June 30 rides

Wheeee! :D Just did 20k (the short route 'round Jonsvannet, cutting across the "8" by taking the bridge between Litjvannet and Jonsvannet (little John's Lake and big John's Lake -- the city's resevoirs) in gorgeous weather. Bright sun, 70's F, bit of a breeze (bit of a sunburn! :eek: ). Cross-trained a few hills, especially towards the end of the ride, but also made some that were bigger before that. Stopped for ice cream when I was almost home. Heard band music in the distance and followed my ears til I found TWO (Trondheim Wind Orchestra) enjoying the suddenly excellent summer weather by practicing outdoors. They're headed for Valencia soon and things (what I heard was a symphonic piece called The Pines of Rome) were sounding good.

Just a tad sunburnt. Tummy not on its best behaviour, but not totally cramped either thank goodness. Back aching a bit from hauling a backpack full of papers (had to stop by the office en route to pick up some I'd forgotten). Left ankle hurt towards the end. That's the one with osteoarthritis from a break 8 years ago. Still need to adjust this and that on the bike -- can't get into the big chainring in front; must be a wobble in one or both wheels cuz I was feeling a bump-bump-bump up the seatpost. Nevertheless, a good ride. :)

Yippee! Now I can feel ok about being tired. Just checked my route on Googlemap. Not 20k after all, but 32. :D

I did a shorter ride this morning. Only 20 miles. Interesting thing happened.

I was riding through town and a black pickup pulled up next to me. Guy in it asked if he had seen me riding through the lot at Floyd Rec Center. Turned out he was the guy I told about who was leading the beginner's ride. He works there part time and at Cracker Barrel HQ full-time. He leads a couple of rides, one beginner & one not, and leads spinning classes there. I'm invited on a 60 mile ride on the 4th and to sneak in his spinning class when I want (I'm not a member there). Thought that was very nice. He gave me his #.

I got myself out of bed early this morning and drove into Louisville to join the LBC for its 30/60/100 ride. I opted for the 30 given the hills involved in the 60/100. The 30 had plenty of hills mixed in to keep things balanced. It was a nice ride, very scenic.

DH and I did the "N2" Ride - the "No Name" ride put together on Saturday mornings by a bunch of folks from the Sunday ride with our LBS. This crowd is plenty fast, but not the Type-A riders that populate the sunday ride. Was a very social, chatty group, and they all knew each other well. I was the total newbie in the group, although I knew many of the folks there from the LBS ride (although they are the A/B riders, and I hang with my peeps in the C ride). Still, they were very welcoming. We did their standard route - 40 miles from Silver Spring out towards Riley's Lock and back. I did it in a personal best for this year (and probably for the past 4 years!) of 17.7 mph average. Ugh. Now, a quick power-nap, and then DivingBiker is coming over to help load the kayaks for a paddle with KaliDurga! :eek:

Went for a lovely ride into southern New Hampshire; from Phillipston, MA to Fitzwilliam, NH town common and back, about 41 miles. Sunshine, solitude, zoned, became one with the earth, and shook off the hectic work week I had. SO arrived shortly after I got back. He gave me a leg and back massage. Yum.

34 miles this morning with the intent of catching one of my fave club rides. Note the word intent.

Sigh.. got myself a little lost. turned around to look for the right road. Got there a tad late but saw a cluster of bikes up ahead stopped a few lights up. Went to chase them and lost them when i was stopped at the light. :( I was ONLY 1 block away...

Oh..well, so I head home and just decide to enjoy the day.. following the road where we were supposed to meet. DOH. Turns out I should have jsut gone over the hill before turning around and they were just down the hill. LOL.

So I chuckled my way home and enjoyed the scenery.

Hey.. if nothing else I averaged 14.6 mph today. My fastest ever.. and I got a laugh.. at myself :)

I did 63.63 miles
I did the club ride, and i actually managed to hang with the Fast riders until we got to the fist hill, where I got dropped. I tried to chase back one, but only managed to hit every red light for 5 miles:o I then took the short cut up to Jiffer's hill (i went up Padua, and the group goes up Mills). I managed to barely the fast riders regroup at Shinn. I could see them and this this point, I could have easily chased the down (descending muscles:cool: ), but another Lady had caught me on the climb, so we waited for her DH and another gal to make it and recover, then we rode back to the coffee shop together, doing another Killer climb in the process(Day Creek Blvd to Eitwanda).
I had a smoothie at the place next door to the coffee house. and then did Neely's Corners(15 and Sierra). That was real fun, since the temps are in th high 90's. Had a chocolate milk and a nap when I got home.

A group of us got together today and rode part (41 miles) of The Flattest Century of the East (not), starting at UMassDartmouth, and meandering through Dartmouth and Westport. We are from Connecticut and Massachusetts, thus our team name MassConnFusion....had perfect weather, beautiful scenery, and did 3 rest stops: the Lloyd Center Nature Center, where we admired the view and said hello to the turtles, Bayside Restaurant, where we ate outside and admired the view of Buzzard's Bay and the Elizabeth Islands, and Wood's Veggie Stand, where my sister chatted with the chickens. We all rode at our own pace, chatted, laughed, got to know each other, and basically enjoyed ourselves. Oh, and all except one rider are TE members!

