August 6th Rides

[Fredwina]

I'm surprised no one has started this thread yet!
I did some research for a club rid I'm planning. Go turned around and lost a couple of times. Then I decided to climb what we call "Redneck canyon" (Lytle Creek Road). Did about average. Probably should have done a flatter ride to compensate for yesterday. Coming back down hill, the wind was very strong, which made for same good handling practice. Still, a good ride and an excuse to eat ice cream!

[Brandy]

Our ride this morning was great...I just wish that I had felt well enough to enjoy it more. I think I'm getting sick (I was sniffling all night) and I was so weak this morning. We took the San Diego Creek trail from Back Bay, up to Barranca and Jeffrey and then Barranca to Laguna Canyon Rd. Where L.C. Road started it was a little confusing because there were detour signs and construction, but it seems that we jumped on the section that's closed to traffic?!?! Anyhow...it was great! We had a long stretch with no traffic, as they were on a road running parallel to where we were riding. We eventually met up with the main road and then the ride through the canyon was gorgeous! It's a gradual 400 foot climb on the first portion and then a long descent that was fun, fun, fun and FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZING!

I felt totally weak the first half of the ride, so when we turned onto PCH, I spotted a Diedrich's and requested a stop for an "eye opener." Got into it in line with an a$$hole old man who was talking smack about another rider and her driving skills, which then led him to talking about how "stupid cyclists" just think they can ride in the lane. I turned around and told him that we have every right to be there that he did and that he can check the CVC! He told me that common sense dictates that his 5000lb truck has the right of way. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!! Freaking JERK!!! The female cyclist ended up coming out to talk to us while I drank my coffe...she's a mt. biker and she was really sweet.

We took off from there and PCH was nearly deserted, so it was a great ride. I was still feeling wiped out on the rollers, so we opted to skip Newport Coast Drive and just kept riding on PCH and ended up doing the back half of the Back Bay loop, turning on Dover and hopping onto the trail. At the end I wanted one more thrill, so we turned down that steep hill on Back Bay Drive (the one we went up on the 1st TE ride) and immediately turned around and went back up and back to our cars. It was a fun ride, but I definitely felt out of it this morning. I kept apologizing to Tiff for my pokeyness!

[KSH]

Sounds like you ladies had great rides!

I was a rebel... instead of getting up for my ride today... I slept in.

Yep, I'm a bad girl!

[Dr. Liz]

43.5 miles. 16.1 mph avg (my legs were shot today...) DH and I rode about 30 miles with our hammerhead friend 'Crazy Harold' (I love the guy dearly, but the monniker is just too perfect to let go of). He was doing a recovery ride, and since my legs haven't recovered since Friday, it was a bit tough. Luckily, DH and CH (heh!) were good to me, and let me catch up when I got too far behind (I just haven't got this hill thing down yet, which sort of sucks, since I live in the mountains... )

We left Crazy Harold at his house (he had been doing 13 miles of sprints in hills before he hooked up with us - and yes, this was his recovery ride - the guy is an animal!), and then did a little more hill climbing. Tough on the unhappy legs, but survivable. (But ugh - my first experience with GU - the stuff has the consistency of snot - I've got to find another way to take on calories, because while my body responded well to the caloric intake, I could only swallow about half a packet before the gag reflex kicked in REALLY HARD Calories are good, but I don't think I'm ready for GU. Chocolate chip cookies sound So Much Better! )

The last 10 miles would have been fine, except that we got hit with a plague of flying ant things (no idea what they really are, but ugh!!! We hit a LONG cloud of them that was so dense that we were frantically trying to brush them out of our teeth/hair/clothes before they started biting us). And about 15 seconds after the flying ant things, it started raining. Not horrifically hard, but enough that the road became slick really quickly. And it kept raining for the last 10 miles (i.e. until we got back to the car). But no crashes (of course, there were no tough corners, either! )

And I was picking bugs out of my hair/clothes until I was in the shower. Ugh.

Tomorrow is a recovery day (which means that we will be sans plagues of locusts (or whatever this buggy things were). Finally.

