August 22nd rides

Rode the morning commute this morning with migraine. That's the one disadvantage to driving in to work one day, riding home, riding back in the next morning and then driving home...I had no other way to get to work this morning because my car was at work. I HAD to ride. :(

I will say, that it turned out well. About 5 minutes into my ride, it started to rain. Rain, dark, lousy headlight (I need a new one), and a headache. I figured it couldn't get any worse. It didn't! It got better as the excedrin kicked in and the daylight improved. By the end, I was realizing how much I actually enjoy riding in adverse conditions. It really gives one a sense of accomplishment!

Nice ride in, 61 degrees and no wind. Caught up to another commuter and got to talk to him for a bit. He had misjudged the weather and tossed on a fleece top. He said he was dying. Saw some cows along the fence, mooed at them of course. Saw a county sheriff, didn't oink.

Way to kick butt on your ride, GLC!

Great post, GLC! I, too, find that when I'm feeling bad (no migraines, thankfully), a bike ride will usually make me feel much better.

Regular commute today, but I saw another woman commuter in NE DC. Normally I don't see any other commuters until I get to Downtown, and then lots on the MUP.

WEll I felt like some extra exercise on my way home... So I took the a trail from Stone's corner to MT Gravatt and added an extra 5km to my trip! O_O

Plus my average speed bumped up to 16.2! WOOHOO

This morning I rode down into town for breakfast and to my dental appt (for my "annual" crown as my dentist jokes). Picked up a fresh loaf of bread for my honey and rode back home. Only a 2 mile trip, but includes Killer Hill which ALWAYS ends my rides home.

DH and I worked all day at home while daydreaming about going for a bike ride before dark. At 5:00 I walked into his office and he simply smiled and said "Ready?" and we excitedly got on our bikes and took off. We did a very beautiful country road trip of about 13 miles with plenty of varied hills and beautiful scenery, with the golden sun slanting across the farm fields. It was GREAT.

We remembered how when I did that very same ride 6 weeks ago, it was very hard for me and I had walked up most of those hills, panting and gasping like mad.

This time, however, I enjoyed even the hills, and never got whupped at all. Wonderful!! At one really steep short hill, I hollered to DH: "Hey watch THIS!" and stood up in my pedals and powered up that hill in no time flat standing up all the way. I've only been able to do this recently, and DH was stunned and delighted. "Way to go SWEETIE!!" he yelled. :D :D :D I was so proud of myself today, and am so happy to be seeing real evidence of getting stronger and stronger. :p

I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to enjoy such gifts.

Raced home from my second job to get some miles in this evening. I grabbed a quick bite to eat, changed clothes, gathered my bike stuff and headed out the door. My legs felt very heavy and lifeless the first 8 miles or so but in a blink of an eye things started clicking and before I knew it I had settled into a nice groove and was feeling good on my little blue bike. I managed to get 24 miles in this evening, now it is time to grade papers:(

Rode to work this morning. Stopped to help a woman with a flat tire - clearly she did not have a clue. She was with her 10 yr old son. No spare tube, but the tire looked so rotten that I wouldn't be surprised if the tube was ok, but the tire broken. LOL. My tubes are the wrong size for her so I was spared the decision of giving her one of them. She decided to walk it back down to the "bike shop" next to the antiques, and asked me to ride her son back to their beach rental house - it was only a couple miles so I did. Nice boy, very polite but his favorite subjects in school were PE and lunch. I had a good laugh. I can't believe she gave her son to a total stranger like that... But I saw him home, and he was to get an adult there to ride back with the car to fetch her. Sounds like a very complicated move since the bike shop ought to have been able to change the tube and tire while she waited, but maybe she
didn't have any money on her? Who knows.

Well they say no good deed goes unpunished... I then encountered 2 wrong-way cyclists on the bridge. I said "You are on the WRONG side of the road!" They yelled back, in either a foreign language, or gibberish. In any case they yelled louder than me so I guess they won. It was like "la la la la I can't hear you." Somehow we've got to get better enforcement on wrong way cyclists.

The bridge is our only hill here and it's not really that high but the approaches have a 5' marked path, narrowing to 3' on the actual bridge itself. Coming down the hill at 30mph, headed straight for wrong way cyclists coming UP on the wrong side of the road forces a giant game of chicken and sends someone out into the traffic lane, where the cars are going, yes, 50-60mph. This is not my idea of fun. We have a lot of summer workers here for seasonal jobs, mostly from eastern Europe, and it seems like most of them persist in riding on the left....

