2008 Journal:
October 26, 2008: After the storm went through last night it has really warmed up and turned into a nice sunny day. Took advantage to get out and go for a ride. I'm sure it is one if the last outdoor rides this year so it was nice to get out. Rode around though Westport towards Horseneck Beach, but only did my normal loop. Lot's of debris on the roadside made riding treacherous in some spots. Everywhere was still pretty wet, so after 21 miles, I decided to call it quits. Maybe there will be a couple of more days left .. we'll see. Distance: 21.09 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 152 Ave Cadence: 65, Ave Speed: 18.2 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,873.15 miles
October 12, 2008: What a nice fall day it was today. A little breezy during the late morning, but still nice. I did a short ride today through Sodom Ave and down to Acoaxet then home. Nothing spectacular to report other than it was really nice out. I didn't ride that great, but it still felt nice to be out. Should have gone longer today, but didn't want to push since I hadn't ridden much lately. The weather is supposed to be nice this week, so maybe I cab get a few more rides in. Distance: 20.28 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 148 Ave Cadence: 64, Ave Speed: 18.1 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,852.06 miles
September 21, 2008: It was a beautiful day for the first day of fall so I decided to head out for a ride after it warmed up a bit. I've lost a bunch of my riding legs, but it was really nice to cruise around at a reasonable pace and enjoy the scenery. I rode to Sakonnet Point and really enjoyed the whole ride, even when the wind picked up as I neared the coast. I decided to return via Swamp Road so I could measure some distances back into Little Compton where I think I will go to change the scenery on my runs now. There is less traffic there, so it will be a nice place to run even if I do need to drive 5 or 10 minutes to get there. As for the ride today, couldn't have been nicer and now I need to sit down to watch the Patriots play. Oh, I forgot to write down on my ride for the 18th that I passed a large group or wild Turkeys ... about 20 of them. Distance: 27.31 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 132 Ave Cadence: 65, Ave Speed: 17.5 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,831.78 miles
September 18, 2008: Wow, quite a few days since I've ridden. Many reasons, work, weather, that fact that I'm running quite a bit. Since I got another bad cramp in my calf yesterday, I couldn't run today so I decided to get a ride in instead. I got home later than I wanted form work and it was chilly out when I started. A thermal shirt and cap solved that problem. I rode pretty well, not working hard but riding pretty well for an exertion free ride. I went to Acoaxet and back and the wind was strong down by the shore. By the time I got home, it was almost sunset which made for an interesting last mile or two as I was under tree cover. Anyway, probably get a few more rides in this fall .. we will see how many. Distance: 20.22 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 153 Ave Cadence: 70, Ave Speed: 18.5 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,804.47 miles
September 7, 2008: Well, how about that, I rode my bike today. Not very long though. I've been running a bit still, although Friday I got a bad cramp about 2 miles into a 6 mile loop. I struggled to run it out and walked a bit, but I finished. The problem is, the cramp got so bad that it took over a day to work it's way out. Otherwise the running is going fine. It was too nasty this morning with wind and being wet still from Tropical Storm Hanna, so I waiting until today's Vuelta stage was finished and then decided to go for a ride since the weather was warm and sunny. It was still pretty windy, but otherwise it was nice. I forgot that today was the day for the Tiverton Century. Usually we ride a bit of it for fun. Today Paul and I decided not to since the weather was supposed to be bad. I had the intentions of riding to Acoaxet and back today, but when I found the Century people clogging up the roads, I decided to cut my ride short. Off on travel for work, so I'll hopefully run a bit there. Hopefully I'll get on the bike again next weekend. Distance: 12.43 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 141 Ave Cadence: 63, Ave Speed: 18.2 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,784.25 miles
August 31, 2008: Haven't posted in the last week as it's been that long since I took a bike ride. I've started running again and have been working up to doing that this week. Wednesday was my first run in over a year and I sure felt horrible. Even muscle in my legs hurt like I never exercised before and I only ran 3.4 miles. I could barely walk it was so bad. I skipped Thursday and ran again on Friday even though I was still hurting. About half way through Friday's run, I stopped hurting so much and started feeling a bit better. I didn't do anything yesterday since the weather was so bad. I kept thinking about getting out for a run, but every time it would dry out enough that I felt like going, it would start to rain again. I felt pretty good this morning and headed out around 0700 while it was cool and there were no cars on the road, Today I felt pretty darn good running a 4.7 mile loop and averaging 8:33 second miles. Now that isn't exactly burning up the road, but considering how bad I felt earlier in the week, I'm pretty happy. The 4.7 miles took me 40:42. I'm pretty confident with the times as I have a new toy to measure them. I bought a Forerunner 405 watch for running and it is lot's of fun to use. While it was a bit of money, I have learned that these toys make me exercise better as I am always keeping track of times and statistics. This toy will keep me running outside instead of on the treadmill which I am now severely questioning the accuracy of that things distance calculations as 8:32 mile pace would kill me on that thing. I felt so good today that after I watched today's Vuelta Espana stage, I went for a bike ride to Sakonnet Point. I didn't ride hard, but it felt good to be riding again. You can tell the seasons are starting to change as that north wind is back and it was horrible riding back home into the wind all the way. Distance: 27.52 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 147 Ave Cadence: 69, Ave Speed: 18.1 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,771.82 miles
August 24, 2008: Spent the morning relocating my Satellite Dish ... got on the bike after lunch .. rode 10 miles and quite due to lack of interest. I decided to go for a ride on my motorcycle instead. That was fun! Distance: 10.28 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 137 Ave Cadence: 66, Ave Speed: 16.7 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,744.30 miles
August 23, 2008: FInally got out for another ride this morning. Have been taking it easy and running a bit. Also, travel to Canada for work took much of the week. Anyway, since the race season is over for me this year, I am taking it a bit easier and today I took a leisurely ride to Sakonnet Point. Surprisingly, even though I rode really easily, my speed was pretty good. No to much to say about the ride other than it was nice to get out and ride. Distance: 31.68 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 144 Ave Cadence: 68, Ave Speed: 18.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,734.02 miles
August 16, 2008: Rode Mt Washington Hillclimb Race. My time was slower than I had hoped, but I guess it is what it is! Tom finished 3rd in our age group. The Animal continues to live on but he admits that he might need to gear down with a Compact Chain Ring for next year! See my Mt Washington Hillclimb page for more details on the day including sun, rain and hail. Distance: 7.54 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 173 Ave Cadence: 56, Ave Speed: 4.6 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,702.34 miles
August 15, 2008: Up in North Conway getting ready for tomorrow's Mt Washington Race. Weather was good today so Tom and I tried out a new ride. I've read about Hurricane Mountain and today we decided to try it. We left the house and rode along West Side Road like were heading to Cathedral Ledge except we continued through Conway towards Cranmore Ski Area. Soon we reached the road up the mountain and we headed up. As it turns out, this was a great climb Soon after starting up, we passed through a road gate and the road narrowed to a single lane winding through the forest. I have not seen a climb like this anywhere in the US lately. It was really nice climbing through the forest and over running streams. Traffic was very low. Oh and it was steep as hell. Take a look at the chart below. The 1.7 mile climb averaged 15% and there were sections at much higher. The other side averaged 17%, although we did't climb it. I really liked this climb and I think we have replaced Cathedral Ledge as our favorite climb in this area. Distance: 21.99 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 145 Ave Cadence: 62, Ave Speed: 13.6 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,694.80 miles
