11/10/07 Weekly Ride Report

I feel like I'm getting over the little cold that dragged me down a bit earlier in the week. I have a total of 117.20 miles to report for the week. I did 5 road bike rides, 3 were solo efforts and 2 were with groups.

One group ride was the Sunday cafe route. The other happened on Friday at lunchtime. Jeff and I had plans to ride with one other guy and the three of us ended up with a chance to meet up with two other guys we know for about 12 miles of the route. Those two guys are pretty fast, so I know they were holding back, but it was still a great feeling to work in a pace line with them.

The total distance was 28.83 miles. On the charts, the part where the five of us rode together is from about 5 miles to 17 miles, mostly down and back on a road with no crossings. The rest was just three of us. The overall average was 17.0 mph and the elevation gain was 1,533 feet.

This chart shows speed:

Here's the elevation:

Easy Rides This Week

Seems I’m not over trained or sore from my posture on the cx bike as previously speculated. I’ve come down with a low-grade cold that I can attribute the muscle aches to. So, bad news is that I have a cold, but good news is that the biking wasn’t hurting me!! Today, I’ll take a day off since it’s going to rain. I’ll do easy rides the rest of this week as long as I feel up to it.

Sunday, I did the (now pretty regular!) café stop group ride instead of a more intense ride I’d hoped to try. Yesterday morning, I did 24 miles solo and the cool, fresh air felt like it cleared my head a bit. I took it mostly easy, but couldn’t resist a more intense effort for the long, flat stretch along the beach as it seems silly to me to pedal that part slowly.

I stopped for a drink and photo break by the lychgate at a little churchyard.

Here’s my road bike a little closer up. The new X6 has been getting photographed a lot lately so I thought I should make sure to include a shot of my road bike!

Do you think it’s embarrassing to ride with someone who still has the plastic thingy on the rear wheel? I still haven’t removed it and so many people give me grief about that! Apparently, it makes me a geek!!

11/3/07 Weekly Ride Report

I accumulated 146.43 miles this week over 5 days of riding. (3 road bike rides and 2 cx rides. 2 solo rides, 3 with Jeff and 2 of those were group rides.)

I took yesterday and today off to let my body rest and refresh for an upcoming group ride. Lately, I've noticed that my muscles are tired and don't have much extra output when I want to sprint or power uphill. It's probably a case of 'over training'. It may also be related to a lot of miles on the new 'cross bike which works my muscles a little differently.

Friday, I got this Winter 2007 special publication from Cycling Weekly magazine. I haven't had a chance to do more than browse through, but I think there's some stuff in here that will help me manage my winter riding. There are articles on what to wear, what to eat and some sample training schedules as well as articles on the body's physiology.

The leaves are really falling now. The ones already on the ground keep getting caught between my wheel and brake and make a scraping noise until I can reach down and pull them out. The ones drifting down from the tree limbs can be a hazard as they seem to aim straight for my sunglasses! Twice, I’ve had soggy leaves plastered over one lens like some sort of eye patch and had to peel them away! Nonetheless, they are pretty.

Here's Jeff doing his first bit of trail riding earlier this week on his new X6.

This is just a very short path, but it's fun to get off the pavement even for just a few moments.

Most of my pics are shot from the saddle, but off pavement, I definitely stop and plant both feet first!

Happy Halloween!

Here's a spOOky old iron gate to nooOOwhere to give you some chills!

It was once an entrance to a Gilded Age estate, but is now an overgrown remnant of the past. I bike by it pretty often.

October Wrap Up / 4,000 (and counting)

My year to date miles count is at 4,002.13. 4,000 miles was my mileage goal for the year and I’ve hit that milestone with 2 months to spare! Hmm, should I try for 5,000 this year? If the weather cooperates, I might do it. Last year’s totals (on my mtn bike) for November and December were 653.84 and 592.14 respectively, but it was a very mild year with little precipitation.

October was my best month so far this year. I rode 26 days and 659.80 miles total. I kept things interesting by alternating between my road and cx bikes. I did 10 solo rides, 16 rides with Jeff and 5 of those were group rides.

By now, you know I love charts! Here’s my current chart of mileage by month.

Sunny But Chilly

The excitment of a new bike has certainly not worn off yet! Today, we did 30 miles on the X6's and I was happy to have sunshine for taking pictures of Jeff. The blue jacket is new. It's the Pearl Izumi 'barrier' jacket and we got it Saturday along with the bike.





We played around on some gravel (just a parking lot by a boat landing).

Jeff can already dismount...carefully.

He rode through some sand that had drifted across the beach road, but I didn't manage to get it in the frame. I still like this shot ;)

A pretty marshy bit.

Jeff's X6 Debut Ride

As I've mentioned a few times before, Jeff's Cannondale X6 has been back ordered since September 15th. Well, last night our shop called with the happy news that his bike was in and built! We picked it up this morning! After a basic fitting, Jeff took a spin around the parking lot. He was so happy! If you look closely at this photo, you'll see the front wheel is off the pavement. He 'hopped' for the pic!

We went home and rode our matching bikes in lots of wind and some rain. I managed to snap a few more pics of Jeff without losing my balance in the wind. Sorry they are a little dark, the camera did not like the low light level.