My home loop

Michael,

Here is my 7+ mile home loop to which you and Neal are invited to ride with me once!



This is one of my other loops.

Whew! What a ride!

What a ride in several ways. I always look forward to riding a new route and today was no exception. I decided today that I would ride out to Rex Lake Road and Grants Mill Road to create a new loop for me. The ride wasn't lonely as I saw 4 other cyclists out at the same time on Rex Lake. I have to recommend Rex Lake Rd as a good road to ride. It's well traveled by cyclists so motorists are used to seeing bikes and give you plenty of room.

That being said, be leary of riding on Rex Lake heading away from Leeds. Reason being is that they are laying new drainage pipe on SW bound lane and it is incredibly rough. So just be aware if you intend to ride that direction.

My ride along Grants Mill was interesting. I hadn't anticipated the sheer volume of traffic on that road at 6:30 in the evening. It was a bit uncomfortable knowing that I had a line of cars behind me that couldn't pace due to the nature of the road and the amount of traffic. Even while travling in the 20-25mph range. What I hadn't realized was that today was Wednesday and that new megachurch on Grants Mill was having it's Wednesday service. I also didn't realize just how rough the ride on Grants Mill would be. I mean I knew the road was bad, but good lord I got my butt beat! Several times I thought I was going to get bounced right out of my clips!

Next time I ride this loop I'll try it in reverse and hope that the traffic is better and that the other side of the roads are a bit smoother.

The total distance was 23.18 miles, my average pace was 3:56 a personal best for this area. My average speed was 15.2mph with a max of 39.5mph, all while burning 2243 calories!

Not bad for not having been on a bike in 5 days.

A good Friday.....

But not a good ride.

I think I had a bit of a mental breakdown before I even clipped into my pedals. I had half a mind to just be lazy this afternoon but I thought better of it and rushed home so I could squeeze in some decent distance before dark.

I should have had a better attitude but I started off very sluggish and decided I would settle for a relaxed pace. I spent the ride fighting off a cramp in my right calf, which has been occurring the last few rides as I near the end. But this time it started within the first 5 miles. I also had to deal with some annoying numbness in the tips of my left thumb and forefinger. Needless to say I struggled with comfort on this ride and all the did was push my defeatist mentality harder.

Even with my piss poor attitude and discomfort I still managed to ride 21.96 miles with an average pace of 4:12 (pretty much my average) at an average speed of 14.2 mph. In the end I burned 1922 calories.

Based on those numbers I can't say I'm disappointed, but based on how I felt during the ride, I know I left so much out there.

Another Tuesday, another Botanical Gardens Ride

Today was my first day riding with some Shimano pedals and shoes. I've used clips on my mtn bike before but this would be my first experience with them on a road bike. And other than a few issues with trying get them to actually clip in, I had an overall good ride with them. Like anything new you just need time to get used to them.

Today I rode 17.74 miles with an average pace of 5:28 at a speed of 10.9 mph while burning 1471 calories. Neal and I slowed down the pace today to give him a good work out but not wear him out. We did get a good attack on Michael at one point though, hitting around 30 mph!

Overall a good ride. I'm hopeful I'll be able to squeeze another ride in this week but I'm not sure that I will be able too prior to the weekend. If not I'll just do some good riding Saturday and/or Sunday.

If you're up for a road to mtn bike ride either day let me know.

Wow, what a great day

Today was my longest ride yet. I rode a total of 36.84 miles at the North Harbor (Tuscaloosa) Hot Hundred. The day started off nice and cool and overcast with a slight chance of rain, but it held off and resulted in great riding weather.

I'm really proud of myself. I had my longest ride to date over fairly flat terrain, nearly bit it when my front tire hit a patch of sand and gravel, set a new fastest pace for me at 3:38, and burned a whopping 2810 calories! Oh yeah!

I felt great on the ride back to the finish; albeit a bit lonely! I felt I could have rode further had my ass not been hurting so bad. Gotta get my body used to these distances.

I probably had a slightly better pace for the overall ride but I decided to ride another 2 miles for a cool down and chose keep track of the distance and pace on my Garmin. But I do remember roughly crossing the finish line just a little over 2 hours with only one stop!