And if that wasn't enough excitement for one ride, I had to stop at a light about 2 miles from my office. I unclipped left side as usual, and must have been distracted cause I promtply went down on the right. Got my foot out, but not in time to stop the fall. There is a small breakfast spot there where people eat out on the deck. About 5 people from the restaurant came running to my aid, including most of that town's police force. Breakfast meeting? I insisted I was fine (albeit an idiot), but took the opportunity to express my disgust at wrong way cyclists and the danger they present to the other cyclists, and cars. Then I was on my way.

Thankfully my ride home was uneventful if you don't count the 13 miles of headwinds. :(

Martha

Well, I set out this morning about 10:45 (way to late, for TX) to take my sons game back to Blockbuster. Decided I was going to ride my bike to town. Got to blockbuster and dropped the game off and it was only about 5 miles there and I wanted to ride longer today, so I called my dad and asked him if I rode over there would he bring me home cause that would make about 12 miles and I didn't think I could go another 12 miles to ride home in this heat. He said he would, so I headed through town to my dad's taking what I thought would be the safest route. Had no problems. I got there about noonish. I sat around for a while cause he was on the phone with the satelite folks cause his was messed up. I filled my water bottle back up with ice and water and stuck it in the freezer so it would stay cold and stuck my gaotrade that I had left in there too.
I got cooled off and decided that I thought I could go ahead and ride my bike back home. So about 1 o'clcok I set off for home. It's another 12 miles from my dads to my house. I headed back a different route so I wouldn't have to go through the main part of town. I went the back way, now mind you it is still heavily traveled and the speed is higher but the roads are wider and it's easier for cars to get around me. Plus many parts of it have large shoulders. Anyway, I made it. There was a couple of times I wasn't sure if I was going to, but you know, once you start, who wants to wimp out and call somebody. LOL
All in all I rode 23.1 miles today at an average speed of 11.8 mph. I had the about an hour break in between which is the only reason I was able to do it in the heat. When I left my dad's at 1 it was 97 degrees and getting hotter quickly.
We have had 3 weeks straight of over 100 degree weather. I am so ready for it to start cooling off.

I was in the mood for a group ride tonight, but hadn't the foresight to actually plan anything or look up any online. So I rode about 3 miles to a LBS where my BF knows the owner. I'd heard they have Tuesday night rides.

So I'm one of two women and about six guys. This was not a social ride. I learned about three peoples' names at about the 20 mile point. We started out by going up the "high bridge"-- and the name says it all. It's not steep, but it's long. I'm used to getting dropped, but it's so embarassing when it happens within the first five miles.

I managed to more or less stay with the group for the whole hilly 30 mile ride, but I did have to be pulled up a couple hills. I'm getting really good at drafting!

My biggest group ride fear came true tonight when I got a flat tire:( Of course it would happen on the group ride where I'm already the slowest rider AND I don't know a single person.

I've been waiting for a time when I can change my own damn tire on the side of the road, but this was not the time. The dude who pulled me up all those hills had my tire changed faster than I could eat a power gel. I must say, at that point I sort of appreciated the rest!

Basically, I was either trying to stay in the draft or trying to catch up with the group. The whole time I kept thinking "this is making me stronger."

My normal average speed is around 14-15 mph. This ride was 16.7 and I was pushing myself the whole way.

I'm happy now because I've earned a recovery ride tomorrow:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tater

Nice ride in, 61 degrees and no wind. Caught up to another commuter and got to talk to him for a bit. He had misjudged the weather and tossed on a fleece top. He said he was dying. Saw some cows along the fence, mooed at them of course. Saw a county sheriff, didn't oink.

Way to kick butt on your ride, GLC!

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OMG! It's really 61 in Idaho? WOW!

For this Texas girl... that's COLD. HA! Yea, I will take 100 degrees over anything under 60... anyday!


Well, my ride was basic tonight. I went to White Rock Lake and rode 24 miles. I didn't do the 30 miles as planned because the wind was gusting up to 25 mph. One time around was enough for me.

One guy did totally get on my nerves though. I let him go in front of me on the path... because I figured he would be going faster. So, he gets in front of me doing 14-15 mph. I hung back for awhile... figuring he knew I was there and would speed up. Nope. He kept that pace. Well, I wanted to do 17-19 to push myself some... so I passed.

