April Showers bring... riding

Beautiful pics but I think I'm done with the snow for now. :)

We had mega rain downpours over the past week, cold, snow, name it..and on Monday it was full sun and 22c. I wrote to my boss on Sunday morning to tell him I'd finish for lunch so I can go ride our bikes while it was decent weather. It did not last long as Monday night was storm night and we're into the rain even as of now. And it is 4-5c... what a change!

So we took our Crux and did a 42k ride...in the winds...light at first but strong enough to kick my bike on the side. Hate that. grrr

Anyway, it was truly an enjoyable ride, although too hot for me (I'm not a summer person) but it was fun to be out in shorts and short-sleeve jersey. That was cool after a winter of being bundled up. :)

I am so happy as I had no problem pushing in the wind, false flat up for 17km... All that winter training paid up.

I don't know when our next outing will be because weather is not so fun yet but it will come. In the meantime, still on bike trainer and still doing my muscle training in the basement.

Signed up for a 100km ride on May 28 and another 117km on June 10. So I have to be ready. May 28 is mostly flat but the 117km has more hills...and big ones. so got to work on those thighs. :)

I am in awe of those of you (like NWG) who get out in the cold weather. That's why I live in Arizona. But still, I complain when it's hot and the hot weather is around the corner. It was around 90 (F) on my ride home yesterday.

Helene, I may have asked before, but where are you located? I'm not really happy about that kind of wind either.

Still mainly doing commutes- I finished #50 for 2017 yesterday.

I am in Montreal (QC) area. :) It's in my profile location. :)

I ditched the group ride today, as there was a chance of rain (it hasn't rained yet) near the end of the ride and it was being led by a woman I cannot stand.
So, I rode to Ferns' Country Store in Carlisle, which is about 21 miles round trip, sat on the porch and had coffee, and then was glad I went the way where the second half of the ride is pretty flat. I saw several cyclists on my ride, it was a pleasant 68 degrees, and no blazing sun. I also was dressed correctly, with short sleeved jersey and shorts, and a sleeveless base layer.
I am trying to increase my ability to maintain a faster speed on flats. I am happy with my climbing (for me) and my descending, well, has actually gotten a teeny bit faster in the past 2 years, but it's never going to be fast. But, I can improve my endurance on the flats. It seems my ability to ride at 15-20 on a flat is pretty good, but I often give up and rest, instead of maintaining that speed. Part of it, is that there's not a lot of places I can practice this around here. It's either rolling, hilly, or false flats, which I also dislike. I did pretty well today for being alone. Most of this loop was a go to ride when I lived in my house, and I know every bump in the road, as well as how fast I usually go in each spot. I was very sick of this loop after 11 years of doing it a lot, but now it is more miles and I am not sick of it anymore!

The cold thing is mostly a matter of acclimation with a little psychology to get me motivated. Would have a hard time to going into this kind of cold, directly from hot weather, but after months of riding in the cold, the cold really ceases to be a factor.

As to how many bikes, I have two drop bar road bikes, one strictly for pavement and one a gravel bike. The pavement road bike is a Domane WSD with 105, but I don't ride it much, because I can't resist the temptation to go off pavement and explore. Great bike, though. The gravel road bike, as in mostly hard surface gravel road, is the Salsa Warbird with 700x40 tires. Very versatile bike. Ride it a lot. Not a bike for any softer surface riding, though I often push the limit just for kicks.

The other five bikes are 4 fat bikes and one 29+MTB. These are all setup with various types of trail riding in mind, though I actually use them on pavement, quite a bit, since I sometimes have to ride pavement to get to some of the trails and sandy roads I like.

For me and my riding, if I had to pick just one type of bike that could be used all year long, up here, even for commuting or utility work, it would be a fat bike. A lot of folks in the area are now doing all their trail work on fat bikes. Just the nature of our trails.

Right now, my Surly Pugsley is set up for utility work with low rolling resistance tires and a Jones Loop bar handlebar for more comfort over long rides. Can ride it anywhere, anytime. Not super fast, of course, but fast enough and plenty comfy even for long distance rides. Would have no hesitation to load up the Pugs and go bike packing across the country. A lot of folks have done just such a thing on a Pugs or other fat bike. Setup right, they're actually not as slow and cumbersome as they look.
http://i63.tinypic.com/izs4yx.jpg

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Originally Posted by Helene2013

I am in Montreal (QC) area. :) It's in my profile location. :)

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Also, everyone's location is in the upper right hand of every post they make, if they've entered a home location. :)

Catching up... I rode on Sunday (3 days ago). The Garmin battery died mid-ride but I think it was about 30 miles. Totally flat. There was a longer club ride on the schedule that included this long flat section in the middle, around various communities on the western shore of the Chesapeake. I drove to a school that was about 10 miles into their ride and met the group there, then after the long flat part was done I peeled off and went back to my car while they all continued back to their starting point.

