Bike Log 2016

[mlctvt]

11.3 miles 1325 ft vertical mountain bike. 3 rides , 29 miles so far in 2016.

I bought a fat bike in November and I've been mountain biking again after a 20+ year hiatus. What a f**ing blast! Started out on some easy trails but starting jumping logs then got into some more technical rocky stuff. I can jump up to 10"-12" logs but anything higher I can't get over yet. I don't have a bash guard. Had my first major fall today while cruising downhill at a good clip on leaf covered trails; I hit an large angled root hidden under the leaves which took me down fast and hard onto my left shoulder. I think I'm OK.
At my age I won't be as aggressive as the young guys but it's still fun.
I can't believe how much energy is expended in a 10 miles ride, probably more than my fast 40 mile road rides.

I've been riding in the local woods with a group each week at night. These guys are mostly younger guys but also some older guys who have raced and have 20-30 years experience. It's tough for me to keep up especially since we ride in a hilly area. Still it's my favorite ride that I look forward to each week. This surprised me - on my last group night ride my average heart rate for the 1.5 hour ride was 153 with a max heart rate at 186. What a great workout.

Time to get back to skiing, come on winter!

[Cannonball]

I had to work all weekend so didn't have time to get out an ski. Plus conditions are too enticing. But I did have time to squeeze in 1.5 hours per day after work on the new bike. Holy crap what a blast and what a workout!! Riding through 3-5" of crusty snow on the trails felt like a non-stop long hill climb. Challenging to even get started nevermind maintain some speed.

This surprised me - on my last group night ride my average heart rate for the 1.5 hour ride was 153 with a max heart rate at 186. What a great workout.

Pretty much the same here. Max 177, avg 150 for 1.5hrs each ride. Really good way to workout in limited timeframe. And did I mention FUN!?!?

New ride (South Peak trails in background)...
IMG_20160123_143159429.jpg

[JDMRoma]

New ride looks cool !!


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

[mlctvt]

This weather sure sucks for skiing but I got 2 great bike rides in this weekend. When it looked like it was going to be 55 degrees in CT this weekend we decided to stay home and ride instead of skiing in marginal conditions.
10-11 mile fat bike ride through various conditions of dry trails, some mud and snow up to 6 inches deep on Saturday and then 45 miles on the road today. The 45 miles had about 3000 vertical feet of climbing today. Fat biking this winter definitely has helped keep me in better shape than normal.

I'm starting to get little better at the mountain biking, I get get over larger logs now and I had good luck staying upright and dry at the small brook crossings on Saturday.

[ironhippy]

I'm starting to take biking seriously again, skiing isn't going to get much better.

I am riding around on an old rigid kona right now, I've got a set of Ice Spiker Pros ordered, so I'm hoping I'll be able to bike the frozen trails by my house next week (provided it freezes well enough)

[bvibert]

Finally got a new hub and laced it into my wheel last week. I was able to hit the trails after Easter brunch on Sunday. It felt great to be back out, and the trails I rode were in excellent shape! Ended up with a bit over 9 miles with a fair amount of climbing (for CT), which, as it turns out was over doing it a bit for me. I'm paying for it today, but it's all good. I think this is the earliest I've started riding, so as long as I keep it up, I'm on track for a good season!

https://www.strava.com/activities/528534227

[Puck it]

I am a ways away from riding. I installed my rear remote and road it down my driveway. It was not good, painful to steer. So I will not be riding anytime soon.

[bvibert]

I am a ways away from riding. I installed my rear remote and road it down my driveway. It was not good, painful to steer. So I will not be riding anytime soon.

Bummer man, take it easy so that shit heals up nice!

[ironhippy]

the local trails are amazing with ice spiker pros right now.

I am out on the bike I use to bike my dog and it is better than hero soil. The trail that the fat bikers made is the only snow left and it's completely ice, with all the holes filled in. Walking trails are shear ice.

If you get off the trail, you can just keep biking because the ground is rock hard and all the low points are filled with an icy snow mix that you can drive over with skinny tires.

It'd be a deathtrap without studs, when I got cocky on a downhill I wiped out and will have a sizeable bruise on my knee as a result. Still worth it though.

I was skinning up and down some nice spring corn at the recently closed ski hill yesterday, I just got back from 6 miles of glorious roller coaster like single track tonight and next weekend if all goes as forecasted, I'll be chasing spring powder in Quebec. I'm going to bring my bike too.

Winter was kind of rough, but spring is gearing up to be great.

[BackLoafRiver]

First road ride of the season last night with the group. Apparently it was "go time" for some of the big boys and they went after it from the first pedal stroke. I kept up for most of it. One dude just pulled away and I thought, "good for you buddy". Overall, felt great to be out. Temps in the upper 40s, sunny skies, a group of fun loving people...not a bad way to spend the night. 20 mph over 21.6 miles. This coming week, however, is all about the MTB