June 24-26 rides

[Owlie]

Friday's kind of like a weekend, right?

I did 34 miles today. Started out with the intention of doing 30: 26 going south and back, and then another 4 going north and back. I got through maybe 6-7 miles going south when it started raining. (I guess the "scattered showers" were all scattered around the bike trail. :rolleyes: ) I have never ridden in the rain before. I thought about turning back, then decided to finish my ride at a park (would have given me 23-24 miles) so I could wait out the rain under their picnic shelter. I got soaked on my way there. Wet jersey, wet shorts, wet socks, wet shoes. Yuck. (I'm glad I wore the mostly-black jersey today...)
Once it stopped raining (I spent 5 minutes under the shelter rearranging my bag so I could fit my phone in it) I decided to make it a 26-mile round trip and did the remaining mile or so going south*. I rode part of the way back with a group of people who were on a self-supported tour to California...from Akron. Wow. I took a little break once I got back to the parking lot...where it started raining again--heavily, this time. It looked like it was going to ease off, so I headed out for my remaining 4. I got very wet (and very cold) again, but the convenient turnaround turned out to be about 4 miles away, so I wound up doing another 8, for 34 miles. I had the heating on in the car on the way back!

I've never ridden in the rain before now, so I'm kind of surprised how much fun it is. I'm also surprised that my dry-only tires behaved so well, but if I make a habit of being caught in the rain ;), I need to get some new tires. They really don't shed water fast enough. A large sandwich, a hot shower, and some coffee later, and I'm much happier, if sore. Now I just have to go clean my filthy bike.


*Shannon--the curve and that bridge were interesting in the rain...

[Catrin]

Sounds wonderful Owlie! As for me, I only got 13 miles in :( I was in such a rush to get out of the door that I forgot my chamois cream :eek: I rode until my girly bits started complaining. At least I know how long I can ride without it - that stuff is expensive! Sadly there wasn't any rain so I could have continued my ride if I hadn't forgotten it... dagnabit grumble mumble grumble 13 miles is a LOT better than 0 miles!

Tomorrow I've a 33 mile ride planned. The weather hasn't allowed me to build my base like I did last year. That is going to change, if I need to start riding in the rain I will...but surely it has got to stop sometime? Doesn't it?

They say there is zero chance of rain until 10:00pm tomorrow - I sure hope they are right..

[amb]

I did not ride bc tomorrow is the Colorado MS 150 - woot woot!! My first charity/organized ride since I took up cycling in March. I'm nervous & excited. It's supposed to be HOT (90's) so I'm just hoping to finish in the early afternoon to beat as much heat as possible.

Enjoy your rides this weekend ladies. I hope I do! :)

[Owlie]

Good luck, amb! Have fun!


Sounds wonderful Owlie! As for me, I only got 13 miles in :( I was in such a rush to get out of the door that I forgot my chamois cream :eek: I rode until my girly bits started complaining. At least I know how long I can ride without it - that stuff is expensive! Sadly there wasn't any rain so I could have continued my ride if I hadn't forgotten it... dagnabit grumble mumble grumble 13 miles is a LOT better than 0 miles!

Tomorrow I've a 33 mile ride planned. The weather hasn't allowed me to build my base like I did last year. That is going to change, if I need to start riding in the rain I will...but surely it has got to stop sometime? Doesn't it?

They say there is zero chance of rain until 10:00pm tomorrow - I sure hope they are right..
It was actually pretty awesome, and would have been more so if I were actually dressed for it so I didn't freeze. Maybe a wool jersey? (Of course, then no one would let me into their establishment because I'd smell like a wet sheep...)
Depending on what you use for chamois cream, maybe keep a sample package in your seatbag? But you're right, 13 is better than 0!
They're still giving us a 20% chance of rain tomorrow. Hopefully it restricts itself to the afternoon! I've got a somewhat shorter "recovery" ride (15-20) planned for tomorrow, since I'm a little sore. This year's wet weather, combined with moving, means I got a late start. Of course, I'm doing better than last year mileage-wise, but I'm not really consistent.:rolleyes:

[Catrin]

Good luck, amb! Have fun!


