Saturday, 12/30 ride

[7rider]

Wow.
Well, the mild weather continues in Maryland.
I've been off all week from work, but have opted to paint a bathroom rather than try for my 2,500 mile year goal (will be about 300 miles short - oh well).
Today, however, DH and I rode to the shop to deliver our Christmas joke-gift for them (we got them new fabric for their customer's director's chair - which was getting rather disgusting after a few too many sweaty cyclists camped out on it! ).
Was beautiful out. Saw loads of cyclists and the shop was hoppin' - something you wouldn't expect for late December if it were cold and miserable out.
With DH's new Seven ID8 expected to deliver in late January, he was on his flatbar road bike. We're both horribly out of shape and filled to the gills with a week's worth of holiday junk food. So we were rather leisurely on our ride - 16.5 miles at a mild 12.5 mph pace.
First coat of color goes on the walls tomorrow!

[suzieqtwa]

I rode 31 miles this morning. It was sunny ,and very chilly ,but with all my thermal underwear ,and 2 layers of socks ,I managed to keep warm enough. I did see a deer today which is rare because I live a very populated area. I guess they are building so much ,the few wild animals that are left here have no where to go.

[Fredwina]

I did 75 miles today.
We had two club rides, but only one leader (that would be moi!),One couple on a Tandem show up to do the slow ride and they knew where they were going. The other fun thing was I had never done this ride before. I went down Euclid ave thourgh Ontario, and climbed in the Chino Hills and Diamond bar, We turned south and went be the oil wells in Brea before coming back over Carbon canyon Road and the Ontario Airport. I tried to get everybody to come back a different way so we could make a four county instead of a three county tour, but no go
I had to help change his flat twice. He's one of those type who doesn't carry tools other than , a fun time!

[KayTee]

Relatively balmy again in VA, too, although a little windier than yesterday. My computer broke, so I have no idea how many miles I rode or how fast. I'd planned a small chainring recovery spin after yesterday's tough effort and knew I wouldn't stay with the faster group, so I rode about 1/2 the total distance by myself. I found a couple of new (to me) roads, met the main group at the coffee shop, paid my respects at the lbs (and egged on a friend buying a new bike), then returned to the start w/Mr. Tee. I'm thinking I might have ridden 30-32 miles based on his mileage. The sun was out, and so were all the cyclists - nice day!

[Meaux]

I did 10 miles today. Not so much, but I haven't ridden in a while and was without DH. (I don't like to ride without him for fear that I will be too tired to get back. Silly, I know...) Not a bad ride, but not so great either.

[makbike]

I joined the club ride this morning in Louisville. I needed just 9 miles to break the 1000 mile mark on my new bike and so it went me on this journey. The weather forecasters told us it would be in the upper 40's low 50's by the start of the ride so I left my feet warmers at home - big mistake. The temperature at the start of the ride was 40's and by the time we made it back to the turn around spot my feet were numb. I called it quits, loaded the bike up in my car and BF and I decided to have lunch together I logged 16 miles today, so I broke the 1000 mile mark on my new Giro (got it the first of July) and squeaked over the 5,900 mile mark for the year. Tomorrow is forecast to be a rainy dreary day so I may put my DF on the trainer or I may decided to simply sit on the couch, watch football games, cross stitch and nap with my cats. Oh the joys of being on vacation!

[ace]

Today was momentous for me. I had a bad fall (not on my bike, I slipped on a puddle of water at the gym) in early November and injured my knee, was on crutches for a couple of weeks, have been in lots of pain. Today I finally felt good enough to go ride outside (I've been pedaling a bit on my trainer). I did 4 miles at about 10 mph, and I am so freakin' happy! High 50's in Oakland today, so I rode in shorts. Biking is better than any medicine (ok, a month ago I would have said painkillers are the best medicine).

-Ace

[lauraelmore1033]

went out for a 20 mile ride with DH on a trail which was reported to be simply brimming with eagles and other wildlife (by Salsabike, I believe, yesterday or so). Didn't see any wildlife, but then DH isn't one to stop and smell the eagles anyway. It was lovely and quite mild, though. Parts of the trail always remind me of Dutch paintings of canal rimmed fields and luminous clouds swimming in blue skies. Hubby was in the mood to push the pace so we really SMOKED all those daddy-daughter duos that were out wobbling on their training wheels. Seriously though, it is gratifying to see that many hard-core biker daddies making the effort to encourage their daughters this way

[Aggie_Ama]

I test rode my new bike instead of riding.