August 13, 2008: Went for an easy ride today after watching the Olympic TT on DVR. The weather was good and I felt pretty good even if I wasn't very motivated to ride much. I test rode my climbing bike to make sure everything worked after the return trip from Colorado. It did, so I guess I am ready for Mt Washington this weekend. The ride went very well today and while I felt no need to push, the few times I rode hard, it went smoothly. One place I really pushed was on one of my favorite hills in Adamsville. I sprinted up and passed a guy who was riding alright but struggling. I had targeted him as I started the climb since he was pretty far ahead of me. After I reached the top, I went back into slow mode since I am tapering down a bit for the weekend. Sure enough, Mr climber cam flying by me about 1 mile into the descent, looked at me and kept going. I'm sure he felt good about himself as he kept looking back like he was hoping I was going to chase him. No such luck and if I wanted to, it would not have been much of a race. Anyway, he turned into his yard shortly and I continues riding a nice even tempo making sure my legs worked. I also seem to have solved my cadence and wheel calibration problems that I experiences with this bike in Colorado. Now things seem to be OK .. I had to adjust the sensor a bit by rotating closer to the left crank. Don't know why I didn't just do that in Colorado!. Distance: 23.10 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 143 Ave Cadence: 70, Ave Speed: 17.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,672.81 miles
August 10, 2008: Didn;t feel much like riding but I was curious how I'd feel after the Colorado trip. Didn't really see any improvements although it did seem like my heartrate was lower than expected. . Distance: 13.38 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 138 Ave Cadence: 70, Ave Speed: 18.8 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,649.71 miles
August 6 , 2008: Rode Mt Evans. Pretty hard climb, very cold at top. Highest point I've ever ridded to at 14,130 feet. Trip Journal.. Distance: 54.12 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 150 Ave Cadence: N/A, Ave Speed: 10.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,636.33 miles
August 5 , 2008: Rode Cottonwood Pass. Nice climb through great woods. Trip Journal. Distance: 26.02 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 144 Ave Cadence: N/A, Ave Speed: 10.1 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,582.21 miles
August 4 , 2008: Rode Independance Pass twice. Left Twin Lakes, rode over the pass to Aspen and then rode back to car. Ran into severe weather on second trip across the pass. Trip Journal.. Distance: 70.02 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 149 Ave Cadence: N/A, Ave Speed: 10.9 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,556.19 miles
August 3 , 2008: Rode Portion od Boulder Classic Rides up Sugarloaf and Flagstaff Mountains. Sugarloaf wa a nice climb and Flagstaff was just hot. Trip Journal.. Distance: 30.64 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 140 Ave Cadence: N/A, Ave Speed: 8.1 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,486.17 miles
August 2 , 2008: Got to Colorado and rode a short ride from Courtyard to Lee Hill Road in Boulder CO. Was pretty steep and had to quit early because of darkness. Trip Journal. Distance: 16.10 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 156 Ave Cadence: N/A, Ave Speed: 16.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,455.53 miles
July 29, 2008: Not much to write today. Rode to Sakonnet Point. Lot's going on at work and getting ready for vacation. I felt alright riding, but bonked out towards the end and decided to shorten the ride and come home and eat dinner. Had ambitions of riding further tonight, but the stomach won. I did have fun today. Out sprinted a farm tractor towing a large plowing attachment. He was creeping down the road and I was cued up with the cars and they wouldn't pass him so I waited a few minutes and then sprinted out as fast as I could around the right shoulder past the tractor. Wasn't really hard, but it took about 1/2 mile before any cars finally passed me. Distance: 28.90 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 156 Ave Cadence: 64, Ave Speed: 18.7 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,439.43 miles
July 27, 2008: Didn't go out first thing this AM since it looked like rain. Sure enough, not more than 10 or 15 minutes after I made my decision, it poured. I did a few things around the house, made up the blank journal pages for the Colorado trip and then decided to tempt fate and go for a ride. I didn't feel very much like riding hard today, so I cruised around in a lazy fashion. Riding hard for a bit, then riding easy. Beat the real rain even if I did seem to get a bit wet coming back from Adamsville via Sodom road. Drivers seem to have taken ass pills today .. all driving fast and all over the road. Distance: 30.39 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 148 Ave Cadence: 65, Ave Speed: 17.6 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,410.53 miles
July 26, 2008: Finally felt motivated to ride this morning. Between being beat from last weekend, the humidity, the rain, and work running me all over, I haven't been really motivated to ride. This morning I woke up and it was cool, and really nice out. WHen I started riding I felt pretty good and think some of that was due to the cool temperatures. I think that is a good sign since I think this morning is what the weather in Colorado will be like next week. I rode pretty well down to Sakonnet Point and must have looked good riding as a few of the morning riders gave me the raised fist as we passed heading in opposite directions. DId well, 2 minutes ahead of my desired pace until about 28 miles in when I got to the bottoms of the hilly portion that makes the finish of my ride. I rode as hard as I could, but after all that hammering on the flats, I didn't have a lot left and as a result, I slowed to just over a 20 mph average for ride. Time to cut the grass an then watch the TT from the Tour. Wonder who will win? Oh, and Garmin finally dumped the 2.3 update for the 705 last night. Seems to be working like a charm and they fixed several things like the elevation seems great and the auto wheel size calibration is not working! Distance: 31.61 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 166 Ave Cadence: 68, Ave Speed: 19.9 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,380.14 miles
July 22, 2008: Well, I guess I toasted my legs this weekend more than I thought. Temperature was pretty nice out tonight and while I had a frustrating day at work, I was in good spirits to come home, ride and then watch the tour stage. Well, I got out to ride late and quickly decided that my legs felt like cement. As a result, I rode a quick loop into Little Compton and returned home. Maybe tomorrow will be better! Well, averaging 20.o mph I guess they couldn't have been that much like cement, but they were, Oh and over the past week while I was gone a lot, my garden turned savage. Last night I had yellow beans and today I picked a nice 7 inch cucumber. There are loads more there too which should come up the next few days. There are also green cherry tomatoes finally and flowers on the tomatoes and peppers. Maybe September will be a good month nd I'll get something from this damn garden! Distance: 14.88 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 161 Ave Cadence: 71, Ave Speed: 20.0 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,348.53 miles
July 20, 2008: Today was the Practice Ride for the Mt Washington Hillclimb. I was curious on how I would feel considering the Ascutney race yesterday. The day started on shaky ground as I was having stomach problems and had to make a trip to the porta-john before riding. I took a more conservative approach to riding here and decided to simply use this as a training ride putting a little tempo into the climb. I felt pretty good but I really didn't push too much whcih is evident by the difference in my heart rate here than at Mt Ascutney yesterday. The climb itself was pretty uneventful with the exception that the weather was descent so there were some nice views on the way up including the fog laying in the valleys. Above the 4 mile mark, the wind kicked up and as we left the tree line, it got noticeably cooler. They were reporting a wind chill of 42 degrees at the summit and after finishing, I believe it. I got a little confused at the summit and took a left turn into the parking lot as Tom was taking my picture rather than heading up the final 23% gradient section. I tried to turn, but I was going to run into someone so I dismounted and called it a day, having ridden up the beast several times before. In the end, my time wasn't great. You can see more telemetry day from this ride at my Mt Washington Hillclimb page including a Gradient vs Distance chart. After descending and picking up my truck to head back to the house, the skies opened up and it rained cats and dogs. A check of the weather showed no hope of the weather breaking so we watched the end of the British Open on TV, had breakfast and then decided to leave a day early and head home. Along the drive through the park, I saw a Moose between Crawford Notch and Bretton Woods. Traffic was bad in places, but all in all it was a good drive home. Distance: 7.49 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 171 Ave Cadence: 57, Ave Speed: 4.6 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,333.65 miles
