January 27th Rides

[Meaux]

I did a little over 30 miles yesterday. It was the longest I've ever ridden and it wasn't too bad. I'm a bit stiff and my right knee is a bit sore (I've always had problems with that), but other than that it went okay. I was feeling really bad at first, but after a quick break, I felt great! There were even some rolling hills and a bit of a climb. I'm beginning to think that I can do this MS150 thing!

[Bluetree]

I had to go to work early, which meant I had to be back at my house by 7:30am. So I rolled out about 5:30am and headed towards the Palos Verdes Hills. I passed the beautiful Malaga Cove Plaza at the foot of the hill, where I knew my tri club would be organizing a ride at 7:00am. Did the climb in the pre-dawn darkness and did some rolling hills before heading back down to Malaga Cove.

At 7:00am I saw the tri club heading out so I turned my bike around and joined them as they started up the climb again. I wanted to ride!!!!
Ride??? Work!!!! Ride??? Work!!!!

But darn...I had to go to work. Partway up the climb, I bailed and yelled to the ride leader that I was gone. I turned back down and headed home. On the way home, I realized that the ride leader thought I couldn't make it up the simple hill. He must have thought, "What a wuss! She got dropped early!"

[SadieKate]

We had a fun little adventure. Someone in the local club leads an Amtrak ride by taking a long route to the next station down the way and returning home via train. Amtrak's Capitol Corridor route is the 2nd busiest commuter route in the nation (2nd only to Boston-Wash DC) and they have lots of bike racks aboard. We did a successful test run last week via a 47 mile flat loop but yesterday we took a friend and headed out for Lake Berryessa and the hills.

10 miles from the station we realized that with a sprint we could make the 3 pm train but, of course, Amtrak was late and it was starting to rain. So, Bubba stayed at the station and on alert with one cell phone at the ready while Cyndi and I went to the pizzaria right behind the depot and ordered a yummy pizza to go. 24 mins later we were back in Davis with lots of warm pizza in our tummies.

We decided this was an absolutely excellent way to end a ride and in need of a repeat. Pizzaria's number is going in my cell phone so we can order on route.

It also helped that we rode home with an extra loop of the neighborhood so we could finish with a metric. Somehow that extra half mile was soooo critical to our happiness.

[DeniseGoldberg]

It was a new record for me today in terms of temperature. I'm very comfortable with temps in the 30s (yes, Fahrenheit!), and I've done rides in the high 20s before.

Today? My bicycle and I rolled 18 miles while the thermometer was stuck at 18 degrees! If you're interested, the story of my ride (or maybe I should say of my decision to ride...) is at http://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com/2...s-rolling.html.

--- Denise

[IFjane]

Saturday was a "Friday the 13th" for me! Beautiful weather, if you didn't consider the wind. About 55 degrees & sunny. Too nice not to get out on the road. Changed my tires first - had a split on the rear plus a LOT of miles on those puppies. Then decided to give Godiva a good cleaning (needed to get rid of the "mice" that had been accompanying me on the last few rides ). SO offered to help so he removed the chain & cleaned it. Went to put it back on the bike & noticed 1/2 of the removable link was gone (SRAM chain). He found it - teetering on the edge of the drain in the laundry sink! He grabbed some pliers and.......PLUNK! Down the drain...... I handed him his wallet & the car keys & sent him to the LBS to get another link.

Finally got out on the road at about 2:30 - 26 glorious, hilly, windy miles!