June 21 Weekend Rides

[Catrin]

I had a wonderful little ride this morning, and I made myself hit the streets rather than just riding across the street to my favorite park as I have been doing. Right now I am limited to the length of my rides and have fallen into that bad habit. Wheels hit pavement at 6:20 this morning to beat the heat and I really enjoyed being "on the road" again. The few cars I ran across gave me lots of room, and it was wonderful to see different scenery. I DID finish up in that park, and it was early enough that I saw far more deer than usual. Thankfully none darted in front of me - that is always a concern. No squirrels however, which was a surprise.

[colorisnt]

That's awesome. I love the deer as long as they stay off. The best part of riding here is it's flat so you can see across to make sure they are good.

Early morning rides are really great and peaceful. I wish I was more of a morning person but I have this feeling that I am about to become one with this heat back in Missouri.

I tried to get in about 42 miles with the old bike club here. It was pointless. The radar was supposed to be clear until the afternoon and we were planning on coming back from Michigan by noon. Well, going about 17 miles going out was great until the RAIN. So, me and another couple got a little over 7 miles altogether before we thought it was too dangerous and turned around. Breaks were squeaking and the grates by Lake Michigan were really slick and I didn't want to go down. We pedaled home when it let up a bit but it was POURING. I was soaked. I think the sports bra took on the most water. Gross. I'm sad but glad I stuck to my guns - the front is moving in more quickly now and don't want to be out in it.

[thekarens]

This morning was the 41 mile no-drop ride. Got a late start as someone in the group had a flat right off the start. This also was our club's "trash pick up" weekend. We do it about once a quarter, try to give back to the county where we have our club rides by picking up trash along the road. Between the late start and trash we didn't get done until almost noon so I was pretty well fried. On the bright side I got to see lots of scissor-tailed flycatchers and several zebras (yes, I do mean real live zebras)

[Crankin]

We drove to Mystic CT with our cycling friends, where we met the ride leader and 5 other women. DH and I were the sweeps. I was glad for once, as I woke up still with some kind of viral thing in both my head and stomach. It was a gorgeous day; about 78-80 and sunny. The ride is OK, not wonderful in my book because of 3-4 traffic situations, i.e. intersections I don't like, but there is really pretty scenery, especially at the end. There were no incidents with the group, except, right before we got to downtown Mystic, by the bridge, DH had a flat, where he cut his tire with something. In went the dollar bill! We were only 3 miles from the end. We stopped twice, once to eat lunch in a park and visit a church fair where we bought a mini fruit pie and split it 4 ways, and then in Mystic, by the harbor, where we watched the bridge go up/down and the boats passing. After that my friend's DH stayed with her (she was the slowest rider) and I rode up to the front. There ws one hill there, and I wanted to see what the other women were like... they seemed like strong riders, but I dropped them all in my big ring . That doesn't happen very often to me. One lives near me, and we might ride together sometime.
When we got back to the cars, we changed (I am the only women who would change in the car) and drove to a nearby fishing village and had an early dinner overlooking the harbor. I had delicious fish tacos. I did get a bit sunburned here, as I had rinsed off the sunscreen. Then we drove back into town, hoping to get ice cream, but we couldn't find parking. So, off we went and when we got near home, we stopped and got some soft serve with chocolate dip.
I'm tired and sticky, have to go shower. Even though I wouldn't say this was my favorite ride, it was a really fun day.

[denda]

My husband and I rode in the "Bike MS Ride the Rim" this weekend. 105 miles on Saturday and 25 miles on Sunday. This was our first MS ride. It was tough, but we had fun.

[emily_in_nc]

I did an errand ride on the Jamis, sans DH who is on the injured reserve list with a cranky knee. Sunday mornings are so nice for riding since the traffic is really light, even in the KC suburbs! And it was overcast with a hint of rain in the air (felt a few drops but nothing more). Very humid but not too hot -- just 81 when I got back. Hit Walmart and the Natural Grocer. I don't have a computer on the Jamis, but it wasn't a long ride -- maybe 12 miles round trip? Still, kind of fun to ride solo since I usually ride with DH. Helps me to learn the roads around here since I tend to follow him and not pay as much attention to what all the street names are.

The Jamis is proving to be excellent for utility rides!

[thekarens]

Today was about 10 miles of mtb with the club aka excuse to socialize and call it a recovery ride :-)