Sunday, June 13 rides

[PamNY]

I did a nice, easy ride through Prospect Park in Brooklyn. I have a cold, so didn't push it. There's a hawk family there with three babies who have just fledged, so they are easy to find and beautiful.

It rained a little, so I put my trusty shower cap over my helmet. It really is time for a higher-quality helmet cover, though. I realized that riding through Brooklyn puts me at risk of being photographed by Bike Snob. Today I was Fred to the tenth power (at least).

[owlice]

I rode to the store and back because I had a car accident this afternoon, had only one can of cat food in the house, and couldn't face not having food for the old decrepit toothless feral cat in the morning. Yeah, that's me: cat food patsy. Sheesh! Canned cat food had to be procured.

I was very surprised that the bike computer said I rode for (only) 7 minutes; I'd stashed it in my handlebar bag and think it was napping along the way. Going to the store is fast: it's all downhill. Coming home, not so fast.

[Crankin]

I had an interesting ride Sunday. When I was away, a new bike shop/coffee place opened up in Lexington. We saw something about it in the paper, so since the weather was still kind of on the verge of rain, we decided to take our Jamis' and do a leisurely ride, combining road and bike path. Normally, I would never ride on the Minuteman Path on a weekend, but since the weather wasn't perfect, I figured it wouldn't be busy. Anyway, when we got to lexington center, we couldn't find the place, even though, it was sort of in front of our noses... we thought it was right behind the trail, but it was across the street. The shop sells Sevens and some bikes called Public. And a whole lot of Raffa clothing and some other super expensive gear.We had our mochas and chatted with one of the guys about buying a Seven touring bike with couplers. They were friendly and not pushy, but I am pretty sure there's a small range of people who would go there. The Public bikes were not expensive and kind of cool for commuting. There were plenty of people (roadies) hanging out there, drinking coffee. While I wonder how they will stay in business, I did like the fact that they were friendly to me, despite the fact I was wearing my Zoic knickers and a fashion-y looking lycra t shirt, not regular cycling clothes.
The ride back was a little colder out and I had to stop and put my jacket on. There were more people on the trail. At one of the major street crossings (there's a light for the cyclists), a whole mob of people crossed going the other way. A kid fell off of his bike in the road, a bit behind me and right when I was about to go around the little gate to continue, a family was stopped right in my path, taking up the rather small area to pass through. I had to stop and I said "excuse me," when the mother started screaming at me, "Can't you wait?" I was really pissed, as I had been very polite and she just went off on me and continued to block my way. All they had to do was move right!
The rest of the ride was uneventful. It never rained, but was very humid. 25.7 miles.

[OakLeaf]

Ack owlice! Sounds like just a fender-bender... hope you're okay and your car is, too!

I got to play ride leader. Story of my life is I'm too slow for the fast group and too fast for the slow group. So a normal "group ride" for me is either sitting in/taking token pulls in a fast paceline; riding off the back in a fast hill ride; or riding off the front in a slow ride, maybe stopping at intersections if I'm helping navigate.

Yesterday there were some complications, and I wound up having to take two slower ladies around the course. On some days I might have grumbled inside, but yesterday it was fine. It was very humid and hotter than it's been, and I've got a little bit of a cold or something. Besides, it's good for my head to be responsible for other riders now and then.

[divingbiker]

Hot and humid ride here, too. I did the 17.5 mile triathlon bike course (tri is in 2 weeks) after running 4 miles in the morning. There's a reason why the run comes after the bike--my legs had nothing left, and the heat didn't help. Very slow ride, but I got to go kayaking afterward so it was ok.

[arielmoon]

Recovery ride for me of about 30 miles. I got to test ride some lighter wheels so I did play on the hills to see if I could feel a difference. It was pretty cool. I was riding in the SE with a friend and we met a gal heading to the road races in the NW. She had ridden from far south while doing a 3 hour triathlon training ride. We gave her directions and rode with her for a while before parting ways.

I went home, showered and headed out to the road races myself. In the parking lot I found my friend who was racing that day. I offered to help with water bottle and he took me to the feed zone where he had other friends. Low and behold here was the gal I had met earlier in the day. Small world sometimes!!