This was my first real bike ride since I hurt my ankle in January. Overall it went well. My sit bones hurt and my neck and shoulders were tight but my ankle was okay -- in fact it felt better than it has on most other days in the last week. Next I will try a short ride with hills to see if the added stress of pedaling uphill causes any problems.

(Off the bike, the ankle is sometimes okay but sometimes not. Overall it's worse than it was before spending a month wearing an ankle boot. I will see the doctor next week and am afraid he will put me back in the boot even though I really think it made things worse. But that is a story for another thread.)

I am glad you got to ride, NY! Yep, sit bones, neck, etc. are all early-season issues that you'll overcome. Glad the ankle behaved on the bike at least! I have found that most of my various aging-related aches and pains are actually better on the bike than when walking. Sorry you are still having problems with that. I'm not sure I'm on board with that boot, especially if it made things worse for you. :(

37.5 miles today, and was I ever a happy cyclist, as my DH (very very very D!) replaced my snapped shifter cable yesterday (not an easy job, as the end got stuck in the shifter and did not want to come out), and my bike (Trek) shifted better than it has in months! Felt like a new bike! It almost is, considering I've got a new chain, cogset, middle ring in front, and saddle since the year started. I felt strong and good today, despite the wind. Fun fun!

I was thinking, riding along today, how lucky I was that my shifter didn't snap on Tuesday's ride in Lake County. There are quite a few more hills there than our usual ride east, and if it had, I would have been in my 12-tooth cog in back and probably had to walk the hills. Lucky me! :D

Yup, I had mine snap on a commute home, as I was climbing the hill to my house, about 9 years ago. I was already in my granny, so I could make it part of the way, but I did walk a little bit on the street and definitely up my driveway. I shudder to think what would have happened if it had occurred earlier in the ride, which was 14 miles. It would have been a long walk home.

Did another Friday commute today. It was 41 when I left at 9 and just about 60 when I got home, just before 12. Beautiful, cool, but with the feel of spring. I am exploring which clothes I can wear on the bike, that aren't bike clothes and still look sort of like I am at work. Since I usually dress more casually for this Friday group, it's a perfect time to experiment.
Many years ago, I bought a pair of Zoic "jeans." They are black lycra and look like leggings, but have jeans styling in the back and front pockets. I have worn them just a few times. So, today, I wore my Giro boy short liner, which is the thinest liner I have under the pants, and just a regular camisole with a built in bra and a cotton sweater. All I had to do was take the liner off and change out of my cycling shoes when I got there. I did wear my heavier commuting jacket, which was probably unnecessary, but I dealt with it by unzipping it on the way home.
It is going to be cycling weekend, with awesome weather, and Monday off, as it is a holiday here (Patriots' Day). I didn't want to be tired from a longer ride today, so it was perfect and I am still wearing the same thing for my afternoon errands, sans the cycling liner.

Did the same route today as yesterday, had the same (even a bit more) wind, and am still very happy with my shifting! It's so nice not to have noise and chatter and mis-shifts and auto-shifts, like I'd been having increasingly over the past couple of months. Yay!

Unfortunately the new pair of Sugoi Evolution shorts I got recently are not as satisfactory as my three older pairs. These are the same size but fit a little looser, which I thought was nice when I first slipped them on, but has proven not to be. These are a bit more puckered around where they sewed the chamois in, and on the left side (only), they rub the top of my inner thigh like crazy as I pedal. I end up with red, tender, raw skin there. I may have to trash them. :( Sigh...good thing I got them for a great price on ebay, but I sure do miss Team E for bike clothing!

Had a day off today :) I rode about 26 miles - opted to "stay low" and skip Mt. Lemmon because I started late. Thinking about riding up the mountain a ways tomorrow though.

Rain, rain, rain but at least it isn't snow, snow, snow. :) Tomorrow, though, may be sunny, so a long overdue, longish road ride may be in my future. Still very much a trail rider, but that kind of riding is so intense, at times. Need to balance it out with some more zen-like road work. Also, have to admit, that I miss that smooth rolling, hypnotic speed of pavement riding.

