June 2 Ride Reports

Just had to start a thread because I hit a new milestone today...a new fastest speed for me...37.8 mph! Wow, it was really fun too! :D

The weather here right now is absolutely perfect. We're lucking out with the heat so far. Usually by now, we've had 100 degree days in the valley (which translates to high 80's/low 90's up here in the foothills). But it's only supposed to be in the high 70's here today, which is my kind of weather.

Great ride...21 miles, I did well (I think) on the hills, and only stopped to rest once. I passed a local fruit farm and noticed they have fresh blueberries ready to pick. Yummmm! I may be heading over there this afternoon to get me some of those!

New speed record for me too! Today was the Utah State TT Championships, out at Antelope Island. On the last downhill, I went 37.3 mph (I didn't know my bike could go that fast! :D ).

I won my class (by virtue of being the only person in my class.... :p ) but didn't end up totally DFL in the women, either. And I was on my roadbike - everyone who beat me was on a TT bike - or at least had aero bars on their bikes - not me, I was riding on the drops..... And I wasn't that far off them, for it being a 35K TT. (And DH only beat me by 6 and a half minutes :D )

Next year? I'm actually going to train for the sucker, and not just register the week of the race...

Of course, I'll actually have my on TT bike at that point, so I'd BETTER do well. :)

Great race today, and while I pretty much had my a** handed to me, I had a ball. And I'm liking TTs more and more!!!!

I rode to the local bike club's ride, managed to hang with the hammers for a while, then rode the long way home to get a metric century. This was my fastest metric by 20 minutes with a ride time of 3:37! That hammering wore me out though. I tried a new saddle today and it seemed fine until about 50 miles into the ride when it became torture. When I got home, I saw that it was sitting nose up at about a 15% angle! I must have knocked it down with my big butt when I hit a bump. Will give the saddle another shot since that was an unfair evaluation. ;)

It is a day for speed! I have been battling glucose intolerance, which I can control by low carb dieting, but learning when and how to introduce carbs to support my cycling has been a struggle. But, the diet is working and today, with good glucose control and 14 lbs less weight, I took 2.5 mph off my time on a very hilly course. 39.1 miles, an out and back up spring branch and rittiman roads ifrom bullis park in the texas hill country. It sure was hot though............., but all in all a great day!

Our AMC club had spring activities day today; we lead the 25 mile ride. Only 2 people showed up. But we had fun. They were 2 older men (well, probably my age), slow, but nice. It was really humid and threatening rain, but the weather held off. The ride itself was 26 miles through Concord, Carlisle, Chelmsford, and Acton, and I rode 34.3 total coming from home and going back. I felt like I had done a "good deed" leading this; the 2 guys were very appreciative. Then when I got home, I had a big box from TE on my doorstep. I am just 2 miles short of my 1,000 mile goal by June 1st. That will come tomorrow.

I rode in a organized bike ride today. The 27 mile route was my usual because it is about the only option in my area. There was about 25 riders. Many people seemed to have flats today. The temps were in the low 60's and I was thankful to have my rain jacket. I saw 3 deer cross the road and stopped for 2 dogs parked in the middle of the road.:( The organizers served a nice breakfast but I would of enjoyed the meal after the ride so people would be more inclined to sit a spell and visit.

I rode the much anticipated (much agonized over) metric century today. I left a few min. after the 100 milers and before the group of 62milers so that I'd be riding comfortably alone.

This was my longest ride ever and it was a pretty emotional finish for me. My son and DH were waiting to cheer me in. Two and a half years ago I changed my life (saved my life really) by changing my eating habits and beginning to exercise. 45lbs lighter now - to achieve this today was a big moment for me, and my family.

I am satisfied with my pace (I haven't even checked the avg speed on the computer) because 1) I wasn't over taken by the pack that left 30 min behind me and 2) I matched pace with a couple of experienced riders from my bike club. They came in to each rest stop 5 min behind me consisitently and arrived at the finish 15 min after me.

I signed up for this ride last fall as an incentive to stay in shape over the winter. It worked.

Special heart felt thanks to the TE'rs that responded to my anxiety ridden post yesterday as I freaked out a little worrying about today. :) Thought of each of you several times today!

T.

