Nice!
So Today was my first somewhat proper Road Race (the events before were Fondos and Sportives). It was the Berner Rundfahrt, I did the Funrace 2 (68km 840m). Course was 2 laps, basically 1km or so flatish then a Drag (2-5%) for around 7km and then 2km with section over 10%. A Few Rollers and a Downhill and back to a Drag and then Downhil and 5km mostly Flat to the Finish. Had to let the Leadgroup go at the first Steep section, but a Group formed on the Top with probably 10-15 Riders. After the next drag it was down to 7-10 Riders. But there were only really 3-4 People pulling. There was a Strong Headwind back to the Finish. On the Second climb I still felt good and I think I put the pressure on most of the Group but it wasnât enough to distance more then 1 or 2 riders⌠Back to the finish I knew that my Sprint wouldnât be good, tried to distance myself on some Roller and shorter Uphils, but there were 2-3 People that were really strong and closed everything. And with the hard Headwind it was really hard to try to break away. Ended up 59. of 160 Riders, so pretty happy with it.
Did my best 10m Power and 254 Average for 1:53 287 NP for an IF of .95 , My legs are cooked right now, but was good fun.
@Pbase Thanks, Yeah sometimes I take it for granted but Itâs really nice out here especially in Spring and Summer at least if the Weather plays along, this spring was pretty good for the Plants and shitty for riding. Hoping for a nice late spring and summer.
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It was down to Six Mile Bottom (yes thats what the village is called) for the Leo 30 TT.
I spent too much time tinkering with the brake balance in warm up and never really noticed the time. I wasnât too worried though as it was only a mile to the start! WRONG after I realised it was a bit further than that (2miles) I had to up the pace. Thankfully I made it with 20s to spare and the really good pusher offâer, who held my bike very secure, enabled me to collect my self before the start. I decided against restarting the strava though 
First Lap Good (well for me at least).
Second Lap terrible, however:
At the end of the 1st Lap my visor had started to steam up.
So I rode on the base bar, peering through a slot.
I stood up at one point and 'Oh Sh1t!" No Arm feeling at all ! Iâd forgotten about load management when I was too busy peering through the visor. I donât know if its a post op/chemo thing (it certainly damaged my blood circulation) or a general population thing but it seems on harder long efforts my blood seems to gets diverted away from from my finger, then hands, then arms :-o
Eventually I couldnât see at all and with a roundabout coming up and no feeling in my arms to turn, I stopped and flipped the visor up (you can see in the ride stats graph me coasting down to 0 about 5minutes from the end of the ride)
Got going again and the visor ripped off 1/2 a mile down the road (If Iâd known I was going to loose it Iâd whipped it off a lap earlier).
I stood up to inject some of the spare energy I had in my legs and it was an instant âOh Sh1tâ again as my left arm seemed to collapse 
Net result legs 60-70% spent lungs 80% and arms 150% spent :-/
At least the dropout bodge stopped the axle completely rotating out of true and I only got minor brake rub and no frame rub! and I came away with some all time power records, basically everything over 1h 15 to the end of the ride (1:17:22); if things hadnât went wrong I wouldnât have got them
Nicely the HQ was busier than normal likely due to the presence of this guy. My mate who finished 2 was actually faster than him but he was on a road bike
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LOL! Sometimes we all just have âone of those ridesâ. Thanks for sharing.
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Aurora, Tx
A little northwest of Fort Worth. Allegedly a space craft crashed here in the 1890s. The story says ship crashed into a windmill and the alien pilot was ejected and killed. The locals named him Ned and buried him in the local cemetery. The grave marker is still there and thereâs a Texas Historical marker there with the story on it.
Never know what youâll learn on a bike.
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Fort Worth?! I was seeing this yesterday on YT Day In The Life of The #1 BBQ In Texas - YouTube
Now I want to pay a visit to the Fort Worth, it looks a nice area to bike and eat BBQ
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Goldeeâs is legit. Iâve been there twice but it was before the got the #1 ranking in Texas Monthly so the line wasnât too bad. Now theyâll be people in line by 730 on Friday and earlier on the weekends.
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Did an hour of trainer work yesterday, then headed out on the local trails here near Boston.
Trying out new wheels, destroyed a brand new race king shooting sealant everywhere, limped home for the other set of wheels because I had an insert in (Tubolight). Hoping the tire was just bad luck, but probably wonât run them on these trails againâŚ
Still awesome to be out.