Today we decided to pre-ride the first ride we are leading this season, on May 6. It's not a new ride, but very local, so an excuse to get out and not ride 50 miles. We rode to the start (5 miles) and headed on our way. The ride is only 21 miles, with most of the climbing in the first 10 miles. DH has also had back/neck issues, for the first time in his life, so we started out going very slowly. We had already decided not do the last part, which is mostly through neighborhoods, so we could head home at an opportune place. After a nasty headwind, right before we turned off of the route, onto our favorite road, we did pick up speed,but when we were about a mile from home, I had to stop and readjust my shorts. I felt like I was chafing on my left leg crease, not sure why. DH thought maybe I am doing something due to my back issues, but I know I always kind of lean left a bit. I will use more chamois butt'r next time!
Rode exactly 26 miles and both of us said we better be in better shape (and moods) in 3 weeks, to lead! DH ramped up way too quickly and has paid for it.
It was 71 out when we got home. Will be doing a long and hilly ride tomorrow, and it is going to be hot (84), so I want to leave early. DH loves riding in the heat, in fact, he had arm warmers and a vest on today, while I ss jersey and shorts, with a sleeveless base layer, that was making me sweaty. I took my arm warmers off after 6 miles.
Hoping to do 30-40 tomorrow.

Crankin, it is hard for me to imagine it being 84 degrees in Mass. while we're to be 85 in Orlando. That is just crayyyy-zeee! :eek:

Nice day off the bike today. Long walk to the farmer's market plus a few other shops today for about 6 miles total of walking. Good change of pace! Tomorrow is my yoga/weights day, then back to the bike on Monday. It has been so windy/gusty here of late, I am really hoping it calms down!

Today was a sunny and cool day to start riding but it got warmer fast enough. We ended up doing 56km ride but the winds were pretty strong. Sometimes, I felt the bike go sideways so hubby tried blocking off the wind by placing his bike in a certain position. It worked but not that well since the winds were front/side and changing directions now and then. But I'm very happy for all that winter training as I was fairly good and strong. Yeah. Still had enough but it is nice to get out.

Wind is the word of the day. OY! We didn't leave until 10:30, already 77 degrees out. Leaves just budding on the trees, so no shade! After a mile, decided to ditch the ride in the hill towns west of here. Ended up doing 27.5 miles in Concord, Carlisle, and Lincoln, and it truly felt like a metric. We had a stiff cross breeze almost the whole way. Got blown into the road a couple of times.
We used to do rides on Easter, when there was no one on the road and it was quiet. Seems like there were more cars than a regular Sunday and tons of cyclists today. I was pretty good with no complaining; had a Shot Block and 2 bottles of Nuun, which helped, until we were about 2 miles from home, after I had to sprint to get through a yellow light. It was 85 when we got back. Did I mention I hate riding in hot weather? Especially with no acclimatization and no shade. But, my average was actually quite good for this ride. I guess we got wind instead of hills.

This wind thing must be catchy. We had our sun and nice 60 degree weather, as per the forecast, but it arrived with 30 mph, gusty winds. Did a little neighborhood riding with hubby and the dogs, but mostly worked on one last remaining section of trail and then finished up with some trail riding. I must be nuts building all these trails at my age. It is brutal, back-breaking heavy labor. The payoff is great, though. This last section includes a little bridge I built from scrap lumber and some nice big rocks to climb over. Also a nice log, or two. Yippee!

Finally, finally, we got a light wind day today! First one in a long time here in Florida. Actually, a little lake breeze kicked in from the north at the end of the ride, but most of the ride, all the wind was that we created. That helped with average speed, and I was about .5 mph faster than on this exact route than most times lately. Felt good today.

This was our second-to-last ride here. We'll ride again tomorrow, then Wednesday we start our trek north. I'm ready to hit the road. We've had a fun winter in Florida but are definitely ready to move on. Looking forward to seeing my mother and step-dad!

Hope your travels are good, Emily.
Another group ride missed today. I guess my 3 days of riding and hiking in the pollen finally got to me. I did not feel so great last night, but went to bed, wishing for the best. Woke up with a scratchy throat, which is gone, but a low level sinus headache and achy-like feeling. Trying to be an adult, so I am not going. Been aggressively treating the allergies for a couple of weeks, so hopefully, this will subside. I am going on a walk with a friend, who walks at a slower pace and hoping this is not too much. Even though I have an easy week at work, as it's spring break here, the weather will not be cooperative. Saturday we have our club bike workshop, so unless I ride there and back, I have no idea when I can ride again, as Sunday looks kind of iffy.

