Went from Waikoloa. Had good conditions aside from some headwind. The gravel was mostly “doable” on my 28 mm GP5ks 
When I went, I got stuck at the visitor center for a couple hours while they graded the road…don’t think 28’s would have cut it that day 
The one thing I learned about the Big Island, You can ride in one direction and you’ll experience every single wind direction possible
It’s a really enjoyable ride to the VC, after that is where it gets ‘hard’
I felt like the amount of energy I spent trying to stay upright on the gravel with my tire situation made the following two miles really hard. I had to burn a bunch of micro matches to keep traction, and that added up. And then you’re looking at those towering last two switchbacks that look like 1000 feet at 20% and it’s demoralizing. Turns out when you get there or isn’t bad at all.
I saw something in my Strava, was it on the Exploro?
Second Sunday hosting “Easy Like Sunday Morning”
9 peeps on the ride, always love seeing the Strava pic of all the pre/post rides. The “married on the bike, but not in real life” couple were reliable and posted a few pics
But as always, just pics of each other!
Post ride coffee for 5 of us.
Easier than last week, except for Bob.
Good times.
Yesterday the temperatures were about 10 deg C from where they had been, into single figures, so it was time to break out the long sleeves for the first time.
Another route borrowed from UKCE - this time the ‘Chilterns Classic’, which passed just down the road from me. It was on the shorter side, so i had to add on the last southern loop and the longer run up to Christmas Common to take it over the century mark.
This enticing scene on the run in to the hills was a bit misleading - it clouded up quite a bit for a good section of the route, and I was glad of those long sleeves.
Coffee and a very acceptable scone from Rebel Coffee @ The Herb Centre in Sonning Common
Went for a wander round their ‘Saxon Maze’, but didn’t find any of the promised mythical sea beasts in it - just concrete bases where presumably they should have been.
The clouds did break up from time to time - including for this view down from Christmas Common.
Hay bales are mostly stacked away in barns now, and the fields are starting to green up again.
There were a fair few views like this around on and off through the day, but it stayed dry for me until the last few miles, when I caught a bit of drizzle.
Got hit by an attack of knee pain shortly after the coffee stop, which forced me to climb off and stretch it out with some squatting and toe touching by the side of the road, which must have confused passing traffic! The stretching eased it enough to ride on, but it was bothering me for the rest of the ride, particularly whenever I tried to raise the power at all, and it’s been stiff and sore all day today. Fortunately, I have a week away coming up, so would be off the bike anyway, but might have to drop a couple of rides in the next few days.
Got in a metric century yesterday with the local club. The ride, however, was an hour south by car and rolled through cranberry country in Massachusetts south of Boston. It was a chilly mid-50s F (12C) and my expectation it would warm up turned out to be a false hope as we rode under gray skies the whole time.
The route was flattish (2100’ over 63mi) with a fair number of rollers.
After the first rest stop at mile 32, I decided stop tucking in with the “14-16mph but really faster” group and left off the front to do my pace. It was a cozy and sustainable pace. There’s a slight suggestion in the HR chart that indicates when I was riding with others and when I was solo. Of course, while I was solo the wind picked up and was not a beneficial tail wind.
Not too long after I left the front, I turned on the GoPro to capture some of the forest and as I turned it back to me, I saw in the screen of the GoPro that I was not, in fact, alone. 
I had no idea they were there. As it turned out, sometime later, there were again not there.
Later, I saw a larger group, which I figured was the century group, closing on me. I was able to hold them off and lost them… until literally the final 1.5mi. My Varia told me a car was behind me, but it lingered. So I looked back. It was the group and they had snuck up on me (aka I was looking around checking sights and not looking back while also trying to not cook myself).
It was a good time on the bike with good people, when I wasn’t avoiding them 
Some semblance of fitness is starting to return.
@Mdavidford just looking at the scone is making me hungry.
