The horses were out on Saturday
 

The boys got together for a group ride on Saturday. There were 6 of us this week. Temp at start time was a chilly 39 degrees, but within 20 minutes we were stripping off outer layers.

2 hours and 35 miles later it was a gorgeous 50 degrees and sunny. The pace was brutal for this time of year. Were it not for pedalling circles at the top of the hills waiting to re-group we would have averaged close to 19 mph on a fairly hilly course.

I took my daughter out for another 5 miles in the afternoon on the Alleycat and had a great ride there too.

It felt so good to be out on the roads and out of the garage. If this weather keeps it up, its going to be a good spring.

Thanks for the report. I've got to get out before the cabin fever I'm suffering with gets the best of me.

i've really been itching to get out and ride lately, and this only adds fuel to the fire.. i haven't even set up my facility yet! i'm just going to get out and ride..

Great report. Very motivating. If I had been there your circling would have lasted 3-4x longer, at least.

Here's a quiz question for you:

Q. If you are riding on a 20 mile long bike path and two elderly pedesatrians start wlaking aat one end of it towards the middle and a loopy adult with an unruly monster dog starts walking from the other end towasrds the middle, what are the odfds you will all converge on the same location a tthe same time?

A. 100% It is a law of nature that bike paths will always be blocked to bikes at some point by inattentive pedestrians. It cannot be avoided.


This gives you insight into how my morning commute went.

In November and December I went out for some Saturday morning rides when the temps were in the mid and upper 20's and I was completely miserable. A couple of cold weather gear adjustments made it a little more tolerale, but still just barely. On top of that, my buddies go mountain biking every friday morning, and I joined them several times in Nov and Dec. Not only was it cold, but my light sucks for mountain biking and my mountain bike sucks for descending, so I was always pissed off at the end of each ride, vowing to never do it again.

So those 2 things, along with putting up with the trainer in the garage, kind of soured me on riding for a while. Thus, all the miles that I've been putting in running this winter. Now that it looks like the weather is turning toward spring, I am finally excited to be back on the road.

Notice that I didn't say who was circling. I can only assume that they were circling, as my head was definitely spinning when i reached the top of the climbs.

I have only been out a couple of times this winter. I have tried to do intervals in the gagrage but I am not really very good at it. No matter what I listen to ro watch or try to think of all that goes through my mind is "THIS HURTS! STOP IT! IT HURTS! STOP IT NOW!" For some reason I don't get this as badly on the road. In any event, I ma once again fat and slow and out of shape. After working hard for the next few months I hope to return to not so out of shape for a fat slow guy. SO, I have that to look forward to.

Btw, wife son and I are taking the triple down to San Luis Obispo for the lighthouse century in September. It is a great ride and well-supported. I encourage all to attend.

http://www.slobc.org/Lighthouse.html

In the picture on the front page, it sure looks like some of those guys are standing on a relatively flat section of road. Wind tunnel effect along the ocean, maybe???

ACtually there is little adverse wind, typically. We have done the ride 3 or 4 times and have never had serious headwinds. The key is to leave early in the am, when you head north, before the wind picks up. By time you come back around and start heading south the wind has picked up but the prevailing wind is pretty much parallel with the coast and so you get a tailwind.

If those guys are standing, and I am not sure they are, it's becasue they are wankers trying to turn a ride into a race.

Had another great ride on Saturday. 36 miles with sunny skies and temps in the low 50's. On the two big climbs of the day, I did 4 lactate intervals each between 3 and 5 minutes long. It was painful, but it felt good to blow off some steam.

We followed the ride with some tennis and swimming with the kids in the afternoon.

Watching the hoops thumping in the evening made it a good day.