It was actually pretty awesome, and would have been more so if I were actually dressed for it so I didn't freeze. Maybe a wool jersey? (Of course, then no one would let me into their establishment because I'd smell like a wet sheep...)
Depending on what you use for chamois cream, maybe keep a sample package in your seatbag? But you're right, 13 is better than 0!
They're still giving us a 20% chance of rain tomorrow. Hopefully it restricts itself to the afternoon! I've got a somewhat shorter "recovery" ride (15-20) planned for tomorrow, since I'm a little sore. This year's wet weather, combined with moving, means I got a late start. Of course, I'm doing better than last year mileage-wise, but I'm not really consistent.:rolleyes:

For some reason I had my smaller Camelbak with me, my normal one has all kinds of things in it, including a couple of small sample packages...Just another lesson to use the same one all of the time even if I don't really don't need the larger reservoir! Too many other things get forgotten.

Enjoy your ride tomorrow, I am going to check out a different route that goes into a county west of me rather than north. I've been a little nervous about my country roads since the dog attack and it is time to get over that. I think new roads will help with that and I am looking forward to exploring the new route tomorrow! Picking up some friends at the airport around midnight tonight, so I doubt I will get an early start tomorrow...

[smittykitty]

DH and I did 14.5 out and back a quiet country road. We were in a really beautiful NW Green valley. Very few cars, and Catrin, not one dog to be found! That was really unusual and nice.

The observation: The mostly uphill, with the 19 mph wind in my face going out was much harder than the wind on my back going mostly down hill back!

Turns out, I liked the trip back the Best! Go Figure! Oh, and my time back was much faster too!

After about mile 25, the stock Lithia saddle turned hard as a rock. Just couldn't get comfortable. About time to address that issue, I'm a thinkin.

We are also fighting the weather in the NW. Chilly, windy and somehow missed the daily showers. Actually wore yoga capris over my shorts. Was able to zip sleeves off my jacket after a couple of miles though.

Took my toe covers off June 1 (cuz its summer). Come July, I refuse to wear the capris!

Hoping the weather lets us back out again tomorrow.

[Crankin]

I didn't ride yesterday... it was drizzly and awful in the AM and I worked in the afternoon. I could have ridden, but I am so sick of this weather. I went for a trail run instead.
It's raining and thundering now, but I am hoping to even just do an errand ride this afternoon. I also have a big on line training to do, so it's probably good. I am hoping I get to do a long ride tomorrow, but now the weather doesn't seem as if it will be as good as first predicted.

[Roadtrip]

I'm also surprised that my dry-only tires behaved so well, but if I make a habit of being caught in the rain ;), I need to get some new tires.

if "someone" (not pointing at the slime trails) would return my txt, it might help :)

[chryss]

I'm going on my first organised, timed ride, with a number and all that, which is terribly exciting. It's the Chena Hot Springs Bike Classic (PDF) (http://www.fairbankscycleclub.org/Events/CHSBC.pdf), which basically takes place on a single road, Chena Hot Springs road, which starts a few miles outside Fairbanks and ends at mile 56 or thereabouts at Chena Hot Springs Resort.

The full version is about a metric century, but I'll do the 33 mile version, for a number of reasons. The first is that I live off CHSR myself, close to mile 21 and the start of the 33 mile version is at the local general store 2 miles from my house: I can cycle there, which is terribly convenient. The second is that I *am* slightly chickening out. CHSR is very hilly between Fairbanks and where I live, and then flat essentially for the rest. From previous years, the biggest starter group is at mile 33, and I'm sure many of my speed and ability will be there, whereas the fast people start in Fairbanks. I'd surely be one of the last to arrive from there... so I prefer leaving the full ride for next year. My goals are to have a fun, safe ride and to see how close I can get to a 2h time.