I feel your pain, Crankin. Allergies have been an unwelcome lifelong companion for me, but the biggest improvement for me was getting out of farm country with all those weeds. Still have to deal with allergies in our north woods, but not as severe.

Right now, though, the weather is less than ideal. The forecast can't make up its mind whether we will have snow or rain, tomorrow, or both, but that's how cold its been. Hasn't kept me from riding my trails, of course, but I would love to see some spring weather. It is spring, right? :)

Hi everyone-

Catching up on everyone's rides. Crankin sorry you're under the weather.

I'm into my fourth week of commuting every day! So that's at least 19 miles a day, plus yesterday I added an extra 1.5 to stop by a park and look for birds. Saturday I rode up Mt. Lemmon to Molino Basin (that's at about 4400 feet, starting from an elevation of about 2400 feet). Saturday afternoon, my DH and I drove out to Willcox, 80 miles east of Tucson, and then rode 1.5 miles to Lake Cochise, a good place for migrating shorebirds and ducks. I wish I had a picture of us riding with a spotting scope balanced on the handlebars! Anyway, we saw a big diversity of birds.

Spent our anniversary celebration night (32 years) in Sierra Vista, and in the morning we rode to Ramsey Canyon (22 miles roundtrip, a very special Nature Conservancy property in the Huachuca Mountains. We then hiked 3 miles up over a ridge and into a gorgeous canyon that I'd never been to before- and were rewarded with a sight of a Tufted Flycatcher, a bird from Mexico that has been seen in this canyon for a few years but I just never had a chance to look for it.

Emily, I may have missed it, but where are you heading next?

Helene- it didn't even register with me that everyone's location is on their posts!

I am much better today and I commend myself for not going on that ride! We have more people signed up for our workshop Saturday, and it looks like Sunday will be fine for riding, as the rain will stay south of here.
AZ, I want to sigh after reading your comments. There are so many places in AZ I never saw. Of course, when I moved back here,my DH was amazed at how many places in MA I had not been to. I finally finished that list, about 5 years ago, but I still have plenty in the rest of the New England states.

Been riding my trails on a daily basis and enjoying spring blooming all around me. Then, wake up, this morning, April 27th and, yup, it's snowing. Maybe up to 3", today. So what's a girl to do? Ha! I knew better than to put the fat bike with studded tires away for the summer. Look out snow, here I come. :)

Happy anniversary, AZ.

I finally got out and rode again last night. I did a short, least-hills-possible version of my post-work hill route two weeks ago to test my ankle, and it was okay but I felt like I had to stay in a really easy gear. Then I went away for Easter weekend and we had a long rainy stretch, so no rides at all for two weeks. This was probably a good thing since it gave me a chance to strengthen the leg and ankle muscles after wearing the boot last month -- it's still been less than 4 weeks since I stopped wearing it. So last night I did a slightly longer version of the hill route with a little more climbing but no really steep hills. All went well and I was actually able to forget about the ankle, unlike my rides earlier this month. Of course everything else hurt from lack of saddle time -- my quads are like noodles, my sit bones are still not in riding shape and for some reason I was hunching my shoulders for the first half of the ride. And when I looked at my Garmin I found that I'd been riding slower than usual. But there was no pain and afterwards I felt at peace for the first time since I can't remember when.

Oh and I almost forgot -- I start the ride at a community center. While I was in the parking lot getting ready, a class or activity for children must have ended because people started coming out to their cars. I heard a child talking to me and looked up. It was a little girl with Down Syndrome, dressed in a dance outfit. She was with a man, I assume her father, and their car was parked next to mine. Her speech actually wasn't very clear so I had trouble understanding her, but she was obviously very excited about something that that she wanted to tell me about. I was able to understand just enough words to make it seem like I understood -- something happening in July, getting braces and having her hair done. She was really sweet.

Rode today for the first time in almost 2 weeks. Between some horrible viral thing, my back, and rain, it has not been good. But, I rode to work, my big 2.8 miles there, and 2.5 back. On Fridays, I am only there for a short time, so I wear regular clothing when I ride. At 9 am it was 60 and it had rained about an hour earlier. Cool, humid, but smelling beautiful. I was happy. Glad I changed my original plan of cycling in a dress with commuter knickers under, as the roads were still wet. I wore my commuter pants, which look like regular pants and a regular semi-lycra t shirt that is nicer than just a t shirt. I did wear my rain jacket, kind of unzipped, and it was perfect, as the tail of the jacket did get wet and spattered and it was cool enough to wear a jacket. The way home, oy, it was 78 degrees, bright sun, and humid. I was soaked with sweat when I got home, from just the 2.5 miles. But, it was nice.
Going out to western MA tomorrow for 2 days of riding with our friends.

