Sunday, October 15th rides

[Kalidurga]

I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I got here before MdHillSlug and divingbiker... Does it mean that I'm lazier and more computer obsessed?

The three of us met in the 9 a.m. chill at Riley's Lock along the C&O Canal towpath and pedaled a bumpy yet comfortable 13 miles or so to White's Ferry and then back. This was my first non-solo ride, and the gorgeous fall weather and good company made it really very pleasant. Next time, we hit the roads!

[Bikingmomof3]

What fun! How ownderful you were able to meet up and ride with other TE'ers. Thanks for the report. :)

[Geonz]

Yesterday I never got to a 'puter, but we did our regular Saturday Saunter (a little longer and faster 'cause it's "post-season"). I managed to FIND ALL THE STUFF (including my keys :) :) ) in time to ride instead of drive out to our concert, so my BJ rank ticked up to 179 :) :) Today is just the church commute and now to streak out to thge bike club board meeting...

I think it's over 40 (tho' thge weather channel gives no report) but very, very damp. Hooray, I got the dryer vent thingy out so that all that hot air stays in the house instead of venting to the outside now!

[Popoki_Nui]

One of those rides where everything seemed wrong. Dressed for rain, the sun came out. Stiff headwind. Fenders rubbed. Raincover on my right shoe got caught in the toeclip or pedal or some damn thing, and I fell at a traffic light. Yes, lots of witnesses...most laughing. I haven't had a toe-clip fall since I was 12. Bike was pure evil. (see Evil Bike thread!) Managed 33km and called it quits.

Glad it's over.

[Trek420]

Today was the official start of training rides for AIDS Lifecycle so I thought I'd go. The weather was misting over here which could mean anything from sunny to rain in San Francisco so I dressed warm and brought the mountain bike instead of the road bike.

Between the mountain bike and a new saddle I decided to do the 20 mile ride. I saw Dianne (don't know her last name) but we've seen each other on the ride, the Ride of Silence, BATO .... we decided to ride together and for the most part did. It was nice to see familiar faces. There were about 40 riders on the 20 miles, almost twice that on the 40, there was a metric century route that left earlier.

We had to punt on the route to the bridge because of a tri-athlon. One scarey moment was we crossed a street that had a huge descent for the tri-bike run.

As I waited for a clearing one of the new riders just ... went.

I heard the descending racer yell "Nooooooo".The new rider got across ok but I found out later it was his...first...ride...ever.

I crossed the road safely when it was clear and caught up him on the hill.

I believe I was patient and calm and he now knows what "yield to" "cyclists descending" at all times and especially on a "closed course" mean.

Golden Gate Bridge is everything it's cracked up to be, I think we've covered here the pros and cons of riding it.

It is beautiful. the rest of the ride went well, on the way back Dianne and I rode for and aft of newby rider till we got to the hill out of Sausalito. D said "I don't have it today", she stayed back with Newby at the top of the hill she was right behind me, new rider Green helmet guy (I must get better with names) was nowhere to be seen at that point but...he caught up with us on the bridge.

On the way back on the bridge a gal passed me and was gesturing wildly to me with thumbs up and a big smile as she looked back. I was in my AV gear. I don't think she was all happy over my form or ride style, think she recognised the AV jersey.

Was that anyone here?

[KnottedYet]

Thank you Trek for setting newby straight on how to yield.

And my, you caught him on a hill! On Bradley! You are a BABE!

[Trek420]

KnottedYet "Thank you Trek for setting newby straight on how to yield."

for a moment there his life flashed before my eyes :p Seriously with new riders they make some of the same mistakes drivers make like not knowing how fast bikes descend.

"And my, you caught him on a hill! On Bradley! You are a BABE!"

One of the things I like on ALC training rides is the emphasis on safety that and the non competitive atmosphere. But when at a regroup Green Helmet New Guy said something like that he liked my pace, I set a good pace that he could keep up with :D Awwww.

I just smiled and asked how his ride was going so far, how're you doing and we're about to get to your first real hill.

That's why i dropped him on the hill on Bradley the tank. :p

[xeney]

I should have paid more attention to that "century with a cold" thread, although I was only doing a metric. I do have a cold, though, and I really, really wanted to bail out after 45 miles. The only reason I didn't was that those SAG people kind of make you feel like a loser if you ask for a ride, plus my husband did the metric with me to help me out when he really wanted to do the imperial century. (He did ride a little further while I was resting, so he got 82 miles and a decent climb.) So I felt obligated to continue.

If I ever do that again I will practice my snot rockets first, because it is no fun to have to keep stopping to blow your nose. And I can't do it on a moving bike, at least not when we are going over the most rutted horrible roads I've ever ridden on.

