Looked for the updated 2026 thread and couldn’t find one.
I’ll start this one off:
44 miles and 5300’ elevation gain on today’s gravel ride in SW Washington. Relocated from Houston in October and the change of riding has been an absolute dream, even though we’ve been in the rainy season.
I stopped in a restroom at one of the trailheads, to find some massive not-happy roosters standing guard.
I had thought I’d stick my power pedals on the winter bike and do my endurance workout but its pedals were seized solid, so I done it on RPE/HR, and to make it easy I just did one flat intensity period, rather than the marginally varied intensity session planned. Nothing spectacular just a loop round Conington Airfield.
The skies cleared last night so it had plummeted from. +11deg C yesterday to -1deg C first thing. I was going out at lunchtime so that didn’t worry me; it was fresh though in a stiff wind. Its funny how a 7-8mph wind down in here is really noticeable and stiff but the same wind speed at my parent’s place up north is barely noticeable. Going south I was 14-16mph mainly to stay in Zone, but going north I was at 20mph for slightly less and a more stable HR.
We are having a very rare dry spell here in Washington. Did a 40 mile MTB ride yesterday with 5800’ of elevation gain. Probably 70% single track, 20% gravel, 10% paved. The single track is phenomenal. I need to get a GoPro for some real footage as the stopping in easy areas for a pic/food don’t do it justice. Constantly transitioning from the ridge on the side of a mountain into beautiful dense rainforest and well groomed trails.
I swapped the bars and stem and they were a big improvement on my Epic 8. I think I need to cut the bars a bit shorter still. My upper body was pretty wrecked by the end of the day. My upper body is in good shape (I can do 20 pull-ups & bench press my bod weight 10+ times) but it may also just be due to being a newer MTB rider as well. Probably need to relax more.
I hit the local 1200m / 4000’ climb for Taro
And here’s me at the top, glad to have got the workout done. 
Shortened my recovery workout to an hour and took it outdoors so I’d have my evening free to watch the Europa football (soccer for most folk on this forum probably) 
Did it on my commuter/ winter bike on RPE / HR. Lol AI didn’t like that its decreased my Predicted AI FTP by 1 watt (maybe because I exceeded the HR TSS by 3) 
6 Mile Tempo Run
Manassas, VA, USA
Went for a run yesterday afternoon when it was “warm” (26F vs 9F first thing in the morning). Wandering around the neighborhood since most sidewalks are still not cleared. Got 9-12” of snow last weekend that has since turned into solid ice.
Snow pic from the weekend. Took me and my 15yo son 4+ hours to dig out our driveway and sidewalk over two separate outings on Sunday. 
Yea, I’m in Alexandria and never thought I’d be digging out my driveway with a pickaxe. But here we are.
At least my kettlebell swings and goblet squats are finally paying off!
Just my usual loop of Conington Airfield for an Endurance ride (in this case Colosseum-4) as I do most Wednesdays when its dry.
Its rained quite alot here lately, last night to this morning was no exception. I thought my WfH day workout would have to be on the trainer. Then around the back of 10am it actually stopped and there was even some blue around 11am.
The met weather app though said it wouldn’t last though and it’d go back to torrential. But another app with a live/predicted radar suggested there was/ is a gap of a few hours. So I thought I’d take the chance and do my usual flat Z2 route. I got about 5mins from the house and a shower started, it looked like the Met was right. The shower lasted less than a minute and its been dry since. The other app/radar was right.
I mostly stayed in a nice easy Z1/2 HR but on a few diferrent narrow places I had cars and a bus behind so felt obliged to up the pace. So Id be high Z2 rather than a relaxed Z1/2 there. Also the new traffic lights which take for ages were actually changing to green when I was a 100m back from them so I upped my pace and weaved through traffic to the outside turn lane. So I ended up with 26s (1%) in Z3.
Solid outdoor gravel ride today. 40 miles and 5400’ climbing. I lost a bottle for the first time ever, and also I think my first real flat on a training ride (that I had to stop and fix). I have a bunch of backup tires so ready to move past the 47 pathfinders Pro’s anyways.
Cycled up tot the ye olde pubs in Downe, but realised my picture was crap and I had my helmet straps over my glasses so…no pic!
Yesterday, I came home to an empty house. The kids and wife were at an event, but most significant was the emptiness left behind by my dog of almost 14 years who was put down the night before. The plan was to complete my workout on the trainer, but the prospect of not seeing his big head pop in to check on me during intervals was too much to handle.
The best option was to fasten all my lights to my Aeroad and head to one of our several circuit-like “islands” in San Diego for my first workout in almost a week (one interrupted by a pesky virus and a family grieving and preparing the inevitable for their pup). When I returned home from the ride, the emptiness was there, but I was feeling lighter and thankful. I lit a candle for the big guy. A new week of training starts today.
So sorry for the loss of your friend. When I lost my chocolate lab at 13 years I did my best to remind myself:
“To end a pets suffering, we must first choose to accept our own.”
I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your pup. I know it’s so, so, hard.We had to put down our our lab last year and it was heartbreaking.
There’s a podcast on Spotify (it may be other places as well,) called “The Pet Loss Companion” run by 2 therapists who help people grieving over the loss of a pet. It was quite helpful to me when we put down Bear. FYI.
Thanks so much for the kindness! I really appreciate the thoughtful response. 
Awesome suggestion! I was just looking for something along those lines. I will be sure to listen and share it with my wife. Thanks so much!
