Sunday, August 19 Ride Reports

Longest Climbing Ride & Worst Dog Encounter...

Today I did my longest climbing ride so far...45.78 miles with approx. 4,500 feet of climbing. I felt great! My legs felt really strong, my new Sidis were keeping my feet happier than usual, and the weather was just perfect for a nice long ride. For anyone familiar with this area, I rode a big convoluted route down to Placerville and then up to Pollock Pines. I stayed on the back roads as much as possible, which means a lot less traffic but a lot more hill climbing!

For someone who is basically scared to death of dogs, I can't believe I survived my dog encounters! I was out in the middle of nowhere, coming around a hairpin turn on one of the steeper uphills on my route, and this Australian Shepherd looking dog came tearing out of it's driveway, full speed, full bark, full growl. I ride this route all the time and I have never seen this dog before. So I started pedaling my little heart out as I yelled and screamed bloody murder at the dog. He didn't slow down. I went off the road, somehow maintained control and continued screaming, and got the bike back on the pavement just as dog slobber hit my leg. So I screamed bloody murder again and he backed off. Two more rounds of all this and the dog finally stopped. Then I hear another dog barking, look up at the crest of the hill, and there is a boxer/pit bull looking dog standing his ground and barking at me. Now I'm terrified. I can't go back because of the shepherd and ahead of me is a REALLY scary looking dog. So I started screaming at it like a mad woman and THANK HEAVENS a man appeared and started yelling at the dog too, ran over to it, grabbed it's collar and dragged it into his yard. Needless to say, I have never made it up this particular hill so quickly and the adrenaline rush that followed nearly made me fall off the bike. My second dog encounter was practically nothing compared to the first. At about mile 38, a medium sized terrier came after me. His owner was right there, but he wasn't on a leash. Once again, I was riding uphill so I couldn't speed off and get away. This little dog was intent on attacking my feet and ankles, and boy was he a fast little devil. His owner went absolutely ballistic yelling at him and eventually grabbed him. Of course she didn't say one word to me. I don't know, but she could've said sorry or something. The adrenaline rush on this one wasn't quite so strong.

Another fun twist on today's ride was my runny nose. Good grief, what a mess! I guess my fall allergies are kicking in. Right in the middle of a big hill climb, it's not like you can really stop to do anything about a runny nose. So here I am, riding along with two streams of snot pouring down my face. Really attractive. I don't even want to try snot rockets...I can only imagine I'd just be blowing my nose all over myself.

Aside from dogs and snot, a great ride. I love riding in this area. Beautiful scenery, challenging terrain, and always a little excitedment along the way! Hope y'all had great rides today too!

Did a MS training ride today, 55 miles through the rolling hills of SE Louisiana. No, really, there ARE hills near New Orleans, just across Lake Pontchartrain, on the north side in the "Florida Parishes" (used to be part of Florida), different geology than the big estuary that makes the southern coast of the state. Anyway, managed to stick on the wheel of a friend - usually a faster rider, but he wanted to ride slower today - so we did an average of 17 mph. Dave made me work, and apparently I made him work, since he couldn't count on me to pull for very long. Since there were a bunch of riders out on the road, we did tuck in on some "trains", so Dave didn't pull the entire length. Apparently to keep us from being bored, the MS folks switched directions on a route we've taken every year, sending us counterclockwise. Fairly pleasant weather, even got a bit of rain, just enough to cool things off.

And after the ride, a bunch of us went to a local brew pub, Abita, for some post-ride recovery therapy.

Worst part of the day was staying awake on the Causeway bridge - 23 miles of mostly flat straight bridge.

Nap on the couch and a shower, I'm almost human again. :p

I rode through a different area of Ontario, CA, saw a couple of mean-look pit bulls, but they had more of a "dont beat me!" Look. sad:( went by the airpoty and back home. Didn't do much as it's still 100+

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Originally Posted by sara

Longest Climbing Ride & Worst Dog Encounter...

I was out in the middle of nowhere, coming around a hairpin turn on one of the steeper uphills on my route, and this Australian Shepherd looking dog came tearing out of it's driveway

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Why is it when we get chased by dogs it always happens on a hill.

Today I had a bit of a hangover so I did 26 miles. Obviously I started out with pretty low energy, and lactic acid-y legs. But most times if I don't feel well it has a way of working itself out and I know this. And it did on this ride. By the end I felt great and strong and always glad I went and come back feeling better than when I left. What seemed like a benign day in terms of wind proved me wrong. Where this headwind came from I don't know but I had it for the first 14 miles. My jacket was flapping like a flag. I sometimes wonder how you gals with open flat riding do it. I say sometimes, I want flat, but then those headwinds, how demoralizing. Whoo. I'd rather take a hill any day. And those came later, as I snugged myself in the protective wooded roads without the wind and had a blast.

