bicycling Archives - Page 94 of 123

It Got Cold

It Got Cold! Hey, it got cold! Temperatures in the 40s might not seem cold to some folks; but to me that’s cold enough! Especially when it’s windy and damp. I remember a co-worker that I had, many years ago. This person had come from Ohio, I believe it was; and said that, the first Winter here, she’d never been so cold in her life. Far from “perking you up”, cold weather makes me feel tired; sluggish; and slow. When it got cold Saturday night, it was too cold in here; and as a result, I didn’t sleep well. Then for my Sunday ride, I was tired; and really didn’t feel all that well. Add wind, and full-fingered gloves that made fueling awkward; and I rode only a bit over 19 miles. This morning when I went riding, there was a fine drizzle; and that doesn’t go well with glasses. I decided to ride laps around the park rather than deal with the wind on top of the levee; and I was glad I did! As I rode, it seemed to be getting colder; and the wind seemed to get stronger. At the moment, it’s 50 degrees; and the humidity is 80%! Add a 13 mph wind, and it’s not at all comfortable outdoors. Maybe I’ll ride in the park again tomorrow. My new hybrid is in the shop. Yesterday I was riding to work; and the chain came off the cassette. The bike shop is closed Mondays; so I had to wait until today to take the bike in. Maybe it just needs adjusting. I hope I didn’t manage to damage it somehow. Luckily the bicycle is still under warranty!

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Danged Wind

BACK ISSUES, bicycling / CAL

Danged Wind! That danged wind really threw a monkey wrench into my plans. I’m getting so very close to meeting my to Love to Ride mileage goal. As of last night, I had a hair over 55 miles to go. My plan was to ride 40 or so miles today; then finish tomorrow. But as we all know, things don’t always work out as planned. Yesterday morning was drizzly; and it was already getting cooler by 8:30 am. During the day the temperature continued to drop; and by this morning it was in the low 40s. Add winds of 12-15 mph — with gusts up to 24 mph — and I was facing a cold ride! I’ve gone riding before in wind like that; but when the temperature is cold as well, it drains my energy. It doesn’t help that it got much cooler so fast. But I started out; and the first time I tried to get a bit to eat, the bag with my “bites” in it snagged on my glove’s fingers. Down it went; and I lost six of eight pieces of energy bar. Full-fingered gloves drive me crazy! So there I was, with half of my ride food gone. I did have a spare energy bar with me; but it wasn’t cut into pieces. The wind also made it harder to manage getting a bottle (with electrolyte drink) in and out of its cage. Today it took me an hour or so to ride only 9.5 miles! I felt so cold and tired that I decided to head for home early. Danged wind; it’s not the first time that wind has ruined a ride. I hope things calm down a bit by mid-afternoon; then maybe I can take another short ride.

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rehash

BACK ISSUES, bicycling / CAL

Rehash? It feels like a rehash every time I blog about a week’s activity. Monday, I went for a pre-dawn ride; and Tuesday I did the same. And so on. How about something new? Monday morning I went for a ride; and as soon as I opened the door, I was dismayed to see how foggy it was. It’s the first big fog we’ve had in a while; and my hopes of seeing the almost-full moon were dashed. But Tuesday I got lucky. Here’s something unusual to report! It was clear; and I was able to see the eclipsed moon! It was darker than many lunar eclipses I’ve seen; but it was in a position where I could take frequent looks at it as I rode. Actually, the moon was so dark that it was a little hard to find! On the way home the moon was behind me; but I could still take glances at it over my shoulder. In Summer I can’t do that, because the moon is in the wrong place in the sky. Also on the way home, I could watch the sky lightening as the sun prepared to rise. What a ride! I’m fast closing in on my Love to Ride mileage goal. As of this evening, only 64.48 miles left to go! I intend to ride to the salvage store tomorrow; and that will knock off about 10 miles. I need to run an errand or two; and that means another mile or so. Tomorrow night we’ve got a cold front due. Down to 43 degrees; and the wind will be 10-15 mph. That means a chill factor in the 30s. Maybe I’ll put in a short stint on the road bike tomorrow; and do a shorter-than-usual Sunday ride. Then I won’t have to be out in the cold so long. Wimpy, aren’t I? That’s enough of a rehash. Time to enjoy the weekend!