I am also not sure it was a brilliant idea to go for a 25-mile ride on my new saddle, think, "Wow, this saddle is a lot harder than my Butterfly," and then make my next ride a 70-mile ride on the same saddle. Possibly I should have gone back to the old familiar for the long ride.

I have to say that there was really not much that was fun about the last 40 miles, but I made it, it was about 70 miles total according to my bike computer, and my cold doesn't feel any worse at the moment so maybe I will survive. And my butt survived, I don't seem to be dead, and my husband is still speaking to me, so I guess it worked out okay.

[cosc]

My dh and I had good weather, 60's for our 18 mile ride. The descent coming back was frightful though.:eek: The shimmy seemed to get worse as I got close to the bottom of the hill. There was a 20mph crosswind that might have contributed. I really felt like my headset was loose, but seemed fine when we tested it. Yesterday when I came down that hill my bike was as smooth as glass compared to today. I'm so glad you girls are here for the good and the whiny times.

[pooks]

Today's ride was so short I ought to be embarrassed to mention it, but we road 2 miles in the rain and it was wonderful! I loved riding in the warm rain. Wish we could have gone farther but we were pushing it to take time to ride at all.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Today's ride was so short I ought to be embarrassed to mention it, but we road 2 miles in the rain and it was wonderful! I loved riding in the warm rain. Wish we could have gone farther but we were pushing it to take time to ride at all.

Yeah well I got you beat Pookster- I rode ONE mile today! Into town for Sunday breakfast and back. I REALLY wanted to go for a 12 mile ride I love, but I had some job deadlines that I simply could no longer put off, so right after breakfast I had to peddle home and WORK all day. :(

[Crankin]

Denise G. and I rode today; 20.1 miles on some country roads and a few suburban traffic type roads. It's getting cooler here and it's hard to know how to dress. It's not cold enough for super winter gear, but I find it very hard to gauge it correctly. I think I'm getting used to riding in cool weather, because I was able to wear regular gloves and no head covering at 53 degrees.
So, a nice, social ride from Concord to West Acton and back. The foliage sure is nice, but very soon all of those leaves will be on the ground, making it trecherous for cyclists.

Yes, this was listed under Oct. 14th. No, I did not ride twice.

[HillSlugger]

I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I got here before MdHillSlug and divingbiker... Does it mean that I'm lazier and more computer obsessed?
At least for me, I think it means you didn't have the rest of the day tied up with kids activities ;)


The three of us met in the 9 a.m. chill at Riley's Lock along the C&O Canal towpath and pedaled a bumpy yet comfortable 13 miles or so to White's Ferry and then back. This was my first non-solo ride, and the gorgeous fall weather and good company made it really very pleasant. Next time, we hit the roads!
It was definitely cool when we started (around 40 degrees) but we were all well dressed for the temps and warmed up pretty quickly, although we all complained about cold toes.

It was a beautiful ride and I understand why Kali enjoys it so much (I'll post a picture later into the "pictures of your ride" thread). I'm thinking now that I should keep that hybrid of mine :rolleyes:

[indysteel]

I did an organized club ride on Sunday. As some of you know from my "whining" thread, I've been under the weather for two weeks. This was my first day on the bike in a week, and I was so happy to be back.

The ride was pretty par for the course as club rides go. It was chilly--about 33 degrees--at the start, but I was dressed for it and felt pretty good. Everybody kept joking about how I looked someone straight out of the Colorado Cyclist catalog. LOL. Admittedly, I have dropped some dough on my cold-weather gear!

Anyway, I took it easy for the first 12 miles or so. I caught up with a couple of people that I've ridden with before. Bored with their pace though, I went to the front, picked up the pace and pulled us into the first SAG.

After we got started again, we picked up the pace a bit more. After a brief flat tire break, I encouraged the group to sprint the last mile or so until the next SAG. That's the first time I've ever really "hammered" with the guys. What a blast! The fact that I kept up didn't hurt either. My spinning classes are really paying off.

After the second SAG, I pulled again for a long, hilly stretch. After I finally dropped back, the guys kept commenting about how "tough" I was. I have to say that it was one of the best rides I've had.

[aicabsolut]

The three of us met in the 9 a.m. chill at Riley's Lock along the C&O Canal towpath and pedaled a bumpy yet comfortable 13 miles or so to White's Ferry and then back. This was my first non-solo ride, and the gorgeous fall weather and good company made it really very pleasant. Next time, we hit the roads!

