Cycling, Fitness and Other Things
Posts tagged Cycling
Mountain Bike Ride
01533 days
by douglaspaulwade
in Fitness
After church on Sunday, I saw Dave Schroeder who use to own Cyclepath, a bike shop in town. He has an injured knee, but wanted to get back on the bike. He asked if I wanted to go. He invited one of the pastors, David Jackson and another guy named Dan, which I met today.
We headed out to Acton to ride some single track. It has been a while since I rode in dirt, but I liked the fitness (see my motionbased), overall the ride was in really soft sand. In the LA area, there is so little rain that the dirt is really loose.
The ride was about 10.5 miles. Some of it was a service road under the power lines. I felt good. I did not bonk at all. I was a bit nervous at first, but at the half-way point, we turned around and that way I was to able to get some confidence on the switchbacks.
We returned to the cars right at dusk. Overall it was a blast…
Saturday’s Ride – 28 Miles
01533 days
by douglaspaulwade
in Fitness
Saturday’s ride was good. I set out to an average of 17.5 mph. When I uploaded my GPS data, it came in a disappointment only 16.7. Every-time I looked down I was higher then 17.5, but took a little longer to ride 110th from Avenue G to Avenue K. Here is the results on Motionbased.
Thanksgiving
01535 days
To all I wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving.
Today, I walked three miles with Teri and my dog chip. I went over to AVC to run, and the gates were locked. They had signs on them, “closed to construction”. I have been told they are demolishing the stadium to build a new one, I am not sure of the timing of it. It may have started.
I drove over to Quartz Hill High School and used there track. It seems to be in a better condition. It looks newer and seems to be more springy.
I ran a new pattern. I ran 400m, walk 400m, then ran 1200m and walk 400m. I repeat the 1200m, 400m pattern four times. Here is my motionbased results of laps.
After the run, I came home and rode 30 minutes on my trainer with the bike. I knew I would eat and drink for our Thanksgiving meeting with family, so I needed to have done some work.
Bike Trainer
0One thing is it is getting colder in the desert and I wanted to ride more then one day a week. So, I purchased a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Fluid Trainer. It is quite and allows me to ride with resistance. It is new, but is not this year’s model. The new models are a lime green.
27 Mile Ride
0Today, I wanted to ride harder but not long. I started from the house out to 110th and over to Avenue K and end up at Starbucks. My goal was to raise my MPH from about 14-15.5 to over 17. I managed to do 17.4 MPH. I did 27 miles and there was no wind. The best part was sitting at Starbucks with a cup of coffee and a blue-berry muffin. I just added Garmin’s speed and cadence sensor, and I am trying to see how it blends in with the results on Motionbased. Also, I got a new jersey (I need one with pockets). This one is about beer (ale), if you know me, this is me.
Saturday’s Ride – 46 Miles
01548 days
by douglaspaulwade
in Fitness
I went over to Gil’s Bike Shop at 8:00am to see if anyone was there to ride. I met Doug Short and Alvin. These guys are experienced riders, which I liked. We headed over to Apollo Park to see if any other riders would be there. Then we headed out to 110th west. It was nice to ride with others. I got to draft off these guys. That sure saves the legs, instead of having to cut through the wind on my own.
Alvin had an appointment, so he took off. Doug and I rode up Munz Ranch Road and down Lake Elizabeth Road. Doug lived in Palmdale, so he took a turn on Avenue O, while I rode back to Gils.
Overall the ride was good. I was 22 minutes faster then last week. That is due to be pushed by their experience. You can see my motionbased results.
Saturday’s Ride
01551 days
by douglaspaulwade
in Fitness
Saturday morning I set out to ride with others from Gil’s bike shop and I arrived a little before 7:00am. They tell me they leave at 7:00 sharp. I waited and one other rider showed up. His name was Tom, and was a new rider. Come to find out, the rides now start at 8:00am instead of 7:00 during the winter.
Tom and I set out to ride to Fox Field. It was 40 degrees and my hands were insanely cold. I have winter gloves and stupid me, did not use them. I was dying, I had to stop at Apollo park to use the hand driers to warm my hands. I was feeling really bad (pre-cold) and had to sit on the curb. I mentioned to Tom, let’s go to 90th and down K to Starbuck’s.
