July 3rd Rides!

[Fredwina]

I got up at my usual time (oh dark thirty:eek: ) and started out. Road up the hill, greeted the day by seeing the sunrise over the mountains:) I rode along a section of street that has been closed due to a freeway being built next to (Highland ave between Haven and Baseline) and then turned, went down the hill, and went home, Yeah:cool:

[Jiffer]

(Highland ave between Haven and Baseline)

Umm ... :confused: ... Highland doesn't go to Baseline. It parallels it. Did you mean Carnelian?

I rode on Highland today, too! Except the whole "other" part that isn't attached to the part you rode on ... and it wasn't "dark 30". It was about 7:30. I'll tell you my standard "almost" 12 mile basic ride if you want to know. From Baseline and Etiwanda, I go up Etiwanda, turn right on Highland, left of East, left on Blue Gum (a neighborhood street right before Banyan), right on Etiwanda, left on Banyan. Pass Milliken, go to almost Haven, except turn into another neighborhood street called Meriot, where I have my half way break. Then I head back on Banyan to Rochester, down to Highland, turn right, wrap around to Kenyon, turn left ... weeee!!!! Go to Victoria Parkway, left and take that back down to my house.

I do that ride for recovery rides, don't have a lot of time to ride, rides. Fast rides where I'm going for speed, etc.

Yesterday I did 30 with my friend. Tomorrow I'm doing 60-ish on the tandem down to the beach with our tandem friends, so today I just wanted to spin and take it easy. It was a GREAT ride! :D

[teigyr]

Almost 40 with East Hill. We started out mid-ride we decided to deviate from Sunday's route to avoid a nasty downhill and add some miles. There was some beautiful scenery along the way! I rode on bike trails I didn't even know existed. All-in-all, it was a great ride! The hills are getting easier, THAT is a good thing :D

[Jiffer]

we decided to deviate from Sunday's route to avoid a nasty downhill and add some miles.

I wasn't aware there was such a thing as a "nasty downhill". Downhills are my friend!!! :D It's them uphills that I have issues with. :cool:

[ladyicon]

I wasn't aware there was such a thing as a "nasty downhill". Downhills are my friend!!! :D It's them uphills that I have issues with. :cool:

I totally agree with Jiffer.

[Fredwina]

Umm ... :confused: ... Highland doesn't go to Baseline. It parallels it. Did you mean Carnelian?

I rode on Highland today, too! Except the whole "other" part that isn't attached to the part you rode on ... and it wasn't "dark 30". It was about 7:30. I'll tell you my standard "almost" 12 mile basic ride if you want to know. From Baseline and Etiwanda, I go up Etiwanda, turn right on Highland, left of East, left on Blue Gum (a neighborhood street right before Banyan), right on Etiwanda, left on Banyan. Pass Milliken, go to almost Haven, except turn into another neighborhood street called Meriot, where I have my half way break. Then I head back on Banyan to Rochester, down to Highland, turn right, wrap around to Kenyon, turn left ... weeee!!!! Go to Victoria Parkway, left and take that back down to my house.

I do that ride for recovery rides, don't have a lot of time to ride, rides. Fast rides where I'm going for speed, etc.

Yesterday I did 30 with my friend. Tomorrow I'm doing 60-ish on the tandem down to the beach with our tandem friends, so today I just wanted to spin and take it easy. It was a GREAT ride! :D

how about Millken?:o
I usually start on Vineyard(don't have much of a choice:( ), then head over to Hellman and Baseline(or is it Base Line:p ?) The only name I can recall is Beryl. Go a little bit on Bl, then take Amethyst to 19th and 19th to higland, then Kenynon/Highland to either Rochester, Day Creek, or Etiwanda , and then Arrow back home. I took Rochester and by the Minor League Baseball staduim in the Adult Sports Park(yes, that is the formal name. I alway look for an X-Rated movie crew when I go by:rolleyes: )

[teigyr]

Uphills are kind. They make us stronger and coax us along. Downhills? Well, they hurt my forearms something fierce.

This downhill we went on was really bad. It was on a bike trail but had some steep parts and switchbacks.

For those SoCal people here, there is a ride called Ride Around the Bear. I'm sure some of you have done it. The ONLY reason I didn't do it when I lived there was for the fact I would have had to ride back down. Well, that and the road always kind of scared me even to drive, too much potential for accidents. Yes, I am a freak.

[Jiffer]

I don't think I've ever thought of riding down Arrow. That's probably a little less crazy than Baseline, huh? But then I'd have to come back up hill to get home eventually. It's kind of nice starting out uphill and ending downhill! :)

So you end up in my neck of the woods sometimes. You know I'm in the same neighborhood as Tom and Sue, right? And I assume you know where that is. South/West corner of Baseline and Etiwanda. We even have the same floorplan.

