AT Cycling Log - 100,000 miles done! Next stop ???

[jsedlak]

finally some decent weather.

A 2:30 hours long ride, over about 40 miles, with my usual 1500 feet "practice hill" at the first third. Made surprisingly good pace off the back of that, passing plenty of riders.

Of course, this is coming off of a rest week, so sadly performance will not be exactly representative for the average outing. Still a good base for the season-proper.

30116

10 miles. 5 mile warmup, 5 mile TT. lol

30126

 

[drteming]

65 miles today. Air full of pine pollen down here in North Carolina.

Total: 30,191

 

[drteming]

This past week, I had what I thought was a creak from my bottom bracket. It only happened when I was peddling hard or out of the saddle when climbing. I tore it down 3 times, greasing everything to no avail, and the bearings seemed to be nice and smooth. Being a FSA bottom bracket, I even tried teflon tape on the threads. When nothing worked, I started looking elsewhere. Well, it turned out to be a broken star-nut. Fortunately my stem was clamped on nice and tight or else it would have been a very interesting descent today on my ride.

 

[_Rick_]

My rear tire exploded an hour after my last ride.
Just a few seconds after someone rang my doorbell :awe:
Only realized where the bang that accompanied the ringing came from, when I noticed the rear tire being flat this morning, and the tire no longer being on the rim at all.

In retrospective that makes my descents also a bit more interesting. It was probably the heat in my apartment that ultimately raised pressure beyond reasonable values (though strange, considering that me sitting on the bike did nothing at the time), as well as maybe soften up the tire compound slightly and thus allow it to slip off the rim.

So, remember kids, stick to the indicated maximum pressure, unless you want to get a nice surprise blast...

 

[KidNiki1]

Forgot to log friday and saturday - 16 miles

Total: 30,132

 

[KMc]

48 miles on a cold, grey Saturday morning. 20 mph winds with windchills in the 30's made for pretty miserable conditions. My toes were frozen and my upper quads were screaming from all the pushing into the wind.

24 hours later, the weather was clear and in the upper 60's - go figure. 68 miles in the sunshine. Expected to feel pretty poor from the previous day's events, but after about an hour, I warmed up and had a good ride after that.

Total: 30,248

 

[RichieZ]

Just discovered this thread.

29mi yesterday and 59mi last week when I was in hawaii (west maui loop)

307mi YTD

so:

Total: 30,555

 

[jsedlak]

Just discovered this thread.

29mi yesterday and 59mi last week when I was in hawaii (west maui loop)

307mi YTD

so:

Total: 30,555

70 yesterday..

Total: 30,625

 

[mechBgon]

34 miles today (short route to work, long route home).

Total: 30,659

 

[Slew Foot]

34 miles today (short route to work, long route home).

Total: 30,659

Didnt even know this tread was here. Just started up again after a 3 year hiatus. 26 miles last week, 26 miles today.


TOTAL: 30,711

 

[_Rick_]

12 miles commute today. With a bit of luck I get out of work early enough tomorrow to take the 25 miles route to go home and grind some more mileage. On the other hand, the two volleyball sessions from today and yesterday are making themselves felt, so I might still chicken out. But with rain announced for the week-end I should probably go for it, while it's dry.

30723

 

[mechBgon]

7 miles to the grocery store & work in the morning, then I hauled most of the groceries home via the rural route (28 miles this time). It ranged from endurance (easy) to tempo (moderate), no world records tonight. That puts me at 45% complete on my month-long Strava mileage challenge, with 13 more days to go.

So +34 miles. Is there a damage multiplier for groceries?

Total: 30,757

 

[Necrolezbeast]

I'll try to post regularly from now on, but for now I'll just go with the first 2 weeks of April.
April 1 - 7 = 66 miles
April 8 - 14 = 52 miles

+118 miles

Total: 30,875

Anyone that wants to follow on Strava is welcome to @ http://www.strava.com/athletes/smesker

 

[_Rick_]

Forgot to log friday and saturday - 16 miles

Total: 30,132

maths failure detected, recalculating...

right, 75 miles that disappeared

so corrected total, assuming everyone else added correctly:
30950

+ my 32 miles today for

30982

 

[KidNiki1]

maths failure detected, recalculating...

right, 75 miles that disappeared

so corrected total, assuming everyone else added correctly:
30950

+ my 32 miles today for

30982

holy crap, sorry!
not sure what happened, i think i might have not been on the last post on my mobile when i did the math.

that's what I get for trying to post from my phone.

anyway, thanks Rick for the catch on my fail mathing.

