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I know every inch of this route so we won't get lost unless I'm so far behind you guys lose me. Its a nice ride. We can cut the Saddle hill part out and we might want to do the ride backwards from the book because we do NOT want to go UP Keith Hill Road. Should we have lunch somewhere in the middle?
And here I was thinking Keith Hill would be our "Alpe de Huez"...
I'll bring the sheets and the map (everybody bring a pen) and Surly can give us the Audio-Visual review and course corrections ;)
Lunch is always good!
This is gonna be fun!
spazz
Now all we need to do is send our wishes to the weather wizard for a dry day! (Can you tell this weekend is getting to me?)Quote:
Originally Posted by spazzdog
--- Denise
is anybody else putting on a rain slicker as part of daily fashion?
i hate the rain...
i know we need it.
but i hate the rain.
spazz :( dog
Lunch sounds good. I will do either hills or no hills... I am terrible with cue sheets, because only half of the page fits inside my holder and then I have to stop to take it out, fold it over and replace ( I get lazy and i don't want to stop). I usually end up just following someone, so whoever ends up being around my speed, i will be sticking close! Plus, sometimes my old lady eyes cannot read the cue sheets... can't wear the reading glasses while riding. Spazz, make sure the font is for us over 50 crowd.
Yea, the rain sucks. Yesterday my husband and I put on our full rain gear and walked 4.2 miles uphill. Now my butt is aching! I was supposed to ride this afternoon, but it doesn't look good. It's too late for spin class and my stomach is full of matza. I might have to take the day off.
Are you kidding! I used a 12 pt font... BOLD.
And it's on 1 sheet, 2 columns for an easy flip.
I'm visually impaired in the reading department also.
spazz :cool:
Thanks. Glad to know i am not the only visually impaired rider (contacts and reading glasses). I just got back from a 14 mile ride. About half a mile from my house is a smaller 2 part hill. I was near the beginning when I heard "on your left" and a pack of guys went by, fast. Thinking they would stand and sprint, I settled into my usual routine of spinning up the hill. Then I realized that one had fallen off the back of the pack and I was about to catch him, so I just stayed in his draft and rode behind him to the top. He took off after that, but I was proud of myself.
well done Robyn!! Just kinds puts a glow on the rest of your day don't it!!
All you MA ladies - I'll do all I can with my weekly church deposits to try and get ya'll some of my NM weather. Same for the CA ladies - I can't ride with ya'll but I keep the dates and the group in mind and think about your ride and wait to hear how it went. As someone said in another thread - living vicariously thru your rides! Sounds like ya'll are gonna have fun!
(starting my good weather thoughts now!)
So come on out and join us Corsairmac. We'd love to have you. Everything is in bloom and its beautiful.
I believe your ride is May 14th?......that would be my next foray into MTB'ng - this time in the mountains!....so it'll kinda sorta be like me riding with ya yes??
Oops....my next MTB experience is 05/07 so I'll have to plan something 05/14 - we'll call it a virtual ride!
I'm doing a 1/2 century organized ride this weekend here in Abq so I'm kinda sorta riding with the Amici Veloci gals! (yup....I'll be sporting that tattoo)
No more happy juice, caffeine, whatever.
The child is bouncing off the walls...
You been sniffin' those tires again Corsair???
ain't that sad??...I'm like this ALL the time - my balloon crew has given me the nickname MethGirl coz I Never slow down! *has memories of my mom always yelling at me to stop running!* You should See me on caffeine!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by spazzdog
I did a dumb thing last night. As I was getting back into bed after getting up to pee at 3:30 AM, I cracked my left toe into the bed and, man was it painful. My husband is away and I could swear really loud, but it really ruined my day. It's not swollen and I can walk OK in flat shoes, once in awhile I get a real pain there. It is bruised on the inside of my big toe. Of course, when i got home, I went for a short ride to "test" it out. It was fine, didn't hurt any more than it does not on the bike. Tonight I had to give a presentation to the school board and all of my colleagues were yelling at me for going out on my bike after work. Am I crazy? I don't think it's broken, plus if it was, there's nothing to be done. Advil and ice have helped. Hey, who cares about walking, as long as I can ride. But my new pink shoes were a little uncomfortable.
Oooowwwwww. I've broken my toe before and you are right, there is nothing you can do about it anyway so you did the right thing in my opinion. I remember it hurts though. Sorry for your pain.
I rode the Nashua River rail trail yesterday. It was gorgeous. Not many people on the trail which is what I like. I was impressed by the number of Seniors out riding their bikes. There were two guys I joked with that probably were in their eighties. I always find them such an inspiration!
Yowza! That hurts so much (I'm very prone to this sort of boo-boo).
Ice, Advil and uh, a nightlight ;)
Thanks for the sympathy. It's about the same today; I wore my flattest shoes I have for work today. I was concerned because on May 7th my husband and i are co-leading an AMC Worcester chapter ride. It leaves from Blackstone Heritage State Park in Uxbridge; not sure what time, as there is a bike workshop that starts at 10 and the ride is after that. It's 25 miles. if anyone is interested, i can find out the time of the ride from the leader. I think the pace is around 12-14. We have a couple of more "coleads" scheduled, one on 5/29 and another on 6/18, which leaves from Boxborough (it's a hill ride in Harvard, with an ice cream stop at Heberts in Bolton). Anyway, I think the toe will be OK with a minimum of annoyance.
Denise, I think I'll be fine for Sat., I'm riding with a friend tomorrow.
