July Rides

Yesterday was a perfect (70's without much wind) day to ride. I rode 46 miles, but wasn't feeling up to snuff. About 12 miles in I started getting a stitch in my side which spread to other parts.
I saw a cute scene which I would of stopped and taken a picture if I wasn't looking forward to plopping on my bed at home. There was about 20 red cows cooling themselves in a creek, while their white calves were all in a group keeping flies on the bank of the creek. Amazing thing to me as none of their babies were red like their Mom and not 1 calf was in the cool water.

I rode 19 miles last night, one of the longer versions of my standard post-work hill ride. Thanks to a derailleur/shifting problem, I had major issues shifting into my largest cog, which meant I couldn't use it like I usually do for the short but steep climbs. What better way to get back in shape after a sedentary vacation? My legs were tired by the end but it was a good kind of tired, as they say.

The weather was damn near perfect, and a found another small park with a restroom that's near my ride start, since the portolet has been removed from the park where I start.

Today's ride in the Berkshires went from our inn in Gt. Barrington, through Alford, into W Stockbridge, up Lenox Mt. Into Lenox, past Kripu, and Tanglewood and into Stockbridge where we ate lunch. Then we took a back way through Housatonic back. 40 miles, 2500 ft of climbing, but it felt much harder than the last time I did this ride. It is really a beautiful ride, but really lots of ups and downs.
Tomorrow, 57 miles.

Yesterday was my day off the bike. :)

Today was WINDY. Sheesh! Worst wind we've had here so far. I made it about 10 miles into our planned route (which pretty much headed out right into the wind for 20 miles and would have a great tailwind on the way back) before deciding I just couldn't handle 10 more miles of headwinds and turning around. DH left later than me and would have caught me, but we both detoured on different roads and missed each other, so I finally called him and let him know where I'd be going. We both did loops closer to "home" to avoid any more westward pedaling, and I cut my ride short with "only" 31.25 miles. Still, glad to get that in these conditions!

That should have said Kripalu.

another successful 36 miles at 14.9. Can't believe that I have done two days in a row at a speed which is almost light speed for me. Guess for once there hasn't been any head wind, or maybe the heavy leg presses actually are paying off. time will tell.

That's great Marni! I averaged a pitiful 13.4 today. But with the wind, I'm not beating myself up too badly.

Rode Tour D' Cure for cancer out of Bend OR with DH last Sat. This had to be the most scenic organized ride we have fine so far. Beautiful farm country on quite country roads, with incredible mountains everywhere! Wonderful support and great cause.

We planned on the 50 miler due to our limited riding this year, but we feeling so good that we jumped on the 74 mile route! In the end we wished we had stuck with the shorter route. Upper 90's and LOTS of rolling hills was a lot harder then the much cooler, flat rides of W. WA!
I also had a bad experience with leg cramps, in my clip out leg no less. Guess I was dehydrated. Never want to experience that again! Ouch and scary!

We plan to do it again another year, but will train and properly hydrate (lesson learned). Won't forget Advil again either!

Today's ride was an epic fail. First, we decided to bail on the climb over the mountain. We have not done this route before. The climb (we drove it) was hard,, but doable. It, just as we suspected, the descent was not so good, with broken pavement t. The worst was, the next road was a dirt road, very muddy and rocky. Not ok for road bikes. Next road was more climbing. Got to the new start point and rode about 4 miles on a rail trail. Then our GPSs all were going nuts. After a couple of more miles, Brant said he thought Janine and I should ride back to the car, as the GPS was trying to send us in the opposite direction. We were in a very rural area in NY, so no guarantee about road conditions or climbs. We rode back, got in the car and were back at the inn in 11 miles.
Brant just posted a pic of him eating lunch in a graveyard in Connecticut, about 15 miles from here.
I rode 12 miles at a slow pace and now I am going to sit at the pool.

Great ride today! I'd planned on around 40 miles, but riding with DH, ended up with 55...figures!

We rode up to a park. Terrible headwinds for about the first 14 miles, but then we turned and had crosswinds as we climbed to the park on a very low-traffic rural road. Only heart-pounding moment was when three LARGE dogs started chasing us, but they stopped at the end of their property, thank goodness! The grade was not bad at all -- 1000' elevation gain in 11 miles. The park was gorgeous! We didn't stay long, just looked around, then turned around and headed back down. This time we had more of a headwind, but downhill, it was okay. And the three dogs were nowhere to be found in this direction, thank goodness!

