Does your typical ride just not have enough hills to satisfy you? Try this, last night’s Roaming Ride:
L Regional Rd
L Pleasant Ridge
X 68
R Cude Rd
L Ballard
R N. Bunker Hill
L Stafford Mill Rd
R Beeson
L 150
R Pepper
L Haw River Rd
R Pumpkin Ridge Rd
R Piney Grove
R Benefit Ch Rd
R Warren
R Haw River
L Linville
L 150
R Bunch
R NW School Rd
L Alcorn
R Edgefield
X 68
L Pleasant Ridge Rd
R Regional Rd
Or, for extra credit, do it backward. Technorati Tags: cycling, greenboro, hills
I paid for taking a week off. The “First Monday” ride wasn’t bad — 23 miles at a social, talkative pace. But last night’s Farmers Market throw down left me hurting. I knew it was going to be fast when I glanced at my computer on the first significant hill and saw 30 mph, but I didn’t expect it to be quite so fast as it was.
Scott and I finally sat up at around 20 miles and waited for stragglers. Until then we’d averaged 21 mph. Taking it easy the last ten miles only dropped our overall average to 20.1. IIRC, that’s what we’re usually doing another thousand miles into the season. The bad part, the hurting part, of the ride was the last stretch of Sandy Ridge Rd. My left calf had a serious cramp and after taking my turn at the front it was all I could do to sit in and soft pedal to the finish.
Mileage-wise I’m behind my 2007 pace. This week is the first in which I’ve topped 100 miles since the very first week of the year. Total for this week: 142.3.
This is the second Saturday in a row that I’ve swapped my bike for time on a stationary bike at the health club. It just ain’t the same, I tell you.
Tomorrow’s weather report is promising. Let’s hope for the best.
Technorati Tags: health club, training, weather
It’s only (barely) April and I’m bored with the Farmers Market Ride, so I resolved to go check out the Tuesday/Thursday northside ride that starts at the corner of Lake Brandt and Lawndale. This time of year it’s almost strictly a fast guys’ ride so I was happy to have Deadwood and Stuart Larry David along. We rolled out on our own and followed a somewhat typical route for this time of the year. Of course, we had plenty of wind and hills.
Total for the evening: 23.2 miles at a brisk (18.2) average.
Technorati Tags: cycling, greensboro, training
The Roaming Rides have been going on for a month and there are two constants to contend with: hills and wind. The former is by design and the latter by chance. But together they make the rides a little more strenuous than in past years.
Tonight we headed over to the north side of Greensboro, an area that I’ve begun to avoid. I’m averse to bad tempered drivers, you know. But I put aside my reservations and we started off from Christ Community Church (thanks for the parking privileges!) on Air Harbor Rd. The route follows several rolling roads; none of the climbs is particularly tough although they begin to add up over the course of the ride, particularly if you’re trying to maintain a steady pace like we were.
Total for the night: 22.1 miles.
Technorati Tags: greensboro, cycling, hills, training
The Roaming Ride returns. Check out the GVC calendar for details.
Teaser: March is gonna be all about hills.
Technorati Tags: roamingride, cycling, greensboro, hills
Used to be that February rides were easy. Cruise for 25 miles or so and call it a day. But no more. Riders are getting stronger so rides are becoming longer and faster. Case in point: Saturday’s 45 mile “Let’s Piss Off Fred Ride.” Why the LPOFR? I’ll get back to that.
I don’t warm up easily, so the first 15 miles or so are always a test. My legs hurt, my lungs hurt, everything hurts. And then I’m just fine. I can roll along in the bunch pretty easily, and climbing becomes much more fun. This start slow, finish (relatively) fast mode of mine seems to be a function of advancing age. But it meant that while the first hour of yesterdays ride was no fun at all, the last 2/3 was great.
As for the name of the LPOFR, it’s because the ride passes Pleasant Garden town limit signs several times. The first time we did the ride Fred made the mistake of complaining about this; so now he has a ride named after him. Here’s the route:
L Vandalia
R Wiley-Davis
X Groometown
L Vickery Chapel
R Kivett
L Riverdale
R Hwy 62
L Harlow
R Muddy Creek (Frazier?)
L Cedar Square
-> Coltrane Mill
X 62
L Old Randleman
R Steeplechase
-> Hunt
S on Hunt
L Kearns Hackett
L 22/Appomattox
R Hagan Stone Park Rd
L Tabernacle Church
R Neeley
L Talbot
R Alliance Church
L Ritters Lake
R Randleman
L Old Randleman
R Harris/Drummond
L Bishop
R Groometown
R Wiley Davis
-> OTH Park
Total distance is 44.8 miles.
Technorati Tags: cycling, greensboro, oka t hester park
Brendan Quirk rides with CSC and reports back.
“Glaring thing? They are fast. Stupidly fast. If they get a flat and a wheel change it takes them about 90 seconds to catch back to a big-ringing group, and that’s with no motorpacing assistance. If they stop at a traffic light, they accelerate up to 28mph before settling back down to cruising pace. Fast is their natural state of matter. Clearly they’re less comfortable going slow than fast.”
Technorati Tags: csc, competitive cyclist, training ride