[onimity]

Only a commute to report here in terms of rides... but all of this talk about Baseline has made me laugh.

We have a Baseline Rd here too, the 40th parallel.

The other day a guy I was riding with was talking about being asked for directions to this road by a guy in a pick-up, clearly from out of town. The guy pronounced 'Baseline' so that it rhymed with 'Vaseline'...Once they figured out where he wanted to go my buddy's friend gave directions to the guy with the same pronunciation. I don't know if I could have done it with a straight face. :) The story alone had me in stitches.

Anne

[Crankin]

13.4 hilly miles in beautiful weather. Then I came home and we started working on unloading and placing the 10 tons of rocks we are using to make shrub bed borders with. My arms and back already feel it... tomorrow doing the same route as the 50 mile charity ride I did a few weeks ago for the Acton Lions. Too bad no one will be there with Italian subs when we get back!

PS. There's a Baseline Rd. in Tempe, too. I wonder why so many places in the west have streets with this name. It used to be sort of the southern terminus of the Valley but now, of course, it's not.

[Jiffer]

The guy pronounced 'Baseline' so that it rhymed with 'Vaseline'

That's hilarious because we pronounce it the same way just to be silly sometimes! Or my husband calls it "Base-uh-leen-ay". And we have a Foothill here also, which when my daughter started reading, thought the sign said, "Footh-ill"! :D

[Fredwina]

Tiegyr - I've done "the Bear" - going up 330 wasn't fun
Jiffer - live between Arrow and Foothill. Arrow's a lot nicer bike wise than foothill. I'm going to T&S's for their TdF party on Saturday. Maybe I'll see you there?
Onimity had to laugh, the local Paper , the Daily Bulletin, ran a story about people mispronoucing street and place names and making Baseline rhyme with Vaseline made it:) Of course, you should hear my mother attempt "Cucamonga". I tell her to just call the City "Rancho" when she's visiting.
A neighboring City(Upland) had the "H" knocked out of one their Foothill signs for a long time. I always wondered if it was free advertising for a Podiatrist
Robyn - not sure about the other states, but here in CA, it refers to Land surveying (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseline_%28surveying%29). ours is a straight line from Mount San Gorgonio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gorgonio_Mountain). It alway's fun on clear day in winter to be riding along in shirt sleeves and look and see snow on the top

[Jiffer]

Uphills are kind. They make us stronger and coax us along. Downhills? Well, they hurt my forearms something fierce.

This downhill we went on was really bad. It was on a bike trail but had some steep parts and switchbacks.

For those SoCal people here, there is a ride called Ride Around the Bear. I'm sure some of you have done it. The ONLY reason I didn't do it when I lived there was for the fact I would have had to ride back down. Well, that and the road always kind of scared me even to drive, too much potential for accidents. Yes, I am a freak.

I wonder why your forearms would hurt so much going downhill? I wonder if you need a bike adjustment or if you just have to let your arms get stronger by doing more downhills. Do you have any ideas because this truly puzzles me! :confused:

Secondly, regarding "Ride Around the Bear" ... I'm sure many people are sick of me bragging on my hubby (so stop reading if you are! :p ) ... but he just finished 4th out of over 400 on that ride a few weeks ago. He was told, based on his previous century and the previous results for The Bear, not to expect to make it under 6:30. His goal was to beat 6:00, because they told him that was like impossible. He did it in 6:03, which is pretty darn close! :D Yah, it's nice having him on the front of the tandem. Makes me look good!!!

[emily_in_nc]

Just my normal one hour, ten mile fire road/trail ride with my friend from work, but it was perfect weather (80 and cloudy, low humidity), and I felt really good tonight. Fun! :D

Emily

[SouthernBelle]

I did a ride with a guy who's a ride leader here. He teaches 4 spin classes a week & rides every day on top of that. We did a short ride with lots of climbing. I figured I was pretty much being vetted to see if I could keep up with his regular group ride. Guess I did OK since I'm riding with them tomorrow. :cool:

He has some serious legs.

[mimitabby]

I rode to work and back today. Nice rides each way probably because everyone grumpy took the day off. It was warm in the morning and hot going home.

And about those sore arms; it's from gripping the brakes with a death grip.
Ask me how I know.

I don't think there's a cure for it except maybe coaster brakes. I WANT COASTER BRAKES!!! WHY NOT????

