July 26 Rides

[tulip]

I didn't see today's ride thread, so I created one (hope that's okay).

I altered my commute today, and it worked quite well. I came in a few minutes faster than usual. It's still 14 miles to work, but fewer lights downtown (I was in sync with the lights, what a great thing!). I also wore my new helmet, as the old one is three years old and was getting uncomfortable after three years of my head sweating in it.

I'm so glad to be able to ride my bike to work and home again. It really is a great way to start the day and dissolve the stresses of work (and I love my job!).

[Tater]

Usual commute, but a bit more eventful this time. I got to moo at a few baby cows, wave at two other bike commuters and a few early morning runners trying to beat the heat. Also saw sun pillars over the mountains about forty-five minutes before sunrise. That was cool!

[Geonz]

I *did* get a little bit of an early start!!! Yay! (Realized the weak point in the plan is that the alarm's just a little too late - mental dialogue "it's already too late to get up early, I might as well hit snooze" - but effectively combatted with "okay, but you at least want to be early enough to be alone in the parking lot to stick that sign on the abandoned bike on the rack...")
So, tomorrow, the alarm goes off a little earlier... gotta not get too rambunctious at teh Mary Poppins Sing-along tonight :cool:

[Fredwina]

Did a longer route. It looks liek we may hve the onshore flow, which means cooler temps. The Bad news was it was cloudy

[DDH]

Went my full 10 miles today finally. LOL Even though I didn't get enough sleep and didn't eat this morning, my Avg speed was better (11 instead of 10.3) Go figure!! LOL I don't know how that happened. I felt like I was going to have a long drawn out sluggish ride this morning, but I guess once I got out there and got started I felt better.
DH adjusted my stem up last night and it seems to have helped some, I don't feel so sore in my private area today. Yeah!!! It may have been that I was more conscious of how I was sitting too, since I was already sore. I'll leave things like they are for now and ride a few more times before I make a determination.

Hope everyone has a great day.

[mtbdarby]

Did a 10 mile spin on my trainer. How boring! Is it just me or is it mentally harder to pedal on your trainer when it's nice outside???? I was almost a mph slower so I just concentrated on spinning. My hand hurt even on the hybrid today, but ssshhhh, don't tell the PT that. It's the only bike left I haven't been banned from riding.........then I ran at lunch time. OK, I don't move fast enough to call it a run but it was faster than a walk. It's still pretty steamy out there.

[eclectic]

Went my full 10 miles today finally. LOL Even though I didn't get enough sleep and didn't eat this morning, my Avg speed was better (11 instead of 10.3) Go figure!! LOL I don't know how that happened. I felt like I was going to have a long drawn out sluggish ride this morning, but I guess once I got out there and got started I felt better.
DH adjusted my stem up last night and it seems to have helped some, I don't feel so sore in my private area today. Yeah!!! It may have been that I was more conscious of how I was sitting too, since I was already sore. I'll leave things like they are for now and ride a few more times before I make a determination.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Hooray! I specifically went on this today to see if you made it out again

Glad to see all went well! And faster to boot :D

[margo49]

Huge explosion just as I was getting up. Followed by about 10 more regular ones. Called the whole thing off but the SO said not to be so silly and to go south. So (obedient that I am :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ) ...

Pulled myself together and got out a couple of hours later. Saw a baby mongoose who was so interested in me he seemed not to want to take cover.(All babies love me). Then a flight of finches in formation; which was even more amazing because I had startled them.
Had an expensive ice cream at the 1/2 way point by the border before tootling thru the banana plantations and mango groves to pick up the border for another km or so
(margo49 you will cause a Diplomatic Incident one day and TE will have to send envoys to get you and the bike out -or in, as the case may be).
Then out to the road head and back home to sign permission for DS's Plastic Surgery .

So when you-all watch the TV and see "things" just remember that your margo49 is living in the same place but riding in a parallel universe where there is a curious baby mongoose and a boy with his first credit card .

[spokewench]

Well, I'm a lucky girl. I get Wednesdays off so I took a girlfriend and her boyfriend out for a ride on our easy county park trails. It has been raining a little lately so our trails are perfect, not too dusty, kind of sticky, not slippery with dry silt Yahoo! We went for a couple of hours and had a blast.

Didn't see any deer today. Usually do on that trail, but it was probably the wrong time of the day. Now, I'm off to unload my groceries, do the laundry, vacuum and cook dinner. Well, it's not all fun and games!;)

[Kano]

Tater -- I bet the commute home tonight felt pretty good, it being a mere 99 degrees outside and all!

Margo, indeed, ride the other direction from the noises as fast as possible! I can't say I blame you for wanting to stay under the covers, though...

