May 25 (Sunday) rides

[divingbiker]

After a sluggish day yesterday, I got my act together to do a 40 mile road ride leaving from Riley's Lock (on the C&O Canal) up to D!ckerson, MD, through rural northern Montgomery County, Maryland. It was heavenly. Gorgeous weather, not a cloud in the sky. I saw lots of horses, birds, butterflies, and a gopher.

When I finished the ride, I followed a sign to a farm that had strawberries. On the way I ran across a cute young Dutch guy with curly blond hair, who was walking his Cervelo barefoot because he had a flat and had lost his spare tube. I gave him a tube and he used my pump to get it up to ridiculously high pressure and he went on his way.

After getting the strawberries (which are delicious!) I saw him again with another flat about 6 miles or so down the road. I stopped again, but he said someone was coming to pick him up. Today was not his day.

[7rider]

It was certainly a perfect day to be outside (and on a bike!) in the D.C. area today. I don't think you could have asked for a nicer day - sunny, mild, brilliant blue skies. Ahhhh...wrap this one up. I'm taking it home!

DH and I did the shop ride. A good group of probably 80 all told. We both did the C-ride...my usual haunt, DH was taking it easy after yesterday's effort.

[Crankin]

We did our 3200 feet of climbing local ride, 32 miles. I am exhausted! The gorgeous weather extended to up here in New England for once. An absolutely perfect day. We left our friend's house in Acton at 11:00 and rode the 6 miles to Oak Hill. I was very conservative in climbing, since I knew what was to come. This is a 4-5 mile climb, that actually flattens out in a couple of places. Saw a few racers doing intervals up and down the hill and thought about when my son used to do this 8 times in a row. We stopped on the town green in Harvard center for about 15 minutes and then turned to climb into Bolton. There is a sneaky 1-2 mile climb at the beginning of this part of the ride. At this point, my husband was riding with me, as he had done the first climb very quickly and was tired. When this part of the ride is over, we start the real climb, crossing Rt. 117 and up to a street on a ridge. Lots of farms. After about a mile we turn up Old Bay Rd., which is about 3/4 a mile or a mile of almost continuous climbing, about 18% at one point. There's one point where you go around a bend and you think it's over, but there's more! That's when I looked down and saw I was going 5.5! At the top we stopped, leaned our bikes against the wall of a house used for migrant workers in the fall and eat on the side of the road, surrounded by apple orchards. Very few cars come by here. We sat and ate our sandwiches and left, feeling a little stiff. There's a steep downhill, but there's 2 stop signs, so it's a little hairy. After that, there's about 5-7 miles of beautiful farm country, cows, flat and pretty. When we get to the end of that part of the ride, it's about 12 miles back to the start, mostly on familiar local roads. There are a couple of minor climbs left, that usually don't bother me, but my legs were toast.
When we got back, we sat and talked on our friend's porch for 3 hours. Getting ready to go out to dinner.

[makbike]

I joined the club for a MadDog century today. We started in Louisville and made our way to the state capitol, Frankfort. It was a beautiful day to be on a bike. The skies were clear and blue. Temperatures started in the upper 50's and by the end of the day had reached the mid-70's. The winds were light to variable and the humidity levels were very low; simply gorgeous!

We rode through some familiar territory for we passed through my small community. It was great being on roads I knew - no worries of getting lost at the start and finish of the ride! Unfortunately, the ride captain did not adjust the route when I told him one of the roads he had on his cue sheet was closed. I guess he did not think I knew my community. So when we arrived at the massive mound of dirt in the road all I could do was think to myself "I told you so!" Our century route quickly became a cyclocross route as we scaled the giant dirt pile blocking the road, nothing like a little adventure. We passed through the little communities of Todds Pointe, Shelbyville, Bagdad, Choatville (sp) into Frankfort and back through Shelbyville to Louisville. We passed through some beautiful and remote rural areas. We saw lots of draft horses today and each one was majestic standing in their green pastures.

The ride was 96.2 miles and I had a great ride. My legs felt great and the hills did not present any problems today - I felt strong with each climb. I averaged 16 mph today.

