Weekend Rides - 9/17-18

This morning I intended to do a long road ride, then I spent an hour on the phone with a friend. After that I realized my road shoes were in our car my husband took to work. Finally I decided to take my mountain bike out for a 31 mile road ride, locked out the front fork and put the brain to completely firm to make it like a hardtail then took off. It actually was probably as hard of a work out as my originally planned 50-60 miler. One my mountain bike is at least 6 pounds heavier, two it was later and the wind was higher and three I didn't put more air in my tires so I had plenty of rolling resistance. But that just made it a good effort. How about you?

7 miles. rode until the rain hit. then rode home. bleah.

I did the lbs ride, as usual, but we did it backward. It's funny, about half of us found it a lot easier that way, and the other half found it a lot harder. One of the hills I was expecting to kill me was totally easy. Weird. I was in the "it's way easier" camp. Could also be my saddle issue is finally fixed, so maybe everything feels easier because of that.

There's nothing better than a comfy saddle.

I sure agree with you about a comfy saddle. So you have 3 selle An Atomica's ??

Yes. I actually got one of them before I even knew I was getting a 3rd bike (a spare, bought in case the company ever folded).

I can't believe I have 3 bikes. I am a very different person than I was when I gave my bf grief for buying his bike, which I thought was a huge waste of money. Look at me now, eating crow. :D

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Originally Posted by redrhodie

Yes. I actually got one of them before I even knew I was getting a 3rd bike (a spare, bought in case the company ever folded).

I can't believe I have 3 bikes. I am a very different person than I was when I gave my bf grief for buying his bike, which I thought was a huge waste of money. Look at me now, eating crow. :D

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yeah but this crow tastes GOOD!

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Originally Posted by redrhodie

I did the lbs ride, as usual, but we did it backward.

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When I saw this I thought -- you rode your bike backward?

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Originally Posted by PamNY

When I saw this I thought -- you rode your bike backward?

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they're very talented riders. :D

I wanted to ride today, but had promised to volunteer at a local event (Hoosier Outdoor Experience). There was a station hosted by the state MTB association that led small group rides on the brand new beginners mtb trail...I helped to make certain everyone had hair-nets and helmets.

Tomorrow will pack a lunch & drive to southern Indiana on a day trip to ride my current favorite trail, hopefully for a couple of round trips - will hike another trail depending on how tired I am...

I actually felt a bit guilty for not riding on a day off - can't think of the last time I haven't ridden on a day off when the weather was nice. It was a nice day and I am glad that I helped out for a few hours. Getting a good night sleep tonight and no alarm clock so I will be ready for the trails tomorrow :cool:

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

they're very talented riders. :D

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Well, I've always said the women of TE inspire me to do things I wouldn't have thought possible...

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Originally Posted by Catrin

I wanted to ride today, but had promised to volunteer at a local event (Hoosier Outdoor Experience). There was a station hosted by the state MTB association that led small group rides on the brand new beginners mtb trail...I helped to make certain everyone had hair-nets and helmets.

Tomorrow will pack a lunch & drive to southern Indiana on a day trip to ride my current favorite trail, hopefully for a couple of round trips - will hike another trail depending on how tired I am...

I actually felt a bit guilty for not riding on a day off - can't think of the last time I haven't ridden on a day off when the weather was nice. It was a nice day and I am glad that I helped out for a few hours. Getting a good night sleep tonight and no alarm clock so I will be ready for the trails tomorrow :cool:

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I thought you were doing the Hope Ride yesterday. We traveled yesterday to the western end of the Katy Trail and start riding today....in the rain. :(

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Originally Posted by indysteel

I thought you were doing the Hope Ride yesterday. We traveled yesterday to the western end of the Katy Trail and start riding today....in the rain. :(

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Nooooo, I had to work a few hours yesterday morning :( Gotta pay bike support somehow! Thankfully I hadn't yet registered though I will likely still make a donation. Am hoping to do a 50 mile ride with Winding Road and her mom next Saturday in western Indiana if I can work it out.

I hope the rain goes away soon and you enjoy the rest of your ride! Am heading down to BCSP in an hour to play on Limekiln for a couple of hours, then MIGHT hike Walnut depending on how I am feeling by then.

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Originally Posted by PamNY

When I saw this I thought -- you rode your bike backward?

