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Pretty happy to be one of the 2,624 women of the 10,000 Seattle to Portland riders. It was a blast! The weather wasn't sure what to do, but turned out just fine. 71 degrees is way better than the forecasted 91 around here.
Glad I did a lot of training. It really made a difference. Made it 120 miles day one and 80 to finish day two. We had a great group of six family/friends and great support.
Wow, I might have to consider myself a "real cyclist":)
Great job, SmittyKitty! Oh, and I definitely think you should consider yourself a "real cyclist" now, although I'd argue you probably should have already considered yourself that.
Yayy Smitty Kitty, sounds like it was a great weekend! I agree with Indy, you should have considered yourself a "real cyclist" long before now ;)
Ah Thanks:)
Rode with my regular group on Saturday- 40 miles south of Tucson, with very much appreciated cloud cover and not too hot for a summer afternoon here. Sunday morning, I skipped the climb up Mt. Lemmon because of obligations, but rode up as far as the base of the mountain and wandered around for about 25 miles.
I did some video's For Raleighdon, but You Tube blocked them in the US due to copyright issues. I split the songs up and they went fine (so Far)
http://youtu.be/tQ6ZdO7H_bU
and
http://youtu.be/ISLvk6lD4hQ
I rode Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but not near the amounts I should be. Getting ready for vacation, work, and a close friend's birthday party are partly to blame, but some of it is my attitude. I'm a little burned out, I think because I never really took a break from riding outdoors this past year. I am still about 20 miles short of 1500 miles, which I should have easily passed this weekend.
Our vacation to the San Juan Islands has changed a bit. We just can't do all the riding we had hoped, due to the ferry schedule, not wanting to miss the fabulous breakfast at the B and B, and wanting to get back to Friday Harbor for some good dinners, as well as visit with friends we have on the island. So, we are going to limit our riding to San Juan Island and do one day on Lopez Island.
Rode 60 miles on Saturday, which I'd done before with no problems, but this time, the last 10 miles kicked my butt, and though I'd never experienced this before, it felt like my feet were on fire. Not fun at all. I did a nice 30-mile ride this morning. Even though the gusts off the ocean were worse than yesterday, it was cloudy with a light drizzle, and really very lovely. I'm glad I went out today. At the end of the ride yesterday, I was ready to sell my bike for a ride home and never look back.
I only rode once this weekend, had a very short ride yesterday to test the strained hip flexor to see if I can ride without pain. I can :) I decided to take a couple more days off just to be safe.
I am a little frustrated from the old injuries I keep tweaking on the bike this summer - though my most recent isn't old and is from running, not riding. My little short ride yesterday was fun though, and I didn't bother even putting on my HRM. I will get back to it in a few days when I won't have to worry about sticking close to home in case I start hurting. I've 2 months before a 50 (or 75) mile charity ride and I fully intend to do it without over-use injuries this time - the last time didn't work out so well for that ride.
I did 35 miles this weekend with Saturday being my first 25 mile ride. I was slow (7speed hybrid) but I made it. I even calculated my water and didn't run out plus I have nunn tablets now too so that helped.
Today's short recovery ride turned into a mountain bike trail that kicked my behind. So much for recovery.
I had plans for a 40km ride on Sunday, but the night before I went to lantern festival with my friend. She had finally decided to get a bike....how about tomorrow?
yup.
So, I road a few cities over (15km) to meet her at my favorite bike shop, and hey her roommate wants a bike too, so he's coming as well. This bike shop specializes in vintage & bikes for budgets. It's where I got my ccm mixte and my orange apollo.
She gets a BRC (old local brand) for $75, and he gets....a HUFFY. lol, it was $45. He could have afforded better, but he liked the huffy! It weighs a frigging ton. We rode back to Vancouver, neither of them had ridden in a looooong time. We took it slow.
http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/a...ke/newwest.png
I am so excited to have more bike-friends.
I rode 20.2 on Friday. I wish I'd ridden Saturday, because it was gorgeous.
Biked my 12 mile hill-training loop on Friday evening, after a week and a half off my bike (on vacation). Surprised myself by beating my PR on this loop by 2 1/2 minutes!
Then lifted my 5 year old son back onto his bed in the middle of the night and triggered a moderate back spasm.:( A little muscle relaxer and lots of advil and I was feeling ok in the morning, but wasn't able to do my planned 40 mile ride.
I did go out for about 15 miles to see if it felt better or worse with a bike ride, and discovered that it felt better while riding, probably due to the fact that I could support myself a bit with my arms instead of relying on my back for all the work. Didn't want to push it, though, and kept it short.
Next day, I could feel it in my mid-back/shoulders that I had been making them do more work than usual!
Hoping a couple more days of rest will mend this and I can get back to a regular riding schedule tomorrow.
Trying to be mindful that I should be appreciative that I only experience this occasionally and no longer live in chronic pain, but overall, back spasms suck.
I spent the past 4 days doing the Red Ribbon Ride which is the AIDS/HIV ride for MN - a grand total of approximately 300 miles. Weather-wise, it may have been the RRR's best year ever - the dewpoint stayed reasonable, the temps under 90 and we frequently had glorious cloud-cover. Rain on the second leg of day 3 did cause one of my teamates to go down hard right behind me. He had a cut above his eye that was bleeding and bruises and gashes filled with road-dirt and pebbles in his shoulder, arm and leg. Mr. Tough Guy though insisted on continuing and he did! Day 3 also saw another teammate total his bike in the most bizarre way: he had athletic tape around a knee (many developed knee trouble during and following the unrelenting, multiple steep hills of day 2) which came loose, got stuck in a spoke, then the rear derailleur and when it was over, his derailleur was turned inside out, flipped 180, nowhere near the back cassette and it somehow bent the frame of his bike. Oh, another teammate got his tire caught in a crevass riding out of town on day 3 and flipped over his handlebars, but he was ok. There was more; day 3 was the Twilight Zone for our group.