[kelownagirl]

Wow, my first metric of the season and I rode it like a time trial trying to keep up with my hubby on his new Madone (rats, why couldn't mine have come in a week earlier??) My avg HR was 160 :eek::eek: but I managed to shave 12 minutes off my time last year (3:35:58 this year!). Avg speed 27.8 kmh (18.3 mph). 900m (3000') of climbing. I am bagged and my legs don't work now. :rolleyes::D

[Flybye]

5 Miles round trip to church with all five of us. I averaged 7mpr on this ride, as I was following my 8 year old daughter on her Huffy Sea Star bike. She had her flowered basket on front that contained her Build-A-Bear Monkey, all decked out in it's Sunday finest - I didn't count the monkey - in her eyes there were 6 of us on the ride :). It doesn't get much better than that.

Later in the day, hubby and I did a 26 miler.

Then I came home with hubby and left on a 11 mile jaunt with my 11 year old son.

42 miles and a very beautiful day.

[Fredwina]

I was on my way to the women's ride, when I heard a "pss". sure enough i had 1/4 cut in my rear tire:mad: so I made a detour to REI to buy a new tire. I then roe the route backwards to find the "gang" before heading for home with 32 miles

[Fujichants]

34 miles in uncharacteristically cold weather for So Cal. Went from Angels Stadium in Anaheim to the beach, took a break, then on to Newport Beach. Had breakfast there, and we rode back to Anaheim.

I had to really layer up today! It was so cold and the headwind was so strong that I ended up leaving my BF and his ex-colleagues behind to draft behind a strong group of men. I just can't stand going slow and then have a strong headwind...makes me even more tired. I waited for them at our rest stop by the beach.

Thankfully his ex colleages decided to turn back after our first stop by the beach, so the boy and I could get a vigorous work out on the way back. It felt really good!

Pics on my blog (http://losangelesdaze.wordpress.com)!

[redrhodie]

I did a really, really, really fun 40 miler with Indigoiis. We went through rolling country roads and had perfect weather. We did the perfect amount of hills (for me) and had one amazing downhill, with new pavement, no cars, super fast, that was about the most fun I've ever had on a bike. I hadn't ridden with her since the fall, and I've gotten strong enough to almost keep up (she was kind enough to let me me draft much of the way). She's a tough cookie ;). I'm really glad I rode all winter.

Our path kept crossing the Wheelmen's 50 mile ride, and we felt sorry for them, because their route was not as pretty as ours, and they didn't look like they were having as much fun as we were.

Great ride! Thanks, Indy! I'd love to do it again!

[Melalvai]

We had a great ride today despite heat & humidity. Several times I've invited a friend on a ride, and she always turned me down, until our April 1 Sheldon Brown Memorial Ride when I solemnly promised her that no one would be dropped and that she was by far NOT the slowest on that ride. We must have treated her well because she suggested another ride, and we coordinated with some who'd been on the Apr 1 ride (mupedalpusher & family).

I was glad my family didn't go because they'd have been miserable in the heat. I got a bit burned but it'll turn brown in a day or two. I deepened my biking-glove-tan, marking me as a Cyclist.

Our destination was Katfish Katy's for live bluegrass & bbq. Now my prior experience with Katfish Katy's was a disaster, when we tried to camp there and ended up next door to a raucous drunken party who threatened to toss our tent & us in the river at 2:00 a.m. The food this week was chili, which they served to half our group, then said the first batch was gone so we'd have to wait until the next batch had heated up in the crockpot. We listened to the band and waited.

The band was...unique. A turquoise guitar was among the 6 guitars (well, one or two were basses) on stage. A couple members seemed to believe that this was a rock band. We were pretty sure the performance was the rehearsal, it was more of a jam session than a performance. But it was fun.

The dog of one of the musicians, we concluded, must be deaf. It wandered around the stage, settling right next to a speaker.

Eventually, those of us who hadn't eaten got hungry enough that we demanded our chili dogs at whatever temperature they happened to be. Who needs hot chili on a sweltering day anyway?

After eating cold chilidogs, we headed back. Although the trip was about 15 miles, getting to and from the trail (5 miles each) and a grocery trip in the morning puts me at 30 miles at the end of the day.

I must have my seat adjusted perfectly. I have no knee soreness!

