July riding

My commute to work is going to be messed up for the rest of the summer... sigh. They are doing major bridge work for the commuter rail and there are going to be lane closures on a curvy 2 lane road that is a major access to a highway. One or two weekends at the end of the month, the road is going to be totally closed all day. And, it will be totally closed the whole last week in August.
This is going to be a mess, in the car and on the bike. The lane closures will start at 7 AM, so my usual commute time of 9 on Mon. and Tues. and 7 on Thurs. won't matter. It will be OK for my way home. There are alternate routes, which will both add time to my commute. And, I imagine lots of other people taking the same alternative routes.

yesterday's ride was a 4 H (heat, humidity, headwinds and hills) ride from Brenham to Chapel Hills. There is a reason that the town is named Chapel Hill and not just Chapel. In the 16 miles between Brenham and Chapel Hill on the route we followed there were a lot of rollers plus 8 hills. 3 were "oh gawd" hills ( where all you can do is pant those words with each pedal stroke0, 2 were "you have got to be kidding me", 2 were "I think I can hills" and 1 was a "this is not a real hill " gasped at the end of a continual long but not steep ascent. We started at 8:00 at 85 degrees with a feels like of 88 with the wind at about 10 mph, and finished at 11:00 at 90 with a feels like of 98 with the wind at about 15 gusting up to 20. And it's not even the dog days of August yet.

The indoor trainer is looking better and better.

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Originally Posted by marni

yesterday's ride was a 4 H (heat, humidity, headwinds and hills) ride from Brenham to Chapel Hills. There is a reason that the town is named Chapel Hill and not just Chapel. In the 16 miles between Brenham and Chapel Hill on the route we followed there were a lot of rollers plus 8 hills. 3 were "oh gawd" hills ( where all you can do is pant those words with each pedal stroke0, 2 were "you have got to be kidding me", 2 were "I think I can hills" and 1 was a "this is not a real hill " gasped at the end of a continual long but not steep ascent. We started at 8:00 at 85 degrees with a feels like of 88 with the wind at about 10 mph, and finished at 11:00 at 90 with a feels like of 98 with the wind at about 15 gusting up to 20. And it's not even the dog days of August yet.

The indoor trainer is looking better and better.

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Hah. I live in another Chapel Hill. And yes - there is a reason. :p Good training, but not really the ideal commute.

And agree 100% on the indoor trainer. We were over 90 by 10AM, with a 104 heat index this afternoon (and I'm pretty sure that was on the low end). Rode yesterday (a memorial ride for a friend who was killed 2 years ago), but not today. Tomorrow should be (a little) better.

I commuted yesterday. It's working out well for Thursdays, when I have my first client at 9... I leave at 7, to just beat the traffic backup at an intersection near my house. I take my time, change and clean up, drink more coffee, and then I do some filing in my charts and clean my office for the week. Yesterday I got to leave at 2, but usually, it will be 4, before rush hour.
My SI joint is complaining after riding with the pannier this week. I don't think it's the trail running, because it started the day before I ran, after I commuted. I hadn't had any issues when I was commuting on my other bike, with a back pack.

Last week before I return to work (short summer, long fall break is the trade off in our school district). So I made my 3rd ascent up Mt. Lemmon in a week and got to the top of the ridge, but not to the little village of Summerhaven because the paved road was closed after a tree had fallen. The Forest Service decided to keep the road closed and do extra maintenance. There was detour onto a dirt road for two miles- it would have gotten me to the Cookie Cabin for my reward, but I didn't want to attempt it on my road bike so I reluctantly turned around 2 miles short of my goal. I'm sure I'll try one more time at least.....

Today was a very slow/easy 20 miles out to Saguaro NP

We had a good, but hot ride to Kimall's Fruit Farm in Pepperel, MA/Hollis, NH today. First time we've taken a group up there. There were about 12 people, quite a few other leaders, so no pressure on me, as a new person was sweeping, so he can get his full leadership status. DH went out really fast and I was shocked my average was 14 at the lunch stop, after climbing Worcester RD. This is a 7 part hill. There's some rest in between the 7 hills, but, it's tough. After lunch, though, is when you hit constant short, steep climbs. Thankfully, it's shady, until the last 4-5 miles, which includes more hills. 2,569 feet of climbing and it was 88 when we got back. Thankfully, no humidity.
Went out for ice cream afterwards at a new place in my old town. Good, but feeling it now!

Well, I posted this over in the PNW forum, but my fun riding of the weekend was the annual Seattle-To-Portland ride on Saturday. It was my fifth time doing the 200 mile ride (each year I've done the 1 day option, there's also a 2 day option), and it went really well. The ride is about as easy a double-century as you can find (not that a double-century is easy) as the ride is well supported, and a pretty flat route overall.

10,000 cyclists take part each year, split about 20/80 between 1 day and 2 day. It makes for a bit of a madhouse the first 50 miles or so, as you're packed in on the road and have to watch out for people doing sketchy things. But there's also something magical about being part of so many cyclists working towards the same goal!

