Ride the Ladies of Massachusetts

[Hippie]

Then actually ride the thing instead of using it as a clothes hanger like most people!

No ride yesterday...Took my grandfather out to lunch, then T-storm & tornado watch into the night. Today was pretty windy, so I did laps around the complex, totaling around 25 miles.

 

[Hippie]

Ya great, you have a nice pot. This thread is about a charity bike ride. You upping your pledge to $3.00 per mile?

How about keeping it at $2.00/mile but pledging to both myself and the Hippie?

PTN

Instead of a swear jar (which we would go broke filling) we could have an off-topic jar.

 

[paulthenurse]

Ok, here is the first segment. I've registered as a member on this site. It has some INCREDIBLE tools, including and especially the one that lets you map out routes. If you go to the drop down menu you can toggle the view to "Terrain" which I think gives you the best view of the landscape. The topo map is just to busy with topo lines. I've mapped out the best route I could find, avoiding the worst of the killer hills. (You can also click on the "Show Elevation" box and a graphic will pop up on the bottom showing the elevation gained/lost over the miles. You can also scale down to an extremely high resolution. The other WICKED cool tool is the GoogleEarth 'Watch Course Fly-By Video,' it's a beta version but it is so cool. Click on that up at the top and follow the route from 100 foot in the air!) I'll post up the other completed segments shortly. They are all completed and I think they are pretty good. The only one that I really and truely don't like and am somewhat afraid of is the Sharon to Beverly section. That ride is going to have an extremely high pucker factor. There is no way to avoid high traffic routes. Duh! We'll be riding thru Boston and over the river to Chelsea. That is going to need to be done on a Sunday so we stand a chance of finishing the ride without ending up like a mosquito on a Mack truck's window.

Give me feedback on the routes.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

This is the ending segment, Sharon to Marion. (I initially had this as the starting leg and that is why it is labeled as Leg 1 Marion to Sharon,but since we will go west to east it is now the final leg. That just means we get to jump in the ocean when we finish.)

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

Here is the leg from Sharon to Beverly, and This is the link for the dicey section. Run thru them and let me know what you think.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

BTW, the total milage comes in at 266 miles. 123 from Lee to Shirley, 52.5 Shirley to Beverly, 43.5 Beverly to Sharon (including riding thru Lynn and Chelsea) and 47 Sharon to Marion. I think this might have to be a multi weekend ride.

We'll also want to discuss what sort of bulletproof vests we'll want for the ride down Blue Hill Ave and thru Chelsea and Lynn.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

Just did a short 4 mile ride but it is my first ride outdoors of the year. 36 degrees out. My f'ing toes might never warm up. I've really got to get those faggy little footies, I don't have winter cycling shoes and I can't feel anything from my ankles down. And we're supposed to get a foot of snow tomorrow so it looks like I won't be going outside again any time soon. Cool, my feet might warm up by then.

PTN

Any thoughts on the routes? Buehler? Buehler? Buehler?

 

[Hippie]

Paul, one thing that I would change is on the 'dicey' section from mile 35-40 go on Rt 1A instead of 107, it is just nicer. Also, you have the Beverly waypoint on the far end of town in Beverly Farms.
I like how the Lee section has the 6 mile warm up before the steeps, then a 2 mile cool down before 2 more miles of uphill and that is pretty much it, with the long descent; east to west would have blown.
I understand your wanting to make it a multiweekend ride, and I think the first leg will be too long, but I would still prefer to do this as one continuous ride. I looked to see if there was a state campground in the 80-100 mile range on day 1, but there isn't. Oh well, we still have 6 months to iron out the details.

As far as workouts go, my pace is off, doing just 8 on sunday, 10 monday and an uptempo 3 mile walk today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a longer ride.

 

[paulthenurse]

Well, I got to tell you, Hip, today was a reality check. Yes, you may not have any downhill sections on a trainer or at the gym so you need to keep peddling continually but roads are harder, I don't care what anyone says. I just did a simple loop of 4 1/2 miles and I was winded. I had a max heart rate of 156 and I was on easy gears.

Also, I am riding one of my brothers old bikes. The first time I got on it I felt like I'd never been on a bike before. I've had bikes my whole life but they have always been "Two-ton Schwinns." If you wanted to turn left you pushed your right hand forward and the bike turned left. Not this bike. You want to turn left you drop your left shoulder a quarter inch and WHAM! You are tearing thru a turn. And the shifters are on the diagonal tube. (Until I get my balance skills back I intend to keep it in only one or two gears. Every time I shift it is an adventure.) If it were a boat it would be called 'tender.'