Congrats to Michael, Brian, Dave, and Greg for getting out there and pushing through their chosen distances! Good job guys!

Looking forward to Tuesday. But for now it's off to celebrate my Anniversary!

Another great day

Yup, it was another beautiful day for a ride!

My pace wasn't as good as yesterday's, but it wasn't far off. I ended up with a 4:04 pace averaging 14.7 mph over the 21.31 miles. Not to bad coming off yesterday's ride of 18+ miles. Burned a nice 1896 calories too.

Nothing of any real significance to talk about on this ride. Just some heavier traffic than expected and some inconvenient timing when I would come to intersections. Seemed like every time I rode up to one I had to get off the bike because of oncoming traffic. If it hadn't been for those few times I might have been able to reach a better pace...oh well!

Now I've got tomorrow to rest up for the Tuscaloosa Hot Hundred! Oh yeah!!!

A rainy lousy day

Yesterday was supposed to be our Botanical Gardens ride but the weather saw fit to put a damper on things. It turned out to be one of those lousy rainy days were it literally rained all day. So needless to say the ride did not occur.

So hopefully today will be better and when I get home after work I can breakout the bike and squeeze in about 20 miles. We'll just have to see.

UPDATE

Well today turned out to be a perfect day for riding. 79F degrees when I started and finished up at 73F degrees. Perfect riding weather. Today I was able to get my fastest pace to date. I rode at a 4:02 pace averaging 14.9 mph over the 18.61 miles. Overall I'm really happy with that ride. Traffic was heavier than I have seen before on the route I chose to ride so it was a little hairy at times. Now I just have to get myself mentally ready for my longest ride ever when I join a few friends on the Tuscaloosa Hot Hundred, where we plan to do a 34 mile stretch!

Also, if any of you happen to ride down Queenstown road in Trussville be alert for a pair of dogs that have no fear of chasing you. I was traveling west on Queenstown probably a 1/4 mile from the series of small lakes when a Chow mix dog lept up from a driveway and started chasing me in the middle of the road. About 100 feet away another dog from the other side of the street came out of nowhere to also chase me. This one looked like a cross between a pitbull and a hound. Both dogs chased me for about 1/2 mile in the middle of the road. I was finally able to pull away from them but it spiked my heart rate pretty good. Just a heads up!

Now that brings me to a little rant. Why is it so damn hard to keep you dogs in the backyard? I've been chased by so many dogs that I'm to the point of buying some pepper spray to take with me on my rides. Normally I can loudly and forcefully yell NO at a dog and they will relent. But these two just ignored me. It may have been enough to keep them at a small distance but it didn't stop their aggressive behavior. I have two dogs of my own and I know what it takes to keep an eye on them and keep them pinned up. But I can't understand the people who just let their dogs roam free. And it's especially bad in this area of Trussville!

Secondly, and I'm sure many of you cyclist can understand my point of view; but why are so many motorists so bloody stupid when it comes to cyclists. For example, not many drivers would pass a slower car in a blind curve. But yet 90% will pass a cyclist in a blind curve! Seriously, you can't wait just a few seconds. Also, why can't you give me a full lane width when there is a completely empty lane to be used? And I'm not talking about a standard 2 lane road, I'm talking about a 4 lane hwy. I've had so many drivers either barely move over or not move over when on a 4 lane hwy and no other traffic. Come on people. I have rights to the road too, I'm sorry if I'm a bit slower than you but that doesn't mean you have to damn near run me off the road! Especially when there is plenty of room.

Blah...enough ranting.

Be safe, watch for dogs and cars, and keep pedaling!

A little mountain biking today.

Today I had planned to get my mtn bike back out after a month or so of it just hanging on the wall. I headed over to the Trussville Municipal park to ride on the same trails I normally ride. Only today I was going to try and ride them in the opposite direction.

This started out all well and good till my lack of confidence on the trails got the better of me and I ended up off the bike several times, some by choice, some by force...