The ride also highlights to me what an amazing invention the bicycle is--it seems almost unbelievable that I could get from Seattle to Portland solely under my own power, in a single day! And yet not only did I do that, I even got to Portland in time to shower, enjoy a couple beers and some pad thai at the finish line festival, and cheer other people as they came across the finish line!

And perhaps more impressive to me than what I (and thousands of others) did on Saturday, is that on Sunday I rode the 5 miles and 400' of elevation gain home from the bike/bus drop off point in Seattle... Oddly enough, that ride wasn't too bad, but going up and down stairs still kinda sucks.

I'm already looking forward to next year!

Also rode STP in two days. Khg really summed it up. I tried posting in NW last night, but must have fallen asleep in the process! Will try again soon. Massage today!

Like hearing about all the riding going on. I only made it to 20 miles in one setting. Trying to do more but anything with a hill gets me exhausted

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Originally Posted by qcuthbert

Like hearing about all the riding going on. I only made it to 20 miles in one setting. Trying to do more but anything with a hill gets me exhausted

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it gets so much better qcuthbert!

Had a good commute today. The traffic was not detoured yet, but I was prepared with an alternate route. However, there were other narrowed lanes for other work, right before the real detour. I like when I commute on Mondays, because leaving work at 7 instead of 6 is just so much nicer! I was flying and had my fastest commute of the year.

A week and a half ago, I was scheduled to do a fun ride on Mt Rainier with my husband and a friend--but woke up with a cold instead, and spent the day in bed :( I was really disappointed to miss the ride for training reasons, and because it's just a beautiful ride.

Between various commitments, today was the only time in a several week span that I could do it, as long as I got up early enough and didn't dilly-dally so that I could get back home in time to head to work in the afternoon... So painful as it was, I jumped out of bed at 5:45 and hit the road soon after. (I am NOT a morning person!)

The route I did starts at the Crystal Mountain turnoff, then enters Mt Rainier National Park to go up to the Sunrise Visitor Center (highest paved road in Washington State!), comes back down the mountain, then turns to go up to Cayuse Pass, continuing on to Chinook Pass, and then 13 miles of descending back to the car, with a respectable 55 miles and 5,500-6,000' of elevation, depending on who's counting. It's challenging--hardly a flat moment--but also stunningly beautiful, and the weather today was perfect for it--views for days.

I had a great time on the ride--no pictures, because I was trying not to stop (15 minutes to buy and eat food at Sunrise was my only time off the bike)--so you'll have to take my word for it that the wildflowers on the mountain were riotously beautiful. The range of colors and shapes was constantly engaging, as well as the contrast with the dark evergreen trees behind. On the last bits of the climb up to Sunrise, you're facing directly towards the summit of Mt Rainier, and it's just HUGE. Even from Seattle, it can dominate the landscape--up close, it's incredibly awe-inspiring.

I had a little more excitement than I wanted partway up to Sunrise. About 50 feet up the road, a bear emerged from the trees and started casually crossing the road. I immediately stopped and waited. And sure enough, a couple bear cubs soon followed. They lingered a bit, eventually crossed, then hung out on the side of the road for a while before heading up the hillside. The cubs were so cute--but that was way closer than I ever needed to be to a momma bear and her cubs!!!! Had I kept biking instead of stopping, I likely would have been directly between her and the cubs when they got to the road. Yikes!

And now... Now my legs are tired. We're doing a road trip this weekend, and sitting in the car for a long time suddenly sounds really really nice. Sitting anywhere sounds really really nice.

But I'm glad I made myself get up and go--it's a great ride, and was so worth it!

And I think I'm tough because I ride 15 miles at 5 AM????
I would have totally freaked out at a bear sighting. Of course, seeing my neighbor's dog freaks me out, so it's all relative.
Had a lovely, and cool/dry ride this morning at 5. Fifteen miles, same ride I did last week, even though I was tempted to cut it short. It was below 50 degrees F at one point, and while I was dressed appropriately, I could have had knee warmers on. When I got to the top of Nashawtuc Hill, a deer and fawn were coming out of the woods. They didn't move, but I was concerned they might go down the hill the other way and run out in the road, out of the woods, on the other side.
I usually don't ride early AM on Thursdays, and I did not see as many riders as I do on Tuesdays.
Group ride tomorrow.

Just for you that may not have grasped kbh's discription of the incredibly beautiful and STEEP HILLS she rode at Mt Rainier, well I'll just say it's steep by car! Oh, and way to recover from your STP one-day ride on Saturday! I haven't even gotten back on a bike yet, let alone Mt. Rainier! Wow! I'm so impressed! We've had several deer wonder out in front of us lately. I hope we don't meet up with a bear and cubs.

I would freak out too I think seeing bears or anything that can "attack" me. I've had enough of 2 dogs chasing us for 8km.... never pedaled that fast in my fast for the 1st half of it since I did not know if they were dangerous or not. Happened they were friendly and sooooo happy to get a good run. Me? NOT...it was my 2nd road bike ever and I had no control on anything. Lucky I did not fall, kill myself or heart attack with such high cardio then. haha

You'll have to go by car...and get us pictures of that scenery KHG. You truly rock on a bike to get all this done..in the morning on top of this. yikes.