Just a 2 hour Z2 ride this morning ( TR - Klahane Ridge), the part worth posting is that I was going over a little foot bridge between two neighborhoods and looked down to see this
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Is that a little alligator with a fish in its mouth?
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You can gauge the size of the alligator and the fish by the birds. That was a big fish for a gator that size. He’s living the good life!
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A bit of a shocker from me this morning on the F2A/25 near Cambourne. When I woke up it was a pea souper and my stomach didn’t feel right (sorry in advance, especially if you’re eating, post my op a few years back it often needs to be empty or I have a bloated feeling). Got to the HQ in plenty of time, half expecting the race to be cancelled. It wasn’t but it was postponed by half an hour. Which probably gave me too much time to feel worse, my fingers thanks to the chemo damage were sore and numb already and I began to feel more bloated. I should have done it earlier but after warming up I decided to try and empty my stomach, only to find a large queue of folks wanting to use the toilet for a changing room. At least the mist was lifting. Near the start I went to zip my Skinsuit up only to find it jammed. Thankfully with some help I managed to un jam it with about a minute to spare and got comfortably pushed off only to unclip two seconds after. That completely wrecked my mojo. The out to the Caxton roundabout first time was ok but underpowered. But on the first return to the Madingley interchange as well as being undepowered, yet again this year I encountered an unormal east wind (west being prevalent) and that was enough to make my fingers go numb again. I think the angled spacers spread the load on the elbows at least and thankfully it stayed in the fingers and my bicep never went sore until I was over the line (after going to the Caxton roundabout and back).
I remember why I avoid morning TTs now 
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That’s one of those where so many things happen that you just have to shake it off and be thankful you finished!
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You are tough, @HLaB ! I totally would have skipped out and gone home. Sorry it didn’t go as super as it should have. But dang. nice job completing it.
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Did a fairly long ride (4h) today from my front door with my brother. We rode most of the ride taking 3-5minute turns, making the hours fly by.
We did the touristic route along all the windmills of Kinderdijk (the Netherlands). Being later in the season there weren’t as many tourist today. Perfect weather, no wind and 22°C made for a very nice day out.
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Yeah It was lucky that there were stops basically every 40-50k with toilets available, without those it would have been a bit nasty… Will have to figure out what it was and how to prevent it in the future…
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After two weeks of relentless heat, it was a wonderful day for a ride! Pretty clouds:
And I somehow managed to get a PR despite feeling pretty flat after yesterday’s ride:
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Actually it has been a normal summer excepting this week’s extreme heat. And until yesterday not one hint of smoke on the south end of the metro area. The folks up in Folsom, a 30 minute drive from here, had bad air on Thursday and Friday, but the smoke from the Mosquito fire never made it here. Just a hint of smoke in the air yesterday and today.
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That’s good news. I have close friends with a Tahoe cabin that’s in danger right now.
Ugh. We’ve had a mild year in CO, which has deflated the sense of alarm in the area. But seems like things are as bad as ever elsewhere
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FairPlay for you doing TTs. I have no experience - but seems like there’s so many things to dial in and get right to ride those well - a lot of mental and organizational fortitude needed to perform at your best
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Andorra. So apparently the history of the country has a lot to do with smuggling. Seeing the terrain makes you realize why. Steep sided valleys with one way in or out. Hard for outsiders to navigate ( pre GPS days). Makes for very interesting biking terrain, however - both MTB and road.
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epic adventure, keep 'em coming.
And FWIW, most of the smoke from the Mosquito Fire ended up in the Sierra mountains and Reno. We are barely impacted, fingers crossed, and the forecast for this week looks great with onshore winds pushing the smoke up and over into the Tahoe and Reno basins (sucks for them).
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It was our midweek chaingang (Paceline) tonight nearly everyone pulled out with work commitments though. I probably should have pulled out after pulling something ln the indoor trainer on Monday but outdoors doesn’t seem to be aggravating it and it was a nice, albeit windy, night. We decided to do one of the routes tonight: Yaxley, Holme, Ramsey St Mary, Ramsey Heights, Upwood, Great Raveley, Little Raveley, Kings Ripton, Abbots Ripton, then notth up the Old A1 to the Stilton Over Bridge. I think the pawl springs on my rear hub might be sticking as the bike was quite noisy when the pedaling wasn’t smooth, silent whens it was. That and the calf convinced me not to sprint to the over bridge.
On the way back to the flat I stopped for the almost obligatory picture of Orton Mere.
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Up early and drove to the Bay Area for work, and then some fun:
Another easy aerobic HC climb:
not too steep, the last 6.5 mile switchback climb to the top is 6% gradient:
Nearing the summit:
at the top, haven’t been up here since 1989 to attend an Evening with the Stars at Lick Observatory:
On the way up I saw 3 wild pigs, got a pic on the way down:
Baby and middle size one, the big one is behind the tree.
HC climbing in zone2 
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My weekend ride was final (and only 
) prep for a hill climb I’ve entered that takes place this coming Sunday.
It’s the second edition of an annual event organised by my club, so happy to support by entering even though I’m firmly in the ‘cart-horse’ or ‘Clydesdale’ category at 95kg 
Target is to take a chunk of last year’s less than impressive time and stretch goal would be to finish in the middle ‘third’ for my age group - albeit that is certainly a tall order; so I thought it was probably sensible to take a run up the course and see what ‘pacing’ felt like.
Managed to hit all-time PRs for 5, 6 and 7 minute power (TR works!) during the ride so can’t complain. Just need to translate that into a better time than last-year on the day!
Short video showing power data.
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Had Estrela on the calendar (5x5’ VO2max) yesterday afternoon, but because of work I punted that to this morning. I aimed to get ‘er done before being a single parent getting making the son his breakfast and lunch for school starting at 6:30a, but I slept in until 5:30. As a result, it was an afternoon workout. I stayed close and did the repeats on a nearby climb of just about 1/3 of mile 14% climb of gravel & rock & some roots. Starting the 4th of 5 x 5’ efforts, it being 6p, I decide this’ll be my last, thus skipping the 5th, to get home and be a responsible parent and make dinner for the son. Starting the fourth climb I heard this loud crack followed by a rattle. Thinking this was something more than a small rock being flung by a tire into the frame, I dismount and inspect thinking I’ll see a problem with the frame or rim. Nope. Maybe it was something in the chain. I get back on and the rattle is still there. I look closer, pausing the workout of course, and I see it:
A spoke broke and the rattle is the spoke’s anchor now rolling in the rim. Swell. I’m not sure how many miles I have on these rims (DT Swiss GRC 1400), but since Sept 2019, I figure it’s about 6,000 miles, including snow, pouring rain, high heat, hard pounding trails wishing for shocks, and overweight me. I finished the fourth climb and returned home. Maybe I’ll be on my road bike tomorrow even though light rain is in the forecast, or maybe just throw on the original rear wheel, which of course I still have from when I bought the bike in November 2018.
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Sad, original wheel 
sounds better to me.
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