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Slog

BACK ISSUES, bicycling / CAL

SLOG! Today’s long ride sure felt like a slog. Not that I was struggling through mud; but much of the time, it felt like the wind was against me. That was both going out and coming back home! Per the forecast, the wind was going to be 2-3 mph; but it felt stronger than that! I checked the NOAA site when I got home; and it said the wind was 6-7 mph. Because of the breeze, I spent nearly all of today’s ride on the small ring. When I started my ride, I immediately noticed that it was warmer than I expected. The forecast predicted 73 degrees; and I though I might be a little too cool without leg warmers. I decided that, even if I began my ride a bit cool, it would warm up; and I left the leg warmers at home. It was a good thing I did! I wore long sleeves and my vest; and before I completed my ride I was almost too hot! I started the ride with a lightweight helmet liner; and had to take it off. Despite my feeling rather tired, I pushed for 40 miles. I did quite a lot of rapid pedaling in a fairly easy gear; and surprised myself my averaging 12.41 mph. Whatever my pace, I wanted to get in the miles for Love to Ride; and the closer I get to my goal, the more eager I am to rack up some more miles. Yes, it sometimes feels like a slog; but even when it does, I need the exercise!

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Slowing Down

BACK ISSUES, bicycling / CAL

Slowing Down I’m going to be slowing down the blogging. I enjoy it (most of the time); but I need to work on other aspects of this website. Something has to give. It can’t be riding. I’ll go crazy from inactivity if I stop cycling; and I’m eager to meet my Love to Ride goal. In fact, I think the problem in the next week or two will be restraining myself from riding too much at a time! Incidentally, Love to Ride has announced the 2022 December Winter Wheelers! Needless to say, I’m in; but I hope we don’t get any sub-freezing wind chill days before January. It’s SO hard to get out on the bike when it’s as cold as that. Today is just Wednesday; but I’m already looking ahead to the weekend’s riding. The Saturday forecast doesn’t look good for a trip to the salvage store; but I’m thinking of visiting the regular grocery store anyway. Even if I get poured on, I’ll be much less concerned about lightning. Sunday looks OK so far; and I don’t want to be slowing down my cycling. I’m anticipating another 40-miler! Well, I’d better forget that for the moment and go work on my website!

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Why Tired

BACK ISSUES, bicycling, equipment / CAL

Why Tired? Why tired? I mean, why are we tired? Check out this video for possible reasons. Is it a hidden health issue? Or getting too little sleep? Or even overtraining? Going all hard, all the time does more harm than good. It’s the fast track to overtraining; exhaustion; and burnout — even loss of interest in something you used to enjoy. Why risk that? We want to keep on enjoying cycling, don’t we? When I’m tired all the time, it’s now often because I consistently get to bed too late; and then of course I’m tired and sleepy. But I have a sleep disorder that went undiagnosed for nearly 14 years (you read that right: YEARS!); and of course I was miserable then. It was like having a permanent anesthetic hangover! It’s been quite a while since I did any real force-development work; and it’s because I can’t seem to get up the energy. I’m trying to get my diet back on track; and I need to lose the 8 pounds that I regained since March. That’s another thing: when I’m always tired, I’ll feel like I’m hungry when I’m not. But why tired? Maybe because today I at last got my Sunday long ride up to 40 miles. My Love to Ride goal is well within sight.? It looks like we’ll have good weather most of the time this week; and that will be a big help. Speaking of Sunday, it’s time for This Week’s Featured Product! Check it out for riding equipment for young ‘uns!

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I Won

BACK ISSUES, bicycling / CAL

I Won! I won my gamble with the weather this morning! Last night the forecast predicted T-storms from the time I normally head to the salvage store. Naturally I didn’t like that; and could only wait and see how conditions were this morning. By today, the weather report had been changed to “partly cloudy”; and rain/T-storms beginning about noon. That was a lot better; and off I went to the store. While I waited for them to open, some other customers and I were keeping a wary eye on the sky. Over to the Northwest it looked pretty black; but it still wasn’t raining when I was ready to ride back home. The wind seemed to be strengthening, though; and indeed, it was blowing at 15 mph! As usual when there’s a pesky headwind, I was glad I didn’t have a trailer. Those things can carry a lot; but they also create wind resistance! It still wasn’t raining when I got home; but I wanted to rest a while before going anywhere else. Around noon I decided I’d better wash the dishes; and as I worked on that chore, I heard a few fairly strong gusts of wind. I also heard what sounded like a few raindrops. After I finished washing dishes, I got online to check the weather again. The radar looked like there was rain close by; and then I heard thunder. I decided I wasn’t going to go anywhere! Soon afterwards, I learned that we’re under tornado watch until this evening. It’s a good thing I don’t have to go out; so you might say that I won again.