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Ha! I was going to suggest we wear our clothes backward, but I figured my chamois would bunch. :D

A few of us from the club drove about an hour and a half to the nearby Pawpaw Festival which presents a 55-mile ride every year. I hadn't done this one before, and from the location I was expecting killer hills. For some bizarre reason I still felt it necessary to run intervals on Friday and then drink two glasses of red wine with dinner Friday night. :rolleyes:

As it turned out, the ride was scenic, there were a handful of real hills, but most of it stuck to flatter roads and shallower grades. Which was good, because if it'd been brutal, the way my legs felt I'd have been crying. :p I've been riding close to home all summer long, so a change of scenery was nice.

DH, who doesn't ride, drove down to take in the festival for the afternoon. In the discombobulation transferring my stuff from my friends' car to ours, I lost my heart rate strap, and even though we retraced our steps several times, I couldn't find it. I gave up and started drinking the pawpaw beer and eating pawpaw pastries. :D Before too long I had a call that someone had turned my strap in to lost and found, so it's all good.

Yesterday I did 65 miles. Had intended to ride longer, but midway through the ride....I got a call from my sister (who was in the hospital for past 3 days) saying that they are discharging her, so I needed to go pick her up. I was a good 25 miles from home when I got the phone call, so we tried to pick up the pace a bit to make it home quicker.

Today, I had good intentions of getting in a longer ride due to cutting my ride short yesterday...but a steady cold drizzle which hit us about a mile into the ride, changed our plans. We managed to get 30 wet miles in, before hanging it up for the day. I was wet and cold and wanted nothing more but to get into a hot shower and some dry comfy clothes. I'm still shivering now, and I've been home for almost 2 hours...brrrrrrr!

Linda

I had a nice 27 mile ride with the daughter and son in law of my neighbors. They are living with my neighbors now, along with their 3 kids... until they sell their house in NH, I think. Anyway, they are very athletic, but not super cyclists; she's a spin instructor and he does tris and runs. They have hybrids and were all worried I would drop them, but it turned out to be a perfect match. I did a go a bit slower than normal in parts, but I wasn't sure of how much to push the pace. We rode over to Boxborough and back, stopped at the farmer's market in west Acton, where they bought peaches. It's nice and cool, about 55 when we started and about 61 out now; I was dressed perfectly or once.
There was an ALS ride today and it came up my street! I was all freaked out I would run into people going up/down into my driveway, but they were through here by the time we got back. We did see a couple of the riders on the way back, but not anywhere near my house. My new road shoes are breaking in nicely. I have an appointment Wednesday to get them "molded" to my feet.

I rode some 48 miles yesterday and a fast 33 today, in the drizzle and rain. I might be the exception, but I enjoy riding in the rain somehow. It seems more peaceful, I like the light. Some of the foliage is changing colors already, fall is in the air!

While I enjoy a rainy ride, I hate dealing with the aftermath of a dirty bike, soggy shoes, muddy clothes... The wind was picking up during the last few miles -- I can see for the riders of the Northshore Century, it will be a long day. The post-ride shower felt great.

I got out and did 22 miles - my first real ride in NY. And my tire didn't explode!
I sense a new avatar:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-y...1811102603.jpg
The hudson:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--...1811105135.jpg
Castleton on Hudson:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t...1811104950.jpg
Ny Thruway bridge over the river:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-w...1811105926.jpg
Downtown Albany:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5...1811113844.jpg
Crallio State Historic Site. This where "Yankee doodle" was composed during the French and Indian wars:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0...1811114609.jpg

Great pictures, Fredwina!

I did just shy of 16 miles today--I checked out some new trails. I've been off the bike (no appreciable distance for 2-3 weeks since I moved here), and I'm sore and tired. :rolleyes: Granted, there's somewhat more variation in terrain here than the Little Miami trail--there are some small hills and curves and places where if you crash, there's a non-zero chance of you ending up in the river. My ride was intercepted by a flock of geese, and had I had a camera on me, I'd have gotten some nice pictures of herons.

And my water heater's busted, so no hot shower afterward. :(

Set out to ride with friends on a intermediate trail but quickly felt I was overmatched in ability and very weak from allergies. I split off around 5 miles and did another 6 miles by myself. Those 6 miles felt really great. Sometimes I wonder if I am an anti-social rider? My best rides are generally alone.

44 miles on Saturday. I met up with my group - a kind of unofficial club that starts together and have usually had a policy to regroup every so often. I like the people, bu they are really too fast for me and seem to be getting faster.

