Sunday 15th July Rides

[enzed]

Today was a sunny winters day's & I was trying out a ride with a new BUG(Bicycle User Group). It started from Waterfall station & thru the Royal National Park, a ferry from Bundenna to Cronulla & a ride back to the CBD.

The national park bit of the ride was awesome. To get down into it, there was a 2km winding down-hill ride, followed by a steady climb for 4km. It was a great day for it, what with the blue skies & good company. Once up the hill, there was a series of small rolling hills. It gave me a chance to get into my big chain ring and see how fast I could go. Then we (we meaning the 3 of us), rode down into Bundeena & caught the ferry to Cronulla.
The ride leader (Geoff) was riding a roadie, me & Patricia were riding hybrids. Geoff reckoned we made good time going up the hill & wouldn't mind riding with us again. He didn't mind the slower pace & we had some interesting conversions.

The ride itself was approx 65Km. I rode 22km to catch the train to Waterfall & also rode 20km home from the city. That means I did over 100Km

I haven't ridden over 100km for ages, so it's good to know I can still do it

[Kano]

DH woke me this morning with "Want to go practice hills?"

NOT FOR ANYTHING!

Not that I didn't enjoy the ride yesterday, despite the evil air quality and the heat, and that my legs had BETRAYED me on a hill that I knew I could climb. We went with a group I haven't gotten to ride with much this year, and There I was, bringing up the rear again -- now, at first, we got behind on account-a someone had left my bike in the big ring and little cog, and it didn't want to start (had it serviced, it was LBS dude. I'll remember to check that next time) Then, we're tooling along, Sweep and DH and I, we're following sweep, and he doesn't follow the route map he's got in his hand: we're lost. Didn't catch the group until the rest stop, though we did eventually get back on track (We're MEN, they said, we don't need to ask...)

Oh, wait, that's yesterday's ride!


DH did give me another option this morning: The much easier out and back to the coffee shop mostly flat ride. PLUS, I got to sleep an extra half hour. He tried to get out of it: No, your half hour was up a half hour ago. My arguement in favor: You didn't tell me what time it was when the half hour started, so how could I POSSIBLY know when the half hour was up?

But, YIKES: I pushed myself HARD yesterday, and my body is complaining mightily! (it deserves to ache after that hill it refused to climb!) The coffee shop is an easy, mostly flat 11 mile out and back ride, with a lovely italian cream soda with whipped cream on top in the middle.

DH was constantly after me to pick up the pace, "the light's going to turn red!" Then there was "What's the matter?" Like he didn't KNOW how I'd pushed myself, and because of his competitive spirit, him too. Well, too bad for him, eh? I'm just knocking out the cobwebs that settled in yesterday, and loosening the legs back up so I can walk again! This was a nice, if slow ride, and helped a LOT!

(I gotta admit: I enjoy that intense achy feeling that goes with a well-worked body, but I'm glad to be able to move again now that I've had a gentle ride this morning!)

Karen in Boise

[liberty]

I did a little 7.8 mile ride on the hilly roads around my house. Was nice to start a ride straight from my house instead of driving somewhere to ride. My legs were still dead from Thursday's club ride, but hopefully they will remember how much they like hills.

[makbike]

Today was the club's "ice cream" ride and I just could not pass up the chance for free ice cream. The ride starts in Jeffersonville, Indiana and follows the river up to Utica where we turn around and head back for the ice cream. The pace was fast, very fast on the way out for we had a great tail wind pushing us. At the turn around we were hit by a strong head wind and the threat of rain (a good incentive to pedal hard and fast). My legs responded well the first 15 miles or so but in the end yesterday's fast century took it toll and I fell off the back of the pack I had been riding with. Not a bad day on the bike for I set yet another personal best today, an average speed of 18.0 mph and enjoyed my free large milk shake compliments of the club.

[NJBikeGal]

110 miles today. 70 with the Philly Cancer Society Ride and then 40 back to my friend Jenny's house to take a dip in the pool! BEAUTIFUL day, wonderful ride and now I get to sit and watch the evening edition of the Tour. Can a better day exist?

Today's ride put my at 1074 miles since June 1st. Woo Hoo!

[Crankin]

We were up in the Mt. Washington, NH area from Friday late PM until this morning. My husband's company has their annual outing there. They rent the whole Mt. Washington Hotel, many condos at Bretton Woods and several other hotels in the area. This is only the second time we'v gone to this; there's no business involved, basically it's a free 2 nights up there, with 2 breakfasts, one dinner, and a lunch provided. We stayed right at the hotel, arriving around 5:30 Friday. I had done a brisk 30 mile club ride Friday AM, so i was tired. We drove over to Gorham for dinner, through Jefferson Notch Rd., which is a dirt road, only open in summer. I was thinking about my mountain bike, but the great italian food we had kept those thoughts out of my mind. On Sat., we set out for N. Conway, ariving there around noon to start a ride I had got out of a book in the library. I chose one that was described as a ramble and not the climb of 3 notches.... It really was a beautiful ride. The first 7-8 miles were completely flat. We stopped at the town beach (a lake) in Eaton to eat and my average was just under 17. I was tired and it was really quite a bit hotter than I thought it would be. The lake was beautiful. So we start out of there, on a road decribed as a "gradual" climb. It was up and down, but I would say it was a bit more than gradual in spots. Finally, at the top, we crossed into Maine. Lots of dairy farms and beautiful scenery here. As we turned onto the road that would lead us back to N. Conway, we had quite a surprise; this was a real long climb! Not super steep, I'd say about 4-6%, but long. I found out that while I am used to short and steep climbs, i haven't really done a lot of long and steady ones. After my husband told me repeatedly to slow it down, I settled into a rhythm at about 6-8 mph and was rewarded with some nice downhills. We got back to Rt. 302 and about 2 miles from where our car was, Steve ran over something and blew his tire. We stopped and he booted it with a dollar bill, changed the tube and as we took off, we passed the Louis Garneau store Mr. S. had discussed last week. So after reviving with some soft serve ice cream, we headed to the LG store. Not a lot of good cycling stuff for me there; there were hardly any x small jerseys and the ones they had were down to my mid thighs! But they did have some really nice casual clothes all for 30% off. I got a pair of board type shorts in a wild pink and orange print, a technical T, and a skort that fit perfectly.
When we got back, I discovered my average was 16 for 34.5 miles and about 2,000 feet of climbing, a personal record for me.