June 15th rides

[makbike]

I decided to ride a new route I hope to use as a club ride next month. I had driven it last week but decided it was best to give it the bike test before putting it on the ride schedule. This route took me down new roads and tosses in several challenging climbs (my friends in the club are going to love me for this!). As I traveled these new roads today I was treated to some beautiful sights. The rolling fields look so green. The corn and tobacco crops look healthy as well. I shared the road with a large doe and saw several off in a field as I passed by - all scattered when I came up on them. I startled a barn cat who was visiting with the does in the field. The cat ran ahead of me for about a tenth of a mile before darting into an old barn. I also spied an Indigo Bunting - they are so beautiful. I also spied a handful of wood thrushes, sparrows, robins, etc. I watched a red winged blackbird chase a vulture across the sky, poor guy!

It was a beautiful day to ride, low humidity, lots of sun and reasonable temperatures (mid 70's to low 80's). Perfect by most accounts.

In the end I logged 56.5 miles and have decided to use this route. It was a great day to ride!

[Mr. Bloom]

Went to the tri-course with Silver. First 19.1 Mile loop, I bested my best at 19.2mph. Second loop, I swept and averaged 16mph.

Weather was mid-80's and full sun.

[7rider]

"I'm gonna do the C-ride today," said DH, thus announcing his intention of "taking the day off."
"Oh. Okay." B-riders who take the day off on the C-ride have this habit of leading the group, thus upping the C-ride pace. Hmmmmm....
So, DH even took the first short cut that C-riders do. Hmmmm. But lo and behold, he starts chatting with one of his buddies as we're riding along.
"Hey hon. The a bunch of guys are gonna do a slower paceline on Clara Barton. Do you want to come along?"
Ride with the B-group? Me?? Sure! Uh....but doesn't that mean climbing Mountaingate (a 1/2 mile, max 14% grade climb)? "I'll be with you," he said.
And so it was, that a day after beating myself up for 50 miles, I opted to to the B-ride (actually, a "B light")...climbing Mass Ave, Mountaingate, AND Old Anglers Hill, and pacelining along Clara Barton at about 23 (vs. 20 mph for the C-ride). Ugh. Two other guys and I vied for the honors of being the LAST up each climb! :cool:
All told, however, a fun -- but different -- ride...37 miles at 17.6.

[pll]

The weather was very uninspiring this morning (thunderstorm, rain), so, even though I did not feel up to it, I went on a bike ride. About 6 miles into it, I hear a loud pop... and it just became harder to pedal, but it was getting windy, so I persisted a bit longer. Eventually, I noticed that the rear wheel was not true and the rear brakes seemed to get jammed. I turned around and headed home, stopped by the LBS a block away to deal with the wheel. I had broken a spoke. :(

[makbike]

Mr. Silver we may have to change your name to "Speed Racer!" Sounds like you had a great day on your bike.

[Tuckervill]

I had a very pleasant 13 miles with husband and son. Son, who hasn't put on lycra for about 8 months, decided to come at the last minute when he saw his dad all decked out. We did a flat course because my knees were hurting, and we had a good tailwind all the way back. Still, I only tried to keep up to 12 mph.

I was really happy to ride with my family, to have someone to chat with and have fun with. My husband has been going to spin class 2x a week and man are his legs humming!

Karen

[berkeley]

Weather was pretty uninspiring today. Wet, drizzle, cold, all around blah.

I logged 24 miles on a new route up through farm country. The way out was fairly flat, the way back went up and over two hills, about 14% incline each at points.

I would have been a whole lot more motivated had the sun decided to make an appearance. :rolleyes:

[Crankin]

This morning went for a great jazz brunch for Father's Day with son #1, girlfriend, and honorary son from Germany. It was raining, so it wasn't really great riding weather. When we got back, it was still very cool and damp, so finally at about 4:30 we hopped on the Jamis' (Jamii?) and rode to the natural food store to pick up some soy nut butter and a few other things I don't really need. It was still sort of misting out, but a very pleasant 12.07 miles.
I have about 41 miles to get to 1,000, which I know is nothing for some of you, but it's about 2 weeks earlier in the year than the past 2 years.

[IFjane]

Three of us left for a leisurely 30 mile ride this morning. We were 3.5 miles out when rider #1 decided to adjust his seatpost on his vintage bike. He loosened the 5mm bolt, adjusted the height, and then the vintage bolt broke when he went to tighten it again. Hmmm....what to do? He called his wife to sag him back home. The other two of us continued. About 10 miles into the ride a bee or other stinging insect whacked into my glasses and bounced to my cheek. STING! ouch! We did not stop....what's the use? :rolleyes:

About 15 miles into the ride rider #2 did something squirrelly & clipped my rear wheel. I did not go down but he did, in spectacular fashion. Road rash on BOTH knees (how'd he do that??), one elbow & hand, some torn bar tape and a broken computer sensor.:eek::eek:

We figured that had been three bad things so we were good to go for the rest of the ride. We were & there were no more mishaps. **phew**

The left side of my face is VERY swollen. It hurts and itches at the same time. If I look like this in the morning, I think it'll be a good excuse for a sick day....

[KathiCville]

OMG, Jane! Whew, what lousy luck! Safe to assume that Aden is the one who clipped your wheel and suffered the consequences? And your face, ack! My goodness, maybe it's a 'good thing' that I wasn't able to join you after all, LOL!!!! Sorry to hear about the assorted calamities!!

I did my first kinda-sort trail ride today on my MTB with MTB-fanatic BF and pint-sized BF's daughter. I managed to fall off twice, quite gracelessly, within the first 1/4 mile. Fortunately, I didn't damage anything other than my pride. I must say that I found the narrow, rutted trail at the start quite intimating!! To my delight, the trail quickly turned into not-too-rocky-rooty fire road for much of the rest of the small loop we did, so I got the 'worst' over at the beginning. Biggest thrill was riding across a small stream about 6" deep---a first for me. The little 9-year old was delighted to show me how to do it and coach me across, LOL! She rode back and forth 3 times, yelling 'woooooohoooooo' at the top of her lungs each time, pleased as punch to be sopping wet from her knees down.

I'm not sure I'll be riding trails again anytime soon---gravel roads are more my speed, I suspect---but today's experience definitely helped me develop an appreciation for the 'technical' side of MTBing..........

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We did a mere 12 mile ride today....but it was HOT and humid and a lot of long uphills involved to go to a friend's house for brunch. Grinding up the hills slowly in the blasting sun. My whitish sunblock dripping off my skin with the sweat. :( I felt like the cake in that song MacArthur's Park.... =8-O
But the good thing was when we got there they had a marvelous brunch prepared and we got to float around their gorgeous pool like the rich folk do...stone waterfalls and all....:eek:
The ride back home was not as arduous as we were all cooled off from the pool. :p
Got home, nice showers, then a big salad for dinner. A great Sunday.
My leg muscles were burning (in a good way) too. :)

[Fredwina]

I got started early and rode to Pomona before riding back east for church.
I stooped and took a pic of Sunset Peak:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/Fredwina_photo/church20080615/SUNP0004.jpg
After Church, I rode up Euclid ave in Upland:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/Fredwina_photo/church20080615/SUNP0005.jpg
looking back down. it's about a 6% grade here:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/Fredwina_photo/church20080615/SUNP0011.jpg
Euclid actually splits into East and West Euclid here. There's a fire station at the split:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/Fredwina_photo/church20080615/SUNP0010.jpg
I rode home and talked to my brother. I was going to go up part mt baldy later, but at 11:15 it was 91.3, so I decided to go to Victoria Gardens instead.:)

[bmccasland]

Rained out.....