And climbing we did.
We had great weather for Saturdays group ride. It was low 60’s all day with very little wind. I was dressed in shorts, cycling shirt, arm warmers and a wind vest to start. Total distance was just shy of 34 miles with lots of climbing! Ride with GPS (which the group uses for mapping/cue sheets) said ~2100ft of climbing, but all the Garmins in the group showed about 3200ft by the end of the ride. Of course Strava can’t agree with either can comes up with 1800ft. I’m inclined to agree with the Garmins because it was just one hill after another, after another and even the ride leader was surprised with the amount of climbing. It was a good workout though and we all had fun.
I’m still riding on the semi-slick 32c CX tires and since there wasn’t much dirt on this ride I probably should have switched out to the more road friendly, and more importantly lighter, 25c slick tires. The 32s roll fast but they are definitely heavier which you can feel on the hills. Nevertheless I hung on with the group but did have to work a little more at times. This tire switching nonsense just highlights why I need that Roubaix Expert even more. 😉
At our coffee stop midway we met these two pups just looking for some free muffin handouts. Unfortunately for them no one in the group succumbed to their soulful eyes.
Jet & Maggie at the coffee shop.
During the ride the co-leader, who also happens to be the ride coordinator for the group, complimented me on my riding stating that I was a strong rider with a good pedal stroke as well as being very safe and observant. (calling out obstacles, cars, stopping, etc…) and nominated me to be a new ride leader when I’m ready (I need a certain # of rides with the group first). I have to admit that’s pretty cool and I already have a bunch of routes mapped out from my solo rides which I easily use and tailor for group rides.
On Sunday I attempted to go out for a nice leisurely spin but the wind had other ideas and I felt like I was riding into the wind no matter which direction I went. To make matters worse Cyclemeter decided after about 4 miles that I was stopped and stopped logging time & miles as well as not recording any sensor data. This was not the first time it did this as it happened on Saturday as well after 28 miles. Frustrating to say the least and now I was sort of riding blind. I wanted to do 15-20 miles so I had to guess and only ended up with 13.5 when all was said and done. Although with the wind there was very little coasting so it was still a good workout and not as leisurely as I had hoped.
I’m not sure if the above problem was caused by my iPhone or Cyclemeter but needless to say I was frustrated. With these types of issues and poor battery life from the iPhone when using a mapping program it just highlights the need for a dedicated cycling computer/GPS. The iPhone works ok if you are just looking at sensor data but throw in a live map so you can navigate a set route and the phone is dead in 3 hours. Magellan can’t release their Cycle 505 for sale in the US fast enough. They announced it’s availability last week and just gave a May timeframe, no specific dates. *patiently waiting*
Well that’s the weekend in a nutshell. I’m not sure if I’m going to get any riding in this week before we head to Disney! I already checked and it appears you can rent and bike around the Disney property so that may be something I try out while having some fun in the sun.
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