July 19, 2008: Today was the Mt Ascutney Uphill Bike Race. Had a long week traveling for work and had to pack when I got home from work last night. I got up very early this morning and drove the three hours to the mountain where I met Tom who stayed in Ludlow rather than driving up the night before. The weather was good, although it was hot and humid. The race itself started pretty good and I felt like I was riding smoothly for about the first mile or so and then I started to get sluggish. I had decided to experiment today with riding hard then resting then trying to surge again. That strategy did not work for me so I guess I'll return to setting a good tempo and just riding again. I finished with a time of 45:31, which was descent for me but not competitive at all compared to the average riders in my age group. For more detailed telemetry data on this race, check my Mt Ascutney Hillclimb Page. After the race, we caravanned from Ascutney to the house in Bartlett that we rent for Mt washington Races. We stopped for lunch at a Subway in White River Junction. After getting to the house, Tom and I went out to attach the bike rack we had bought to carry bikes down Mt Washington. I happen to look up when I noticed that there was a Black Bear and two cubs crossing the road no more than 100 feet away from us! We quickly retreated to the deck of the house and I tried to get a photo, but the light was bad and shooting through the woods mad focus a problem. The bears walked up the hillside behind the rental house and were never to be seen again on this trip! Distance: 7.07 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 169 Ave Cadence: 53, Ave Speed: 7.7 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,326.69 miles
July 15, 2008:Finally it looks like the back is getting better. Only a little stiff today from sitting at my desk all day. I was anxious to get out to get a ride in today as with two races this weekend< i needed to be keeping active yet not over doing it. I an traveling the rest of the week, so this is probably it before racing Ascutney on Saturday AM. I went out and it was very warm and humid today. That, combined with a very small lunch and the workload on my mind had my legs feeling like they were stuck in concrete. Anyway, after about 4 or 5 miles, they started feeling better and I really put in a couple of descent sectors before just cruising in the last 5 miles. I guess that's about right before a race anyway. . Distance: 28.19 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 151 Ave Cadence: 62, Ave Speed: 18.7 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,319.19 miles
July 13, 2008: Well in some ways my back is feeling better in others it feels real twitchy still. Decided to go test it a bit this morning riding to Sakonnet Point. I took it pretty easy the 14 miles down there as I still wasn't real sure how I felt. In reality, I feel better on the bike than I do anywhere else. Strange. Sitting is fine, laying down is OK, except when I want to move certain ways. On the other hand, I feel like a robot walking! Well, after I rode into the wind to Sakonnet POint, I turned around and decide to start riding a little hard to see how I felt. The answer is while being a little sluggish, I felt pretty good. There was one section on Main Road where a guy on a Honda Motor scooter was following just behind me for about a quarter mile or so before he pulled up next to me. When I looked over he held up three fingers, gave me a thumbs up and waved his fist in the air. I looked back and gave him the fist back saying thanks as he was following me doing 30 mph on that section of road. I was definitely wind aided here. I felt pretty good riding up and down the hills and had absolutely no pain or concerns when standing out of the saddle. When pushing while seated, I could feel some tightness. Now that I am home, the back is a bit tight and tired. I'm going to forgo cutting the grass once again to avoid lifting the full catch bags. Guess I'll sit and rest some more today. Distance: 31.7 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 144 Ave Cadence: 65, Ave Speed: 18.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,290.90 miles
July 12, 2008: Another wonderful week where I seem to have more setbacks. Went to change cat litter yesterday morning and had one of those moments where my back went kablooey! Was pretty painful for a while and I had difficulty moving all morning and was very sore in the afternoon. Did get some things done though. Joe came down and we tracked my motorcycle issue through the carburetor and found a stuck jet in the nonfunctional cylinder. After cleaning and adjustment, we reassembled the bike and now it seems to be good to go. Had a tough night sleeping as easy moves were no problem, but it I just move quickly, the back was really giving me a pain! Anyway, this AM, thinks seemed a bit better and I decided to take a test ride on the bicycle since I am supposed to be racing next weekend. I rode just about 20 easy miles and pushed up a couple of hills to see how I felt. Luckily, it seems that what ever I did doesn't completely stop me from riding the bike. Feel alright afterwards, al little tight maybe, but OK. I think I'll forgo cutting the lawn today so I don't hurt myself again lifting bags of grass. I think I'm going for a test ride of the motorcycle and then I'll relax and try biking again tomorrow. Distance: 19.58 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 133 Ave Cadence: 59, Ave Speed: 17.1 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,259.20 miles
July 8 , 2008: Not much to write today. Very humid and windy out today so I decided rather than battle the wind riding long distance, I'd battle the wind riding Big Chain Ring hill repeats. Whoo Hoo !! Rode 5 times up Old Harbor Road and then 5 times up Cold Brook Road. Both these hills come from Adamsville in Little Compton. Felt good, although i just rode them and didn't push real hard all the time. Distance: 20.8 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 149 Ave Cadence: 53, Ave Speed: 15.1 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,239.62 miles
July 6 , 2008: Not overly motivated to ride today, but I went out anyway as I need to ride some miles. I decided to take an easy ride though Dartmouth, working on riding a higher cadence. I did that pretty successfully for 25 miles and then just ride very easy the remainder of the way home. Would have ridden further, but I forgot to eat breakfast and I was really, really hungry when I got done! Oh well, serves me right for not eating enough before riding. Distance: 42.93 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 151 Ave Cadence: 78, Ave Speed: 18.0 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,212.82 miles
July 5 , 2008: Woke up the morning to a pretty good rain storm, so I sat back, had some breakfast and watched the first stage of the Tour de France. Since this was a regular stage and note a prologue or TT, it was pretty competitive with a nice uphill finish 1.5K before the finish line. Valverde came out of nowhere to show that he is still on form and maybe he'll be competitive all tour. I hope so so that there is some battling in the mountains. Anyway, it was drizzly all day today. Thought I'd get out just about lunch time when the stage finished, but just as I was thinking about it I notices that everything was soaking wet again. I waiting all day doing other things and finally about 4:30, I decided it was now or never. It looked like a blast of rain was heading just south, so I gambled and got the bike out. As it turns out there were a few others out too. I had a really good ride for me basically riding a 32 mile TT to Sakonnet Point and back. I averaged 21.6 mph for the first hour and then fell backwards to 20.4 for the overall ride. Not bad seeing the last 10 miles have a few reasonable hills in it. I was suffering pretty good today not really paying too much attention to where I was going as I was pushing pretty hard. I might have been able to go faster, but I got fixated on my back aching at about 23 miles in and I slowed for a mile or so stretching. I'm pretty happy though as this was my fastest ride since last year before Italy. Distance: 31.6 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 170 Ave Cadence: 73, Ave Speed: 20.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,175.89 miles
July 4, 2008: Not a great day here, but at least it isn't raining. Although the yard could use some rain. I did some things around the house this AM and then went for a ride after lunch. Started out feeling sluggish again, but started to ride into it a bit when after only 3 miles, I flatted. Must be de ja vu as I was reading Paul's buddy Kip's statistics yesterday from his cross country ride and I commented to Paul about all the flat tires. We've been through two Europe trips and Paul has done a third with the Maryland gang and no one has had a flat. I am expecting the worst in Colorado (lol) and here I flat today for the first time in almost 2 years. Of well, I did have a spare and a C02 flask so the change was easy, although I was nervous the remainder of the ride and frankly shortened things since I did;t want to be stuck without a spare. The flatted tube was un repairable as after it flatted, the tube also gave way from around the stem in multiple places. Not a bad ride, but nothing spectacular either. Distance: 26.3 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 162 Ave Cadence: 70, Ave Speed: 19.2 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,144.29 miles
