Saturday July 11 Rides

[Mr. Bloom]

...Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men so Often Go Awry...

6:00AM:Mr S. lays in bed thinking "today, I will do a century!"
6:05AM:... looks at the radar and says "Ugh! I'll be doing well to get 40"
6:15AM:...decides he'll start to the Northwest so the storm will be at his back on the return
6:20AM:...goes outside and feels the strong wind from the Southeast...thinks "don't want to be running from a storm with the wind in my face..."
6:21AM:...embarks on a ride to the Southeast, planning to go a generally easterly route
7:00AM:...at mile 12, encounters a closed road at a major highway crossing. No good/safe alternative. "OK, now I'll go west instead."
8:15AM:...feels the first rain drop...thinks "hmmm, so much for 40...30 is good!"
8:30AM:...sees a beautiful bolt of lightening...1 mississippi 2 mississippi 3 mississippi 4 mississippi BANG! "oh, that was close...better ride faster!"
8:40AM:...I'm home...31 miles at 17.8mph

[mudmucker]

Today I did a 35 mile ride with a group that's led by the LBS I got my bike from in Fitchburg, about a 25 minute drive from the house. In the last couple of years I've been wanting to go to these - but I kept saying to myself - " I commute over 500 miles a week and do I want to to wake up at 6am on my day off and drive yet more, and when there is already good riding where I live"? I typically ride solo short and long rides because a) I like to be one with the earth and b) there's no one really near me or friends living near don't ride. Well this year I decided to make the effort to join these rides and I have to say I've been having a total blast riding with a steady group of people again. It's been so fun to be riding paceline for at least once a week, instead of blasting into the headwind myself as I usually do.

Today we rode through Lunenburg, Lancaster, Sterling, Princeton, and Westminster. The intermediate rides with this LBS generally average 19+ mph while the advanced are somewhere around 23+. So I take the C rides and because of the average of the intermediates we get a lot of men on the C rides which I like. I love when men are in the group as it makes for a nice mix. Some of these men are strong riders that just don't feel like going at a 19 mph pace. These are no-drop rides where we re-group at intersections and at the top of hills, stop for mechanicals and the occasional person who has an exercised-induced asthma attack. The rides are perfect for me as it has a little of everything. On long straight roads the paceline might split up. Like today, two men were feelin' it and decided to go a little faster and I decided to chase them. I kept in their slipstream - I worked to stay in it or I'd lose them and be stuck in the middle - and after isolating that stretch of road (I love Sporttracks) my average was 22 mph for 8.5 miles (not the whole ride) up to the next intersection. I'd never be able to maintain that on my own. It's a real high. Just to add that I'm not a total wheelsucker; I did pull the group for 3 miles in Princeton and in intermediate areas, other than rotating my turn in the paceline when we had one.

The people who lead the ride are sweethearts, very fun people, are very encouraging. The folks on the ride are fun as well. There is no competition at all, people go their paces when not conforming to the paceline. Everyone is out for a fun ride so overall it makes it very nice. I will always enjoy my solo rides but these rides have been nice and I haven't missed one since they started in late May. I'm happy to have found a good group.:D:D:D:D

[Miranda]

...Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men so Often Go Awry...

6:00AM:Mr S. lays in bed thinking "today, I will do a century!"
6:05AM:... looks at the radar and says "Ugh! I'll be doing well to get 40"
6:15AM:...decides he'll start to the Northwest so the storm will be at his back on the return
6:20AM:...goes outside and feels the strong wind from the Southeast...thinks "don't want to be running from a storm with the wind in my face..."
6:21AM:...embarks on a ride to the Southeast, planning to go a generally easterly route
7:00AM:...at mile 12, encounters a closed road at a major highway crossing. No good/safe alternative. "OK, now I'll go west instead."
8:15AM:...feels the first rain drop...thinks "hmmm, so much for 40...30 is good!"
8:30AM:...sees a beautiful bolt of lightening...1 mississippi 2 mississippi 3 mississippi 4 mississippi BANG! "oh, that was close...better ride faster!"
8:40AM:...I'm home...31 miles at 17.8mph

Nothing like the thought of getting a bolt of lightening:eek: in your azz to help you pedal a faster average mph:rolleyes:.

