I say in the sun… It did rain for 45 minutes at the start 
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Snuck out instead of doing Martin Hill today, this one is for all the people in the back of the peanut gallery who never shut up with their “indoor is not cycling” nonsense
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After our soaking yesterday the skies cleared overnight and a torrential rain belt was blown in. Sunday’s rides are more relaxed though so I went for multiple layers. It must’ve nearly doubled my body weight 
At the end of the ride I was vindicated after having been dry and warm the whole way round.
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@DaveWh two years ago, (out the door) temps dropped to -15 C (I actually think they went a bit lower, but -15 was my limit for riding). Last year was barely winter. This year, temps dropped to around -2C but right now are hanging around 0-2C with it rising a bit this week. As far as getting chilled, I find that’s more of a problem with sustained efforts, which wasn’t yesterday. Merino as a base, or doubled-up as a base with another layer or two, helps but the next layers matter, too. Kit matters. That’s not to say my layers aren’t soaked at the end of the ride.
@ellotheth, no. In general, when it’s icy, there simply isn’t enough consistency with the thickness of the ice and underneath is too rocky. There are areas where the studs would be helpful but it’s easier just to ride at a lower elevation. The icy section in the pictures and nearby was, generally, “soft” or easily avoided.
It’s sort of moot now, or at least for a bit, as we had heavy rain last night and the temps rose to 2-4C. Hopefully our winter isn’t over.
This is from my run this morning at slightly higher elevation my ride yesterday. The icy bit was crushable and not slick. (I’ve neglected my running so much in favor of the gravel bike that today’s 8mi, with over 1400’ of climbing, was 3% of my YTD mileage. IOW, I’m nowhere close to my 800-1000 mi of running of previous years because of the gravel bike.)
This pic is from two years ago this weekend (16 Dec) I took less than a mile than the above. The WTB Senderos were more than adequate.
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It was that temp here this morning. Right now, it’s a balmy 10F (-12C). I frequently ride in these temps - just can’t do hard intervals.
Yesterday, however, I rode with a friend of mine who is faster than me. I was pushing hard to keep up with him, harder than I normally would, so ended up getting pretty damp with sweat. I got cold on the descent back down, event after adding another layer.
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That’s a good climb regardless of the ground condition. I don’t know what your layers are and there’s only so much they (the layers) & you can do. To state the obvious, you need to limit the overheating on the climb since with that descent you won’t be working hard to generate heat, and keep the sweat in your layers warm, for a while. You’re probably doing merino already. For me, in -15, I’m wearing a thin merino long sleeve with a thick merino-blend as the next (these are generally running kit from SOAR Running or Odlo), another merino layer or Rapha’s now-discontinued Pro Team Thermal Base with neck gaiter (I wish I bought more than one of these), a long-sleeve jersey that does reasonably well against the wind, and then a thick jacket (my winter jacket is Stolen Goat’s Climb & Conquer series), a neck gaiter (if not wearing the Pro Team Thermal Base), and a hat (prefer Stolen Goat’s winter hats). For yesterday, which was only 0-2C, a short-sleeve merino base, the Rapha above, and loose-ish Rapha merino long-sleeve under the Stolen Goat (a good hi-vis option when there are hunters about, which I didn’t expect 
But with that downhill… I suppose it depends on where you feel the coldest / where you feel the sweat freezing.
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I’ve done some rides below 0F in still dry air, just wearing a short sleeve cycling Jersey - and still end up sweating (riding up a ski hill). Then if the wind does pick up even a little, you can get cold quickly.
I also use vapor barrier liners on my feet - and they get a bit nasty if you sweat too much inside them!
Short rides are more forgiving on temperature control - meaning if you get it wrong and sweat too much, it’s not too bad. But not good if out for 4 or 5 hours.
I headed out this evening for a short ride in 2-3” of fresh snow. It’s very quiet and peaceful in conditions like this.
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5a roll-out after getting the bike back from the LBS for a twice-yearly deep clean. They seemed surprised at the amount of dirt deep inside the bike. I switched bike shops and this is only the second time they’ve serviced this bike, so perhaps they still need to get used to the fact I ride this bike in all weather (about 3900mi on this bike so far this year). With new bar tape, it looked brand new when I brought it home yesterday evening. I had to “fix” that this morning
But because it hasn’t rained or snowed in several days, the trails were relatively dry.
On the upside, I bettered my time on a Strava segment to take 3rd overall, moving up from 4th place before. It’s just a fifth of a mile where the first third (more than) is 18-24%, the middle just-under-a-third is 2-7%, and the remainder is 8-10%. My average power was 400w (normalized was 398) for the 2:15 effort.
Considering I’m now 20lbs 
overweight which is about 4lbs heavier than when I slid into 5th and then 4th place on this climb. I’m both pleased and looking forward to losing this £$%@ weight. (I’m now 193lbs when I should be 173-175.)
That segment was followed by another mean climb that while it has a gentle lead-in of 5-7% jumps to 20, 24, and steeper, but it too is short at under .2mi. That’s annoying because whoever created the segment cheated because the climb doesn’t actually end when the Strava segment does. There’s just a “turnout.” The climb continues at 22-24% to make it longer than the previous segment.
The latter segment is called “Angry Grandma” but either it plus the rest of the climb or the earlier segment should be renamed the mean father of the Angry Grandma, ie a “Great Mother…” Maybe I’ll get on that.
A good way to start the day. With the kids on Christmas break starting this afternoon, I won’t have the 6:30a-be-in-the-kitchen deadline, which is nice to look forward to.
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Every time I see your posts it makes me want to get a gravel bike!
