May 27 rides

Today's ride was the "good intentions" ride.

I decided to head out for a ride as soon as I got up, before it got hot outside. I got about a mile from home, and couldn't remember if I had let dog #2 back in the house. So I turned around, climbed up the big hill, and I couldn't get in--I had locked myself out of the house. I hadn't opened the front door this morning, which meant that the deadlock was still locked. And the key to the front door deadlock that I've been carrying around for years didn't work! And the back door was double locked also.

I had two choices--break down the basement door, or break a pane of glass in the back door. So I got a rock and broke the window, got in the house, and sure enough Remy was sound asleep on his bed. (Neither dog made a noise when I was breaking in, so I guess I really don't have the watchdogs I thought I did.)

After cleaning up the broken glass and covering the hole with cardboard and duct tape, I went out again and rode for a little over an hour. By that time, my neck and shoulders were getting sore (still not 100% after last week's crash) so I came home and went to the farmer's market to get a bunch of vegetables to plant in the garden.

I guess it's time now to repair the window...and get the garden ready for planting.

No idea how far I went, as the new bike doesn't have a computer.

28.5 miles, 16.29 mph ave.

A nice ride with the weather starting to heat up. The roads were particularly empty today; I guess a lot of people are gone for the weekend.

My first ride with new aerobars. I'm now riding Profile Designs T2+ and they are so much better than the GT Jammers I was on. My wrists are much more comfortable, my forearms are much better supported, and the bike feels like it's under much better control. Good deal!

Right after I got back to my car two guys pulled in and started unloading their bikes. After talking about triathlon, etc., one was trying to talk me into going back out with them for another 30 miles. Uh, no; maybe the other way around: they do 30 miles and then come back and ride 30 with me while I'm fresh.

I want to get out and do a brick tomorrow morning.

I went to one mountain bike race so I drove 26km to the place of the race mainly on flat road, and 10km on very difficult mountain roads, through forrest, meadow and even cross the brook. I had so much fun.
The weather was ok (33 °C, a bit windy) but it started to rain right when the race ended, we had luck :) .

I decided to ride more on mountain terrain to get prepared for my second race next month. I hope I'll do as I decided :)

Just got back home from the Bike The Drive in Chicago, we did the shorter 15 mile loop in a driving rain storm (we started at 6am). Had an absolute ball and really enjoyed the bike festival afterward!

Also - I saw someone going in the opposite direction wearing an Amechi Veloci jersey...wonder who it was??

Today's my birthday, so for a treat my family & I rode 7 miles up into the canyon to have brunch at a fun little restaurant. (Getting stronger at climbing is one of my goals this summer). We enjoyed a nice relaxing meal and then we wooshed back down (although in some places the wind coming up into the canyon was strong enough to make us peddle). Great fun!

My daughter did great riding, so she should do well at LRRH next week!

Happy, happy Birthday, Bike Dutchess!

I just rode to the grocery on Old Blue. That's gonna be it for today.

Did a whopping 8.39 miles to do errands on Hoodoo Voodoo. Went to the drugstore, then down to the bike shop and perused the new stuff, bought some foccaccia at Concord Provisions. Figured out the seat is too low on this bike. Was passed by what seemed like a million roadies on Lowell Rd. I can spin up my street so slowly on this bike, I was going 6 mph, with no pain in my legs up the 15% grade.
Afterwards, I went to the nursery with my husband and bought flowers and I actually helped him plant them. A first for me (I hate gardening).

I rode about 4 miles in the rain on my new Surly Crosscheck. There was a noise from the rear of the bike, which I think I narrowed down to the rack I put on. Attempted cure with electrical tape.

In fine Seattle High Fashion I wore black long underwear, cargo shorts, and wool shirt and jacket and helmet liner for my ride. Rain, a Surly, and long underwear sticking out from beneath your shorts... ahhh, bliss!;)

Nice day, sunny but windy. Did my usual Victoria-Sidney jaunt, but finally talked my friend Tony into joining me. Tony recently walked in to my LBS and (with my help :rolleyes: ) dropped almost 4K on a new Bianchi, tights, jersey, jacket, helmet, gloves...the full monty. Not bad for someone who hadn't been on a bike in 20 years. Up until now, his longest ride was 20km. Today we did 56 and change.
The boy learns quick, gotta give him that. Every time we got into a full headwind (like 60-70km/h worth), he was tucked right into my windshadow. I think I wore the poor lad out; he fell asleep in my van on the drive back out home. :D I think he's going to be a little sore tomorrow....:rolleyes:
Photo: Sidney pier. Halfway point of the ride.

Did a 20+ mile ride this a.m. before work. Did a nice hill ride and loved the payback coming down the hill.

My DH just called and said he "pinged" my tires and the front one is flat. Glad I made it home before that happened. It must have been a slow leak because I never noticed it going flat.

Felt really good out there today. Two days ago I did a 16 mile ride and really struggled. It is getting hot here and I think I was not hydrated enough.

