Rides.... May 25th!

Good morning all! Just got back from a hot sweaty 21 miler. COuld have gone longer, even had the time, but the sun was frying my noggin.
Ahhh yes, the rest of the country is pulling out their steeds for the summer riding season and us "zonies" are putting ours away. Well, not TOTALLY, but those mid day rides are a thing of the past for now. It's all early am and late pm for this kid. And nothing longer than 2 hours.
I had to wait until the "school mom in suv" traffic cleared out then I headed out. It was already 88 degrees at 8:20 am. SMOKIN! But nice. If it weren't for the sun beating on my noggin I would have been fine. I found a brand spankin new stretch of pavement. SWEET!! It still says road closed, but I'm gonna go poach it this weekend to check it out. No real reason for it to be closed other than to keep the kids out. And no road block, just a sign... So I don't feel like too much of a scoflaw! :p
Had a good ride, only one incident w/ an idiot construction guy almost turning into me. They are worse than women on cell phones! They all have their phones to their ears and don't pay attention!! :mad:
Saw a HUGE vulture chowing on a dead bird. That made me sad, but hey- circle of life.
Stopped at the park to get some more water and my sons class was there for an end of school outing. All the kids came running up. I just love them. They asked me if I was training for another Ironman... heh heh
Yeah, I'm gonna do one next week! :D
Chatted w/ my son and then went on my way. Almost crashed on a stretch of those dots they put on the pavement to slow cars down.. UGH. But kept the rubber side down, so all was good.
All in all it was just good sweaty fun. I love my bike!! :)
Hope y'all are having a good day as well!
Denise

Yesterday I realized that there's enough light for me to do a short ride before work now. Now, I usually get up at 5 or a little before and leave my house by 6:20/6:30. Since there was no reason for me to be at school so early, I decided today would be a good day to ride. So last night I convinced my husband it would be fun to do a 5 AM ride. He was tired from commuting yesterday, but we got up at 4:40 and were out the door at 5:11. It was 44 degrees (brrr), even though it is about 70 right now at 1:20. I was wearing my midweight wool jersey and a hoodie, tights, and full fingered gloves. Going down our hill, it was FREEZING! But then we did a mile climb, so I was warm for the rest of the ride. The birds were chirping and the smell of lilacs and honeysuckle was strong. Much better than my ride yesterday after work, when a house about a mile from me had a gas leak and it stunk up the whole area. We only saw 2 cars on the climb and then didn't see another car for about 5-6 miles. The loop ended up being about 11.5 miles in 45 minutes. Not a record speed, but considering the time of day and the climb, it was relaxing. I was showered and out the door by 6:35.I love seeing and hearing things you don't usually notice when it's noisier around from all of the cars. I plan to do this once a week until school is out (June 21).

Robyn, ex-Zonie, who really isn't complaining about 45 degrees at 5 AM!

Another nice 27 mile ride on the Burke Gilman/Sammamish River Trail today. Didn't get rained on this time, which is nice. But the amount of white fluff I ate is prodigious. Northwesterners, what IS that stuff? Is it from cottonwood trees? I try to think of it as salad.

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Originally Posted by salsabike

Another nice 27 mile ride on the Burke Gilman/Sammamish River Trail today. Didn't get rained on this time, which is nice. But the amount of white fluff I ate is prodigious. Northwesterners, what IS that stuff? Is it from cottonwood trees? I try to think of it as salad.

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yes, that's from cottonwood trees. but does it taste good?
(also in Seattle)

Tastes just like chicken.

Good on you for riding in the heat, Denise! I have a hard time with anything over 80 degrees and I woke up kinda late, so today it was treadmill and swimming pool. Tomorrow, stationary bike! I'll be dreaming of cooler climes while I'm on that stationary! I hear it's going to cool down this weekend but I'll be out of town for work.:(
I love to hear about everyone else's rides, though! And I can't complain because I was riding all over the place in January!