My husband changed his mind about riding with us and although he left the house after I did, he caught up with us as I was falling off the back of the last little group. (Did I mention he's really fast compared to me?)

Thanks to an excellent pull by my DH, we arrived at the rest stop with the last of the group. But I hardly had time to get off my bike, no time to snack and no time to use the rest room before they were ready to go again :(

After they all passed me on the hill, and I stopped to check something on my bike, I never saw any of them again except for the one other guy who got dropped. We rode our last 6 miles with him.

I think they knew that my husband was with me, and maybe that's why they didn't wait, but still...

Today I got ready to ride - and had to fix a flat tire before I could leave. 3rd one since Sunday. Rode 5 miles and got another flat :mad: I had already decided I needed a tire but it was really annoying. Finished the ride to Saguaro NP and then just came home. There is a sale at Performance bikes tonight, with a discount for the big local bike club (which we belong to) so I will probably get the new tire then, unless I decide to support the LBS where I bought the bike instead.

DH and I just finished Day One of the Katy Trail. We got about 10 miles of 40 before the skies opened up. The next ten miles were pretty miserable, but we stopped for lunch and regrouped. Thankfully, the rain had stopped. The trail was pretty soggy and sludge-like. It took a fair amount of effort to sustain any momentum. The rain didn't start in earnest again until about 5 miles to go. So now we're at a very pretty historic hotel waiting for our room to be ready. Minus the rain, we're having fun, and the rain wouldn't be that big of a drag of it weren't also kind of chilly. The weather feels more like October than September.

Did the Good Sam Bike Jam in Lafayette CO. It was supposed to be 62 miles but my computer said 59. I didn't feel the need to make up the 3 miles I didn't get. :)

It was a fab ride - sunny, 70's and beautiful! It started out in the 40's though so it gave me a taste of Fall riding to come.

Just the other day I was thinking next year I should do a century but I was glad to be done today (and tired!) so I don't know if I have it in me. I'm in as good of cycling shape now as I would be next year. We'll see....

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Originally Posted by indysteel

DH and I just finished Day One of the Katy Trail. We got about 10 miles of 40 before the skies opened up. The next ten miles were pretty miserable, but we stopped for lunch and regrouped. Thankfully, the rain had stopped. The trail was pretty soggy and sludge-like. It took a fair amount of effort to sustain any momentum. The rain didn't start in earnest again until about 5 miles to go. So now we're at a very pretty historic hotel waiting for our room to be ready. Minus the rain, we're having fun, and the rain wouldn't be that big of a drag of it weren't also kind of chilly. The weather feels more like October than September.

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Glad to hear the rain held off a bit for you, and glad to hear that you are having fun! How do you like your touring bike?

The wind feels more like October...

On my way south this morning I got a text from several mtb friends camping for the weekend who told me there had been steady rain for several hours and it wasn't letting up. As dry as the trails are I may have been able to ride anyway but turned around and went home... I wasn't that far.

Went for a WINDY ride in my favorite-but-getting-boring park. It was hard to stay vertical in some places :eek: so I didn't head outside of the park to my windswept cornfields. I must be smitten by the MTB bug because I found myself yearning to hit the entrance of anything that looked like a trail (bikes aren't allowed off-pavement in that park). Got a windy 90 minutes in and went home.

I did the Harbor to the Bay AIDS charity ride yesterday. It is a 125 mile ride. The weather was lovely, although a tad cool for me. I started out exhausted because I have been at the hospital with my daughter who had a hand injury and hand surgery. I didn't get to bed until around 11PM on Friday night and was up at 3:40 AM. :eek: The good news is that I finished, although it was not too pretty at the end. It is for a great cause and it is a well supported ride. Thanks too to Deb W who did tech for us. I appreciate her encouragement as a rider and friend!

@Catrin, I like the touring bike just fine. It's perfect for the trail. My IT band may fuss about the q factor a bit but I'll live. It's a nice bike for the money. She's filthy right now with 30 miles of limestone sludge.

My daughter and I just did 12 miles on the Bronx River Parkway in Westchester. They close the parkway on Sundays from 10-2 for walkers and bikers. This is my first "real" ride and it was a lot of fun. There is one more weekend of "bike sundays" on the parkway so want to make sure we take advantage of it.

42 miles. Middle sister ride - cycle the wave. Cool, wet, but not too rainy... until the end.

LOTS of hills, we were either going up or down.