Yes, yes you did. Here it is in again in my office (as I no longer have a massive basement to keep my bikes in). I’m at my desk – I had to zoom out a bit for that shot – and behind me as I took the shot, next to my desk, is my road bike. I now really like the color. I wasn’t sure when it was in the box. I’m leaning toward changing the bar tape to black, but I’m in no rush even if it looks a bit odd now.
Brown tape to match the tire sidewalls, or black!
Its a recovery week for me and this mornings commute was my first workout of it. I used alternate’s to select a 45mins workout as I usually struggle to get a 1h work out in on the rural part of my commute. I was going that slow though I shouldn’t have bothered changing it.
Got home to see that TR have updated plans to let you customise training time so for the next foreseeable future Tuesday’s session is set to 45mins outdoors. Although if the weather turns sh1tty I’ll convert them to inside and concentrate on staying rubberside down on the commute and not the computer screen
Great pics! Thx!
Don’t know if I’ve ever been this unmotivated on a ride. Really wanted to do 100k, after 20 miles I decided to turn to home. Was hoping the legs would come around, but everything was just flat.
At least I got to check out a cool road near the house that I’ve been meaning to check out.
Newport, RI, USA
I’m in Newport, RI for two weeks of training. Brought my gravel bike in hopes of hitting some dirt this weekend, but forecast looks like that might get rained out. Nonetheless I’m exploring the local roads and enjoying some brisk fall New England weather.
Monday
Sorry, no pics as my cell phone battery died. No HR since I was in a rush to get out and back before sunset. Did eight or so laps around the southern loop.
Tuesday
Slightly different loop, with much more road along the water. Absolutely amazing views! Did about four laps.
These were taken well after I got back and after sunset.
Oh, yeah, and dorked up my knee on the first day of squats. 
I can still bike and jog, though, so looks like I’ll just do JOIN Cycling Stamina Builder instead of the FasCat plan.
Sorry about your knee! Getting older sucks!
Nice looking Lauf - love the color. And good job giving the 30/30s a go outside!
Tuesday night snagged an easy KOM
Cheap KOM - an oxymoron because its flat. Usually into a wicked headwind, and only 68 peeps on the leaderboard.
Anyways there was no real headwind, just a light breeze, so I gave it a little gas and worked on my cornering at crit-like speeds
Thankfully no cars in the right turn lane on the first corner, coming off the county highway.
Wed night group ride, somebody was taking a video at the start of “game on!”
Started off feeling tired as it was 4th day of riding and some lifting, that game on acceleration around 45 minutes in got my motor running and after allowing myself to get dropped, turned in a nice 21mph solo at tempo with a short vo2 finishing half-mile before the regroup.
Kinda hot, it was 86F / 30C for the first half of the ride. Two more days of summer ~90F / 32C temps before it drops into 70s. I think our hot weather is almost over, which means we should still be getting fantastic tasting tomatoes for our caprese salads, at least for another month.
Got home and jumped in the pool, solar is off and water temp down to 70F / 21C and starting to feel cold. Last hurrah of flowers in the backyard:
Purple flowers are season appropriate! Had to hack those back to nothing in early July, after a spider mite infestation, nice to see them come back to life!
Garmin said this
and it felt like a solid but short tempo maintenance ride to me 
Its getting dark early, sunset is happening 10 minutes before the regroup. Back in my neighborhood - sign says the annual haunted house is NOT happening this year 
Nice ride and efforts. I found doing the 30-30s outside easier to put out the power than on the trainer. Still learning where all the stop songs are, though. 
Thanks for the comment on the Lauf. As I’m sure you read, I debated this vs a couple of others for a while. So far super pleased with it - even on road rides. Yes, the BB is a little higher but I don’t notice it anymore. Yes, the fork does bob a little, more so when I’m spinning above 100 rpm than during hard efforts, but it doesn’t bother me and the extra cush on some of these Rhode Island roads is totally worth it.