Roctober Rides

[ny biker]

I had a nice bike ride today. There were several good rides listed on the club calendar yesterday, but I had some bike issues to resolve at the LBS and wanted to visit a friend who's in the hospital. So I planned out a route in the rural area in southern Anne Arundel County, MD (west and south of Annapolis) that included a visit to the Chesapeake Bay, and I posted it for others to join me.

We had a small, compatible group. There were six of us in all, plus another friend who did a century yesterday, so he rode at a slower pace and took a shortcut after the first rest stop. It was cold last night, with lows in the 40s, so we started late morning to let things warm up a bit. It was a bit breezy but the sun was warm and the sky was a beautiful shade of blue. We had a very nice ride, 46 miles in all.

I took this in North Beach, on the Bay.

[AppleTree]

25+ miles along the Interurban, clear blue October skies, and even a few flowers along the way still. I was excited to see this little one:




I have no idea what it is, but I usually only see it June and July. And only in one spot, which ends up being mowed down at some point. This little guy somehow escaped the mower.

Also a sunflower forest alongside the trail:




What a treat.

I always have trouble this time of year with over dressing for a ride. It starts out in the low 50s in the morning, which is cool, until I start riding, then I get overheated quickly. Especially when the sun is shining. Takes me a few autumn rides to get my layers worked out.

[ny biker]

I keep a journal for non-summer rides so I can note what clothes were comfortable under different conditions. It can be hard to believe that the sun will really warm me up when it's 44 degrees when I wake up and 55 at the ride start. But in October, the sun is still reasonably strong. Of course if the clouds roll in, it's a whole different ballgame.

Today I tested a wool shrug from Moxie that I bought at REI over the summer. It was quite cozy.

http://www.moxiecycling.com/ProductD...tCode=BOL14500

[rebeccaC]

Yay for sunflower forests!!!

Rode to Pasadena to photograph a 1913 bridge for a monthly photo thread on another site. 58 miles round trip on city streets. Being in the 90’s made me stop for some other photos AND some plum sorbet and a strawberry lemon crullant on the way back

[khg]

Sunday I got out for a beautiful 45-mile ride out to Mercer Island, going around it in both directions, and back home. There were tons of cyclists out--it might turn out to have been our last dry weekend before the autumn/winter falling damps set in.

I'll admit that I stepped outside looking forward to the refreshing crispness of fall air, and was almost disappointed at how summery it felt. But I eventually resigned myself to the tragedy of bicycling in 70 degrees and sunshine

The good weather has made it easy to bike commute to my Tuesday/Saturday job (the easiest of my several to bike to)--I'm going to try to keep it up even as we transition into rain. I have a hard time starting a ride in the rain, but once I'm biking in the rain, I actually think it's pretty fun. I always feel better biking to this job, and more importantly, getting the time on the bike on the way home, so here's hoping I stick it out and have some rainy commutes to report as the month goes by

Meanwhile, I'm slowly getting blog posts up about my cycling trip in Italy, which has been really fun as I relive each day. And I can't recommend highly enough Cinghiale Tours if you're looking for an Italian cycling vacation.

[Sky King]

We bit off a bit more than we'd expected for our first October Ride. Did a S24O in the desert. We rode a section of the Idaho Centennial Trail. Picked it up outside of Bruneau, Id at the Bruneau Canyon Overlook and rode to Indian Hot Springs. In hindsight tackling 35 miles of this trail on loaded bikes was a challenge. The Hot Springs were wonderful, the two mile bike push/climb out in the morning certainly got the heart rate up. Ride back was dubbed the infinity desert ride - miles and miles of open country - no fall foliage on this one. Very rocky and bumpy so quite a bit of bouncing around on the saddle, I think everyone came back with sore behinds

[CAS]

Oh, Rebecca! I LOVE your photos--especially, the one you gave a vintage look!

[emily_in_nc]

Oh, Rebecca! I LOVE your photos--especially, the one you gave a vintage look!

Rebecca takes the most amazing photos!

Rebecca, if you are not a professional photographer, I am surprised. You certainly could be!

[AppleTree]

Can't wait to read your blogs when I have a bit of time Emily!

I did almost 51 on the Centennial Trail again today. Last weekend I did great, this week was more tiring, but there was a stiff headwind going back south. Lots of riders out today and no wonder, it will probably be one of last days this year it will be in the 70s. Gorgeous day!



Oh, and I had a little hitchhiker!

[azfiddle]

Somehow I've ridden about 400 miles this month and haven't posted anything! Last week I did three twenty-ish weekday rides (two "training" and one commute) plus a group ride on Saturday and an organized ride on Sunday.

The organized ride is the "Tumacacori Century", which mainly follows the Santa Cruz River valley south of Tucson toward Nogales. I had signed up to ride the full century Sunday, but my longest ride this fall was about 64, so I wasn't sure about jumping up to about 100 miles. I opted for the 71 mile length, which also meant I had a riding partner. Only the fast gals were doing the longest distance and at an average of around 14 mph, it would have been 8 hours or so, depending on rest stops. It was a good choice- I still had a something in the tank when I got back, and wasn't in the last 20 riders dragging into the parking lot. It's a nicely supported ride, with more options for snacks than a person can possibly sample, and sub sandwiches and a local Tucson treat- Eegee's frozen fruit slushies at the end of the ride.

[rebeccaC]

Thanks AppleTree, CAS and Emily for the nice comments on the photos!!!!

Emily…..Thanks for the blog links!!
We stopped to ride a few times on the northern California 101/1 on a trip back from Wa. a year ago.
It's absolutely a magical road through Prairie Creek. I also posted some photos of the ride in the "Show your 2013 summer adventures" thread. Looking at that thread again I found Eden's photos of one of her rides up to Mt. Baker that inspired me to ride it when on a trip to Bellingham Wa. I couldn't remember who posted the photos......THANKS EDEN!!!!!!

[Crankin]

I did an early morning ride this morning, something I haven't done in awhile. I'm still waking up at an ungodly hour (3-4 AM) from traveling, so I got out of bed at 4:30, and since it wasn't raining, decided on riding, instead of spin class. I always love riding early in the AM, but sadly, there are more people up and about now, as compared even 2 years ago. However, the first 15 minutes of the ride is always quiet, and I even saw another cyclist at my first intersection.
I rode through Concord Center and came right back, so only 10.3 miles, but I felt like I was working hard. I have several versions of this ride and today I did the shortest and flattest. When I got back, I discovered I had jammed the zipper of the back pocket of my wind jacket; since my phone and wallet were in there, I had to work hard to try and get it unstuck. Unfortunately, I couldn't, so my choice was cut the jacket or rip the zipper apart, which I did. Since I won't be riding until the weekend, and it's going to be a bit warmer, I will be able to take it for repair and use other clothing combinations. It's going to rain for the next 4 days, of course during the days I actually have time to ride during the day.