I got used to it but it took a while (a few hundred miles) and I'm starting over again at square one. I asked him about it when he first gave it to me and he described it like this. "You're used to a 75 Chevy Impala. Some big block, gigantic old boat that cruises down the road. Now you're driving an MG. Smaller, lighter, faster and much more responsive." After I put several hundred miles on that first summer he let me take his new bike out for a spin and it was the same thing all over again. "Now you're going from an MG to a Ferrari."

At least my arse feels ok. The saddle didn't really have a chance to cause me misery, I was on it for less than 15 minutes. My hands didn't like the brake hoods, either. Man, that stationary bike at the Y is starting to seem like a waste of time! Winded, tachycardic and sore after a 4 1/2 mile ride. Reality check indeed.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

I understand your wanting to make it a multiweekend ride, and I think the first leg will be too long, but I would still prefer to do this as one continuous ride. I looked to see if there was a state campground in the 80-100 mile range on day 1, but there isn't. Oh well, we still have 6 months to iron out the details.

I'm waiting for feedback from Joe on the route. I sent it to him and I'm waiting to hear back from him on it. I talked to him this evening on my way in to work but he's in KC on business and hasn't bothered to sit down and put the time into checking out the routes. I'm pretty sure I'll be in Century shape by mid summer. But this is 260 + miles. And I don't intend to fail so I want to do it smart.

(I don't know if you've noticed but you and I are both just a little to the left of 'in shape.' But that's why I put this out at the end of the summer. Gives us plenty of time to flog the hog.)

PTN

 

[Hippie]

I also expect the century mark to be attainable, but I expect to personally average about 10-12 MPH (Mtn bike), breaks excluded, which makes for a long first day. I know it may be prohibitive for some people, but maybe doing something like a wed-sat ride with a sunday recovery day would work and move the end of leg 1 to the start of leg 2 so that it would go something like 100-70-50-40.

Welcome to the road work crew. I can't get much vertical work in here in Florida, but actually being on the bike makes you balance it, fight headwinds and dodge traffic! I got in around a 4 mile walk, but here is something you don't deal with at the gym, my ride got canceled due to a torn tubeless tire! I didn't even know my new setup was tubeless until after I bought the new tube... now it is a $45 repair instead of $6

 

[olllllo]

Awesome idea.
So I combed through the state and found 7 woman named towns in AZ.

Brenda
Carmen
Catalina
Florence
Hayden
Laveen
Taylor


http://bit.ly/cbLYgR

uhhh 720 miles and I'm sure tens of thousands of vertical feet.

not.

 

[Hippie]

We'll just have to do that one by motorcycle...

 

[paulthenurse]

Awesome idea.
So I combed through the state and found 7 woman named towns in AZ.

uhhh 720 miles and I'm sure tens of thousands of vertical feet.

not.

I thought you were the one who was in shape?

Although as Hippie correctly points out, round IS a shape.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

Did 14.6 miles on the stationary bike at the Y yesterday in 50 minutes. Tried to maintain a steady cadence to keep my heart rate in check. Before I would just power thru the 'downhill' sections and my cadence would rise. Yesterday I tried to keep it more like a real bike and eased up on the downhills and kept my cadence at around 88 - 90 for the entire time. It felt good, it allowed me to recover and keep my heart rate at around 140 for the entire hour (counting cool off time after the 50 minutes of hard riding.) That gives me an average speed of around 16 MPH. That doesn't seem very fast to me but I was really cranking it. I suppose I could have got the cadence up a bit faster and that would have increased my average speed but I don't know taht I could have maintained that for the entire time. Oh well, that's going to come with more time in the saddle. Still and all, a good work out, especially considering that I haven't done anything for a week.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

I was thinking more along the lines of feeding you the poop in my poop.

Like now, for instance. I've got the urge coming on. I'm not ready yet, maybe in another hour or so but it's coming. I'll keep you posted.

PTN

 

[olllllo]

You guys should stop re-inventing twitter.

 

[paulthenurse]

Hmmmmm... Get your daily fill of "All things Paul."


I bet there is a market for that.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

Houston, we have flushage!

