The Saturday EBs ride again for me today, as usual the spurious route down to Oundle then back to the pub then home. It was windy but not as gusty as forecasted but that was probably because I spent large parts behind my mate who was on a training session.
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7km recovery run first thing, breakfast, then outdoors for ‘Echo’…
Still getting used to my head unit. It turns out that after the 5-minute warm-up I should have pressed the lap button to start the first interval. Only took me 30 minutes to realise!
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It wasn’t that far, it wasn’t that fast, but it was my first hill ride since a huge descending accident that put me off the bike completely for 6 months. Route deliberately chosen to force me to face my nervousness about descents head on. Not ashamed to admit I cried on the first two significant descents, but after a coffee and a sausage roll I managed to keep it together for the return journey.
Still managed my 2hr Saturday TR session and going out for a similar ride tomorrow!
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I rode out to Elton Furze via Haddon to meet some mates. We had planned to do the southern section of the green wheel. We came back a mostly of road route through Peterborough to Ferry Meadows and its new’ish cafe. It actually opened a year or two before the global wee c thing. Despite it being so close with that and my big C thing I hadn’t been in. Its rather good and their scones are decent 
Most of my mates then headed back to their West Peterborough villages and another mate and I doubled back at Awalton and followed the river bank.
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It was (is) a nice day so I went out on the road bike for the second outdoor ride of the year on skinny tires. The starting temp was around 1°C but roadside temp signs sometimes reported 12-16C due to the warm sun and cloudless sky. The air, though was still chill so I was glad to be wearing winter bibs and a light winter camp under the helmet to cover my ears.
The basic gist of the ride was flat(ish) and then a hill in two parts. The route is my “quick” 50mi with a hill climb and my objective was Z2 endurance on the way to the hill and Sweet Spot / Threshold on the climb. I didn’t want to crush myself on the climb and really just get “reacquainted” with it while getting outdoor time on the road bike. I may have ridden once two years ago, no attempts last year, but did this route many times in 2019 and before. Today, attesting to my intentionally slow pace, my time up the second part of the climb was 11min off my PR. Woo-hoo?
The two-part climb is about 8mi total with 2700’ of climbing. The second part is 3.3mi at 9% with the first part 8%.
With the clear sky, the views were nice. Being a Sunday morning (8:10a start), it was quiet. The cap came off on the climb and the jacket and jersey were unzipped even as the temperature dropped to below zero. The hat went back on and the zips went up for the descent on the shaded road with snowbanks on the side and snow-covered hills.
Outbound on the lakeside road with Lake Zurich to the left.
On the first part of the climb looking south.
And a quick look north toward Zurich (which it obscured by the hill to the left of the tree) near the same spot.
Still nearing the top of the first part of the climb.
Jumping ahead to near the top of the second part of the climb (the Garmin GPS data in the bottom right corner is wrong for whatever reason). The ski lift is operating and there are skiers on the bunny slope.
Just beyond the last pic is a cafe. A quick visit to the restroom, wash the glasses, put on the hat, zip up, fuel a bit, and head down with the big climbing now done. There are still some kickers left, but no more sustained climbs.
Crossing this bridge over the Sihlsee (Lake Sihl) is always picturesque.
The above was looking north, this is looking south.
And, this is looking ahead. Yes, this is a two-way lane. This lake feeds the river that is often seen in at least one pic taken while on my gravel bike.
Nearing home, but still a bunch of miles away, and on a climb that will connect me to one of my 90min quick road routes. Zurich is in the distance.
And the where…
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28 Below race in Spearfish, SD. Placed 6th this year; was 16th last year. I started structured training right before last years race. Stoked!
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The getting is getting good here in the Front Range of Colorado. So nice to be outdoors…
3 laps up Lookout Mountain. On the mountain bike.
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I initially read that as "…my quick 50mi hill climb. " which led me to a double, triple take 
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That looks fun in a really twisted way (I hate cold and especially hate snow). How long is the race? What kind of effort(s) were required?
Congrats on the big improvement!
I’ve not been outside on the bike much for the past few weeks due to a busy work schedule. My wife and kids were away for the weekend so I decided to make a trip to Moab. I rode the Jug Handle loop. 50 miles through Canyonlands. It’s like a mini White Rim.
It was below freezing at night (chilly in the tent!) and sunny and cool during the day. Perfect weather for a ride like this in the desert.
I had planned to get in some nice singletrack riding on day 2, but when I was doing my bike check in the morning, I noticed my rear brake lever was leaking brake fluid. As much as I wanted to ride, it’s pretty important to have fully functioning brakes 
. So I left early, and got home in time to catch up on the rugby games I had missed this weekend.
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Love that first pic!!
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Yeah - can’t not want to ride a road like that! Easy to take pics like that in a place that’s so scenic.
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It was 30 miles and took 3 hours for the lead pack. Temps warmed up the night before the race so it was 35 degrees F which is very comfortable… Might sound crazy if you’ve never done it, but with a 9-10mph average speed it only requires 2 layers and “medium weight” shoes/gloves.