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Originally Posted by Crankin

Going out to western MA tomorrow for 2 days of riding with our friends.

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Sounds like fun, Crankin, enjoy! Glad your commute went well.

Today we did a pre-ride of a ride our friends are leading in the Amherst area. It was the absolutely flattest 21 miles I've ever ridden. We started on the bike path in Hadley, for about 5 miles and then rode into Sunderland, a little bit in North Amherst, and back to Hadley. Uneventful, humid, but thankfully, cloudy and 80 degrees. Lots of farms and small town stuff until near the end of the ride, where we rode through some suburbia and behind the U Mass campus.
Tomorrow we are doing a hilly ride up to a lookout on the Quabbin Reservoir. It will be cooler, a front is moving through now.

What a nice week (weatherwise) we had. Weather was very warm for time of year. But lots of rain too. So I enjoyed a few rides outside trying to get ready for my 2 upcoming 100km+ challenges.

Friday afternoon I took time off and we rode 42km.... on strong winds. ouch. But I'm impressed by how well I did. The hard work of winter training paid off and it shows. :) It was not a long ride, but with the winds gusting at nearing 40km/h W, it was a good job of pushing against it. :) Today is so cold I think if it was raining, it would snow.

I had a great ride yesterday. It was a charity ride that is the first big event of the year for me and many bike club friends. Many planned to ride together. I opted to play it by ear rather than decide in advance on the route distance I wanted. I ended up getting started 10 minutes after the last group of friends left, but figured I might catch up with someone I knew at some point. Sure enough, I caught three friends who were doing 35 miles at roughly my pace, maybe a bit slower, but I was not trying to break any speed records. I rode with them to the end, had a great ride, and as a bonus got a great tip on a local foot and ankle doctor to see for a second opinion. At the post-ride picnic I saw other friends, though not as many as expected. It was 90 and humid so I guess many opted to ride a shorter route and thus finished ahead of me. With no plans for the day I hung out at the picnic to see a few folks who did the longest route at a relatively slow pace. They finished just in time to get food before the picnic closed down. On the way home I stopped at a small independent grocery store that we often use as a reststop and bought some strawberries from a nearby farm. Also bought a smalll picture of a sailboat made by a company on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. Supporting local businesses FTW.

Overall my ankle felt okay as long as I don't use too high a gear. There is a twinge of pain if I push too hard.

The only problem was saddle-related. I am experimenting with saddle position a bit to try to alleviate some chafing. But, yesterday before the ride I noticed a small lump below the skin in front of one sit bone. It felt like a bruise, with pain when I touched it. But no discoloration of the skin. After the ride I think it was a little bigger. I wasn't really uncomfortable for most of the ride, it basically felt like a normal early season thing where your butt is still adjusting. I'm declaring the saddle position experiment a failure and putting it back where it was before. I've iced the lump a few times but that didn't help. Not sure what to do next. It's on the right side, on the thin bone that's in front of the sit bone and to the left (closer to the crease).

I'm glad to hear that so many are out and riding and enjoying some warm weather. Emily, hang in, there. I'm praying that you will be there, soon.

As for me, we still have some snow showers in the forecast for the upcoming week, but, yup, still ride, no matter what. Some years it seems we just skip spring, altogether, and go from winter and right into summer. This could be one of those years. Been very wet, too. Looks like we'll be more than double our normal April precipitation. My trail conditions are holding up pretty well, though, with the exception of some boggy spots. Ever grateful for the fat bikes, though. They keep me riding, no matter what, and they don't chew up the trail the way skinny bikes do.

