i got to still well at 7.30 am , frost on the ground , ended up putting on two jerseys 
finished the ride warm with 51 degrees

Got a late start today.  I knew I'd be able to go with Knaked Knees.  But was I didn't expect was Knaked Elbows!  Maybe it was the fleece shorts.  Whatevs.  It was totally awesome.  First time since the Super Bowl ride I came close to running out of onboard water (on that ride, I stopped for liquid 65 miles in).  

While it wasn't a goal I had prepared for, I had my eye on a two-climb KoM that starts in Hawthorne and finishes in Wayne.  I had done it once before and thought that if i didn't totally relax on the descent between the two hills, I'd probably be able to take it.  I knew it wasn't super-competitive, so I hadn't given it much thought.  Got it by about 80 seconds.  

Surprisingly, I realized at about three hours in that I was ahead of schedule.  The goal was exactly four hours.  I'm thinking the warmer weather helped me speed up.  But then in Tenafly, I saw Marc Bertucco going the other direction after I climbed up the ridge, so I rode alongside him for a mile or two down the ridge and back to the valley, which ended up helping me hit my goal.  4:00:28 of moving time, and I think about two minutes of waiting at lights.  

And I have that salty scunge.  Not as thorough as on a hot day, but been a while.  #litlethings 

https://www.strava.com/activities/4987698966

Rich whipped together a really awesome ride covering mostly dirt roads in the Peekskill area. We rode about 66 miles and covered a really great amount of vert in the first half. There were some real steep steep steep climbs. 10/10 would recommend this route! 
https://www.strava.com/activities/4980438151 

whaaaat , group rides

Rode a few miles around Hunterndon/Bucks traversing the Delaware river 

@RichFreeman @RobertMullen
Is there a way to get this route and the other one in ride with GPS

Mark Taylor said:

whaaaat , group rides

Haha not quite a full on, just me Kev and Rich out in the boonies. But it has been really really nice to ride with friends again, even if we can't quite have the whole crew out and about. It was a nice reminder as to why we're all in this dang club! 

@RichFreeman might have more details for ya! 

Think that is the way - if you have a wahoo you can star the route and it will sync automatically for you...

Took a trip to Cunningham, legs were like lead, bumped into @David Yang , who subsequently rode me off his wheel

@Mark Taylor It was awesome bumping into you! Only my second ride with another human being in the last year, the social awkwardness is real. Your mtbike and that new SRAM electronic upgrade is sick. Also I'm assuming "rode off...wheel" is euphemism for "I took a left turn to ride the hard trails while Yang faffed about through the easy sections."  I wouldn't want to be seen with a guy riding in chinos and old kit either! 

An on-form @David Yang is a formidable thing. In addition to his track chops he used to be Kissena’s own Yang-Wagon in our leadout train. If he’s being doing #secretbasement miles Mark’s story rings true...

Another largely solo Sunday on the road.

Caught up with @Matt Budofsky at the GWB.  We chatted a bit, but he went to River Road while I headed over to the start of the Kissena traditional.  Should have turned to go with Matt. If he would have ridden with me.  Been so long...

And then I saw @Jeff Condon rolling back on Hudson Terrace.  Two Kissena sightings in one ride.  Special day.

On the ride, it was pretty quiet.  Not many out riding, or at least at my time.

Back to my usual 9W southbound sniping game.  After passing four or five people between the golf course and the Palisades underpass, someone caught me (!) just after the rise after the underpass flattened.  He was huffing and puffing and was happy to see someone.  Said he was at his limit and happy to ride home however he could. I told him I wanted to empty what I had left and he was welcome to ride alongside or draft if he wanted.  He drafted.  It was a bit of inspiration.  I kept the pressure on the pedals until the final rise on Hudson Terrace, where I just barely caught someone at the top.  that was it for me.  The guy pulled alongside again, still pretty tired, and we started chatting again, almost where we left off by the scout camp.  Funny that way.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5070017548

Spent a bunch of time on the mountain bike this weekend! I'm trying to work on being efficient and figuring out how to eat on the trails. Progress is being made on at least one of these! I didn't seem to bonk to hard on the long day and I felt pretty good on day 2. I rode 4 hours on the smooth Rocky Point trails yesterday and 1:45 on the less-used Calverton trails (which are actually more fun than I remembered!). I did 2.5 ish loops on the RP trails and had some funny/ friendly conversations with a group of mtb-ers drinking beers at the trailhead. I think they had the right idea. 