We are all signed up to ride the century in September...it ought to be an interesting day! Here is a picture of us all of together: From left to right, Deb, Janlyn, Lynette, Bet, Carolyn, Louise

Cool picture! I love seeing photos of women riders having a good time. :p

I gardened and shoveled mulch all day today- sore but happy.

BUT....my DH did his first century today!!! I chose not to push myself that much until maybe this Fall.
He went with a 60 year old friend. Poor DH, when he got home he had to lie down and then threw his guts up into a bucket. :eek: :eek: Then he took a shower and is drinking cool water and resting some more. We go out to dinner with the century friend in half an hour! :eek: :rolleyes: I think the hurling helped him though- he looks much better now, I think he'll be alright. :cool:

Glad I stuck with the gardening today! :eek:

Lisa- that sounds terrible. Did he get dehydrated? Congrats to him on finishing, but not a memorable after ride.


DH and I set out for 52 miles. First the rain popped up. It was sprinkles at first then heavy. I had a minor panic attack because I just lost a lot of visibility. I calmed down, dumped the water from my shoes and told myself riding in the rain was a skill I was working on so I needed to get moving. We start up a tiny bump (not even a hill) and I notice my front tire is going flat! Change the flat, start riding again.

As we ride for the next 10 miles the sky is getting really dark and I figure here comes round number two. We get to the half way point and we hear thunder. We back track 1.5 miles to a historic church and take shelter under a portico. After we are safely tucked under shelter I called my mom to check the radar. She said there is a pretty decent size thunderstorm to our west. We decide to stay put but after 20 minutes haven't even seen a drop of rain! I call my sweet mom back who looks at the radar again and confirms the storm is now moving away from us. We hop back on the bikes and have an uneventful ride until we get to the hilly county road where much of the bridges have been washed out! It was quite unnerving to ride over such rough road going into a climg. We get seven miles from home and the sky starts to get REALLY dark. Nothing like a thunderstorm coming to ignite the after burners. We just got home and there is thunder overhead.

56 miles
15.4 average
4.5 hours total (including stops).

I had a fun ride today. I rode 60 miles out and back to Lyons, CO from Boulder, taking a bit of a long way through some rural roads to the east. It was a really beautiful day, though a bit hot. 3,412 feet of climbing.

I saw a crazy driver and reported him. I was heading down a major road, no stop sign/light, in the bike lane. I was heading into an intersection and saw a car stopped at a stop sign, apparently turning left to head in my direction. He started to pull out and didn't seem to see me (or the car just behind and to the left of me!!) so I slowed down even though I had my own lane. The other car slowed too, the driver didn't see him either. Turned out to be a good choice on my part as he lurched through the intersection, across the bike lane and a bit off the road, kicking up dirt, then over-corrected back and almost hit the median. An old man was driving, he could barely see over the steering wheel.

I really love that cyclists can report dangerous motorists here and the police note it. After 3 reports of dangerous driving the driver is contacted and can face punishment.

I also saw a skunk separated into two parts, literally several feet away from one another. Some of the road kill is truly gruesome. Miraculously, though, the skunk didn't stink! :D

Today my bike tan transitioned from subtle to glaring.

But it was a beautiful ride...

Anne

Suzie, Darcy and I had a great ride today! We started at around 8:30 from Champoeg State Park. The weather was warm with puffy white clouds in the blue sky. It's been raining on and off all week, so this was a nice change.

Here's a profile of our route through the farmlands of NW Oregon.

http://www.routeslip.com/routes/48871

We saw a lot of interesting things...

Here's an alpaca farm. I love these cute guys...especially their cool 80's-style hair!

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/alpacas.jpg



I think Darcy's banana is in need of a keeper. Anyone wanna send her one? I think she'd like pink to match her bike. :p

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/Banana.jpg



We took a short break at this roadside eatery. No, we didn't get anything.

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/Fatheads.jpg

The high point was lunch at this roadside fruit stand. They had delicious sandwiches, ice cream, baked goods, and a small gift shop. The grounds were beautiful with hanging floral baskets, a greenhouse full of flowers, and a seperate one for herbs. They also had the biggest blackberries ever! Thinking back, I should have gotten a little basket of those to eat. The small green berries are gooseberries.

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/outside.jpg

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/relaxing.jpg

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/baskets.jpg

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/gooseberries.jpg

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/blackberries.jpg

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/bikes.jpg

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/greenhouse.jpg

http://www.footeco.com/ellen/herbs.jpg

All in all, around 50 miles and a fabulous time!

I didn't ride today (am riding tomorrow), but I just had to say some things:

trekin'- LOVE the name (MassConnfusion). HA! So clever and what a great group you all make!!! I hope you have a wonderful time on your century- sounds like you are having a great time training together!

