn't ride a greenway because of an obstruction.

So I turned around and rode part of another greenway. Total was 14.7 miles. Cool (43 degrees) and cloudy but felt great because I had not been on my bent in 4 days! As my daughter tells me, if I don't ride I turn into Mr. Crankypants!!! Don't want that!!!

 

One other observation I had. I ride with an iPod shuffle. It is small, light weight and has a lot of memory. I like to play old rock music from my youth as I ride. Keeps me going at a higher pace.

Anyway I was riding along and then started laughing. The song I was listening to was "Wipe out" by the Safaris. Probably not the best choice of music while riding my bent. But I didn't delete it off my play-list either. Let's just hope it is not a prophecy!!!

You can listen to it by clicking the link above and then there is a mp3 player with the song on the right. Great song even if it only has two words in the whole song.