When we got back to town, we treated ourselves to lovely cinnamon rolls from the Mennonite bakery, then continued on back to where we are staying, mostly with tailwinds, for the rest of the mileage.

Are people doing rides on Sunday for the Women's 100? (It's an idea/event put forward by Rapha, whereby women around the world ride 100 kilometers/62 miles on the 20th--a sort of global solidarity of women's cycling. I guess.)

I'll probably be doing something, though I don't know what yet. I was thinking of biking Hurricane Ridge, but I think the weather will be better for that in a few days. I might join Cascade Bicycle Studio's ride that they're hosting, or just do a ride on my own if that's more my mood.

At any rate, happy riding on Sunday, whether it's 1 or 100! Or happy ride recovering, if that's the agenda!

I've ridden nearly 300 miles so far in July but really haven't posted. Started the month in California on our vacation, and had a chance to ride in the Santa Cruz Mountains for one last steep hill before driving home to Arizona, on the Soquel road up to Summit Road and toward Loma Prieta (we didn't finish the climb- not enough time or energy and it was getting hot).

After getting back to Arizona, I've done quite a few 20-ish mile rides for commuting (5 times in two weeks!) or after work on "training" rides (following instructions for intervals etc, from my coach). Other than the that, the only longer rides have been 30 miles taking the long route in to work via Pistol Hill and Colossal Cave Road last Sunday, and this morning's ride).

The ride today was 42 miles with my women's group, and as usual, I am usually at the back of the group once we start any climbing. The intervals don't seem to be helping that much, at least so far. As soon as I start trying to go faster on hills, my quads hurt. It's like I have a built in upper limit :( Maybe it will get better.

But the route was good, it wasn't too hot, and part of the time someone stayed back and rode with me so I didn't feel totally left out, and we ended up at a coffee shop that sponsors us.

Today's ride was wonderful. Not as long, but beautiful. We rode out of the inn, into Sheffield, through just outstanding rural neighborhoods, farms, and forest. It was all slightly rolling, with one big climb, which I had done before. It seemed harder than I remember, or maybe I am just getting old? Well, there were some spots where it flattened, I was able to recover, and slowly spin to the top in my granniest of gear. AZ Fiddle, no amount of intervals would increase my speed on these kinds of climbs; it's just too painful, I'd rather just be able to get to the top. And today, I had a moment of wavering, when I reminded myself it's a head game. Without DH to talk me up the climb, I get lazy. Well, I've felt pretty strong at home, so I guess I don't care. After the climb, we descended into Salisbury, CT for more ups and downs, until we got back to a road that connects to the one our in. Is on. With 9.5 miles left, Brant took off and I was alone to tackle some relentless small hills on a busier road.
Good ride in cooler weather. 28 miles with about 1900 ft of climbing.

Sounds like good rides all around! I found myself waxing nostalgic this morning on my way to my usual Sat morning competition training session. Most of my route is actually an old route that I used to ride all of the time. Indeed it feels odd DRIVING that route :) I could remember the level of effort THIS hill took or THAT section of rough rode. It was a good kind of nostalgia however, for which I am thankful.

You can tell when you have been riding to many days in a row when in the car, you find yourself taking your foot off of the gas pedal 100 feet from to stop light , hoping that the light will change before you come to a full stop or when you find yourself calling out" on your left" to the woman ahead of you in the grocery aisle.

sigh....

This morning was just a little 8-mile ride to the farmer's market and grocery outlet on our Bike Fridays with panniers. Got lots of goodies!

Catrin, I so know that feeling. No matter where we happen to be, we ride much more than we drive, so whenever we get into the car and drive on roads we've ridden (often numerous times), it feels so strange!

Marni- I knew I was riding too much the day I was driving alone in the car and saw some debris in the road, and pointed at it.....

Catrin, :( Sorry you're missing out on riding. You have had such a challenging journey but glad you are still here.

Crankin- if I was alone I wouldn't care how fast I went up, really, but there is this peer pressure and everyone is faster than I am, even when I get in more miles.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by azfiddle

...

Catrin...You have had such a challenging journey but glad you are still here...