14 miles to the Tri-Course with Silver at about 17.8 mph

Then

19 miles on the hilly tri-course at about 18.7 mph

Then

14 miles home about about 16 mph (this was when the road rash irratation went into high gear)

DH and I rode 32 miles today. Got up at 5:30 a.m. because it is getting hot here and we have to get out early to beat it. We left about 6:30, saw our LBS owner and rode with him for a while until he hooked up with the local bike club. I don't feel ready to ride with the bike club yet because they say their average speed is 16 - 19 MPH and my best has only been 14.4. I am usually around 13.8.

We stopped at Starbucks 2/3 of the way into the ride. Sipped on a latte for 1/2 an hour then headed home. Had a little trouble with my blood sugar level today. It fell and I felt shakey until I ate part of a cliff bar and drank my cytomax. This has happened one other time. I am finding that eating, drinking, and replacing nutrients are really important.

All in all it was great to be out there spinning those wheels:D

I rode 31 miles today with DH and another male friend. I am the slowest of us, but they always wait for me at the crossroads and then let me rest a bit each time.
We had our usual breakfast at Ralph's Pretty Good Cafe first at about 8am, then road for about 3 hours and got home at noon. By then it was quite hot and humid, and with all the blasting sun I was glad I had used plenty of sunscreen.
An enjoyable ride in the country!

well, it sounds like metrics and high speed were the order of the day
I rode to shopping center and then led the slow club ride. It was an adventure. Two broken chains, one popped spoke with a super warped rim (it was Rolf(the ride had to call his DW to resume him) and person had decide to start riding on teh road with a MTB with knobbies. That wasn't the fast part.
I had a Church committee meeting after the ride. normally it wound't have been a big deal, but the maladies put me a half hour late, so I had to cut out the aprez ride socializing and pedal back to Upland.
After the meeting - i headed out again. got up to 44.1 mph woohoo!:D nothing like 2 miles of 8% grade. but I had to get up there:o Had a flat on the way back.

Hey LadyinWhile, congratulations on your first metric ! That's a big milestone, you have every right to be very proud of yourself. :cool:

Unlike most of you, I wasn't fast and didn't ride very long (neither of those things matter much to me anymore), but did have a great ride with DH this morning to the farmer's market, where we loaded up his panniers with local organic lettuces, local honey, and a couple of plants; and to the post office. We also ran into a neighbor on our road who stopped to say how much she admired that I was on my bike again (I fractured my pelvis two years ago after a run-in with a couple of unrestrained dogs). We rode our Bike Fridays and were not going for speed, just for fun and utility, and it was our longest ride of the year, believe it or not (15.85 miles). :)

Emily

I'll add another record to the list of accomplishments today. I rode my longest ride ever! Suzie and I rode the Vine Ride 65 mile route. The Vine Ride isn't until August, but I got the route from the website and put it into routeslip. Here's a link...http://www.routeslip.com/routes/44281

We had a few misadventures along the way today, too. At one point I wasn't sure where to turn. Some of the country roads out here start with one name, then change. I thought I had the correct turn, but wasn't 100%, so we kept going for a few more miles, then had to turn back. We finally got that straightened out and were on the right track. Then, at about mile 55 the road was closed. Completely closed. Not even a place to walk through. But there was a detour posted, so we took it. Well, a few miles of loose gravel road :mad: later we were back on the blessed smooth pavement again.

All in all we rode just over 72 miles!!! We weren't fast (12.7 average) but we did it, and we didn't have to walk up any hills...and there were plenty of those, let me tell you!

I'm stoked because we have a supported ride next Saturday (Suzie, Darcy and I, plus dh are going to the Strawberry Century in Lebanon, OR) and we're riding the 72 mile route. Well, except for dh...I think he's doing the century. So I know I'm ready! Bring it on!

If anyone else is doing the Strawberry, speak up! We'd love to meet you!

I got in a solo flat 75 today. Started out around 10:30 and finished in just under 5 hours ride time, w/ a pit stop at a gas station Subway for a turkey sandwich :p .

Was a nice day... breezy, partly cloudy, and between 70-85 degrees (start to finish).

