Our ride today was only 21.5 miles and was hot and humid. Beautiful, with a 5 mile hill in the middle. It was shady, though.
Went out to lunch and to the Norman Rockwell Museum. It was 95 in downtown Great Barrington today ...
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Our ride today was only 21.5 miles and was hot and humid. Beautiful, with a 5 mile hill in the middle. It was shady, though.
Went out to lunch and to the Norman Rockwell Museum. It was 95 in downtown Great Barrington today ...
Sounds like a nice ride Crankin, and the shade certainly helped a lot. I remember enjoying riding in very high temps for some odd reason, your post reminded me of that. How did you like the museum visit?Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
I remember the Norman Rockwell museum from a visit many years ago.
I did my weekly hill ride on Wednesday after work. It was hot but the least hot day in a string of 90+ days with hotter more humid days about to hit. And starting around 7 pm means I don't have to deal with the sun, so overall it wasn't bad. The ride was uneventful except I was trying to listen to a baseball game on my phone (the summer college league where my nephew is an intern) and they were having technical problems so I had to keep stopping to refresh the page.
Planning now for a ride on Sunday with very hot weather expected and not many shady trees along the route. Starting early, bringing extra water and will plan to be proactive and stop a few times when we do encounter some shade rather than waiting until the heat gets to me but there's no shade in sight.
Hottest day of the year, so far, at 90 degrees. This is typically a once or twice temp for us during the summer and some summers we don't make it to 90, at all. Still, with the humidity, I decided to play it safe and go back into the deep, dark woods for some mountain biking, rather than be out in the hot sun on the pavement. Not the greatest strategy, though, given the way it's all uphill and downhill in my MTB area. Even after drinking plenty fluids, I was getting a bit light headed, so called it quits, early, and rode back home. Might have been better to ride one of my more level road bike loops. Oh, well.
The museum was excellent. This was the third time I've been there, once to this site and once when it was in downtown Stockbridge. The grounds are exquisite.
Ok, I completed the entire 41 mile ride today, despite including a 2 mile climb up Lenox Mountain (it's not that bad if you are goi g between 5 and 9 mph). And despite waking up with what may be a UTI or just a yeast infection, plus a stomach that is not quite right, either (too much of a black bean burger). Anyway, this ride is hilly the whole way, with about 2,500 ft of climbing. The first half, including the climb is shady and it was't too hot. It's less humid today. Had a nice lunch in Stockbridge, but with 15 miles to go, it was about 90 out and very little shade. DH was tired, too, so we rode as fast as we could back to the inn. More climbing that I always forget!
Sat by the pool to recover and now heading out to CVS to see if I can make myself feel better. Then later off to Lenox for good food.
We may not ride tomorrow. Will see in the AM.
41 miles in this heat? I think you did great! Hope your stomach improves quickly!
Thanks, Catrin. The lack of humidity helped. I drank 2 bottles of Skratch, a little water, plus some lemon carbonated water at lunch.
I could not have done this yesterday, it was hotter, with high humidity.
I hope our humidity isn't headed your way - it's been horrible here. Good you got the long ride in today in case it comes tomorrow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
Yes, 41 miles in this heat is excellent, Crankin! Hope you are feeling much better.
We did 35 on the Lake Wobegon Trail yesterday in the 90-degree heat. We needed to do laundry in the morning so didn't get out until after lunch -- ouch. We pretty much had the trail to ourselves, just a couple single riders and one poor guy hiking in the blazing sun and heat. Ouch!
It's a very pretty trail we'd done a little of, before we had to turn back due to rain, in 2014 when we visited Minnesota. Now we'll hopefully get to do the entire thing before leaving this spot. I must say it's nice to ride in flatter country again after Missouri and Iowa hills!
Attachment 18103
Now that is flat! Send some my way. :)
Not that hot, today - just low 80s - but the humidity was over 70 percent. Hard to even breathe. Once, again, headed back into the woods to get out of the sun, but I really do need to get some serious road bike work going. My monthly miles tally is way off with all the mountain biking, but, hey, I am having fun and that's what counts.