I suffered from a saddle sore that was acquired in training, and of course got worse during 4 days of hard riding, but other than that, my body and bike both did very well. All in all, it was a fun, tough, delightful 4 days of bike riding with a great group of people for a very good cause - I achieved a personal fund-raising best of a little over $1,800! Yea donors!
Congratulations! That sounds like an awesome ride and accomplishment on both the fundraising and the riding. I'm glad your teammate is okay. Goodness.Quote:
Originally Posted by Norse
Thanks! I just heard from Mr. Tough Guy this morning - he and his bike are both safe and sound at home, neither feeling any worse for the crash. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by lovelygamer
Jumped from 20 miles weekend rides to 30miles today and feeling great!!!!.The weather was really good and I got a nice workout. Looking forward to 30 more tomorrow.
Did our first ride on San Juan Island. Well, I was not mentally prepared for the climbing. The first 11 miles to Roach Harbor were rolling, but I was having issues with the different feel of the bike with the Arkel pack on the back, the off camber bike lane, and the chip seal. I'm a cautious descender at best and the whole combo slowed me down, even more than the "touring pace" I planned. We ate lunch in Roach Harbor and after that, we had a nice 15% grade out of there, and then continued relentless climbs. But, I settled in and the scenery was beautiful.
31 miles with 2300 ft of climbing.
Tomorrow, Lopez Island, supposedly flat. I am tired.
Yesterday my friend (riding a Specialized Crosstrail) and I (Jamis Aurora) headed out shortly after 8:00 a.m. and rode 17 miles through 3 towns.
Most were nicely-shaded (very hilly) country roads-some unpaved-but the ride did involve crossing a couple busy intersections to get to "a better place". On the return route, we opted to take some dirt paths and pedal within a cranberry bog in the area. It was a pleasant change of pace, and the Aurora handled the variant terrain fairly well.
The weather forecast for today is iffy; I'm not sure I'll be able to get out again. (Perhaps more accurately, I'm not sure my legs are up for the task. We'll see...)
Did a quick ride today, since I have a lot to do and had the pleasure of changing a flat for the first time by myself. Until now, I've ridden with friends who knew how to change it or strangers would stop and help.
This time is was all me!:D
And I did it!
I got to ride only about 30 miles total M-R due to being out of town each day for a work-related class. It was really hot and humid in the evenings so I had to keep the rides short and easy. This weekend, though, the weather was really nice, and I got to ride Friday, Saturday and today. It was a little windy on Friday and really, really windy Saturday (did some intervals into the wind on the way out) but today there wasn't nary a leaf rustling with low humidity and temps in the low 70'sF. So beautiful today! I was able to get in 34mi. on Friday, 36mi. on Saturday and 43mi. today. It's been so horribly hot and miserable all summer, we (I) really needed a weekend like this!
I went out for ten miles yesterday with my other half. It was a beautiful country ride. We even did a couple of miles of trails. Those always kick my butt. I am not cut out for mountain biking. I did ten more on Sunday, at dusk. Beat my best time @ 52 minutes and that was after waiting in traffic three times.
I've been out looking at entry level road bikes this week. So much to think about. So far, I've looked at Trek, Specialized, and Cannondale:D
Great time on the mountain bike yesterday in my favorite park :cool: Went to an interesting workout this morning, and finished off this beautiful day with a 25 mile road ride. Wanted to go further, but this weekend is the first time in a few weeks due to a small injury. All my bits and parts feel just fine :D
14.8 miles this morning. First ride in over a week, what with the weather, work, and feeling utterly exhausted.
A new record for me - I did 80 miles on my own bike (not the tandem) yesterday! The most I'd done before that in one go was around 65 miles. The Chris King Gourmet (metric+) Century accounted for 70 miles, and the extra 10 was biking to and from the event start/finish at Chris King HQ. The ride was great - two big hills, one right off the bat before I was really warmed up, and one just about at the end when I was cooked. Oh well, I made it up them eventually. After the final climb was done, I felt great and the last 10 miles flew by (thankfully mostly downhill at that point). I hadn't thought to pack a towel or comb with my clothes for the dinner for afterwards, but I jumped in the employee showers back at Chris King HQ anyway and wow, was that the best shower ever. Even with no soap and no towel :)
Then this morning, my cyclocross teammates came over to try on sample kits for our pending team kit order and they talked me into going out for an easy recovery spin with them. Which turned into a 34.5 mile quick paced ride. *sigh* So much for recovery.
Rode on Lopez Island today. It's beautiful, but definitely not flat. Who writes these descriptions?
Lots of riders here, but not crowded on the roads. Had a good lunch, but we are now waiting for the ferry back to Friday Harbor ( a 2 hr wait) and I fully admit to having onion rings as my recovery food.
onion rings sound amazing right now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
someday i really want to go to the san juan islands. i'm jealous of you!
I got in a ride this weekend! First time on the bike since the crash. We set it up with a trainer, a step stool with a step high enough to reach my phone, tv remote and steps for me. I rode for an hour at approx zone 2, possibly 3.
I needed help getting on and off the bike, and I don't have the upper body strength on my left side to grip the handlebars for balance yet, so I don't know that I'm ready to go on the road. I will probably try for another hour tonight, and again later in the week, as I am also starting PT. Yay, exercise!
I'll admit, it was a little nerve wracking to be on the bike again, despite the safety of the set up.