September 27th Rides

[Fredwina]

It was my first time riding in 6 weeks(since my fracture). I was more than a bit wobbly at first, and tried to take it easy. Also discovered that I need to get better lights! All in all, it was a good day to be back on the bike.

[DebW]

My commute started at 45 degrees. Since the first stretch of my ride is downhill, I bundled up. Started in full leg warmers, a jacket, a skull cap, toe covers. Had to stop and switch out to knee warms (just bunched around the knees), arm warmers below the elbows, and no cap. Nice day for a ride here.

[MomOnBike]

Ride into work was annoying as I got behind a garbage truck on the nice fast downhill. Good thing I didn't pass, 'cause he didn't use his signal when he turned. Bleh.

Ride home was nicer, the promised thunder showers didn't materialize and I found a nice hilly route home. I'm not too sure I'll take the same cross street again, however, the cars were not giving me an inch of room. I lived to complain, so that's good.

Home to a Secret Sister package. Life is indeed good.

[Tater]

Nice and cool at forty-three degrees on the way in. Nice ride, except for the three wrong way bikers! No lights, no reflectors, dark jackets, oh and no helmets. Only reason I saw each of them was they blotted out the lights of the on-coming traffic. Jerks.

[KnottedYet]

around 30 miles running errands. Will try to ride again this evening.

Beautiful sunny day, cool, and the leaves are changing.

Edit: add another 30 miles just now. Put on my new bars and tape, and rode to the LBS to have them check that I did it right. Saw a raccoon and a rat on the bike trail.

Sunset over the lake and glowing on Mt. Rainier. Sigh.

That makes about 60 for the day, and while I'm not a bean-counter, I am excited because this is the farthest I've gone on my "new" bike.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I took a little time off this morning before getting to work at my desk, and cruised down the hill into town for my "sacred breakfast": latte, croissant, and scrambled eggs in our favorite cafe.
The weather was PERFECT today, GORGEOUS. About 55-60 degrees, breezy and sunny.
I couldn't go home right away, just couldn't. So I peddled aimlessly around the village for a half hour, up and down tree-lined streets by the school and library.

It was Heaven on earth. I actually felt my inner spirit being renewed.
I came home completely rejuvenated. Ahhhh...

[Popoki_Nui]

Absolutely gorgeous here today. Took a few hours off to do nothing more than cruise around the waterfront, harbour, and a couple of parks. No distance goal to meet, no HR to attain, just riding for the sheer joy of it. Most of the tourists have gone home so the streets were less crowded, the ocean was sparkling, the harbour was bustling with sailboats, ferries, and seaplanes.
Twenty-five kilometers of bliss in 24C weather (76F). Forgive the quality of my $9 bike cam images! :rolleyes: Tried to capture the harbour activity, and some ducks who were enjoying their day in the park as much as I was mine.

~Sherry.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Sherry,
It's cute that your bike just HAD to stick its butt into the scenery there. What a ham! ;)

[Popoki_Nui]

Sherry,
It's cute that your bike just HAD to stick its butt into the scenery there. What a ham! ;)

:rolleyes: Oh dear....was it that obvious..? :o

[xeney]

Since I am mad at my road bike, and since the last time we rode together my husband and I had a big fight about my going too slowly but not wanting to draft off of him, we have not been on a ride together in about a week. So tonight he asked me out on a mountain biking date after work.

We didn't have much time so we just went over the levee from our house and went about 10 miles round trip. It's mostly flat and unfortunately the dirt roads have been regraveled. I hate gravel. I also hate sand. I like rocks. Rocks are great. Sand sucks.

Still, it was fun. We went pretty fast because we wanted to get back before dark, so it felt like a workout even though there were just the ups and downs from the levee to count as hills. He said I was doing a lot better, which is good because I am the worst mountain biker in the world. I was mostly just proud of myself because I nearly wiped out in deep sand twice but I managed to keep the bike upright and keep going.

I was also testing out a new saddle and making sure my bike was dialed in, because I'm taking a mountain biking class this weekend and the last person to ride the bike was my 6'0, 200+ pound brother. (The three of us went mountain biking in Wyoming, and right at the trailhead my brother broke his rear derailleur. I had scoped out the trail and realized it was way over my head, so I handed him my bike and went out for ice cream with my niece instead.)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Xeney,
It's a wonderful and rare thing when one can ride bikes with the one they love and share that fun together. Many women have no one to ride with and wish so much that they did. Having fun riding together is way more important than how fast either of you go. :) I'm glad you got out riding again together today! I think it's so sweet when my DH asks me to go for a ride. I feel like it's a date (and I know he's totally checking me out from behind) :eek: ;)

[Cassandra_Cain]

Lisa....Xeney...Popoki_Nui...great posts. love the pictures, the notion of bike dates, and the bike ham :)

On a practical note...

Rode for the first time since Sunday. Rode an easy pace for 20 minutes to start. Then the work. Did hill repeats. Basically five climbs....two on a 7.0% grade, one on a 9.7% grade, and two on a 15.1% grade, with the descent on each one being the rest period.

I'm trying to get 40,000 ft of climbing for september. Now if only I could get up a lot faster! :D

[Popoki_Nui]

I'm trying to get 40,000 ft of climbing for september. Now if only I could get up a lot faster! :D

:eek: :eek: :eek: Forty THOUSAND feet?? Ay carumba! I'm impressed!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Here's a picture of me and my husband enjoying one of our "biking dates":
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/cat1981/Liliana/Postais/26-09-20066.jpg

(well, sort of.....) :rolleyes:

[Cassandra_Cain]

Here's a picture of me and my husband enjoying one of our "biking dates":
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/cat1981/Liliana/Postais/26-09-20066.jpg

(well, sort of.....) :rolleyes:

funny! :D

[Haudlady]

Yesterday I rode my new bike ( http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=10501 )to work for the first time. It was very foggy in the morning (I didn't need to drink any water - I was absorbing enough just from all the moisture in the air!), but beautiful and sunny for my ride home.

Hey - it turns out that my new road bike is much faster on the commute than my moutain bike! :rolleyes: Who would have guessed? Plus, with a real computer (instead of my best guess), I discovered that my half commute is actually 7.01 miles each way. I had been selling myself short, mileage-wise. I guess I am one of those "bean counters," Knotted!

I am still trying to get used to how the road bike handles. It is much more responsive. I almost keeled over at one point - trying to put my water bottle back in its cage, it brushed against the brake cable... :eek: - to my utter surprise, I didn't quite crash into the guard rail. It was close, though. :o