November 10 weekend rides

[Catrin]

Events out of my control prevented me from riding yesterday, though it was nice. Today I manged to ride 24.5 miles and it felt great For the first time in some time my knee was happy with my finding hills and climbing them - and I did better than expected.

Beautiful, if windy, afternoon. I started, and ended, in my favorite park but headed out of the park to find some hills and to inflict wind upon myself. I had a Guilliana23 sighting, as well as a couple of others I knew. It was a fun ride!

[Owlie]

14.8 miles after work. Hopefully I can get out tomorrow morning before work and get a long ride in. I haven't done anything over 20 since September, and it's starting to get on my nerves.

[AppleTree]

Catrin, good you were able to get out after your "incident" yesterday. Wow.

Today I did my usual weekend 25+ miles up to the arboretum. It was a cold start, in the 30s but the trail was clear and no frost...some along the side though, in the shade. I forgot my water bottle and had to stop and buy water. That's how it started out.

I had the closest call I've had yet to getting hit...and by no less than a giant Ford Silverado pickup... I was going straight, he was at a stop sign ready to cross the road, I could see him look to his right and then left... I slowed down just to make sure he saw me...and as I got right in front of him he started to go. I SCREAMED... REALLY LOUD... and he stopped...waved at me as if to say "sorry about that".... moron. I know he looked my way and just didn't "see" me because I was a bike... even though I had a flashy light and bright green jacket on. He was with two feet of hitting me. Shook me up a little bit.

To top it off as I was getting close to home I got chased by a dog... nice. Good thing I was going downhill, I outran him.

Other than that it was a great ride...sunny, crisp fall northwest day.

Be safe everyone!

[happyscientist]

Beautiful weather here this weekend after a couple weeks of cold. Yesterday, I rode out to watch an area cyclocross race and ended up climbing some much steeper hills than I anticipated. When I got home, I mapped it out and saw that one was 13.8%, a personal record. My quads are still tired. I hope I can keep up with the guys today.

[BikeHN]

43 miles & 5100 feet of climbing over the foothills parkway & back in beautiful E. Tennessee. It was a tough day in the saddle but great weather & scenery.

[TrekDianna]

16.5 yesterday and it looks like we'll be heading out today also. We're exploring backroads in all directions.

[thekarens]

Road safety class followed by a very short 5 miles. Learned a lot and now we're certified if we decide to do the MS-150.

[DebSP]

The temperature in southern Ontario was fabulous today although a little windy. But I did 40 miles today. Half was gravel grinding and the other half was on the road. I wear my ankle high hiking boots to gravel grind and got some strange looks from the road bikers that were out and about today! (At least I hope it was just by hikers!)

[TrekDianna]

Road safety class followed by a very short 5 miles. Learned a lot and now we're certified if we decide to do the MS-150.

I would love to do one of those. I end up in Houston a few times a year.

[thekarens]

I would love to do one of those. I end up in Houston a few times a year.

It was a lot of fun. Let me know next time you're here. If you'd like we can go out for a ride and if you're interested in a class (assuming there's one being put on at that time) the information will be posted here: http://www.northwestcyclingclub.com/ and on their FB page. They also have a ride every Saturday.

[Giulianna23]

Went to Eagle Creek Park Saturday for a 20 mile ride and ended up just doing about 16miles. I organized a meetup with a couple of guys I already know and some new people showed up. The weather was great and I was feeling good. Everything was fine until we completed about 10 and a half miles and I started feeling weak on my upper boddy at the end of a climb that I have done several times with no problems. The group was averaging maybe 15mph which is a normal speed for me. But at the end of that climb I had to stop and then all of the sudden I started having vertigo and feeling dizzy Big Time! I was about to throw up and I thought I was going to pass out!...seriously!!..I don't know what happened. I had an Eye doctors appointment that morning and got my vision dilated but that was in the morning even though my vision was a bit blury I didn't have any headaches nor any symptons afterwards. I was doing a lot of errands in the morning until the time for the ride and didn't get a chance to eat lunch. I was only with my breakfast that I ate around 9 o clock right before my appointment. So I am thinking it was that...No Fuel! The group waited for me to recover about 5 minutes but I realized it was going to take me more time so I told them to continue without me the next lap which it was maybe 5 miles and by the time they come around again I should be ok to continue. Glad I had 2 water bottles and had some energy drink in one of them. It took me about 15+ minutes to recover and after drinking my energy drink and some water, I felt way better but stayed with a headache. I did the last 5miles with no problems. But when I got home the headhache continued for the rest of the day and tylenol wasn't helping. I finally went to bed and the next day I made sure I ate good at least 2hrs before going mountain biking. Well ...after about 4 miles of mountain biking I started feeling the same way a bit less this time even though I was biking wayyy more harder than the day before. I had to stop several times to recover...no dizyness but hedache and like brain pressure. So don't know whats going on. But overall I had a good time both days.

It looks like this weekend it will be nice too...at least above 50 degrees and little to no winds ...and that works for me!... lol...

PS: At what time you went to the Park Catrin?....

[Catrin]

Went to Eagle Creek Park Saturday for a 20 mile ride and ended up just doing about 16miles.... Glad I had 2 water bottles and had some energy drink in one of them. It took me about 15+ minutes to recover and after drinking my energy drink and some water, I felt way better but stayed with a headache. I did the last 5miles with no problems. But when I got home the headhache continued for the rest of the day and tylenol wasn't helping. I finally went to bed and the next day I made sure I ate good at least 2hrs before going mountain biking. Well ...after about 4 miles of mountain biking I started feeling the same way a bit less this time even though I was biking wayyy more harder than the day before. I had to stop several times to recover...no dizyness but headache and like brain pressure. So don't know whats going on. But overall I had a good time both days.

It looks like this weekend it will be nice too...at least above 50 degrees and little to no winds ...and that works for me!... lol...

PS: At what time you went to the Park Catrin?....

I hope you can figure this out Giulianna, it doesn't sound like fun at all I wonder if it was a combination of the dilation and not eating enough? Strange things can happen when we start running out of fuel. Is it possible that you were coming down with a bug and it simply had bad timing?

I didn't stay in the Park, I saw you when I was on my cool-down lap on the way home. It was around 2:30 when I saw you riding with another cyclist headed the other direction. You were in a conversation and I didn't want to interrupt and I was needing to get home to meet a friend. Hopefully they are right about the weather this weekend! I care more about wind this time of year than temps, it might be too much to hope for a calm Saturday with moderate temps, but hopefully we will get that combination.