Still trying out saddles, BTW. I kinda like the Terry zero, and I kinda like DH's old Selle Italia (sp?) Trans Am, but I'm still chafed in spots, so it's hard to tell if one is better than the other. Hopefully when I go out on Tuesday, I'll be healed enough to get a better sense of which saddle I like better. (Because despite my very feminine-shaped rumpus, I seem to do better with narrow saddles.)

Happy riding, everyone!

[Triskeliongirl]

I had a different kind of ride today. Last night our kids were entertaining friends, and I mentioned my husband and I were gonna ride up to Sandwich this morning (we are summering in woods hole, cape cod), and two of the teenaged boys asked if they could join us. We said sure. They showed up with heavy bikes (one a cyclocross bike, the other had his dad's 20 year old 10 speed) but great spirit. After staying up most of the night like teenagers do, they did their best to hang on for 53 miles! At the end, the one who had the cyclocross bike (and gym shorts, no chamois) told me it was the longest ride he ever did! He had a few issues with nutrition, but we got him to eat a few times during the ride and then he was fine. A good time was had by all. I guess we take the 'cool parent' prize today, how often do kids wanna hang out with their friend's parents?

[Running Mommy]

Had a great hot sweaty 2 hour ride.
I wanted to go 3, but I woke up late, so 2 was all I could muster. They are putting in a road that goes from my hood to our local cycling nirvana, and every week I ride out to see if they have paved another stretch. Well sure enough they had paved another couple of miles or so.Technically the road is still closed, so I had some fun traffic free riding. I can't wait until they complete the thing. Right now if I want to ride to nirvana I have to deal with 6 miles of HORRIBLE (think cobbles) road with no bike lanes and obnoxious drivers. So obviously I'm eager to have a new way down there.
Saw a coyote coming off of the golf course. I freaked him out because as soon as he saw me he took off like a rocket.
Other than that it was a typical ride. The weather had cooled off the last few days, but it ramped back up again today. By the time I finished at 10:00 am it was prolly 100 and the sun was broiling my noggin like a piece of chicken.
I did manage to brick a 22 min run on the treadmill tho. All hail the treadmill in AZ in the summer!!

[HillSlugger]

I did 25.5 miles at a 13.5mph average. I know this may not be a big deal to many of you, but it is the second longest ride I've ever done. The last few times I went out "I wasn't feeling right" and woosed out of my intended ride. Today, I took two rests, but did what I set out to do.

I focused mostly on cadence today, pedaling at a higher cadence than I've been used to in the past. My speed uphill wasn't great but I never got to the point where i felt like getting off and walking ;-) Hopefully I can keep up the good work and keep improving!

[DDH]

DH and I went on a short ride after supper this evening. We went 6.2 miles. He hasn't ridden in many years either so we just took it easy. He wants to ride with me too, but works so much, doesn't get much of a chance.


We are thinking of going on an organized ride next Sat. the 12th in Cove, called the Cove House Classic bike tour. It's a benifit for the homeless or something. Anyway, I would like to ride this and guess I will only be able to ride the 26 miles. Wish I would have worked myself up further to be able to ride the 42 or 50 but, well you gotta start somewhere. LOL

[twin]

45 miles and I started early to beat the heat and boy was it hot by 10:30. It would be nice to have a cool day soon. 103 for the next few days. Oklahoma with plenty of sunshine.

[Fredwina]

Dr. Liz,
With Gels/carb replacement, you've got to do some experimenting. I'm partial to Sharkies (like Gummi bears), or Clif Shot/Shot Blok. Plain Shot is a Gel, and the block are sorta like Jell-o (other may feel inclined to add more apt analogies)

[mimitabby]

We had a wonderful ride.
i will tell you all about it later; but we rode 107 miles on Friday on little
sleep and not enough food!!
and saturday we rode almost 90 miles (87?) to a crazy finish.

It was gorgeous perfect weather, no mechanicals, lots of beautiful horses (and Donkeys, Llamas, Alpacas, sheep, goats, cattle, birds and cats)
to look at in Washington and British Columbia. It was a lot more challenging than
the STP but also a lot more fun and interesting.