Sigh...but the mountain ash berries are turning orange...the long lazy trill of the American Toad sounds off...the sweet smell of pine needles in the upland sun...indications of mid-August. It was a cool weekend here and it was cool last night - I could even smell wood stoves burning when I rode through some areas this afternoon. My weekly hill intervals pay off but these sights and sounds indicate these weekly night rides are coming to an end soon. Sigh. Because of commute I am lucky if I can hop on the bike by 6:45 pm. Already my rides at night are being cut short if I do an hour. I've been putting the blinky lights on as some of the roads become dark tunnels alot earlier than I think they should be. Sigh - I have about a week an a half at most before these rides are coming to an end. Then a slow decline, weekly base miles aren't there as there is only weekend rides, distances are a little shorter, mph just a little slower...till one day your head pops up from the dark hours and wheee....there's some snow! Time to xc ski. But wait ! I'm not ready for that yet - there's still alotta good times to be had with fall weekend riding.
And during September I can sometimes bring my bike into work and get some day riding in.

Glad I didn't have any crazy dog encounters like Sara's today! Glad you're OK ladybug!

We went for a nice 40 mile ride. Had to wait until it got hot because tropical depression Erin came all the way up to Oklahoma and kicked our tails. Major flooding, roads washed out- crazy! We waited until the rain passed- then headed out. Fun ride- hilly and headwind-y. Dropped my phone somewhere, and luckily some nice, respectable and honest citizen picked it up and answered it when I called and met me so she could return it. There ARE lots of good people out there. My phone/mp3/camera is my lifeline. I would've been terribly sad to lose it.
Here's a pic of DH riding with some cool clouds in the distance (they actually looked cooler in person :rolleyes:).

Mmm. Nice photo. I love it when people post pictures of their rides !

We had a planned a 80 mile ride to get back into riding after being off most of the last two weeks (I was sick and we had a lot of conflicts). The ride was going great and even the strong headwind wasn't bugging me that much. Although it was 90 degrees by 11:00 we still felt very good because of the wind. Then at mile 31 my tire exploded. We booted the tire with a power bar wrapper and rode 5 miles back to the town we just went through and called my parents. Bless my parents for driving almost 40 miles to pick us up. My dad rolled down the window and said "Did some one call a SAG wagon?" :p We took them out to lunch for their trouble.

Sara, at Bike Nashbar do a search for "Halt". There's also a holder that fits your handlebars. This might help with the dog problem.

August 19, 1977. I am temporarily bikeless; my Falcon has been stolen. I walk into Oak Bay Bicycles in Victoria looking for a replacement of some kind...hopefully the same level as the Falcon, or maybe a little better if I can afford it.
Alors! On the wall...a genuine Gitane Tour De France. Reynolds 531 throughout. All-French components. One of my friends has this model, and I am in love with it. But how much? End-of-the-model-line: $255 plus tax. :eek: I can do that! And thus I ride "Geri", my new TdF home.

Fast forward thirty years. I still have the original sales receipt, and the bike. Components have been swapped out and upgraded. I've repainted her twice. But she's still my faithful ride.

Today's ride was a pleasant 55km outing....no pressure, no goals, just a nice Sunday afternoon ride in the rolling countryside to celebrate thirty great years with my beloved Gitane.

Maybe it isn't that special to anyone reading this, but after so long, and so many comfortable rides and that certain je ne sais quoi that French bikes of the era have, she is very, very special to me. I doubt I'll be around in another 30 years, but I know that --barring some lowlife stealing it, or a bad wreck-- I will always have my Gitane.

Did the shop ride again this a.m. with DH. Well, I showed up with him, and I left with him, but I didn't exactly ride with him! :rolleyes: He rode with the fast group. I rode with my peeps on the B-ride. A bunch of us got separated from the main group at a traffic light, so there were only seven of us on Clara Barton Parkway, which was great for practicing a pace line. We almost looked like we knew what we were doing!
Talk of dogs reminded me of this: I dropped into Rock Creek Park for an extra 9 miles or so, and hooked up with 2 guys from the B-ride. Coming out of the park, we encountered something I have never seen there....packs of people walking dogs. Sure, I've seen people walking dogs before....but never travelling in groups (20-30 strong) before. It was a dog walking club or something. Weird. Happily, all were leashed.
37.4 miles at 17.9 mph.

