Sunday April 18 ride.

Interesting day.

Tangentgirl and I went out for a ride today and with all that Earthday hoopla events. It was interesting. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of Earth day, its 40 years old this year...

We planned to meet at Hermosa Beach Pier. Less than 5 minutes from my house. Just as I was ready to set off, I saw that my rear tire had a gash in the side wall and there was a itsy bitsy tiny black thingy starting to bubble through. Riding my regular bike was not a good idea. changing out the rear tire would have taken too long even for this experienced rider. Next best thing was to ride my dust covered Specialised Transition Pro bike. Air in the tire was near one atmosphere (meaning flat) so I had to pump up both the front and back then out the door. My transition pro bike is set up as full blown TT, bull horn, aero bar. and higher gear ratio. Not something I really want to ride even in a group of two.

When I got to the Pier to meet up, it had been turned into a finishing line for some running event. But still mananged to find Tangentgirl and off we went.

Along the way, we saw cyclists with frame numbers. so there was a cycling event going on. At one spot, a guy was directing us into a parking lot but we weren't part of the group ride. So thank the man and we kept on going.

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY OF RIDING. Gorgeous blue sky, the sea was flat and serene, some fishing boats... Aside from the annoying wind, the ride was very nice.

On a return leg, we were coming down a 6-7% grade and we saw cyclists whose bikes had a frame number. They were seriously struggling the hill. I wonder if they knew about the hill? Did the organizers tell the riders?

Anyway, I just want to let everyone know that tangentgirl is very nice and lots of fun to ride with. She does what she says. Hand signalled well and stopped at the stop sign. One of my biggest peeves is running through a stop sign.

A big plus for tangentgirl. I really enjoyed the ride.

Thanks,

I had planned out a 30 mile ride and set off around 11. It was fairly cloudy, but I had hopes the sun would eventually break through. I was very wrong. It stayed cloudy, cold, and the second half of the ride the wind picked up to the point I was getting blown around the road. And Google maps let me down, incorrectly connecting some roads, and not telling me others were gravel:rolleyes: I was near home, but could have turned off to add a few more miles. The only reason I didn't was because I hadn't worn my shoe covers and my toes actually hurt from the cold. In the end, I did 22 miles, but over 900 feet of climbing, which is good for me, and will be good practice for the century in June. Sure, I need to get some long rides in for endurance, but I really need to work on climbing. If I could improve on that, it would make the entire ride quicker and more enjoyable.

After the ride my family came over and we hiked around the trails for a few miles. I was a very hungry and tired girl last night!:p

Did 42 kms. Nothing different route-wise but usually on weekends my partner joins me. But he was too sick.

Fab day! Warm and lovely with sun. Looks like same today. :)

I wrote about mine in the April 17th thread.

I did 13 miles Sunday with my husband, averaged about 12.3 mph. I was pretty sore after doing an hour long boot-camp workout on Saturday (too many squat-jumps!). I felt good the first half of the ride but after that I was pretty tapped out. It was really nice weather though, mid-50's and just a little bit of a breeze.

My husband and I took the same route we did last weekend along the Clear Creek trail. I had less time because I had to go to work in the afternoon, so we set the timer for 45 minutes out instead of an hour...and we almost made it to where we stopped last weekend after an hour! I was happy about that. Combination of getting a handle on shifting my "new" bike as well as fighting less wind. So total was just under 20 miles. My husband wore his clipless shoes for the first time and kicked my butt so I'm motivated to get on board with that soon LOL!

We didn't ride, instead my DH and I did 4 hours of trail work at a mountain bike ranch. He took down little pines that would die, I cut a bunch of prickly vines that will rip you open and some brush. It was hard work but the section we did was much more passable, still tight but not overgrown. I am sore today!