Weekend Rides 5/11-5/12

OK, someone else must be riding here, in addition to me.
On Saturday, we led our club's annual new member ride, which is not really for new members. I think this ride traditionally used to be the "start" of the season, before high tech winter riding clothing, although for some of the riders it still is the first, or one of their first rides of the year. We've been leading this ride for 5-6 years and have modified the route once and split it into a faster and slower paced group. When it's a sunny day, we can get 40-60 people.
This year, the weather forecast made it difficult. It's a show and go ride, no signing up or screening. The listing says "rain cancels," but not "threat of rain cancels." It rained Friday night, and was wet early Saturday morning. Although it was cloudy, we studiously studied 3 weather sites, NOAA radar,a nd the local TV weather people who seem to get it right. I had received several ridiculous emails ("Are you going to email everyone if you cancel?" Huh? There's no sign up) and a few calls in the AM. At 7:30 we decided to we were on. It was a good call. 23 people showed up. I'm the sweep for the faster group, and while everyone chose their group appropriately, one woman wanted to challenge herself and I encouraged her. She was a slow climber, but a good rider, and also lives here in town, so no fear of getting lost. Another woman apparently had no idea how to shift her bike, despite the fact it was her 2nd year on it. The upshot was woman #1 went back on her own, after the snack stop, and woman #2 fell further and further behind, as she was in her hardest gear going up small rises. She looked like she was spinning on the flats and just struggling on the climbs.I tried coaching her from behind, until, when we were actually in my neighborhood and the others were out of sight and gone, we stopped. I wasn't sure if her derailleur was messed up or she didn't know what to do. Then, oh no, she had SRAM. I remebered something about double tapping and taught her to shift the front. We made it back to the start, where DH checked her bike, and then I taught her how to shift. The LBS had given her no instruction, she had no idea if her bike was a compact or a triple, or how many gears in the back. This was a smart person, who was clueless. It's not her fault, though.
So, while I had a slow ride, I got 2 nice thank you emails from both of the women. And that's why I'm a leader.

Saturday morning I rode with the new rider group, which can also be classified as "the slow people" group. I had volunteered to be turtle. My partner was ride start for the club, which means she brings all the refreshments and sends the riders out in groups based on speed, fast ones first, new riders last, so she ended up riding with us. New riders get the option of 20, 25 and 35 miles. We chose 25 since my partner had "medicine head."

Sunday we took a new MTBer out for her very first trail ride. We took her out on the same trail we did our first ride on. She's 22 and has an old Giant. She was a natural. I say natural, my partner says she's young and has no fear :) My partner led and basically whatever she did the girl just followed. She did great. That was 9 miles. Had a really nice time.

Had the best Mother's Day ride ever. We rode up Chalk Creek, which is a gorgeous 50 mile out-and-back ride, with the turn-around spot at the Utah-Wyoming border. It starts with climbing rollers and then a gradual steady climb to the top, total elevation gain about 2200 ft. Other than 1 water spigot about 10 miles in, there are no services at all along this route. So my kids rode with me, and as a special treat, DH and my dad drove sag. My son was great holding back to pace me. DH had packed a gourmet picnic lunch for the top, and even brought chairs to sit in! It was the ultimate luxury. On the way down, dad rode about 15 miles with us and had a blast. The weather was beautiful, and it was a fabulous day of riding.

Crankin - I wish I lived closer so I could join that ride, it sounds like fun! No riding for me this weekend, I am almost embarrassed to say, hoping to get a small ride in tonight.

I rode with a friend to a nice spot called camp floyd here (it is a little park with lovely trees in the middle of nowhere)), DH and the kids met us with a gourmet picnic, my son bought me Blender from Sufferfest (for winter, but he knows I love me some suffering LOL) and the family bought me a dinnote rear red flasher light. It was a lovely day, 58 miles, 2500 ft climbing (a flat ride for here) but so few cyclists on the road. Sunday is quieter in UT but no like that. This is a Goldilocks ride route and I was really surprised not to see more women out doing the route because it is next weekend. I would have thought that would have been the perfect mothers day gift, a ride for mom?

I rode Friday and today, and I walked the cliffwalk on Sun.

Did a solo 24 miles yesterday. Completed in 1 1/2 hrs. It was very nice outside.... a bit windy but not too bad or maybe I am getting use to it. It felt so good to have the roads all to myself. :)

I did the STOKR ride in Montana. Saturday there are two loop options, a 45 mile or a 90 mile, and Sunday is another 45 miler. I did both the short loops with a friend of mine who I'd never ridden with before. It turns out we were perfectly matched riding partners. Lots of people were , "Stokr? The weather will suck, I'll never ride it again" etc.... we had stunning spring weather: 80 degrees, sunny, no wind. There have been prior years involving snow and rain, but not this year. Each morning we started early enough to be the heat. The ride was very well organzied and I can't say enough about the baking talents of the Libby Community.

They had great support, gent showed up with a floor pump just when my friend needed it
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-h...0/IMG_0982.JPG

Did I mention the pie?
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1...0/IMG_0983.JPG

Day 2, we got to ride over the Dam. By registering for the ride, they got the riders cleared through Homeland Security.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-P...0/IMG_0985.JPG


We came around a bend in the road to this.....
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-F...0/IMG_0988.JPG

Beautiful, Irulan.
I will add that I walked 3 miles yesterday, owing to my own laziness and my DH's growing relaxed attitude toward cycling.
At least it involved walking up 2 hills.

I went for a nice mini ride with my preteen daughter for Mother's day. We only wound up doing 4 miles because she got a flat (slow leak) and my pump valve adapter disappeared!! Boo for not being properly prepared. We did have a nice breakfast on the river with some great views of egrets and ducks.