I rode within feet of a feeding vulture, and had a couple other impressive bird experiences, it was cool =)

Avg 15.5
Max 26
Total 74.84
Time 4hr 50min

Congrats to everyone who set personal bests of one kind or another today (and to everyone who just got out there and rode!) :).
I rode with my friend Tony from home up to Victoria, around the waterfront, and back home. It was hot, hilly, and windy. When I got home, the odo said only 68km :eek: :confused: :mad: It felt like we had done 168. Not sure why I was so shocked; I know how far it is to town and back, and how far the total trip should have been (about 60km), but it seemed so...hmmm...long and gruelling today. Still, a fun ride on trails, highways, downtown traffic, and seaside roads, and a decent avg speed as well.

Well, neither a long nor fast ride here.
DH and I did a 10 mile loop on Rosaryville SP's singletrack after spending the better part of the day in Clarendon, VA at the CSC Invitational.
Caught the tail end of the women's race and most of the men's race.
Here are some pics of the event. I hope to get more up on Photobucket soon.
DH is all fired up no to burn up the road tomorrow on the shop ride. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Yea, those pictures look pretty sluggish to me :P

Saunterly rides today - my group ride for 20 miles and then another 18 or so with the errands of life. My fourth day with no car, as if I would have even considered using it.

Did "Kid's Safety" day and sold helmets adn bought one for myself since the Flower Power one was my size :) I'm not even going to take the Fisher-PRice sticker off...

I rode 22 miles today between running into Louisville for "stuff" and cleaning out my basement for the major repairs that start on Monday. I struggled most of the ride, never found a comfortable cadence. I swear something is rubbing or not turning properly on my bike for I feel a lot of resistance that has not been there previously. I think I'll ask BF to work on it while I'm recovering from my surgery. Maybe something needs to be lubed or repacked I don't know but something ain't right on my little blue bike.

We did 57 miles from Burnet, TX to Lampasas, TX and back. It is starting to get hot, so we really will have to start getting on the road in the morning. I enjoyed the ride but there were a lot of low water crossings that were actually covered due to heavy rains the last few weeks. My poor bike will be clean thoroughly tomorrow. We also added 3 miles because the cut off was closed due to flooding.

Forgot to add my personal milestone- finally hit 1,000 miles for the year. My goal is 3,500, so I better keep up with the riding. Good for me that I will still be able to ride December 31!!

If I hadn't done a century a few weeks ago, the 50 miles yesterday would have been my PR.

I'm late posting this but wanted to share our wonderful ride with you all. SO and I went out for 70 miles on Saturday. The temperature was about 90F by the time we finished and the humidity was off the charts but the ride was still so much fun. We saw so many baby animals! A one-week-old donkey - I could have taken it home with me, it was SOOOOO cute! Six baby geese, two baby goats and....the highlight of the ride - a mama bear and two tiny cubs! They were right beside the road and we were riding very slowly because we were climbing. We came around a turn and heard a crash in the woods to our left. We looked, and mom was jumping into the thicket. The two cubs dashed up a tree and watched us ride by. OMG were they precious!! I didn't have a camera and probably would not have chanced stopping to take a picture anyway. I was dreading the climb up that mountain but after the bears the climb wasn't so bad. :D :rolleyes:

Oh, that's so kewl :)
My brother was playing in the Rapidan River a couple years ago with his kids and he looked over and there was a cub ambling over towards his 7-yo daughter! He went and scooped her up about the same time the bear batted her into the water (seemed to want to play... she was about the right size, eh?) and scooted back to the cabins and the bear followed and climbed on the roof to munch out on the bugs in the shingles... I'm glad these guys decided to be scared of you! (And the kiddo was pretty freaked but got over it - after all, Daddy *did* save the day!)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geonz

Oh, that's so kewl :)
My brother was playing in the Rapidan River a couple years ago with his kids and he looked over and there was a cub ambling over towards his 7-yo daughter! He went and scooped her up about the same time the bear batted her into the water (seemed to want to play... she was about the right size, eh?) and scooted back to the cabins and the bear followed and climbed on the roof to munch out on the bugs in the shingles... I'm glad these guys decided to be scared of you! (And the kiddo was pretty freaked but got over it - after all, Daddy *did* save the day!)

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Yay for Daddy! Wow Sue - we've seen lots of bears through the years but never had quite the close encounter your brother and his daughter had! We are fortunate that the black bears we have are generally pretty docile, even if they are destructive. The river looked awfully tempting on Saturday - if it hadn't been for the prospect of riding the rest of the way home with wet feet, I might have jumped in!