[Owlie]

That's pretty convenient, Chryss! Have fun!


if "someone" (not pointing at the slime trails) would return my txt, it might help :)

Sorry! My phone has been dead for the last few days. (Apparently it died quietly without my noticing.:o )

18 leisurely miles today in an easy gear. Didn't go over 15 mph, hovered closer to 12-13. I treated this as a sort of recovery ride, and was extra gentle with myself considering I'd only gotten about four hours of sleep. Weather was just about perfect. I had a nasty encounter with some kind of spiny plant stem, but other than that, it was pretty good.

[Catrin]

Didn't get much sleep last night due to picking up friends at the airport at midnight...but did head out for my Sat morning long ride - fantastic sunshine and no worse a headwind than usual :D

I've a couple of appointments in the afternoon, so I cut it short at 20 miles to have time for shower and travel time. If there is time this afternoon or this evening will take the Jamis out and toodle around in the grass at my favorite park and do tree loop-de-loops. It is supposed to rain, again, tonight - so road riding only tomorrow.

While riding with a couple of friends last Sunday, one of them pointed out that I never use the big ring when it would serve me well to do so. I consciously made use of it today when I was on flat ground with little to no grade and my average speed picked up considerable! Speed picked up, and my cadence dropped a bit. Legs felt pretty good! For the first half of my ride, where most of the flat stuff was, my avg speed was 14.6 - and it has NEVER been that high :D My avg speed for the entire ride was 13.4, and for me that is still pretty darn good.

[Catrin]

Chryss - have an awesome time, sounds great!

[tulip]

Today was my first ride in a month due to some crazy deadlines that had me working 14+ hour days withno days off for over a month. That's over now, thankfully.

I only rode 14 miles, but I prefer to go by time ... So I rode for an hour and felt really good. It's hot and humid, but I like it that way. So glad my work schedule is back to normal so I can ride regularly again.

[Crankin]

Got out for a short ride after getting totally frustrated with work stuff. Can't finish the on line training, system is down, and I did as much as I could with some other stuff.
21.5 miles, did pretty much the opposite loop of what I did with Hirakukibou earlier in the week. We rode with 2 guys from Newton who were "riding in the country." I dropped one on a hill, but the other was really fast. After about 5 miles, we split off from them. Then we stopped at Ferns to get a drink and some really obnoxious riders pulled up, wearing Harvard cycling jerseys/t shirts. They were talking really loud about their averages, enough to make me want to laugh out loud.
I have reached the 1,000 mile mark for the year, which is about 500 short of last year, but about 100 ahead of previous years. I will definitely make my "regular" goal and I still might get to my "reach" goal, depending on the weather.

[Roadtrip]

Got out for an abbreviated 9 mile ride, even tho the weather was nice (for a change-- but brought out everyone and their brother too) and fiddled with saddle height, while trying not to get killed by wee little dogs racing across the bike path, and got to try out my new skirt.

Shannon

[Bike Chick]

DH and I went to the Tour de Corn with friends today and road the 65 mile loop. It is a very flat (I mean NO HILLS) charity ride that offers corn on the cob at the rest stops. We took our TT bikes because it was so flat. It's a great ride to hop on a pace line and see how hard you can go and we did. It was a fun day.

[Catrin]

DH and I went to the Tour de Corn with friends today and road the 65 mile loop. It is a very flat (I mean NO HILLS) charity ride that offers corn on the cob at the rest stops. We took our TT bikes because it was so flat. It's a great ride to hop on a pace line and see how hard you can go and we did. It was a fun day.

I checked out the ride website the other day, it does look like it could be fun - or brutal if there is a strong wind coming across those cornfields. Did you have much of a head/crosswind?

[chryss]

Chryss - have an awesome time, sounds great!