Finished up our trip with a 16 mile ride that was the opposite direction of the 21 mile route we had done Friday, with a bit removed. Mostly flat, until the last 5 miles, which is a set of rollers.
Cleaned up in the powder room at the inn , as we had already checked out and drove straight home.
All in all, a good trip, and we were able to be flexible with the rides because of the heat. We did miss out on doing the one other traditional long 45 mile ride we usually do, but there's always the next time.
Our friends are moving to Amherst in 2 weeks, which is also in western MA, but not in the Berkshires. My older son went to school there, so we are very familiar with the area, but have only ridden there once. It's also very hilly, so we are looking forward to doing some riding in new places, as it's only a little over an hour from here.
We did a grocery ride this morning mostly on the Lake Wobegon Trail, just a short 17.3 mile round trip. The nicest part was that we had a decent tailwind on the way back with the groceries, plus it's ever so slightly downhill from Sauk Centre to Melrose, so we were flying!
Tomorrow we're riding east to St. Joseph and back, which will be over 50 miles, and uphill (slight) and into a headwind on the way back. Unfortunate, but it's our last day here, so it's now or never! We have a few stops planned as there's a good bakery on the way, a Little Free Library (I have a couple books to donate), and a DQ. We will not starve. :D Looks like a pretty day with a low of 58 in the am :eek: and high of 86, so we'll have a wide range. I doubt we'll get going before it hits 70, though.
Finished the Lake Wobegon Trail today -- a lovely day, though a bit windier than predicted. The entire way back we rode with a fully-loaded solo tourist who was going across the US east to west. He started in Mass. He was really strong, especially considering how much weight he was carrying on a heavy bike. He drafted behind us for 26 miles and was very interesting to talk to.
Ended up with 58.7 miles total, my longest ride of the year. Yay!
Emily, was he from here? If so, do you happen to know his name?
Way cool, Emily, to meet such a biker. I've often dreamed of packing up and riding across the country on my bicycle, but have never really been in a position to do so. I'm retired, now, so I do have the time and I can still do it, physically (even have the bikes and most of the equipment to do it), but my hubby couldn't handle it and not sure how smart it would be to go that far riding solo. I get spooked enough as it is, just riding solo in my neck of the woods.
I was talking to someone the other day about the cross-country solo bike tour that he did years ago. He had wanted to do it in college but couldn't afford it. So after he'd been working for a few years he got his boss to allow him to take a long vacation, 6 weeks I think, and cycled from east to west, camping along the way. Of course this was before smartphones and gps devices. He said he learned a lot about being independent.
I don't remember if I mentioned -- I took my bike to the shop on Friday night for a derailleur adjustment because the shifting was off, and they said the rear hub needed maintenance. I was planning to do a 50-mile charity ride on Sunday and they said I could probably do that okay, but I got the impression that the bike would not be rideable if it failed while I was out there.
I was going to do the charity ride (a fundraiser for a volunteer fire department) with a friend, but her plans changed so I rode it on my own. The start was about a 90-minute drive from my house. Due to the continuing heat wave I wanted to start early, so I woke up way before dawn in order to be on the road by 6:00, arriving around 7:30, ready to roll at 8:00. A couple of months ago I had worked out a way to short-cut the 100-mile route down to about 76 miles and had hoped to do that, but it turned out to be too hot for that. I also had a thought about adding a detour on some really nice roads to lengthen their 50-mile route a bit, but it was even too hot for that. In fact I was so worried about the heat that I figured out a way to shortcut their 50-mile route down to 35, just in case. But it didn't seem too hot when I reached the decision point for that, so I continued on the 50-mile route.
I was fine when I reached the first rest stop, about halfway through the ride. I was there for a while, chatting with a few other riders, then talking to the volunteer bike mechanic about the shop where he works. When I started to ride again it seemed to have gotten hotter. I had brought three water bottles with me -- two for drinking and one (a collapsible bottle) for pouring water on my head and back and on the sleeves of my Cool Wings. I had put one regular bottle and the collapsible one in the freezer overnight so I'd have cold water for as long as possible. And for a while I had the collapsible bottle on my back under my jersey to cool me down.