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Originally Posted by sara

So here I am, riding along with two streams of snot pouring down my face. Really attractive. I don't even want to try snot rockets...I can only imagine I'd just be blowing my nose all over myself.

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Nose tampons! That's what you need!

Beautiful bike, Popoki! How nice that you spent your 30th anniversary together (they just don't make bikes like they used to, eh?).
Thanks for posting the pic!

Did a quick, flattish ride in the afternoon. Yes, signs of fall are in the air. But, the forecast is saying it will be 90 and humid by Friday, of course, the day I am leading a ride. We did 16.6 miles up Monument St, around Skelton to Rt. 225 into Bedford and back up Rt. 62 to Concord Center, and then home. There seemed to be millions of riders out yesterday. We passed several, instead of them passing me, so that was a little positive reinforcement. When we turned the corner onto Barret's Mill Rd. there was a couple going kind of slowly, talking to each other. My husband went out in front of them, but something told me to stay on the back. I got in behind the woman, and all of a sudden I was following her at 24 mph. Then I noticed the guy was wearing NEBC shorts (SheFly's club). I knew these people were serious, but they let my husband lead them out until we turned onto Strawberry Hill Rd. We both knew what would happen next. On the smallish hill that leads up to my street these 2 took off and we couldn't even see them when we turned onto our street. I checked my computer then and my average was 16.7 :eek: Of course riding up my street and driveway kills that, so when i got home, it was 16.1.
Twice in a week I had an average over 16, including the climb up to my house.

Tri Girl I waaaant a smooth rode with shoulder to ride on like the one in your pic. Every where I ride there is new chip and seal. Yes, I whine aplenty.

Sara I'm glad you ended upright after the dog encounters. There was a couple of strange dogs on my ride today and I got off my bike to walk pass. One dog came out to the road just wanting attention.

Popoki your bike makes my heart go pitter pat!

The 26 mile ride was my first in a week as I've been sick. The beautiful red,white and black woodpecker was the highlight of my ride. Weather was perfect-cloudy,70 and no wind.

Rode 30 miles with DH on rolling rural roads of Orange and Alamance County. Not a single dog encounter, what a relief! Sara, my heart was beating faster just reading your report. I broke my pelvis in three places in '05 when two loose dogs caused me to crash, so I am VERY nervous about dogs now. I have an Air Zound air horn as well as Halt pepper spray in a handlebar-mounted holder (from Nashbar) on my bike now. I do feel a bit safer because of it. Glad you're okay!

Emily

First he complained that I was going too slowly. (had a plan -- these were warm up miles, to avoid blowing up on the early little rolling hills) The first five miles or so was flat, then gentle rollers, and the slow start worked well for me!

Then he complained that I was going too fast. (reward for pacing myself and getting up the big hills AND the small ones) I did kinda hammer after conquering the big hills (muscles complained all afternoon, but it felt great at the time!)

Usually he complains that I stop to rest (stretch) a couple of times on the way to the big hill. (cuz I don't usually go "too slow" those first few miles, and then don't handle the early rollers well)

Yesterday he complained that I didn't stop to rest and his butt hurt...

Couldn't make him happy with MY ride yesterday, but _I_ sure loved it!

My only grumble about my ride yesterday -- I never did get my usual post-ride nap!

Karen in Boise

very happy to report that i finally broke the 50 mile barrier for the first time since last year's accident. 54.9 miles to be exact. i was beaming for the rest of the day on sunday!

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Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

Rode 30 miles with DH on rolling rural roads of Orange and Alamance County. Not a single dog encounter, what a relief! Sara, my heart was beating faster just reading your report. I broke my pelvis in three places in '05 when two loose dogs caused me to crash, so I am VERY nervous about dogs now. I have an Air Zound air horn as well as Halt pepper spray in a handlebar-mounted holder (from Nashbar) on my bike now. I do feel a bit safer because of it. Glad you're okay!

Emily

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Wow, Emily...a broken pelvis...ouch! I like the air horn idea a lot. I can't believe this, but I just had another dog encounter tonight. This time it was a Rottweiler. I was rolling down a hill at a high rate of speed and the dog was trotting down the road in the same direction. Of course, he heard me coming, turned around, and went NUTS! I fully expected him to rip my leg off as I went by. I think an air horn would've been a great idea in this situation! I'm hoping I'm through with dogs for a while...three encounters in two days is plenty!