8 miles last night

Total: 30,990

 

[KidNiki1]

8 miles tonight

Total: 30,998

 

[mechBgon]

I took the direct route to work, and an extended rural route home, for about 42 miles total. The route home included some gravel roads. I was going to go further, but the sun went down and the temperature was dropping substantially, so I chickened out and headed home the direct way from there.

Got a couple pics:


Reflecto-Bike next to a creek and a cool rock bank (looks better in sunlight)



Sundown on a gravel country road

Total: 31,032

 

[KMc]

34 miles last night. My first outdoor ride this year with bare arms and legs! Felt like I was pedaling in squares for about the first 20 minutes due to the lingering effects of last weekend's rides. Funny though, how you start a ride thinking "I'm going to take it fairly easy tonight" and then end up turning it into a hammerfest.

Total: 31,066

 

[_Rick_]

12 miles today.

Missed the time window to take the scenic route home, but in the end I didn't regret it.
My legs were quite tired still from the close-to-100-miles from these last 7 days and volleyball practice, and the wind was 10-15 mph average, with 30-40 mph gusts in town. Don't think that would have been fun over 26 miles instead of 6...

Total
31078

 

[RichieZ]

48 mi today on the way to work

also passed 500mi on my bike on this ride

Total: 31,126

 

[mechBgon]

26 miles today (3.5 to work, 22.5 home).

On the way home, first I went to the supermarket and bought about 25 pounds of groceries, which combined with my U-lock and cable brought the bike up to about 65 pounds. Then I proceeded straight up a nasty wall with several 17%-grade bits, which automatically justifies eating an entire package of cookies upon getting home. Right? Right. Other than the south Freya wall assault, it was a mellow cruise home.

Total: 31,152

 

[dlock13]

7 miles!

Just got a new bike this year, and I took it for it's first ride yesterday. I'm not by any means a rider, but I would love to start riding 20+ miles like you guys do. That's freaking amazing to me.

Total: 31,159

 

[mechBgon]

7 miles!

Just got a new bike this year, and I took it for it's first ride yesterday. I'm not by any means a rider, but I would love to start riding 20+ miles like you guys do. That's freaking amazing to me.

Total: 31,159

Excellent Keep it fun!

 

[dlock13]

Excellent Keep it fun!

Thanks! I'll try! Not much in my area for riding other than around town!

I did find this one trail that's pretty nice, but it's only one trail sadly!

EDIT: Is there anyway to search for trails in/around my area easily?

 

[mechBgon]

Thanks! I'll try! Not much in my area for riding other than around town!

I did find this one trail that's pretty nice, but it's only one trail sadly!

EDIT: Is there anyway to search for trails in/around my area easily?

Absolutely. Go to Strava.com and make an account (free), then click Explore at the top and see what's on the map. It'll show "segments" (hill climbs are one type of segment). Pick a segment and now you'll see a leaderboard, and you can drill into individual peoples' results and then click "back to ride" to see the entire ride that they did. You should get some ideas that way.

Also, if there's a local bike club or a friendly bike shop, ask them for tips on where to ride, they should be happy to help.


Today it rained in the morning, so I took the direct route to work. After work, there was significant wind but no rain, so I took a rural route home, with a pretty hefty load of laundry (bike weight loaded: 51 pounds). I threw down a serious effort on a couple gravel climbs and managed a 2nd and a 3rd on the Strava leaderboards for those, which was not bad considering the load:



So anyway, +30 miles with enough hard efforts to accomplish some training. That puts me 57% complete on the Strava distance challenge with 10 days to go.

Total: 31,189