It was indeed great. My computer says I rode a bit over 36 miles with getting to the starting line. The headwind was fierce -- we often have easterly wind here, and the road may bend a bit in the end but is overall going eastwards. I fell in with a 2-4 people that were beginners at riding pacelines, like myself, and just pushed me a little beyond my comfort zone. It was sunny, we were trucking along just fine, were polite and not competitive with each other, and in the end caught some of my riding partners who I thought I would ride with, but who'd gone out like a fire engine and gotten attached to a very fast group until they ran out.

We got bananas and cookies at rest stops, and a picnic at the end -- and I must say, I have barely had any sweetened drinks in months (maybe occasionally 1 tsp of sugar in my coffee), but today I had a can of Dr Pepper, two glases of sweetened ice tea, one of pink lemonade and three of sweetened coffee. Holy cow. Plus a rather fatty lunch -- what I thought was mashed potatoes turned out to be potato salad. My food diary is looking askance back at me :).

We also got free entrance to the hot springs pool at the resort at the end of the ride, which was surprisingly hot. I think my numerous mosquito bites liked the sulfur-y hot water.

[Owlie]

Well, it is a hot spring! I'm glad you had fun, even with the mosquito (isn't that the state bird?) bites!

[owlice]

I rode tonight, just 13.5 miles, but fast (for me), despite, or maybe because, not having ridden since last Saturday (when I rode over the Golden Gate bridge -- the kid and I were in San Francisco for the weekend). I saw a fox at the lake, which is a first, and a beaver, deer, numerous frogs (which I managed to avoid squishing, woo-hoo), and rabbits rabbits rabbits.

[crazycanuck]

I set up my mtn bike on the wind trainer yesterday as i can't bike outside atm..

*sigh*...you know you're injured when leaning over & changing gears causes pain...AGHGH..Ouch...owiee..Hopefully my joint settles down soon...

SO..moral of the story is..Tomorrow when i'm back on the wind trainer, i'm staying in one gear for a while... I have a heap of mtn bike vids & other stuff to watch. Easy Coach Troy (*swoon*) stuff too..

Today we went to the Perth Track Cycling International event & saw Anna Meares race...Shane Perkins too..oooo...oooo...

For all you mtn biker chicks, can you do some good dirt time for me please?

[Orange utopia]

I did a very short 5 miles in my hybrid yesterday then probably about 5 miles of testing different adjustments on my road bike throughout the day.

Today I did 33 miles on my road bike and did great. It was extremely hilly so I still only averaged just under 13mph but getting up the hills was much easier with the lighter bike and I was cruising on what few flats there were at 20+ mph. I was very comfortable up to about mile 20 when my shoulders got really tight and started to hurt. I think that was more a case of just not being used to the new position, not really a fit issue.

[Espresso]

Wanted to ride ~55 miles yesterday, but only managed 40. Normally I would be discouraged by this kind of failure, but somehow I'm not. I really don't care at all. Maybe because before this year, a "long ride" for me was maybe 10 miles? Maybe because on this ride, I found a lovely new road to bike on?

I felt great for about 30 miles, but then I just felt sore all over. I tried to do the "just 5 more miles" thing, but it only worked twice. ;)

Anyway, hopefully I'll make my ~55 next week. Otherwise I might actually start getting discouraged.

[hulagirl]

Got in my last long ride in Seattle as we are going home to Oahu on Monday. Took out the Bike Friday and rode Alki Bike Trail to the Water Taxi. Took the boat over to Seattle, up the Elliot Bay trail to the Chittendam Locks, then back down to the WA State Ferry Pier. Then over to Bainbridge on the Ferry, tooled around the farmers market and main street. Then ferry back to Seattle and rode up to REI for my last visit to that store for the trip, then down to Pike Place Market, met the husband and then road the Alki Bike Route all the way from Pier 50 around back to Alki Beach.

Edge 800 reset itself mid ride so I calculated about a 25 mile total. Just fun stuff on the bike, out to explore and enjoy the bike-friendly world of Seattle!