Omg... OK!!! Seriously, Mr. Silver... I'm glad you made it home safely:cool:.

I'm getting ready to go out for my own cut short and delayed ride due to weather as well.

My riding partner's DH was out on his ride this A.M. w/a group when it started down pouring and hailing! Some guys quit. Some kept riding in the hail:eek:.

Umm, here in the midwest, that can usually mean a tornado is coming. About the only time they cancel kid's soccer games too. 'God strike you down' straight up and down lightening. GHEEZ!

As I was standing on my own front porch thinking... hmm, maybe I *should* train in the rain too for my century. Perhaps I should post on TE for pack-able rain jackets suggestions etc.

I could hear the story of my ride pal about Oprah training for her marathon in my head...

Oprah's coach shows up to run when it's downpouring. Oprah says, "what? are you crazy? It's raining! I'm not running in the rain... it messes up my hair!". The coach says, "what are you going to do Oprah if it rains on your big event day and it rains? Trash all the hard work training???". "OH..." says Oprah.

Yea... Mr. Silver... I was having an Oprah moment about riding this morning. Well, not about my hair. Just about my skills balancing in the rain. So glad you took care of that for me lol. Now I'm off to ride in the heat and wind instead.

[7rider]

There are a few women who do the N2 - not many, but a few. One occasionally wears a leopard print tank top from Shebeest. It was (she claims) a gift, not something she would EVER pick out to wear on her own. But it brings out hoots and howls of delight from the guys (and endless banter on the group's Yahoo listserv) whenever she dares wear it.
I think she wears it just to push their buttons...
Well....I just discovered another jersey that makes the guys even MORE crazy than seeing this woman in her leopard print tank. Another women in the group swept her 3 Master's road national championship races last week in Kentucky. Yes....this tiny 50-something year old woman is a powerhouse, and now the owner of 3 national champion jerseys. She wore the red, white, and blue today on the N2 ride. The ride, which had been quite civil and moderate lately, suddenly blew up into race pace. I can just imagine what the arrival of Lance Armstrong would do to a weekend group ride with a bunch of middle aged flunkies. :rolleyes:
Fortunately, I rode with a friend of mine, and we got dropped together. She flatted at one point, and so the 2 of us rode back to the end together, alone.
60.75 miles, possibly somewhere in the 16.5 mph range.

[OakLeaf]

Today was the local tour - our club had put it on in the past; this year it was run by the Y, with some help from the club, so we got to ride. The weather forecast was looking iffy all week, but it was dry in the morning, and my buddies teased me into committing to the 100. I needed to do 100 anyhow, hadn't done one yet this year.

Naturally it started raining just five or six miles beyond the split where the 100 mile route diverged from the metric. I thought about turning back, but decided that pressing on was better than not being able to live it down. :rolleyes:

My cadence sensor held out for a good 15 miles in rain that varied from light to heavy, then it drowned. Again. I don't know why Garmin can't make a waterproof cadence sensor - this has been an known issue with these ever since they first came out. They're good about sending replacements, but it's a PITA going without it.

Turned out the route was only 97.7 miles. :mad: I thought about taking an alternate route to get myself the extra distance... for about two seconds. :p If the weather had been nice I probably would've. As it was, no thanks. I got to the finish looking like a drowned rat. The sun came out (briefly) just as I arrived. :rolleyes:

Then I came home to find that the storm had brought a tree down across my lane (also we got very little rain here, which we desperately need). Luckily the tree missed the power lines - I don't know how. Also luckily, it isn't too terribly far from the house. So I left the car down there and lugged my bike and all my stuff back up to the house in three trips.

Unluckily, the batteries for the electric chainsaw weren't charged. I'm way too sleep-deprived, groggy and tired for it to be a good idea for me to try to figure out how to use the gas chainsaw, which I've never used. The rain's stopped for now, but it's dark and overcast even this early in the evening, it looks like we might get another round of rain.

I'm about *this* close to bagging it for the night, cracking a beer, and worrying about chainsaws in the morning.

[emily_in_nc]

Great ride with DH to the local farmer's market for amazing heirloom tomatoes, organic zukes, garlic, peppers, and cukes; then to the local food co-op for additional goodies. Went the long, long way home for a total of 41.7 miles (my longest of the year).

