My most recent ride in 2022 (part XV in the series)

Finally got to do an outside ride in February. We had an 8" snow on Feb. 2nd and 3rd with significant drifting. We've had a number of days in the 40's and 50's since then, so I figured the trails would be clear. I was in for a surprise when I started riding and ran into some areas still covered with snow and ice. The worst spots were where one side of the trail had an open area and the other side had a bank or hill. There must have been drifting in these areas and it had not completely melted. Also where trails go under Interstate highways the state highway department's snow plows had thrown snow off the overpasses and down on the trail. Some of the snow had turned to slush and then frozen, so I had to navigate through sections of rough ice.

A long wheelbase bent with a 406 x 1.10 Durano on the front is not the most snow-worthy bike. There were some sections where I was able to follow a single track through the snow, and other sections I had to walk. For the most part the trails I rode were clear, but there were snow covered sections here and there. I tried to use trails that I thought would be the least snow covered. Definitely stayed away from the one's that go through farm country where there would be a lot of drifting from the open fields. One of worst was the Schoolhouse trail. It's the trail I take from my house to access connecting trails. Had no choice but to use it. I also used the Goshen trail and Nickel Plate trail. Just did an out and back ride. I like to do a loop, but with so much snow cover on the trails a loop was out of the question. I did mange to do 25 miles. https://strava.app.link/n9dKFcCuGnb


Goshen Trail


Goshen Trail


Schoolhouse Trail



Schoolhouse Trail

 

This sunday (March 20) I have opened the bathing season
We had a beautiful sunny day here in Franconia (Northern Bavaria/ Southeast of Germany) at ca. 15°C / 59°F so I decided take the FlevoBike and have a little nice tour to my favorite bathing lake, ca. 11 miles away.
It was he first time I made over 20 miles at one day with my newly purchased Flevobike (Jan 30 this year)
I named it "Libelle" by the way - english: "Dragonfly" because it is a bit flighty and has a long tail ;-)

Well, the water temperature was something like 7-8°C/45°F - a bit chilly, but still 'bathable' I decided...
So I went for a short but lovely dip - fortunately the sunshine was strong enough to warm me up afterwards.
On my way home I stopped for a delicious kebab - what a lovely afternoon



The location is 49.664282, 11.022149 if you want to look it up.

 

Sounds wonderful! Nice pic too!!!

 

I always try to do an outside ride on the first day of April. Even though it was chilly outside I managed to do 25 miles on our local trails. What I loved most about the ride was the 2-mph wind. Seems every ride I have done in 2022 has been in winds between 15 - 25 mph with gusts over 30 mph. Nothing more miserable than to ride in those type of winds, especially since riding into the wind takes twice as long as riding with the wind. Yesterday's ride with hardly any wind was pure joy to just be able to cruise along under one's own power and not fight the wind,

 

I am hoping to do me some riding this spring...looks like my work schedule is easing up a bit. Is might finally be able to get out.

 

Just a short but beautiful Sunday morning ride to the 24/7 milk vending machine three villages away (8.4 km/5.2 mi). Got my two 1l bottles filled with fresh milk from today and returned happily on my 20" flevobike. A bit cool (ca. 0°C/32°F) with a bit of wind from North, but the April SUN already has some power to keep one warm

 

The route on BRouter:

 

Wild weather on today's ride. Had sun, rain, snow, and graupel. Winds were strong too.

I chose a very difficult route with 115 ft/mile climbing, which wasn't the best choice give the weather issues. Add to that being out of shape and I feel like I was hit repeatedly on the head with a large mackerel.

 

Dusted the Zockra off and gave her a quick spin. She is fast! I'm nowhere near back to my old self (probably never will) and yet I managed to come within a few seconds of a PR. 8.12 mikes, 335 ft elevation gain, 17.2 mph average.

 

I'm pedaling away down on the Florida pan handle up and down Santa Rosa island. This and the old Walland Highway in Tennessee are my favorite rides. Rode 26 miles yesterday and a quick 16 miler today because I am working this morning.

 

After a hard MTB ride on Saturday we decided on a longer recovery ride Sunday. Ended up working a bit harder than expected with 63 miles in 4:07 with just about 2000 feet elevation gain.

The best part of the day...I released the Greyhound brain for the first time in probably four years. Young guy on a real nice high end road bike with very aero wheels passed us as we chatted up a small grade. As I watched him pull away I thought, "What the hell", and opened the Zockra up.

Something made him look over his shoulder and he slid down into the drops and the chase was on. We topped that rise, there was a short flat section another short rise folloed by a steep,descent to a bridge. After the bridge was a long slow 1 % grade....that was where I wanted to overtake him.

My advantage, more aerodynamic and I have ridden that section of road since he was in training wheel. His advantage, he was 40 or 50 yards ahead and 25 years younger.

On the flat section I closed the gap to 20 yards and I could see the strain as he tried to hold me off. A few more furtive glances over his shoulder then we were up and over the bump.

I could have caught him on the descent. Instead I kept a 20 foot gap and waited. On the concrete I opened her up. I know I was redlining and only had 20 to 30 seconds before I ran out of gas. Amazingly, I caught him! As I pulled up beside and just a bit ahead I said, "Thanks, that was fun!"

 

LOVE it!!!

 

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/LFPJA1M12pb

A beautiful day. Started out foggy and cloudy with not too much wind. We repeated the route from Seale, Al down to Eufaula crossed the Chattahoochee twice and ended up woth 107 miles.

Lasy year rode this on the Windcheetah and was still recovering from the CABG. The Zockra was a much faster steed, though not as comfortable.

 

l . Strength beginning to build after being back on the bike for a year.