232.3 Miles of update...

whoops! It's been awhile since I've updated.  Here's a quick recap:


Sunday April 10th I rode here.  It was the recovery ride from the 50 mile ride.  I rode with the old crew - L and K.  It was a great ride and so wonderful to ride with them again.


Thursday April 14th I rode here.  I had a terrible day in general and I was not in the mood for the ride.  I started out really fast and lost my steam near the end.  But...at the end of the ride I felt a lot better.  And that's when M and I discovered PorkSlap Ale!


Saturday April 16th we rode in Silk Sheets again.  When the ride started, I did not start My Tracks so I did not track the entire ride :-(...which sucks even more because we took off really really fast with a fast group and I would LOVE to know our average speed.  L sent me her heart monitor information but since I've been so lax about updating the blog, I haven't even looked at the stats.  After the first SAG stop, L, C and I decided it was time to slow it down a bit - we were going too fast, we wouldn't have enough steam for the entire ride.  I'm glad we did this.  In the end, we ended up still making great time, and since we didn't make the second stop at the SAG, we got back rather quickly.  C had a mishap with her cleat getting stuck in her pedal, but thank goodness that wasn't realized until we were back in the parking lot.


Sunday April 17th was the recovery ride for Silk Sheets, we rode intown.  M and I showed up to ride and we were secretly hoping that no one else would show up so that we could take it easy, do about 20 miles and call it quits - we were both tired.  G showed up and was on board with that and lead us on a great 20 miles.  Then we ate at Le Petit Marche - it was super tasty.  Great day, great ride.


Thursday April 21st was the Brookhaven route.  Again, I wasn't really into riding but over all this was pretty good ride.  M was having some shoe issues and I was more than happy to cut out 5 miles and call it a night.

Kari and our Japanese maple

Saturday April 23rd we rode in Peachtree City.  It was a fantastic ride.  It started out overcast and misty, but this ended up being great riding weather.  We had a pretty great ride, with a great pace.  We worked on keeping our paceline and rotating quickly instead of getting stuck in the front for long periods of time. I think we did a great job.  After the ride we went to a pool party at one of the TNT cyclist's houses - it was great.  M and I carpooled so that she could leave her dog at my house so Aje could let her out.  Unfortunately, M was sweeping this ride so she didn't actually finish until about 2.5 hours after I did.  In the end, it all worked out, food was still warm and we had a GREAT time in the pool.


Sunday April 24th we had our Stone Mountain recovery ride and L showed up!!  The old crew meets the new crew!  It was quite an interesting ride.  We had several new people ride with us, it was Easter morning and the group was pretty big, there were children who rode with us (awesome kids) for about the first 30 min or so, one of them was even leading us!  Then on the way back from the mountain we picked up a cyclist who was having issues with her tire so we helped her our and she ended up riding back with us a good portion of the way.  We got slightly lost without our guide, but thanks to My Tracks we were able to look up a past ride to find the way home.  We ran into some bad road work, the streets were grooved and not fun to ride on, so we finished on a not so high note, but I still think it was a great ride.  And another terrific brunch from Le Petit Marche.  Yum.

Half way there!

Where did I ride:  here


Ride Stats:
Total Distance: 81.62 km (50.7 mi)
Moving Time: 3:15:55
Average Moving Speed: 25.00 km/h (15.5 mi/h)
Max Speed: 64.80 km/h (40.3 mi/h)
Elevation Gain: 746 m (2447 ft)


The Ride:
This was probably one of the best rides I've ever been on.  The usual crew of C and L grew to some more - we had a fairly large paceline going in the beginning.  About 14 miles in was the first SAG stop, we grabbed some food, and got back on the track pretty quickly.  One of the coaches caught up to us and got us started on a double paceline - it was fantastic.  We were flying and it made us forget about the many many miles we were biking.  I didn't have my computer on my bike, but I heard from L that we were going about 27mph in the double paceline.  It was a large group of us too, there has to be 10-12 cyclists.  We hit some small hills and the paceline broke up - we tried a couple more times to get the double paceline again but we couldn't quite get it as good as that first time.  The ride was really great - it was very "polleny" and at times very humid - on the car ride home it was 90 degrees - yikes!!  I'm glad we bike in the morning.  After the ride we had a BBQ at the park that we started at Hard Labor Creek State Park, and I don't think I've ever had a better tasting hot dog.

I still can't believe I biked 50 miles!!  And then I realize I can't believe that's only halfway to the 100 miles I will be biking in June!!  

Thursday Night Ride - Cutting it Short

Where did I ride? here.


Ride Stats:
Total Distance: 24.55 km (15.3 mi)
Moving Time: 1:01:26
Average Moving Speed: 23.97 km/h (14.9 mi/h)
Max Speed: 47.73 km/h (29.7 mi/h)
Elevation Gain: 311 m (1020 ft)

The Ride:
When we started the ride, I tried really hard to catch up to M but I was unable to, and then by 3/4 of the way in the first loop I was pooped.  I ended up cutting the ride short....because, well...I felt like it :-)  There were a couple people only doing a 5 mile loop for the second loop instead of the 10 mile loop and I was ready to do that as well.


Overall the ride was good - pizza afterwards was delicious!