It's a little inflated by me doing a long ride last monday instead of sunday, but I ended up with 15hrs in the past 7 days (with Wednesday off). It was a nice way to spend spring break. But that's my biggest week in a long long while! It's been really motivating to see lil sneak peaks of fitness the past few months. 

@mugwump I'd ride with you any day!

Looking sharp Diego!

Second covid shot was yesterday; I waited around this morning expecting some trouble but decided by lunchtime that I was in the clear.

soggy, wind in my face both ways and 48 degrees. Five stars would do it again.

https://strava.app.link/HjlZk4Y8lfb

Knew I didn't have much time on Sunday.  Only three hours (or should I write " 'only' three hours"--ah, the madness of being a cyclist)  Knew it would be raining.  So I made Friday and Saturday tempo rides with some hard efforts thrown in.  

Happily dressed for the rain.  Mid-50s rain is no problem.  When I got out on the road, I could tell my legs were lagging.  So I went for a flatter route out to Pearl River.  Coming back, I got into a nice rhythm and rewarded myself by adding some extra up-and-down in Tenafly and Englewood.  And my bike rewarded me by picking up some steel shard that went htrough the Conti' 4-season rear tire.  Luckily, only slowly.  

The tire held out til I got by Strictly, where I assumed I could quickly use one of the track pumps they keep out (I had my full-size frame-fit, but the leverage and position and gauge of the floor pump is a big plus).  Only, with no crowd, they didn't have them out.  The owner saw me and tossed a 'what do you think this is, Belgium?' snark my way.  I took it as loving affirmation.  Pumped up the tire, knowing it would go soft again.  

Made it back to my front door in 3:00:42.  Perfect.  The DL says almost 3'k climbing, which, considering my legs and route, seems pretty hilly.  

https://www.strava.com/activities/5112097697   

mugwump said:

Knew I didn't have much time on Sunday.  Only three hours (or should I write " 'only' three hours"--ah, the madness of being a cyclist)  Knew it would be raining.  So I made Friday and Saturday tempo rides with some hard efforts thrown in.  

Happily dressed for the rain.  Mid-50s rain is no problem.  When I got out on the road, I could tell my legs were lagging.  So I went for a flatter route out to Pearl River.  Coming back, I got into a nice rhythm and rewarded myself by adding some extra up-and-down in Tenafly and Englewood.  And my bike rewarded me by picking up some steel shard that went htrough the Conti' 4-season rear tire.  Luckily, only slowly.  

The tire held out til I got by Strictly, where I assumed I could quickly use one of the track pumps they keep out (I had my full-size frame-fit, but the leverage and position and gauge of the floor pump is a big plus).  Only, with no crowd, they didn't have them out.  The owner saw me and tossed a 'what do you think this is, Belgium?' snark my way.  I took it as loving affirmation.  Pumped up the tire, knowing it would go soft again.  

Made it back to my front door in 3:00:42.  Perfect.  The DL says almost 3'k climbing, which, considering my legs and route, seems pretty hilly.  

https://www.strava.com/activities/5112097697   

Always an inspiration JP. Raining and 50's is a tough way to do 3 solo hours.

Frogs! From today’s ride
https://roazen.smugmug.com/Other/Videos/n-VDrL3/i-hXXLJLX/A

Was setting up my bike and kit last night for today's ride and my ancient SRAM Rival rear shifter snapped off. I swapped the wheels onto my fake cross bike and figured I'd stick to urban roads in case something went wrong. Ended up doing my old commuting route through downtown Flushing, across Citifield and the former iron triangle, cutting through working class Queens, over the Queensboro and into midtown. I then just sort of noodled down to Battery Park on the HRGreenway, hit the Brooklyn Bridge, jumped over the Manhattan Bridge and traced my way back to the QBB. No power, no HRM, no bike computer, just freewheeling like a kid.

Coming from the relative sticks of eastern Queens, Manhattan felt oddly the same as it ever was. People were out jogging, riding bikes... I saw a kid who obviously had just learned to ride without training wheels tip over while trailing his parents, dusting himself off and racing to catch up... I saw restaurants slowly opening shop, workers making their way to essential jobs, dog walkers mindlessly wandering and scrolling, even tourists excitedly crossing avenues, chattering about their plans. It was a mix of masks, no masks, of lines of people waiting to get a test, to get a vaccine shot at Citifield and javits. It felt nice to aimlessly ride and be on autopilot through well worn routes and just watch the city and its people again.

Ended up doing about the same number of miles as if I headed east to Cold Springs. Sometimes chill rides are best rides.