DDH -- good for you! I'm envious of your ten miles (and that's a pretty awesome third day ride if you ask me!) since I'm hanging around at the house since noon (had work to tend to this morning that kept me indoors part of the day, then the bank, with a nifty jaunt to the bike shop) waiting for the sprinkler system repair guy. Figured I'd get an evening ride, but since he's not here yet, that's looking less and less likely, and I sure hope they don't think we're going to pay extra for a scheduled visit that he showed up this late for, and oh, sorry ladies, didn't mean to start ranting! We won't go into DH went out for the evening and left me to keep waiting...

I NEED a ride to post about, darn it!

Karen in Boise

[salsabike]

Huge explosion just as I was getting up. Followed by about 10 more regular ones. Called the whole thing off but the SO said not to be so silly and to go south. So (obedient that I am :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ) ...

Pulled myself together and got out a couple of hours later. Saw a baby mongoose who was so interested in me he seemed not to want to take cover.(All babies love me). Then a flight of finches in formation; which was even more amazing because I had startled them.
Had an expensive ice cream at the 1/2 way point by the border before tootling thru the banana plantations and mango groves to pick up the border for another km or so
(margo49 you will cause a Diplomatic Incident one day and TE will have to send envoys to get you and the bike out -or in, as the case may be).
Then out to the road head and back home to sign permission for DS's Plastic Surgery .

So when you-all watch the TV and see "things" just remember that your margo49 is living in the same place but riding in a parallel universe where there is a curious baby mongoose and a boy with his first credit card .


Margo, I can't figure out whether your fauna and flora and scenery are just absolutely fascinating by themselves, or whether it's your poetic writing style---so, both, I expect. Either way, I love envisioning your rides as I read about them. No ride for me till Friday.

[SadieKate]

Sigh, Bubba just called. His car thermometer says it is 107. Guess we're not riding.

[im4smiley]

I decided this morning I would try to do my 50 mile trip goal. I wanted to get up early but slept till 7 am, however, I was out the door by 7:45. I decided on a pretty flat route and told myself not to push too hard, I was afraid I would get too tired and then have to cut my route short. I went through many towns, Turners Falls, Montague, Sunderland, South Deerfield, Hatfield, Northampton and Greenfield. It was about 75 degrees and I had 2 water bottles, one with water and one with a drink mix I hadn't tried before. Well I should have tried it out because I don't think I mixed it right and it didn't taste too good. Of course when I started on that bottle my water was gone. I forced myself to drink the "yucky" stuff because I knew I should drink something. When I got to the 30 mile mark I was feeling kind of tired so I stopped and stretched a bit and had a GU. About the 40 mile mark I stopped at my LBS and got some water so I could continue on. I made my goal, I did 50.2 miles. I am soo happy. :D

[SandyLS]

"I made my goal, I did 50.2 miles. I am soo happy"

Congratulations, Smiley. nice job on reaching your goal! Keep up the good work.

[tulip]

Congratulations, Smiley! 50 miles, wow! On a school day, no less!

My evening commute took me to another destination, as I teach a class at a local university after work once per week, and tonight was the last night and the students presented their projects. It was very nice to see how much progress they have made (adult students, changing careers). I usually Metro on class days, but today I rode my bike. I had to Metro home with the bike since it got dark on me, and I haven't put my headlight on yet. This weekend I will.

[emily_in_nc]

~10+ miles of double track with a friend - my inaugural ride on my Titus Racer-X (which I need a computer on and soon!) Oh man, she is a wonderful bike. The full suspension was a dream, the shifting was amazing, and I was completely comfortable the entire time. The trails snaked through the prettiest shady woods, keeping the heat at bay, and I just couldn't get enough of the scenery or the ride. My best mountain bike ride to date! :D

Emily

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hey DDH, what a great thing that you did 10 miles ALREADY!
My tops is still 20 miles after one month of riding.
Smiley- I can't WAIT to do a fifty miler!!!! Good for YOU. You must be so proud, and rightly so.

My wonderful husband and I are scheduled to drive about 3 hours to the Boston area to go pick up my VERY OWN bike finally on THIS SATURDAY!!!! My bike is READY and WAITING there for me!!!!

Oh my gosh.....too exciting.....

[GLC1968]

I rode my very first commute last night! I have been mapping and re-mapping routes since I first bought a road bike last summer and yesterday I finally took the plunge and did it. It was AWESOME! The route is plenty hilly with a mix of industrial, city and residential riding and ended up being 14 miles long. The temps were only in the high 80's and the sun was behind the trees by the time I headed out so it was a very pleasant ride. I got caught by too many traffic lights for my taste, but cycling next to a big ole airplane was awesome! My route takes me by the airport and there was a big plane (a 727 perhaps?) parked on the edge of a field near the road. Damn those things are HUGE! :eek:

I've been loving riding at lunch or in the evenings and doing long rides on the weekends, but now I think I'm also hooked on commuting. :D