September 17 Rides

Sunday = shop ride.
B-group was large today, but rather disorganized. Pacelines have not been very successful as folks sprint ahead, cut inside the line, waver dangerously on their line, and generally muff it up. Rumor has it, the A-group splits in two on Clara Barton, into the fast group and the sick-fast group. Some of us may bolt next week and try to hang with the merely fast group and get some fun pacelining in. I've been asked to join the rebellion, and I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Excited, because...hey! I've been asked to join the fast folks. How cool is that? Nervous because this summer is really my first time riding with a group - that I do only once a week. I'm nervous that my inexperience will really show.
But....that's next week.
Today, we added some extra hills and the loop into Rock Creek Park. We really need to get the miles in before the Seagull on the 7th. I've been trying to focus on cadence on the hills, and it helped me hang with some good climbers: Kathy and Trevor. I think Kathy was just being kind or had a hard day yesterday - she normally dusts me on hills, and today she let me take Old Anglers!! I was so happy. It was her birthday present to me! Yay.
38.5 miles at 17.3 mph. A little slower than the last few weeks, but I think that's because of the extra loop into the park. At the hour we hit it on the return, it's much more crowded than early in the a.m., which forces you to go slower.

Had a great ride, given that it was windy and rained the whole time. Did 52km along the multiuse Lochside Trail, and then onto the highway. Felt pretty happy with it, loaded the bike into my van, and drove an hour home. Stopped at the general store to get something for dinner, and realized I had lost the little purse I carry with my ID, DL, medical insurance card, debit card, and a little spending cash. :eek: :o
Totally freaked, I drove back into Victoria, hoping it was where I had parked the van for my ride. I remember putting my purse on the van hood after my ride (a very sloping hood). It must have slid off and I drove away without realizing it.
Halfway back to town, my cellphone rang; it was the bike shop where I started my ride, saying a neighbour of theirs found my purse while walking is dog! They went in the bike shop, asked it anyone there knew me (based on my less-than-flattering driver licence photo!). Of course they know me, and called with the good news. I almost fainted with relief! I was mentally going thru all the rigamarole associated with replacing my ID etc, so huge thanks to Anne at Selkirk Bike Shop, and the honest man who turned my purse in!!:D
Came back home, had a cold beer and a hot bath. Still feel a little shaky, completely stupid, but ever so grateful.
~Sherry.

So after nearly 2 solid weeks of cold, I think I rode it out of me today! At least I hope so. My husband of 1 year ago tomorrow (:)) and I did a ride together, with our honorary best man joining us. It was an organized century and there was much debate about the distance, between 62 and 50. I wasn't sure how my ride would go, after the cold and bad experience the prior week. Husband hasn't ridden much in the last few weeks now that he's back in school. Our friend could probably ride to Katmandu since he's gone bike crazy in the last month (yeah, he even converted his single speed into a fixie), let his car reg lapse and so on. But he said he was looking for an enjoyable shorter ride.

I said we should play it by ear, and the guys, who went up ahead, should wait for me at the split or water stop. We had signed up for the 50 though.

In the meanwhile, I met a woman who said this would be her longest ride yet, and we got to talking. I encouraged her to try for the metric and she said if you will, I will.... so we agreed to do it. Well, we came to the split, and my husband and our friend were nowhere to be seen. I called, left a message, but neither of them it turns out had their cell phones. I decided with the weather being nice that they'd opt for the 62, so, off we set.

Well, a long time later, we pull into a rest stop that is on the 62 and 50 mile ride, and there they are. I rolled up, and he says, how was the 62? I asked if he'd been there this whole time, and he told me he'd stayed since he heard of a woman in an accident and no one knew who it was (we had passed it and it appeared to be a woman who fell/collided and may have had a broken collarbone or arm (hard to tell). So he was worried about me, and stayed at the rest stop for over an hour! Aww! We realized that not having the other cell phones hadn't helped the situation. They jetted off, eager to resume riding after their long hiatus.

The two of us kept encouraging each other, as we slogged through lots of hills (the cold really kept my heart rate going, but on flats I would recover just fine), and then we waited for her coworker friend who was doing the 100 to catch up, and the three of us rode into the finish together.

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ride, winding along many roads near my home and surrounding towns, including some of our regular routes. Farms, river, meadows, shady residential streets, and several parks and conservation lands were along the route.

Best part, I helped (I think) someone achieve her longest ride yet AND a metric century. All in all very cool. I'm going to try to get her to come to the site too!

Mimi - I'm a dork, no further evidence is needed. It was in fact dimming, but then it was the ride I did on saturday the 16th. I even posted a thread for sunday - september 18th rides before i was politely corrected :D

[QUOTE=Best part, I helped (I think) someone achieve her longest ride yet AND a metric century. All in all very cool. I'm going to try to get her to come to the site too![/QUOTE]

Very cool post! That is how I rode my first century.

