excellent spring ride

Did an excellent spring ride yesterday with a couple of riding buddies. We rode out of Columbus, Texas, about an hour to the west of houston and into the start of the Texas Hill Country. Most of the hills were short and not to terrible except for one stretch of "tennessee" tye hills, the kind tht are a short sharp shock and tend to hide behind curves so that they can leap at you and yell surprise! Never had to resort to the granny granny gear but got pretty close a couple of times. At best my hill speed is just short of tipping over but there were a couple of nice long downhills where we got up to the mid 30 mph just coasting.

We saw lots of bluebonnets which are out, in spite of the drought, not as tall or heavy as some previous years but not quite as sparse as the last two years. Also pink and lavendar wild dianthus, yellow goat weed, red and burgundy wine cups, pale pink and white evening primrose and lots of orange indian paintbrush. The temperature was a nice mid 70's a low humidity, the wind was its usual 15-20 mph in your face and hills were challenging but all in all it was a great ride. Since I usually ride alone it was especially nice to have a couple of other people along including a male friend of Lens who seemed content to ride with us at our sedate pace.

42 miles 3:15 average speed 13.7

The photo: from left to right are riding buddies Maria, Len and myself.

I also had what finally felt like a Spring ride today. It was still only in the 30s when I left home, but not below freezing. I even got to leave my Lake boots home and wore shoes. It was delightful. Since we had such a long winter, only crocuses and snow drops are in bloom. The daffodils are just starting to pop up.

I only did my regular 18 mile loop, but I rode it 3 times this week. I've been gradually building up. My butt has appreciated easing into it. Today was the first day my saddle didn't hurt at all.

Woooot - second ride of the year today! Sadly, however, somehow I lost my leg warmers in the drive from my apartment to my ride location. I had decided to wait until I got there to decide if I should wear them...and I REALLY needed them! My legs/knees were colder after 4 miles than when I started - and I was pushing it on the bike. Sooooo, I wimped out and came home. My knee starts getting cranky if they aren't warm and, silly me, I thought 59 degrees was warm enough to just have shorts on.

Three positive things about my ride - one was I was riding :) Second - I like my new shorts even better than I thought (though they need a long ride test) AND... much to my surprise I broke 13mph for my average speed. Granted, the ride was under 30 minutes....but my first spring rides in the past have all been <12 for an average speed - so my gym work must be helping. Either that or the cold legs were a strong incentive to pedal faster and harder :)

Ooooh Marni - you have FLOWERS!!!! Sweet! We aren't there yet...

My ride today was better, almost feeling "normal." We did go slowly for the first half of the ride, but this is often the key for me to enjoy myself. My average was quite a bit lower than yesterday, but we rode 22 miles. Just one of our usual routes through Great Brook Farm. Hard to believe that last week I was x country skiing here. Saw quite a few mountain bikers going out on the trails when we were stopped to eat a snack and it seemed like hundreds of people out on the road.
So while the ride was awesome, 2 not so good things happened. As I was starting up a gradual hill, my chain dropped as I was switching to the small ring. Usually, I can get it back on by just putting the front into the big ring as I ride. However, it wasn't happening and I had to stop. The chain was totally dropped and I couldn't budge it using the normal tricks. DH had stopped at the top of the hill to wait. A group of racers went by and asked if I needed help and i said no. DH came back and it turned out something was not set right. This is my bike with the compact and a mountain derailleur on the rear. It's a combination of Ultegra, 105, and SRAM in terms of the shifters, cranks, and chain rings (the shifting is all Shimano). It seems to work, but DH had a slightly different combo on his bike and eventually had to change it up. DH did some work on the side of the road and it was back to normal. The jury is out if this did the trick or i need to change a couple of components.
The other thing was more upsetting. When we stopped for our snack, I noticed a small, almost perfectly round spot where the paint is totally off and you can see the titanium. It's on the top of the top tube,in a spot where I might not notice it, as when I'm riding, it's sort of out of my field of vision. I can't imagine how this happened. It looks like a chemical burned the paint off.
Will call the LBS tomorrow and have them get me some touch up paint from Guru.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crankin

My ride today was better, almost feeling "normal." We did go slowly for the first half of the ride, but this is often the key for me to enjoy myself. My average was quite a bit lower than yesterday, but we rode 22 miles. Just one of our usual routes through Great Brook Farm. Hard to believe that last week I was x country skiing here. Saw quite a few mountain bikers going out on the trails when we were stopped to eat a snack and it seemed like hundreds of people out on the road.
So while the ride was awesome, 2 not so good things happened. As I was starting up a gradual hill, my chain dropped as I was switching to the small ring. Usually, I can get it back on by just putting the front into the big ring as I ride. However, it wasn't happening and I had to stop. The chain was totally dropped and I couldn't budge it using the normal tricks. DH had stopped at the top of the hill to wait. A group of racers went by and asked if I needed help and i said no. DH came back and it turned out something was not set right. This is my bike with the compact and a mountain derailleur on the rear. It's a combination of Ultegra, 105, and SRAM in terms of the shifters, cranks, and chain rings (the shifting is all Shimano). It seems to work, but DH had a slightly different combo on his bike and eventually had to change it up. DH did some work on the side of the road and it was back to normal. The jury is out if this did the trick or i need to change a couple of components.
The other thing was more upsetting. When we stopped for our snack, I noticed a small, almost perfectly round spot where the paint is totally off and you can see the titanium. It's on the top of the top tube,in a spot where I might not notice it, as when I'm riding, it's sort of out of my field of vision. I can't imagine how this happened. It looks like a chemical burned the paint off.
Will call the LBS tomorrow and have them get me some touch up paint from Guru.

