March 27th Rides

[velocilex]

It's a beautiful, sunny 73 degrees this morning with minimal wind, so I headed out southeast of town once the morning traffic tapered off. I have a nice 20 mile loop that I like to ride on busy days. It's an easy ride, apart from the in-town bit with traffic. Today when I got off the highway to the real rural part, I decided to take a detour through a neighborhood that sits out in the middle of nowhere in the woods. It was a gorgeous area and it added a couple miles on to my ride.

Back on my normal route, I crossed over the highway to ride a section of rode that somehow always insists that I hammer away, so hammer I did until the end of the road when I turned around to head back home. This is when it gets good, though. On the way back on this same stretch of road, I passed a wooded area and saw a large Doberman-type dog trotting out of the trees and towards the road. I knew I needn't panic since he wasn't interested in me at all. Why wasn't he interested in me? Because he had a sandwich in his mouth. I slowed waaay down to make sure, and it was definitely some sort of meat and white bread sandwich. I'm assuming there's a house somewhere back in the trees and Mr. Dog scored big, because I've never seen such a thing. That just made my day.

I wanted to stay out and play some more, but I've got work to do. A good ride, even if it was too short. 23 miles today.

[Velobambina]

The dobie-dog showed restraint! None of my girls would have taken the time to carry the sandwich away---my goldens would have gulped it down where they found it! Must have been a treat, seeing that, Velo. Too bad you didn't have a camera. I wonder who lost their lunch?

I am working at home today, so I took a mid-morning break to get in 43 miles. It's summer-like outside---going up to 80 degrees--but mostly cloudy. I worked up a good sweat and when I got home, my face was it's usual summer hammer ride color--BEET RED. LOL. Happens all the time, and people sometimes ask me, "are you ok?" It's just that blasted Irish skin I inherited. Anyway, a super ride all around. All the flowering trees are blooming now so it feels like spring has finally settled in.

[liberty]

Well, I have to say I have been riding a lot so far this year. But I've only done flats, and today I did a 13 mile hill route. Used to do it all the time. It was my easy, "I only have a little while to ride" route. But it knocked me silly. Had to stop many times to catch my breath, drink something, and eat something. Guess this girl needs to forget the flats for awhile... The weather was nice though! The drivers were friendly, and there wasn't a dog to be seen!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Got in a nice 20 mile ride this morning. 45-50 degreesF, and foggy/drizzly. Very refreshing and I could smell the damp earth of spring (and the damp manure going past the farms!). Sad to start seeing road kill again, but glad the suicide earthworms aren't out in droves yet. Am enjoying my new stem and my nicely tuned derailleur.
Have gotten over my initial "spring thaw" soreness in my thighs and on my sitbones, and am feeling really good now. Now that Winter has finally retreated I'll be working on adding some strength beyond what I did last year. Actually, I was surprised how little I had lost over the winter- it only took about 8 rides to get back to where I had left off. Of course part of that is because we had another mild winter and I was able to get in 2 or 3 rides a month for most of winter.

[Crankin]

Did a 16 mile loop around Hanscom AFB and back. Usually, we do it in the other direction, but because it was rush hour, we reversed it, so we would have less time on the road with cars heading home from the city. So, except for my street and driveway ( ) it was a flat ride. I pretty much never have the chance to ride anything flat, so it was nice.The only weird thing was that when we left it was partly sunny, and after about 3 miles, the sky got really cloudy and dark. I mean so dark, I could barely see with my dark lenses on. It looked really threatening to rain or even thunder, but it didn't. As soon as I got home, the sun came out.

[makbike]

Rode into work this morning and spent the day trying to explain to my 7th graders how to balance chemical equations. By the end of the day I was in need of some time on my bike so off I went to check out a new road. According to RouteSlip the road I wanted to travel intersected another road I've been on a few times - a perfect connection that existed on the map but on in reality. So I climbed several hills only to find myself on a deadend road. Oh well, turned the bike around and headed home. Even though the ride did not turn out as I had hoped I was given the perfect opportunity to decompress and enjoy yet another picture perfect day (sunshine, 80's, little wind, etc). I got in about 25 miles and enjoyed every minute I was out and about on my exploration.