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I planned a Recovery ride out an back to the Holly Lodge cafe (circa 36miles round) but the sun came out so I went for some Z2 and Vit D 
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Bookmarked Goldeeâs BBQ for my next visit, itâs under 20 minutes from my moms house.
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I just got back from a 3hr low intensity/recovery e-bike ride. Iâm pretty lucky that I can do this loop from my house. 60 miles/2,300ft elevation in about 3 hours flat. Still a good workout.
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Bit behind!
Saturday was 78 miles of pretty hilly terrain. Pleased with a 17 mph average for an endurance ride!
Yesterday was 2 hours on the TT bike.
And today was 9x2min@128% VO2 repeats.
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Hot one! âTwas 96F / 36C at ride start. Felt a little sheepish posting 137W average power, but these guys didnât care:
and when I got home the fire prevention crew was hard at work
that grass was emerald green just 2 weeks ago! First time Iâve ever seen 2 crews at work, just before turning into the park:
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Dry conditions arenât what we have. A lot of rain means high-water warnings and, as I read in local news the other day, a seeming end (for now) of our local draught and good water supplies for cheap hydro power. It has also meant there are only gaps here and there for a dry outdoor ride. The other day, I opted for a trail run, posing at the end where Iâve recently taken and shared pictures of the road bike, the gravel bike, and the dogâŚ
The next day, the weather seemed fine for a road ride, with the forecast suggesting rain later. I rolled out on the road bike with the sky looking a lot more ominous than the forecast. Barely 100m into the ride, a car nearly mirror checked me, a very rare occurrence, on an open road with their tires rolling on my side of the yellow bike lane line. With visibility dropping, I turned around and swapped bikes and went on the trails instead.
It rained on me, but it was one of those times that it was raining enough that most of the top soil was gone and what was there was generally washed off. Apparently, the rain wasnât too bad and even clear at times where I had planned to ride on the road. Oh well.
May showers bring June flowers, I guess, though I recall the saying was a little different in the prior millennium. Yesterday was hill repeats on foot, not wheel. The below pic is en route to the hill. Itâs not a bad place to run and, and not just because this is all just out the door.
It seems the heavy rain may have ended, with light rain in the forecast. Temps are around the upper 40s F and 50s F for the past days and now, but â woo-hoo â they might hit the 70s this weekend (though the high temp here is 4p-5p).
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I love the names of the places in your posts! They seem so charming. None of the places around where I live have great names like Oundle or Aldwinkle.
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Had a very similar fire crew by my house a few weeks ago! Love that we use goats now! So cute!
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It was a bit quiet on our midweek paceline WhatsApp group, Im half guilty there, I couldnât make up my mind whether I wanted to do the midweek paceline of a Endurance Ride to get TT handling practice and hadnât started a conversation. At lunch time someone did so paceline it was. Given it was such a nice evening the 2 folk that could went out an hour before the meetpoint. It meant the paceline was quite sedate (well in relative terms). In fact it was mostly a 2 up as one of them cramped up and was going home until we convinced him too sit on the back.
Fully warmed up at that point I decided to have a little burst I dropped them accidentally though so I had to soft pedal. In the straight on to the traffic lights near their home though I decided to give it another burst as it was mostly the terrain to let them hang on and it was an easy spot to regroup.
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The Gentleman from the Republic of Texas makes a point of clarification to the Gentlemen from the Republic of California.
Back in the day⌠circa 2009 - The Gentlemen from Texas went on a quest in search of the best traditional fast food burger in the USAâŚand while the Gentlemen from California is correct that In-N-Out makes a darn good hamburger it was not the best here are the top three:
- Shake Shack forced to eat when we had to spend the night in JFK and as much as it pains me to acknowledge that the best traditional fast food hamburger resides in NYC.
- What A Burger Pronounced WaterBurger in the Republic of Texas
- Yes, the Republic of California has claim to In-N-Out BurgerâŚ
Five Guys and Fatburger and McDonaldâs make up the top 10 but the 3 are hands down the best!
And on a side note In-N-Out just sticks with basic burger like back in the day whereas all the others have copied McDonalds trying have something for everybody. I like the simplicityâŚ
Now the Gentlemen from the Republic of Texas finds this hard to believe this possible as the Republic of California has Soooooo many rules and regulations⌠as compared to the Republic of TexasâŚ
But you will not be disappointed with any of those top three burgers!
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Best traditional burger? What makes it traditional? My top 3 fast food burgers, onion rings (traditional?), and tempura green beans (ok not traditional but fantastic) are all from a little company that started in Santa Barbara:
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Okay will check it out next time in the Republic of California 