Yeah m-kitch it was a bit warm to say the least. I went and swam for the first time in weeks as well this afternoon. The swim cap was frying my noggin!Once I got in and had the head submerged it was much better tho. :p
The pool actually felt good. I just wish my hand was working again! That cyclist palsy is really a pain!! :cool:
There is a race south of Tucson this weekend- Sauharita- that I'm pondering but I just don't know if I'm up to the drive.. It was a fun race last year. Just a sprint, but very fun.

Just a quick hour of cottonwood fluff inhalation! 76 degrees and no wind made for a nice ride.

Took the car instead of the bike to work yesterday and I DID NOT like it. At all. So today, in spite of rain, I was back on the bike. Left the house in the rain, did my extra "loop" so I get in some miles before work, and arrived nicely wet, but happy, an hour or so later. Then it was back out in the rain to ride to the bank and do the daily deposit. The bank tellers think I am a little loony, to be biking instead of driving, so they really got a chuckle today when I showed up wet. Then it was back to work to clean up and hope the weather improved before the end of the day. :rolleyes: It rained on and off all day. But was actually not raining when I rode home. It threatened, but I was lucky enough to beat it. All in all, it was great to be out on the bike, rain or not. I was really pleased I convinced myself to go. I've never melted in rain yet........ hope I don't start now. :D Still ------- it wasn't storming with lightening and thunder. Just rain. Lightening would make me drive, I know. It scares me!

annie

Yea, I do not like the driving thing either - and rain has yet to make me uncomfortable.
I left work a little early, which was good, since a rider appeared behind me... and asked if I was going to the middle school... oh, because yes, there was a meeting there about transportation goals for the county that I was supposed to attend :-) Then the other Xtracycle showed up...
Dodged rain very successfully, including some wild stuff.
Now it's time to get ready for the Horsey Hundred (but have to tidy up that house I've been sitting... and ... decide how much kitty-cat stuff to take away since the poor thing is no longer with us... I reckon I *should* empty the litter box!!

I was bummed yesterday beacuse my light blew up a bulb . I work late, so I usualy do an hour staring at 5AM. went to REI last night and bought a cheapie light, and got my usual ride in. I really only need it for about 15 minutes right now, and I did order bulbs for my cygo light. It is nice to be up at the crack of dawn and see the sun come up over the mountains.

I went riding at lunch time. The guys at work thought I was nuts because there were storm clouds everywhere, but hey, I needed to clear my head from this job! This is my hilly route and it started off good. Then it started to sprinkle a bit. Still not too bad. There's two really big hills on this route and I cleared the first one strong but there was road construction on the second one. Down to one lane and the sign turner guy was talking to a farmer on a tractor and not paying attention. Now I'm coming down a good hill with another right in front of me and I don't want to have to slow down. So I'm saying "is it ok to keep going?" "Hey, can I ride through?" "HEY!!!" Finally, after I slow way down he picks his head up and says "yeah, go". DUH!! I was not happen and the second hill was a tough climb with no momentum.

Then the heavy rain started. This is the first time I've ridden my road bike in the rain and I really enjoyed it. It was peaceful and even though I was soaked, I really didn't feel wet. I felt invincable! Total distance was 14.3 miles and the only bad side effect was a bad hair do for the rest of the afternoon, lol.

Last night, after not commuting on the bike because of the rain, my husband came home and we were discussing dinner. We had no veggies at all.

I said we need veggies, I think I'll go to the local veg. stand to buy them, I'm thinking of riding. (it's only a mile) he said, in this weather?? I double dog dare you!

well when someone says THAT to you, you just HAVE to ride, so I got my gear on (raincoat, helmet, gloves, "sun" glasses) and he said
"you're really going?"
and he wanted to go with me. But he'd left his helmet, bike shoes, etc at his office.
So he grabbed our 27 year old son's fixie bike and went up the hill with me to the store and back. !!!!

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Originally Posted by salsabike

Tastes just like chicken.

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In Utah it tastes like Jell-O.

(For the uninitiated, that is a Utah joke. OK. Not very funny unless you live in Utah, I guess.)