---

Thanks so much for your kind words - and I am very thankful to have found something else that my body will allow me to do without any real problems. Over the years this forum has come to mean a lot to me, and while I've been on the internet since...well it actually wasn't the "internet", at least not in a form that modern users would recognize, I've yet to see another forum as open and supportive of women as this one. Riding brought me here, but the great group of TE women kept me here :-)

Did the Katy Flatland Century, a supported ride,this am. Now this is a ride you have to sign up for in advance, pay a registration form for etc. It''s a big ride = or - 3500 riders. Simce this is right in my back yard I always ride it. My big problem is that in a ride like this, at least around here, there always seem to be an excess of flats withing the first five miles. I counted 15 today and then another 25 in the remaining 57 miles. Since people presumably plan ahead for this ride and are good riders, and I ride these roads month after month without a flat why are there always so many flats.

and why is there always at least one (three today) large groups/ teams in matching kits who persist in riding in the lane in spite of traffic behind them. Not just for a short distance until it is safe to single file or at least edge over but for several miles holding up the traffic and endangering the rest of us who are riding single file over to the right, trying to ride save? Idiots like this are who make it hard for the rest of us normal bike riders.

Anyway, enough of the vent did a metric century in 3:30 with an average speed of 15.8 which for me is amazing. Don't know what was in my morning coffee but I want more!

I'm working on my climbing, so I used today's Rapha Women's 100k event as a motivator to ride out to a couple big climbs in the area (both gain + or - 1000 feet, with some cruelly steep bits...). I ended with 62.3 miles and 5300 feet of climbing. Ouch--but I guess that's the idea! Yesterday I did an abbreviated, 50 mile version of the same ride, so that added to the fun today...

At least it was a great day here for climbing--overcast and in the 60's, and after a system came through overnight, the air was really fresh. My ride went through a couple wooded areas, and the smell in the air was so amazing--green, growing, and alive. It made me glad I was having to breathe so deeply! It was also encouraging that even though I found the ride today to be really difficult, it was way beyond what I could do not too long ago.

Right now I'm trying to motivate myself to get off the couch and walk as far as the fridge--no success yet. And I'm taking a rest day tomorrow!

Marni, congrats on the blazing fast metric century--if you figure out what was in your morning coffee, send me some too! As it was, I set no land speed records on my metric century today...

I did a small ride when we got home from the Berkshires today. It was kind of cloudy out there, and had rained last night, and the weather looked better at home. Ate lunch, read the paper, and went out for my short loop, around 11 miles, with 2 climbs. As I was cresting Strawberry Hill, a guy passed me and said "good job." Now I know this is meant as a compliment, but I always take it as "good job for a newbie, Fred, old person." I laughed and said, "Yeah, for a 60 year old lady," as I was going about 10 at the top. He actually slowed and said he had been riding around 22 years; when I said I had been riding around 14 years and didn't start until my late 40s, he said, "You must hve been a runner before," to which I replied, definitely not, I was a fitness instructor, but starting to ride was like starting all over. We rode together, chatting for just a bit and I turned off. I pushed myself, had an average of 15.2 when I got back to my neighborhood; well, I count my average before I go up the climb, as the last mile is a 5-15% grade and I use it as a cool down, or it's not pretty.
Going to commute tomorrow and Tuesday, hopefully.

45 miler today. The first 20 miles were into the stiff wind and mostly uphill...not huge grades, but a grind. I was only averaging 12.7 when I turned around and was pretty miserable. Fortunately, most of the way back I had either a tailwind or crosswind with just a short section of headwind. It's been so windy here lately! Supposed to have a less windy day tomorrow, so am crossing fingers. Ended up with an average speed of 14, which I was delighted with considering the first 20 miles were sooooo slow!

We spent the first two weeks or so of July mountain biking in the Hood River, Mount St. Helens area. At some point I'll have pictures. It was a blast and I came home covered in bruises, so much so that I have had people ask what happened to me. My chiro said it looked like I had been beaten. We don't have much in the way of single track in our immediate area and these trails were a real challenge for me - technical, steep. I only had two falls and those were both in the first few days, but every day I had more bruises. We also "hiked" through a two mile lava tube. That was pretty cool. I say "hike" because it involved a lot of rock scrambling and one section that we had to scale. It had really good hand and foot holds though and was not very tall, maybe ten feet.

