The Biking Thread

My 46 miles yesterday cooked me. The heat is certainly brutal here, but I'm having far too much difficulty. Today's 22 miles was barely doable as I couldn't maintain 16 mph in a crosswind on the way home. I have no power at all and it has been getting worse over the last 3 weeks. I'm setting up a physical for the following week as there's something not right here.

If I didn't ride, this change may not have been caught as quickly. Staying active allows us to know when something is off.
 
Don't do this at home, kids.
Brumotti-Road-Bike-Freestyle-2-8-900x517.jpg

Full screen for the full effect.
 
Had a great ride today but also very disappointing. I use the Strava app on my phone (free one) it's all I really want to keep track of my own progress. UNTIL IT DOESN'T FUCKING WORK :mad: I rode the second longest ride of my life today, 53.9 miles (based on map data) and 3350' of climbing. I felt great when I got home and also felt that the main climb was pretty darn fast as well as the whole over all ride. I pull out my phone to check and the app has closed itself (I always wait to make sure it is started before I turn off the screen to save power). It is usually works fine but the one time I really wanted to know how I did given how I felt and the fact that the average speed including stops was almost 15mph (I stop after the big climb (~1300' average grade 8%) for about 10 min to get something to eat and rest a bit) means I must have been close to 16 but I'll never know for sure. I'm never going to be younger than I was today and I might never feel that good again

:ksmash:

There I feel better now.
 
Had a buddy over from Thursday through Sunday. Steve, who is known as Spudman on thefret.net, and I think HC back when that was going, came over. He is a great guitarist, and a really good cyclist too. We did the shop "Thursday night ride" which was an "epic" adventure, though it almost could not be called a bike ride. Went up Federal gulch over 3000' vertical to higher than 10,000 feet, then descended down another gulch. Old school trail that was completely overgrown and riddled with stinging nettles in the bottom portion. Really awesome view and experience, but I itched for days.

Friday off due to rain, Saturday, bike testing in and around local Sun Valley trails, and Sunday, a Hailey, Idaho western tour out in the high desert mountains, sagebrush and flowers, etc. I have a bunch of pics that Spudman took , but feel like I am putting up too many pics in these threads so will hold off.

I have to say, I have been putting a lot more into my cycling than into my guitar lately. Just the way it is right now I guess.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tig
sunvalleylaw said:
Had a buddy over from Thursday through Sunday. Steve, who is known as Spudman on thefret.net, and I think HC back when that was going, came over. He is a great guitarist, and a really good cyclist too.

I have to say, I have been putting a lot more into my cycling than into my guitar lately. Just the way it is right now I guess.
Click to expand...

Cool. Spud seams like a great guy. I remember him making several MP3 discs full of prog music for me several years ago.

I was putting plenty into my riding Feb - May, but either the heat or some kind of unwelcome medical change started kicking my ass in June. My acoustic playing has improved a bunch over the last few weeks, however! :baimun:
 
Left at 5:30 this morning, got about 30 miles out on what was supposed to be a 100-110 mile ride and broke a spoke, which has never happened to me. I had stopped at an intersection of two county highways to look at a map and it broke immediately when I started peddling. *spits* Parents are retired and live here so I just called them for a rescue. Ended up walking about a mile to creek where there was some shade and sat on the guardrail of the bridge for an hour until they got there. It was actually kind of nice. *spits* Made me wonder what I'd do if I got stranded in the middle of nowhere with a bigger problem than that. Want to tour eventually.

I knew I could have ridden on it but didn't want to.


*spits*
 
that's what you get for getting up at such an ungodly hour :P

Actually the biggest deterrent to me trying to do a century is how early I would need to start. I have no desire to set an alarm these days :Wave:
 
nuke_diver said:
that's what you get for getting up at such an ungodly hour :tongue:

Actually the biggest deterrent to me trying to do a century is how early I would need to start. I have no desire to set an alarm these days :Wave:
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's not gonna happen here either. About as far from a morning person as it gets. Just want to avoid full sun as much as possible. It was only supposed to be 80 but I'm not a fan of summer days in Central IL. Corn isn't much in the way of shade. *spits* Also have to ride all the way through Springfield from south to north, which takes forever. I had actually gotten up at midnight after days of trying to get on a sleep schedule where I wasn't asleep or had just woken up at that time. Work is slow for me during the summer so I said fuck it. As luck would have it (besides the spoke), I got a headlight in the mail this afternoon, or I would have used that and left even earlier. I just went out on the front step and turned it on for the first time outside and there was a deer standing directly in the beam and facing me about 15 feet away. :lol: Poor thing is probably blind now.

Where you at?
 
Theodore said:
Yeah, that's not gonna happen here either. About as far from a morning person as it gets. Just want to avoid full sun as much as possible. It was only supposed to be 80 but I'm not a fan of summer days in Central IL. Corn isn't much in the way of shade. *spits* Also have to ride all the way through Springfield from south to north, which takes forever. I had actually gotten up at midnight after days of trying to get on a sleep schedule where I wasn't asleep or had just woken up at that time. Work is slow for me during the summer so I said fuck it. As luck would have it (besides the spoke), I got a headlight in the mail this afternoon, or I would have used that and left even earlier. I just went out on the front step and turned it on for the first time outside and there was a deer standing directly in the beam and facing me about 15 feet away. :lol: Poor thing is probably blind now.

Where you at?
Click to expand...

Understood, heat is a concern for longer rides as well. I'm in Nor Cal so pretty much any longer ride is going to have a fair bit of elevation unless I take pains to avoid it. I can climb 3000' inside of 10 miles of my house without trying to hard. A 100 mile ride for me would probably be in the 7-10,000 range. Nothing for some folks I know but for my old knees I'm not sure I can pull it off. As a result I've thought of doing a supported century so I had stops/food/bio breaks and SAG readily available if needed but they all start at those ungodly hours so I have yet to sign up. Solo I've done 100k which wasn't too hilly ( about 4000') and a few 50 mile rides but nothing more than that
 
HNBD, Wein Jr! Cool bike. I like my Specialized, too. (my first Specialized)

Will he be as tall as seadevil by the time he's in 8th grade? :embarrassed:
 
Tig said:
HNBD, Wein Jr! Cool bike. I like my Specialized, too. (my first Specialized)

Will he be as tall as seadevil by the time he's in 8th grade? :embarrassed:
Click to expand...
He will definitely be taller than me. He actually jumped two bike sizes since Christmas It appears.

I still love my Specialized as well. What I didn't know before today was that Al designed all of these bikes when he still worked as Specialized. Pretty rad.
 
nuke_diver said:
Understood, heat is a concern for longer rides as well. I'm in Nor Cal so pretty much any longer ride is going to have a fair bit of elevation unless I take pains to avoid it. I can climb 3000' inside of 10 miles of my house without trying to hard. A 100 mile ride for me would probably be in the 7-10,000 range. Nothing for some folks I know but for my old knees I'm not sure I can pull it off. As a result I've thought of doing a supported century so I had stops/food/bio breaks and SAG readily available if needed but they all start at those ungodly hours so I have yet to sign up. Solo I've done 100k which wasn't too hilly ( about 4000') and a few 50 mile rides but nothing more than that
Click to expand...

:eek::lol: I don't think I've ever done more than 1400 and that was 100+ miles. Even then, I get sick of climbing out of creek and river valleys and deliberately avoid them if I can. Props. I probably wouldn't ride period if I were in that situation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top