The second stop was for water and ice only, no food. It was 10 miles after the first stop and 15 miles from the end. It seemed like more than 10 miles to get there -- the sun was starting to feel pretty hot and there was not much shade. There were plenty of trees in every direction but very few were anywhere near the road. But I knew it would be this way, hence the third bottle and ice. I stayed at the second stop for a while, too, chatting with the same riders that I saw at the first one plus one other man. We had an interesting conversation. It turned out that one of them got engaged to his wife at a restaurant in my hometown. While I was there I saw someone from my bike club riding past.
Once I got going again it was very hot. Since there were long stretches without shade, I had decided in advance to be proactive and stop several times when I did find a shady tree just to cool down for a few minutes and pour water on me. This seemed to help. I didn't feel great when I finished but was much better than I normally would be after spending so much time in the sun with temps in the high 90s.
At the end I saw the fellow club member who had passed me at the water stop. He had done the full century. He sat with me while I ate, and after a while we were joined by a couple of other club members. I was glad to see them, since I didn't think there would be anyone that I knew on the ride. The post-ride lunch was in the air-conditioned fire station, so we all had a chance to cool down before the long drive home.
I dropped my bike off at the LBS for the hub maintenance yesterday. I'm not sure how long it will take so I might be off the bike until the weekend.
High 90s is serious heat, NY, but sounds like you played it right. Like the alternate routes as a backup plan.
Speaking of backups, do have another bike you can ride in the meantime? If you were closer, be glad to lend you one of mine. :)
Well thanks! I have a mountain bike but there are some fit issues with it (handlebars and pedals) that I haven't had a chance to address. And also I'm having a flare up of the chronic hives so a day or two of rest probably isn't a bad thing. Not to mention that we might have thunderstorms the next few days that would prevent a bike ride even if it wasn't in the shop. So if I end up able to ride that's fine, but if not that's fine too.
Crankin, his name is Brent, and I didn't ask which city in Mass. he was from. Sorry! Super nice guy, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
I do know a Brent who could do this, but since I just saw him, it's not the same person...
Transport not sport :) Sunday we had many errands to run and we wanted to ride our bicycles. We managed to buy new sheets at JC Penny's in the local mall, visit a friend at an assisted living, treat ourselves to lunch, do our grocery shopping and visit the fruit and veggie stand. A round robin day that included 26 miles of bike riding.Quote:
Originally Posted by emily_in_nc
I could not bring myself to do a 40 mile club ride in the heat today. The ride itself is local and nothing hard, has the usual short, steep climbs around here. I think my 4 days of riding in 90+ heat last week gave me a bad attitude. So, I went to the gym and did my second power lifting class of the week. Enough weights until next week, so I think I will skip circuit training tomorrow early AM, and do a 5 AM ride, which is the time it's decently cool. We are supposed to have rain starting tomorrow night, through Friday, and hopefully, this front will be blown out. I am now behind in miles, which sucks, since I was ahead in June. Oh well.
Over these past few weeks I've been able to ride in the heat thanks to some hard lessons that I've learned in the past about avoiding dehydration, getting enough salt, taking breaks to cool down. But on two different days I rode more miles than I wanted, more than I knew I should have, because I was with people who wanted to do longer rides and are not as affected by the heat as I am. I've paid the price after each ride with heat rash followed by several days of hives -- an autoimmune flare-up. From now on I will really have to stick to my own plan and do shorter rides in this type of weather, regardless of what others want to do. Hopefully there will be situations where I can just take a short cut and then wait for others to catch up so I don't end up having to ride alone.
Anyway now that I've learned the lesson, the current heat wave is almost over. It will still be hot but should not be as bad.
The weird thing is that even with all the planning and strategizing and getting up early to deal with riding in the hot sun, I still have this feeling in the back of my mind that the cold weather will be back any day now, with tights and booties and extra layers and unrelenting cold feet. It's not true, we'll have a couple more months before it starts to get cold again, but I can't shake the feeling that summer will be gone in a heartbeat and winter cold is imminent. Maybe I need to get out of the air conditioning more...
