#363
Wednesday, January 28th
I had a couple of library books to return, and a woefully empty stomach, so I cruised on over to the library, then to a BBQ place for some delicious smoked chicken breast on a bun. The staff brings you a bewildering array of sauces. I went with the mustard-based bbq sauce. Yum!
Then home.
Once I got near the house, I wished I had reversed my stops, spending a half hour or so digesting at the library before going up many little hills. Or maybe a hour digesting.
No vomiting, so no worries!
Riding on Saturday with a small group. Yay!
30 January 2015
18 January 2015
Roadkill Rumba
#362 / #161
Red Leader and I left our sunny house to ride in (overcast and chilly!) Folsom today.
I was a bit underdressed (but it was SUNNY!!!) however, I soon warmed up enough to be perfectly comfortable. My arm warmers and BOTH pairs of leg warmers were rolled up neatly on the kitchen counter (in the place where the outgoing bike stuff resides) and there they stayed. So I was in an UnderArmour HeatGear long sleeved shirt under a polyester windbreaker, with shorts and wool socks. Fingerless gloves.
We went around Lake Natoma (with an interesting detour on a new bike path) so it was fairly hilly. On a flatter ride in these conditions (53 degress and no sunshine) I may have wanted tights, shoe covers (although the tights might have helped deliver warmer blood to my toes), arm warmers, and shoe covers (repeat my comment about leg warmers, subbing arms and toes). I did (thankfully) have my Buff with me (a wool one) which makes an admirable ear cover. My ears are very sensitive to cold air and I get earaches very easily.
I also had a flat! Sadly, it was the front right, which had already been swapped out for a Schwalbe tube. I like the Schwalbe tubes - they seem to lose less air just sitting, and are nice and skinny, making it very easy to keep the tube from between the rim and the tire. Why sadly? Because I'm too tightfisted to swap out perfectly good (Kenda) tubes for nicer Schwalbe, and was hoping to eventually get around to all three tires through the 'kind' offices of the Flat Fairy. Said Fairy is not keeping track of my plan, however.
Gosh, I almost forgot. Why the title? Because RL decided to ride on a road in traffic. On the shoulder, which was fine with me (Folsom Rd is 55 through the section we rode on.) One flat skunk, one grey squirrel, probably a bird (very flat, very dead, very hard to tell), and either a small red furry critter or part of a red squirrel. Lots of roadkill to dodge. I believe I may have gotten a tiny bit on skunk on a tire. We'll see next time I open the car. Ha ha ha.
CU
Red Leader and I left our sunny house to ride in (overcast and chilly!) Folsom today.
I was a bit underdressed (but it was SUNNY!!!) however, I soon warmed up enough to be perfectly comfortable. My arm warmers and BOTH pairs of leg warmers were rolled up neatly on the kitchen counter (in the place where the outgoing bike stuff resides) and there they stayed. So I was in an UnderArmour HeatGear long sleeved shirt under a polyester windbreaker, with shorts and wool socks. Fingerless gloves.
We went around Lake Natoma (with an interesting detour on a new bike path) so it was fairly hilly. On a flatter ride in these conditions (53 degress and no sunshine) I may have wanted tights, shoe covers (although the tights might have helped deliver warmer blood to my toes), arm warmers, and shoe covers (repeat my comment about leg warmers, subbing arms and toes). I did (thankfully) have my Buff with me (a wool one) which makes an admirable ear cover. My ears are very sensitive to cold air and I get earaches very easily.
I also had a flat! Sadly, it was the front right, which had already been swapped out for a Schwalbe tube. I like the Schwalbe tubes - they seem to lose less air just sitting, and are nice and skinny, making it very easy to keep the tube from between the rim and the tire. Why sadly? Because I'm too tightfisted to swap out perfectly good (Kenda) tubes for nicer Schwalbe, and was hoping to eventually get around to all three tires through the 'kind' offices of the Flat Fairy. Said Fairy is not keeping track of my plan, however.
Gosh, I almost forgot. Why the title? Because RL decided to ride on a road in traffic. On the shoulder, which was fine with me (Folsom Rd is 55 through the section we rode on.) One flat skunk, one grey squirrel, probably a bird (very flat, very dead, very hard to tell), and either a small red furry critter or part of a red squirrel. Lots of roadkill to dodge. I believe I may have gotten a tiny bit on skunk on a tire. We'll see next time I open the car. Ha ha ha.
CU
15 January 2015
painful enough ...
Using Strava to figure out how many rides I have not blogged about is painful enough that I think my New Year's resolution is to blog in a timely fashion.
Yeah. That'll work.
4 Jan rode 12.9 miles with Red Leader (ride #358 / #159)
6 Jan rode 9.7 miles to and from the library solo (ride #359)
11 Jan rode 22.7 flat miles on the American River Trail with Red Leader (ride #360 / #160)
Today (15 Jan) rode 21 hilly miles solo (ride #361)
So. Strava says I burned about 900 calories on my ride, which is a good thing since I ate rather a lot of chicken salad after my ride. Yum!
1,300 feet of climbing. That's not much for many people, and I'm super slow. My average speed was 8.2 mph. So it took about 2 1/2 hours to do that ride. Which is fine by me. My top speed was 24.8mph. But I'm much more physically tired than after our usual ride, which means I have not been increasing in fitness riding just with Red Leader. He dislikes hills even more than I do!
UnderArmour finally got their act together and sells a long sleeved high-viz shirt in their Heat Gear line. It even has a zip neck! I wear a men's medium in this loose-fitting shirt. I stopped at Sports Authority this morning to buy one. It was somewhere between 45 and 60 degrees F on the ride, I started off with a windbreaker over the shirt, but soon ditched that. Climbing hills keeps me plenty warm.
I also tried out a pair of work gloves from Home Depot on this ride. They have reflective fingertips, and bright orange and yellow backs. I felt very visible with them. They got a bit sweaty by the end of the ride, but I have famously sweaty hands.
I took the time to adjust my brakes - much better stopping power now.
Here's a screen shot of my ride's map and elevation profile from Strava.
Yeah. That'll work.
4 Jan rode 12.9 miles with Red Leader (ride #358 / #159)
6 Jan rode 9.7 miles to and from the library solo (ride #359)
11 Jan rode 22.7 flat miles on the American River Trail with Red Leader (ride #360 / #160)
Today (15 Jan) rode 21 hilly miles solo (ride #361)
So. Strava says I burned about 900 calories on my ride, which is a good thing since I ate rather a lot of chicken salad after my ride. Yum!
1,300 feet of climbing. That's not much for many people, and I'm super slow. My average speed was 8.2 mph. So it took about 2 1/2 hours to do that ride. Which is fine by me. My top speed was 24.8mph. But I'm much more physically tired than after our usual ride, which means I have not been increasing in fitness riding just with Red Leader. He dislikes hills even more than I do!
UnderArmour finally got their act together and sells a long sleeved high-viz shirt in their Heat Gear line. It even has a zip neck! I wear a men's medium in this loose-fitting shirt. I stopped at Sports Authority this morning to buy one. It was somewhere between 45 and 60 degrees F on the ride, I started off with a windbreaker over the shirt, but soon ditched that. Climbing hills keeps me plenty warm.
I also tried out a pair of work gloves from Home Depot on this ride. They have reflective fingertips, and bright orange and yellow backs. I felt very visible with them. They got a bit sweaty by the end of the ride, but I have famously sweaty hands.
I took the time to adjust my brakes - much better stopping power now.
Here's a screen shot of my ride's map and elevation profile from Strava.
Ta ta for now
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