PTN

 

[Hippie]

There aren't enough threads with outrageous post counts that nobody reads past page 3 from you guys ****ting on each other? how about we start one called "Cape & Paul's snipefest" that everyone can read because they are out of alcohol to kill braincells... How much money is going into the "Off-topic jar"?

To get back on thread, I finally repaired my tire. yesterdays work out was a 3 mile walk, quickly followed by a 20 mile ride, watched the US men's hockey game then went for a 25 mile ride. My legs were pretty sore (nevermind saddle issues). Today was 2 advil and a 4 mile walk so far, and I expect to be on the bike shortly, right after I check the Olympic schedule.

 

[paulthenurse]

Hi Hippie,
That's what I was doing this morning, giving an update on my training as it pertains to our Ladies of Mass Ride.


And then some d-bag started in whining about it. I'll never get that about people who read a thread and start snivelling.


"Hey D-bag, if you think you are wasting your time reading our thread then you are right. So stop wasting your time and stop reading our thread. And then you compound the waste of time by taking the time to write about what a waste of time it was. Moron."

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

I'd like to get a ride in today but when I leave the hyperbaric chamber I'm off to the ER in Ptucket for a night shift. I'd like to get a few hours sleep before then. I'll ride tomorrow and when I do I'll be sure to post my cadence and average heart rate.

PTN

 

[the_bird]

Cripes, I thought this was going to be a serious thread? On-topic and everything. How long did that last, twelve posts?

 

[paulthenurse]

It is and will remain so. If you don't want to talk about ridng and training don't bother reading this thread.

PTN

 

[Hippie]

I ended up doing a casual 20ish this afternoon. I want to try to do a 50 tomorrow, we'll see, I don't expect to feel as tender as I did today. Any chance I could come in so you can "test" that chamber? I think my recovery would improve dramtically...

Cripes, I thought this was going to be a serious thread? On-topic and everything. How long did that last, twelve posts?

Isn't this just more of the same? Have you dusted your bike off yet? you are probably the closest to being inshape for something like this, but all we hear is "I couldn't do that!!" Go shovel some snow and work on your cardio!

 

[paulthenurse]

Isn't this just more of the same? Have you dusted your bike off yet? you are probably the closest to being inshape for something like this, but all we hear is "I couldn't do that!!" Go shovel some snow and work on your cardio!

Ya, what's up with that? The two fattest guys on HBT are leading the charge towards fitness? WTF!

Hip, you're killing me with these long outside rides. I've got one lousy ride outside and I damn near froze my feet solid. I had snotsickles on my face when I got home. I'm really not looking forward to heading outside anytime soon.

PTN

 

[paulthenurse]

I ended up doing a casual 20ish this afternoon.

F'ing killing me!

PTN

 

[the_bird]

Isn't this just more of the same? Have you dusted your bike off yet? you are probably the closest to being inshape for something like this, but all we hear is "I couldn't do that!!" Go shovel some snow and work on your cardio!

I haven't owned a decent bicycle in twenty years. Some my old Trek mountain bike when I was in high school so I could buy a bass guitar, then sold the guitar so I could buy... I don't remember. Wish I still had that Trek, wish I still had that bass...

In any case, I did freak out a little when I got on the scale a few weeks back, but biking, I'm just not sure that's my thing. Going to clean out around the heavy bag in the basement. Ok, it's not really a heavy bag, it's a three hundred pound prostitute on a meat hook. Works the same, though!

 

[paulthenurse]

You 'freaked out' when you stepped on the f'ing scale?

STFU!!!!!!

I weighed what you weigh now when I was in the 4th f'ing grade. Mr. Happy weighs about what you weigh now. (The only bright spot in the landscape.) Just stop talking, you are sounding silly and I hate to see a friend stand in a pile of manure and talk about days gone bye.


"Oh my goodness!!! I'm 5' 11" and I'm tipping the scales at 136 pounds. Oh NOOOOOO!!!!! What ever can I do???"


You could be a poster child for malnutrition and you whine about how you are overweight?????? For the good of all mankind I must kill you.

Oh crap. Now I feel a need to drink with a purpose.

******!

PTN

 

[the_bird]

Dude. I've put on a good sixty pounds in the past eight or nine years. I'm thicker than I look (all over, baby!). I'm not sayin' I'm obese or anything, and I'm probably at a better weight than I was when I was trying to play defensive end at 140#, but I'm still more jiggly than I would like.

Plus, I can't run more than a third of a mile.