July 3 , 2008: Tough week for riding. I've been busy at work and I also lifted something wrong last week and had a tweak in my back. As a result, I pretty much blew off riding all week. Not good when Ascutney/Washington two weeks away and Colorado is a month away. Anyway, I went out today, but the wind was so blustery, I only managed a short ride. I was lethargic anyway, but the cross winds were so bad I was having trouble holding a straight line. Not good with the increased traffic for the fourth. As a result, I did a short ride and will try again tomorrow lf the weather permits. Distance: 11.03 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 149 Ave Cadence: 64, Ave Speed: 19.5 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,117.99 miles
June 28, 2008: It's very humidout so that tends to zap the energy a bit. Interestingly it was very humid last year at this time also as my notes from last year talk about humidity. Anyway, went out at a reasonable time this AM and decided to ride along the shore to Sakonnet Point. I rode very hard all the way there suffering a bit as I went trying to get better. I completed the first 20 miles in under an hour, so I was averaging over 20 mph. Then I slowed a bit for the rest of the ride, suffering pretty good on the return trip. All in all a good ride,although I'm pretty whooped right now in the heat and humidity. Little over a month to get ready for Colorado. Distance: 33.36 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 165 Ave Cadence: 70, Ave Speed: 19.5 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,106.96 miles
June 27, 2008: Rather than go into work for only part of the day today, I decided to take the whole day off. Went for a ride this morning since it was supposed to be sunny and hot, but instead it is only cloudy and humid and looking like rain. Oh well. Not riding enough, shortened my ride to 26 miles since hadn't ridden since last Sunday. Need to fix that. Distance: 26.32 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 160 Ave Cadence: 70, Ave Speed: 18.5 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,073.60 miles
June 22, 2008: Went for a long slow ride with Paul this AM. Made a milestone, broke 1,000 miles for the summer so far. Looks like I am about 1 week behind last year as I broke 1,000 miles on June 15th last year. I thought I was riding much less, but I guess not really. The day today started cloudy, but warm and we ended with some sun and an increasing breeze. Not too much to right about, had some fun chasing a riding on Charlotte White Road up the him. He seemed to be concerned about us catching him, so I sprinted up the hill and caught him at the lights on RT 88. Other than that, a nice ride and some good preparation for Colorado. I need to figure out why I didn't get any cadence data! Distance: 60.04 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 133 Ave Cadence: N/A, Ave Speed: 16.3 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 1,047.28 miles
June 21, 2008: Nice day today, a bit windy, although not bad by any stretch. I haven't ridden much the past couple of weeks due to schedule issues, so I decided to go out on a nice easy ride to Sakonnet Point. I also was testing my new Garmin SW. The ride to sakonnet Point was great and I rode pretty descent even though I wasn't trying to work much. Felt pretty good the whole way. Lot's of folks out riding on a nice day. Turns out the new map software I bought to do routes for the Garmin Edge 705 works well. Evidently, Garmin must be paying for their new sponsorship of Slipstream-Chipotle by making their products not backwards compatible. I find it irritating that after spending a fortune on a new GPS with new maps preloaded, that I'm need to buy new maps for my computer also to plan routes. Garmin claims they never thought anyone would want to load a route they hadn't ridden yet. Hello, anyone home .. isn't that the only reason to spend money on a GPS? Oh well, it does have some nice features and now I can preplan a ride also. grumble, Grumble .... Distance: 32.0 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 162 Ave Cadence: 66, Ave Speed: 19.0 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 987.24 miles
June 16, 2008: The weather isn't great the ;last few days. COld and damp yesterday and cold and damp today. Yesterday was more wet than damp so at least today was rideable. I left work and came home luke warm to riding since it was cool, foggy and I have lot's to do. Anyway, I got on the bike and went to ride the Tour de Adamsville course that I rode on Saturday. I was halfheartedly riding with the intention to only ride part ways and then come back home due to the weather. As it turns out, I rode the whole course and chopped 2:24 off my already descent time for me on Saturday. Hmm, wish I could get some consistent days in a row riding and maybe I could get a bit better at this. Anyway, I finished, cold and wet by the time I got home. There was a very thick fog down in Acoaxet. Distance: 30.9 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 165 Ave Cadence: 69, Ave Speed: 19.6 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 955.24 miles
June 14, 2008:It's been a long week and I hadn't ridden since Monday. As a result, I figured that I shouldn't do a long ride, but rather I should just get a good tempo ride in. I decided to do stay locally and ride back and forth through Adamsville which I call the Tour de Adamsville. I passed though town 4 times and covered every road into and out of town including all the hills. Nothing dramatic except I felt pretty good and even with al the short hills, I managed to keep an average speed of 19.1 mph. I'm happy. Distance: 30.88 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 163 Ave Cadence: 66, Ave Speed: 19.1 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 924.34 miles
June 9, 2008:Well my computer died at work today .. I have stuff sue out the you know what and there isn't really anything I can do about it. I get my new computer in 2 weeks so I need to find someway to get through the next 2 weeks. So what did I do on the hottest day of the year where they claim the heat index was 100 in New Bedford .. I went out and did a really hard ride this evening. The ride to Sakonnet Point was beautiful as most of the ride was much cooler than it is here at the house. I also discovered a really neat feature of the EDGE 705. If you are riding a course that you have done before, you can pace yourself against your previous ride. I figured that out about 5 miles into the ride after taking it pretty easy in the heat. I noticed I was .5 miles behind the pacer and since the temperature was cooling the further south I rode, I decided to chase! I was able to close that .5 to 50 yards by the time I reached Sakonnet POint and then I tried to maintain the next 15 plus miles all the way home. The pacer algorithm is pretty neat as it seems they must look ahead to match time and distance as I could see the pacer slowing on hills and opening on descents while I was climbing. Oh well, an exhausting ride and while I was fine when riding, since getting home the sweat is pouring off me and it just will not stop even after a shower. Of well! Distance: 32.40 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 164 Ave Cadence: 68, Ave Speed: 19.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 893.46 miles
June 8, 2008:Well, the hot is definitely here. Went out very early for me to ride, around 0700 this morning to get done before it got too hot. I rode the same course that Paul, Bill and I rode last weekend on June 1. I also was checking out a new theory on how to get the EDGE 705 to get me through a course. More on that later. It was really nice riding that early as the streets were empty and the dew left a fresh smell in the air. Also, the animals were still out running around so there were things to watch while you rode. I saw a Sow and her piglets running around in Dartmouth, a few cats that were wondering why someone was out and many chipmunks who really get freaked when you ride by. The ride was pretty uneventful and it started getting arm towards the end. I started seeing riders about half way through the ride. One guy I spotted while he was heading up hotel hill and I was still back on Drift Road. I decided to try and catch him, even though I wasn't riding too hard. It took about a mile before I finally came along side of him. He was wearing a 7-Eleven jersey which should have been a clue, but I keyed in on the camel back on his back and thought he was a hack. I said hello I a slowly rode past him on the up gradient and then took off. Suddenly I noticed a shadow on my wheel and I'll be dammed but he sped up and was following me. I decided to really kick it into gear and try to drop him as we turned onto Cornell Road, but he held on pretty good and then passed me. Well, I couldn't have that so I chased on got back on, recovering until I could attack him again. Well this went on for about 5 miles over rolling up and down hills and luckily he went straight in Adamsville and I turned to head over the big hill to Acoaxet. Good thing because while I wasn't going to give in and neither was he, I was a hurting puppy. Good practice as we were over 25 mph for much of the rolling road, but I could have used the animal to help put him away! Needless to say, I got about half way up the big hill and exploded to where I was crawling along at 5.5 mph. Much different from how I attacked the hill last week with Paul and Bill! Now on to the EDGE 705. Turns out that course I loaded really acted more like a history file rather than a course as I got no turn announcements. I did have a rock solid route to follow and alarms when I missed a turn. While not optimal, that is much better than no knowing when it was going to recalculate a route and send you 10 miles out of your way. I think that may be due to the fact that I saved the route as a .TCX file rather than .CRS file which is specific for a course. I need to do more experiments . Distance: 48.16 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 157 Ave Cadence: 63, Ave Speed: 17.6 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 861.06 miles