No traffic today!:cool: So much more fun to ride without all the cars. I want to go out tomorrow and enjoy the quiet streets again.:D

My 6th DS and I biked 30 miles today. Wind finally went down to 21 mph after a full week of mostly 30-40 mph winds. Today was the 1st time my son has biked with me in 7 years. Nice to have company for a change.:)

Rode day two of the Horsey Hundred in Georgetown, Kentucky. BF and I decided to tackle the 71 mile route. I'm not sure what either of us was thinking given we rode the century yesterday. The first half of the ride was great - mostly flat with slight climbs tossed in for good measure. We both felt strong and were flying along on our way to Paris, Kentucky. However, once we passed through the tiny town of Paris the route became somewhat of a monster - rollers, after roller, after rollers - it was relentless and took its toll on each of us. By the last SAG stop I was whipped and wishing I had selected one of the shorter routes but quickly reminded myself I only had 13 more miles to go. I ended up today with 71 miles, an average speed of 15.6 mph and a personal best for weekend milage (173.85 miles). My legs are tired but I feel great - two solid days of challenging rides.

I did a quick 25 down to the Chino airport and aircraft museum. Came all the way back up Eucild ave. Pretty day, except for the Late afternoon wind:o

Knot, you sound so grunge :p

Janice, I'm sorry you're having so much bad luck with your rides lately. Take it easy on the shoulders!

I wish I could have gotten in a ride today. Family visiting from out of town = no time *sigh*

Went out with no particular route in mind. It was hot by the time I started so I decided to just do a sunday drive, no worries about increasing speed but I do want to get better on the downhills.

I took a road i had never been on before and ended up walking a l o o o o ng way. That was OK coz otherwise I wouldnt have seen the cool snake or the lane where I ducked down to pee.
17.5 miles
top speed 20
avg. speed 10 maybe

max: 1136ft
min: 647ft
ascent: 940ft
descent: 943ft

Yep, I live in the hills

I made a map of most of my regular route on bikely.com (I can't get Routeslip to work on my computer). I kind of deviate from the loop and ride hither and yon if I feel like it. Like today, I added on several miles. Anyway, it is pretty neat to find out the elevation gains and such on the main section of my ride.

So here's what bikely.com says:
16.6 miles
1,433 ft. elevation gain (and of course, 1,433 ft. of descent...the fun part!)

I am very excited about the elevation part because now I can estimate my weekly climbing. I'm trying to incorporate this loop into my rides 3 times a week. That means over 4,200 feet of climbing per week (if I can manage the 3 times)...so I guess I should make myself some monthly climbing goals now? :D

Today we rode in Yakima with a bunch of pretty tandems. Raleighdon rode with DS's GF and I rode my Bianchi. We were warned to finish our ride as quickly as possible because of the winds.
Well, there's nothing like 1000 feet of climb in 10 miles to a nearly 20mph head wind. I was ready to quit after 3 miles!

after 10 miles we turned a little so it wasn't so bad.. but oh good grief, every time we turned into the wind, it was ferocious. The wind speed continued to pick up all day.
Finally, during the second half of the ride we had a tailwind. Imagine, i was going down this gentle descent. I stood up and went from 18mph to 19mph!!!
i needed a sail!

52 miles, dearly won. and I finally went over 1000 miles!!!!

We had a nice ride this morning -- not that DH thought so! We had to have a little talk about "Sunday Morning Rides" at one point. FIRST, I wasn't riding fast enough to suit him, so he thought we should go home, because we weren't being "efficient" riding at the pace that was working for me. (yesterday's ride was significantly longer than others this year and left me with aching muscles and some nasty aches in certain places!) While debating that (and stretching complaining quads), we made a quick call to our daughter regarding plans for tomorrow, which could affect tomorrow's ride. Got cruising again, and my phone rang: daughter had to make some changes to plans for tomorrow, which amended things for today a bit. Oh MY GOSH, two phone calls in one mile of ride. Gee that's awful! DARN, gotta stand still on the side of the road, looking over the valley for a few minutes on a beautiful Sunday morning....

So, after talking with her briefly, I reminded DH that "Sunday Morning Rides" are for FUN and the rides to work are the ones that need to be "efficient" -- he then suggested riding to a new favorite coffee shop, which made the ride a decent length, more fun than "quitting" because I was a bit achy, but without the climbing we had originally planned.

Sad ending for him -- a clutzy clip out had him breaking several spokes in his rear wheel. The bike shop said it was too bunged up to fix well, so he has a new wheel tonight. He also swapped out the wheels from my comfort-beast onto his, since he's been thinking he might like that anyway, for his commutes.

Me? I got nasty chafing yesterday, so was coping with that as well as possible today (how is it I can still enjoy a ride?) While dealing with his wheel issue, I picked up a new saddle to try -- longer, narrower, and hopefully a better choice. (been debating the "old" one for a few weeks now)

He wanted to ride again tonight, to "test drive" those tires that he put on, so I quietly put my new saddle on, and test drove it. Couldn't wear the same shorts, they're in the wash, so I can't say for sure, but it seems like if a sore bottom can feel better on the new saddle than on the old, I could be on the right track...

It was a nice ride tonight: ten miles, which means 28 for the day, just tootling around the neighborhood, with a deliberate pass by a farm with a herd of miniature horses. We had passed by this morning, and noticed a new foal -- such a cutie! So tonight, I took the camera along, and we stopped to take a picture of the new baby. Baby wouldn't come anywhere near the fence, but this one -- I don't know if this is the proud papa -- but he came marching up to the fence demanding we take his picture too!

Karen in Boise