Yesterday we took the road bikes out for the first time in forever and rode 30 miles. We actually got rained on a little bit. It doesn't typically rain here until the fall. It was just sprinkles, so the drought is not over. My road bike is SO light! But on every hill I wanted a smaller gear than I had. I think my legs are use to the feel of climbing in my mountain bike gears. It wasn't a big deal that I ran out of gears. I think the steepest climb was 15% and they were super short. My road bike is a compact double so of course the gearing feels different.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BtAQjEECcAAXTvT.jpg

I have decided to race tri again in September so this ride was kind of a benchmark ride to see where I am on the road bike. I'm pretty happy with how I felt on the bike and my average speed. It's a good starting place. I'll have different things to day about tomorrow's first run I'm sure. I don't think I've run outside in the last six months.

Veronica

I rode the Keystone MS150 this weekend. About 75 miles each day through rolling country roads. I averaged about 14.5 mph on both days. The first day I started with my group, but they outpaced me after 20-30 minutes. We regrouped at each rest stop and repeated this throughout the day. Yesterday I just did my own ride and never saw them after the start. The ride was extremely well organized, roads were marked, most intersections had people flagging traffic, there were lots of support vehicles on the road and plenty of food at the stops. The weather was overcast and cool the entire weekend, just perfect for cycling.

This morning before our longer road ride we loaded up the Bike Friday panniers and rode the 4 miles over to the recycling place here, since there's no pickup where we're staying. It was a fun little ride and a good warm up for our longer ride. 8 miles for the recycling ride and 39 for the road ride. The wind was finally lighter than it's been recently, and the temperature was lower as well -- 70s! All in all, an excellent day.

Panniers loaded with recycling, plus mixed paper/cardboard strapped on top of DH's rack:

Attachment 17283

I did some exploring this weekend. I finally found some trails in an area that DH likes to go for whitewater boating. Now I've got something to do besides being shuttle bunny.

There was some of this
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3839/...ed29220d83.jpg

and some of this
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3859/...da51205d1a.jpg

and on one trail, a whole lot of this:
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2916/...470751e1ee.jpg

Irulan, that is gorgeous! Enjoy exploring.

Wow, gorgeous, but you are brave! Those look like hiking trails to me. I am such an MTB weenie!

not only are the seasonal salt/sweat circles on the garage floor back, but so are the triple digits. Finished the standard training ride of 40 miles at 10:00 AM and the temps was 93 with 100% humidity- Definitely at least a "feels like" of at least 105. sigh......

Woah! Those are some awesome mtb trails! I suspect I would be afraid WALKING a couple of them :-)

I went on a group ride today. It's about 91 degrees with 47% humidity. I questioned my sanity, but it's local, led by someone I ride with and know, and there was a catered lunch afterwards. I correctly chose not to ride to the start, as that would have been close to 50 miles and I knew I would not want to ride home in this weather, after lunch.
So, this is the group that uses human arrows; since I know the area and the leader, I vounteered to arrow on the second turn. Took me awhile to catch back up, after the sweep went by, but, I did. Then, about a mile after that, Jack, the leader, missed a turn, despite having a GPS. One of the safety coordinators for the club yelled out, "Who has a GPS that can ride with Jack and you don't have to arrow." I volunteered, and made everyone happy. However, when we got to a hill in Westford, on a busy street, I got dropped a bit and few of the faster guys stayed with him, until I caught up. I stayed at the back of the front group until he missed another turn, and I yelled out, got the 4-5 guys to reel him in and we turned around. By this time, despite the shady roads, I felt crappy, despite drinking my Skratch and one Shot Block. When we turned onto a street that was in full sun, I finally pulled over, dumped water over my head, and went on. So now, I could see no one. One guy had been behind me, but he went ahead. The whole ride was in familiar territory, so I slowed down. Finally, affter making 2 turns and seeing the human arrows, someone caught up with me. We were almost back, and voilá, there was Jack with one other guy. The 4 of us got to a left turn with a steep little uphill, that I hate, someone else took the arrow post and I took the next one, which was the second to last turn. I got to stand and point the way, under a shady tree, and down what was left of my water and Skratch. I was there awhile, and then I rode back to the start with the sweep.
I don't think I've ever sweat so much. I brought a skort to change into and I could not stop sweating when I was changing, cleaning up. Ate a chicken breast with mushrooms and some salad and had a well deserved beer.
It's really ugly out there. 35.5 miles and Ilearned a nice route that I can make into a 50 miler from my house.