June 7, 2008:Was supposed to be very hot and humid today, but I woke up to overcast skies and some fog. It was humid, but nit overly warm .. yet. The sun broke thorough about 10:00 so I decided to head out for my ride and since it wasn't that windy yet, I headed to Sakonnet Point. I started out so so, but felt of so I started pushing pretty hard. Turns out I had a descent day tiding for me. My back was acting up a bit which tells me I was working pretty hard as it hasn't bothered me much the last few rides where I wasn't working quite so hard. Traffic was heavy in places and light in others, but everyone was driving like maniacs. I guess the gas prices haven't convinced people to drive slower yet. Nothing much happened today, passed a few riders, but not as many out as I would have expected on a nice day. . Distance: 32.28 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 165 Ave Cadence: 68, Ave Speed: 19.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 812.90 miles
June 3, 2008: Humm, bad day today and I guess maybe getting home for a rode was a good idea. This morning my work Laptop started really acting up. It's been on life support, however today it wouldn't boot. After an hour of crashing I packed up and went off to my meetings. Late this afternoon, I finally made my way to the office and the computer really seemed dead. After about 30 minutes of trying I decided to try the backhanded fist against the hard drive compartment. Well, wouldn't you know, the thing booted. I immediately hooked up my back up drive and started dumping the entire hard drive. I'll find out tomorrow morning if it completed without dying. Then I can see if it will boot again! %$#%#%!@@. Anyway, I got home and went on a quick ride that I call the Little Compton Loop. Felt really good and I rode well too. Garmin still acting up so I'm on hold from customer service now as I write this. Was warm and humid today .... I was able to get a good sweat working and it felt good. Distance: 25.12 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 160 Ave Cadence: 66, Ave Speed: 18.7 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 780.60 miles
June 1, 2008:Bill and Paul came by today and went for a ride this morning. It was supposed to be warm and sunny. but that didn't happen until later in the ride. When we left, it was cold, foggy and damp. Decided to stay away form the beach so we did some loops over in Dartmouth. Not a fast paced ride, but an enjoyable one despite the fog. Nothing strange happened so that is about it I guess. The altitude function seemed to be correct so I'm trying adding some graphics into the log for today. I had the unit outside sitting for about 15 minutes before we left. I wonder if the settle time is just that long? Distance: 50.56 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 129 Ave Cadence: 56, Ave Speed: 15.6 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 755.50 miles
May 29 , 2008: Long tiring ride today. Rode up through Rochester, Lakeville and Freetown. Ride was made harder by the fact that I rode 50 yesterday and it's still early in the season. Had more GPS difficulties with the new Garmin Edge 705. Didn't seem to want to run the course I had set up .. need to figure that out quickly. I rode a little slower today than yesterday, seemed to be a bit more wind when all was said and done, That combined with tires legs and irritations from the GPS now working and I spent some time on the side of the road trying to figure out where I was. Good ride, but I'm tired now, so not much else to write. Distance: 71.21 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 146 Ave Cadence: 59, Ave Speed: 16.2 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 704.94 miles
May 28 , 2008: Had to hang around today until FEDEX delivered my new cell phone. Once that came in at about 2 this afternoon, I decided to head out for a ride. The weather was nice, although it wasn't terribly warm. The wind seemed to be down a bit too, although that changed as the afternoon progressed. I set out not entirely clear how far I was going to ride. I had thoughts about riding around Dartmouth, but when I started riding, it was a little chilly, so I decided to take it one section at a time. If I had to guess at the start, I would have turned at the beach and finished at about 20 miles. As it turns out, I was feeling alright despite being a little chilly. My calves were very tight and that had me concerned, but I rode on anyway, just conscious not to overextend too much. When I got to the beach, I rode on and then made the decision in Dartmouth to turn right and head towards New Bedford instead of heading home. By the time I reached the beach, right in an direction except for north was brutal due to the wind. Regardless, I made it through South Dartmouth and made the turn back north eventually expecting to reach UMASS and old Westport Road. Well, being the first time I was over that way this year, I missed a turn and next thing I knew I was at a stop light at RT 6 near the New Bedford boarder. Now I was only less than a mile from where I had expected to be, but that is a nasty mile at that time of the afternoon though Faunce Corner on RT 6, so I decided to back track and look for the turn I missed. I found it after riding an extra 4 or 5 miles and soon enough I was back on track on Old Westport Road heading towards the head of the Westport River and the route home. When I reached Drift Road, I noticed another rider and it turned out to be the guy from Little Compton who I run into periodically. He seemed tired also and we rode a steady pace back up Drift to Charlotte White to Sodom, Narrow, and then Crandall. He turned right on to King to head his way and I continued home. I was pretty tired when I got home. This was the longest ride of the year so far and it seemed like I was battling the wind the whole way. It was also one of my fastest rides. Who'd have thought that as I wasn't trying to ride hard, particularly since the wind was so annoying. I had intended to ride long tomorrow or Friday, so we'll see what those days bring. Distance: 50.85 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 153 Ave Cadence: 68, Ave Speed: 18.7 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 633.73 miles
May 27 , 2008: Well, first day of the week for vacation (not including weekend and Memorial Day) and I thought it would be a riding washout, but about noon, the sun actually came out. As a result, I had some lunch and got out on the bike. Still having issues with the Garmin, although the map crash feature has been fixed with the latest SW patch. Now I am off with the displayed speed and distance by 15%. The recorded data seems fine, but the displayed data seems to be off. As a result, I can't work my splits or use the 5 mile alarm I set up as a motivational tool until it s working again. Did a variation on my Little Compton Acoaxet ride, although I skipped the actual loop to Acoaxet due to the winds almost knocking me off my bike. Felt like I was riding OK and as it turns out, I had a descent ride. My climbing legs are getting stronger and I'm able to sprint up most of the hills around here. Need to try something longer, maybe later this week. Distance: 22.88 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 153Ave Cadence: 62, Ave Speed: 18.0 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 582.88 miles