I am like you, NY, in that riding in the heat produces an autoimmune flare up. During my trip, it affected my GI symptoms. In retrospect, I have had this every summer, which is why I start out so motivated, usually die out around now, and get my mojo back in September. I also have built up my ability to tolerate riding in the heat (I never could have done this last trip ten years ago), and when I first started riding, I would have been at the gym, in spin class.
Yes, it will still be in the 80s this weekend, but not humid, so that is more normal. DH is helping our friends move to Amherst on Saturday (well, the male half is starting his job Monday, so he is going ahead), so I will either ride with my friend, his wife, or do a club ride.
I'm waiting another day or two to see how the weather forecast shapes up before planning anything this weekend. Specifically I'm hoping they are able to forecast the timing of thunderstorms with reasonable accuracy. I do hate getting caught in thunderstorms, and when they come at the end of a heat wave they often pack some strong winds.
(I wish I knew what to do to help my immune system calm down again. I'm taking two kinds of antihistamines -- H1 and H2 receptors. Other that than I'm just trying to get enough sleep and stay out of the heat for a couple of days. I've tried to eat more "anti-inflammatory" foods over the past few months, tuna a few times a week, an apple almost every day, more fruits in general, leafy greens. I had been eating walnuts and almonds pretty regularly but they seem to bother my stomach.)
Having been caught out in some severe T storms, you are absolutely right to be cautious. They can be very dangerous for a biker and in so many ways. I've waited out my share in whatever shelter I could find at the time.
August coming up and that is a rough month for my allergies, specifically hay fever/ragweed and once that starts, it triggers allergies to all sorts of other things. One thing that helps with allergies and also hot weather for me, is to reduce my overall calorie intake and staying with more of my usual greens with some fruits. Yes, nuts can be iffy for some people, but I tend to add more of those in my diet during the winter months.
I'm another one that pushes to reach some pre-determined goal, so I know what some of you are up against as far as overdoing it. Came home, yesterday, cut up and bruised - again - from doing more nasty mountain biking. I'm beginning to feel like I should be in one of those mountain biking commercials where everyone looks like they've been though a war. :) Got a lecture about it when I got home. Nice to have a hubby that helps me to put on the brakes, when needed.
Thunderstorms, today, so will ride some indoor miles. If you're not set up to ride indoors on a trainer, I recommend it as a great way to get some miles in when heading out is not an option or just not too healthy for some reason. Just catch a few miles on the indoor trainer and go as far as you are able and not have to worry about bonking and finding yourself 10 miles away from home.
I'm there with you. I'm riding in temps I'm not acclimated to (we had such a cool rainy spring) and I don't really want to ride in some of these temps -- but I feel I'm missing an opportunity if I don't. I only have an opportunity (because of daylight) to ride in the weekday mornings during June and July and I haven't taken advantage of that and it's almost over! This is just making me feel even more anxious.Quote:
Originally Posted by ny biker
Yes, I get antsy when I know I am missing precious riding time. But, I also do other sports, i.e. hiking and winter sports, cross country skiing and snow shoeing. The season for winter sports here is short (8-10 weeks) and often involves some travel. There was little of that last winter, but I did get to ride through the winter, something that hasn't happened in 3-4 years. But, I feel somewhat rejuvenated already from this little break from riding. It's not like I was lying around on my azz. I am finally able to lift a higher weight above my head, with shoulder presses, so I've seen progress there.
What a bust. We'd planned on a ride on the Paul Bunyan Trail (MN) today, but the first half of the day was raining, and the second half, while not raining, the unpaved road in the park is muddy, the mosquitoes are thick as thieves (they absolutely swarm you when you exit your rig -- almost NO ONE is outside today even though the campground is pretty full), and I just can't bring myself to trash my bike with dirt/mud and have to coat myself in DEET just to go on a ride. We leave here tomorrow, so it may come to that if the next campground is more of the same.