The snow was fresh and loose this year, hence the long times. Lot’s of bombing over drifts during the downhills!
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You’ll love this one: A friend of mine is 2 weeks and 750 miles into the ITI 1000 in Alaska. Temp currently a balmy 3F.
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Happy Pi Day!
A short trip to San Luis Obispo:
A lot of word plays in this area… eat sLocal, drink sLocal, SLO down, and then there is my daughter’s Slome on Find My Friends 
Like Dorothy at the end of the The Wizard of Oz, we closed our eyes, clicked our heels three times, and repeated “there’s no place like Slome, there’s no place like Slome” and 4+ hours later were transported back to a simpler time… SLOtime.
My daughter has been here almost 7 years, and will stay at least another year. With the whole famdamily gathered we finally rented Trek eBikes for my wife and two girls, and I got to show them my ultimate SOUL RIDE from my trusty Tarmac:
LOL, yes we literally had to dodge falling down drunk, green haired college students at noon. As my nephew likes to say “I remember my first beer” LOL. Seriously we saw a lot of dyed green hair falling down drunks. For Cal Poly students it is THE party of party days, or rather, party daze LOL.
Once past the drunks and dealing with a cyclone force headwind, we turned off the highway and onto a peaceful road that climbs up Prefumo Canyon in the Irish Hills of Los Ossos Valley:
Nice climb up Prefumo Canyon followed by steep 10% descent down upper See Canyon (and I would have turned around sessioned See Canyon if by myself) :
The short 1.5 mile dip between the two peaks is a dirt/gravel road. Here is the summit at around 1400’ elevation:
The woman in the white helmet and her husband (he already passed) are from British Columbia, they spent a month mountain and road biking in the area. The car was a couple of college kids having a picnic. Met another retired couple on eBikes from Arroyo Grande. Had some nice chats with cyclists while my family took a load off their sore butts and snapped pics of the nine sisters that are strung along the valley between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay.
Up a little higher took a pic of Morro Bay rock:
Its a series of 9 volcanic plugs from millions of years ago:
And all 9 sisters:
Stunningly beautiful area on the coast, very charming and everything is seemingly 10 minutes away.
The gravel connector between the two canyons is filled with these lovely tree canopies:
Then its a 1.5 mile screaming -10% descent down the upper section of See Canyon. Here is what my watch had to say about the descent:
The fam followed my instructions and rode the brakes down - it is covered by trees and the narrow chip seal road has mottled sun & shade. Definitely not a fast descent until you’ve done it once or twice, and even then there is rock debris on the road.
Once past the steep section there are orchards and wineries. We had to stop at a winery after kiddo#1 turned her head to look at an apple orchard and ran off the narrow road. 
Minor scrapes on her side. A parent never stops worrying about their kids, even when they are all grown up and responsible adults 
Then back to SLOme and past cycletribe:
and their words to live by: Mind. Body. Bike. 
All over town the tallest of the 9 Sisters - Bishop Peak at 1559 feet - dominates the skyline. Great for hiking if you are ever in the area.
Oh, and I forgot the theme song, kiddo#1 went to CRSSD (https://www.crssdfest.com) last week so its my favorite House/EDM band Sofi Tukker:
with a side of Drinkee:
for all the St Patrick’s Day revelers 
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It 
season again!
I couldn’t get a good shot of the multitudes of frogs as they maintained too much distance between one another. It was like a minefield for a couple of hundred meters to try to avoid these critters. Leaf? Stone? Frog? Stick?
The only other sighting by me (I can’t report what saw me) was an 
. The other morning I saw an owl, badger, and deer… so frogs and an owl today isn’t bad… or good… or meaningful beyond as some indicator of spring coming.
Today’s short ride included my favorite local hill (with anaerobic intervals on the ascent… I suppose I didn’t get enough credit as I did so few but time…)
For fun, here’s some mellow single track near the end of my ride. It was a mellow cruise with loud singing birds, but their songs weren’t well captured. Almost right after I stopped the recording, I entered a denser part of the forest and of course they got louder.
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Wait - no pic of the drunk green haired college kids??
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You can find those on Instagram? The first kid stumbled into a bus stop pole and managed to save himself by swinging around like a pole dancer and then managed to launch himself into the street. We turned left to avoid any drama.
@mountainrunner you reminded me about the deer sightings. I come back from rides and say to my wife “wish you were riding with me, I had this incredible animal encounter…” So we were nearing the summit, my wife right behind me, and a deer jumped off the 5’ embankment and scampered to the other side. Happened about 10 feet in front of me, and my wife saw the whole thing but the kids were maybe 50 yards back and missed it.
We saw more deer up the road, turkeys thrashing up the hillside, peacocks, squirrels, vultures, red tailed hawks lit up by the sun overhead, and kept looking for the California Condor that people sometimes see up there but the condor was a no show.
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That frog picture made my day!!!
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