[lauraelmore1033]

Didn't feel like riding, but I hadn't ridden since saturday and even then, the ride was cut short by a slipping chain problem (learned you're supposed to get a new one every 1000 miles and Bessie was long overdue) so I grudgingly set out for a spin on the Interurban trail near my house. I'm a total wuss about riding in the heat, so I put ice in my hydration pak and wore my new clipie sandals without socks. It was over 80 degrees, but felt hotter on the trail since there was not a speck of shade to be found. I was in poor-me mode the whole way, cursing the headwind which followed me both ways, the blackberry bushes which were out to get me, the hills which had grown hillier since the last time I'd ridden. Oh, and there were some chuck holes that had it out for me too, and, well, it was so hot. Whaaaa, whaaa, whaaa, I know, I know. What a baby! ( I used to think it funny that northwesterners thought 80 degrees was hot too, when we moved out here from Indiana 20 some years ago. I guess I've acclimated). As I headed back up the hill from Alderwood Mall Parkway,griping inwardly at the butt ugliness of the area and the steepness and duration of the hill (which hadn't seemed like much of a hill the last time I rode it) I briefly entertained the notion of getting off and walking the rest of the way. This damn hot, ugly hill didn't deserve the effort. I dismissed the idea, and, just as I clicked down a gear and picked up the cadence, my young neighbor drove by in his sleek little sports car and honked at me. A wave of gratitude washed over me that this young man (who had never had a very high opinion of me) had not had the opportunity to catch his ridiculous old-lady neighbor walking up a hill. Suddenly, everything seemed brighter, and the pedaling was easy breezy after that. When I got home, hubby was impressed that I'd ventured out in the heat and, I was really happy that I had.:D

[maillotpois]

Great ride up Mt. Tamalpais - it was warm and sunny and the view was amazing!!

[mimitabby]

Laurelmoore, great story, thanks for sharing. Been there, done that. (except for the cute neighbor part)

[Jiffer]

Suddenly, everything seemed brighter, and the pedaling was easy breezy after that. When I got home, hubby was impressed that I'd ventured out in the heat and, I was really happy that I had.:D

Hilarious. :cool:

[Kano]

I wasn't aware there was such a thing as a "nasty downhill". Downhills are my friend!!! :D It's them uphills that I have issues with. :cool:

Oh YES THERE ARE! The twisty turny ones are nasty!

Straight shot hills, though, on the other hand....

Karen in Boise

[Kano]

I wonder why your forearms would hurt so much going downhill? I wonder if you need a bike adjustment or if you just have to let your arms get stronger by doing more downhills. Do you have any ideas because this truly puzzles me! :confused:


Doesn't confuse me at all! Squeezing them brakes for a mile or more, that HURTS after a while! I don't think a girl can survive a longer hill...

Karen in Boise

[mimitabby]

Doesn't confuse me at all! Squeezing them brakes for a mile or more, that HURTS after a while! I don't think a girl can survive a longer hill...

Karen in Boise

Yeah, you can. I did 18 miles downhill a couple weeks ago, but it took a while (days) before my hands weren't so sore.

other bad downhills: invitingly long straight hills with CARS and intersections..:( :(

[East Hill]

I wonder why your forearms would hurt so much going downhill? I wonder if you need a bike adjustment or if you just have to let your arms get stronger by doing more downhills. Do you have any ideas because this truly puzzles me! :confused:


We went down a short trail known as the 277th Recreational Corridor. It's not a street, it's a trail that has a lot of very steep switchbacks--lt's like a paved mountain bike trail without tree roots and stumps :p .

The first few times I went down it I was terrified--it's so steep in spots that you think you are going to go head over heels on your bike, especially if you are on a road bike.

The nice thing about getting to the bottom is that then you get to ride along Green River Road :) .

Edit: here is the mapmyride.com version of our route (only the second half--we actually started at Cedar River Park in Renton, and went through Maple Valley again, turning LEFT at the pedestrian signal at Big Soos Creek, instead of right, as on Sunday's ride):

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/wa/kent/557899610

East Hill

[short cut sally]

I was lazy for yesterdays ride, I didn't feel like doing any hills whatsoever! Loaded up my bike and went downtown and did 18 miles of flat for a leisurly ride. Had a head wind all the way back, who could complain!;) As for arms aching going down hill, I agree with that mimi, I ride those brakes and my arms ache after going down small hills. Going down hills scare me too. All i can imagine is loosing control, end up tangled around the guardrail and dead or paralyzed. Hence, why I ride those brakes. Of course, that image could happen on the flats cause by a careless driver but I have no control over that.

[Kano]

downhill survival...


Yeah, you can. I did 18 miles downhill a couple weeks ago, but it took a while (days) before my hands weren't so sore.

other bad downhills: invitingly long straight hills with CARS and intersections..:( :(

Good to know! And yeah, long straight hills that would otherwise be delightful with cars and intersections, or GARBAGE TRUCKS that keep stopping every few feet!

Karen in Boise