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Everytime I see one of his posts I feel sorry for my gravel bike
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@tkuhns & @AndyBaggott 
Running trails here – no ultras this year, but several a year for the past four – is what drove me to get a gravel bike. That it enables year-round outdoor riding is a plus. I’m very lucky that all of the rides posted here, except for the obvious where I wrote I drove to the Dolomites or took a train to Zermatt, are literally out the door. No car involved, just peddling out of the garage and a turn one way for trail or the other for road. Gotta take advantage and enjoy this while it lasts. It may only be available for a couple more years but I savor it like it’s going to end tomorrow.
This morning’s ride involved going after a Strava friend’s 5th place Strava segment placement. I had never done the segment (and I’ve never chased anyone’s place before), but I thought I’d give it a go. Now I’ve done the route a lot but in the opposite direction. This segment was going up where I had always gone up the other end and went down this way. The problem is, I didn’t load the segment on the Garmin and near the end, I realized I wasn’t sure which turn off the main trail to take because I was a bit confused where I was because it was all backward for me. I knew where I was going but I couldn’t remember how to get there. Making it worse, I did the end bit perhaps once in the past two years because I choose a harder option. As it happened, I turned too early and went well above target so I don’t know how I might have done. The segment I did do, at a hair over 5mi with 4.7% average grade for 1265’ of climbing, is shorter but steeper than what I intended (what my friend did): 5.3mi with only 2.5% average grade for only 937’ of climbing.
Edit: (And, bonus, I wrote that I got 5th, but it was 6th overall on what I did do, so I have that going for me… The guy who took 5th is the cyclist who filmed his buddies getting chased by an ostrich in SA.)
In the end, I’m not sure the second half of the ride counted because my power meter battery died. Fortunately, the failure happened after the segment above. The spike before the peak (where the first picture above was taken) was my mistake as I mistakenly thought I was entering the last turn before the grade dropped toward the finish. It was then that I realized I was in the wrong place and above my intended destination. Still, it was a good morning.
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Not sure if this counts but did Hunter outside today. Ended up making some odd route choices and double-backs to avoid significant gradients in general but especially significant climbs on the recoveries or any steep descents on the intervals. Worked well enough and was good to get out:
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I love how almost everyone here, myself included, hides our true identities as much as possible. I wonder how many people do that for privacy and how many feel like posting their name could be seen as an attention grab
Ive been bailing workouts left, right and centre lately. It was nice to get outside today.
I don’t have power on my Orbea but my HR avg was 152 so I was definitely pushing harder today than I have been able to on the rollers.
Maybe I just need to up my mental game.
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It was -2F when I woke up today. I thought for half a second about doing an indoor ride, until I looked out the window and saw the blue skies. An aptly named trail today. 2.5 hrs riding in perfect conditions.
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We had snow while Santa was making his run late Thursday and through Christmas Day yesterday. So, naturally, after the presents were opened and the two teenagers were enjoying the fruits of being on the good list and the wife doing her own thing, I left (possibly unnoticed).
With a fresh snowfall and snow still falling, I decided to redo my play for a Strava Top 5 of the 5.3mi segment I described last week. After that last post, I did snag 5th place but I figured I’d have fun and see if I could better that time today. I somehow did get closer to 4th despite the change from dry to wet.
At the end/top of the segment.
This is the same path & tree clearly seen in the previous post a week before.
Photos can be deceptive: as this road, a rare stretch of pavement on this ride, is between 8-10% where I am and as it disappears into the trees it goes over 20% with slush today and corresponding cadence & weighting shifts to keep traction.
In the end, it was less than 20mi and under 2hrs, but a good time in the saddle.
I went out again today before dawn. Much of the snow was gone but the temperature had dropped a bit. While icy pavement helped dictate my routing, including not descending the paved bit pictured above which was icy today, I cut the ride short when I realized I lost feeling in my toes due to my boots not drying from yesterday’s ride. Still, another good time in the saddle.
Sometimes it’s like living in a model train set.
Though I dreamed it would be a Z2 ride, not all dreams come true.
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Was on the fence about going out today, grey skies and a high of 1C, but in the end decided to bundle up and go out for a 118km Z2 ride just shy of four hours, 220W avg, on a loop I did twice in November, mostly flat and a lot of bike paths and quieter roads. I need to make a little sign in my bike cave that says, “dress right, and even below freezing you’re nice and toasty.” Sleeveless base layer, merino long sleeve base layer, windproof jersey, regular bibs along with an old pair of PI long bib tights that I took the pad out long ago. Neoprene overshoes, thin gloves with a pair of lobster-ish (pinky and ring finger are combined) over-gloves. Feet and hands were still warm when I got home. The gloves make it a pain to get the phone out for pictures, so it’s just some screen grabs from the Cycliq.
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Monday was to be a rest day but a neighbor checked to see if I wanted to go for a ride. As I didn’t ride that pre-dawn morning, I couldn’t use “I already went” as an excuse. I rarely ride with anyone and our schedules hadn’t meshed for a long while, plus it was a good time to catch up. But, I was still tired after three days of hard, including Friday & Saturday rides and a Sunday 10-mile trail run with nearly 2100’ of climbing (which sadly used to be a regular distance but I enjoy the gravel bike so much this was my longest run of the year).
Here’s a view from the peak I ran to. It’s ridable, too, but from a different approach. There’s a restaurant behind me that’s open in the summer.
For the ride, sorry for going off topic, I was tired and the power/time data of early segments made that clear. However, the views were worth it.
In the middle, in the distance, at the tip of the lake, is the center of Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland with about 435,000 people.
It wasn’t a long ride and there were some hike-a-bike sections, both down and up, icy roots and rocks or just too icy or slushy for traction. (I had on my all-season tires, not the winter knobbies.) A good time in the saddle.
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