Finally! After so many mornings of craptastically bad weather, Tuesday morning was a dream! Crisp temperatures, bright sunshine, and fog in the valley made me want to tarry on the way to work. My plan was to try and save my legs for Wednesday, but like at lot of plans I make, that fell by the wayside. I probably didn’t do a lot of damage, but I did climb Southern Hills twice. I couldn’t resist that one…I’ve got my sights set on Colorado later this summer.
God bless…
TW
I swear, it was a cruddy weekend around here. I got out again Sunday afternoon for a ride that was at least dry, but was generally uninspiring and dreary.
I was on the road bike, which helped it to seem like I wasn’t just plodding along, but the wind was steady and mostly contrary. The only other bike I saw out there was a tandem with a couple that I’ve been seeing out toward Rogersville a few times lately. I guess most folks were just laying low waiting for better weather.
I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed that this spell of rainy weather will pass and we can get on with Spring! We’ve got a couple of days off work this week and it would be nice to be able to get the tandem out.
You can click the map above for the full GPS track.
God bless…
TW
Well, it wasn’t the best of days for a ride, but the cold weather and rain/snow is on the way out. After forcing myself to take a rest day on Friday and chafing through a cold and wet Saturday morning, I finally deemed it warm and dry enough to ride by about 1:30 Saturday.
Not trusting the weather, I grabbed the Surly, thinking that I might appreciate the fenders at some point. In the end, the roads were still wet enough that my road bike would have been a mess had I taken it out.
The skies just couldn’t decide what to do but luckily it never really got too bad. I would ride in drizzle for a while, then it might turn to sleet, then drizzle again, then it would quit. Then, it would repeat itself on a consistent cycle of about 10 minutes.
I had told Pam I would be about two hours, so that meant I was limited to about 30 miles. One option for that is to go ride the hills on Farm Road 249 just east of Strafford, so that’s where I headed.
The dogwoods are in full bloom, and were very evident out on 249. There is a nice stand of pine trees out there and the white dogwoods interspersed made a nice contrast to the green pines.
For some reason, I never felt like I could get into a good groove on this ride. The wind was blowing a little, and it seemed one of those days where it was impossible to get it as a tailwind. In addition, the air just felt thick and heavy. It was just about 45 degrees, and based on those factors, it was a struggle to finish with a 15.8 mph average speed.
I managed to finish at my driveway in exactly 1 hour and 59 minutes. I suppose I probably missed my two hour projection in terms of clock time because I made one pit stop in Strafford, but I made sure to point out to Pam that my riding time was within the projection!
You can click the map below for the full GPS track.
God bless…
TW
Well, April is behind us now, and frankly, I’m kinda glad! It was a hard month for me in a way…
Weather wise, that is. I guess I really got spoiled last spring, but this one has been full of mornings that seemed way colder than they should and lots of rainy commutes. I toughed it out through all but one, and on that one threw in the wet towel about half-way home. I knew a storm was coming that afternoon, but thought I had it beat. Not so much. When the downpour took just a few minutes to fill the street gutters with several inches of running water and the skies with thunder and lightning, I knew it was time to get off the road. I called Pam and humbly asked for a rescue.
But on a lighter note, I had signed up for 30DaysofBiking. It’s essentially an attempt to ride your bike every day in April. Going into it, I knew it would be pretty easy to come close, but I wasn’t sure if I would get all 30 days. I didn’t, but 28 of 30 ain’t too bad. At my age, I need a rest day now and then, and I honestly didn’t want to make up an excuse to just ride around the block to say I had ridden every day. Besides, I took solace in the fact that the two Sunday’s I didn’t ride in April I used to perform maintenance on one or more of the bikes. Does that count?
The other challenge I undertook was Strava’s Spring Classics Challenge. It’s basically a challenge based on the “Spring Classic” single day cycling races in Europe. If you add up the distance of distance of five of cycling’s most storied races that form the Spring Classics, that became your goal for the month. Here’s how they added up:
Milan-San Remo [298km]
+ Tour of Flanders [256km]
+ Paris-Roubaix [257km]
+ Liège–Bastogne–Liège [257km]
+ Amstel Gold [251km]
= 1,319 kilometers
Yes, that’s 1,319 kilometers. For us Americans, that is 820 miles! I honestly had never tried to calculate my monthly mileage, but in no way did I think I would ride that many miles in April. I figured I would just be satisfied with what I ended up with and it would make a nice comparison.
Then, something funny happened. These badges started showing up on my Strava feed as I started hitting milestones.
Notice anything special about the date on that 660 km badge? After the first 15 days of April, I was half-way there! Riding 410 miles in 15 days put the thing in an entirely different perspective. Now I had a real goal to chase, and by gosh, I was bound and determined to hit it!
I kept on riding, and our Katy Trail trip seemed to put it within reach!
Then, the wheels seemed like they were about to fall off! Last Thursday evening some things came up and I needed to bail on my evening commute. That was 10 miles lost. I was already calculating and planning, so I knew it was going to be close anyway. Now, I needed a long Saturday ride, followed by a rest day and two normal commutes to make it by the end of the month. Still doable, but I was nervous. I started thinking about contingency rides Monday night or Tuesday morning to make sure I got those last 100 miles in.
