Where did you ride OUTSIDE today (2022)

That reminds me of a trip visiting friends in Sarasota, FL. I went for a run at o’dark thirty. The road I was on was as dark as can be. No street lights. Even in moonlight it’s really dark. Nothing will scare the :poop: out of you quite like suddenly hearing the deafening sound of lions and/or tigers growling/roaring coming out of the darkness. The fear was real! I didn’t know what to do. So, I picked up the pace and went straight home. When I told my buddy, he laughed and said I was probably passing the big cat habitat. Sure enough, later in the daylight I saw the place clearly driving past it.

6 Likes

Running in the dark and rain one morning in Tampa I rounded a corner and saw a crocodile in a ditch next to the road. My heart skipped several beats and I sprinted past on the far side of the road, listening for the sounds of scales on grass or claws on tarmac. Nothing heard so I finally slowed down after a mile. A few days later I was biking on the same road and the crocodile was a piece of discarded concrete. It was in the same shape as a crocodile’s head. I told my wife this story and she makes fun of me to this day about my concrete crocodile. :rofl: :crocodile:

8 Likes

Your story reminds me of the “bear” I saw in the trails one time…

11 Likes

Actually, in Florida I’ve run into alligators so many times I’ve lost count. Trail running. Golf course fairway. Golf course water hole. Neighborhood pond/lake. They’re everywhere. No incidents however.

Wild boars and deer are also common on trail rides. Been knocked off the mtb by a deer and chased by a boar.

BUT, I’ve never had a run in with a concrete croc :joy:

3 Likes

Another Wed night social ride - pulled off the peloton with 5 or 6 or 7 other peeps and did my intervals with a fast 60+ masters guy that lost fitness and is restarting his old FasCat plan. He tried to get his girlfriend to ride my not-that-fast train but she dropped off and rode with Debbie. Nice having someone to talk with while doing intervals!

A little warm at the beginning:

Waiting for 7 or 8 peeps at the regroup:

Good times, and next week its a ‘no intervals worlds’ edition so lets hope the forecast for 100F / 38C next Wed is wrong. Because I blow up above 95F / 35C.

12 Likes

For those living Copenhagen, this is about as good as it gets for following TR workouts outside, without traffic lights, hills, or any other obstacles: Værløse Flyvestation (aka Værløse Air base).

Once the HQ of the Danish air command (1950s), and then a training base until 2004, it’s now just a public space owned by the municipality. It’s the go-to area for cyclists/triathletes who prefer training outdoors. The loop around the main runway and parallel taxiway is just over 5km, with very little elevation gain. One of the old hangars is now a cafe, open on weekends.

15 Likes

My second attempt at riding CX ever. Trying to get into racing this year. :grimacing:

10 Likes

A pleasant Endurance session for me on the TT bike a little hot at first of you weren’t moving but almost ideal when air cooled, especially when coming back in to a stiff north east wind. I wanted to do more of the flat Fens but at a junction I decided to follow traffic rather than fighting it. Later on an oncoming driver and me were most bemused when a pick up truck driver decided to accelerate hard straight at him to overtake me just before a village and the blind right turn in it. The SUV had to stop at that anyway its so blind and tight and of course before he’s 20 yards in front of me he stops again and turns off into a narrow road where you could do more than 20mph if you tried :exploding_head:

Bullock Rd to Washingley Crossroads and across to Glatton where I meant to go straight to Holme but I followed traffic to the old A1 turned at the Stilton Flyover roundbout before coming back to Holme and into Yaxley. After which I cut through the industrial estate to the Mere/Rowing Lake near my flat. Where I stopped for pictures and it being the almost ideal temperature for that :+1:





So I stopped a few more times :wink:

20220811_195252

11 Likes

Franklin County, Maine, USA

image

Last ride of vacation. Hit my favorite gravel route (Byron Road is too much for my road bike with 31 mm gravel tires - need a proper gravel bike for that one). Attempted to take a KOM on the climb up to the beginning of the dirt road - missed it by 6 seconds! Guess I’ll have to come back next year. Saw Eli Shifrin doing 13 repeats up the same climb. One was enough for me!!

Picture of the fire lane that the cottage is on.

12 Likes

A shortened version of my Saturday groip ride to Oundle via a spurious route as I was marshalling in the afternoon. It also meant I missed most of what we call a heatwave in the UK. It was 20degC according to the Garmin at the start but it quickly rose to 31degC.


According to the weather station on my phone it got to 33deg C when my mate and me were marshalling.

It Ain’t Half Hot Mum :wink:

7 Likes

The weather finally broke in western MA so husband and I headed out on a new route in the hills west of where we live. It was actually cool enough to wear long sleeves!

The stats don’t look like much but this is a pretty good push for me to keep hubby from getting bored although it’s definitely a recovery ride for him. :blush: For me it was 184 TSS and an IF of .89. Great day to be outside!

11 Likes

I started my ride last night at 34C, and intervals done at 30C :blush:

Now you know what it’s like to ride in a Mediterranean climate!

4 Likes

The most I’ve ridden in was 39deg C and I was wearing thin arm warmers/ leg warmers and long fingers. I didn’t half get funny looks and daft comments. I was in the middle of chemo though :joy:

3 Likes

I spent 90 minutes riding the area around my house testing out my new G23 wheels set up with Pathfinder Pro tires on various terrain. The tires were pretty good on everything but mud, which they did not shed AT ALL. I’m not sure why, but they didn’t give me a ton of confidence on tight street corner turns, when compared to my previous GK SK tires, but they felt super smooth when riding in straight lines for a gravel tire. The wheels seem to be fantastic so far, and I’m looking forward to testing them both for a few hours of hilly groad riding tomorrow.

I also purchased a Garmin InReach Mini, which I tested on this ride. The unit does what it says and my wife was able to track me. The documentation that comes with it is typically terrible though, and it took me forever to get it set up and broadcasting as expected. Once I figured it all out though, it was very accurate and broadcasted my location well, even when stashed in my jersey pocket. I’ll be using it for some upcoming solo mtb, gravel, and hiking trips.

Oh, also, it was under 80 degrees the entire ride for the first time in months, which felt fantastic!

4 Likes

Climb last week started in low 60s and it does feel good.

Torque-ervals to work on force production with temps last night in upper 80s. But it’s a dry heat and fully acclimated now so my HR was same as 60s or 70s from back in February and March.

Loving the heat right now :sun_with_face:

7 Likes

:rofl:

Stealing that word

2 Likes

Was a nice 65 this morning, I dare say the first day of fall is coming.

Raced a crit this morning. My job was to be the workhorse today to reign in breaks and ultimately lead out our sprinter. Didn’t work out in the end but we got some nice photos.


15 Likes

Sprintervals provide a nice small dose at even higher torque/force :grin:

2 Likes

Great pics! “Fall” - what is the meaning of this word? :rofl:

1 Like

Rode to get coffee filters yesterday - a guy pulling a boat on a trailer decided to try and park said boat and trailer on me. I was not happy.

Today, hubby and I had a 180km route planned but the town where we had our fuelling stop planned was super sketchy. we stopped at a Tim Horton where I waited with the bikes while hubby went in to get us some food. He came back out, refusing to buy anything because of how dirty the place was. As we left I noticed the trash cans were overflowing. Anyway, we landed up re-tracing our steps and settled for a grocery store noodle bar lunch.

Then we climbed the Clara Hughes hill again on our way home. By the time we reached home I was totally done. High of 34c along the route and the garmin tells me I am 14% acclimated to the heat.

17 Likes