Just let me know if your toe decides you can't make it! For now, I'll assume that we're still on. I keep checking the weather forecast and hoping...Quote:
Originally Posted by Robyn Maislin
--- Denise
I think my toe will be OK, but tomorrow will be a bigger test, since I will probably ride about 25 miles. I keep praying about the weather, too. It looks like the rain is going to be Sat. late PM or night. I will call you Sat. AM if it looks iffy.
The weather looks good for Saturday. Are we all ready?
See you soon.
I'm in!
spazz
Me too!Quote:
Originally Posted by Robyn Maislin
--- Denise
Okay, I'm getting really nervous. I seriously doubt I'll be able to keep up with you guys and I don't want all of you to have to wait for me. I'm trying not to wimp out.
Hey, remember me? I'm not a speed demon either, and I live in the flat part of the state... and our ride will be in your hilly neighborhood!Quote:
Originally Posted by Surlygirl
I rode with Robyn 2 Saturdays ago. We had a good ride, and it did my confidence good to ride with someone for a change.
Don't wimp out! I think we should all look at this as a fun ride and a good opportunity to meet in person doing something we obviously all love. See you Saturday, right?
--- Denise
Yeah! This ain't no "speed camp"... please come. THis is to ride, smell flowers, chat, have a snack, moan a little and giggle a lot... and have another snack maybe :D
p.s. should the weather go to hell in a handbasket for Sat (despite what our esteemed :eek: weather people are promising), You''ll have to do the rain date of the 21st without me. I have a work commitment that day.
spazz
Did we find a good place for lunch yet? Besides cycling, food is sort of at the top of my list...
Jody, please don't be nervous. I will stay w/ you, behind you, etc. if you want. It's just a ride. I never rode in a group until last year at this time; and look, now I'm a so-called leader. It is good to ride with different people, so you don't always do the same thing, route, speed, etc.
Robyn
PS I'm getting ready to go out and do the hills of Harvard with my husband. I have my TE jersey on, to get it warmed up for Sat. (well, maybe. it will probably too cold to wear it!)
Thanks guys for the support. I'll be there.
As far as good places to eat, well, hmmmm. We could stop at the Grafton Inn. It has an outdoor courtyard and it's off the common which is pretty. It's also after most of our climbing for the day. I haven't eaten there for awhile, but it was okay last time I did. Bring your snacks and water though, there aren't a lot of places to get stuff on the first part of the trip. If I think of something better I'll let you know.
Now that this is all planned...
How do I get to Hopkinton and the meeting place from Medford?
Directions for dummies please! :confused:
spazz
Funny - I saw your note and I remembered directions were posted, but then I couldn't find them. Had to search through Jody's postings to find them again. Here's the link to her directions (from 495, but that should work for you, right?): directions to Hopkinton green.Quote:
Originally Posted by spazzdog
--- Denise
Hey Spazz, you can hop on the Mass Pike west and take the 495 exit south which is probably the fastest. Route 9 west to route 85 which takes you into Hop town also works but will be much slower.
Yeah, I thought I remembered directions too, but my quick scroll through the thread was unsuccessful.
Thank you for having better eye-brain coordination than I.
I'm so close to Boston I'll probably take I-90 out to 495 rather than going way north to pick it up.
spazz
We absolutely need to continue chanting to the weather wizard - and hopefully one of us will find the right words. The current National Weather Service forecast calls for a 40% chance of rain on Saturday. And the text forecast says: "A chance of showers, mainly after 9am".
I want to ride, and I want to meet all of you. Weather wizard, please, please, please supply decent biking weather and smiles. While I'd prefer a sunny day, I'd be perfectly happy with a dry day - preferably with the temps close to or above 60 (even though I know that is hoping for way too much!).
--- Denise
i'm really starting to hate weatherpeeples. i may have to check into betty ford center for "postal employee syndrome" treatment.
spazz :mad:
I will be there if it is sprinking...hey if it gets bad, we can go out to lunch. Maybe it will be OK. Should we have a contingency plan, like cancel by 9 AM?
Do we need to exchange cell phone #'s, in case we are en route, lost, etc???
Sorry, the Jewish mother in me forces these questions.
Robyn
Yeah, I'm looking at the weather page and its saying rain by 9 am. Hey we could all meet for breakfast and decide then unless you guys don't want to make the trek. Even if we don't get to ride we get to meet each other and plan another ride. What do you guys think?
Meeting for breakfast would be good if it's raining by 9. Or, we could just hope and pray the next week is OK.
I'm still hoping for decent riding weather, although everytime I look at the weather forecast it looks worse. I'm having a hard time believing that we're about to have the 4th weekend in a row of rain. But I won't cancel until Saturday morning, and only if it's really dismal... Hopefully we'll all see each other on Saturday!
And Robyn - you're probably right, we should have a plan to cancel by a certain time.
Breakfast instead of riding? I'd like to ride, but maybe...
--- Denise
Let's set 8:30 as the time to cancel by. Is this OK w/ everyone? We can still hope for the 21st. It's the worst kind of forecast because it doesn't say heavy rain, just chance of showers all day long....
Who's the closest to Hopkinton... was it Surlygurl? We could PM our numbers to that person for "pedal or food" updates. I have to leave by a little before 10 (padding for getting lost).
Let me know who gets my numbers.
spazz - who just looked at the weather site and it ain't lookin' any better :mad:
I have to leave a lot before 10!
But Robyn's suggested cancel or go time of 8:30 works for me. I'll PM my phone numbers to all of you.
--- Denise
I'm probably the closest to Hoptown. I like the cancel by 8:30 plan. I just checked the weather and they say it will start around noon.