May 25 , 2008: Wow, finally a nice warm day. Of course we still have the wind, although it seems less here at home than it was near the water in Westport. I went out this morning and turned over the new garden. Had hoped to finish it, but after 3 hours of digging up New England's best crop of damn rocks, I stopped at the initial time. Tomorrow I'll need to put in the compost and organic dirt I bought to get it ready to plant. Just the perfect primer for a bike ride .. digging rocks for three hours. Well, I was pretty tired when I set out this afternoon for a ride and got quite irked when I noticed that the GPS distance was definitely off. Yesterday, Paul and I noticed that my distance was different than his. well, when I got home, the distance that loaded into my computer was correct and it was very different that what was reading on the display of the unit. I figured out today that the display is off by 15%. I have no idea if that is something I did or if it is something driven by the last software update. Anyway, I rode a route I am riding this year that O call the reverse Westport Loop. I go home to Adamsville, then up Sodom Road to the head of the Westport RIver where there were lots of folks putting Kayaks into the river. I think I need to get one of those .. it looks fun. Anyway, then I loop back and forth around Westport and Dartmouth by Horseneck Beach until I head up Hotel Hill and back into Adamsville before coming home. Today I rode that and then headed to the river in TIverton before riding Bulgarmarsh Hill and crawling home. It was a good ride and a beautiful day, even if the wind was still present. Now it's time to shower and watch the Giro Stage though the Dolomites so I can remember suffering on the Passo Fedaia which is where today's stage ends. The last long stretch before the switchbacks was pure hell. ( Read Journal ) . Distance: 46.91 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 143Ave Cadence: 61, Ave Speed: 17.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 560.00 miles
May 24 , 2008: Nice morning for a ride, but the wind made it a bit chilly. Rode down to the main street area in Tiverton where I met up with Paul. This is very late for our first ride, but finally the schedules and weather have cooperated enough to allow us to get together for our regular weekend riding adventure. In general, it was an uneventful ride, but it felt good to be getting our. We rode south along the river to four corners area and the then cut back across Tiverton to head towards Acoaxet in order to avoid some of the wind off the water. We looped back and forth across the ridge just south of Adamsville and I made a pretty good run up Old harbor Hill. Things went smoothly until we reached the beach area and then it was into the wind for the ride back into town. It would have been really nice without that extra wind blowing, Nothing much else to say today, time to go work in the garden for a while and then some quick shopping and then it;s time to see if I can stay awake to watch today's Giro d'Italia stage. Distance: 43.04 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 144 Ave Cadence: 63, Ave Speed: 16.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 513.09 miles
May 23 , 2008: Just a short ride today. Weather not bad, warmer, but still windy.Damn I am tired of this wind. Start vacation today and the weather is supposed to be better. Hope to get some longer rides in this week. Time to go work on the garden a bit. Distance: 16.63 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 153 Ave Cadence: 68, Ave Speed: 17.9 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 470.05 miles
May 18 , 2008:Went out with the intention of riding easy and ended up pushing a little throughout the ride. Ran slow first 5 miles and then had three 5 mile increments over 20 mph before settling down to an 17-18 mph range for the second 20 miles. Rode my "reverse loop" through Westport. Still quite a bit of wind around today. Was chilly at the start of the ride and I almost was hit by a cow on Crandall road. I was about 2 miles into the ride when I saw this large animal running towards me .. turns out it was a very big cow that had gotten away. He seemed startled to see me and I was definitely surprised to see him. When I realized he wasn't going to charge in front of me, I picked up speed and sprinted by. Poor cow was scared and confused running in and out of traffic.He could be hamburger for all I know now! Anyway, felt good until about 40 miles when my back started acting up. I guess the good news is it is holding off for about 90 minutes before getting tired now. Distance: 40.12 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 160 Ave Cadence: 70, Ave Speed: 18.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 453.42 miles
May 17 , 2008: Rainy morning, looked like another crappy day, but the sun came out by the time I was done watching today's Giro stage. Went out and started working on the new garden a bit and decided I was going to forgo the raised bed idea for the garden and see if things grow this summer. As a result, I'll just be working to where I plan on putting in a nice raised bed and next year I'll get stones and do it right if the woodchucks and deer avoid this years garden. As a result, I spent all morning raking stones and man was I tired before I rode. I left home at about 14:00 and I was really surprised at how good I felt on the bile. I rode easy for the first few miles and then decided to ramp up the riding a bit until I was in a full blown heavy tempo ride to Sakonnet point. Ride really well getting there in just about 45 minutes which is about 20 miles an hour. Not bad considering i was lollygagging the first few miles. Once I turned back around at Sakonnet point, I fought awful crosswinds and the entire way back up the Sakonnet River. As a result, I drastically slowed the second half of the ride. Once again, it seems like you are always riding into the wind around here. Passed a few people riding horses by the river and almost got blown over at Fogland Beach. Nice weather, actually broke into a full sweat on the Bulgarmarsh Hill. Hopefully tomorrow will give a good day too. Distance: 32.42 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 164 Ave Cadence: 68, Ave Speed: 18.2 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 413.30 miles
May 14 , 2008: Nice day today. Had hoped to get out of work early to get a good ride in. No such luck, although I did get a decent ride after work. Still windy, although it's finally warmer. Rode hard for first 15 miles then road easier on the way in. Continued doing the loops over the hills in Little Compton between Adamsville and Acoaxet. Feeling better, but still not there yet. Distance: 25.28 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 160 Ave Cadence: 70, Ave Speed: 17.9 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 380.88 miles
May 11 , 2008: Another nice day with a cool, chilly wind. Went our dressed in thermal clothes again and stopped to put on my hat after leaving the house and riding down to the main road. Was pretty windy and cool, but not unbearable if dressed properly. Decided to ride one of my opposite direction routes and headed off to Adamsville then into Westport and up Sodom Road to Charlotte White where I headed towards the Westport River then towards Horseneck Beach, across RT 88 and back into Adamsville. I felt really good during the first 20 miles of riding and averaged some of my better 5 mile times this year. I then decided to hit Acoaxet beach and had intended to ride a few loops and head to the river in Tiverton, but when I got to the beach and battled the wind for 5 miles back into Adamsville, I decided I was pretty tired and that I'd just head home which I did. Overall I'm happy since I really didn't crash or have back problems until around 18 miles, so while I'm still not in great shape, the fitness is starting to come back. Now if I can only get good weather and time to ride. Distance: 36.4 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 159 Ave Cadence: 71, Ave Speed: 17.3 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 355.60 miles
May 10 , 2008: What a lousy week it's been ... work has been bad, weather has been bad, not much has gone right. I guess today must be the change of all that. Started out watching the TTT of the Giro d'Italia which Slipstream Chipotle won with a great ride. The weather was rainy here into morning, so I had decided it was another day without riding/ Fortunately. it stopped about the time the race finished. I had ordered a new pin for the jets on my carburetor for my motorcycle, so I replaced that and think I may have fixed the problem I was having. I need to go out for a ride to see. After that, the sun came out around lunch time, so I decided to cut the lawn when it turned into a chilly but pretty nice day When I finished with the lawn, I decided what the heck, I'll go for a nice easy ride since the wind was blowing pretty good. I got dressed with my thermal shirt and boy am I glad I did as the wind was a bit colder than I had originally thought. Anyway, I set out to have a leisurely ride to Acoaxet and back but in reality, I felt pretty good and actually ride quite hard for parts of the ride. I decided to loop back and forth over a couple of the hills into and out of Adamsville and then headed to Acoaxet Beach where it was quite cold and windy. Decided I'd quit there and ride home along the Westport River and back up Crandall Road from Adamsville. The wind was brutal on the way back, but I felt pretty good regardless. Now its time for a blackberry smoothy and a shower before getting some dinner. . Distance: 25.31 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 168 Ave Cadence: 67, Ave Speed: 17.7 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 319.20 miles
