RP2IPBP - record cold for this ride

A little of an experiment. Expected conditions:

Saturday, January 30 at 10am
Temperature: -7 °C Dewpoint: -20 °C Wind Chill: -13 °C
Temperature: 20 °F Dewpoint: -4 °F Wind Chill: 8 °F
Surface Wind: NNW 11mph
Sky Cover: 43% Precipitation Potential: 10% Relative Humidity: 34

Actual temperature at ride start at Py's house: -10C, overcast, no sun, 10..15mph wind.

He did not really had a yet bike approved outfit for this conditions. Put on ski type gloves. An extra layer of bubble warp around the shoe toes below the shoe cover. And his wind breaking soft-shell ski/outdoor jacket with only one warm base layer.

Actually a total of four riders showed up for the ride today. The outfit was protective from the elements and just warm enough. But not the most comfortable and efficient on the bike he had to find out. However the ride went fairly smooth, no technical issues. Little cold in the face at times as Py did not had a face mask.

On the return one rider had to stop for warming up his fingers at some post office, but he finished the ride little later on his own.

Here is the ride:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23551095


And here finally a picture, as he managed to take his camera with freshly charged battery along but left to memory card sticking in his computer...

Trevors #4 - how the hell did we made up 30 minutes???

Py wrote this at 11:35 today:

Just back from Trevors, this was a deadly pace today -- got full 30 min earlier home than usual, and we did not started before 8:30. Already half way out to Rocky Point, Jeff, Brian, Craig hanging on took off.... Trevor, me and three more EECT riders were full warp chasing in constant rotation, lost one more rider at the hill towards Wading river and kept pushing hard in rotation. Marco was hanging on the front group (as they came by at the fire house), but got dropped and he joined us 2/3 out on Sound Ave... still keeping this killer rotation up. On the short section on 25 in badly spread out field of glass shatters brought us to a stop as Marco was the unlucky one getting a big cut, he changed his tubeless tire and we kept moving, a bit slower rotation. still short pulls.... I was about done, just made it back to North Country hanging on from that point we crossed Williams Floyd...

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23109706

this is WRONG -- such a work and 2 points less for the WP (14) today.

Further notes on conditions:

Nasty cold feeling morning with frost on cars, a wet cold. A few icy spots from day time melting water -- but no real issue. 2/3 in the ride "warm" feeling breeze on the more south part of the ride -- but just a little taste of it.

Have to correct, not full 30min, but about 15 at least.

RP2IPBP - 4GAP+3

A nice clear, dry and sunny day. Just cold with temps all day just around freezing. As just little wind was expected Py tested how it feels without his wind breaker layer, well, a little chilly moving fast at the beginning, but quite OK later. Still, he like it better with it.

Today's group was made up of 4 Green Arm Bandits and three more riders. Starting out a few minutes late. Pushing out as regular, was just good enough to warm up a bit. Owen's rear wheel was occasionally generating some strange vibrating fire-engine like noise, which's cause stayed unclear for a while.

At Iron Peer Beach Park it was nice to warm in the sun. Owen's wheel and brakes looked OK. Checking out the Di2 on Chris's new Dogma, pretty nice -- Py would like to have that now, as shifting up in the big ring is still quiet a pain with his left hand and works not so fast. Pressing a button sounds easy. Also Py had to adjust and tighten his handle bar/headset out there o-[

On the return it became clear what Owen's trouble was, the free wheel hub seamed to seize up... so keep pedaling... Good ride back and adding the extra hill at the pond again today :-)

Stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23022398

12 WPts.

Trevors #3 - nasty dirty roads, ice, wet-cold, slighty frosty - but back on

It's a while ago, since Trevors #2. Snowed out rides, but Py could not go either way in the past, but today he ventured out again on early Sunday morning from home. The chilly wet-cold air seam to creep inside, but he managed top dress just right. Littly funny color combinations today, who cares, good to be seen for sure.

Arriving at the bagel ride start several of the usuals were already there.

The early group was just about to go. They gave them a head start of about 14 minutes and waited for the laster riders to get ready. Moving out as usual good pace, few icy spots on the side of the road from melting water and frost of the night. The roads were slick with a wet salty sandy mess. Py tried to save as much energy as possible and just took brief turn overs at front at times -- what worked out just right. The slower head start group was already caught on Sound, shortly before the turn South. A few decided to drop off to those, reducing the size of the faster group... Still kept moving pretty good. Brian took strong long pulls, not so smart to end up just behind him on 2nd position a few times... Some bumpy ride on Mill was kind of killing Py, his wrist noticed every bump and clearing holes does not really work yet again. he tried, no good idea, hurts even more... Well, every smooth section of the ride was very appreciated. Just hanging in now...
Finishing the group part once back on North Country heading back from there.