I must say, though, this is only the second campground of the year (starting in Jan. in Florida) where we've had a significant mosquito issue. We've had more problems with flies than mosquitoes. We have really been lucky, but perhaps the luck has finally run out. It has rained so much here it's only surprising the mozzies haven't found us sooner. Hopefully as we move west into North Dakota, they will be less of a problem.
Ugh, Emily. It doesn't sound like optimal conditions for riding!
I have no problems coating myself in DEET for hiking, but I have never had to do it for riding. A couple of times when DH and I led after work rides, we had to stop to help people with mechanicals and it was only then, we were attacked by mosquitos. And this was only in a certain area, near a working dairy farm. I was surprised though, when I hiked with my former colleague 2 weeks ago, that she came dressed in shorts and a tank top, with a long sleeved blouse over it. She had no bug spray. It was early AM, around 7 and it was humid as hell out. I sprayed myself like crazy and had no issues, while she was swatting herself the whole time.
My biggest problem with the nasties, other than a few ticks back in the woods, has been the deer and black flies and, ouch, they really can bite. I do have to spray for them when I ride, sometimes. Odd thing, though, they swarm around my helmet as I ride, but only seem to land and bite on the back of my legs and, of all places, my riding gloves. Now, why would they be attracted to my riding gloves and try to bite though that fabric? (And, yes, they can bite though them.) As for mosquitoes, yeah, they are getting nastier by the week, since it has been a wet summer for us. Usually not an issue until I stop, though. If I break down, back in the woods and have to walk out, then not so good. :) Up here, we never step outdoors the summer without the bug spray.
Emily, the farther west you go in the Dakotas and Nebraska, the drier the climate gets, so hopefully things will improve for you. The eastern parts of those states can still be quite muggy, though. By the time you hit the western borders, almost desert dry. For sure, you will be out in the great wide open. Have fun.
Thank you! I am really looking forward to heading west now. We have another 8 nights in Minnesota, then we head into North Dakota. After three nights crossing the state, we'll be in the western portion, at Teddy Roosevelt NP. When we visited there (too briefly, which is why we're returning) in 2014, we had no bug problems whatsoever. Then we'll head into northeast Wyoming and western South Dakota for awhile. Eventually we do have to make our way back east since we have appointments in NC in early November, but by then, the mozzies will hopefully be much less than this time of year!Quote:
Originally Posted by north woods gal
Totally am with you on the blackflies. We experienced those mostly in Missouri and both got a few bites, but nothing like the swarms of mosquitoes here. Truly never experienced anything like it. We had to take Paisley out for a jog tonight instead of a walk, and they still got us! :mad:
Teddy Roosevelt NP has some great mountain biking trails, but officials warn you that if it does rain, the clay soils become treacherous until dry. I'm guessing they have more road bike type trails, too. Might want to check it out.
I rode my bike to the gym at 5:30 AM. Round trip, 2.2 miles... but going there is up a 5% grade hill, so it gets the HR up. Good warm up for circuit training.
This is the last time I'll go to power class on Wednesday and then do circuit early Thursday. Not only am I just sore all over, my SI joint is screaming, despite doing my stretches. Most of it comes from sitting for 8 hours on Tuesday, at work, so I can't change that.
A very pleasant downhill one mile back home this morning, and only 70 degrees, but humid. It's going to be 95 later.
We've actually been there before (but not long enough!) There's a gorgeous loop road around the park that we can ride our road bikes on, and for MTB there's the Mah-dah-hey and Buffalo Gap singletrack trails in nearby Medora. We only did a day trip before (were staying in Dickinson) so just rode part of the Mah-dah-hey. Hoping to do more this time around! And there's lovely hiking too; we did a long hike there on a different day trip last time too.Quote:
Originally Posted by north woods gal
Today's 20-mile ride was on our MTBs too, in fact. We're staying in a national forest campground in northern Minnesota and rode the lovely unpaved (but well packed) national forest roads in the area (Chippewa NF). Aside from being followed by deer flies, it was lovely. VERY sad to see all the trees down from the severe storms here in the past couple of weeks, though. :( Some areas looked like a tornado went through but were most likely straight-line winds. Big props to the national forest crews as it appeared that many trees fell across the roads, but all had been cut and moved out of the way by today; that's pretty quick cleanup!