May 7 , 2008: Been a while since I was able to ride since I was in England all last week and then Syracuse this week so far. Woke up this AM and just felt burnt out so I took the day off, did a few things from home and then took a short ride late this AM. Felt pretty good, although I didn't go very far. I was able to ride pretty hard for sections and then I took it easy for a while. Maybe I can get back to normal as I think travel is subsiding for a bit. Distance: 13.09 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 151 Ave Cadence: 64, Ave Speed: 17.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 293.89 miles
April 26, 2008: Nice sunshine, but cold wind. Back to riding in tights and cold weather gear. Hard to be motivated when I know I will not be riding all next week until I get back from England. Some good spots, some bad spots. I was more interested in getting back to go some things around the yard today. Distance: 17.93 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 147 Ave Cadence: 62, Ave Speed: 17.7 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 280.80 miles
April 22, 2008: Little chilly due to windy today, but I knew I wasn't going to rid the next two days because on work travel. I went out and immediately ride into the wind heading south. I decided I was tired and didn't feel like riding too far so when I reached Adamsville, I decided to do a couple of loops around the hill on Cold Brook Road. Its a good climb, max 13% with an eyeball average of 8% for 1/2 mile. I did three loops up the hill, across Old Stone Church Road and back down the hill on Old Stone Church before heading back up Cold Brook Road hill all over again. Not bad then I descended back across Bramblewood Cross Road to Crandall Road and home. Distance: 15.56 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 149 Ave Cadence: 60, Ave Speed: 17.2 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 262.87 miles
April 19, 2008: Well, I had a good ride today, although not yet working very fast or feeling fit, but a good ride none the less as it was my longest of the year. I set out to Sakonnet Point while the wind was lower in the morning. Was quite nice, even at 0900. As t turns out the wind was there, but expected to increase. The nice part is that it was an Easterly wind for a change. That is good since most of the rides around here are heavily North-South> Anyway, I made it to Sakonnet Point feeling pretty good as I rode at a leisurely pace. I had a snack and then started to head back north. I decided to head down Swamp Road in order to work my way to Acoaxet Beach. It was nice and warmer here so I took a short detour down Long Pasteur Lane and Shaw Road. Here I ran into Village Idiot # 1, the lady driving the BMW SUV who doesn't know how to signal with her blinker. Not a real biggie, but I waited and waited for her to get to the intersection and then she turned without signaling and gave me a dirty look. Oh well, no real harm, no foul. I continued onto Shore Road, John Sisson Road and finally onto Long Highway. Here I ran into Village Idiot #2 .. the leave burner. I don't know what gets into people here in RI where they are driven to burn leaves every spring and fall. There are fires all over, descent winds and it's very dry. All the news stations are cautioning about the fire danger, yet these idiots are driven to burn their leaves. To make it worse, the last two days after riding, I've had almost and allergic feeling. I thought it just might be allergies, but now I am convinced it's due to smoke inhalation. Anyway, Village Idiot #2, had 5 fires burning by the road with leaves in his culvert. He was standing in the middle of the smoke with a real big Cheshire Cat smile on his face. I'm dying from choking and this Village Idiot is smiling away, so as I rode by I said "What an Idiot" to myself which prompted him to spazz out and started screaming at me. I said "You're an Idiot", signaled how impressed I was with his smile and kept on riding. Lovely. Anyway, still enjoying my ride, I looped back and forth into Adamsville over John Dyer and Old Harbor Road before heading to Acoaxet Beach. It was nice down there, but stank of fish .. No matter, I continued on by and headed back to Adamsville by River Road. Next I headed up the hill on Old Stone Church Road and down East Road into Tiverton Four Corners. From here, I headed to the River and rode north along Seapowet Ave and back to Main Road. I followed along the normal route around Nanaquaket Pond and then past Evelyn's to climb the hill on Bulgarmarsh and home. Good ride, although I've found another bug in the Garmin 705. It seems to lock up periodically and requires a power on reset. The only data that is lost is the locked up dated and the data from the power on time. Looks like I need to call customer support on that one. Distance: 46.46 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 138 Ave Cadence: 57, Ave Speed: 16.5 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 247.31 miles
April 18, 2008: Rode the same ride I did Saturday until Adamsville. Then I took a slightly alternate route home. Really nice day, 67 degrees with some wind. No rain today like I say Saturday. First 20 miles was great, then I tired and the second 15 mile segment was rough. Of course It was much more uphill in the second segment. Distance: 36.48 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 160 Ave Cadence: 60, Ave Speed: 17.9 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 200.85 miles
April 17, 2008: Finally got myself out of work at a reasonable time when it wasn't too cold or late. Thought today looked good at 65 degrees, but when I set out it turned out to be much more windy than I thought. Battled around a short loop being tired and fighting the wind so I quit early and only rode 13 miles today. Still nice to be out, but it needed to be a lot nicer for me to stay out when I was this tired to start with! Distance: 13.22 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 147 Ave Cadence: 62, Ave Speed: 17.5 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 164.37 miles
April 12, 2008: Today was supposed to be a rainy miserable day and despite a thunder shower first thing this morning, it was starting to look like it might be a good day to ride. After watching the final stage in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, I got dressed for riding and headed out. looked like the sun was going to break though, so I wore a thermal shirt, and shorts and brought my leg and arm warmers with me. I left the rain jacket at home since it was starting to brighten significantly. Boy was that a mistake! I decided to check the wind and ride a route that would put me into the wind on the start of the ride so I could have an easier ride home. I seem to always be torturing myself with long rides home into the wind. As a result, I headed down Narrow road to Sodom and turned right instead of the normal left. I rode on and the sun did actually come out for a while. I decided to head towards Horseneck Beach, but to take the long route since despite the wind, it was quite comfortable riding. I headed down Charlotte White and took a left on Drift Road heading towards the head of the Westport River. I followed around the top of the river and took a right onto Pine Hill Road where I road until I took the fork onto Old Pine Hill Road reached Hix Bridge Road. While the sun had gone away, I was feeling pretty good and it was chilly, but not cold, so I decided to take a Right onto Gidley Road and the another Right onto Division Road to head towards the beach. As happened this time of the year, the closer I got to the beach, the colder and windier it got. I was pretty cold when I reached Horseneck Road and decided to head back inland towards Westport rather than ride though the beach area. It looked a bit ominous as I headed north, but I thought it was just fog coming back in so when I headed back across Hix Bridge to Drift, I took another left and went back towards the beach rather than heading home. I was getting tired from riding in the cold, but still was too stubborn to stop and put on my leg warmers. All was good until I reached RT 88 and was getting ready to climb Hotel Hill. At that moment, a large clap of Thunder rang out and it started to sprinkle. As I rode up Hotel Hill (all 13% of it), I started to regret not having my rain jacket. Nothing I could do now, I was still 10 miles from home, so I rode on. As i neared Cornell Road, it started raining harder and a few miles after that, it was a complete downpour. Now I wouldn't have minded if it was 80 degrees out, but when its 55 and windy, a rainstorm just means you are cold! I continued onto Adamsville and then home, but i ended up with a nice 30 minute ride in a ice cold rain. That'll wake you up> When I got home, I'm not sure which was dirtier, me or the bike. I had dirt and road grime everywhere and standing pools of water in my shoes. Oh well, just another day of spring riding in New England. Distance: 32.61 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 158, Ave Cadence: 61, Ave Speed: 18.1 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 151.15 miles