Aggie Ama- how scary about the weather! You know we've been having the same weather up here- scares me to go too far from "safety" in case something comes along and catches me off guard. I'm not above ditching my beloved bike and running for the ditch if need be. :) Glad you made it home safe and sound!

oxysback- that fruit looks AMAZING!!! I just want to reach in there and gobble it up! What a fun ride you had! A most pleasant way to spend a Saturday.

onimity- your part of the country is soooo beautiful. I envy your scenery and the killer climbing skills you must have!

lisa- hope your DH is doing much better this evening. Tell him congrats from all his online fans! Hopefully he's feeling better after some din-din in his tummy!

You ladies are all amazing! Congrats on fantastic freedom riding today! :)

Lisa, Congrats to your DH, I hope he is feeling better.

Amanda, I had the same thing happen to me today on my ride. I did my normal 12 miles loop that I do and I noticed the sky on the way back getting really dark. I wasn't home 15 minutes and the sky let loose and it poured here again. Guess I won't be going on a ride tomorrow, but at least I have been able to get a ride in the last two days.

I did a duathlon today--50 mile bike ride, and 3 hours kayaking.

I headed out shortly after 7am to head down the creek trail over to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge--50 miles total in way too much time.

Then I went over to Regina's where we loaded up her two kayaks and met Kalidurga at the Monocacy Aqueduct for kayaking. They were kind enough to allow this kayaking neophyte to join them. We went up the Monocacy River, then turned around and joined up with the Potomac. It was great fun with good company.

After a delicious Chipotle dinner with Regina and her husband, I'm finally home, the dogs are walked, the shower has been taken, and a well-deserved beer never tasted so good.

Donna, Great the you are getting back in to riding again!

All- Yes, happily my DH DID feel way better after a major hurl and a shower :eek: - we then went out and had a lovely dinner and he looks and feels normal again. Getting a good night's sleep tonight. He thinks it was a combo between dehydration and the eggsalad platter (!) he had for lunch during the ride. :eek: I tend to agree. He says he was drinking water constantly but probably just couldn't keep up. Anyway the two century Boys are happy and safe now.

Ellen those are great pictures. But Suzie's going to be way mad that you caught her with her mouth open so big! :D :D That guy behind the screen is priceless too! :D :D Oh my god if I saw all those berries I would have to try to pack them ALL into my saddlebag!!!!! (after first packing myself full) YUM!!!!!!!!!
Glad you girls didn't eat at Fatheads Smoke Pit there (eeeeww)....or you'd all be hurling after your ride too!

Lisa, glad you got your mulch done. I wish I really could have been there. I make good tea, you would have enjoyed it.

Today was my birthday so I was going to do what I wanted to do today and that was, ride my bike, if the weather let me, and it did, held out until I got home then it cut loose. LOL

Well, I did ride, but not my road bike. I haven't been feeling well, but don't want to bore you guys with that. Anyway, we hadn't used the mountain bikes since December, so after cleaning and adjusting we put them on the rack and set out for a trail i see on many road rides. One of the clubs I ride with did an x country ski here last winter, so I was like "OK, it's flat," so it shouldn't be that bad. I had a feeling this might be a "no bikes allowed" trail, but i did want to check it out. Got to the parking lot, unloaded the bikes and started down a very sandy path. There were little ridges, like at a beach and I wasn't doing that well controlling the bike (I'm more used to rocks and roots). There was some type of community farm garden up ahead, so we rode in a grassy field until the trail got harder packed. Finally, we see the entrance to the real trail, which of course says "NO BIKES." We started to turn around when I hear my husband yell "S***!" It seems as if his front brake is totally not working. He went on ahead and I slowly made it back to the car, this time tackling all of the sand and not falling. I wanted to ride more, so we decided to go to Estabrook Woods and do the main trail, which Steve said he could handle with just the rear brake :eek: . I know this trail really well, so OK, we went. My goal was to not have to put my foot down, which i achieved, but I rode REALLY slowly, so I could tackle the technical stuff. This is not a totally flat and clear fire road. It's about a 2% uphill on the way out, which flattens in spots and has a couple of sections of loose gravel and several large rocks along the way. There are some rooty parts, too, but nothing terrible. There is a stream crossing, but it was dried up. Steve was going so fast I lost sight of him. We rested at one end (it's about 2.6 miles) and then turned back. I slowly made my way back and then we drove right to the bike shop to get both bikes worked on. I guess i should mtb more, since I felt like it was my first time, but I just hate not riding my road bike. So, I ended up with around five miles. I didn't get the time, but I don't really care how fast I go on the trail. When we got home, it was only 2:30, so then we put the canoe on the rack and headed over to the Concord River. We put in at Lowell Rd. and paddled to the South Bridge boathouse, where millions of people who don't know how to steer were renting canoes and kayaks. It was a gorgeous day, but the river was like a freeway with people and I didn't really like having to pay that much attention. It seemed like we went a much longer distance than it is if you drove this distance... we were out over an hour. My arms feel it today.