One tip learned on this ride: if carrying very ripe heirloom tomatoes in your rack pack, don't ride on gravel roads. :o

[tulip]

53 miles in southeastern Virginia. Flat and beautiful!

[nolemom]

Great ride today with the local group. Managed to stay with the B group and posted by fastest average to date - 19.1 for 50 miles - I may bonk tomorrow but for today I am feeling ecstatic:D

[Crankin]

We left for the Cape at 6:15 AM, to eat breakfast at one of our fav places before a 10 AM ride. All was well, good food and perfect weather. When we got to the start, we found out that this ride was a ride for BOTH of our clubs, because of scheduling issues and the original leader being out with back stuff. Now, club A, which we lead for has a different set of people in most cases. The leader was from this club, and we knew him. He leads many rides. Club B is known for hammering, but this ride was advertised as following the style of the specific sub group I ride with. We use "human arrows" to denote turns and you stay there until the sweep goes by... There was obviously an extremely wide range of riders. Some had bikes more useful for tooling around on the path. I was already nervous about riding in a beach area, but I knew most of this ride was on back roads. It was advertised as a tour of Dennis beaches.
So, all was well for about 10 miles. I was able to stick with the front group, even when the leader told us to go ahead on a long straight a way. The cars were mostly respectful. The scenery-- gorgeous. Then we came to a crowded area where there was a town fair. There was a stop sign and a huge truck was letting us turn left. For some reason, the woman (rider) ahead of me, decided, no, she would stop and let the truck go. Down I went. My foot was in the up position and I couldn't get unclipped. I knew it would happen. She didn't even say "sorry." I was furious. I spent the rest of a 36 mile ride with blood on my knee and getting stiffer by the minute. Thankfully, I had my leader supplies and washed it and applied antibiotic stuff.
Several people left the ride as they couldn't keep up. One woman told my DH to "get off of her wheel." She was pretty mean. This wasn't a paceline. The riding etiquette was horrible, no signals and the leader didn't announce that he needed a rider to stop to arrow soon enough. I stayed as close to the front as I could. On the second "go ahead if you want," I was maintaining 23 mph for about 2 miles, but a hill came and my DH went with the big boys. I was exhausted and stiff and had to slow down.
Lunch was at a great outdoor cafe overlooking Sesuit Harbor. The water was so green, it looked tropical. All in all, nice, but on the 1.5 mile ride back to the car, I was cranky; I dropped everyone except my DH and one other guy.
We went and had soft serve ice cream at the Kreme N' Kone (mmmm) and headed to the beach we used to go to with our kids.It was very windy, but we relaxed for an hour and headed home.
I am now drinking a beer and sitting with an ice pack on my knee.

[RolliePollie]

41 miles for me today with about 4,200 feet of climbing. I found an elevation map for basically the same route I rode today, so I'm attaching it for y'all to see :)

One interesting addition to my ride was when some teenage boys tried to grab me on a busy rural road that has no shoulder. They had no idea how dangerous it was to match my speed and drive right next to me while yelling obsceneties and grabbing at me. I'm shocked that I didn't get killed. I had some choice words I wanted to yell back, but I had to focus all of my attention on staying on the road, not crashing, and not being run over. Luckily they did not kill me and the rest of my ride was wonderful.

[tulip]

Whoa Rollie! Did you get their plate number and call the cops? Call the cops now if you haven't already, even without the plate. If you ride alone in that area, they could do it again. Glad you are okay.

[shootingstar]

44 kms., with a stopover in a retail street with alot of independent, yuppie stores where it used to be a more ethnic neighbourhood. He needed to buy some book gifts for his grandson while I perused a travel accessories and travel bk. shop I hadn't seen before.

Then went to a Greek based grocery store, where we discovered store added more German and Eastern European groceries to inventory. Piled up on groceries, including no-sugar sauerkraut (Kuhn is the brand), hummus of course, etc. and had super light, small Greek pastries, that were not laden with much honey/sugar which other places they are.

