walking around in tap shoes and pyjamas since 2010 - my cycling log (opens in new window)

Monday, February 14, 2011

Plotting A Course

Pending clearance from DD (you can't fudge recovery when you're engaged to a physical therapist!), I'm planning on taking at least one good, long ride this coming weekend.

I may jump in on a group ride, since I haven't been on a formal group ride since ... lord, does King's Cross count?  (Because of schedule constraints, I never actually manage to make it to Rogue's training stuff ... I normally put in pretty much all my training miles alone).  I also took my friend Robert on a Bicycle Death March a couple of times, but I don't think two riders constitutes a 'group.'

I'm debating exactly how ambitious I want my long ride this weekend to be.  There's a 17/35-miler out of the Yellow Lot at 10:00 AM that looks like it might be a good fit -- it's the 'Iroquois Special' Yellow Lot route, with a half-way point somewhere near home, if I'm not mistaken.  I don't think I've deconditioned enough in the past two weeks to find myself unable to manage a 'slow & easy' 17-miler (technically, it would be a 24-ish miler, since I will probably ride to the ride start if I opt in).

If I don't do the Yellow Lot Ride or some other group thing this weekend, I'll just whip up my own course.  I'm thinking Southern to downtown (via 2nd Street), out to Portland via the MUP, then down Northwestern/Southwestern through Shawnee Park, rejoin Southwestern, follow it 'til it turns into Algonquin, Algonquin to Winkler to Southern to Bluegrass to Hazelwood to Old Hazelwood to Home.  Maybe.  That actually sounds like a long ride, but I haven't yet mapped it to check the distance.

I'm also planning a ride for a group of mostly non-cycling friends later in the Spring, so I guess I need to plot that course, as well.  I'm guessing that's going to be a dedicated MUP and Bike Route ride, because the guys who'll be riding have, for the most part, neither riding-in-traffic nor group-riding skills.

Well, it's about time for class, so I'm off.  I'll think I'll knock out a map for my Saturday Ride Idea when I get home and see how it looks.

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