29 Feb Ride Report/Bad Boys Bad Boys

My ride this morning was interesting. The moon was NOT full but some weird stuff was going down. I witnessed several of Arlington County's finest arresting a "bad dude" about five blocks away from my house. They were cuffing him as I passed by. About three miles later, I see Diablo, the local coyote, down trail from me. He checked me out 'til I got closer, then ran into the neighborhood. I heard him crying on Thursday morning but haven't seen him, "in the fur," for several months.

Being outside is wonderful. It was barely 20 degrees but I was so pleased to feel pavement under my tires that I didn't mind the cold. This week, I've missed only one day due to weather. Alas, rain tonight which likely means ice tomorrow morning. I'm gearing up---psychologically--for some Coach Troy and "Tough Love" tomorrow!!

VB, you are my idol.

I did NOT ride this morning - 12 degrees here on the Mountain. That's about 20 degrees colder than my threshhold.

But wait! there's more! Michael (soon to be DH) took me and my bike (Godiva), along with assorted laptops, charts, DVD's, files and other stuff to our Management Team retreat at Graves Mountain Lodge in downtown Syria, VA. Godiva patiently leaned against the piano in the lodge and watched me work.

At the end of the day, I had my office mate schlep my stuff home for the weekend. Michael rode over from our house (16 miles), met me and we rode home, taking a couple side trips. 23 miles for me, cloudy, 40 degrees, 14 mph winds.

I went to San Dimas and back about 30 miles. Had some morning fog,but it burned off and the day was in the 70's

I got in over the slush and slime (it snowed about an inch last night on top of some earlier stuff, and it was 32-33 degrees so it was lots of really wet ice... the studs chomped it up).
Decided to ride on through campus on the grounds that the serious drunks would be walking and indeed there was less traffic than yesterday, when everybody was out buying hte booze for today's 'unofficial saint patrick's day' binge-a-thon. Actually, I saw lots of people carrying on regular conversations and walking straight... just a few green-clad obviously-intoxicated folks. Read a blog post that some out-of-towners thought we really didn't know how to party here... and I have to agree - even in stuff like this the drunk aren't *quite* as dangerous and/or obnoxious...
Still glad to be INSIDE :D THink I'll go have a beer :D:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geonz

...yesterday, when everybody was out buying hte booze for today's 'unofficial saint patrick's day' binge-a-thon.

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I thought that was Mar 17? That's a ways away. Is that a Chicago thing?

Maybe that explains the horrible drivers all over the place today. I thought they'd come out for the warm weather like cockroaches. I was so looking forward to warm weather, but I gotta admit, cold weather seems to come with fewer and better drivers.

I stepped out to my bike, turned around and went back into the house to ditch the winter coat, face mask and gloves. I rode in with a light jacket, nothing but a helmet on my head, and NO gloves!

I had an *interesting* 30 mile ride today. I am still so young in my cycling attempts :p, but I have a fun story. Last year there was this guy I always tried to chase. I could NEVER hang onto him he just left me in the dust as soon as he knew I was on his wheel. He is in his 50's I'm guessing and I was just impressed with his ability so I tried to hang on for my own kind of push. He went on our group ride today and said he burned himself out of cycling last year. I was really surprised at his comments. He was off the bike since September and this was his first ride "back". He has been skiing all winter he said, but no riding. He's funny, very sarcastic, but I get that and was entertained by his comments on the ride.

The first 10 miles were really flat, low traffic, bike laned streets. Although dark clouds loomed we had NO rain :D<<--happy dance here. The next 5 miles a group of us sprinted (for me) at about 20 mph on a nice flat stretch. We regrouped and then entered another flat stretch for a few miles before the last leg...the rolling hills. I love these. They are just at my level. I can book it up some and struggle up some. Perfect for me right now. Good for my ego; good for my lungs :p

So back to my man who makes me a better rider...I smoked him up some of the hills and was able to sprint on the flats with him at 20mph (don't laugh this is good for me):o

I was just so humbled and proud at the idea of how riding a BIKE can be. How you can just feel so on top of your day/game and be literally floored the next moment literally. I'm so lame, but I'm having so much fun!!!:D

38 miles, the usual Friday route with the usual crew. We delayed starting by an hour because they thought it was going to be too cold (40 F at our usual start time :rolleyes:) - granted all my woolies are in Ohio, too! But it warmed up MUCH faster than I'd expected. I left my hat, toe covers and the sleeves to my Vagabond jacket at my doorstep. By the time I'd gone the 4-1/2 miles to the meeting point, I took the vest off too (barely room for it in a jersey pocket). With my long-sleeve jersey, knee warmers and full-finger gloves, I wasn't over-warm, but I definitely could've gone with less, since it warmed up to over 60 by the time we got back.

The ride itself just hurt. Yeah, I'm still getting over being sick, but I wasn't this slow last week! I was actually taking a little bit longer pulls, but I had trouble maintaining more than about 20 mph. There was a little headwind, but not that much. Then I managed to tweak my knee at a stop sign late in the ride.

After the ride I hopped on the commuter bike to go to the acupuncture doctor for my ears. Between the treatment and the ride, I spent the rest of the day with my ears just draining like mad. Yuk, TMI :p