Py just managed to get back home.. pretty much done for now... and needs a nap :-)


Stats - 14WP Points - 110km:
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Trevors #3

RP2IPBP - a temporary?? release of the arctic days?

Good to get back out :-) Just return on the old route, quick update:

Winter start time 10am at Tildas, Marco, Doug and Py started out, little spread out at times. For their surprise Karl and Rick were already at the beach waiting and joined for the return. Nice ride. Good work as well.

The peer as still frozen, see in the far background:

Finding a warm wind sheltered spot for a snack:

12 WP Points :-)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for RP2IPBP

RRL

Just for the log: 1st real road bike road ride at lunch time today. 48km with Ed, 1h30 total including few minutes waiting test riding circles until starting out with Ed. Camp Main Gate - 25 - usual way out to Mill and return via Main Gate as North Gate trail extension is snowed over.

Kind of Cold & Sunny -- not too bad at all.

Finally, 1st ride out of bounds 2010 - clear, cold

Py couldn't stay indoors on his VR gizmo one more day. What was though for the day before and turned into XC ski needed to happen today. Getting out this way too less used Stonie

for a ride. Putting on three layers -- one warm base -- one insulation -- one wind breaking top -- not counting the bib. Deciding on the warmed hours of the day, he ventured out on his route on North Country Road. First unwelcome surprise, some craziness -- washing a car at sub 20F with water running down the road turning a turn into a ice skating ring... Luckily visible with plenty of warning distance, but still -- not so great. He wonders if any one went at super arctic temps out for of the Trevors this morning, as this patch was on the route, still in Rocky Point, just before leaving the neighborhood at the 90 deg no-options right turn.
Good to have easy working strong disc brakes, his left hand is still not at 100% strength.

Moving out to the WR Duck Pond no further issues, all nice and dry, just a dusting of salt and sand, proceeding to Wildwood. He felt the icy air moving fast biting in his face.

Snack time, drinking some of the still luke warm water in his double walled polar bottle. Trying out a not yet sampled Everlast Energy Bar -- he recently got from the kind Sponsor of Green Arm Bandits Cycling Team. The sun was nice and warming, as long as he found a wind protected spot.

The return via Wading River Beach felt even colder as he now faced a slight head wind.

Finishing up with a bike cleaning action, Py does not liked the salt dust all over. Not far today, but almost 2 hours out in the cold fresh air :-)

Too cold to ride -- but great for a bit XC

Some debating about his RP2IPBP ride on messy salty, sandy and possibly icy roads on a sunny and clear but cold (it was still -7°C at 9:40am) and windy day. He also thought about taking his Stonie Cross bike for better handling and eventually hitting a trail in the woods. Nothing seamed right and safe, the snow cover with possible hidden ice was not what he needed now on his path of recovery.
But wait, the little extra new snow of Friday may be just good enough for one more XC ski day! Would be safe and comfortable in the woods of Wildwood. He decided to give it a try. And it was a great day out there, just enough snow at perfect powdery conditions, fast. Only a few spots with exposed rocks and a few too many branches braking the slide at times, but there were sweet spots to enjoy and play around a bit -- 2 laps with some venturing XC @ WWSP :-)

It was nice and he couldn't let go before a 2nd lap was done including some playing around at the most South-East part of the park where the snow was best! -- 9 WP Pts!

VR D2R2 exploration -- Section 01

Now that's a one more cool thing to do, a virtual ride/race pre view while training! Not that I ever (not yet....!) intend to spend 8+ hours on my trainer o-] -- But imagine the possibilities, you could do a fast forward ride (say go at 2x, 3x, ..) speed virtually, just to memorize it all.

So this morning Pt started out on his own GPS track of the D2R2 -- Section 01 -- 45 minutes. Here a view just a few minutes into the ride:

Snow opening delays at the Camp, good for an extended moring VR power ride

Happy New Year 2010 to all of Py's blog readers -- almost forgot...!

Starting into the new year with a snow delayed Camp opening, great :-) These days are really cold on LI, recently again new snow out east, high winds up to 50mph and temperatures around -10C, and ice/snow all over the roads . Regardless his hand issue, this is not the weather to be out on the roads safely. But it is improving well with a lot of training and physical therapy -- only his thumb, is still bothering him most, pretty tight ligaments -- a lot of painful work to do on this one...

However, the gained extra time allowed for a little extended VR trainer session, just picked an old route and positioned about 45 minutes away from home today. In brief:
High Power/CAD session for 5' warm up around 185W -- 15' around 230..250W to bump up average to 220W -- 5' recover -- 10' to get up and keep up average at 200Watts, final "VR spin home" and cool down ... total came out to 50 minutes -- virtually finishing at Tildas :-)

Noticed: The lower bar position is due to wrist bend pretty uncomfy/painful -- this must improve ASAP.