Can you take C&O from Rock Creek to Key Bridge? My trail map makes it look like you can but I dunno.. I'm thinking it comes up on the left side of the bridge (facing VA).and I think it's paved. If you know if that's right or not, please let me know.


I took a trip out to a rural area outside of Charlottesville yesterday. Only about 20-25miles, but that's longer than I've been going around the city lately. It was very hilly, I have a cold, and it was freezing..low 50s when I started. So the first few hills, my leg muscles just said "what?" as I huffed and puffed.

There's one great section in that loop where you can get in the big ring and just fly. A few dangerous descents in other places, which I took very slow (the girl who told me about the loop had removed most of the skin from her torso on one of them...the pavement isnt in such good shape). But she didn't warn me about the brutal climbs that you can't see coming until you're already going too slow.

Still shopping around for a computer, but I managed to do it in about 1hr45, which included a pit stop at a convenience store to eat a granola bar and chug water (not good with handling the water bottle in the cage yet) and blow my nose. Given how many slow hills I took, this was better than I expected. I thought I'd be lucky to make 10mph.

The things I improved upon was moving between hoods and drops, standing, and doing things like pushing my sunglasses up (need better ones for cycling than the sporty ones I already had). I stood for a few more steps each time I tried, but it wound up slowing me down..need to work on doing that while getting some good power transfer. So I stayed seated for most climbs and just tried to keep on spinning and not weave around the road.


Would've been nice to add another loop onto that one and to have a buddy--I saw lots of pairs out riding, but I was all alone. Not too bad once my muscles got warm ...would've been nice to breathe through my nose too..

[Kalidurga]

Can you take C&O from Rock Creek to Key Bridge? My trail map makes it look like you can but I dunno.. I'm thinking it comes up on the left side of the bridge (facing VA).and I think it's paved. If you know if that's right or not, please let me know.

aicabsolut, the towpath begins (http://bikewashington.org/canal/canal_a.php) just downstream from Thompson's Boat Center, near the intersection of Rock Creek Pkwy and Virginia Ave at the edge of Georgetown. It then runs through G'town between M St and Water St, under Key Bridge, and on to Cumberland, in between the river and what's left of the canal. I've actually never ridden it that close to the city, but I used to walk along it on my lunch breaks when I worked in G'town years ago. I know some construction work has been done under Key Bridge, but I don't know how they may have changed the towpath through there. If you ride it from Georgetown, it's worth noting that the towpath joins up with the Capital Crescent trail near where Arizona Ave hits Canal Rd.

At 184.5 miles from G'town to Cumberland, the C&O Canal is the longest linear park in the National Park system, and well worth exploring by anyone in the DC area. Definitely one of my favorite places :D

[PinkBike]

unlike all the cold weather beings, here in the great southwest our riding season begins, and lasts til march. did the 70-mile tour de scottsdale sunday. beautiful day, very little wind, about 800 riders, no major mishaps, didnt even see a lot of flats being repaired on the side of the road, the weather and biking gods got together and shined today!!!!!!!!!! a little disappointed in 3:40 but it IS the first of the season. gotta love it

[aicabsolut]

Kalidurga-
Ok, I know where Thompson's is. I saw a trail-like thing that comes up by this little brick park/median thing next to Key Bridge and wondered if there's a way you can exit off C&O there to get up to the VA trails.

I can't take C&O very far, because my bike doesn't doo off-road, but I thought that maybe in town there between Rock Creek and Capital Crescent it would probably be paved...though Arizona is pretty far up there... know anything about the paved status?

I live on Virginia, and it seemed like skipping M to get to the Virginia trails or Capital Crescent (and skipping the construction on Memorial Bridge) would be ideal. I can't stand taking my car on M...I don't know how commuters do it.

[HillSlugger]

It was a beautiful ride and I understand why Kali enjoys it so much (I'll post a picture later into the "pictures of your ride" thread). I'm thinking now that I should keep that hybrid of mine :rolleyes:

I just posted pictures in the "Photos of your Ride" thread.

[Kalidurga]

I can't take C&O very far, because my bike doesn't doo off-road, but I thought that maybe in town there between Rock Creek and Capital Crescent it would probably be paved...though Arizona is pretty far up there... know anything about the paved status?

As far as I know, the towpath isn't paved anywhere along it's length. It's a National Historical Park, so I believe the intent is to keep it as authentic to its original 19th/early 20th century aspect as possible.

That's exactly the reason that I bought a cyclocross bike this year instead of a road bike. I wanted to be able to do longer distances and pick up my speed a bit, but I'm addicted to the C&O so I needed a bike rugged enough for that surface. If you really want to experience it, aicabsolut, you might perhaps consider renting a bike from Big Wheel in G'town.