Oct 12 rides

[jaydee]

It's magpie season here, so I haven't been out on the bike for a few weeks because I just hate swooping birds. But I ventured out today, for a very leisurely loop around the lake. Now, Canberra has its share of lovely buildings and great galleries, but I thought I would share with you why I love going for a relaxing ride on a Sunday.


No, not snow - it was a balmy 70 ish here today. Some of the trees, maybe willows or poplars, are seeding and it was just lovely.


Families are out enjoying the wonderful sunny days.


Away from the crowds.


I love this woody area with just occasional glimpses of the lake - so cool and peaceful.

[crazycanuck]

Hey Jaydee!

Isn't the thought of summer being just around that street corner over there, wonderful!!! YAYY!!!!

I had a magpie moment yesterday morning & am glad i was on a quiet road!!! It was rather hilarious actually..

Nice to see photos of Canberra!! Hopefully we might pass through on our drive back to Perth from Sydney in the New Year! No bikes with us though

C

[RolliePollie]

I don't think we have Magpies here. I think I am glad we don't have Magpies here!!! Jaydee - beautiful pictures!!!

My ride can be summed up in two words:

Brrrrr!!!

and

Owie!!!

Brrrr because it's a beautiful sunny day, but it's cold! Only 42 degrees. That's cold for October, plus it seems weird because the most of the trees still have green leaves yet it feels like February!

Owie because I think I have a broken toe . It's swollen to twice its size and it's sporting lovely shades of purple, black, and magenta. This is just great as I have my first Century coming up next Saturday. Once I get my foot in my shoe, my toe is snug as a bug in a rug and only hurts for about 10 minutes til it goes numb. I'm determined to do this Century and I'm not letting a toe stop me!

[Crankin]

Today we rode from Littleton, MA to Hollis, NH to Kimball Fruit farm. This is one of my favorite local rides. It was about 59 when we left, but it got up to about 70. I actually got the clothing right, too; knee warmers, arm warmers and a vest. The arm warmers came off after 7 miles and the vest came off after 20. The foliage is perfect; the best colors I've seen in years. I felt pretty good while we were riding, too.
The last time we did this ride, it was about 95 degrees out and there was an air quality alert. It was so much better today. The fruit farm was so busy that there were no spots at the picnic tables, so we sat on the grass to eat lunch. Tons of people apple picking. I resisted buying an apple dumpling at the farm, when i saw the nutritional information .
These aren't the best pictures, but at least I remembered to take some.
43 miles, about 3800 feet of climbing.

[HillSlugger]

Beautiful weather for riding! I went out for a 42 mile ride that turned into an unhappy slog. The last 10 miles were just brutal. My legs were feeling it and my sitbones were screaming. Today, it wasn't fun.

[redrhodie]

I did the NBW ride in my town today. This was only my second organized ride ever, and it was a beauty!

I wasn't sure which group to leave with, so I left with the second group (the fastest went out first). I kind of shocked myself when I passed a whole lot of people, and caught up to some of the first group. I ended up tagging onto the back of a paceline of 4 guys, and got dragged much of the way! It was so much fun!

Then, there was some confusing marking, and my group split up. I ended up with just one guy, and he managed to catch the riders we'd been riding with. I watched them go further and further into the distance, ending up in no man's land. I rode alone for about 10 miles, and didn't see another rider, except one guy from the paceline who flatted. I thought he'd catch up to me, so I didn't wait for him, but he never did. I stayed alone for so long that I finally stopped to look at my map, and eat a fig Newman. Then, 2 riders came, and I rode with them for the last bit. I felt amazing at the end!

47 miles.

[fastdogs]

today I tried out a "long" route for mountain biking. Well, long for me.
I started out at the trailhead to al foster trail. This is a wide mostly flat crushed limestone trail. At the trailhead is a miniature railway, that gives rides on the weekends during the summer, so it's very crowded on a sunday with people waiting to ride the little train. But once you're on the trail usually I have it to myself. Today though, lots of riders and hikers. About 2.5 miles of al foster, and I come to the lower part of stinging nettle. It's not maintained very well, and there have been lots of trees down and one corner that looks like it's going to collapse down to the river. I decided to avoid that part and looped through one of the connectors and back to stinging nettle. There's this once ditch- narrow and steep, it comes down to a V at the bottom. So far I've always made it, although I always feel like it was pure luch, and I worry about destroying my front wheel or my front shocks in the bottom of this thing. Today, though, I did my first endo. Not a bad place to endo, since it's so narrow the opposite bank is very close, so you don't fall far. I got up, made sure nobody had seen it, checked my bike over, and went on. at the far loop of stinging nettle is the trail between the railroad tracks and the river, a narrow part that's hike a bike for me. Giant roots that you have to lift your bike over, and no room for error between the trail and the slope down to the river. At the end of this is castlewood park, river scene trail. I rode this nice wide dirt trail- again lots of cyclists and tons of hikers. Then I rode up the road to love trail. I took this one to ries road where I doubled back and got on grotpeter to go to rollercoaster. I actually passed someone!!! there was a guy ahead of me, and he kept stopping to rest. I'd pass him, then hear him coming up behind me and get over and let him by. Soon I'd go by as he stopped to rest again.
I did rollercoaster but wasn't very confident today- I almost didn't make it over the telephone pole someone had put across the trail because I just didn't have much momentum. I walked around the sharp right turn to steep downhill. I almost went off the edge of the last bit of rollercoaster where it's pretty rocky and downhill. Back on grotpeter trail down the rocky rooty part, walk the railroad ties. But I rode around the sharp right turn with the tree in the middle of it. I finished, then rode back down the road to river scene, hike a bike back to stinging nettle. Rode the upper part of stinging nettle back to al foster, and back to my car. I'd forgotten my water bottle, as usual, and was really thirsty by the time I got back. Total 15.5 miles. I got muddy and had some grease under my chin- not sure how that got there. My 5 year old said, what's that mommy, that black stuff. Did you fall? I said yes. He said how come you always fall on that bike?
vickie