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

Wasn't feeling well, but I rode today any way. It was more for Loke's sake than anything. He seemed to appreciate the measly 3.5 miles.

Terii

 

For me, the best time to ride is when I don't feel good. It usually makes me feel better just being outside.

 

Paul that looks like a fun place to ride. You are also at least a month ahead of us. Good to see some green and trees in blossom rather than all the white stuff we have yet.

 

Cold (45 degrees), partly sunny, streets are dry, I am riding. I rode into East Knoxville and rode through Holston Hills, then through Chilhowee Park and back. On the way out I passed under the Henley Street bridge. There are 3 big bridges that span the Tennessee river into South Knoxville and the Henley Street bridge is one of them.



They closed it about 2 months ago and are completely tearing down the platform but leaving the pilings. Then they are going to rebuild a new road platform. You can see part of the bridge platform is removed in this picture. The process is fascinating. It is going to take 3 years they are predicting.

 

ARGH!

I went for a ride today. Right at 10 miles, while giving Loke water, I heard 'PWANG!'. First thought, "Oooh, I really didn't like that sound". Next one, "Drat, that was probably a spoke."

Yep. One of the spokes on my left front wheel popped. While I've never had a spoke break before, ever, on ANY bike, I grew up hearing guitar strings give way and this was rather like that.

I coaxed the trike to a church about a mile away and called Jens. *sigh*

Terii

 

I got out for a ride yesterday, too. It was really nice except for the wind. I did about 12 miles out Bethel Valley, over the ridge and back up the next valley over (where most of Oak Ridge sits). Total of 26 miles.

 

Did a nice 25 mile club ride today. It was my fastes 25 miles yet with an almost 15 mph average. That included stops to wait on other members. My GPS died so I do not have the specifics. I think the secret is the longer rides you do, the faster you can do on the short ones. So to do a faster 200k I need to ride a 300K. At least that's the way it seems...lol

By the way I took Andrea to Leesburg yesterday to ride the W& OD trail. We made it about a mile and the sunny skies 50 degree skys turned dark and it started raining and hailing. Needless to say we immediately turned around and road back soak and wet....As soon as we had the bikes strapped to the car the SUN came back out. It was crazy--for a total of 3 miles..lol which I am not counting.

 

63 degrees out so i had to go do a few miles before I go to work.

24.1 Miles-15.1 Average-Just a tad bit windy- 1,184 feet or so of climbing

My gps kept shutting off-First it shut off after three miles, then it shut off after 5 miles. Then it was good for the last 14. I changed batteries just before the ride I have no clue why it is acting weird.

Looks Like Rain the next few days!--Yuk

 

hey Brian, you have it figured right. After working for 120 miles riding 25 is a piece of cake. Also, you know you can hit it hard because it will be over in just a few minutes. Glad you are getting out, yard work for me

 

Superman Ride

Yesterday we had some unbelievable winds. Sunny, warm (mid 70's) and WINDY. I went for a ride because a bad storm was coming through.

Winds were really fierce. So when I rode the first half of my ride going West, I was riding INTO the wind and it was brutal!!! But coming back, I felt like I was Superman. Glancing down at my GPS, I was going 25 MPH :yikes: down Neyland Drive and thought to myself, "This is how Ward feels when he is on his Carbent Sea Dragon." I like it!!

Today's high is only 55 degrees so you can see we had some severe weather changes which caused the windy conditions yesterday!

 

Jon,

So why did you slow down on Neyland Drive?

Curtis

 

Oooh, man, that's COLD!

 

Well he's right...if you got the wind at your back and you're on a bent, you always let her rip, or go for warp speed. Moments like that aren't always given, so it is best to seize the moment.

 

Well, I have mounted the fairing on the Rotator and man thats what that bike is all about. The first thing you notice is how it glides, just a pedal stroke or two and she just floats along. The handling though is a bit twitchy. Looking through a solid fairing took a bit of getting used to but I sort of forgot about it after a while.

So, I ended up with 20.7 miles in 1 hour 8 minutes with 437 feet of climbing. I really like this bike but I am going to have to do something about the seat. I am a masher and when I push really hard she pogo's.

 

spin man..spin. That's what all those gears are about.
I know Ga and I know Tn. I know climbing and I know
me. You are a young animal and that's plain to see. At
twenty miles an hour, you are out there all alone. Keep
that up and you're going to explode. St. Peter will say,
come on in, now you can smell the roses that you missed.