North Shore(Vancouver) this is my zen space, mtb therapy.
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Hope you called this ride “the batman”
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A bit of a mare for me on tonight’s club TT on the alternative course for the Beardsall Cup. First junction a driver decided he wanted to overtake only to immediately slam on the brakes and block the road. After pausing for a few seconds I decided he was going nowhere and re-overtook. This pèid him off more he chased me down drove besides me, gave me verbals then went by and done the same. I feel sorry for Joe (the marshall) I think he stopped and gave him verbals as I continued. My punishment came a lap or so later. The wheel seemed to have moved a mm in the drop out and started rubbing the frame. I think it had been doing from the start but as I tired it affected me more. I decided at that point just to concentrate on my handling skills and staying aero.
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We did an extra little climb at the top on the way back to check out the campground at the top. That’s why his right ear is bigger than his left 
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An evening spin on the single track yesterday. Conditions this time of year are perfect. The trail has not yet turned to moon dust, and the vegetation is lush and green which helps keep things cooler in the trees. About as good as it gets. Now I just need to figure out how to work less and ride more.
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Another attempt at an epic ride climbing gravel. Lingering snow turned my gravel ride into a “groadie” ride with a very silent G, as in very little actual gravel. In a rare move, I took a train to go up a new hill to reach a climb I did 51 weeks ago from the east rather than from the north. (See the first pictures, before and of the gravel, at this post from last year climbing the hill above Muotothal.) It started ok… I was cold and kept hoping the air to warm up to 15C as promised but it stayed around 10C.
There were plenty of trails while I climbed, but they were all designed for mountainbikers to descend. This grate here is a common device to keep the livestock in while letting the mtb’s out.
The problem is this spring has been wet. After climbing and climbing, I was stopped by snow. I knew I had at least 1.3mi more of climbing and I didn’t know what was on the other side. As I stood there, and I kid you not, a skier came down the snow that layered the pavement I was to climb. We talked for a while (his car was parked 20m from this picture) and he said the snow went on for over 10k and was waist-deep.
So, I returned down the hill and took a left to try to get over the mountains a bit further north. There was a road that looked promising. I stopped to refill the water bottles and once again it was chilly. The road was flat here as I went along the side of a reservoir. But then it banked up.
In the end, I had to return to the flatland to get around the mountains as there was no way from where I was to get over them. On the left is that train line that took me to the start.
The return was a flat run, though not exceptionally fun as I was rolling on 47mm tires. There were options to get up into the hills as I went up Lake Zurich and got closer to home, but it just wasn’t worth it. Though the plan was foiled (resulting in a reduction of at least 3k’ of climbing), it was still a decent ride exploring new places.
And now I’m BBQ’ing as it’s warmish (60F) along Lake Zurich, which is much better than the ±50F for most of the ride.
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I rode the weekly 20k TT course twice for my 40k A race prep. I’ve felt like duck butter for about a month after my two vax shots and today was the first day I felt like my old self. Sub 50 time ftw.
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Recovery coming up next week and nice weather that finally didn’t require snorkel, wetsuit or winter gear so I decided it was time for a longish ride to get a nice lunch.
Pretty happy about setting all time PRs 2+ hours in considering general fatigue and doing a sweet spot work out last night which resulted 40 mins at sweet spot or above.
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Nice! Why did I never drive to Trondheim and spend a few days around Trondheim when I spent 4 years just “down the road” in Åre/Östersund?!
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Did my first gravel race in 2, maybe 3 years. It’s been a while. Had a blast rolling the front group for 54 miles.
Executed my strategy, but didn’t have the legs to hold off a two man attack (team mates) with 3 mi to go. Ended up finishing third overall. Awesome to hit some really good race pace efforts and happy with the way it went.
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Down to a village called Guilden Morden for me today for a Sporting TT. The last time I was there, it was 10deg and pouring with rain, today it was 20deg and sunshine. I guess I am a cr@p weather cyclist after all, I was 2mins slower today.
