Where did you ride your Cannondale today?

[black lightning 1987]

I would have thought that the geographic center of the USA would be pretty indisputable.
Good to have a tailwind on a 93 degree day.

 

[letsbike]

It's not the center of the U.S. It's the center of the world. When you used to turn on Google maps, on a Macintosh computer, it would center over this town because the engineer that made the program grew up there.
There are two geographic centers to the U.S. One if you use a flat map, and another if you use a curved globe. The latter is on a pig farm.

 

[letsbike]

We finish up our week long tour tomorrow. It's been fun, but anyone who's had a loaded bike out on the road knows that you have to be willing to suffer, sometimes quite a bit. It's not for everyone. Yesterday's full day on the Flint Hills Rails to Trails was my favorite day so far. Just so beautiful and traffic free. We ran across other riders returning from an overnight bike rendezvous throughout the morning. A neat concept I wish we had in our area.

 

[letsbike]

A couple more.

 

[black lightning 1987]

Thanks for the photos. We lost a historic oak tree locally when the "Witness Tree" was taken down. Said to be 250 years old, it was used as a surveying point for the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad when it came through the area in the early 1850s.

 

[letsbike]

We rolled into our starting point at 6pm tonight to end the tour. I would rate the week as a success. Despite running only 32mm wide tires, the bike handled the sometimes soft gravel trail pretty well. I think it may take a full day to get the bike back in order though. It's mighty dusty.

 

[Flat tyre bikes]

Final ride before winter snooz. Really happy how this bike rides.

 

[JohnnyD]

Final ride before winter snooz. Really happy how this bike rides. View attachment 13109

Winter snooze??? I get the joy of being able to ride year round, and laugh at the people around here who think that 50 F(10 C) is cold.

 

[letsbike]

I know Flat Tyre lives in the land of ice and snow where they put 2 inches of salt on the road for every inch of snowfall. When I was a Ohio commuter I had to replace my cassette/freewheel and chain every spring because of the constant salt water baths.
But if you want to keep your bicycle's motor in peak performance you have to get out there and do the work. Maybe trash a bicycle that's not as special as a Cannondale.

 

[Flat tyre bikes]

Winter snooze??? I get the joy of being able to ride year round, and laugh at the people around here who think that 50 F(10 C) is cold.

Generally have a long riding season. Have a winter bike for salty roads. For now though, along Lake Erie, snowfall breaking records.

 

[black lightning 1987]

No snow to amount to anything yet here but we are having highs in the 20s. It's supposed to get to 40 on Wednesday but that's the only day above freezing for the next week. I used to ride in those kind of temps but I am always cold these days.

 

[letsbike]

It's nice to have choices.(but sometimes we don't)

There was no snow in the forecast when I went to work that day, and there wasn't any snow on the ground in the morning either. Well, the wind shifted over Lake Erie and brought in the dreaded "Lake Effect" snow. My coworkers were chuckling at me when we left work in really bad conditions. I simply said, "Hey, if my bike slides into the ditch because of the snow I pick it up and climb out. What do you do when your car slides into the ditch?" As it turns out the road through the park where I worked had been closed because of the weather; to cars at least. I simply slipped around the baracades. I rode a good deal of the way home making first tracks in virgin snow in a winter wonderland. One of my best rides ever.

 

[black lightning 1987]

Quite the snow event. Football fans in Buffalo had to shovel out the stadium to get to their seats. I would have thought they had an existing plan for snow removal but perhaps there wasn't time.

 

[letsbike]

Yes, I think that they have resorted to free fan labor in the past as well. Those snowy games are fun if you dress for them, and are in no hurry to get home afterward.

 

[letsbike]

Bare legs in late December! Now I know how those Aussies feel. I decided to check out a newly opened segment of local trail. Even the strong headwinds were enjoyable on a sixty degree sunny day.

 

[IdahoBrett]

My first ride in 5 weeks around the neighborhood.

Finally tested the last of my 105 “upgrades” I did over the winter. The shifting on the rear is really amazing. So smooth. Mostly. Had a couple of shifts to larger rear cogs where the first swipe on the brifter was met with a dead shift. A quick follow up was met with the appropriate click and shift.

I didn’t stop anywhere so all I got for a picture is when I finished in front of the garage door…

 

[JohnnyD]

My first ride in 5 weeks around the neighborhood.

Finally tested the last of my 105 “upgrades” I did over the winter. The shifting on the rear is really amazing. So smooth. Mostly. Had a couple of shifts to larger rear cogs where the first swipe on the brifter was met with a dead shift. A quick follow up was met with the appropriate click and shift.

I didn’t stop anywhere so all I got for a picture is when I finished in front of the garage door…

View attachment 13649

I am so glad that I don't often have to wait more than two or three days for some nice weather to ride after doing things to my bikes.

 

[letsbike]

The most photographed garage door in history.
Glad your overhaul brought your classic up to standard. It's time to set a lofty goal for the year and go for it.

 

[Jon K.]

Hm. I get on the bike four times a week now, but I never seem to go anywhere.

R600 still on the wind trainer (an old Performance Bike Shop Travel Trac wheel-on thing). I do 45 minutes an evening Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It's boring torture, but I can see improvements - I've lost a few more pounds and I feel more energetic in the mornings.

I was trying to export a summary from my Apple Watch, but it doesn't want to put the data out in the format I want. I guess I'll have to write an app to do that.

I started out tonight in 53x21 for 15 minutes to get myself loosened up and my legs warmed up, then shifted to 53x19 for the next 30 minutes. My peak heart rate was something like 121 bpm, the average for the 45 minutes was 111 bpm.

If I do the calculations correctly, I would cover something like 11 miles at a speed of 15.6 mph with a cadence of 70 (assuming no slippage of the tire against the shaft of the fans). Far better than I was doing back in the summer.

I need to invest in cadence and speed sensors (or a smart trainer) so I can work on stepping up my cadence.

 

[black lightning 1987]

I admire folks who can do the indoor trainer routine. I have a set of rollers that I used for a while back when I raced a bit, and a Serotta fit bike with a magnetic resistance gizmo. I don't get beyond thinking about dragging one of them out for actual use.
What is your perceived effort in the 110-120 heart beat range? When I used a monitor my average on road rides would be in the 150 bpm range.