May 16th Rides

[reddDesign]

Hey all!

I had another great ride with the Northshore Cyclists (http://www.nscyc.org/)

I decided last minute to go ahead and do the medium route, which by the cue sheet was 35 miles.

Ended up doing around 38miles at around 2.5hours. I say around because I forgot my bike computer at home

Weather was decent, bit chilly but good since I usually overheat anyway. Some hills but nothing I completely bonked on, and the last 10 or so miles kicked it up a notch and rode with a normally faster group. Lots of fun!

What thread would I start without pics?

Bike parked at the school where we started, which thankfully had bathrooms open!


Couple of people I rode with for awhile.


trees!


this lake was literally two inches from spilling over the road, no riding here after rainstorms!


Unfortunately one of the riders in the slow group I was with early in the day fell and broke her collarbone, I believe a truck got too close...wasn't with them at the time. I'm going to send her a card...she's a trooper!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We did a favorite 18 mile ride today, the temps in the 60's and breezy- lovely!

This ride is pretty hilly and that pulls down our average speed to usually about 8.5 to 8.8 mph overall....so many l-o-n-g hills that we are spinning up like snails at 4mph. Oh well!
But today our average for this ride was 9.4- significantly higher than last year- I know my leg muscles are stronger than they were at the end of last Fall. I can tell because I now downshift about 1 gear less on certain familiar hills than I used to have to. Go, quads!

Of course on the way home some of those slow miserable climbs become screaming downhills. Today my bike computer showed that at one point we hit 40mph today. Funny, the highest I've ever hit was 41mph two years ago, and it was scary fast...but today nothing struck me as particularly scary. I think I'm just getting used to speed more and am in control a little better. 40 is the new 35... or something like that.

Anyway, a lovely ride was had and a good leg workout too.

[reddDesign]

Nice I know long hills kill me too...I've been good though, haven't needed to use the granny gear since last month, though my knees are paying the price haha.

I once did 49.5 mph on my bike...scariest thing I've ever done, and I race cars haha. I don't think I'll ever go that fast again, at least for awhile...the bike really needs a good tuneup, retrue wheels and such. He (which my roomie has dubbed Ryder) was giving me a few problems today, being weird while shifting and such...and I thought I'd be the one with problems on the ride haha.

One of the reasons why I love cycling is I can set goals for myself...my first ride out I worked on just getting breathing right, and pedaling correctly, etc...then it was not using the granny gear on one of my main rides with a long hill, then it was getting faster, going longer, etc.

[divingbiker]

Did a quick errand trip over to the post office and to Whole Foods today. Wore my street clothes and my chacos, which worked surprisingly well in my mini toe clips, and no gloves. I felt a bit naked, but it was a nice ride. I think it was only 7 miles or so round trip.

[Crankin]

Lisa, was that the "lovely" 7 mile climb that we did leaving your town last summer?
Today we lead the AMC New Members ride, which really isn't for New Members. We had perfect weather, between 65 and 75 during the ride and sun! There were 47 of us, including our co-leaders. Thankfully, we split the group into 2 different speeds, because there were so many big groups out riding in Concord today, that it was crazy! Imperfect Storm and Mayanorange came, too! It's always funny when someone comes up to me and introduces herself by her TE name.
The ride was only 22 miles and we only had one mishap. A guy had 2 flats and he had no tubes, etc., hadn't pumped his tires.Two other leaders, who were just along for the ride helped him, but geez, how much more explicit can I be when I say "bring spare tube, water, and a snack!?"
After the ride we bought lunch for our friends who co-lead the slower group, as they did it on less than a day's notice when someone else got sick. We got stuff from the Cheese Shop and sat on the lawn and watched the tourists and millions of other cyclists riding by.
Now I have to go grocery shopping .

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lisa, was that the "lovely" 7 mile climb that we did leaving your town last summer?

Nope, it was a shorter but steeper series of hills today.

I know you'll never let me hear the end of that 7 mile climb thing. But wasn't the scenery lovely though? ;D
That was the route we always used to take to get to GB though. The irony is that after your ride here, Brian and I tried out doing the whole 50 mile loop in the opposite direction from usual...and discovered it was substantially easier! I guess the climbs were way more spread out and thus less noticeable.
Good to know next time you come here!

[Crankin]

I'm just kidding you... I won't keep bringing it up. I think part of my pain was the fact that there was so little shade and it was pretty hot that day.
I am too lazy to go to the store. It will have to wait.