Wazzzzzuuuupppp

Where did I ride? From the Budweiser Plant in Cartersville.

Ride Stats:
Total Distance: 70.76 km (44.0 mi)
Moving Time: 2:49:22
Average Moving Speed: 25.07 km/h (15.6 mi/h)
Max Speed: 43.20 km/h (26.8 mi/h)
Elevation Gain: 592 m (1943 ft)


The Ride:
Again - the longest ride of my life!! I did not want to get out of bed this morning.  If I wasn't raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I can tell you that there is a good chance I would not have.  But I'm so glad I did, this was a fantastic ride.  It started out a little chilly but at the SAG stop we stripped down to comfortable clothes.  The ride was really really great.  We started out with a pretty large paceline which eventually split up into 2 lines.  I rode with C and L again and A joined us.  We all rode really well.  My bike started to ghost shift again - woohoo.  I need to clean it and get it tuned up - so I'm taking it in tomorrow.  Unfortunately that means I wont' be able to ride tomorrow - but I can still go to Spin at the Y.


The second half of the ride was also great - G rode with us and he really pushed us to go faster than we normally go.  He also pushed us to stay in a good paceline - making sure we slowed down when there was a gap, etc.  Then when we were within a mile of the plant, G reminded us of how short we had to go and suggested to GO FAST - so we did.  L took off like a rocket - I tried with all my might to keep up with her but I could not.  I started to lose some steam and realized I may have shot out of the gate too fast - but then I saw the plant, my end goal, and that was enough for me to scrounge up some more energy. 


After the ride, C and L shared a tasty sandwich with me and we hung out to chat.  What a beautiful day today!!  I'm so proud of my stats also - 2mph over our normal speed :-)

Group Training Ride - Longest Ride of my LIFE!

Literally.  And mentally.

Where did I ride? here

Ride Stats:
Total Distance: 65.77 km (40.9 mi)
Moving Time: 3:00:34
Average Moving Speed: 21.85 km/h (13.6 mi/h)
Max Speed: 52.20 km/h (32.4 mi/h)
Elevation Gain: 910 m (2986 ft)

The Ride:
I'm just going to put it bluntly - this ride was terrible.  It was slightly chilly and on the verge of rain with some misting throughout.  My legs felt heavy and useless.  I felt like this was the worst ride I have ever ridden - though I ended up being surprised by my stats - average moving speed of 13.6 mph is NOT BAD at all!  

This was a huge milestone for me - I've never ridden 40 miles before - not only did it feel like a long ride, but it was literally the longest ride of my life.  I rode with C, L, and D for the whole ride - it was great riding with them.  They are so positive and we kept a good pace because we had each other.  When it got tough at the end we all worked together to make sure we were all successful in finishing the ride.

Talking with M after the ride, while she was in a group well ahead of us, she had a similar situation, seems like it was just a tough day to ride.  

Looking forward to Thursday - hoping to have an uneventful, fantastic Thursday night ride.

Thursday Night Ride - A Mess!

I have no stats from this ride.  I got stuck in terrible traffic and JUST made it to the ride.  At each stop light along the way I was looking for things I could prep to be ready for the ride.  The first red light I put on my biking gloves.  The second red light I took my pants off - I don't make a habit of walking around in just spandex.  The third red light I put on my left cycling shoe.  And so on...I almost put on my helmet but figured that might be taking it a little far.  When I arrived I was in such a hurry that I forgot to start My Tracks.  It was probably better that way.


The ride started off okay, but then my bike started ghost shifting a LOT.  To the point where I was riding alone - at the end of the pack just waiting for the first loop to be over because it was time to bail.  I wasn't getting a good work out, it wasn't fun, and I was getting just plain frustrated.  I caught up to the group at the end of the first loop and told G I was going to head back.  He asked why and I explained my shifting issues.  He put his bike to the side and started working on my bike...he was twisting and tightening things and just as he was almost done L, C, C, L & D showed up.  I had thought they were ahead of me!  G ended up fixing my shifting issues and we were off for the second loop.  Oh it was so night to ride CORRECTLY!  No ghost shifting, no turned seat.  It was great.

Beyond Six Flags - Group Training Ride

Where did I ride? here

Ride Stats:
Total Distance: 57.45 km (35.7 mi)
Moving Time: 2:42:43
Average Moving Speed: 21.18 km/h (13.2 mi/h)
Max Speed: 52.23 km/h (32.5 mi/h)
Elevation Gain: 908 m (2981 ft)
Max Grade: 9 %
Min Grade: -11 %


The Ride:
The focus of this ride was to ride with a group and maintain a pace.  I rode with L and C and along the way we picked up K.  We focused on pacelining and the pace was great.  For me, I was personally trying to keep a solid pace - not going in bursts as I have in the past.  This proved harder than I thought - there were times i wanted to go faster, and times I wanted to go slower.  There was a hill at the end I almost didn't make it up - but thank goodness C was there to provide some encouraging words.
  
We did have one minor accident along the ride, there was a quick stop/slowdown from the paceline and we had a rider fall to the curb and on to the sidewalk.  This is a possibility when riding in a paceline and that's why it's so important to communicate.  


Also - my bike started ghost shifting at times - I'll have to have that looked at this week.  Looking forward to Thursday as I hope to make the Thursday night ride!