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Getting Close

BACK ISSUES, bicycling / CAL

Getting Close! I’m getting close to my Love to Ride mileage goal for the year. Less than 300 miles to go! If you want to participate, it isn’t too late to set a goal and start riding; and you know they say, better late than never. Our weather is about to turn unpleasant. It won’t be cold — in the 70s — but T-storms are in the forecast. It doesn’t look good for my trip to the salvage store. Rain is one thing; but lightning is quite another! We really need rain, though. We got some this past Tuesday; but it wasn’t enough. It’s actually quite amazing to see how fast things dried up again; and for us, that’s unusual. Sunday’s forecast is much better: mostly sunny; calm; and a high of 74. The weather can hardly be better than that for riding? I’m also getting close to retirement. Just a little over two months to go; and I’m looking forward to having more time to ride. It will be nice to not have to get up at 4:30 am; and I can start to lengthen my daily rides a little. I’ll have more time to work on this web site; and maybe I can take better care of myself when I’m home to cook. My diet has been badly off track for months; and it’s long past high time I got things back under control. Getting back to the weather, it got more and more overcast all day today. It was a relief to not have the sun smack in my eyes on the way home!

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Stop the Presses

BACK ISSUES, bicycling / CAL

STOP THE PRESSES! Stop the presses! I’ve got great news: it rained today! Overnight we got just enough of a sprinkling to settle the dust. I could see dry patches beneath parked cars; but the ground was wet enough for my road bike to get splattered. As the morning went on, the clouds gathered; and when I went outdoors at about 11:20 am, it was raining. We know it’s been dry, indeed, when rain is big news. It didn’t rain for very long; and by the time I left work it was clear and sunny. Too sunny, in fact. This time of year, that star of ours blinds me as I’m riding home from work. Sunglasses don’t help in such a situation; and then I wish it were cloudy! Let’s see, now. Have I got any other “stop the presses” items to report? I can’t think of any; and I’m not sure I want my days to be full of earth-shattering events. That’s too much excitement for me! It’s the same old thing: go for a spin on the road bike; ride the hybrid to work; come home and work on blogs. I had thought of going to the park to ride this morning; and the decision was made for me when a long freight train beat me to the crossing. I didn’t want to wait for it; so I took an alternate route to the park. There was time to ride only 10.4 miles, because I had to be sure to leave enough time to go feed my friends’ cat. Down to 55 degrees tonight; and a North wind of 10 mph. I’ll need to layer up tomorrow morning! Fifty-five degrees might not sound cold; but it’s a big change from 80 degrees! The wind will make it seem colder, too. At least it won’t be snowing. That would really stop the presses!

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Drought Buster

BACK ISSUES, bicycling / CAL

Drought Buster? We might have a drought buster in store. There’s a 20% chance of rain tonight; and a 50% chance of T-storms tomorrow. We certainly need the rain. There’s hardly been a drop since early July! The catch is, once a drought buster comes, it often keeps raining for days. Amazingly, there’s a weather system in the mid-Atlantic that has the potential of becoming a named storm! It seems to be heading towards Bermuda; and I hope it doesn’t develop the way Ian did. It looks like I might miss the rain tomorrow morning; but I think I’ll ride in the park. The wind will be pretty strong; and I do get tired of battling headwinds on the levee. I’ve been up there before when it was cold; raining hard; and a sidewind made bike control very hard! That’s not my idea of fun. After tomorrow it’s going to clear up for a couple of days; and Friday it’s likely to rain again. Next Monday will be sunny and warm; and I know the kids will like that for Trick-or-Treat. Sunday will probably be sunny and warm; but pretty windy. That’s not fun when I’m riding back home from 20 miles away; but I need to get in a 40-miler. Yesterday I rode little over 29 miles, because I was tired and stuffy-headed; and I figured I ought to take it easy. Saturday’s weather looks iffy. There’s a chance of rain and T-storms; and I hope such activity waits until I get home from the salvage store. One good thing about a drought buster is that it will settle the dust for a while. Every time there’s a breeze, I see clouds of dust blowing around!

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