Friday, August 25th rides

[Tater]

Nice ride in, 58 degrees. Not much to report from this ride, just the same ride, different day!

~GLC, the vibes worked yesterday! The afternoon commute went nicely. Thanks! ~

[pooks]

83 to 86 degrees and I'm dripping sweat everywhere.

However, I would like to report my longest ride ever, my first ride alone on major roads (not much traffic, though), and my first venture into the supermarket with my bike, heh.

I rode about six miles, then dropped off some stuff at a friend's house. I was pretty tired when I was almost home, about 8 miles into the ride, but I really felt like being a spectacle (seriously -- I've been talking about doing this for a long time but didn't feel in the mood, and today for some reason I did) so decided to keep going and go to the grocery store to pick up a prescription.

Also in play -- I missed this prescription yesterday, really really needed to take it this morning, and had a feeling if I came home I'd not want to get back out until I showered, and I just figured, what the heck.

Rode to the store, rolled my bike in with me, got only a couple of odd looks, rolled my bike up to pick up my prescription, nobody said a word other than to fill it. She did ask how far I'd ridden, though.

I then rolled my bike back out and rode home.

10.4 miles, fastest speed 8 mph going downhill (ha!) and I feel very green because look at all the gas I saved! Maybe a half gallon?

[mtbdarby]

Awesome job Pooks! Congrats and huge YOU GO GIRL to you What a wonderful way to start your day.

I got on my trainer for the first time in weeks. Rode for 20 minutes and my hand was throbbing. Woke up this morning and could barely bend it This is really getting annoying. It's been 3 month since my accident and summer biking is pretty much done here. Anyone want to give me a pep talk or have you dealt with a nagging injury like this?

On a much better note, I was calling the dogs in before work this morning and they didn't come so I stepped into the back yard - they were nose-to-nose with a black bear! And me without my camera! Now that's an adrenaline rush you just don't get from a cup of coffee Dogs and bear are ok, guess they were just checking each other out...

[DDH]

DH and I took off this morning after the boy got on the bus and rode for almost 20 miles. We should have went just a little further distance to make it even.
It was in the 80's when we left. Suppose to get to 103 again today here.
Gotta ride early or pretty much forget it.
Had to stop at one of the convience stores and run in and fill my bottle with water and ice, I had drank it all and still had 8 miles or so to go.
We had a good ride though. We need to start doing more of these long rides to get our endurance up some before our ride the end of next month.

By the way, GREAT JOB Pooks. I'm still new at this too, and most of my rides now are 10 miles with an occasional longer ride in there.

[GLC1968]

Glad to hear it, Tater!!

Pooks - Awesome job! Personal bests are always a rush!

Darby - Holy cow about the black bear!! Unreal! I have no advice about the hand except to be careful. You don't want to slow the healing progress and keep you off the bike for even longer. Hang in there!

I didn't ride today. We have a fast group ride tomorrow and then 75+ on Sunday, so I drove in today for a rest day. As I was driving part of my commuting route I was thinking how bummed I was to be in the car and not on my bike!!

[pmeverett]

Ok not really a commute in a sense. I work from home mostly and took my car into the shop yesterday, about 7 miles from home. I rode my bike back and plan on riding it back there this evening after rush hour. But in the mean time, my 12 year old son who just started wearing contacts called me from school at 7:45 to tell me that he tore one. Of course he hadn't put his glasses in his backpack like I asked him to So I rode my bike to the school. It was a nice ride. I had a motivator too. I was actually supposed to be working and not out riding! So I booked it pretty fast for me. I got back within a half hour so I considered it my lunch time!

[pooks]

It's hard to imagine that only a few weeks ago I would look at things like riding seven miles to pick up your car and think I'd never get to that point! You've got it all under control, pmeverett!

GLC -- good luck on your rides this weekend, and I understand the "why aren't I riding" whimper!

DDH -- I had ice water in my Camelbak Rogue and it made all the difference in the world.

MTDarby -- a black bear!?! Wow. Talk about up close and personal. When that happens, are you worried about your dogs getting attacked?

[mtbdarby]

Pooks, that was a first. I was surprised my border collie wasn't barking at it (and more surprised my elkhound wasn't running in the other direction). My first thought was one swipe and I'm short two dogs. So I'll have to keep an eye on things in the swamp. I think my 4 yo was scared when I told him what I saw because he told me "I don't like bears Mom". So I need to keep a bigger eye on him!

[makbike]

Pulled the Giro out this morning and commuted to school on it. Not a bad ride at all this morning even though I left 10 minutes later than I usually do. After school today I decided to go out for a spin and see if I could work the knot out of my hip muscle (I woke up at 4 a.m. in pain). My legs felt dead but I kept going and squeezed in 24 miles this afternoon. Summer has returned to the Ohio Valley for it was hot and humid this afternoon.