April 10, 2008: Finally a beautiful day out. A whopping 71 degrees when I got home this afternoon. Went riding in shorts and short sleeve shirt for the first time this year. I was chilly as I moved further south towards the water, but north od Adamsville is was really nice riding. I decided to head towards Sakonnet Point and rode a normal ride heading that way. When I reached the center of Little Compton, it was getting a bit windy and definitely was colder so rather than head down to the point, I turned on Simmons Road and then left onto Main and another left onto East Main Road heading back towards Tiverton. When I got back to Pelham Road, took a right onto it and then another right on Long Highway heading towards Acoaxet. Before heading to Acoaxet, I took a left onto John Dyer Road where I climbed back over the hill into Adamsville before taking another right back to Acoaxet over Old Harbor Road. It began to get colder as I descended back over the hill towards Acoaxet and as I too the right onto Howland Road and then ono Atlantic Ave, it was downright freezing! I road as hard as I could and decided against stopping to put on leg and arm warmers figuring in another 5 miles when I got back to Adamsville, it would be warm again. Well, it was, but by that time, I was about 25 miles in am my back was starting to act up. As a result, I decided to climb Adamsville Road into Westport and then onto Sodom Road where I knew the warm west breeze would be comfortable. And it was .. except not I had to ride into the wind, tired with an achy back the remaining 5 miles home. No biggie, it's part of the deal. When I got home, it was still pretty nice here so all in all, another good ride and it really was nice to be out today! Distance: 32.25 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 160, Ave Cadence: 63, Ave Speed: 18.1 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 118.54 miles
April 8, 2008: Not a bad day out today, still chili, but by far the warmest day in a long time. Work was particularly frustrating today, so I left ASAP and came home to ride a bit. Left home and decided to ride towards the beach in Westport, so I headed off turned down King Street, to Lake and on to East Road where I crossed and took Stone Church Road into Adamsville. It was chili, but only really on the downhill. I bet it was really nice earlier in the day. Anyway, I headed through Adamsville and turned down Cornell road. Not too far along, I noticed that the Peepers were out telling me that perhaps spring was finally starting to come around. Well, it started getting colder, the closer I got to the beach, so I headed down Hotel Hill, crossed Rt 88 and headed back north along Drift Road. After crossing Hix Bridge Road, I continues along until reaching Charlotte White Way where I turned towards home. Something was happening on Main Road as I went by as the Westport Cops had the road blocked off. no matter, didn't impact me so I crossed Main and kept going until I reached Sodom Road where I turned south until I reached narrow Ave. Here I turned back towards Tiverton and noticed that I I passed one of the farms, there were probably about a dozen young calves chained to some large dog sheds eating dinner. Guess it was a banner year for new calves. Anyway, headed home and passed one of the regulars out riding. When I got home, I was pretty tired and my back was starting to kill me. I need to go back and see what I did last winter as I had o back pain last spring. I decided to not post any more graphs until I could figure out what the GPS was telling me. It doesn't give the same staring altitude as finishing, so I need to figure out what settings need to be fixed since I am starting and ended at exactly the same spot. Distance: 22.64 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 156, Ave Cadence: 64, Ave Speed: 17.4 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 86.29 miles
April 5, 2008: Well, I started today thinking I would be outside riding tomorrow and finished doing a descent ride of 31+ miles. The weather around here can be really finicky this time of the year and while it was supposed to be rainy, it there was now a good chance of partly cloudy conditions. I woke up and it was drizzly and foggy out so I started playing weather man. It looked like the best conditions might be about 2:00 in the afternoon. As it turns out I could see a patch of clearing ad temperatures warming across CT as the morning progressed. I decided about 1:30 that it was 48 degrees out and perhaps that might be as good as it would get. I got dressing in my cold weather gear and headed out deciding I'd ride as far as I felt good and the weather held. After about 5 minutes, the sun started coming out and it warmed appreciable, enough that I decided leaving my wind/rain jacket in my pocket was a good idea. Rode around at an easy pace checking out a few new neighborhoods that had started taking shape off King Street and then headed towards Sakonnet Point, still not knowing how far I'd ride. Soon it was really nice and I was hammering pretty good on my second 5 mile segment. As a result, I decided to go on to the point. I really rode hard in my second and third 5 mile segments averaging 20.6 and 21.5 mph in those segments. Then .... I burnt out and after making it to the point, and turning back into the easy wind that had picked up, I decided I'd ride on to Acoaxet even though I was quite burnt. After making it back to Swamp Road, saying hello to a couple of other cyclists, I started working towards Acoaxet. Problem is it was getting colder and I was getting more and more tired. When my back started talking to me, I decided I'd just head home and call it a good ride and end the day. I pulled over, put on my wind jacket and literally plodded my way home. After getting here, I felt pretty good, but it's clear I am not nearly in as good shape as I was last year at this time. Oh well, I peaked too early anyhow last year. This year I need to be ready in early August. Oh, trying something new by including a plot of my ride data. I know it is small, but I am trying to keep the file sizes down. Distance: 31.75 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 156, Ave Cadence: 64, Ave Speed: 17.1 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 63.65 miles
March 24, 2008: It's been 10 days since my first outdoors ride and while it was cold today, it was nice to get out again. Had an eye doctor's appointment after lunch today so I decided to no go back to work and went for a ride instead. It seemed warmer than it actually was, but hey .. I was riding and not working. Did another short ride, not too fast since I was bundled up like it was mid winter. Rode into Westport on Narrow Ave and almost was hit by the years first a-hole driving a crappy RX-7. Should have kicked his side panels in, but I would have borne the worst part of the deal, so on I went! Headed back into Adamsville and took a left to climb the hill on Old Harbor Road. It was getting chili, so I decided to cut over to Pottersville Road and head home rather then head to Acoaxet Beach which was my plan. So I headed back along Long Highway and finally back into Tiverton and onto King Road and home. Good ride, nothing special but at least I was outside for a while. Distance: 18.66 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 152, Ave Cadence: 61, Ave Speed: 16.0 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 31.9 miles
March 14, 2008:Well had a good surprise today and found that the temperature was pretty nice and with no wind, I decided to get home in order to break out the bike for the first time this year. It's been a poor winter for me training wise as I was never able to maintain a consistent schedule. Work has been relentless, particularly with travel. Luckily I hope that will be tailing off in the next few weeks. It has been bad this week as I didn't get into the house until about 2 AM this morning from my trip to Austin Tx. Stay clear of United Airlines .. not one of life's better experiences. Anyway, had to be up and at work for a meeting, so I was pretty tired to star with. Add on the lack of exercise and extra weight from the winter and it wasn't a spectacular ride. I will say that it was very nice to be off the Computrainer. That thing is a blessing for winter training, but even riding front of an HD TV was getting old. Well today I rode out towards Adamsville, and hooked a left out Narrow Road into Westport. The road conditions are pretty good despite there being sandy spots. I think all the rain has washed away a lot of the winter salt and debris. When I reached Sodam Road, I took a right and headed towards Adamsville Road and the descent into the town. Since I felt alright, I decided to head up Cold Brook Road though my little 10% switchback and over the hill to Long Highway which I took home. It was a little chilly by the end of the ride and looked like rain, so I decided against riding a little further. I did get to test out my new toy ... my Garmin 705 which finally integrates my GPS and bike sensor packages. I really like this unit although it does take a bit of getting used to as it isn't quite as flexible as my Garmin Vista Cx. The analysis SW has some nice features, but frankly needs some additional work to be comparable to the Polar diary. Looks like the weather isn't great the next few days, so as usual this time of the year, it will be a few days until I get back out. Distance: 15.2 miles, Ave Heart Rate: 148, Ave Cadence: 65, Ave Speed: 16.6 mph, Cumulative 2008 Miles: 15.2 miles