May 29th Memorial Day Ride reports

we did our longest ride of the year, 54 miles on our tandem. we left right before 9 in the morning and were met with nearly carless roads all the way around the lake. The lake, being lake washington. According to my husband our elevation gain; (how much we climbed) was 2665 feet.
The brooks b67 my new saddle is still not quite "dialed in" but my butt's not sore. hey, that's amazing.

HEre's a photo of my husband extolling the virtues of our bike to Oscar the grouch at mile 40; logboom park near Juanita washington.

Hey, I bet I saw you today! Lots of tandems out. We did our tandem ride yesterday; today I was on a Bianchi Eros Donna, and Logboom is my start/end place. Nice day, if kind of jam-packed with folks. Congrats on your longest ride! I love the Lake WA ride.

Finally , the weather is cooperating. BF and I rode 39 miles, with the most hills I've done so far. 39 miles is also my longest ( my one mile) ride to date. Couldn't ride Sat or Sun as the weather was awful, and we were tearing down sheetrock and tearing up carpet for BF's remodel. So at least I was using muscles I had forgotten I owned, at least until the next day. But today's ride was awesome... slightly overcast, but a perfect temperature. We were hoping to break the 40 mile mark for me, but, alas, it was not to be.

Short ride today, windy, but on a taper for LRRH this weekend.

Gorgeous day. We did abut 39 miles. Flat, no wind. Fabulous sun, but not too hot. Saw lots of snakes (ewwwwww) but fortunately they were all "sleeping" by the side of the road. Some were flatter than others..... LOL. We went to Mickey D's for lunch. I have not eaten there in probably 10 years, maybe more. Someone on here mentioned that the Asian salad was good.... whoever that was, thanks for the recommendation. It WAS good - and it really hit the spot. I might have to go again :)

This was my first long ride with my new pedals. Changed from Speedplay Xs to Frogs. Way better. Anyone need a set of Xs and cleats? And some size 43 (too big for me) Specialized road shoes??
Martha

I rode 29 miles today. I ran a trail marathon yesterday, with no running training, and my legs were toast. Frozen up toast! I got on my bike in the yard to make sure I could turn the pedals, and it seemed less painful than walking. It was our bike club's picnic, out at this spring, and when I got on the bike, at first, my legs felt deader than they ever have- like there was nothing there at all. But after a few miles, they warmed up and quit being so painful, and after a few more miles, though not back to normal, they were good enough. I'm sure it was much better to go for a recovery ride than to lay in bed all day! We rode on a paved trail I hadn't ridden before, followed by a dip in the 72F spring (brrr!!!) and a barbeque lunch. Great day.

A rode with a different club today. Of course since the club i'm the secertary of is usually too fast for me, these folks (Redlands) were too slow, Now , where's the prorridge that's just right... We did thirty miles to a bagel shop and back. There were some other floks that appeared to be doing my speed, so maybe's there hope. I hust hate having to drive 25 miles to ride. Gorgeous day, with prefect temp, with no clouds or smog.

Riding with people who are too fast for you might make you a faster rider, but it's not that fun. I ride with people who are mostly too slow, but there are getting to be a few break-away faster riders, who I can ride with if I feel like it, or ride slower if I feel like it. They are just a friendlier group in general. The faster group just goes fast- they don't take time to stop and enjoy the cool things along the way, like the biggest oak tree in fFlorida, or the River Styx, or baby llamas, or even a cool sign or flower.

This is the spring, Little River, on the Suwannee River, where we had our picnic.

Nanci, I argee that the club in Redlands is more my speed. I may do some more with them after I do (attempt?) ride around the bear. I would like to see if I can get some thing going closer to home. I'm currently leading slower rides on sunday moring before church ( I wear a riding skort, so I look somewhat appropraite.) I'm going to wait for a month or two to see if we build anything out of it.

26 mile ride with AuntieK! I had a terrific time. AK is great to wait up for me. There was a headwind and a couple of nasty hills, but the weather was sunny. Came home and ddaughter baked cookies and hubby is grilling burgers. Life is good.

These rides are from my weekend in the White Mountains of NH (Saturday and Sunday). We arrived Friday night and checked into the B andd B. it was a trip with our club, but I did not know most of the people. We drove up with friends, so at least I knew there would be someone I like to ride with. Saturday was about 75 and cloudy, with rain threatening. Our ride was 48 miles of 2 big climbs. We soon found out that there were a large number of people there from another club that is more competetive. They were acting very un AMC-like! My husband and I swept and helped a woman who was struggling on the first climb. When we got to lunch, of course half of the super fast riders pooped out and took a shorter route back. We ended up leading the rest of the people back. We must have been flying, because my average was 14.3, even with all of the climbing. I was not happy at the end; the last five miles felt like h***.
Sunday it was 87 degrees out! We drove about 30 miles and rode over the border, to Vermont. We followed a great, flat to rolling route to a town just south of Quebec. I didn't care about the others, they were still acting like show-offs. The lunch spot was beautiful, saw lots of cows and horses, and most of the ride was along a river. My husband and I and a friend rode over the Canadian border, took some pictures and went back the same way. When I got back to the car, I had 49.2 miles on my computer, so I rode around, until i hit 50! I can tell it was flat, because usually my time for 50 miles is 3:35 and it was 3:16. Boy, it was hot, though. We decided not to ride today and left early to beat the traffic. I sat by the pond and relaxed.

What be-a-yootiful places you can get to on a bike!!!
And here I just test spun around a parking lot today. But Saturday's ride was pretty. Now let's see if I can move a picture from the memory card and over here ...

hmmm. not. Somebody who knows how to do this, could you maybe post a "recipe"? 'Tis the season for gorgeous rides! (Well, I guess all seasons are.)

I didn’t ride today but I rode Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I only rode about 8 miles and then I had some weird fall out, throw up, pass out thing? Who knows at least I was off the bike when it started. Anyway I called it a day after that. Sunday I went to a local (as in an hour away) bike path and rode about 30 miles. Last Sunday we did 20 on the same path. Today I gardened!

Jessica

Inaugural ride with the baby and my inaugural ride of the season (a 2 mi round trip commute is not a ride). Hubby had the baby on the old beater moutain bike with the nobby tires. Hubby is in much better shape even without any biking and needed the extra drag! We went from Valley Forge out to the Perkiomen trail, because it has a miniscule number of walkers and roller bladers. Bikers are also very clueful, with only one close call with one guy riding in the left lane with a group of four others -- but he reacted well to the screech of "in front of you!" and smiled at the baby.

Baby enjoyed it, until he fell asleep. Makes me wish a bit that we had a trailer, but the baby seat was a gift from a non-biker, and just so thoughtful I can't complain.

Lots of bikers, lots of women, lots of kids. Saw (presumably) a family of at least four on a three person tandem with a trailer. The people on the tandem had matching jerseys. Very cool!

Really pushed it the way out (that woman in the skort muttering about "cadence" and "challenge that hill!" was me) and stayed in a lower gear with a higher cadence on the way back. I was then passed effortlessly by another woman, and thought better of shouting "go baby go!" Sometimes people misinterpret statements like that. ;)

Those 2 mile commutes are actually working. I was in much better shape "starting" the season than usual.:D

(And anyone who has ridden the Perkiomen Trail: there is a well-paved but very sunny detour at the end closest to Valley Forge. It's fairly yucky compared to the original shaded path.)

S