Yesterday, I lead a ride with 3 other people. We had about 20 people for a 40 mile very hilly ride through Acton, Boxborough, Harvard, Bolton, Stow, and then back for a BBQ at my friend's house. Well, we decided to split the group in 2, with my husband leading the "faster" group and me sweeping. The other 2 leaders wereleading the slower group. After 6 miles we stopped to regroup and I was panting. They were going 20 (up a hill) and I could barely stay on the back. But since I was the sweep, it didn't matter. Still, this was a very un-AMC group. My husband kept trying to get them to stop and view the scenery (beautiful) but they didn't want to. At about 32 miles two guys were struggling, so I had a real excuse to stay back with them. They were very nice and we talked for the rest of the way back. Delicious food and beautiful weather followed.
But, I was exhausted. Myaverage was just under 15, and for a ride with SERIOUS climbing, this is good for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mimitabby

Hey Tater! I got married at Liberty grange in Star.. isn't that on Highway 44?

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You know, Mimi, now I will have to go back and see! That was my first spin through that area, so I wasn't paying much attention to anymore than what was up ahead of me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mimitabby

Both of my sons rode fixy bikes and displayed their incredible strength by leaving me with all my 27 gears behind on every hill. My younger son (the stronger one) also passed me going downhill at 28 miles an hour (i was going 28mph, who knows what he was doing?!?!)

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Mimi, you understand that someone on a fixie has NO CHOICE but to climb fast, since they can't gear down and they can't let their pedal speed drop too much.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DebW

Mimi, you understand that someone on a fixie has NO CHOICE but to climb fast, since they can't gear down and they can't let their pedal speed drop too much.

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Deb, I think older son was trying to explain that to me, but i was still very impressed. he also told me that his bike had a lower gear than my other son (the one who went over 28mph) BECAUSE he is not strong enough! (when he gets stronger, he says he will get a bigger gear? or a harder gear?)

and neither of them have a freewheel, which boggles MY mind.
ps both of these guys have roadbikes and mtbikes too

We did two 20 mile rides yesterday, with barely an hour rest between them. About 40 miles total, and lots of hills on the second ride. My thighs are pretty sore today.
So, I did a 3 mile walk this morning in the cool fog- very refreshing and good to stretch out and sort of shake out all my sore muscles in a different way today.

I did another group ride on Sunday. For those of you "playing along at home," that's my third group ride since September 10th. I mention that only because I spent the whole summer feeling really, really nervous about riding with a group. The few cyclists I know are incredibly strong, and I kept comparing myself to them. As a result, I think I developed a complex along the way that I would make a fool of myself at a club/group ride. Thankfully, I've since put all that to bed! Obviously, there are lots of different skill levels at these rides. While I may not be ready for an aggressive training ride, I certainly fit in just fine at the club rides. In fact, I can keep up pretty well! Too bad it took me this long to realize that!

Anyway, Sunday's ride started off at a bike shop on the southside of the city. I've never ridden on that side of town and was looking forward to a peaceful ride in the country on what looked to be another beautiful day.
The crowd wasn't that big. Maybe people opted to just do Saturday's ride. In any event, there were lots of ride options--100, 70, 48, 36 and 20. I opted for the 48. I thought about trying for 70, but I had some place I needed to be that afternoon. In the end, that was probably a good decision.

I ran into a couple of people I knew, including the woman I'd met and ridden with at the previous day's club ride. We rode together for a bit, complaining of the wind and our stiff legs! She was only doing 36 miles though and our routes diverged less than 10 miles into the ride. I was sad to see her go, but I was determined to ride the 48-mile route. If I have any hope of doing both days of the Hilly Hundred, I need to push myself a bit.

From there, I rode most of the way by myself. I encountered a few pockets of people, but for whatever reason, I decided to pass them and ultimately rode by myself the first 29 miles to the SAG. I was kind of surprised at how few people I encountered. It was a little spooky.

It was pretty windy and, at times, I found myself more than a little exhausted. My legs were sore from Saturday's ride, and I don't think I had enough breakfast. I was so, so happy to get to the SAG, where I quickly wolfed down a banana and some cookies! I chatted with some guys I'd met at Saturday's ride. One guy greeted me with a "Hey, Bianchi!" which made me laugh. Again, everyone was extremely nice.

After refueling, I got back on the rode. Thankfully, I had the wind (mostly) at my back. I found myself easily cruising about 21 mph. Thankfully, I didn't encounter any dogs (there were a couple early in the ride) or get lost. I made it back to the car in one piece, with an average speed of 16.69 mph. Considering the wind, that wasn't too bad (for me).

All in all, it was a good ride, if a tad lonely. I really hope that, over time, I meet some people that I can ride with regularly. I enjoy going solo--when that's my intent. Otherwise, it would be fun to have some riding buddies of comparable skill and personality.

A couple of my guy riding buddies and I rode a 32 mile jaunt yesterday morning. The weather was splendid, although this time of year the roadkill is pretty aromatic. We took a country road out northwest of town and I was having a great day-- the bike (new, we're still on our honeymoon) felt more comfortable than ever before, my rhythm was there, everything was humming. I went into the hospital with pneumonia at the beginning of July, and I've had to take baby steps to get back on the bike. Yesterday was the first time I rode up every single hill without having to stop and catch my breath. My speed was great, my climbing was strong, and I had fun! When we got back to town, I felt like a food incinerator, so I treated myself to a hearty, guilt-free brunch.