May 6 ride

[Gidiup]

Today was very windy here in Rhode Island. 15 mph winds with gusts. I was only going to ride for an hour or so but then the endorphins kick in and I don't want to go home. Rode for 39.4 miles. Luckily, the wind was at my back for a long stretch. Nothing like breezing along at 20 mph with the wind at my back and no wind in my ears, just quiet. The last 5 miles were into the wind. At that point I was ready to get home. My thighs were complaining when I got home. I've got to toughen up my sit bones for my first Century coming up in June. Hope it's not so windy!!

[makbike]

I joined the club on their MS 150 prep ride (40 miles). It was a challenging route with lots of hills and a headwind (10 mph+) the first 25 miles or so. I guess my hard ride yesterday took more out of my legs then I had anticipated for I really struggled the first 20 miles or so. I quickly conclued that tired legs and headwind make for a demoralizing combination. However, once I left the SAG and got out of the wind I found a nice rhythm and really picked my pace up to a nice, comfortable level. In the end I rode 38.5 miles and averaged 15.7 so I'm a happy camper. Now that the ride is over, the lawn is mowed I do believe it is time for a nap.

[Crankin]

We started out to do a ride that we thought would be 35 miles. Since we started from a slightly different spot, we weren't sure. This ride has a steep climb near the end; the rest is rolling. Well, we ended up doing 30 miles and didn't do the climb part.
The weather was one of the strangest factors in how all 4 of us felt. It was 53 when we left, with a steady wind of about 15 from the NE (cold direction). It was partly cloudy, but supposed to clear up. I was wearing a base layer, light weight smart wool jersey and a wind jacket. i started out with my fleece head cover and long gloves. Oh, and i had my booties on, with thin wool socks. After 6 miles, we stopped at a gas station and I took off my base layer. About 3 miles after that, I took off the head cover and switched to regular gloves, unzipped the jacket. Then, we stopped to eat at mile 15. The sun went away and the wind picked up. When we headed out, I put the long gloves back on and put on a thin skull cap. I had taken the booties off at lunch. My feet were cold for awhile, but some good rollers heated me up. After about 10 miles more, i put the regular gloves back on... you get the picture. At this point we were about to turn onto Lost Lake Rd., which is the climb. All of us had various physical aches and pains, so we rode on a parallel street that I had discovered in the car a couple of weeks ago. It's lots of rollers and fun, but then you have to travel on a busy road with hardly any shoulder for about 4 miles , instead of just crossing it. I didn't mind (I realized how used I am to riding on busy streets), but my friend did.
So now the sun is fully out,it's in the 60s, and it's gorgeous. I have work to do...
Taking tomorrow off and hope to commute to work on Tuesday and Thursday.

[RolliePollie]

Rode one of my "daily ride" routes today...although "daily" is not quite the truth...I've hardly ridden at all in the last week! It's an 18 mile loop with some big long hills. An absolutely beautiful day...in the mid-60's, not a cloud in the sky, and moderate winds. Spring is in full force here...it's so green and lush and gorgeous! I get to ride through forest areas, our little "downtown" which is about 1/8 mile from start to finish, as well as agricultural areas with apple orchards and Christmas tree farms. Beautiful views of the snowy mountains too!

Aside from a terrifying stretch where I was passed by about 40 motorcycles, it was a great ride. Two things that really got me riled up about this group of motorcycles...#1 they were riding in pairs so they were taking up the entire lane, and #2 some of them felt the need to honk and yell and scream at me. This stretch of road was uphill with no shoulder and a 3' deep ditch directly off the white line. Clearly, the motorcyclists saw me there...unless they normally ride around honking and screaming. Of course, they had no idea that I was super tired, I basically cannot ride in a straight line, and that riding 4 inches from a ditch while wondering just how many more motorcycles were back there was scaring the living daylights out of me. At any rate, when they FINALLY finished passing me, I was shaking from the terror of it and had to stop in a driveway, sit down in the dirt, and drink my Gatorade until my heart rate and breathing got back under control.

The last stretch of my ride is a really fun little country road...downhill with big sweeping curves. I can basically ride down the middle of the road and get up to about 30 mph. It's like a treat to look forward to as I near the end of my ride.

And...I did not fall over today! I love my clipless pedals once I'm riding, but I was about ready to put my platform pedals back on. I'm banging up my bike and my body with my crazy tip-overs. I haven't this many bruises on my legs since I was a little kid! I still need to learn how to start and stop properly, but at least I stayed upright today.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I rode with a new club group today. They have a casual ride in my area about 3 x a month. It was great!, lots of fun! Plus, a girlfriend of mine came too and had a wonderful time. The "slow" group leader was a woman who seemed about 65 and so nice- she always stopped to wait up for my friend and me. We felt very welcome and we fit right in I thought. Such a nice group of friendly people.
Had ice cream afterwards. A wonderful sunny cool 24 miles (a welcome relief after yesterdays' LONG ride for me).

[divingbiker]

I had planned to go to Annapolis and do the annual 4.5 mile walk across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (once a year they close the bridge and let people walk across it), but the walk was canceled due to high winds (>30mph). So instead I met my friends at Lake Artemesia in College Park and did a 3 mile walk there, then went out for breakfast.

I was a slug for several hours, but I felt guilty so I took the new commuter bike, Miss Gulch, out for a ride to check out the new Brooks B68 saddle. I ended up back at Lake Artemesia, a 20 mile roundtrip ride. Very nice, cool, windy ride. And the saddle felt great.