I have never heard of a ride with human arrows before.

After finishing a ride on a hot day, I find that I need to wait a while for the sweat to stop pouring out like buckets before I change into clean clothes. Ideally I'll find a place with A/C to cool down, otherwise I try to find some shade where I can sit and drink the OJ that I keep in a cooler in my car. I also have blue ice packs in the cooler, which can help cool me down faster.

I want to go for a ride after work tonight or tomorrow, but I can't tell which day will be better, weather-wise. Tonight there is a chance of thunderstorms, but the forecast for tomorrow is not clear on whether it will rain in the morning/early afternoon or continue through the evening.

Well, this is a sub group of a club that is known for faster rides, where no one stays together. It's social. What's happened though, in the ten years I've been riding with them, is that we have faster riders, who average around 15, even on really hilly rides and those that like the regular pace of an average of 13-ish, though we certainly get our speed up to 17-18 at times. We often have 2 groups go out, at diffrent paces, sometimes 3. Today, I was with the fast group, but it was advertised a regular pace... which even for me, with arrowing and stopping was over 14. The intent of human arrows were so they didn't need to give out cue sheets. Now, about half or more of the people, at least the ones I tend to stick with, have GPSs. Some of these people are incredible, 60-80 years old and ride tons, travel, do tours, run marathons, do the PMC. Others are younger, in their 40s or 50s, but can get Wednesday off. Quite a few also belong to AMC and sometimes come on the rides I lead (that's how I found this group). I know enough of them that it's friendly, but I am not in the inner circle, since even with Wednesdays off, I don't go every week. When I was teaching, I had a few years of going frequently, but since some of the summer rides repeat, and require driving long distances to the start, I don't feel the need to do those again. Most are around the area I live in, though.

Ugh Crankin, that sounds like tough weather. It's not the heat, it's the humidity! Not missing that in eastern WA one bit.

Today I surpassed my previous annual mileage record of 4279 set in 2004 before my cycling accident in April 2005. I honestly never thought I'd be able to ride that much again because of the pain I continued to have in my upper right buttock/lower back, but this year, since we've been traveling and following the good weather, I was able to start training in January and build up mileage slowly. Plus DH put a stem extension on my Trek that put me in a more upright position, which may have helped as well. Whatever the cause, with today's ride I have now had my biggest mileage year ever. :) And it's still only July!

Today's ride was 51 miles, and I actually averaged over 15, which is rare for me these days. Of course, it helped that I drafted off DH...when I do this route or a variation of it on my own, I would be somewhere in the 14s.

I ate a nice large bowl of ice cream when we got back to celebrate. Yum!

You know, Emily, I often wonder if I would ride as much as you do, if I was in your situation. Something tells me no. When I quit teaching, I had all intentions of riding tons and actually, the opposite happened; I felt paralyzed, anxious, and ended up not riding for a whole fall, which is my favorite season! I know I ride plenty, and this year, I am making more of an effort, but sometimes I wonder about both my physical and mental toughness. Yesterday, there were several people who did a very tough century on Sunday (goes up Mt. Wachusett) on the ride I did, which was stressful because of the heat. They were also talking about what rides they were doing Thursday/Friday. I know everyone is different, but there are plenty of moments when both DH and I say we want a day to be "regular people." Of course, we might go for a hike or walk, but we are not riding. My limit seems to be 4 times a week, maybe 5, as long as I am going to the gym for boot camp. You and I seem to be somewhat the same type of rider, so I guess that is why I am comparing to you. I am finding more and more it's a mental thing, but I definitely need more rest than a lot of the other riders I know.

My limit is twice a week. Anything more than that is not fun for me.

In part this is because I do weight training twice a week, and too much cycling makes me feel tired, like I never recover from a ride or a workout. But it could also be because I have to work five days a week and I find that I need time to relax and do nothing as part of the stress management for that. If I were working less, I might enjoy riding more days per week.

BTW I ended up not riding last night. It looked like thunderstorms would hit the area during the ride. As it turned out, the rains storms fizzled out, but there was lightning in the area during the time that I would have been riding so cancelling was a good call. The weather forecast indicates that the overnight/morning rain showers should be gone by this evening, so I'm going out tonight instead.

