Your ride today.... (part 1)

[ColinJ]

Ride day today, and if I weren't on a physio plan I'd have stayed in. Forecast for the day was , followed by . Set out at about 0930 in fine drizzle doing the reverse of my last ride, so joined the Thames at Staines and followed the towpath to Chertsey where the rain started in earnest. Stuck to the roads through Chertsey to Thorpe Park, somewhat damp by now, thinking it wasn't too bad. 2 miles from home it turned torrential and I arrived back at chez CB with shoes full of water and really quite wet everywhere else. Still, 10 miles done and I get a rest day tomorrow

Well done, all of you venturing out in gloomy, wet conditions!

I am fitting my rides in around the weather. I avoided riding in gloomy, threatening conditions on Saturday, made the most of a sunny day yesterday and went out for hours, rested today, and plan to be back out in the sunshine tomorrow.

It is not too bad when the nice days and nasty days alternate. What I hate is when we get weeks and weeks of gloomy, wet and windy conditions.

 

[cosmicbike]

Well done, all of you venturing out in gloomy, wet conditions!

I am fitting my rides in around the weather. I avoided riding in gloomy, threatening conditions on Saturday, made the most of a sunny day yesterday and went out for hours, rested today, and plan to be back out in the sunshine tomorrow.

It is not too bad when the nice days and nasty days alternate. What I hate is when we get weeks and weeks of gloomy, wet and windy conditions.

I had a choice, out in the rain, or indoors on the dreaded turbo trainer. Having done my initial recovery work on the trainer the last 3 times I'm trying to avoid it unless the weather is properly bad..Nothing is quite so dull as an hour on that thing

 

[Old Plodder]

Sod riding turbo for an hour!
(I used to do 30 mins, but found it too boring, even with music - now I do 20 mins sessions, & thankfully only when I feel I need to.)

 

[Elybazza61]

Nice short commute in today,the only incident being nearly running over some suicidal baby Coots.And the cross bike got it's first proper 'dirty' run;won't clean it much as am doing a longer pathway commute tomorrow with 2 bods from the club so should be fun.

http://www.strava.com/activities/185438707

 

[ColinJ]

Sod riding turbo for an hour!
(I used to do 30 mins, but found it too boring, even with music - now I do 20 mins sessions, & thankfully only when I feel I need to.)

If you can get bored, then you are not trying hard enough!

I rotted my first turbo trainer over one winter with the amount of salty sweat that I dripped over it. I always wiped it down afterwards, but didn't realise that sweat was clinging to the underside of it and rusting it through from below.

I used to strip down to just shorts in an unheated room at about 2-5 degrees C, and even with a big fan blowing on me I would get too hot.

I was so absorbed in what I was doing that I would end up getting tunnel vision and just stare at a spot on the wall opposite.

I would do anything from 45 minutes to nearly 3 hours and boredom wasn't a problem. Walking was - I often used to struggle to get up the stairs afterwards!

(One winter of that got me to the fittest that I had ever been, but then I let it all go again ... )

 

[Old Plodder]

The loss of fitness is where I still am, that's what my turbo is for, just to get me/my body going again. Purely a 'help' to fitness, not a 'regime'.

P.S. I now use a 'hydraulic' (fluid flywheel) turbo; quick to set up compared to having one with a control on the bars & a lot smoother to pedal.

 

[Goonerobes]

A mixture of bad weather, work & mid-week football meant a very rare after dinner ride for me this evening.

Nothing special, just a quick 20 miles around the forest to try & reclaim some of the miles I may have done yesterday had it not rained all day!!

http://www.strava.com/activities/185683212

 

[Svendo]

HOORAY!
First ride back on the road today following 75 days off the bike (ignoring a test ride on the towpath on Sunday.) Happy to say everything works properly! Odd twinge from the wrists and some soreness in the left shoulder. What was a suprise to me, but really shouldn't have been, was how hard a 20 mile loop round Cragg Vale was! Set off with my usual vigour and sprightlyness and by Hebden Bridge (~6 miles) felt nausea, rubber legs and burning lungs.
Towed some young fit chap half way up Cragg Vale, past the steep bit, before he went past and off into the distance. Nice to see all the tour stuff that's still there. A lot of the paint has been blacked out but there's a section that's still painted up.