I KNEW he wouldn't let a GIRL PASS HIM though. Sure enough... a few second later he comes flying by me... I was doing 19-20 mph at this point... and he was FLYING. Hhhhuuummm... he's going 15 mph and then 20+ after a girl passes. Guys really PISS ME OFF sometimes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.

We remembered how when I did that very same ride 6 weeks ago, it was very hard for me and I had walked up most of those hills, panting and gasping like mad.

This time, however, I enjoyed even the hills, and never got whupped at all. Wonderful!! At one really steep short hill, I hollered to DH: "Hey watch THIS!" and stood up in my pedals and powered up that hill in no time flat standing up all the way. I've only been able to do this recently, and DH was stunned and delighted. "Way to go SWEETIE!!" he yelled. :D :D :D I was so proud of myself today, and am so happy to be seeing real evidence of getting stronger and stronger. :p

I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to enjoy such gifts.

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That rocks! It's always nice when you see the results of all your hard work!!!

Congratulations on getting up those hills!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by makbike

Raced home from my second job to get some miles in this evening. I grabbed a quick bite to eat, changed clothes, gathered my bike stuff and headed out the door. My legs felt very heavy and lifeless the first 8 miles or so but in a blink of an eye things started clicking and before I knew it I had settled into a nice groove and was feeling good on my little blue bike. I managed to get 24 miles in this evening, now it is time to grade papers:(

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Maybe your food digested around mile 8?

Happy to hear your ride turned out good and you got so many miles in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pyxichick

I managed to more or less stay with the group for the whole hilly 30 mile ride, but I did have to be pulled up a couple hills. I'm getting really good at drafting!

My biggest group ride fear came true tonight when I got a flat tire:( Of course it would happen on the group ride where I'm already the slowest rider AND I don't know a single person.

I've been waiting for a time when I can change my own damn tire on the side of the road, but this was not the time. The dude who pulled me up all those hills had my tire changed faster than I could eat a power gel. I must say, at that point I sort of appreciated the rest!

My normal average speed is around 14-15 mph. This ride was 16.7 and I was pushing myself the whole way.

I'm happy now because I've earned a recovery ride tomorrow:)

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Yea, that sucks when you get a flat... but thank goodness a kind soul pulled over and helped. A lot of times in a hammer ride, the people keep going!

Great job on staying up with the group and WOW on upping your average. Really awesome!

Maybe, you just needed a group to push you... to get you going faster? :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by light_sabe_r

WEll I felt like some extra exercise on my way home... So I took the a trail from Stone's corner to MT Gravatt and added an extra 5km to my trip! O_O

Plus my average speed bumped up to 16.2! WOOHOO

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Awesome on bumping up that average!!! It's always a good thing! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DDH

Well, I set out this morning about 10:45 (way to late, for TX) to take my sons game back to Blockbuster. Decided I was going to ride my bike to town. Got to blockbuster and dropped the game off and it was only about 5 miles there and I wanted to ride longer today, so I called my dad and asked him if I rode over there would he bring me home cause that would make about 12 miles and I didn't think I could go another 12 miles to ride home in this heat. He said he would, so I headed through town to my dad's taking what I thought would be the safest route. Had no problems. I got there about noonish. I sat around for a while cause he was on the phone with the satelite folks cause his was messed up. I filled my water bottle back up with ice and water and stuck it in the freezer so it would stay cold and stuck my gaotrade that I had left in there too.
I got cooled off and decided that I thought I could go ahead and ride my bike back home. So about 1 o'clcok I set off for home. It's another 12 miles from my dads to my house. I headed back a different route so I wouldn't have to go through the main part of town. I went the back way, now mind you it is still heavily traveled and the speed is higher but the roads are wider and it's easier for cars to get around me. Plus many parts of it have large shoulders. Anyway, I made it. There was a couple of times I wasn't sure if I was going to, but you know, once you start, who wants to wimp out and call somebody. LOL
All in all I rode 23.1 miles today at an average speed of 11.8 mph. I had the about an hour break in between which is the only reason I was able to do it in the heat. When I left my dad's at 1 it was 97 degrees and getting hotter quickly.
We have had 3 weeks straight of over 100 degree weather. I am so ready for it to start cooling off.

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I ride in Texas. It's barely tolerable to hit the bike around 11-12! Congrats for getting out in it! Doing that many miles in the heat we have here... is impressive.