7 March Rides

[Selkie]

OUTSIDE AGAIN, after almost a week of suffering w/my Baltimore Buddy, Troy Jacobson.

In the low 50s. No ice or snow on the MUT or road.

First bug in the mouth for 2009, too.

I thought it would take a rain to wipe it all away but a combination of a couple warms days, nights above freezing, and some salt did the job. It was nice to see that someone salted the MUT along the main commuter route into DC.

I got in an early 43 miler so I could get Fiona and Maeve out for longish walks.

[Tri Girl]

Man, I'd say that's an early ride. You're an early bird. Sounds like it was fun. Now that the clocks are switching forward tonight and bugs are flying into mouths; it REALLY means Spring is right around the corner. Woo hoo!

[7rider]

DH and I did the N2 with about 30 others.
The pace was easy. The roads were wet with morning dew (I don't think it rained last night), and with all the sand on the roads from the recent snow, the going was sketchy.
Unfortunately, our worse fears were realized when, going through a series of turns (like a Z), wheels washed out and 2 riders - our friends Howard and John - went down. Hard. Howard was fine, but John was knocked out cold and it was a few minutes before he even came to. The whole group stopped, of course, and someone dialed 911. Two ambulances came, and they took John to Suburban - Maryland's primary trauma center - and the same place they took my friend Terry after his crash last May. Fortunately, John is okay. A concussion. Some cuts and bruising. He doesn't remember the crash, but he remembers everything else...thankfully. His helmet was destroyed, but at least he was wearing it and it did its job.
Rest of the ride was pretty somber, to say the least, but we got through the rest of it with no more major incidents (one flat tire...).

[redrhodie]

Boy it's gorgeous out. I went for my usual loop, then decided it was so nice, I'd ride for another hour or so. As soon as I decided that, I noticed a skip, at first what I thought was a ghost shift. Well, I thought, maybe my cassette's wearing out. Several miles down the road, the skip was worse, and then turned into a skip with a click on the end. As soon as I heard the click, I knew it was the chain. I could see when I looked down some side to side play happening. I pulled over, and indeed found a link that was about to break.

Made a call to my brother to come get me. His inability to follow directions, coupled with my inability to give directions, made me decide the best idea was for us to meet at a place we both knew, which was a few miles mostly downhill from where I was. I figured I'd put it in an easy gear and mostly coast the whole way. Well, that didn't quite work. After about 1/2 a mile, the chain started jamming so I couldn't pedal at all. SO, I got off and started walking.

I got about 20 yards, when there before me, was a car with a Cervelo time trial bike on the roof, with a woman and kids getting in. I 'splained my dilemma to her, and she went and got her husband, who happened to have a chain tool handy. Unfortunately, it broke. Luckily, he had another one! Boy, someone was lookin' out for me! He took out a link, reconnected the now shorter chain, and I rode to where my bro was waiting. Mechanicals are fun when they work out!

This is the third chain I've gone through on this bike, which I haven't even had a year. Fluke? I'm beginning to think it's something else...

I'm getting a new chain tool for the guy who helped me, and some candy for his kids, who patiently waited in the car while their dad fixed my bike.

Bike people are the best.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

YAY!!!!!!! Our first significant ride of the year!!!! About 40F and partly sunny and dry enough roads. DH and I rode 20 miles...a great modest warm-up start to the year. I am out of shape, and the 20 miles today felt more like 30 miles felt last Fall to me. It's my respiratory stamina that's gotten out of shape, but happily my leg muscles seem just fine still from last year. Good ol' quads.

It was FUN! Saw and heard some bluebirds, a caterpiller crossing the road, big flocks of redwing blackbirds coming back from their winter down south...
Ponds are still frozen over, snow piles still hanging on here and there.

Then I actually cleaned my bike when we got home.
I feel tired and all stretched out but in a good way.

[alpinerabbit]

It was supposed to be freezing, sleet, snow-rain all weekend but we woke up to blue skies and 5-10°C, so we got out the MTBs.

We bundled up&went for a flat ride along one of the smaller rivers leading into town, 1.5-2hours or so. I dropped into bed like a dead fly when we came back around 4pm.

The cold takes so much out of you.

[chicago]

so jealous!!

It's nice in Chicago, but rainy. I've also been in bed for 11 days now with the flu. Am now just starting to get over the secondary infection to my respiratory system, ugggh... hopefully this is the end of it!!, and I will be better soon!!

enjoy the biking!!

[Jiffer]

I did the 3 Club Ride today in Redlands. This is an annual ride where the three area clubs meet and ride together, taking turns hosting. It was 42 miles and 2700 feet of climbing and almost all the climbing was at the front. My friend and I were getting a little worried at around mile 10 when it seemed like we'd been riding forever. We were VERY tired and sore and still had over 30 miles to go! I recall telling her, "It will be interesting to see how this goes", as I recalled last Sunday's 57 miler where I totally bonked at about mile 42. Not a good memory.

However, at about mile 18 when we had a stop, I looked at my Garmin and realized we had already climbed 2000 feet, so most of the climbing was over. After that, the ride got to be a lot of fun and we finished pretty strong. Woo hoo! Felt really good after last weeks bonk.

[HillSlugger]

Today I conquered my "Nemesis Hill"

Temperatures were about 70, so I was riding in tri shorts and a tri top. On my last outside ride I was wearing Frosty Tights and about 5 layers on my body.

I had mapped a 40 mile route but somewhere along the ride I picked up 2 miles beyond what I had mapped. Unfortunately, I've determined that this saddle and shorts combination has about a 35 mile expiration. The last 7 miles were OUCH!