Another ride with the local Melo Velo group. Learned where the local gotta do it climb is, didn’t do it but stopped part way up to refill bottles in a spring. Headed back to town group split for a little we went and did another climb and the others went off for eggs (there were no eggs). Met up at Monocacy Brewing, forgot to take pic of beers.
Out into the Fens today with a local cycling group to Crowland. It was quite nice when I got back it was quite nice so I went by Fletton. Lol, I probably doubled the elevation going over the railway bridge.
A proper outdoor workout for me tonight. I took advantage of the near empty roads to do a VO2 Max session (Hubbard). It was a bit longer than I planned as I had to divert up Woodwalton Hill rather than the gradual Stangate Hill (the old A1) which had been resurfaced with loose chippings.
I had another diversion as I rushed to beat the light. I wanted to go up the old A1 to Stilton and back via London Road (the quickest route) but the Highways Agency also took the opportunity of near empty roads to close the A1(M). The old A1 was queued as far as I could see so I doubled back and diverted up to Holme, up Holme Road and to Yaxley instead. Annoyingly that saw me on the wrong side of a now busy London Road so I had to come back on the bumpy cycleway. I’d barely seen a car to that point, but some drivers were using that route to bypass the queue too.
Had (another) day off and decided to ride Skyline Drive (Front Royal Entrance to Big Meadows and back) in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.
Had some reservations with the length of the climbs/descents but the roads were in very good shape and traffic was light. Can’t wait to find another weekday to do this one again.
This is on my bucket list! So cool!!
Do it! I’d had it on my list for over a year
Nice! I think my average speed on Skyline is close to 10-12mph.
Today’s gratuitous ride snaps: All the mountains were popping today. Could even see Rainier peeking out from behind St. Helens.
Except for a few narrow windows of opportunity (admittedly, some of which I luckily picked well), the last week has been unfavorable for road cycling. Like today.
Nice weather is for the bike; wet roads are for running shoes.
Aaaand, new kit day today! Sooooo…
A short two-miler up the hill & back for some bone density & joint integrity. Mostly done in a window of clear weather except for the last two minutes when a fine mizzle came across.
I didn’t post last night because I was watching Scotland not get beat for a change (although they tried to throw it away). Being it was a nice night 
I joined the local social group again for some Z1/2. I mostly stuck to that (Z1/2) but at one of the sharp downhills which is followed immediately by a sharp uphill, folks were saying faster on the downhill knowing the climb immediately followed, so I kept the momentum up and went into a minute of Z5.
At the top of one of the non existent hills (The Chicken Run)
Hains Point Hämmerfest
Washington, DC, USA
Legs were a little cooked since this was the fourth day in a row of riding. Arrived early enough to get three warmup laps in, though, which I definitely needed. Also bumped up the amount of sodium in my bottle of carbs since it’s getting warmer.
Definitely felt harder than last week’s ride, even without the added fatigue, which was confirmed by the 30-second plot. Got dropped during the last lap after the point (it’s a free for all on the back half of the course during the last lap) but ended with a two-minute low-VO2 effort to the gate to finish.
Pre-ride. Looking at the Point on my way over the 14th Street bridge. There are at least five sailboats with nearly identical hull forms moored at the harbor in the foreground. Not sure what event they are here for but, based on the number of sponsors painted on the sides, I assume it is some sort of race. 
Cool to see, though.
Post-ride. Looking back on Ohio Drive again from the 14th Street bridge as I head into DC for work. We do not ride our laps on this section of road because the cut-through is just beyond the trees, but it gives a good feel for what the rest of the route looks like.
One of those night’s best forgotten about despite the weather being ideal. I got the TT bike out of the car, it’d been in the highest gear for cleaning. Shifted down (up the cassette) and then clunk the gear cable snapped, so the bike defaulted to the 53x11. I thought momentarily about adjusting the campagnolo adjustment screws (hex keys) and decided no I’ll just power out the 7.8% its short enough. Bad mistake I get to the acute turn with a hill after it and from near stopped to standing up the chain came off. After several attempts I got it back on and powered round in a 5min power pb I got 80% up the short 7.8% hill and had to stand up at the little bend at the top that threw it again and it took me several attempts to get it back on (according to strava my time up there is 1min 52 secs, I usually go up in sub 34s). I then got back to the acute start corner, this time I took it wide and slow and pedalled round. A car came by though and in that second moving out of the way I momentarily forgot about pedalling and that move from 0 to high torque, threw it again 
Wed night ride… Jammed up day.
Finished strength training at 4pm. Then left 5:15pm for the ride:
Timing could have been better, oh well.
Rode tempo out to the river and then formed a B group with the e-biker and the lady always fighting for my wheel
little bit of fog over Mt Diablo:
It’s been pitterpattering off & on every day for the last week so when I awoke to this vista I thought I’d better double-check the weather & decided a multi-hour ride was calling.
Quite a few of my group ride mates were up north of the island for the grav race Devil’s Cardigan, but I was needing a more sedate adventure. I’d just replaced my left lever so a quick check down through Taroona, decided all was well so back through the city, up the cycleway, north over to Pontville via Brighton. (Funny how the invading forces 2½ centuries ago also decided to name places here after their home… Launceston, Dover, Swansea, Devon[port] 
Anyway…!)
Found some dirt of my own between Bridgewater & Brighton.
Someone put together a full moon ride last night. Finally did “the climb” everyone talks about. Think it was still in the high 80s when we started and I did not drink enough water at work (3lbs down from morning to start of ride) so I had some trouble and had to pause part of the way up (was getting dizzy ) but made it. Heaviest person in the group + 1x + never done the climb also didn’t help, need to make some gearing adjustments. A couple of people took a longer less steep route and met us at the top to join us the rest of the way. Night ride down and around the area was also possibly less than ideal having never ridden the roads before but i just dropped off the back a little and made sure I wasn’t going to be in anyone’s way on the descents. I don’t think I’ve done a serious night ride since the late 90s! Ended up back at the ride organizers house for some pizza and beer (and dog). Then a nice relaxing 2.2 mile ride home alone through town.
The snow is almost fully gone - So a good day to ride to the top of the ski mtn. Beautiful day for it. 
Made a bit of a school boy error on the Midsummer ride. It was forecast heavy rain overnight and showers in the morning and grey most of the day. I should have realised when I woke to dry roads. I did briefly think about sunscreen but thought Id have enough natural protection, Wrong I got to circa 120miles and when they skipped last years water stop I cramped up. First time I cramped on a ride since the Marmotte in 2013. I suppose it wasnt the daftest mistake of the day. That goes to the driver who managed to overturn their car at the junction just out side a tiny village. We were going to turn at that village but the Fire Service had closed the road so we had to detour along a canal bridleway. I think a couple of the riders went hard after that to make up time and that did me in 
Garmin says I need 3days to recover and RLGL is also red, so I probably give tomorrows fast ride a rest and op for the social ride if I’m alive in the morning. There’s one grey bar left on the Garmin so I guess I’m not dead