[TrekTheKaty]

(headed to shootingstar's for dinner)

[divingbiker]

Another women in the group swept her 3 Master's road national championship races last week in Kentucky. Yes....this tiny 50-something year old woman is a powerhouse, and now the owner of 3 national champion jerseys.

Wow, was this Erica? Good for her!

Scary, RolliePollie.

I did a leisurely 6.8 miles trying to find my way from my hotel to the triathlon site in Philadelphia where I need to be bright and early tomorrow morning. Good thing, too, because I had a heck of a time finding the right road. Went by the Rocky statue at the Art Museum and had a nice quiet ride along the river.

[HappyTexasMom]

6.18 miles today. I took my 8-year-old son for his first "out of the neighborhood" ride. We rode along the canal and to a park with a lake that we live near. We stopped for a while so he could play on the playscape and have a snack, and then we headed home. I tried to stop for lemonade on the way back, but for whatever reason my credit card wasn't working. :mad: Some very nice man in the store offered to buy our drinks for us, but I declined, explaining that we had plenty of water with us (I think he was concerned that we *needed* something to drink). My son was very cool about the whole thing (surprisingly) and we both agreed that the stop in the a/c was still rejuvenating. Then we headed home, to find that we were locked out of the house (boo), but that my husband was only a couple of minutes away because he went for a donut run with our younger son (yay).

Temp was 90 when we left at 7:30 and pushing 100 by the time we got back at 9:30. I'll be so glad when summer is over.

[7rider]

Wow, was this Erica? Good for her!

Scary, RolliePollie.

I did a leisurely 6.8 miles trying to find my way from my hotel to the triathlon site in Philadelphia where I need to be bright and early tomorrow morning. Good thing, too, because I had a heck of a time finding the right road. Went by the Rocky statue at the Art Museum and had a nice quiet ride along the river.

No, not Erica. Her name is Kay, and another woman and I are interviewing her tomorrow and drafting an article on her for the women's cycling column in the August Spokes magazine. So...stay tuned!

Good luck to you - and to Nicole - on your tri tomorrow!!!

[Miranda]

Short on time so a quick 16mi w/my ride buddy. Hot and windy. But good wind to chat. Always makes for a fun ride:).

[hilldweller]

... but me and one other did 50k despite the sleety showers not long before we set off. We got very wet, and filthy (with a nice mud/cowshit mix:eek:), and my feet were so sore when the circulation finally returned in the shower afterwards, but we rocked :D.

Tried a Clif bar for the first time too - yummy!!! - and with the temp just above freezing and drink bottles splattered with the aforementioned mud/cowshit, much more appealing than sipping electrolyte :).

Happy to say no lightning strikes. That would freak me out :(

[Fredwina]

Did a metric on the Santa Ana today
at green river:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/SlkAUL83YDI/AAAAAAAACPI/7Z9HyAuKE-U/s512/100_0720.jpg
I wasn't the only person taking photos:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/SlkAh6AWtiI/AAAAAAAACPk/PfkvVPNLo6c/s512/100_0727.jpg
The beach at last:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/SlkAp_tYcNI/AAAAAAAACP4/9_3cNR6Bljg/s512/100_0731.jpg
We had about 15 people , so we took over Newport burger:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/SlkA23tQ7xI/AAAAAAAACQY/UnDv5QXKlMU/s512/100_0739.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/SlkA4-vbpWI/AAAAAAAACQc/cg2X2Y6Chew/s512/100_0740.jpg
a really big A:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/SlkARZVb9uI/AAAAAAAACPA/9RP9iLVf5iU/s512/100_0706.jpg
when we got back, we found a nice shade tree and chatted:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/SlkBBtgrqpI/AAAAAAAACQw/ewRx_37NkNc/s512/100_0744.jpg

[Mr. Bloom]

Oprah says, "what? are you crazy? It's raining! I'm not running in the rain... it messes up my hair!".

Hmmm...I got more flexible when half of my hair disappeared.:rolleyes::eek:

[Kano]

This morning, I said to DH, since you're going out tonight, I'm going for a ride this evening. DH set my ride plan for this evening while I was working today:

"The plan's changed, cuz our host is sick. But I haven't seen Mark in a couple of years, so I'm going to his house for some beer. YOU can ride your bike over later, and give me a ride home!" This meant my bike was going to ride home in the back of his convertible.