David Yang said:

Was setting up my bike and kit last night for today's ride and my ancient SRAM Rival rear shifter snapped off. I swapped the wheels onto my fake cross bike and figured I'd stick to urban roads in case something went wrong. Ended up doing my old commuting route through downtown Flushing, across Citifield and the former iron triangle, cutting through working class Queens, over the Queensboro and into midtown. I then just sort of noodled down to Battery Park on the HRGreenway, hit the Brooklyn Bridge, jumped over the Manhattan Bridge and traced my way back to the QBB. No power, no HRM, no bike computer, just freewheeling like a kid.

Coming from the relative sticks of eastern Queens, Manhattan felt oddly the same as it ever was. People were out jogging, riding bikes... I saw a kid who obviously had just learned to ride without training wheels tip over while trailing his parents, dusting himself off and racing to catch up... I saw restaurants slowly opening shop, workers making their way to essential jobs, dog walkers mindlessly wandering and scrolling, even tourists excitedly crossing avenues, chattering about their plans. It was a mix of masks, no masks, of lines of people waiting to get a test, to get a vaccine shot at Citifield and javits. It felt nice to aimlessly ride and be on autopilot through well worn routes and just watch the city and its people again.

Ended up doing about the same number of miles as if I headed east to Cold Springs. Sometimes chill rides are best rides.

Awesome. I've been doing a few city rides over the winter with old friends. No real destination in mind, just a general idea of an area to check out. Most of the time we disallow looking at phones meaning not only do we avoid the annoyance of phones but most of the time we don't exactly know where we are. We even use sun to navigate (and of course we still run across landmarks we recognize that help us get home). 

Got my usual 4 hour hall pass and tried to utilize every second of it.  I think I put my foot down three times for the distance, and when I was a few minutes early come Tenafly, I added a hill.

Funny thing about this ride.  over 4' climbing, yet it feels much flatter than many other rides.  Maybe it was a good thing, as I wasn't fading in the final miles.  

Pretty quiet out there.  Saw @James Reeder outside Columbia Presbyterian, but thanks to the minutes I stole in englewood, didn't have the time to take with him in the heights.  

https://www.strava.com/activities/5152369191

Got my second jab this morning
feeling ok for now 
got in the 1st ride in shorts and short sleeves 

Circumstances conspired to give me the hall pass on Saturday, so I went out to play.

As I've been coming home 'faster' than going out, I resolved that I wasn't going to turn back until about 2:10 into the ride, and figured that would bring me back to my door in four hours.  

I was rolling pretty well on the way out.  Checked my machine when I reached the edge of Suffern, and it reported 1:50, so I thought I had a chance to add in some roads I hadn't seen in years.  Seemed like all was on track.  

First, there was a detour off of Route 202, one that added a little distance.  Then I when I got to the top of Lime Kiln, I made my first mistake.  Instead of going straight, I turned left.  Fun downhill, but I basically just descended the hill I climbed.  Turns out that choice added three miles.  

I realized shortly thereafter, I was starting to fade.  Not a big deal, that's riding, and part of the fun, but when I finally  reached for the caffeinated gel in my pocket, found out it was bitter, possibly rancid (checked it when I tossed it; from 2011).  So I decided to stop for a Coke, as I was going to run out of water before finishing regardless.  Yum.  But was I was guzzling and riding, I ran over a steel plate in the middle of an empty road and flatted.  

Le sigh.

Easy change.  Got back on the bike and finished up the ride well enough.

77 miles.  Longer than I had promised, felt bad about that, but was glad for the extra miles.  Roads I hadn't seen in ages.  Longest ride since the Super Bowl.  

Did most of my standard "long" gravel ride yesterday - expected mid 40's weather but it turned out closer to mid 50's. The Kissena winter jacket is pretty strict on pocket-capacity so I nearly had to stuff my gloves into my shirt on the way home.

It was my first real ride since driving to Toronto and back last week so I wasn't sure what my legs would feel like. Hot garbage, as it turns out - at least for the first couple of hours, but by the end I was feeling lively. Definitely seems like the longest ride in quite some time for me.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5193077463

Hoping this is the last entry for a while. I spent Friday and Sunday late afternoons circling Cunningham. I even messed around on the western section with the more technical mtb trails. I think if I had fatter, tubeless tires I wouldn't feel so cautious, but some of those root and stone sections are just a bit too much for my skinny, 45psi 33 MXPs.

Next weekend is reserved for my wife's bday, but looking forward to sitting in a pace line with you soon.

Not entirely solo but a glorious day out there (here)
#wishyouwerehere
https://www.strava.com/activities/5335465974