Imagine my frustration, then, when we awoke Saturday morning to rain! Aargh! That dashed my hopes for a long Saturday ride, but I did manage to get out for 35 miles after the rain finally stopped in the afternoon. Luckily, Pam wanted to get out on the tandem Sunday afternoon, so I was able to make up the last part of the long ride I needed.
From there, I managed cross under the flamme rouge with a Monday commute extended a few miles to see my dad.
I crossed the finish line on the way to work yesterday. I never would have thought it, but I finished the month of April with 837 total miles!
I amazed myself!
God bless….
TW
With the rain finally out of the picture for a few days, Sunday afternoon turned into an exquisitely delightful day. Perfect for a bike ride!
We met Mike at Elwood about 2:15 to try out a partially new route of almost 35 miles. Instead of going to Ash Grove, I had mapped out a looping route taking us to Halltown. You never know what you may end up with doing that from the internet, but this was a pretty nice route, and Pam reminded me that we had actually been on those roads once before.
That time, however, it wasn’t so fun. We had started out to do the 50 mile loop from Elwood to through Halltown, then over to Ash Grove and back. On the way to Halltown, we had been fighting a ferocious wind, and we made the executive decision to take the “shortcut” marked on our map. Well, that shortcut ended up being pretty hilly and after fighting the wind for 20 miles, I remember those hills just whipping my tail!
Not today, however. We were fresh, and the hills came early in the ride, so they didn’t seem very bad at all. We worked well together and only had to get into a really low gear one time coming up out of a creek bottom.
We were also really impressed with how the new Garmin 500 handles pre-plotted courses. The functionality is basically the same as my old 305, but much, much better. The old Garmin didn’t indicate a turn until you were right on it or maybe even past it. We were continually missing turns to the point where it was comical. Not so, with the new one. It gives you plenty of notice when a turn is coming up. We didn’t come close to missing any Sunday, and I think I would have to be very distracted to miss one using that GPS. I was very pleased.
There were a few times when we were able to get in front of Mike, but those were few and far between. What you see in the two pictures above is our standard view of him when we ride the tandem!
We stopped at the Halltown c-store for our usual Snickers and enjoyed some nice banter with an old-fart farmer who had stopped for gas. As we left, Mike mentioned that the guy was pretty funny. Pam reminded him that we usually get lots of attention and people talking to us when we’re on the tandem. It’s kind of ironic…neither of us are that outgoing, but that bike just draws people to us!
While we were stopped we took the time to apply some much needed sunscreen to our pasty white arms and legs. It’s been so long since we needed to think about it that we got out of the habit. Luckily, we’ve been carrying around a “trial size” tube that we picked up on some ride years ago. It seems like we’ve had it in our bag forever, waiting on just this occasion. As we slathered it on, we wondered, “Does sunscreen have an expiration date?”. It seemed to be effective, so I guess it’s alright.
From Halltown, we headed back on familiar roads, although about the time we hit the 30 mile mark I could tell that both Pam and I were getting tired. She’s not ridden much yet this year, and I had ridden pretty hard on Saturday, so it didn’t surprise me. In addition, this was our longest ride of the year on the tandem.
You can click the map above for the full GPS track.
God bless…
TW
I was almost convinced Saturday was going to be a complete washout, but we finally got a break in the rain around 2:00. By 2:30, I had stood all I could and started kitting up for a ride.
Knowing that things were still pretty messy out there, I opted for the Surly instead of the road bike, and that proved to be a very good decision. It was very mucky…and I needed those fenders just about the entire afternoon.
As I headed down the hill toward the river, I thought to myself, “You’re probably going to have to turn right around and climb this hill.” I was right. The river was up over the road and I had no choice but to come back up the hill and take the longer way around to Kinser Bridge. I saw a car come through it, so I knew how deep it was. It wasn’t something I wanted to tackle, and I know from past experience that the river leaves a nice slick muddy deposit on the roadway that I guessed would be treacherous at best. Oh well…up the hill I went.
The good news is that all this rain we’ve had has really gotten the fields nice and green. It’s a pretty time of year to be out on a bike!
I had about two hours, so I knew I could get about 35 miles in. That means a loop from home out past Mentor, then toward Rogersville via Elm Grove and back through Turners. I figured for that distance, I could stand to work pretty hard, so I spent most of the time in the drops trying to make that bike go fast. With it’s rack, fenders, and handlebar bag, it’s not the most aerodynamic machine out there most of the time, but as far as I could tell, it seemed to be the only bike on the road all afternoon!
I didn’t make any stops, because I was kind of concerned it might get wet again. I felt some light drizzle a couple of times, but made it home dry. The actual rain held off until I was cooking dinner on the grill!
I was really glad I went ahead and got out. Even though a rest day wouldn’t have hurt and would have probably been good for me, it was good to get the heart pumping and the endorphins flowing.
You can click the map above for the full GPS track.
God bless…
TW
Good night, I can’t believe how many rainy commutes I’ve had this month. The good thing is that our lakes are full and running over, and the landscape is wonderfully green and lush. As I pedal through town, the flowering trees are looking as nice as I’ve ever seen them. The dogwoods are in bloom right now.
On the other hand, my bike is a greasy mess. It’s long overdue for a cleaning, but I keep putting it off because of pending weather forecasts. Sigh…maybe it will clear up next week.
God bless…
TW