Tomorrow I will have something to report. It is great to see all these "big deal" rides today. Congrats ladies!

[jobob]

This is a ride that we were going to do yesterday, but when we reached the start we realized that someone me forgot to put the box containing her helment and shoes and gloves and sunglasses and armwarmers and legwarmers into the car before we drove off. Um, duh?

We did end up having an absolutely lovely day yesterday just driving around. We drove part of our ride route, and as we ascended the big hill on Petaluma Marshall road I had to remind myself that hills always seem worse when you drive them. right. We drove out to the Pt. Reyes Lighthouse and it was absolutely wonderful out there, not crowded at all and the weather was pretty much perfect, not cold, not hot, sunny with no wind. We got our exercise going down about 300 steps to the lighthouse and then going back up them. Our fine day out was topped off by a late lunch at Tony's in Marshall, where we feasted on steamed mussels and dungeness crab. A great day despite my brain fart !

So, back to Marin this morning. Needless to say I made darn sure I had everything this time.

We started out from Lee's sister's place in Novato. We headed up Novato Blvd to Hicks Valley Rd, then up Petaluma Marshall road and the infamous Marshall Wall - albeit the easy side. It was absolutely gorgeous up at the top, with a great view of the hills and Tomales Bay. And it was a really fun descent down to the coast - wheee!

From there we headed south down Highway 1 to Pt. Reyes Station. What a beautiful ride. I was nearly giddy I was enjoying it so much

We stopped at the Cowgirl Creamery in Pt. Reyes Station for a sandwich, then continued on Bear Valley Rd, back onto Highway 1 thru Olema, and along Sir Francis Drake Blvd thru Samuel Taylor State Park. This was the one part of the ride I could have done without. Going through the park under the redwoods it was cold and damp, and the road here was bumpy and narrow with not much shoulder. There's supposed to be a bike path that parallels SFD thru the park, but we couldn't find it.

At any rate, we got through the park soon enough and back into the warm(er) sunshine. We turned up Nicasio Valley road, then up Pt. Reyes Petaluma Blvd past the Cheese Factory (that hill before the Cheese Factory is a bit of a stinker, especially late in the ride...) then down Novato Blvd back to Lee's sister's.

A really, really nice route all in all - I probably would have enjoyed Sam Taylor Park more if it were a bit warmer.

About 64 miles and 3500 feet of climbing, at an avg speed of 12.5 mph. Pretty slow as usual for me, but I think I'm actually getting stronger.

[Veronica]

Thom and I are thinking of doing a similar ride tomorrow Jo, but w/o the Samuel Taylor part. About a 35 mile loop starting at the Cheese Factory.

V.

[SadieKate]

About 64 miles and 3500 feet of climbing, at an avg speed of 12.5 mph. Pretty slow as usual for me, but I think I'm actually getting stronger.

Okey-dokey, I know whose wheel I will be sucking next week.

Any cheese coming along?

[maillotpois]

just noticed all the talk about rides in my neck o' the woods (what does that mean, anyway??). well, jo I am surprised I didn't see you and lee but it must have been because I know where the bike path is through SPT!!

I did 50 mile loop from corte madera through SPT around the reservoir through nicasio and back. it WAS a great day - and the first time I have been out in that area on a bike since the ride I did with V right before the whole lung thing.

jo our ride next week will be much easier than what you did yesterday - though there are plenty of options to add (or subtract) miles, hills, etc.

[weathergal]

I'm jealous of all of you with nice weather. We had a bunch of freezing rain yesterday, so I rode almost 12 miles on my trainer. Ice is coating everything, and we had the electricity go out several times. Fortunately the power was back on this morning when I did another 9 miles on the trainer, since I think I would go insane if I didn't have a DVD to occupy my mind while on the darn thing.

Sun is starting to come out now and is making everthing outside sparkly. Temp is only 25 F though, and with winds at 25 gusting to 35, that's still to cold for me to ride outside.

[Crankin]

We had our first snow yesterday... only about an inch and a half, though. We did the Yoga-Spin interval dvd, probably one of the hardest workouts in the Cyclo-Core/Zen series. After 5 3 minute intervals in the big ring (where I can neither maintain 100 rpm or get to the gears he suggests) it's on to 12 minutes of Power Yoga... fun.