Joy Ride with a Twist

Every now and then, I have a cycling workout in my schedule titled "Joy Ride" with the instructions to grab a friend and go on a ride and enjoy.


Old Spartanburg Hwy



Normally, I would join local group ride, but sometimes, I enjoy just being out there by myself alone with my thoughts. Besides, my usual Monday night group ride was doing over 40 miles and that wouldn't get me back home until 9.30pm and I didn't feel that!



First half under clouds, but then I headed towards the blue skies.

In order to make my solo outing a little more exciting, I mapped out a joy ride with a twist.



Here comes the sun!



Over the weekend, I discovered STRAVA.



Where are the cows today??


Strava is basically a training log (currently for running and cycling) with a little bit of a social network component (you can follow people, people can follow you). The huge difference to any other training log is: it takes your gps data from your Garmin or the Strava app and compares your times in predefined segments. For example a sprint zone from a local ride or a famous climb in your area. The segments are defined by Strava users and you can add segments from your own rides. You are then being ranked against anybody on Strava that uploaded a route that included that segment.


Down that road is another segment that I plan on tackling soon to improve my posted time!



While I rode in an area that I ride after work all the time, I spiced things up a little bit, by picking five segments and combine them in a 30 mile ride.  Not only did I discover a new road, but it also made me combine the roads that I know in a way that I haven't done before...

Bye bye cloudy skies!

 So the twist of my joy ride was to really push in on the segments and otherwise take it fairly easy.



Waddel Rd

I am happy to report, that I made QOM (Queen of the Mountain) on Chicken Foot Creek Road... by default, because no other woman has posted a time there yet.... this is just calling for trouble now... I am sure there will be a time posted soon!

Also, I improved my standings in all of the segments. Given that I only had two weeks worth of rides on my Garmin that I could upload, the basic data has been pretty slim.

Love this stretch of road, especially in the sunshine!

Can't wait to get back out there and ride some new segments or improve my times!!

Sometimes I wonder, if I am more competitive than I care to admitt! ;-)