Can't wait to return in August with the Bike Fridays!

[Becky]

DH and I did 48 miles today. A little bit windy (when is it ever not windy here?), a little bit hilly, but a lot of fun.

Apparently, fitness from other activities doesn't exactly translate to bike fitness, and endurance riding is not like live-or-die, sprint-yer-tail off commuting ;) You would think that I would remember these things each year... It was still fun though.

[Crankin]

We did another 50 miler today; a ride that goes to Groton, Dunstable, and Littleton. We used to do this ride all of the time and it was one of the first rides we led for AMC. However, I've only done this as a 35 or 40 mile ride from our friend's house or a school in Acton, and not for at least 2 years. The "showcase" of this ride is a very hilly section, about 8-15 miles from the end of the ride (depending on the start).
So, I kind of forgot how "rolling" the rest of this ride was. Lots of little hills. We started out very slowly. We planned to eat at this really good Italian deli in Groton center, but... first there was some kind of festival going on, a traffic jam, and a young woman who decided to do a u turn and find a parking space in the midst of all of this, in front of me. As I yelled "signal azzhole," I realized a policeman was standing there; he kinda smiled. The deli was closed, but we shared a wrap at a pizza place and headed on to the shady part of the ride. Hillier than I remember. Before we started the really hilly section, I was wishing I had eaten a whole sandwich. I ate a shot block, which I don't like that much, drank and headed on. The climb was fine, besides the van that wouldn't pass me on a downhill that was full of potholes...
So, we took a different way back, to avoid some rough roads and a few hills nearer to home. Some of this was on a busy road (Rt. 2A/110), but it has a good shoulder. I rarely ride on these kinds of roads, but it was flat and we had about 10 miles left when I heard a loud metal noise. I knew I had run over something and about a mile later, my rear tire was flat. Time to put my lesson from Hirakukibou to use. I told DH to let me do it. As I was getting ready to put the tube in, DH discovered a small hole in my tire. So, I whipped out a dollar bill and we put it in. All good, i put the CO2 in the tire and now on to replacing the rear wheel, which has been an issue. I was having a lot of trouble, but I stayed calm, and eventually, I got it. A few small hills off of this road, a new short cut, and we got back on the same road for the last 5 miles. I was fading fast, so we stopped in a parking lot and i ate most of a Luna Bar. I hit a squirrel going down Strawberry Hill (at the bottom, thankfully, only going about 20) and I didn't stop to look. By then DH had taken off to get up our street. We were greeted by about 30 teens from one of the local high schools who do dry land training for x country skiing on our hill. They didn't move over as I was climbing, necessitating me to go faster than I wanted, to get around them. I was exhausted, but I hit 50 miles as i was turning into my driveway.
DH went to the LBS to get me a tire. I guess my story I told here on TE, about the frame that was too big, my having to research the short reach brifters and bars myself got back to him. He told DH that he "understands me much better now." Yea, and the fact that he knows I know a good deal of the cyclists in Acton, Boxborough, and Concord and I've told many not to go there is not helping :).

[tulip]

... I was very comfortable up to about mile 20 when my shoulders got really tight and started to hurt. I think that was more a case of just not being used to the new position, not really a fit issue.

I would say that your discomfort definitely IS a fit issue, anong with a position and core strength issue. I really hope you get a professional fitting soon. It will make riding so much more pleasant.

