Aug.29/09 ride

[shootingstar]

43 kms.-- beautiful, sunny day not too hot, in different direction from what I normally do during the week, where today we stopped at a newly opened winery in suburb ..which is also farmland area and where alot of blueberries are grown. Loaded on some locally made fruit wines for gifts later and tried their red icewine. Lovely and complex but at $95.00/bottle. Unusual since we've only seen /tried white icewines at other wineries.

Well, nice to think we live only 22 kms. away from a winery (not vineyard, they get their grapes from interior British Columbia) and we live in heart of city.

Also bought 3 lbs. of blueberries, other fruit, etc. at local farm stands along the way.

Later this evening, will tack on a dinky additional 10 kms. to hang out for pedal-powered music at Bicycle Music Festival. Looks like groups from San Fran. Should be fun! http://www.momentumplanet.com/news/v...ival-august-29

[Miranda]

Let me just start by saying that climbing straight into 17 mph wind HURTS.

Ahhh... OK, now that I got that off my chest...

I completed my furthest training ride today for my 1st century. And furthest since I started cycling.

Mr. Garmin said...

70.42 miles total
(slightly further than planned-yeah!)

1917 feet elevation gain
(hilly route choice from my flat section of the Midwest)

15.5 mph average
(see remark #1 of post)


My primary goal was to just complete the miles. Makes me nervous always going further unsupported & alone. But, I did it.

I'm happy with how I rode today.

Century is in 2 weeks. Hope I got it in me to squeak out 30 more miles. This weeks total: 247.75mi.

OH! Lastly... funny tid bit...
I'm in the homestretch last couple miles. Thrilled to know I'm gonna make it--and w/o dog or car harm. The freakin Ice Cream Man Truck almost runs me over passing! (ok, just to clarify--not driving icecream truck route speed did I get passed lol) I think: "hey! ya bastage--what's up w/that? don't you KNOW I love you?!?!". But, then it hits me--the guy was just doing his part to keep me outta the stuff through negative association. Gotta always look for the positive, right?

[emily_in_nc]

45.2 miles - longest of the year. Lots of rural miles plus post office, farmer's market, and food co-op. DH carried everything on his bike since he's so much stronger than me, and that worked out well. It was a great ride minus the one near-fall from losing a screw out of one of my cleats (I posted the gory details on the clipless fall thread).

[GulfCoastAmy]

I went 39 miles today - my farthest yet! Got a rear flat though and now I'm trying to figure out how to fix it (well, get it off first - ha!). Thank God for youtube! Ordered my slicks today too - yea! No more MTB tires for me!

[hilldweller]

77ks here, flat, and yes I did get (and need) a few pushes to keep me from dropping off the back LOL but that's OK Even did a short turn at the front AND, the weather's warming up here so I only needed one pair of gloves and my toes didn't go numb at all

[owlice]

I had a really good ride today, about 21 miles. Because part of the trail was closed due to flooding (mud), I had to ride the roads to get around the closure (on the way home; going out, I walked around the closure, through mud and muck and likely tick-infested vegetation.). I discovered that my detour home was.uphill. But I made it! And at the top of the hill, a Rita's, for ices and/or frozen custard!

The guy who waited on me was really nice; asked if I was okay (I was panting!), told me he runs long distance and he's had to run up that hill many a time, and offered to refill my water bottle. I told him that Rita's had been my beacon as I rode.

After I had my frozen custard (OMG, was it gooood!!!), I had a short steep hill to zoom down -- it's very steep, though short, and one cannot help but zoom -- to get back to the trail. I almost took out an old couple who were on the trail; they crossed the street without looking for traffic. I yelled apologies to them ("I'm sorry!!! Coming through!!! Can't stop!!!" "I'm sorry!!!"), which made them stop.

Saw an egret (Great Egret) in the swamp; I've never seen one there before. Such beautiful birds, these! And a Pileated Woodpecker flew over my head; this was also at the swamp. I also stopped to watch small planes taking off and landing at a general aviation airport, as there was an air show there today and they had way more activity than they usually do.

I felt really happy at the end of my ride! I ran out of daylight; I could have ridden more.

And I came home to find three packages on my porch, all with biking stuff in them, yahoo!!!

[denda]

102 miles. We did the Hotter 'N Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls, TX. Great weather. It was not Hot!