August 24th rides!

[GLC1968]

Rode my commute in this morning. This is the 4th day this week!! Yay!

I left a little early so that I could make a 7:30 am meeting, and the traffic was worse than usual! School starts tomorrow...so that wasn't it. I don't get it.

Anyway, I saw 2 other bikers today (normally I see none)! One was a commuter going the opposite direction from me on a 4 lane road, so we just waved at each other. The other was a guy on a mountain bike with his seat WAY too low. I passed him on a flat road while going somewhere around 21 mph. I said "good morning" and he responded. Then I heard him say "wow" as I pulled further away from him. Either he was impressed with my big butt :p or with my speed. I'm going with my speed on this one! ;)

I'm extra energized this morning, too. Gotta love it!!

[Tater]

Hey, GLC wanna pass some of that extra energy this way, please? I didn't eat well, or sleep well last night and had a slow/tired commute in. :cool: Nice and cool at 46 degrees, though. I am glad I was wearing leg warmers and noticed two other riders with either warmers or tights on as well. I can only hope that this is the beginning of the end of the hot temperatures!

[GLC1968]

Tater -

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(those are energy vibes...perk up! ;) )

Can I just say that 46 degrees is pretty much winter for us here? Brrr!!!

[DDH]

I so don't want to skip two days in a row, but it is still 100 degrees outside and I don't want to ride in this heat. I think I will take a short 10 miles ride about 7 this evening, hopefully it will cool down some by then. Someone give me a good swift kick for not taking off early this morning. :mad:

[Kalidurga]

To paraphrase Tolstoy: It was the best of rides, it was the worst of rides... Today I hit two personal bests, and then was seriously humbled.

Drove up north of Baltimore today to a little town called Monkton, planning to ride the Northern Central Rail Trail up to where it becomes the York County Heritage Trail (http://bikewashington.org/trails/ncr/ncr.htm) in Pennsylvania. Pulled into Monkton only to find that the parking lot was packed with other bikers, people going tubing on the Gunpowder River, etc, etc. Bah. Sooo, I turned around and headed back to the road that parallels the river and rail-trail. Drove almost all the way to the PA line, headed down a twisty side road, and voila! An empty parking lot along the WMRT, just 1.5 miles from the PA border.

One of the first things you read about the NCRT/YCHT has to do with the deceptively difficult gradient, and I learned about it the hard way today. Starting out heading north on the NCRT, I pushed a little hard in the upper gears of the small ring for about 1.5 miles. When I hit New Freedom, PA, though, all of a sudden it was like I was peddling through "buttah". I switched to the big ring and maintained 19 mph with a cadence between 95-105 for long stretches between road & rail crossings. And it felt sooo good! I was amazed at my own performance. Aside from having to stop at a lot of road crossings, I didn't take any breaks until mile 11 or so, at which point I looked at the seemingly flat trail and wondered if I had been pedaling downhill. If that were the case, of course, I was gonna pay for it heading back.

I then pedaled on another 4-5 miles to Hanover Tunnel (scroll down for a picture that doesn't do it justice) (http://bikewashington.org/trails/ncr/ych-n.htm). Beautiful spot. Chatted for a few minutes with an older gentleman I had passed, who then passed me during my break. This guy was a hard-core distance biker. Riding a Raleigh touring bike, no chamois, no gloves, no helmet, no Camelbak. He apparently does 40-50 mile rides on the NCRT/YCHT on a regular basis and is planning to ride the 184 mile C&O Canal towpath in a total of three days. Let the humbling begin...

On turning around at Hanover Tunnel, I quickly learned that I had indeed been riding downhill and was now going to have to ride 15 miles up a 2-3% grade. Sounds like no big deal, doesn't it? Ugh. I stayed in the big ring for as long as I could, even though I was in the granny gear of the cassette and knew I was cross-chaining, then finally gave up and switched down to the small ring. At one point, while pedaling as furiously as if I were being chased by dogs, I glanced down at the computer and realized I was only going 11mph. Could the humbling be any more thorough?

With about 5 miles to go back to New Freedom, I began cussing and whining to myself. "This was so eeeeeasy on the first half, why is it so ratzen-fratchet-fricken-frack hard noooowwwww??" Fortunately, things leveled off again in New Freedom and with a loud "Wahooo!", I shifted back up into the big ring and ran it back up around 19mph for the last few miles. Of course, as I approached the parking lot I decided that I couldn't live with just 33 miles, I had to hit 35 for a new personal record. So, I pushed on for another mile, managing to sprint up to 21mph, my fastest speed yet on a "flat" surface (unpaved, to boot).

And then I made the mistake of turning around to head back to the car. Which put me in the position of heading up that #$*@ tiny gradient again. After doing over 20mph, I found myself struggling to get it over 10mph during that last mile, but I made it, thighs screaming all the way.

From euphoria to frustration and back again, it was a fun ride. Oh, and did I mention the dust? By the time I got back to the car, my black beauty had been turned into a grey ghost. Seriously, the only parts not covered in white dust were the saddle and the handlebars.

And I'm already trying to figure out when I can drive up there to ride again :D

[DDH]

Okay I finally got my butt out and rode. I went on a really short ride, but wanted to do at least something. 8 miles at 7 pm and still 98 degrees outside. Wind was blowing 12 mph so of course I had to buck the head wind one way and it pushed me the other. :rolleyes:

[CorsairMac]

OK - I know I"m a day late but I still had to post this:

Yesterday Aug 24th was my very first ride in a thunderstorm. and man what a beaut of a storm! I just kept telling myself V and several others had commuted in a storm - I can too. I started out in lashing rain and gusting cross/tail winds. I did manage to ride out of the the storm but then had to turn parrallel to it and kept getting stuck at the cross streets so I would ride out of it for a few blocks, then sit and wait for traffic while the storm caught back up and so on and so forth. Overall - I had a blast!! It was actually kinda fun! and I wasn't the only bike commuter out there......I passed several commuters some even riding Into this storm! :eek: It was a Great Ride!!!! really!

[HipGnosis6]

I "commuted" to a job interview. It was a short ride there, and the interview went well. It was the first time in weeks I'd ridden, partly because I've been out of work and kind of depressed.

I was hit by a car on my way home. My bike's totalled but I'm mostly OK. I broke a knuckle and have some impressive bruises but am otherwise in one piece. I'm really glad I had my helmet on! I'll post a little more about my accident separately.