Our mid-Winter Spring weather has Newbies out in the 20s & families with toddlers out in the 30s – all providing opportunities for painful crashes & worse. Zatoichi counsels Never To Over-Commit; holding back on firm decisions till Junior turns his head left or right prevents much pain.

Still, a fun ride – my new regular Saturday. 900 feet of climbing in 25 miles. Keep up my 17 miles a day to hit 4000 miles for the year.

I’ll be happy when the road is paved again for some more doubles.

It looks like traditional loops are not my off-season penchant. I broke off a few pieces of old & new rides & stitched them together. A nice ride – wish it had been longer but late starts prevent much fun.

A few groups of Newbies out there kind of uncertain how wide or how narrow a bike path can be. Increases the risk but still within tolerances.

The climbing went well.

I need to learn better pedaling discipline.

I knew they had started paving the top of Frisbee Golf Hill but I figured it couldn’t be worse than the Paris-Roubaix so I rode up one side, circled around & ride up the other side, loving the steepness & general lack of car traffic. I was circling around fir my second pass when I felt the familiar depressing bumps of a rear flat tire. So depressing. Too many ruts or too much sharp debris? Whatever.

I still got in my 25 today so even needing 17 miles a day to hit 4000 I’m on pace this week. Over 1000 feet climbing makes the route very enticing.

I still haven’t started with the hill sprinting practice.

You can see the places where I had to stop because of the flat & for very annoying phone connectivity issues.

Lovely weather & a good agressive wind today. Hitting 4,000 miles wd be very difficult but I’m giving it a try anyway. 46 today with the old Wednesday route – Me Sad Field setting up for yet another Soccer Match so there were trucks & security to keep me company, otherwise no other cyclists there. That always puzzles me; it’s a fine loop.

Usually when cyclists pass one-another there’s a greeting protocol. A nod, a word, even a real conversation – some acknowledgement that the two of you share some passion. When that protocol fails I take it as a You Can’t Catch Me challenge & often I can rise to the challenge. Today I got passed by a young cyclist challengingly & instantly stepped up to pass him in return & stay in front of him until his fitness collapsed & he abandoned the contest. Always a good feeling to beat someone. I wore my Sloth jersey too plus I rode Fixie.

Soon I’ll have to assemble next season’s routes but for a week or so I’ll just tool about & gather miles.

I didn’t expect that many feet climbing; the Watch naturally differs.

That’s a huge difference.

A good outing for November.

I figured I owed both sides of Frisbee Golf Hill some laps so I added a return up past Vinny Links to the regular Saturday ride. The speed bumps are annoying but it’s a steeper climb than is the other side past the Naval Facility. Golfers of both stripes are usually cyclist-friendly & as I was dressed in a Tux Jersey to honor Sean Connery the kids had a good laugh.

The watch this time read 756 feet climbed & in the end the app registered 918 feet – making me positive yesterday’s 2108 feet was accurate.

Having the Vuelta on in the morning helps.

Looking forward to next season. Alas this season will not reach 5,000 miles. I’m just under 3,000 now.

I had half an idea for how to connect two hills I’ve never climbed & luckily found a way to connect a third hill. The benefit of living in Shelby Hills & near Rolling Acres Rocking Acres (my appellation) and Roaring Acres (ditto) is having new hills readily available – the readiness is all.

Alas my watch led me along today’s route (2109 feet climbed it said), but the App lagged woefully behind (1554 feet). I trust the watch, but any way I slice it I on-sighted well the new hills & climbed well the known hills.

I was virtually alone out there due to the cold (48°) & the calm back-roads & hidden lanes.

I like this pattern because it’s quite difficult to explain, there being no topographical signals.

Another short Aurora ride today. I got caught on a long Tech Support call so started 2 hours late – not that I have much more than 20 miles in me on Aurora.

Alternating sit-sprints with stand-sprints feels right. I’ll work on reverse-pedaling in the future.

Makes the rain less of an issue but I’d rather be outside.

Taken by surprise today. I don’t there was any rain expected but it came just the same & wet leaves are my latest bugbear. I needed the indoor practice anyway. I’m getting better at sprinting for 100 pedal-strokes seated & 150 standing – alternating them with seated riding for the Orwellian 2 minutes in between.

I treat the AirBike as a Uphill Sprint device because of how the air-resistance gets tougher the harder you pedal.

I’m very glad to have her.

This the lowest I’ve seen my blood-oxygen level. I’d been interpreting certain aspects of biking-fatigue as Low Brain Sugar. I’m rethinking many things now.

Somewhere in my usual loops there’s an additional 50 feet of climbing. Perhaps a left turn & the up Sevier is the answer.

Today was a good short day on the heavy bike. The leaves were dry & help to warn most of my approach – bit that I still didn’t have to dodge & weave the ordinary amount. The wind was vigorous & welcome.

I looked every lap up my belovèd Lillian but that delight is reserved for Fridays.

Worth the hurt feet.

I set out for 25 miles with say 800 feet of climbing but juked left & ended up with a fine 1000 feet up over 29 miles. I saw probably the final 2 snakes of the season, plus has to dodge two zigzagging kids on pink bikes.

She’s a good off-day route; I look forward to fleshing her out in the future.