A shout out to cyclists

[JR]

We have a number of cyclists on this board. With summer winding down I thought I'd give a shout.

How has your year been?
Did you set goals?
Did you reach them?
Any notable rides to mention?
What's your favorite ride?
What's your regular ride?
Anyone have a new bike?

After three years of riding very little, I got back on the bike January 1. I survived a metric century in May. Not much snap in my legs, but I was happy get the deed done.

Swimming around for a late-season goal, I settled on a Tour of California route, in reverse. In 2006 the race had a stage from Santa Barbara to my town, through the hills. I'll go the opposite direction and LOML will pick me up. It's about 90 miles, which I plan to do on September 26. Training has been fun because I've been scouting out the sections of the route where I don't normally ride.

What about you?

JR

[dbhost]

How has your year been?

HOT

Did you set goals?

Yep, to get a new bike, and get my butt on it at least once a week.

Did you reach them?

Nope. Once a month has been more like it...

Any notable rides to mention?

The trailway at Lake Somerville State Park. Beautiful ride. Unfortunately for me, I didn't notice you aren't supposed to be cycling there... I blamed senility, the ranger bought it...

What's your favorite ride?
What's your regular ride?

The bayou trail behind my house. Both answers... Actually Huntsville State Park is nice too, even on the pavement, lots of trees, beautiful scenery and very little traffic to worry about...

Anyone have a new bike?

Yeah, nothing much to brag about. Schwinn mountain bike, 21 speed, Cromoly frame, shocks on the forks, alloy wheels, cranks etc... Honestly it was the best bike that Walmart had. I didn't have budget for a bike shop type bike...

I got back onto a bike not for cycling sake though, but to help get back in shape for hiking and canoeing. I have a lot of colleagues that do the road bike thing, I personally think they are nuts. Too easy to get run over...

[cabinetman]

LOML and I both ride, only on cool or overcast evenings after work. Lucky to get 5-7 miles in. During the winter months we ride several times a month. We've been looking for new bikes, but have put off for a while. Not that ours are, but maybe they will have a "cash for clunker bikes" soon.

We're only about 4 miles to the beach, and 1/4 mile to some very nice trails in the woodsy sections. I like the beach, wife likes the woods...my luck.
.

[LarryG]

My year has been pretty dismal. My only goal was the Eddy Merckx one: "Ride lots." I failed. For most of the year I've done my usual ~30 milers on Tues and Thurs evenings, but I've managed to get out hardly any on the weekends. Two Saturdays ago I did manage to grind out 58 miles, and -- moving ahead to your fourth question -- it was notable in the sense that I survived it. All in all, a pretty sad showing compared to the 150+ mile weeks I used to log.

No particular favorite ride. My regular ride lately has been laps around a 3.2 mile loop near my home. I usually do either nine or 10 laps, which combined with the ride there and back totals up to 31 to 34 miles.

New bike? Well, not exactly. The rear wheel on my LeMond went Tango Uniform, so I went back to riding my old steel Allez, and before I knew it a year had passed. I took the LeMond out, now with new wheels, for the first time just last week. So that was sort of like getting a new bike. Otherwise, I seriously considered a Masi touring bike but in the end decided to wait on buying one of those.

[JR]

HOT

LOL! I've been very lucky this year, with mild temps all summer long. We're coming up on our hottest time, though, so I'm crossing fingers.

I like the beach, wife likes the woods...my luck.

My target ride in September ends at one of the nicest beaches in CA. LOML and I have it figured out to meet at a beach-side changing room, where I can shower and get a bit to eat.

The rear wheel on my LeMond went Tango Uniform...

Ouch. As you know, I've had my Lemond quite a while. I've never had to tweak a single spoke. Rock solid.

I seriously considered a Masi touring bike but in the end decided to wait on buying one of those.

I have now more or less come to grips with being a "touring rider". Any pretensions to being fast are gone. Having said that, I keep mulling over how it is that I'm to support myself for 90 miles with three jersey pockets and a little tool bag. I am NOT going to have one of those handlebar bags or a rack. I just can't bring myself to do it.

A regular 45 mi. Saturday ride around here leaves the bike lanes of my suburban town, drops out of the hills, and finds the flats of the nearby farms:


Then along a fine piece of coast:


And back through the hills to town. The typical climb from the Pacific Coast Highway is ~2,000'.


JR

[herb fellows]

Notable ride:
25+ miles in a total downpour through the German countryside. Myself and 2 other 'hearty souls' (read 'crazy people') biked between 2 stops on a river cruise while everyone else (including my wife and one of my fellow cyclist's husband) had the good sense to stay on board. About a 3 hour ride

That being said, all 3 of us loved it (even the sheep I almost ran over didn't seem to mind too much!)

[atgcpaul]

My mileage hit rock bottom this year. I used to ride to work 2-3 times a week
and I think I rode once this whole summer. It seemed every time I rode to
work, I ended up working late. When I drive, I somehow leave at a reasonable
time.

I also built a big patio this summer so my weekends have been totally wiped
out.

Excuses, excuses, I know. After Labor Day, all this house stuff will be
wrapping up and then I hope to start some real WWing and some real riding.

Fingers crossed.

I'm glad some of you are sticking with it. I need some motivation.

