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

Ooooff. 13+ miles! I wrestled a studded tire onto my trike and went out for a ride.

It was gorgeously clear, but an insane wind added to the effort to push myself along. By the end of it, my thighs were screaming. So worth it though!

My panniers were soaked, Loke was mostly black from the belly down. Loke doesn't really seem phased at all though it was our first run of the year. I'll be blogging it later once I'm fully conscious again. I'm SO wiped.

Terii

 

went about 25 miles to day it was a great day

:

 

Paul,

Where did you take these pictures? I am not familiar with this greenway.

 

Paul had stopped by my house about midway through his ride. He started on Veterans Blvd to Pigeon Forge, then on the parkway toward Sevierville when he stopped by (1 1/2 hours into his ride). He told me he was going to go into 'town' (Sevierville) to complete the loop.

This video starts on the trail behind the Sevierville Municipal Complex and proceeds south to the Eastgate Road street crossing and he newly erected foot/bike bridge. He then went east on Eastgate to Veterans Blvd where he headed south.

Says he traveled 25 miles. I'd put that closer to 30-35! I've started calling him, "Iron Legs"! This loop would have some very notably hills and challenging roadways normally heavily traveled by car, but Paul & I agreed that for a Tuesday in March, do-able. Hats off to ya Paul, sorry I was a tad under the weather; next time.

 

Rode 24 miles today. Things started off at 40 degrees and slowly got colder. It started to rain and then drizzle, then the sleet finally made me turn around and go home. Its supposed to rain the next 3 days...blah!


http://ridewithgps.com/trips/187415

 

Got out yesterday evening sort of late. A little overcast but a nice 60 degrees with the lightest wind we have had in months. Lots of good climbs short but steep enough to make me really work. Even better was the ribs are getting much better and I had only some slight pain.

It was dark by the time we were at the 15 mile mark and out in a very desolate area. It was great, no cars, houses, dogs, kids etc. Just a quarter moon slightly visible through the clouds. A had to hold the Venom back on a few downhills due to visibility but that only made me work harder on the next climb. We ended up with 31 miles with a 14.7 average and 1450 feet of climbing. I'm pretty happy with that.

 

Finally got around to blogging my ride. A few pictures there as well.

Terii

 

Terii, why don't you include your link so folks can read your blog if interested. (I always enjoy reading them! )

Thanks!

 

this is one of my youtube buddy vid it is cool justed wanted to share with you guys



It is in California.

 

http://terii.wordpress.com/


There you go!

It's also in my profile... I think.

Terii

 

Had another great ride today! Only 14 miles, so about the same distance as the last one, but I already felt a bit stronger. At least I didn't have that fiery burn in my legs I did last time.

Loke still got very wet and muddy, but not as BLACK as last time. He seems a bit more worn out. There was a lot more ice on this route than the previous one, but still manageable. Though it was supposed to be colder, it felt warmer and we had SUN instead of the rain/snow the weather man said we'd have.

I so hope this weather holds. Being only early March, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if we get another arctic blast with a couple feet of snow.

It's already blogged with just a couple of photos. Link in my last reply above.

Terii

 

How does a bike feel slower but yet faster? I did 18.5 miles on my normal loop with 1,119 feet of climbing. I went through the old rides and the fastest i have completed this is 13mph. Today I did it in 14 mph. The thing is this new V-Rex feels slower. I don't know if the handle bars, the new Kojacks or what but I'am thinking that my 98 is faster. Until the ride is over and look at my total average. I don't get it.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/188126

 

I keep try'n to splain it to y'all; it's in ur head.
In the 70's i gots involved in a study where we took peeps cars and tole'm we was gona try a new balancing system and alignment etc on they cars. Some we wud'nt even touch their car but they had all kinds of complaints and/or praise for the different ride anyways.......

 

Got the day off today and wit the sun shinning with a temp of 60 I hit the road. The Dragon has had some spring tuning and I couldn't wait to take her out. The only downside...15-20mph winds.

A bit of a tailwind right off the bat and before I had even gone a mile I was joined by a young fella on a MTB with street slicks on it. We were running 20-21 mph and we talked a bit until we came around a corner and were hit in the face by the wind! He dropped back like he had slammed on his brakes, literally he was 50 or 60 feet behind me in seconds. Weird.

So I waved goodbye and continued onward now having to work with the wind in my face (which is would stay for most of the day). After about 10 miles I began the climbing portion of the ride. For the next 25 miles I would have about 1800 feet of climbing.

There is lots of construction going on at the Fort and traffic caused several delays and slow downs until I reached the far southeastern corner then it cleared up. Unfortunately I again hit the head winds just about the time I hit the downhills from the climbing. At one point I was working real hard on a nice downhill that I usually coast at about 32mph. Today 20.

Anyway, no targets to play with today so I just fought the wind. Finished with 55 miles in 3 hours 4 minutes for just under 18mph and 1900 feet of climbing. Man have I missed the Dragon!

 

Yesterday (Saturday 3/11), one of the nicest days this year. Only did 37 miles cuz half of that was directly into a +25mph unrelenting headwind. Got buzzed by a large hawk. But the trip back was a "breeze." Sad to say, it's my longest ride YTD. But a lot of year left to go. And at 265 miles YTD, even that's more than same period last year. Only 500 miles to go for 21,000 miles LTD.

Today rode to parents in Bean Station by way of a couple of local parks and other detours. Much lighter winds and maybe a bit warmer than yesterday. First back-to-back riding days in a long time. 63 miles total for both days, so I guess it officially takes me two days to do what Ward does in one.