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Hurrah for the racers that stopped!!! (: When my derailer hanger broke and my derailer sucked into my wheel causing my to fly through the air ......several aero bar tri guys passed me as I was walking my bike, dragging the back end with blood running down my leg.... but thank heavens for my faith in humanity....3 cars and a truck pulling a horse trailer stopped (:

It is good to hear that people stopped :)

Short 14 mile ride this morning before heading to my Sunday Funday workout....I think as the weather improves I will need to alternate Sunday Funday workouts with riding. I don't want to give up the former but it is just too much to regularly do both on the same day...

We had plans to ride about 25 with friends but he called early and said it was a no go for him, as he had a fever/sore throat. So, after reading the paper, going to Trader Joe's, and doing some work, I ate lunch and sort of negatively put on my gear. It is *is* 60 degrees out, but with quite a strong wind. DH was complaining and he wanted to bail, so we compromised on a short ride. I am really suffering with mold allergies and I feel like just lying down! Anyway, we did our super short 8 mile loop and then rode back, and into Concord Center where we stopped at the bike shop and ordered the paint for my bike. We took a longer way back and picked up the speed, but the headwind was ferocious. Just as we were pushing it and had turned the corner onto Strawberry Hill Rd, DH kicked it up and started standing to get a up the little hill there. I just didn't have it in me, but when I was sort of pushing it and deciding whether to try and catch him, this idiot guy, with no helmet passed me really close, with no warning and scared the sh*t out of me, so I just backed off. He was so intent on catching DH, it was funny. Of course, DH thought it was me and started talking to him, but I was too far back to hear this, I could just see it. Then, when DH went to signal and turn onto our street, the guy was like on his wheel so closely, he was impeding DH's turn. Finally, he realized we were turning. I crawled up the hill and am ready to relax. I ended up riding only 13.5 miles, but the wind made it tough.
I will be getting home earlier than usual tomorrow, and it's going to be 60ish again, but not sure if I'll ride. I have boot camp in the AM and I've ridden 3 days in a row.

Wow Crankin, glad it turned out ok and the guy didn't cause a problem when you and your DH was turning!

I knew better...but I went for a 14 mile easy spin in my favorite park before heading to my Sunday Funday workout (I posted about that in my "other fun" thread). Won't be doing THAT again, but both were fun ;)

thanks, Marni for the pictures of the wildflowers!

i rode too; i was invited by my son's GF to ride with her friends in a "cargo bike ride" it was quite the gay assortment of silly bikes and cool bikes. It's a good thing i rode hard (into a head wind) to get there because these riders specialized in going as slow as they could!! it ended with a picnic where my son showed up... eventually.

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We got out for a lovely ride on Saturday. It was 70F and sunny and the whole time, my DH and I kept saying 'isn't this just an amazing day?". It truly was spectacular! We have this route that we like that we call 'Rick's Ride' because my husband loved it so much the first time we did it about 4 years ago. It's about 65 miles total, but there are places to bail out all along the way to keep it shorter. We used to have to drive to the start of it, but now that we live in town, it's only a 5 mile ride to get to it. This year, as we get back into shape, we've been doing a little more of the ride each weekend. This weekend, we did just over 22 miles of it and it was the first time we got to the more interesting climbing sections. It was really lovely. Tons and tons of cyclists, runners and motorcyclists out enjoying the rare warm, dry, spring day.

The trip was only slightly marred by the scariest sound I've ever experienced. We were heading along a country road (very straight with excellent visibility) and I was following my H when I heard the sound of screeching tires and locked up breaks DIRECTLY behind me. In the split second it took for me to realize what I was hearing, I started pedaling like mad. I kept thinking, pedal faster but relax, pedal faster but relax...I was thinking that by doing so, I could lessen the blow. Luckily, the car managed to come to a stop without hitting me. It was some teenage girl who clearly misjudged how much time she had to pass us before the oncoming cars got there and had to change her mind at the last minute. Afterward, my husband hung back and read her the riot act. She'll likely be terrified of passing cyclists for the rest of her adult life! ;)

No harm, no foul, but man...that would have been a lousy end to an otherwise perfect day. And it would be just my luck that I'd be injured (or worse) as a new season is starting (not unlike having been taken out by my dog at the start of last year's season!).

Glad you're OK, GLC!

Oh MY GLC, so glad you are OK - scary stuff! Glad you had fun outside of that!