Paul

[jspelbring]

Good summer

Lots of riding this year

We have a number of cyclists on this board. With summer winding down I thought I'd give a shout.

How has your year been?
Pretty good. I've managed to commute 3 days per week, and at least one long ride per weekend.

Did you set goals?
Just "more" riding

Did you reach them?
Yep! And lost 20 lbs!

Any notable rides to mention?
Very nice ride from Alton, IL to Pere Marquette park (via Grafton). Nice, scenic river ride

What's your favorite ride?
Madison County Trails
The metric century my wife and I did in Mascoutah, IL was nice too

What's your regular ride?
10 miles (about 1/2 on a bike path) to and from work

Anyone have a new bike?
Yes! My main ride is now a Catrike 700 recumbent trike. I love it!

After three years of riding very little, I got back on the bike January 1. I survived a metric century in May. Not much snap in my legs, but I was happy get the deed done.

Swimming around for a late-season goal, I settled on a Tour of California route, in reverse. In 2006 the race had a stage from Santa Barbara to my town, through the hills. I'll go the opposite direction and LOML will pick me up. It's about 90 miles, which I plan to do on September 26. Training has been fun because I've been scouting out the sections of the route where I don't normally ride.

What about you?

JR

[LarryG]

As you know, I've had my Lemond quite a while. I've never had to tweak a single spoke. Rock solid.

Doesn't yours have conventionally-spoked wheels, laced 3x? Mine had the 24h, flat-blade-spoke Bontrager rims that Trek puts on virtually all their road bikes now, and the rear just didn't hold up under my weight. By contrast the 32h, 3x-laced Mavic Open 4s on my Allez have been on the road since Spring 1993 and, like your LeMond's wheels, have never seen a spoke wrench. I put their modern-day near-equivalents, the Mavic Open Pros (also 32h, 3x) on my LeMond.

[germdoc]

How has your year been?

Very nice! New bike and all that...

Did you set goals?

I set very low goals and consistently achieved them.

Did you reach them?

Cf. above.

Any notable rides to mention?

Riding down south past the shrine, up the bluff, back down through Chipmunk Coulee was probably one of my more challenging rides--climbed 800 feet in 1 mile to get to the crest of the bluff.

What's your favorite ride?

I always enjoy riding on the trails up the river to Trempeleau (with lunch at the Trempeleau Hotel), or riding to Wilton on the Sparta-Elroy trail (first rail-to-trail in the country), going through 3 railroad tunnels and ending up at Gina's Pies Are Squared.

What's your regular ride?

Riding out to Barre Mills and back--about 23 miles--do it after work. I also ride to work (2 miles) on an old red Giant Rincon.

Anyone get a new bike?

I got a used Trek 1000 with a few nice upgrades and have been very happy with it so far. Not the most expensive bike, but nice paint job and very smooth ride.

I also got a kayak and have been exploring the potential of "biyaking"--kayak down the river a couple of miles, then trade kayak for bike and bike back to the car which is upriver. I did it for the first time on Monday and it worked out great!

...

[LarryG]

Since JR and Jeff posted some pics of their pedaling grounds, I thought I would too.

An autumn group ride on a portion of the Natchez Trace Parkway:


Racing for home before the storm. No, that's not me who got dropped.


The lunatic members of some crazy bike club on their annual New Year's Day ride. I think this was NYD 2008; it was about 20deg and there was a stiff wind. That's me in yellow. The cotton fields we're riding past are a heck of a lot prettier during the summer.


Each fall I host a local ride to honor cancer survivors and victims, and to raise a little money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. This is from the first of those rides, in 2006, when we had a rain shower just before the start. Riding along our gently rolling county roads, the early-morning silence broken only by the whir of our tires and the sound of the rain dripping off the trees, was just sublime. The blurring was entirely accidental but I thought it made for a neat, artsy effect.

[JR]

I'm glad you guys shared some pics. They reveal some very inviting riding country.

germdoc, I share your love of the rails-to-trails conversions. LOML and I rode one some years back along the Susan River in the northern Sierras. It couldn't have been a prettier ride.

Larry, my Bontrager Selects are 20-spoke radial in the front and 24-spoke 3-cross in back, IIRC. I just got lucky, I guess. I thought they were sexy at the time, but look pretty utilitarian by modern standards.

My regular ride: nothing special, about 15 miles in and around my part of town. I can slice it flat or dial in a few small hills, most all of it with ample bike lanes. I'll stop at the gym afterward for an abs class or to lift some light weights. Trader Joe's just opened next door to the gym, so I'll sometimes grab a bottle of two-buck Chuck on the way home.

JR

[JR]

Notable ride:
25+ miles in a total downpour through the German countryside.

What?! Rain in Germany? Say it ain't so!

That does sound like fun. My brother has been trying to get me to do a ride in Bavaria. There's an area along the upper Danube that's sort of like a National Park, but has villages. They cater to cycling tourists, going from Gasthaus to Gasthaus through some very nice countryside.

JR

[germdoc]

Ok, these are not built for speed, but they are pretty cool:

http://dutchbikeseattle.com/html/bikes/index.html

[JR]

Ok, these are not built for speed, but they are pretty cool:

Very cool. Did you see the mahogany box option?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan...7604613535481/