May 18th Rides

[BarbaraAlys]

Well, no one had started a thread yet, so I thought I would.

I am very proud of myself this morning. First, I went out riding by myself, something I've had a hard time doing (as some of you might already know I'm a fairly new rider, so I have all sorts of confidence issues.) Second, I rode on the roads around here with the intent of working on hill climbing.

Where I live we have over 40 miles of paved bike trails, which are great, but if you want to do long group rides you have to get out on roads because they are just harder. So, I headed off on the road I live on, which is really quite hilly. My goal was to try to keep the cadence up, not worry about speed or distance. I still struggled up some hills, doing 4mph and a cadence of 48, but as I paid more attention to the cadence counter it seemed to smooth out some.

Anyway, a beautiful morning, 75 degrees, 9.5 miles under my belt and now it is on to cleaning the apartment!

Barbara

[divingbiker]

Got up early to plant the garden and walk the dogs so I could get out for a ride before the rain came. I didn't want to waste time driving to a place where I could ride on roads, so I did about 25 miles on the bike path between home and College Park. Got home just as it started sprinkling.

This was my first ride using the Lake cycling sandals I bought from a TE'er last year. Bad move--we've had a lot of rain and the trail had some big puddles and my socks got very wet and my toes got very cold. I think I'll like the sandals for shorter rides, but my toes got numb (I think--may have been the cold!)

[xeney]

My husband and I took the baby out in the trailer today for our longest ride so far. It was also my longest ride on my Puch mixte -- wow, that is my new favorite bike, and if it only had gears I don't think I'd need another road bike.

It was a beautiful morning, and we are going to make it a regular Sunday event. Penny loved it (she slept for about half the ride) and it is the only real break I get from childcare. He pulls the trailer and deals with any fussiness, because it turns out that she is terrified of the sight of me in a bike helmet! Daddy rides to work everyday so she is totally used to him looking like a giant bug, but not me. I stuck my head in the trailer once to fix her hat and she nearly melted down.

Fine with me! He's on duty, I just ride. It's lovely.

[DebW]

Wanted to ride, and needed to go to Belmont Wheelworks to buy a tire, so I rode there. Took the longer hilly 15 mile route there and the more direct and less hilly 11.5 mile route home. Had to carry the tire in a figure-8 on my shoulders coming home. I even got home before the rain started.

[redrhodie]

Had to carry the tire in a figure-8 on my shoulders coming home.

Did you look like Fausto Coppi?
http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/rid...sp?rider_id=13

Although my chiropractor told me yesterday to take it easy, I got in a 32 mile ride. By the halfway point, I could even look back! Now I'm painfree! Happy dance .

[DebW]

Did you look like Fausto Coppi?
http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/rid...sp?rider_id=13

More like the picture at the bottom of that page. This was a stiff wire-bead tire. Sew-up are much more comfortable to carry that way.