By the time I got to 90th, I was feeling fine and Tom went his way and I decided to go with my original plan to go up to Munz Ranch and down Lake Elizabeth Road. I came down the road towards Palmdale and back up 30th West to Gil’s.
Overall, it was 46.5 miles, you can see the results.
Ride 60 Miles
01561 days
by douglaspaulwade
in Fitness
Saturday, I set out to ride 60 plus miles. My GPS batteries went dead, so I do not have a map of the actual course. I do have my ped-o-meter (google map mashup) of the distance. If you look at the ped-o-meter, click on the elevation and notice the calories. It states 8,860 calories. I like that, but think it is high. I left the house at 7:45am and returned at 12:15.
The ride was without wind (nice). I rode west up Avenue H, to 110st west, back over to Avenue I to Munz Road. Last time I rode this I had to stop four times. I changed out my big gear on the cassette to a 28. So, I was able to peddle up the hill without stopping.
I got the top of the pass, and eat. Rode west on Elizabeth Lake Road. There was a small fire that the fire folks had put out. They were hanging around to make sure nothing else started. At this time, just past that I saw a bobcat or the biggest dog with cat ears. It did not let me get that close. I saw one live and one dead coyote.
At that point, it was a climb for many miles. I did not expect it, but once over the hills, it was downhill to three-points. I really liked that area. Took the road out to Avenue D. To my surprise it was Neenach. We just planted a church there. Grace Chapel Neenach. It was a blessing to see the building. This was about 250th street. Rode to 245th street and followed it until it became Lancaster Avenue, where it turned in to Avenue I and then I am home.
When I was at the Poppy Reserve it started to rain. That was nice, we need rain.
Ride 65.3 miles (AV 3rd Annual Century Ride)
01569 days
by douglaspaulwade
in Fitness
Today was my first organized ride. I rode in the Antelope Valley 3rd Annual Century Ride, put on my Gil’s Bike Shop in Lancaster. I rode (see my Motionbased results) in the metric century (about 62 miles). I got on the road at 7:20am and finished at 12:20pm. It was about 65.3 miles and it was hard. The wind was blowing about 25-40 miles per hour all day! The ride west was brutal. It was granny gear cycling. I had hoped the ride north would be easy. Nope, the wind was so strong. In fact it blew me off the road into the dirt. I thought I was going to eat it. Unclipped my left foot and stabilized myself and back on the road. The climbing leg up Tehachapi Willow Springs Road was the easiest. I found my stride. Riding south was still working with the stupid wind. I was being blown around. At times, I had the bike leaning over to keep it going straight, my arms would be tense to keep everything stable. I got inside a couple of sand storms (boy those hurts), where I could not see more the 30-50 feet in front of me. I had to turn my head and close the wind side eye just to keep the sand out of my eyes. The ride from 90th to 30th with wind behind me was the greatest. I set a new speed record for me at 36.8 mph with no effort at all.
I finished the ride with two personal records, the first is speed 36.8 maximum speed and distance of 65.3 miles. Prior was 52 miles.
Rode Work (44 miles)
21576 days
by douglaspaulwade
in Fitness
On October 20th (next week) will be my first metric century (62 miles), so I needed to prepare a little. I went on a ride.
I headed up to Ave H, over to 110th West (did not want to travel on Ave I). Came back towards Ave I (near the Poppy Fields) on to Lancaster Ave (that far out Ave I turns into Lancaster Ave). I made a few turns and petaled on to Munz Ranch Road. I did not think would be that hard. My bike does not really have a “granny” gear, so I had to stop and catch my breath a few time. I met Eric on the apex and we chatted for a bit. It was mostly down hill from there. Ya! I travelled down into Leona Valley and it was the best ride ever. When Elizabeth Lake Road met Highland Ave, I came back into town. Today at Marie Kerr park was the Fall Festival and it was busy in that area. I got onto 30th west and headed home.
Today was gorgeous, I love the ride. It was 44 miles and I did it in about 3 hours. You can check the path on my GPS motionbased account.
