another stellar day for February. 1st century of 2023! Learned my lesson for future rides, when there is a road closed sign in the middle of the day on a weekday right, that’s when they actually work on said road. I took a detour on 2 miles of the wettest, sloppiest gravel.
swapped from 175 crank arms to 165 crank arms late last year, power seems lower but, speed is much better. I can’t recall ever doing a sub 6hr century with a 190w avg on the 175’s, let alone on the gravel bike with 44mm tires!
I’m in Valencia, Spain, for the week. Today was an easy spin at low power but high cadence (target: 95-100rpm) on pancake flat (for me): 560’ over 32 miles.
Nearly home, but my wife (who’s in Boston) called, and since it’s Valentine’s Day, I figured I should not delay calling her back when her unanswered call was followed by a text, “Can’t talk?”
I brought my Factor 02 VAM road bike from Switzerland, so I could take my 7yr old bike (a 2016 Pearson Hammerandtongs, basically a Ridley Helium) that I keep here to the shop for a full tear-down service (which it hasn’t had for at least 4yrs). The funny thing is I rode today’s Strava segments faster and at lower power and lower RPE (on my high-end bike) than on my (mid-range) 2016 bike, imagine that. It was more comfortable today, too, with 28mm tubeless on carbon wheels v 25mm tube on alloy rims and carbon cockpit v steel cockpit etc.
And now for a post-ride snack with horchata…
Started segment from a complete stop. Elevated breathing a little, but really it was learning how to pace it for the future when I get this slow Cinturato tire off the back.
And a little later, Jupiter and Venus sharing the sky on Valentines Day:
In stark contrast to last Wednesday’s -7deg C, yesterday’s -3deg C and even this morning 1deg and frosty start, it was a 13/14deg C at lunchtime so I took my Endurance ride out side.
Cheaha. It was just one of my usual training routes: along Oundle Rd, down Bullock Rd to the Washingley Cross Roads, though Folksworth to the Stilton flyover, up the old A1 thats called New Road, through Haddon, then over the hill (bump) back to Bullock Rd and Oundle Rd.
I think my compliance was quite good and lol the one notable noncompliance (a sprint through roadworks) looks like it could have been compliant spaced with the other 20s sprints.
Lol, at the end of the workout I stopped to take a selfie with the picturesque Mere in the background only to realise the light was completely wrong and having to turn 180deg and get the less picturesque Parkway in the background.
A shortish ride today. I had wanted to get to the mountains for some climbing, but that would take too much time – at least a 3hr ride – but I have my limits on how irresponsible I can be (at least at the moment with deadlines, I can go all in being irresponsible). But first, here’s my dog having fun in Switzerland with his pals (cropped out) while I’m in Spain.
Here’s today’s route, which is slightly truncated from Tuesday ride.
The first couple of miles has traffic and signals that are usually red. It opens up after Pinedo with only traffic circles to contend with, except for at El Saler where there are a couple of lights.
Below are some random pics taken on the rebound today. The temp was a nice 64F-ish.
Day off work today and it’s a bit unpleasant so don’t fancy road work so got the mtb out. The chain was lubed prior to putting it away but was stiff so some manual work on stiff links and I was off.
Shifting/pedal was fine (narrator: “he thought it was fine”) and I did a couple of hill sprints on the ride to the trails. Not more than 10 mins left on the cycle path until I got to the fun part and BANG, I snapped a chain.
Reading the local news, I just learned the UCI Cycling Worlds will be in Zurich and along Lake Zurich in 2024. The last time it was in Zurich was 1946. I’ve posted many pictures of the route here on the forum, so it should be “familiar” to regular readers :). The local news article shares the concerns of some folks on the “right bank” (I live on the “left bank”) that closing the lakeside road for four days will be an inconvenience, notably for the elderly and the sick, arguments I think are overblown considering the side roads and more NIMBY than proactively seeking a solution. That’s for next year, for this morning, it was a run…
Today was an easy trail run working on the base. This 4.3mi run had only 100’ less elevation gain than Thursday’s 25mi ride in Valencia.
Winter is clearly done here, despite a forecast of snow next Saturday, a day that also has a forecasted low of 2ºC. Today was a “warm” 6ºC / 42F and I wore shorts (though I did have gloves, a vest, and long sleeve).
Five years ago today, there was more snow and the family went sledging (aka sledding) at Lenzerheide on 18 Feb (massively long runs just for sleds)… (pink hat is my daughter)
A relaxed EBs group ride for me today very mild and blowy in the wake of Storm Otto. It barely hit us though, whereas further north got it rough! We were supposed to escape bone dry though and it was a little dreich at times and there wasn’t much of the forecasted sun.
I had energy to burn but I got the buzz that wasn’t the way other folk were feeling so I went with the flow. The group decided to cut out one of the loops and go straight to the cafe.
We finally got a tailwind after the cafe before looping back into it to reach the pub.
No fun pictures but take my word for it … a slow, windy, COLD one today in NYC/NJ. One of my once-room-temperature bottles formed a top layer of ice after 2 hours!
Early 2x25" in Central Park at 290w and change (outdoor road bike FTP definitely higher than indoor TT bike’s), lots of sunny endurance along the Hudson after, mixed with quite a bit of spikey commuting and traffic. Getting outside in mid February is always a win. Now it’s time to wake my legs back up to put some miles on the feet.
Had to cancel the planned outdoor ride today. We have had a snow storm going on since Friday and it took me an hour to clean the front yard and the drive way. After that an hour of z2 on the trainer was enough.
An excellent ride this morning, mainly ofroad to Barrowden via Stamford and back to the pub in Fotheringhay. It was still a cracking day when I got out so I went up for a loop of the Fineshade Woods. It was still nice so I headed to Blatherwycke with the aim of being blown home. Youve guessed it, it was still nice so I went over the A43 and through Laxton and Deene before crossing back over the A43 to Bulwick and down to Soutwick. With the wind behind me that was faster than I guessed so I went down to Oundle. I still had that wind behind me upthrough Cotterstock, Fotheringhay and the Elton/Nassington junction. I usually turn there back to Peterborough but with getting there with plenty of light left I carried onto Nassington itself, Yarwell and Wandsford. Before turning back into the headwind to Elton. I finished with a tailwind to Peterborough. Well almost finished I did a few loops of some local roads to round it up.
Last ride of recovery week. Tested cold weather gear for the first time. Coldest ride for me, ever at 45F. Considering I picked up cycling in Florida, I’m trying to break out of being a “warm weather cyclist.” Kit worked great but my toes started getting cold after riding 30 minutes into a headwind. Pleased the kit worked so well, though - looking forward to more outdoor rides.
@FrankTuna Yes, sure did! I was too focused on just enjoying riding outside to stop for any pictures but saw some of the CT foothills, farms, horse country, and some tobacco sheds - all pretty cool. I used to live in southeast CT but have never biked in north central (north of Hartford). Thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely bring my bike any chance I can when visiting.
Last outside ride before leaving for Kona. Testing out the gearing for Mauna Kea. Stole the 10-50 cassette and XX1 AXS rear mech off the Tandem and bought a GX chain. Using the small ring of my Force WIDE crankset(30t) as a 1x, removed the battery from the front Force WIDE mech to prevent an accidental front shift(the AXS button would still allow a front shift). If this isn’t enough, I doubt anything will be! https://www.strava.com/activities/8593649332
13/14deg C at lunchtime so I took my Endurance ride out side.