That's lovely country, for sure, Emily. Have been in that area many times. My mother's family is from the Duluth area and we vacationed north of there and traveled through there many times as kids.
After two solid weeks of mountain biking and some challenging mountain biking, at that, head back out on the pavement to get caught up on some miles for the month. Did include 3 miles of hard packed gravel, but the Salsa Warbird is designed for just that kind of work, so no issues. Finished the day with a very pleasant 32 miles, weather sunny and in the 70s. Can't beat that.
Now, after two weeks of solid mountain biking, back in the deep remote woods, you'd think I'd see more wildlife than when road biking. Not so. I actually see more wildlife when road biking. Saw my second bear of the year, again while road biking, run across the road in front of me, today, right next to someone's home!
My theory is that riding pavement is quieter than riding rocky single track, so wildlife can't hear me coming on the road bike or maybe they're more conditioned to listen and watch for vehicles. Often flush animals right in front of me on the road bike, but seldom on the mountain bike. Another possibility is that wildlife is attracted to plants, such as berries, that grow along the road where there is more sunshine. Also helps that I can see way out ahead while on the road bike. Back in the single track, the cover is so thick that I mostly hear animals run off, but seldom see them. Would rather NOT come face to face with a bear in the thick stuff, anyway. Way out in front, down the road, is good. :)
I did a group ride today, which went pretty well. I rode to the start, at the HS in my town, 4.8 miles. Some of the people who signed up didn't show, so there were about 8-9 of us, including the leaders. The woman who led the ride was in my leadership training in 2005 and has come on several of our rides. She talks a blue streak, and always seems a little braggy (I know that's not a word), but now I think she just talks a lot. But, I was a bit worried, because I thought she was a super fast rider, despite the fact the average was advertised at 12-14, for a pretty hilly ride (2K+ ft.) So, I had no need to worry. She's a fast hiker and runner, but she has trouble climbing, mostly because she is spinning out and losing speed, then she gets tired. So on the first 2 climbs, I stayed with her, and everyone went ahead and then waited. I knew what was coming and I wanted to save my energy! I stayed in the middle of the group climbing the big hill into Harvard Center. We stopped for lunch, but it was really early... I was not hungry, but I made myself eat half a sandwich. We had a couple of shorter climbs after that, which was hard right after eating, but, all of a sudden I got a second wind, and all of those people who had been going ahead didn't. The last part of the ride deviated from the GPS route, because someone else had devised it, and she apparently did not live around here, and it would have taken us through some horrible traffic, around stores. I helped lead us through some of the changes, after a climb, as I was in front. We finally got back to Concord and all of a sudden, I was ravenously hungry. I split off from the group to head home, but I actually stopped and ate half of my Lara Bar and then rode the 4.6 miles home. It's 85 out, but no humidity, and somewhat cloudy, so not as bad as last weekend. A total of 54 miles, my longest ride this year.
Good job, Crankin! I did my longest ride of the year in the past week too, but not hilly like yours. :)
NWG, +1 on not wanting to sneak up on a bear. After what happened to the guy mountain biking in Glacier NP especially, although I am sure you are seeing Black Bears and not Grizzlies. Still...a bear's a bear. I have never seen one, actually. Just as soon keep it that way on a bike.
Here are a few photos of the tree damage here in the Chippewa Nat'l Forest in northern Minnesota from recent heavy storms. It was so sad to see so many beautiful trees down. Some had snapped off half-way up the trunks, others fell over at the root ball.
Attachment 18110 Attachment 18111 Attachment 18112
Nice pics, Emily. Those forest roads look similar to ours, as much sand as gravel. I do like riding them, however. Something about being back in the more remote areas on a bike that I like.
Downed trees are so common in our area that our power company finally went to underground power lines. We were averaging 4 to 6 outages a year, a lot of them in winter months, so hopefully not as many, now.