June 14th rides

Well, I rode another 12 miles today. It rained this morning, but not enough to get the roads really wet so after it stopped I went out. It was a nice ride. A very nice man passed me up, said hello, and smoked me, left me in his dust. LOL
I saw him up ahead and thought, okay, well he can really move. Didn't know what route he took so I just continued on my normal route I take. I start down this one road that has lots of up and down hills on it and get to the top of one and see something up ahead, thought it was him, but it wasn't moving. I get closer and I see it was him. He got up the road a ways and then stopped and waited for me. He was really nice. He was trainging for a race in Colorado and was doing a two hour ride. We talked for just a few minutes. I told him, "man you took off and left me in your dust, so you must not be doing pretty well on your training. I was a little embarrased about how slow I was going". He was so sweet, he said "awww don't worry about it, you shouldn't be embarrased, your out here doing it".
Then after we both went our seperate ways, I thought, Donna!!! you stupid you didn't even ask his name. I felt like I was really rude to not introduce myself. We just immediately started talking about the riding.

My shoes are still wet from yesterday:rolleyes:
I may have to get the hairdryer out tonight.

I just did some time on the trainer early this morning. It was really foggy again right when i woke up and we had a full day planned so I couldn't wait for it to clear out. Boring but at least it's better then nothing.

I had a rather embarrassing ride tonight, actually. This week I've *just* started exploring the local back roads, and tonight I decided to do a little loop - would have been about a ten mile ride. I read and read the map and thought I had the whole thing memorized, but a) some of the road names had changed and b) I made a wrong turn right near the start that sent me off course.

And then I just kept going in hopes of finding something familiar. I knew I needed to turn right, but there just weren't any roads going that way! Turned out it was because there was a lake there, but I didn't realize it until I was almost all the way around it. When I finally found something familiar, it was when I hit a big intersection, way way out of my way. I'd already gone twenty miles (!) and didn't much like the idea of going back the way I'd come with the dark coming on fast, so I had to call for help. Luckily the friends I called were home, and found the whole affair more amusing than not. *sigh*

I've been carrying the map strapped to my rack for a week now, but tonight I foolishly thought I didn't need it.

We retraced my path...I'd made one left turn that should have been a right on one of the roads with a different name. Embarrassingly simple - and right near the beginning!

On the other hand, the long ride would be a pleasant one for a weekend, when I'd be prepared for it! Pretty country. Lots of rolling hills, but that's good for me. It wasn't an intentional exploration, but it'll help out in future.