I need to sort out my contact lenses so I can actually see the computer to pace off but apart from that everything seemed mechanically good it was just me. I think my head was in long group rides in this good weather and not short solo rides.
I noticed afterwards my RHR last night was 5bpm higher than normal and 9bpm higher than the night before. I hope I am not coming down with anything and it’s just the watch balancing up a low reading two nights ago 
Something funny was happening with the file Garmin connect and Strava are both reading it starting 1h14min after my actual start time (despite having recorded the warm up correctly) and RWGPS thinks I was 19 years late (Nov 2038) 
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It’s a holiday weekend in the US and from the Friday traffic, it seemed that everyone was leaving town so, for the first time in months, I hit the local singletrack. The last time I went it was too crowded with hikers. Yesterday, it was like pre-pandemic times, quiet, fast and fun. Super dry out though. Can really tell we are in a drought year. Felt good.
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Done what I should have done yesterday. Met a mate for a good catch up then went for a bimble to flat east side of Peterborough.
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Trondheim’s not as pretty as Bergen (no hate, it is what it is), but it makes up for it with the miles and miles and miles of spectacular gravel.
Remember this?
And here’s that funny collapsing barn from the other side.
Typical Norwegian spectators
Some of the roads looked nice and smooth but were absolute washboards, must have been a tractor along when the ground was softer. I understand why people get gravel bikes with suspension now. Or, you know. Mountain bikes.
One of the many higher-elevation lakes around here. This one had picnic tables and people actually picnicking!
Allemannsretten means anybody can pitch a tent basically anywhere, so this is just a great place for a tent, not a campground. (This is also roughly where we passed a Tesla, after about 10 minutes of slowly following the Tesla while it tried to navigate uneven dirt. I’m sure there’s an environmentally-conscious joke in there someplace.)
Lots of gates, which makes sense with all the sheep really.
Back on tarmac, but tarmac specifically chosen after recon in Google Maps for the view.
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First ton of the year yesterday. Was super easy in a decent sized group. I live the other side of town to the other guys, and had to turn back into a headwind to get home, so decided to finish with 30 mins of SST for a little bonus fatigue resistance. Feeling great after a 5 week Polarized-ish block - and kept accidentally putting the hurt on the group 
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At long last I think summer is here. 130 miles group ride up to Rutland for me today. Given the heat I decided to moderate myself on hills up there.
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Rode 35 minutes to a paved, curvy creekside path. Met the wife, kids and MIL there, helped them unload the Thule and had a 50 minute out and back. Rough going to adjust to multiway travel on a 6" curvy path on the way out, but much better on the way back. Also, the 5 year old needs gears, it was comical watching his 120 RPM pedaling on the 16" SS trying to keep up with his older siblings who have “lotsa more gears for going faster!” Good thing the wife and MIL were happy to bring up the rear.
9 year old just figured out drafting on this ride, apparently she could feel the difference at 14mph that between right on the wheel and 10 feet behind.
Kids were so happy with their VeloInk custom stickers on bikes and helmets, too.
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A handful of peeps in my extended family got sick. Me too. After 9 months of training with only a Christmas break it seemed like a good time for a mid season break.
15 weeks until my first gravel event. 9 full days off the bike. Recovered from the flu. Tonight was a hot ride 
Tempo intervals and cut the ride short at an hour.
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Easy spin on the trails (and a segment of pavement, see pic) yesterday afternoon. The snow is disappearing from the nearby mountain tops but in the far distance, other mountains continue to hold onto their blanket. The notable event of this ride was the very distinct feeling that a couple of paws reached out and whacked my calf in the forest. I’m sure, as it’s the only serious explanation, it was only foliage even though the leaves and branches on this trail that I ride (very) often have never felt like furry paws before.
This week is warm (relative, sunny, and reaching 23C/74F). Thursday is a holiday here and I was debating on doing an epic ride. Of course, the only day with a chance of rain this week is Thursday, so we’ll see.
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