Wednesday June 4 rides

I didn't see a ride thread for today, so I'm starting one....I just had to share because I had such a great ride today. It's the first sunny and warm and windless day in ages and it felt so good to be out. I was keeping a good pace out of town when a guy came up behind me. On a quiet stretch he pulled up alongside just to say hi and have a little chat. Just a friendly hello on a lovely day. But because he was there, and I was feeling good, I decided not to look like a whimp on the short but steep hill. So I blasted up it without changing gear from the flats. Lungs were burning by the top, but I made it in record time. Luckily he took a different route after that so I could catch my breath. Then for the rest of the ride, I kept pushing the pace. I was cruising along the long flat stretch at 20mph which is very fast for me. I made it to the train station in near record time still pumped from the great ride.

Great commute to work with a 18 mph headwind, seriously it wasn't as bad as I normally would feel. Great commute home in 100 degree weather (seriously). The motorists were just super nice this afternoon, a rarity in Austin these days.

Here in Fort Worth the winds were 25-30, with gusts up to 40, so I did not ride this afternoon :(

Barbara

Joined the club for it's evening "mystery ride." The ride captain never supplies a cue sheet and you never know where you might go on this ride. I'm not terrible familiar with the area so I typically follow other riders and always hope they know where the heck they are going. So far so good.

Early into this evening's ride there was a terrible collision of cyclist in the group I was following. Three went down - lots of road rash, cracked helmets, a broken spoke and a deep gash in a shin. It shook everyone up to say the least.

As the evening ride continued small doses of bad karma seemed to follow. At one point we went to cross a busy four lane road. Off in the distance a car could be seen - while attempting to cross the busy road two riders tangled but fortunately neither went down. A big sign!

They say bad things come in threes and this proved to be the case for our group. As we approached a busy, busy intersection a truck passing through the intersection lost its load - large table saw! Everyone successfully avoided the saw in the road! I like most in the group was ready to call it quits. I simply wanted to get back to my car before anything else came at us. What a night. I think I'll swear off the "mystery ride" for awhile.

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Originally Posted by BarbaraAlys

Here in Fort Worth the winds were 25-30, with gusts up to 40, so I did not ride this afternoon :(

Barbara

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Barbara- We had those same winds, well the gusts were only in the 30's. My ride home is straight north, so it was a glorious tailwind the whole time. I probably could have coasted 8 of the 12 miles! Only one part was a crosswind and I was glad to be on my heavier commuter. :p

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Originally Posted by makbike

What a night. I think I'll swear off the "mystery ride" for awhile.

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Yikes! I think I would avoid the ride for awhile myself. That is a lot of bad luck for one group.

It was pretty doggone windy (again) in Tulsa last night too! Our Wednesday Night Ride was a usual lively bunch - all chattering up our Tulsa Tough stories. Good times..

The only scary point of the ride was the downhill on Pogue hill.. I actually had to ride my brakes most of the way down just to keep the rubber side down! The stiff and steady wind was cockeyed off center ..headwind on the downhill. Scary scary white-knuckle stuff.

Other than that, it was a really nice 32 mile jaunt. After my century on Saturday, this seemed sooooo quick! LOL