MFP Cycling Club

Nice ride this morning, about 17 miles of rolling hills. I'm trying to up my frequency of cycling, and let the mileage take care of itself. Al has mapped out a 30 mile ride for Wednesday morning, so looking forward to that.

The bike saddle saga continues. I talked to a bunch of people about various saddles over the weekend. This morning, not wanting to ride on the old seat, I put on the seat from my hybrid bike, and it was surprisingly comfy! So think I may look for something similar to that. Stay tuned for the continuing adventures of Lisa's rear end! :laugh:

Hi everyone, I just found this thread yesterday and read through all the posts. Everyone is doing such a great job putting in the miles! I'd love to join in on all the fun! I recently got into cycling about a month ago, and have been averaging about 125 miles a week. My goal for this week is 150 miles, if the weather holds out that is.
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Kelly :-D

What did you do for exercise before cycling? To put in that kind of mileage after only a month can shread muscles and joints and lay you up for quite a while. Welcome to the group!

I guess I did make it sound like I just jumped on my bike one day and took off. :laugh: I've actually been an avid runner and have done some cycling to cross train, although that was on a MTB. Since I have gotten my road bike, I've steadily increased my miles based on how I feel. If I get back from a ride and felt I could have gone further then I do that on my next ride. I'm also pretty lucky in that I can get out 3-4 times a week. I've been doing 3 rides of 25 -30 miles during the week and 1 longer ride on the weekend which has been between 40-50 miles. So I guess I don't feel like I've been doing too much, but I'm always open to suggestions / advice.

Welcome Ellem86. No the rain itself won't hurt you but remember to have dry clothes available as well as a way to dry your shoes. Wet feet can become a problem really fast and waylay your plans.

Lisa, I look forward to reading your tush's saddle adventures. :bigsmile:

I took the too narrow and hard factory supplied saddle that came with my bike [a Trek 7.7 FX] off... trading it [my bike dealer is very accommodating] for a hybrid seat that isn't too much wider, but has some memory foam and springs. It's very comfy without interfering with peddllng.

Well, got out biking early this morning. My odometer isn't working, again!, so I'm not sure exactly how far my bike buddy and I went, but we've done this route before and all in, just biking not including any stops, we rode for about 75 minutes. I foolishly didn't eat anything before venturing out so I really felt my energy diminish after about 5 miles. We stopped for a light breakfast at the halfway point and that made a huge difference. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

There are NO hills here in S. FL, so we must use highway overpasses to get the same training and calorie burning effect as others elsewhere would get from climbing rolling hills. On today's route, we had to cross overpasses 4 times, 2 of them into the teeth of some brisk wind... .but coming home, wheeeee !!

We passed a guy all decked out in his wild head to toe lycra racing attire, on a very very expensive and showy bike... and when he got to the overpass, he turned around, not wanting to do a hill. I've seen him do this before. silly man. Who's he fooling?

It's not that everyone needs to climb hills or is in shape to do it, but if you're going to kit yourself out like a racing pro, without doing the work, that's just lame.

Yesterday I got stung 5 times by a hidden colony of yellow jackets while weed trimming. :sad: I went to bed at 5:30 pm and got up at 7 am. I felt much better. :flowerforyou: So I went for my ride. Well, at 9 miles from home, I realized I had overdone my trip. :yawn: I had lost all my energy and 9 miles from home. I made it back, but probably only topped 10 mph. That is a drawback for cycling vs a spinning class. You can't just give up, get off the bike and quit. you have to get home.

That is also why I don't want to cycle before going to work. I have a fear that I will have a bike problem like a flat or such, and have to walk back thus making me late to work. I am a school teacher, so my class would be unattended. On work days, i will have to cycle afterward.

What is the worst thing that has happened to you? not that my getting tired was my worst thing...(knock on wood)

Skywalker... You ride in the Poconos?... some friends have a summer home on Lake Wallenpaupac [sp?] so I've seen the hills during visits. Kudos to you for biking there.