[Biciclista]

Mazama Mama finally DOES Mazama

This is the 4th year I have been part of this annual ride we do over two mountain passes in our lovely state of washington.
The last two years, I've actually more or less run the ride with my DH's help. But this year I rode it.
We started Saturday morning, it was cold and wet, it had been raining, I slept poorly, all of the kinds of things that make you want to stay in bed.
We were on the tandem. Dh started to have issues, very much unlike him, he is almost always a hot dog, full of energy and bravado. This was not an easy ride, from right above sea level to about 5000 feet, and then dropping down into the Methow Valley a little above 2000 feet. We stay at the Mazama country inn over night, then we get up and ride back.
So we cut out 1/2 the climbing on Saturday (to "save" me for Sunday)
Sunday morning we got up and DH was feeling better, so we climbed right up that mountain. It t ook almost 3 1/2 hours to get to the top
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/264034_2076999077133_1009659155_32404263_4793220_n.jpg

The downhills were really scary to me, we topped out at about 45 mph. The tandem goes VERY fast downhill; in places I would go 25-30mph on my single bike, we were hovering right around 40mph

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/260392_10150345829058047_659828046_10017780_6973273_n.jpg

[radacrider]

Mazama Mama finally DOES Mazama


Looks like a wonderful 2nd day, nothing better than blue, sunny skies on ride to up the spirits.

I rode out to our 2nd Sunday Parkways in North Portland (18 miles roundtrip). The route itself was nice, first time doing the North Portland one, which was about 8 miles this year. Lot's of people! Fun day.:D

[Catrin]

Looks like a beautiful weekend and glad you had such a great time! 45 mph would be scary awesome!

I wound up with a 23 mile ride Saturday, and a 20 mile ride Sunday. The rides were perhaps not as long as I would have liked, Saturday I just had a narrow window in which to ride and Sunday my old over-use injury started twinging so I cut it short, and Friday I got 13 miles in for a total of 56 miles in three days.

[maggie's sister]

I rode Friday (16 miles), Saturday (42 miles) and Sunday (14 miles). Good rides, even Saturday when I got dropped by the boys. Seems silly to complain about averaging 16 mph in the western PA hills on cool Saturday morning.

[luv2climb]

I rode three new hills in the Auburn area: Newcastle Road, Hayes Drive (14% grade), and Crater Hill Road, as well as ones I've ridden once before: Chili Hill Road, Bald Hill Road, and Baxter Grade. Also ran into a member of another bike forum, so in this ride video you get to see me ride with him for about 1/2 mile before I get dropped. :p

Garmin Connect data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95103145

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yzJFA6wsEg

Hayes Drive 14% grade:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3206/5875077560_1ed9d50ce4.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/29998767@N07/5875077560/)
Hayes Drive 14% grade (http://www.flickr.com/photos/29998767@N07/5875077560/) by kittyz202 (http://www.flickr.com/people/29998767@N07/), on Flickr

fi'zi:k logo spraypainted on the steep (and painful!) Chili Hill Road climb:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/5875077476_139f52eff9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/29998767@N07/5875077476/)
fi'zi:k logo on Chili Hill Road climb (http://www.flickr.com/photos/29998767@N07/5875077476/) by kittyz202 (http://www.flickr.com/people/29998767@N07/), on Flickr

Bottom of Rattlesnake Road climb (disappointingly easy climb, btw) at the north fork of the American River and Folsom Lake:

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s66/hardmf1/bottomofRattlesnakeRoadatFolsomLake.jpg

Crater Hill Road and Wise Road:

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s66/hardmf1/myroadbikeatCraterHillandWiseRoads.jpg

What I hope to become once all the excess weight's gone :D:

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s66/hardmf1/myroadbikeatNewcastleRoadPowerhouseRoad.jpg

[Biciclista]

disappointingly easy climb??? lol. Nice pictures.

[Veronica]

[

Bottom of Rattlesnake Road climb (disappointingly easy climb, btw) at the north fork of the American River and Folsom Lake:
[/IMG]


Have you been up Shirland Tract?

Veronica

[luv2climb]

disappointingly easy climb??? lol. Nice pictures.
Thanks! :D I'm always looking for hard climbs, and for some reason I thought Rattlesnake Road was supposed to be one of the hard ones. Maybe I confused it with Rattlesnake Bar Road, which was a sufferfest when I climbed it last October.


Have you been up Shirland Tract?

