Great Ride on Saturday.

[FreshNewbie]

Hi Everyone
And I hope many of you had a chance to ride this weekend. The weather in New York is hot and humid, but that didn't stop me from having a great ride on Saturday. And thanks to all of you for great support and advice, which helped me to really improve my riding skills. Even my boyfriend said that I ride much better, and that I should read the forum more often We put in only 15 miles at an average of 15mph. And this is my second time only. I finally got rid of the problem with relaxing and just enjoyed my ride. I just kept saying to myself that all my power is in my legs and that helped me to not put so much pressure on my upper body. What a joy !!!!!!!!!! Thanx to you all

[Jo-n-NY]

Hi FreshNewbie....and welcome to the boards.

I live on Long Island and after a cold, damp, spring, I am not minding the heat. I am not available to ride every weekend, but I was this past one and I ended the weekend with your excitement. I rode both Saturday and Sunday with that same ole stupid grin on my face. I was just loving it. The only major mistake I made was not putting sunscreen on my back and wore a racer style cycling top. I did get sunburn. Nothing like nagging the kids and I didn't practice what I preach.

All that aside, I will take hot and humid over damp and cold any day. This was past weekend was great. This coming weekend I will only have Sunday. Wonder what the weather will be.

Happy Riding ~ JoAnn

[bikerchick68]

Hiya Fresh! way to go on that ride! A 15mph avg is pretty quick for someone only on their second ride! be proud My first ride was 10 miles at about 11mph and it took me 4 hours to recover... and I'm pretty sure I noticed the Grim Reaper outside the front window but I didn't have the strength to tell him to get off my lawn...

just you wait and see... you'll be posting about your first century in no time!

[KSH]

Happy to hear that you were more relaxed and that your ride was enjoyable! And... to what others said... 15 MPH is pretty quick for a "newbie". All the "newbies" I have ridden with, average around 10 MPH!

My ride on Saturday was *interesting*. I finally got to ride with a buddy (Technotart on the board), and her hubby (he was a little slower so we stuck together)... which was cool... BUT we rode about 20 miles of chip road... and OUCH... talking about shaking my body to death!

One highlight of the ride though the two of sprinting off on the smooth flat rode... we were going around 20-22 MPH! I think both of us were in "awe"! HA!

The other highlight was that I made it up this steep hill at the end... and it hurt... but I would NOT let myself walk it. And I didn't! Then, I found out that I wasn't even in my lowest gear! DUH!


Sunday was another great day of riding! Went out with a group and we toured downtown Dallas. I would never get that opportunity if I were riding alone!

The higlights of that ride were: 1) Cruising over this bridge, into the wind, and hauling pass the other riders, as I was spinning and going 22 MPH, 2) Having a couple of riders from 2 weeks before commenting on how much better I was going hanging with the group!

[FreshNewbie]

Great to hear you had a good ride KSH , I rode in the park and the roads there are not that great either, but there are a lot of newly put pavement so I was sprinting also. My sit bones were pretty bad after all these bumps and holes but then you enjoy these few miles of flat and smooth road and I think you appreciate it more I need to find some courage and come out riding on a real road with traffic, since where I live the pretties places are always where there are cars. I am scared a little though! Congruts on your improving!

[FreshNewbie]

Hey Jo-n-NY!
Great to see that there are girls here from NY. I live in Staten Island but on weekends i am actually on Long Island with my boyfriend. We ride together and he is teaching me. We live way far all the way in Bellport, but i love the area because you can ride in beautiful places. I am planning to come out riding to Syosset, i been there and it is awsome place to ride, I am just scared of the traffic, so as soon as i am ready i am going to be there. You are right about that nasty spring. I also wore a t-shirt without putting on sunscreen and now i am walking around Manhattan with what local fashion fans would call "farm tan", but ohhh well the most important thing is that we know how we got it and we are damn PROUD I hope you will have a chance to ride this weekend.

Happy rides to you too

[KSH]

Great to hear you had a good ride KSH , I rode in the park and the roads there are not that great either, but there are a lot of newly put pavement so I was sprinting also. My sit bones were pretty bad after all these bumps and holes but then you enjoy these few miles of flat and smooth road and I think you appreciate it more I need to find some courage and come out riding on a real road with traffic, since where I live the pretties places are always where there are cars. I am scared a little though! Congruts on your improving!

Hee-hee... at the end of the ride, when we got off the chip seal and hit the flat pavement again... I was yelling and cheering.... and gosh I felt like I was riding like a pro!

I will say that I DO NOT ride where there are cars... alone. In fact, if I am going to ride alone, I ride on a path around the lake. Otherwise, I always ride in a group on streets. Safety in numbers.

Maybe you can find a club or some peeps to ride with?