Ellem86, I've visited London a couple times. I can't imagine riding in that kind of traffic... but it's a good way to get around town, that's for sure, even if it is full of hazards. I worry less about other bikers, but trucks and buses are a problem everywhere. They have blind spots and we bikers become invisible. And then there are the car doors that open up unexpectedly just as we're passing by... yikes.:noway:

gwynth ... ah yes, strandings! always a bit of worry. I've had the odd flat tire and fatigue that's left me on the side of the road. I always carry a cell phone with me if biking alone, with friends who have larger cars on speed dial.

But ya know, I also have found that fellow bikers passing by are a helpful lot and are often willing to lend a hand or tool ... even when I'm just taking a breather, passing bikers will ask if all is well... and I try to "pay it back" for others.

Of course, it also helps to have your bike in good repair and well tuned. I take mine into my dealer every couple of months for a check up. Our dealer offers life of the bike free checks and minor tuneups with each purchase. This is yet another reason to buy one's bike from a reputable specialist bike shop and not a discount super store.

But there are unforeseeable times when one just has to hoof it or find shelter from a storm.

My ride yesterday, my first longish one in 10 days because of travel and house guests, kicked my weight loss back into gear, today's scale showed another pound and a half gone.

Keep riding !

Nice 30 mile ride today.
@Todd, wish I could average 18 mph! Good for you!
@Gwynh - The worst that has happened to me on a bike: I crashed my off-road bike on a single track trail in the woods, and the two riders with me didn't realize for about 5 minutes that I was no longer behind them. I separated my shoulder, and had to walk out of the woods (25 minutes) to get to a doctor. Recovery was about 4 months. No fun.

Had my only ride of the week tonight and put in 36+ miles with a couple of good hills and a variety of rollers. Had a good ride moving in and out of groups and learning to use gears better for an average of 16.2 mph. Only need 35 more miles to pass last year's total mileage. Won't make weekly goal as we are going on vacation. Won't make it next week either but hope to do a lot of walking.

Almost had my worst incident tonight as a screw fell out of the clip on my right shoe making it almost impossible to get unclipped from the bicycle but got unclipped just before going through one of the last gates of the ride and made it in floating one foot on the pedals.

Skywalker & Dino: I was going to challengethe two of you by putting a picture of me in one of my riding kits in here but I can't figure out how to insert a picture so you'll just have to go to my profile to see it.

Skywalker & Dino: I was going to challengethe two of you by putting a picture of me in one of my riding kits in here but I can't figure out how to insert a picture so you'll just have to go to my profile to see it.

This is some fancy tight outfit you got there chief. I will post something after I complete my first 100k week, which won't be long. To insert your picture, you have to upload it to tinypic.com and then copy paste the IMG code in here. Remember to change the words

Um.. I'm a lady.... :laugh:

I'm gonna HAVE to look at the pictures closer (or go to the profiles and read them)....sorry! :embarassed:

TnTHawkins burned 2316 calories doing 114 minutes of "Cycling (Avg 17.0 MPH)"

It was one of those hard rides even though it has roughly the same route. Distance ended up being 32.18 tonight and I did 29.38 on tuesday. I plan on riding either Saturday or Sunday but I'm taking a rest day tomorrow.

I had a great ride today. Being a geeky science teacher, I had to stop a mile from my house, find an empty soda bottle (trash along road) and stop to pick up a freshly killed copperhead snake. I love finding nice snake road kill. I will skin it and use it to teach with.

I just installed a memory foam seat cover for my bike's saddle. Wow, that helps. I was just startled by this one, rude, and dangerous pickup truck that past me at what seemed like 100 mph. He did get over, but didn't slow one bit.

Ok, it is official, since I have not purchased a speedometer yet, my top cruising speed on a flat patch of road is just a bit over that of the dragon fly that I chased. I you think I need to contact Guinness book of world records? lol

I have another question for pondering? How do you deal with that territorial big scary dog that runs out barking and chasing you down the road? I was chased by this pitbull dog. I was already going at my top speed, or so I thought. But he jumps out at me and I must have added 5 more mph. Do you just run, use some type of pepper spray, or talk to the dog and try to become his friend? Anyway, food for thought.

Dinos, man, that really must have been saddening for a young boy, to work hard for his dream yet to be stole from you.