June 3d rides

I had a little adventure on my Jamis today, which started for a stupid reason. Monday, when I got home from my ride, I decided that it would be my annual practice taking the rear wheel off of my bike day. I won't belabor the point, since I have mentioned this before, but it ended up with my Kuota lying on its side in the driveway, the chain completely disengaged from both rings and me sitting on the front stoop in tears. My DH came home shortly afterwards from commuting home and I accosted him with "Don't yell at me, just help me right now." After several times of fiddling with it, I was done and he put it on the stand to grease the chain and check everything, because I had quite nearly bent the derailleur. Today, when I went to ride, the brakes were sticking and the wheel wouldn't spin. I knew what it was, but after fiddling a bit (I know this is an easy thing, but for me, nothing mechanical is easy) I didn't want to mess with it. So, I thought about what I could do on my Jamis. OK, I had library books to return. I got redressed in my more casual cycling gear and headed up Strawberry Hill Rd, with my pannier very full of heavy books. I decided I would try a different route (the library I go to is in the next town, but only about 4.5 miles away), to avoid having to make a left in a spot with heavy traffic. Last time I tried this with heavy books I almost had slow motion fall; I am not quite as nimble and confident with the heavier bike. Anyway, when I had to cross the busy road, a school bus stopped for me and let me go, confirming my belief that I get treated a lot better when I ride the Jamis and dress in a skort or loose cycling capris. I had to climb a second hill about a mile long to get to the library, which got a bit annoying, but I got there. This route added a couple of miles, which was good. After talking to my old neighbor who works there, I got 3 very light paperback books and headed off on back roads to West Acton for lunch. I had never ridden these roads on my Jamis. It's funny how everything looked different than when I am trying to go fast on the road bike. I had a lovely lunch outside on a picnic table at the cafe where my older son used to work and decided to take the longer way back, since it's mostly downhill. Well, there was about a mile of grooved pavement after this, on a busy street, which made me glad I had the bike with thicker tires. All was non eventful until I got into West Concord center. As I was approaching a weird little intersection where the main road I was on curves to the left and a side street merges on the right, I saw a bike cop, riding on the sidewalk :eek:, go over the curb, and get on the road. She looked hesitant and I had no idea what she was going to do. There are lots of parked cars in front of the stores and a lot of traffic, so I said "on your left," which apparently scared her... she ended up going off on the side street, but it was weird. Then, as I was slowing for a red light, a car with a USCF sticker on it came within 2 inches of me... well, maybe it wasn't the cyclist driving!
I had 2 more trucks stop and let me turn left in Concord center, and as I slugged up my hill, I realized I had ridden 20.6 miles on a ride where I was just going to do an errand!

Hey super Crankin.

My ride was alot less eventful. Unlike other previous mornings, today's ride was quite short..only 12 kms. with a little hill. It's a commuter route I did daily when I worked for a former employer several years ago.

Then at 7:30 am, we went to a 2 hr. breakfast meeting and public education session organized by local government..on community gardens and other community food growing and education initiatives.

Very interesting...even if I won't be your converted gardener.

Will mention more about this under a different topic thread today later.

I had to get some new tubes from the LBS about 10 miles away, so made it my ride for the day. Gorgeous here! Nice ride, good breeze to cool me off -- it's about 90 degrees here! Not normal for us in the Pacific NW!!!

A friend thought that I should purchase these socks due to my prowess on the mountain bike (and the gouges in my legs to prove it) :) What do you think? I've included the leg photo, also... it's a result of the trail coming downhill and turning, and me not. I launched over a log and into a pile of bushes. I "stuck the landing" one might say! Or it Stuck Me! :p

OUIE!!!

There must be a giant spigot in the sky. Water droplets were coming down everywhere... And thunder and lightning. No bike riding today. June gloom is not supposed to have thunder and lightning. Whats up with this??

Crankin - quite the adventure indeed. What an "errand"!

Vetmed - OOOOUUUUUUUCCCCHHHH!!! Ughhh..that needed a warning at 6AM! eeek.. Looks real painful, girlie. Lesson learned on that downer, eh? ouchhhh


I had a fast return to regular cycling last night after Tulsa Tough this weekend. 28 miles, 1600-ish elevation, 16.8avg...plus it was windy! Ugh. Good ride to get the cobwebs out.