Veronica
Yup. I climbed it for the first time on Memorial Day. :D Here's a ride report with pictures and video that I posted on BikeForums: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/739633-Memorial-Day-Sufferfest-climb-video-Max-20-grade

[Veronica]

Last year I did World's Toughest Half. We swam right there at Folsom lake in your picture. Rattlesnake Rd was a nice little warm up before Shirland Tract.

Veronica

[luv2climb]

Last year I did World's Toughest Half. We swam right there at Folsom lake in your picture. Rattlesnake Rd was a nice little warm up before Shirland Tract.

Veronica
I hope it smelled better when you had to swim in it than it did yesterday. I had to take that picture and get out of there. Maybe I have a radar nose, but that nasty river smell was strong!

[loopybunny]

I rode the track for the first time on Sunday.

Hellyer was open to road bikes for a charity event and I couldn't resist signing up. I had 2 other road friends riding on the track for the first time so I wasn't alone in my fear.

The warm up laps were pretty cool, being able to go at whatever pace I wanted and starting when I wanted. However, the events I signed up for were the kilo and 2k. I had no idea the kilo was the event that many people don't like because it involves going all out the entire time.

I also made the mistake of letting myself get confused about how many laps the kilo was so I pushed really hard from the start, going just over 24 mph then pooped out about halfway through and dropped to 17 or 18 mph. It hurt! Having figured it out, I was much more relaxed for the 2k and kept a consist pace between 18-19 mph. Obviously not fast, but if felt amazing and I finished strong instead of slowing down.

During the 2k, my friends were cheering me on and in the last couple of laps one of them yelled for me to stop smiling and pedal harder. She later said that if I was smiling, then I wasn't working hard enough. I told her I was channeling my inner Chris Horner.

Scariest part was having a holder for the start. Takes a lot of trust to allow a stranger to hold your bike upright as you clip in completely. It's also quite difficult to start from a complete stop while in the big ring. For the first event, I was so nervous I thought I was going to hyperventilate.

Best part was having friends there to cheer for me. They even made me a sign!

[Bike Chick]

I checked out the ride website the other day, it does look like it could be fun - or brutal if there is a strong wind coming across those cornfields. Did you have much of a head/crosswind?

Gee, Catrin, how did you know:D I've done that ride 4 times and it's notorious for the ole north, south, east, west wind. You know, the kind you can never turn out of and get to your back??? It had stormed that morning before the ride so the first 30 miles were great but then the front moved through and we turned dead into a 17 mph wind and the next 30 miles were brutal. Thank goodness I could keep up with the guys and let them pull. I'm usually out there by my lonesome fighting it and that's an awful place to be. We turned back into town the last 5 miles and had the wind to our backs and it was so pleasant;)

[Veronica]

I hope it smelled better when you had to swim in it than it did yesterday. I had to take that picture and get out of there. Maybe I have a radar nose, but that nasty river smell was strong!

It didn't smell badly, but it was freezing!

Veronica

[Veronica]

I rode the track for the first time on Sunday.



During the 2k, my friends were cheering me on and in the last couple of laps one of them yelled for me to stop smiling and pedal harder. She later said that if I was smiling, then I wasn't working hard enough. I told her I was channeling my inner Chris Horner.

!

That's very cool!

Yeah, I'd like to look like I'm smiling when I'm working hard the way he does.

Veronica

[Catrin]

Gee, Catrin, how did you know:D .... Thank goodness I could keep up with the guys and let them pull. I'm usually out there by my lonesome fighting it and that's an awful place to be. We turned back into town the last 5 miles and had the wind to our backs and it was so pleasant;)

I am just used to riding in corn fields :) I've never drafted and it sounds like that would be helpful. Someone offered to pull me a few weeks back when we were in Eagle Creek and the wind was causing one of my old injuries to give me a problem but I was afraid to take her up on it - I am not really accustomed to riding with others in general but especially not that close :eek: Those last 5 miles were just awesome I bet!