September 23 rides?

[Popoki_Nui]

Did anyone else ride today? I passed something of a milestone (not a gallstone or a brain-stone ) in that I met and exceeded my distance target for 2006. Yay! In May, I set my goal at 2500km when I joined BikeJournal, and today I'm at 2543km's and counting with three months left in the year.
Ok...I know it isn't a huge deal for many of you, but I think it's probably my personal best ever. Boat drinks tonight in celebration!!

~Sherry.

[KnottedYet]

Rode my "new" bike today. First ride ever. About 40 miles or so. Stopped at 3 LBS's (one of 'em twice). In every shop the guys ooohed and aaaaahed over my bike. Did some fussing and fiddling with fit.

Quillfred was a brave soul, and rode with me. Very patient. Huzzah, Quill!

The highlight of the trip was when I dropped my chain the first time I tried to shift the FD. And I got a lovely chainring tattoo that sets off the sculpted muscle definition of my sexy right calf. Michaelangelo's David has nothing on me! (well, actually, he does. But I'm talking about calves here.)

We wandered through Oktoberfest, but didn't stop. Ate lunch at the ocean, where we saw bald eagles and cormorants and a trio of sea lions (and various and sundry boats). Toodled around the locks, where we saw some gorgeous salmon. And I do mean GORGEOUS! I want someone to design a shimmering bike paint-job that looks like a healthy salmon.

Flew back down the bike trail and the ride was over too soon!

[im4smiley]

No ride....it rained....supposed to rain tomorrow too....so sad

[Bad JuJu]

First decent-length ride on Prof. Sprout (not counting the 5-mile trial run on the day I picked her up). Wow, I'm like 10mph faster! Just kidding, but I did feel a little faster--after all, she must be several pounds lighter than my heavy touring bike.

I did about 20 miles with a friend, including what we call the "big hill"--though it probably wouldn't look that big to many of you. After all, this is flat ol' Florida. Anyway, I wouldn't say the hill was exactly easy, but it was less of a struggle. Good thing, because the lowest gear on Sprout is a few teeth higher than the lowest granny on the touring bike. I kinda miss those granniest grannies.

I'll probably have to adjust my position a little. The saddle and foot positions feel pretty good, but my 53-year-old back was complaining about the more leaned-over, stretched-out position by about mile 15. On the other hand, I might just need a little time to get used to the new position, so I'll give it a couple of weeks' worth of rides before I decide.

Overall, Prof. Sprout's a springy, fun little ride that eats up the miles. We had a pretty good time today, despite the hot sun and high humidity.

[7rider]

DH, a neighbor, and I went out for our longest ride of the year. It was to be our "long" training ride before the Seagull Century on the 7th.
Was nice - cloudy, threatening rain that never developed, that kept temps down in the reasonable range. I wanted this to be our LSD ride - long, steady, distance - at a more reasonable pace than the Sunday shop ride (which we're not doing today because of rain and the profound desire to sit at home and be vegetables).
I was surprised we didn't see more cyclists out there. Saw a few, including this one woman on a Trek with tri-bars who was SMOKIN'!! We chased her down - boy she was hard to catch and it took everything out of my neighbor and me (and she replied "Oh. If I had known, I would have made it harder!"). Then she took off, and DH gave a half-hearted attempt to hang with her, and neighbor and I just hung in the back like whipped puppies.
Ended up with 63.2 miles at 15.4 mph.
Did about 2000 feet of climbing, and I dreaded those last two hills I knew we had to do. But, we survived, and other than DH's wanting new pedals, and my saddle feeling like a rock at the end of the ride, I think we're good to go at this point.

[HillSlugger]

Divingbiker and I met at Rileys Lock for our 40 mile ride through Poolesville. We have nearly identical bikes, her's is a 2005 Specialized Sequoia Comp and mine is a 2006 Elite. She was even able to explain the "trim" function of the front derraileur.

The ride started out with damp roads under a cloudy sky with gusty winds and very high humidity. A little way in the skies lightened and the roads dried out, but the winds and humidity stayed throughout the ride. We road the last 5 miles with occasional drops of rain.

This became my longest ride ever, but Divingbiker set a nice, moderate pace and I finished with my legs still feeling strong, but with my arms and shoulders starting to ache (still getting used to the new riding position).

The RouteSlip.com ride profile for this ride showed what looked like a really long, nasty hill right after the rest stop but it turned out to be a huge distortion of reality. Overall, the route turned out to be a very doable 40 miler, even with the winds.

Thank you Divingbiker for leading me through the route. It was fun to have someone to talk with.