I had a great ride today, with an ending that could have been awful, but ended up OK.
We rode from Belchertown, MA (thankfully, we drove to a parking lot and did not start from our friends' house, this was important later) through a couple of other towns, to one of the entrances to the Quabbin Reservoir. Although there is an entrance quite near our friends' home, we took the long route. Sometimes I cannot believe this is the same state I live in. Beautiful rural, roads, a couple of steep climbs, farms, ramshackle trailers and log homes, then RT. 9 and the entrance to the reservoir. Our goal was to climb to the tower, about 1.8 miles, almost 3/4 of it a 5-6% grade climb. I usually don't do these types of climbs, more like steep and short. So, the day started out, about 52 and sunny. I was dressed appropriately, knickers, a sleeveless base layer, vest and arm warmers. Wool socks. However, I was the only who seemed to be a bit concerned there was rain predicted anytime after 1. We got to the climb around 12? I did the climb at about 6 mph, no stress. Turned the corner to the parking area, and up again to the tower. As we sat on a bench overlooking the view, DH's phone went off. Oh, oh weather alert.. rain to begin in 20 minutes. We descended, with no rain, and as soon as we turned onto Rt. 9, it began. We had 4 miles left... first mile, not so bad. The rest, cold rain, picking up, but not torrential. There was a decent shoulder and some downhills, but at least 2 ups. I fell behind DH a little, and I was working hard. Glad I had my base layer and wool socks on. I thought we had longer, and then our friend came up behind me and said, turn here, and voila, we were back at the car. If we had started from their house, it would have been 5 miles of serious climbs in cold, heavy rain.
No hypothermia, I didn't even feel that wet for some reason.
Came back, showered and left to go home around 2:45. A really nice and relaxing weekend.
Here's a pic from the top of the climb:

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Originally Posted by north woods gal

Emily, hang in, there. I'm praying that you will be there, soon.

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Thanks so much, NWG! Very kind of you. It's going to be awhile. I think my thumb fracture is going to keep me off the bike longer than my jaw, even though the injury to my jaw is more significant. But I have to wait until I can shift. It's on the left hand, so not as bad as if it were on the right. If I do a ride in the middle chainring only, I should be fine. But we'd have to get a flatter area for that, first! We're back in NC, and even if I were in shape to ride, I'd need to be able to use all my chainrings with the hills here. I guess since I got to ride all winter, I really can't complain, other than the fact that I hate being injured! Bleh.

Glad others are able to get out, though! Leave it to me to mess myself up right before the best of the riding season. I fractured my pelvis 12 years ago almost to the day in April and messed up that riding season as well!

Emily, keep focused on your recovery. You will be able to walk and do some light hiking before you can ride. Make sure you are eating to promote healing and get lots of sleep!
I predict you will be riding before the end of the summer. Your thumb will heal; you might be able to figure out a way to splint it, in a couple of weeks.

Thanks Crankin! Already doing short walks, though it kind of bothers my jaw, so I keep them short and not too fast. Originally they did splint my thumb, but it was so uncomfortable and awkward (I couldn't do anything, it seemed like, even type), I took it off. The ER doc actually said I could. I am keeping it protected, but like when my DH broke his collarbone, I think the small amount of movement it's getting is probably helpful to keep it from freezing up. That's one of the things I'll be talking to my doctor about on Wed. I hope I don't have to go back to a splint!

I'm eating well -- soft but healthy foods as much as possible, and sleeping as well as usual (i.e., not great but adequate). Taking it easy, reading, etc. Letting my body heal. It kills me not to be able to be more active, but I know this is not the time for that.

I had two medium rides on the weekend- Saturday I went out on Tucson's east side to preview some places we're going next weekend- doing the Tucson Audubon Birdathon to raise money for conservation & habitat- but by bike. I ran into someone I knew at one of the spots- he owns a birding tour company. Then I ran into two women with 7 miniature horses - (2 pulling little carts and the others just tethered to run along behind. They were looking for treats and I shared a carrot cake Clif bar with all the horses (with permission from the owners). By the time I headed home the wind had come up once again!

These aren't great pictures but the horses were pretty cute.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2855/3...d707c636_z.jpgUntitled by Sharon Goldwasser, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2875/3...2bc3e44a_z.jpgUntitled by Sharon Goldwasser, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2871/3...c0982641_z.jpgUntitled by Sharon Goldwasser, on Flickr

Sunday I did a short ride by myself, came home and met up with a friend for another 20 miles. We hadn't see each other for a month- she recently went back to work (by choice) after quite a while of not working (by choice). We stopped for coffee mid-way. My road bike is in the shop so we didn't go very fast- I was on the Surly. It was a nice day and not as windy as the earlier part of the week.

Those horses are cool, AZ. You see the most interesting things on your rides.
It's cool and dreary this morning. I went to my muscle conditioning class at 5:45 am and then took my time before work. I feel pretty good, keeping the back stuff at bay. The clothes I have at work were not warm enough for today, so no commute. I think I will do my first "dark ride" of the season early tomorrow, although it won't be dark for very long after I start.

Still no riding for me, but I did have an amazing swim yesterday. Just one of those days where you get into the groove and it's completely effortless, just gliding through the water and feeling the muscles slip smoothly beneath the skin.