Sep 21 rides - radar!

I went Green Street all the way and went by a school. The intersection cop waxes all official and I see him looking into that radar gun and hear, in that authoritarian cop tone, "That's 12 miles an hour, Ma'am!" I chorgled and said in equally drill-seargentesque tones: "Gotta pick it up!!" and he echoed, "Gotta pick it up!" And I did...
This enabled me to charge through that PRospect light with seconds to spare :-) I had some sort of sprinkles on the way in... and it's supposed to get downright *nasty* for *days* according to the local weather guy - but it's "Isolated" and "few" showers according to the weather channel. We'll have to see!

Rode my commute in and had to pull out some of the new winter gear! It was a whopping 46 degrees (my coldest ride yet) and it was actually kind of fun! I found out that my gloves aren't as windproof as I'll need in the winter, (but they were fine at these temps) my toes were a bit chilled, my body layering plan was perfect and my legs were cold. I need leg warmers! Oh, and pulling my normal buff head wear over my ears a bit worked out well for most of the ride. By the end, my ears were a little too cold, but a 'polar' buff should solve that problem down to much colder temps.

All in all, a very good commute! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geonz

I went Green Street all the way and went by a school. The intersection cop waxes all official and I see him looking into that radar gun and hear, in that authoritarian cop tone, "That's 12 miles an hour, Ma'am!" I chorgled and said in equally drill-seargentesque tones: "Gotta pick it up!!" and he echoed, "Gotta pick it up!" And I did...

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Somewhat related, a couple weeks ago when I went for a ride on my birthday I encountered a radar cop in front of a school as well. He smiled and put the radar on me and I asked, "so how fast was I going?" As I passed, he put the radar on me again, "Not fast enough LOL" I'd slowed by that time and he clocked me at 13 LOL...:D
I'm getting ready to take a ride here in a bit on a rare day off from watching the boys today. DIL had surgery yesterday and is recovering at home. Her mom is with her and the boys today. I'm going to have to dig out my tights and put a long sleeve shirt or wind breaker on today myself as it's on 53 out there right now. Gotta take advantage of today while I can, they're talking about nasty weather for the weekend... :mad:

Well, I headed out this morning to take a longer ride, but after I got started the wind picked up to about 20 to 25 mph. I rode 11 miles, bucking the head wind almost all the way home.
I would rather fight hills than that winde, OMG, at least the hills you know there is an end. :eek:

I still had fun though. It was a good ride. I am just still enjoying my new bike so much that nothing really bothers me that bad right now. Except the idiots that pass me way to close in my opinion. At least they don't hit me though right?

The weather here is finally pleasant in the mornings! It was in the mid-upper 60s when I left the house at 6am. Rode about 22 miles...not a lot, but I'm rather out of shape and it's a start. Gotta get my butt in gear for the Tour de Farm in October!:D

I did not ride this morning because we can finally switch to the afternoon rides in Phoenix. It is not hot like hell anymore. But my yesterday's ride was something else. It was so windy, I could hardly stay on my bike. In some places where I could fly at 22-23 mph I could barely go faster than 9 mph :eek: I really hope that today is better.

I don't believe I will be riding today. 50mph WINDS! YUK!

41 degrees for my commute this morning! I forgot I had windbreaker pants until I started pulling out my winter gear! lol.......wore those with leg warmers and was just fine. Ok... my toes were a tad chilled, guess it's time to switch to the heavy SmartWools and pack the cute little cotton socks away!

and yeah Denda: 48 mph winds is the highest I've ridden in so far and it was quite the ride! Just be careful of the crosswind gusts - I think those are harder than headwinds coz they're so unexpected.

26.94 miles on the C&O (it kills me that I wasn't paying enough attention to round that off to 27 :rolleyes: ) from Point of Rocks to Harper's Ferry. Great stretch of the towpath: The gravel/rock mix is well compacted, so aside from potholes on the shared-use section at Brunswick and a few rocky stretches, the ride was fairly smooth. And the views of the Potomac River are soooo gorgeous around Harper's Ferry. Played leapfrog on the way back with a couple of folks who looked to be riding the entire 184.5 mile towpath. If I weren't too lazy to camp, that'd be such a cool thing to do.

On a sadder note: I dropped my baby off at a new LBS that I'm trying out. I talked to the highly recommended tech there about a shorter stem, and he suggested smaller handlebars. So, the bars are on order and I left the bike there until they come in. Now I feel a pang every time I look at the spot in the living room where my pony usually stands... :( Hopefully the new bars will be worth the days of separation.

I didn't ride today, on this beautiful cool sunny day. Had to catch up on too much work. :mad:
But....I did order some more cold weather layering clothes from TE!! That counts for something bike-related I guess. I'm going to be READY when the chilly winds blow.

Tomorrow should be gorgeous sunny and cool...I am going to do a nice ride no matter what!!

Nice commute this a.m. Was surprised to see 45 on the thermometer this a.m., tho'. Hellooooo, autumn!
I pulled out the Performance knickers. They don't hold a candle to the new C'dales I picked up. Note to folks: Don't waste your $$ on Performance brand clothes.
Stepped outside into the driveway and started up the GPS - it takes a minute or two to acquire satellites, so I use that time to finish packing up the panniers, etc. Hopped on the bike and headed up the driveway. Was surprised to see my friend Terry's truck in our front yard. I didn't think he was riding today, but since he was gone, I now had a chance to chase him down. It gave me an incentive to ride quickly. But, alas, I didn't catch him.
But we rode home this afternoon together. Interesting observation, in light of the posts on "Roadies are A-holes, who knew?" We were riding along, and a cyclist comes up on us. "Passing on your left" he said, and went by us. He was a helmetless rider on an old beater Specialized, set up as a fixie. He was in his grungiest baggies and a tattered courier bag over his shoulders. "Hi there." he said pleasantly, as he pedalled past us. Not long after, a roadie came bombing past us (we were noodling along. It wasn't hard to pass us). Not a word of warning or of greeting from full-kit Roadie on his high-zoot Merckx. Makes you wonder who the "real" cyclist was there.
Anywho. For whatever Terry and I are...we got in 14.75 miles at a 12.5 mph pace.

Can someone tell the weather creature to PLEASE turn the headwinds off....

On all my rides this week all i've had are headwinds, sidewinds and very little tail wind.

Ok, Ok, I'll stick to my motto "learn to love headwinds"but not every &&&R&R&R&R& day.

c