It was my first time back on my Crossroads after being on the Ruby all week. It was so different. Different bikes for different moods and rides, that's for sure. I enjoy them both for what they are.
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Originally Posted by Crankin

Beautiful, Irulan.
I will add that I walked 3 miles yesterday, owing to my own laziness and my DH's growing relaxed attitude toward cycling.
At least it involved walking up 2 hills.

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I have the same issue as your dh. I'm more successful getting in the saddle on perfect days, and more likely to walk on the crummy days. But I think the walks are good for me. I feel more aligned.

Irulan - your ride sounds awesome! I think I'd want to do it just for the pie. :)

We rode this weekend. My husband has been riding socially with this group he met online somewhere, so this Saturday, I went with them all. He warned me that it would be a slower group, but I figured that since I was so out of shape, it would be fine. Oy. The first 10 or so miles were twisting and turning through neighborhoods that we did not know, so we had to stay with the group. It took us 1:15 to go 10 miles!! Eventually, we got to some hills that allowed a few of us to break off the front. Then we hit the country and we could stretch our legs a bit. The second 2/3'rds of the ride was MUCH more fun. I guess I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought!

Anyway, it was a really nice group of people and a spectacularly perfect day, so there was no need to complain!! 33 miles - no idea on how long it all took us though...

I'm signed up for the Little Red ride in June (see Marni's thread about that) and have been riding often but not long rides, mostly 15 mile commutes and 20-25 mile weekend rides. Since I hope to ride the 70 mile course at Little Red, I decided on Sunday I needed to get in some longer rides before it was too late. I rode the long way to and from church for 15 miles, then changed clothes and did a 35 mile ride in midday heat for a total of 50. Beautiful day, and a good reality check on my fitness level. I have some work to do before June 1!

ZenBiker - I can relate because I haven't been getting the miles in either! Before yesterday my longest ride had been 30 miles and I signed up for the Little Red century - yikes! I'll see how the middle distance (72 miles) goes on this weekend's Salt Lake Century Ride. At least Little Red is flat :)

Yes, the LR course is very forgiving as well as pretty - lucky for me. Good luck this weekend! Let us know how it goes.

Oh, and I looked up Chalk Creek on Map My Ride. I'll have to try it sometime! Bit of a drive for me but I'm out that way fairly often for work so I think I can find a way to fit it in.

I went out on the cyclofemme ride here this weekend. I figured it'd be a good chance to get out, see some new scenery, meet some people, etc.

There were 10 and 35 mile loops so I figured the 35 would be a nice ride and I wouldn't be a total slow-poke on my commuter (cross bike, rack, fenders) since it was a bit more social, no drop, etc and my road bike is out of commission at the moment. Long story short, my ride sounds a lot like GLC's above... we left late and I realized that I don't like riding in that big (20-30) of a group, especially on busy trail and with mixed etiquette from the group. It was also really slow going and by the time we got to the park for a break (~14 miles in) it was 2 hours after the supposed start time (~1:30 of ride time, I think we left almost 30 minutes late). Luckily, a few of the others who knew the loop were equally unprepared to spend the entire day riding 35 miles, so they split off to head home faster and I tagged along.

Positives: The ride back was great! There ended up being four of us in the group, and I like that size group. Definitely got to see a bunch of new scenery and some great roads. I realized that I can keep up on the commuter (even if the bell has an annoying habit of dinging itself whenever I hit bumps just right :) and I won't let the lack of road bike keep me from riding with them again.... although it was motivation to get it back in working order.

Ok, so it wasn't a WEEKEND ride, but it was a ride :) I finally got out for an hour and put in a bit over 13 miles in almost 80 degree temps and sunshine - it was awesome!

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This is my first 'selfie' ever, I was really enjoying the sunshine! I tried to find some flowers, but there weren't any where I could get them in the same picture as my bike.

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My beloved Gunnar. I've gone from 1 bike, to 3, now back down to one. I love this bike - but eventually will need a backup commuter of some kind.

Friday I took the day off work to participate in a supported ride to the top of Mt. Lemmon (climbs to over 8800 feet). Great start, though I am quite slow and many people passed me. The forecast said 20-30% chance of rain. The temps were nice, 60-70 degrees for much of the way up- short sleeve jersey weather. At the 3rd sag stop, about milepost 18, 7400 feet up or so, the clouds were ominous. Rain in southern Arizona is rare in May, and I figured if it did rain, it would be kind of misty. I put on my windbreaker and continued up. Hah! About 1 mile further, another 300 or 400 feet up and rain started turning to some kind of sleet/hail stuff. I kept going going, but it got more intense, and pea-sized pellets were hitting. The group I was with kept going ahead, a little faster than me. Then the road was getting covered with the stuff and I decided to turn back.

I made it back 1 1/2 miles or so to the sag stop. I couldn't feel my hands. The forecast said maybe in the 50's at the top of the mountain, but nothing about the low 40's with sleet/hail/snow or whatever it was. I got in one of the SAG vehicles and it took a while to warm up (my hands really hurt). I was afraid to ride down , and accepted a ride back about 4 miles to about the 6500 elevation mark.

The very fast riders who left early missed all the bad weather, but a lot of folks came close to hypothermia. The organizers ended up transporting about 20% of the riders- no one was prepared for such a drastic change in the weather. I had the windbreaker and arm warmers- but didn't think I would need more than that, based on the forecast. Now I know.

I was hoping to make it to the top, but not this time.

Crankin loved your story and Irulan, the pictures were beautiful.