Sept 20 rides

[TrekTheKaty]

In St. Louis we have been very lucky--however, there is still a lot of local flooding from Ike and the huge rainfall/flooding in Chicago coming down river. All of our normal long routes are flooded, including our daily park loop. It reminds us that our daily bike rides are being interrupted, but we are still very lucky compared to others that were hit much worse. (Our first century is in jeopardy--TrailNet's offices were flooded and damaged the equipment they use for races, including the power bars that were already ordered).

As a result, we've had to ride more road routes around our house--with many more rolling hills. After the second day in a row, my legs were tired. But DH walked in the house after and said, "You're keeping up a good pace--to drop you I had to go to 'pain speed.'"

I think there was a compliment in there somewhere

(And the rain forecast for the weekend has missed us!)

[redrhodie]

I was on my bike at 9:15 this morning. It was so cold. I put on my Craft jacket, then thought, if I wear this now, what am I going to do in February?! I put on my lighter fleecy jersey instead, which was actually perfect for today.

Gorgeous day. Lots of riders out. I passed a whole group ride, which I'm sure was because they were recovering or training or for some reason riding slow on purpose, but it was fun to feel so fast, going by them on my solo breakaway. I was Eddy Merckx, and they were the peloton. I kept expecting them to speed up and pass me, but they never did. The Phil and Paul who live in my imagination were going ballistic. You shoulda heard them .

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Just a very pleasant 20 mile country ride with my honey after breakfast at the cafe in town.

[makbike]

Rode my 25th century of the season today and like the previous 24 I had a great time. This is the club's annual Virgin century - designed for first time riders (lots of flats, some rollers and only a couple of climbs). The morning started off chilly and damp. I'm glad I packed my arm warmers last night. I really never warmed up until about mile 60 when the sun finally made an appearance. We traveled through southern Indiana today and were given a first hand view of the damage from the awful wind storm we were hit with last Sunday. Trees were down all over the place, large trees. Simply unbelievable. Fields of corn were flattened and section of tin roofing was wrapped around electrical/phone wires overhead. We traveled through Clark State Forest and again the destruction was unbelievable. Trees littered the ground and evidently had covered the roads earlier in the week. I'm always in awe of the power nature posses.

[Fredwina]

I did a century also (The oneightywest bike-a-thon in Norwalk , CA)
We went up the San Gabriel River Trail , across northern orange county, Down the Santa Ana River Trail(25 miles into 16mph wind), across PCH , and back the San Gabriel Trail.
I'll probably update my blog tomorrow afternoon, buit in the meantime:
The San Gabriel Trail:

a very Big A at Angels Stadium:
The Honda Center across the the Street(Home of the Anaheim ducks):

An idea of how bad the wind was:

Where's Jan and Dean?

There's oil out thar!:

and on land too!:
This is the Navy Depot in Seal beach. My youngest is the navy and you could say he's found of seals (I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wow Fredwina, nice pix!

my impressions:
no clouds...
intense sun...
flat flat flat...
towers and poles everywhere...
beautiful blue skies...
tough vegetation...
windy...

[shootingstar]

Great ride skierchick!

Did 35 kms., and good thing we pressed onward after starting off, weather improved,ie. rain held off ....but then it poured during last 15 kms. Still fine, with a few hills.

I always feel skinnier in the tummy after a few hills.

[HoosierGiant]

Rode the century portion of the Hope Ride in (of all places) Hope, Indiana. Participants donated enough canned goods to fill a pickup truck bed with food items for the Hope Food Bank, and enough money was raised to fund the food bank for the next year!

The SAGs were fantastic, organization was top-notch, and the course had the best 'character' of any long ride we've been on. Winding, hilly country roads along the Flatrock River made for some gorgeous scenery. Best organized ride I've ever done!

[squirrell]

I took my new Trek 1.2 WSD out for its first long ride.

I did my first group ride with a church group I joined, The Holy Rollers. We did a 45 mile ride through Emporia, VA, which has "rolling" farmland. Fields and fields of cotton and peanuts. The hills, though small for most, really slowed this flat-lander down!

There were 5 of us--I was the only woman. We averaged 15mph but the guys were much more experienced cyclists than me, and I'm sure they could have gone much faster. They were used to the hills, too!

They made sure I always had someone riding right with me, and the rest never got more than 1/2 mile ahead. On the flats, we made about 18mph average.

We even did some peloton (?) training, and I got to ride "post" (they called it) a few times. That was really fun! We averaged 20mph doing that.

The new Trek performed flawlessly! No soreness at all--very very comfortable. My back didn't even get tired! And, even the seat is comfortable!

I have named my Trek "Little Mule." It was my DH's suggestion. He thinks it's "so small"--it's a 47cm frame--but it's still very capable. And, if you remember the movie, "Romancing the Stone"? That scene where the guy says "all I have is my little mule" and then you see them next tearing through the countryside in this tricked-out Ranger truck??