What I can also tell is that the resurrected Carrera Virtuoso is a dog, faithful and reliable, but a dog nevertheless! heavy, flexy, vague handling. The positives are the touring chainset (46/34) and the super reliable 9 speed Tiagra lever/105 mech shifting. More reliable than the Dura Ace 7900 on the dead Storck! Probably due to the greater pull on a 9 speed allowing more margin for error and the old clothes line cable routing.

 

[fatjel]

Up early and watched the sun come up from the bike.
Shoes still wet from last two days rain lol

 

[Spartak]

Out early this morning to ride from Emersons Green to Bath along the cycle track.
Lovely conditions after two very damp days !

Home before family up for breakfast 8-)

http://www.strava.com/activities/185897557

 

[Sturmey_Hub]

The loss of fitness is where I still am, that's what my turbo is for, just to get me/my body going again. Purely a 'help' to fitness, not a 'regime'.

P.S. I now use a 'hydraulic' (fluid flywheel) turbo; quick to set up compared to having one with a control on the bars & a lot smoother to pedal.

It is very scary that the older I get, the quicker I lose my fitness. In my twenties i would do a sixty mile ride in the hills of Derbyshire and probably not ride for a week, but then could easily do it again. Now in my fifties, if I don't do the 25 mile commute from work at least twice a week then the next time I ride it is very noticeable. I have a turbo for those winter days when for whatever reason I can't ride, but don't find them fun.

 

[ColinJ]

HOORAY!
First ride back on the road today following 75 days off the bike (ignoring a test ride on the towpath on Sunday.) Happy to say everything works properly! Odd twinge from the wrists and some soreness in the left shoulder. What was a suprise to me, but really shouldn't have been, was how hard a 20 mile loop round Cragg Vale was! Set off with my usual vigour and sprightlyness and by Hebden Bridge (~6 miles) felt nausea, rubber legs and burning lungs.
Towed some young fit chap half way up Cragg Vale, past the steep bit, before he went past and off into the distance. Nice to see all the tour stuff that's still there. A lot of the paint has been blacked out but there's a section that's still painted up.

I always think of you as being 'some young fit chap', and I bet you would still leave me for dead in your present condition!

'Fitness' is all relative, isn't it? My consultant was telling me that he wasn't overly concerned about me because I am able to do 40 mile hilly rides on my bike. He took some convincing that there is a problem because I was capable of doing two to three times that back in June.

It is quite shocking how unfit most people are. Even when we are relatively unfit, we are probably many times fitter than the average person in this country.

 

[Elybazza61]

Nice ride in today with Michael from the club;should have had the camera with me as there was some real nice fenland vistas in the morning mist.

http://www.strava.com/activities/185904034

Oh and cross bikes rockas do Vittoria Randonneur pros.

 

[PeteXXX]

Several friends are off out for a day riding. I, however, have to go to work this afternoon...

I still got out for a few miles though. Over to see No.1 daughter and No. 1 Granddaughter for half an hour, then a blast across the fields to Earls Barton and through Overstone Park and back home.

The route through the rhododendrons is a bit overgrown at the moment..

Only a quickie at just under 8 miles, but I did have a cooling Ice Cream on a stick half way round.
Nice to get out in the sunshine!
Off to work soon... Booooo

http://www.strava.com/activities/185958027

 

[welsh dragon]

It never ceases to amaze me, that one day we have wall to wall sunshine, and its so hot that the tarmac starts to melt, and the next day, we're thinking of starting a fire and getting the turbo trainer set up again for the winter.

I decided to go out for a ride despite the rather ominous looking clouds. We have had a great year for growing things this year especially weeds it seems. I chose one of my usual rides along an unmarked lane, a route that is relatively flat. British rail workers have been out in force and cut back a lot of the undergrowth around the bridge

I carried on under the bridge, and soon came to the stream that was practically dry a couple of weeks ago and that now has a decent flow of water running down it.

after that i again continued on my way, and came across some cows lying down, which i always thought was a sign that it was going to rain, but perhaps not

as i continued on my way the clouds started to get darker and darker and i decided to beat a hasty retreat. On my way back, i stopped and clambered over a gate to get a better look at part of the Owain Glyndwr sign posts. Perhaps one day i'll walk the route.






for now though its about to rain so time to go. A pleasant hour was had with just myself for company. It doesn't get better.