So, after he left, with Mark's address marked on Mapquest, I planned my route while eating dinner -- Mark's house is a little over six miles from our house, but I wanted a longer ride. Found a twenty mile route, texted the route to DH, telling him no objections allowed, just info (he doesn't seem to like me to do the hard stuff alone, so sometimes I don't tell him til it's done, cuz he won't go along on the hard rides, either!)

Sun's nice and low in the sky, and it was a bit cloudy, to go with the 90-degree weather, making it a very pleasaant ride. Head winds on my favorite really fast stretch that slowed my by a few mph, but that was okay too. I was in the mood to work a bit, and needed wind to compensate for my long, generally downhill run after the one big climb early in the ride!

Hanging out with the guys for a while after the ride was good -- Mark's an interesting character. But then, time to go, and they tucked my bike into the back seat. We got home, and my poor bike was kind of stuck back there. It's a tight fit, and it was a bit challenging to extricate it in the dark. Once in the garage, we could see what needed to happen, since we had light.

The bad news is that in the process, they managed to damage my bar tape -- fortunately on the end of the bar, where I never grip, but oh, darn, now she needs new, and I'll need to go shopping...

It's actually kind of handy: I've been considering moving the position of the hoods, but didn't want to wreck perfectly good bar tape!

Aargh -- I should be asleep! We're getting up to ride down into town and meet another Mark-friend for coffee in the morning!

Karen in Boise

[Aggie_Ama]

I live on the face of the sun!

We went to test ride mountain bikes and only got 2 hours before both of us drained our 96 oz camelbaks. It was over 100 (again) and I started to feel nauseated. But at least I got enough information to order my new bike! Last hour long road ride I did after work I used 2 bottles. :eek:

Today DH wants to road ride and I want AC. I thought last summer was bad but this one is worse. :(

[RolliePollie]

Whoa Rollie! Did you get their plate number and call the cops? Call the cops now if you haven't already, even without the plate. If you ride alone in that area, they could do it again. Glad you are okay.


I know, I was really mad at myself for not getting the plate #...it was on such a dangerous stretch of road and there were more cars coming up behind me so I was totally focused on staying on the road. I don't even know what kind of car they were driving, other than it was an older tan 4 door compact. I have a feeling they would laugh at me if I called the cops...it was not in a city so it would be County Sheriff and they don't like bicyclists. My co-worker's husband is a deputy and she's told me exactly what her husband and his buddies think of us crazy cyclists riding the country roads around here. I'm just relieved they didn't make me crash.

[redrhodie]

I know, I was really mad at myself for not getting the plate #...it was on such a dangerous stretch of road and there were more cars coming up behind me so I was totally focused on staying on the road. I don't even know what kind of car they were driving, other than it was an older tan 4 door compact. I have a feeling they would laugh at me if I called the cops...it was not in a city so it would be County Sheriff and they don't like bicyclists. My co-worker's husband is a deputy and she's told me exactly what her husband and his buddies think of us crazy cyclists riding the country roads around here. I'm just relieved they didn't make me crash.

Could you report it to the state police instead?

eta: I just think there's got to be someone of higher authority who will take this seriously if the Sheriff will not.

[Grits]

We are working on increasing our mileage in preparation for the MS 150 in New Bern. We are up to 50 miles now.

We left yesterday morning when it was nice and cool - in the 60's- knowing it would warm up fast. It was a pleasant ride through the countryside, somewhat hilly, like everything is around here, but not too bad. We had two dogs not really chase us but run along behind us, leisurely, more like they were just keeping us company, for a couple of miles. Not being sure of their intent, it was a little stressful and was highly motivating to go as fast as we could! It was like interval training!

We also had an idiot driver squeeze at a high rate of speed between us and a coming car, and then, to top things off, a dog (different dog) ran up silently behind our last rider and made contact with his back tire knocking him down. Road rash and a badly scraped elbow, and he is too sore to ride now for a few days. He barely grazed my tire before going down, but I was able to stay upright. I was glad I had some first aid supplies with me. This is the second time I've had to bandage up a fellow rider.

This is normally a nice, uneventful ride. You just never know what might happen when you take off in the morning!