The ride lasted 1 hour and 16 minutes and covered 6.26 miles. Not as far as I had thought I was going to ride, but needless to say it was a demanding ride for me. I rarely get into my 2nd bottle of water on a 20 mile road ride, but by the end of today's ride I was half way through my second bottle. I had forgotten how tiring a mtn bike trail can be. Especially when you've decided to try out a new trail that is head and shoulders above your skill level.

No major events on this ride other than the few falls and the frustration of being on a trail that required a higher skill level. Oh and I did get a bit of protein while on the ride when some sort of flying insect flew straight down my throut. I'm just glad it happened at a level area and not on a climb.

Anyways, overall it was a good ride but a bit frustrating at times. I was able to burn 1239 calories, so that's always a plus.

Next ride will be this coming Tuesday at the Botanical Gardens. See ya there.

Day 2 Blogging; Good Bike Ride

Today was a perfect day for a ride. I was afraid that the afternoon storm we had roll through would cause me one of two problems. First, that it would still be raining when I got home preventing me from riding. Second, that it would be so god awful muggy that my ride would be miserable.

To my surprise the rain cooled things off tremendously. I noticed on my drive home that the temperature was in the upper 70's. And that was confirmed by my bike computer, the highest I saw was 79. Slightly overcast sky, mild humidity and no heat! What perfect riding weather.

So I decided I would try to squeeze in as long a ride as I could. Basically that means 1.5 hours of riding because it begins to get to dark to be comfortable if I ride longer. Sadly that will slowly get reduced as summer fades away. I'll either have to start riding in the mornings ( a morning person I am not) or take my bike to work with me and ride as soon as possible after work.

Anyways, back to the ride. Today's ride was not my longest but a good distance with some decent climbs. My total distance was 21.05 miles riding along Smith Sims Road in Trussville, along Floyd Bradford to Hwy 78, to Old Leads, to Grants Mill, turning on Grantswood, then a right on Ratliff heading back to Hwy 78 and then back tracking to my starting point. Good climbs, nice flat sections and some speedy downhill sections. My time was just under 1 hour 29 minutes with an average speed of 14.2 mph. Not bad in my opinion. My pace was not the fastest I have seen, but on par with what I've typically done in the past.

Thankfully, on this ride I didn't have any inconsiderate motorists like I normally see along Hwy 78.

Enough rambling at this point. I probably won't get to ride again to next week, although I hope to squeeze in a moutian bike ride sometime on Sunday. Just have to wait and see what Sunday has in store!

Till next time, keep pedaling!

Day 1 of Blogging

So I happened upon this place because some fellow cyclists were using it as a way to track and record their progress at Cycling. So I guess I'm a lemming and have become a fellow blogger. But I'm ADD so I may lose interest in it! So don't blame me, it's not my fault, it's my parents, the food, the government, the media, the democrats, the republicans, the whoever I forgot to mention!

Any who, enough of the sarcasm. I'll try to maintain this blog and keep up with my rides and so forth for the throngs of fans I will accumulate who will want to read of my endeavors!

So, lets start!

Last evening I did my first Birmingham Botanical Gardens ride with a few guys I meet via www.bamabikechat.com; which by the way is a great place for local riders to keep in touch and organize rides. I met up with Michael and Neal at the BBG and a few other whom I can't recall their names (forgive me, I'm horrible with names). We decided to do the out and back 18 mile round trip ride. I had no idea what to expect with this ride as I'm used to riding alone in the Trussville area. Needless to say it was an interesting experience. There were probably 70+ cyclists all starting out at the same time, much to the delight of local traffic! Once the first few lights and miles passed the groups thinned out as the faster riders pulled away and us lowly newbies hauled in the rear. Overall the course was a relaxed and relatively easy ride, small rolling hills, mostly flat terrain and only a few inconsiderate drivers who view cyclists as demon spawn! However, I will forgive the one driver who nearly had Michael smeared on his windshield like a bug...we did turn the wrong way down a one way!

The ride was enjoyable and I was glad to meet some fellow cyclists who were on my skill level!

Next Tuesday I'll do it all over again, but I'll push for the 22 mile round trip!

Matt