Crankin ~~ I agree that we are similar types of riders. In the past, i.e., when I was working, I rode 4x a week max -- often both days of the weekend (one shorter, utility ride; one longer recreational ride) and 2x a week after work. We had a gym at work, and I worked out with weights and/or jogged the other days of the week, so I was doing something every day of the week, but I had more of a balance.

Now that I'm retired and no longer have a gym at my easy disposal, the main reason I am riding so much (6x weekly) is because of DH -- he has almost 8K miles on the year this year and is absolutely obsessed with this being his biggest cycling year ever. Since we're traveling and only really have each other, I feel compelled to join him on rides, even when sometimes I'd rather not. Often I ride less miles than him (turn around sooner and ride back by myself), but we almost always start out together. Since he decided to make this a huge cycling year, I finally decided to follow suit since he really doesn't want to hike or do other things at the moment, just ride. And the weather is so gorgeous here, it's very conducive to daily cycling, unlike in other places we've lived in the past.

I've found that the more I ride, the more it's hard to skip a day. I take one day completely off per week, and on Saturdays we just ride to the farmer's market, so it's a short utility ride.

You are working and doing other types of workouts as well, so it's perfectly understandable that you wouldn't have the desire or time to ride as much as I am now. And really, this may be the only year I do this. But I've come so far now that I want to challenge myself to see just what I can do.

All that said, I haven't done a single century or other organized event this year and have no desire to. I don't like to pay to ride, drive to the start of a ride, nor start as early as organized events start. I just get up, drink coffee, eat a healthy breakfast, then ride as far as I feel like.

And the miles add up. :)

I think one of the reasons I don't want to move to a climate where I could ride all year round, is that I am afraid I'd burn out. This definitely happened to me when I was teaching aerobics; even after I stopped teaching classes, I lasted about 4-5 more years, and then I started riding. I just couldn't stand going to the gym, even though I needed to lose weight! I understand why you are riding so much, it sounds like your DH won't continue this rate of riding, after the year passes.
I am only working about 25 hours a week, less during the summer, since I have a lot of clients away, teens with jobs, etc. I'm kind of like you, in that I am loathe to drive far for a ride start, thus the reason why I haven't gone to a lot of the Wed. rides in my group. But, I need to do one longer (30+) mile ride during the week, to do any kind of decent yearly mileage. It's pretty rare I'd do a ride this long by myself, too. I don't generally do organized (charity) rides, either. Too many people, especially ones acting like racers. I did 2 local metrics last year, and that was fine, because I didn't need to raise money, just pay a sign up fee, and I could start early ahead of the crowds. The one that was super hard is for a very good cause that gives bikes to kids in the city, but they upped the fundraising and DH refused to do it. And the other one is this Saturday, and i am leading a ride somewhere else. I also wanted to do the Soldier Ride again (I did it about 3-4 years ago) alone, as it starts in Concord and it's the one charity I believe in; the Wounded Warrior Project. Again, it's on a day when i am leading a ride.
I barely got over 2,000 miles last year, somewhat because of weather (heat), a vacation that included no cycling, and laziness. That was my lowest mileage in 11 years.

Been riding an average of 150 miles per week. Trying to improve my skills and speed, trying to vary my rides as much as I can in between hilly rides training,Short hard rides, some relaxed rides and lately practicing intense drafting on flat terrain with few rolling hills. Had my first very fast group ride last week and what a difference it makes to ride as a group with each one taking turns pulling the pack. We did 30 miles with a 19.5mph average at the end of the ride. I was a bit tired but not exhausted. I could have gone for another 10-15 miles at the same pace. I couldnt believe that at times we were going at 22-23mph on the paceline. I felt accomplished and vey proud that all the hard work at the end pays off. I Thought it was going to take me much longer to see that average number on my gps screen, but it came sooner than expected and I am so glad. : ) just wanted to share with the forum.

My ride last night was very nice. I'm still trying to get back the fitness I lost over vacation, so I pushed the pace a bit and my legs were tired as a result. But that was the objective. Total ride was 19 miles with lots of short, steep hills.

My next ride will be a fundraiser for a volunteer fire department on Sunday. It's a long drive to get there, but it will give me a chance to explore some new roads, and I think I can modify their route to use a more convenient starting point for a future club ride. However I think it will rain on Sunday, which will make it somewhat less fun. I just hope there are no severe storms.