[mimitabby]

A wonderful day in Seattle! We had to do a chore which required using a motor vehicle, so we loaded our two vintage raleighs into the truck and when we were done with our chore, we drove and parked a few miles away from The Seattle Folklife Festival.

http://www.sersale.org/bike/folk2008/togetherfl.jpg
This was my first outing with my Raleigh Mixte.


http://www.sersale.org/bike/folk2008/bikemusic.jpg
My photos do not do this festival justice, there were hundreds of musicians of all ages here, all playing, both on stage and off.

http://www.sersale.org/bike/folk2008/girlball.jpg
Lots of cute kids, 20 somethings, and lots of us older folks too, from all over the world.

http://www.sersale.org/bike/folk2008/bike.jpg
Check out THIS BIKE!


http://www.sersale.org/bike/folk2008/crowd.jpg
This is seattle and the sun is SHINING!


http://www.sersale.org/bike/folk2008/bikeparking.jpg
This is only 1 of the many bike racks at Seattle center. When we got there in the morning our bikes were two out of the 3 there. Now, it was completely full.

we figure we rode about 5 miles today, but walked for 5 hours.

[PrincessAna]

I had a nice 40 minute ride this afternoon on the walk/bike trail nearby. I was feeling really proud of myself, since most of my rides so far have been closer to 30 minutes, until I got home and couldn't move :eek: After some food and liquids, I felt better :)

I've been taking Elete water in my water bottle. (Which I learned about in one of the TE forums... source of all knowledge ;) ) I'm thinking today's experience is a sign than I need to carry something to eat in my handle bar bag as well, just in case that happens while I'm still out. It would suck to feel that way in the middle of a ride, and not be able to do anything about it.

Ana :)

[HoosierGiant]

70 miles in windy east-central Indiana... but at least the temp finally made it to the mid-70s!!

[Gidiup]

Well, all these years of me complaining about nobody to ride with. I had to "grow" my own riding partner. My oldest son has realized how much he likes biking. He calls me to go riding on Sundays now. Yesterday,(Sunday) he and I went on a 38 mile ride. Beautiful blue skies, a little breeze, warm in the 70's- picture perfect. He said to me, "I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing today." That's my boy!! I'm sure all you moms would understand how nice that is to hear from your 23 year old son. Can't wait until next Sunday.

[Flybye]

Great picts mimitabby - nice to see some fun culture happening!

[Susan126]

Great pictures of the Folklife Festival Mimi! You and Raleighdon look great! Were you there when they had the shooting? I saw it on the news last night. My daughter usually goes to the Folklife Fesitval but skipped out of it this year and instead spent the day on the lake with friends.

I live so far south of Seattle but was thinking maybe this summer of catching the sounder from the Sumner station and going into Seattle for the day with my bike. I'm going to check into that. Or doing a ride from New Castle Beach over I90 to Mercer Island and then into Seattle. Wouldn't that be a fun ride?

[mimitabby]

we missed the shooting but did not miss the increased police presence the following day.
http://www.sersale.org/bike/folk2008/horses.jpg


Susan, sounds like a great ride!

[indigoiis]

Well, all these years of me complaining about nobody to ride with. I had to "grow" my own riding partner. My oldest son has realized how much he likes biking. He calls me to go riding on Sundays now. Yesterday,(Sunday) he and I went on a 38 mile ride. Beautiful blue skies, a little breeze, warm in the 70's- picture perfect. He said to me, "I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing today." That's my boy!! I'm sure all you moms would understand how nice that is to hear from your 23 year old son. Can't wait until next Sunday.


As a fellow Rhodie, I concur that yesterday's riding weather was POIFECT.

Today's pretty nice, too.

I'm supposed to go on a really really long ride with my scary-fast husband, but we're watching two of our alpacas right now - they are both showing signs of impending birth.

Let's see... ride, or sit and watch paca but t?

Hmm...

Really tough call.

[csr1210]

Hard ride - we cut it off at 10 miles. Strong cross wind with gusts up to 28 mph -- just too much for us. Only one snakie today, a blue indigo (I think), but it scared the crap out of me as it was fast and indecisive! My nerves are starting to get shot from all the snakes this last week. Three rattlesnakes Thursday, two Friday...DH saw JUST one on his ride Saturday. Plus dead ones are everywhere too. I'm just scared that I won't see one in time to avoid it:( and I am terrified of them anyway. We're hoping this is temporary because we've never seen so many of them before.

Love hearing about everyone's rides -- all the bikes at the festival are pretty cool!

Christy