4th of July Rides

[DebW]

Headed out for a 40 mile rid this morning. Planned to head south on Rt. 27, but after 3 miles hit a detour sign. Rode another 5 miles and tried to get back to Rt. 27. It was still closed, and a parade was heading down the street. Watched the parade for a few minutes, then planned another route. Got to Natick center and found more parade/festival to be avoided. Final got past all that by riding on Rt. 135, 16, 115, 126. Final tally: 40.7 miles in 2.5 hours. Great weather this morning, now starting to rain.

[makbike]

I decided to join the LBC for it's 4th of July century. This one started in Boston, Kentucky and went to Munfordville, Kentucky. I was surprised that it was not all that hilly. Now don't get me wrong we had some hills to climb but this area of Kentucky has a lot of hills. The one and only major climb was about 3 - 4 miles long and it was nasty. We also fought a strong headwind the first 50 miles. The winds were blowing at around 15 mph - so demoralizing. When we approached the big climb my average speed was 16.8 mph and by the time we reached the top it had fallen to 15.4. It basically was a slow grind all the way to the top. I was able to maintain this average up to the first store stop. The next 25 miles found us fighting the rollers and the wind and my average speed dropped even more, down to 14.7 mph and I was very unhappy. The talk at lunch centered around the wind and the hopes that since this was basically and out and back would mean one thing, we would have a great tailwind to push us home. How sweet it was and we were flying back to our cars. It was so nice to have that gentle push the last 50 miles. By the time we reached the 3rd store stop my average speed had climbed to 15.7 and I was feeling very strong and confident. Small groups formed along the way and it was evident everyone was enjoying the wind at their backs. When we finally made it back to our cars, 101.15 miles later, my average speed was up to 16.3 and I wanted to do a "happy dance" in the parking lot. However, I did not and decided instead to treat myself to large chocolate milkshake before I got on the expressway to head home. It was a great ride and I just so happy to have ridden a century 3 weeks and 1 day after my surgery - life is so good and I'm so blessed. Happy 4th to one an all!

[Trek420]

I took my bike to the bike spa today. She's getting a full manicure, complete with new handlebar tape. We leave for California on Friday. Bring on the summer!

Summer is waiting for you here. In the Bay Area the weather's been hot today and yesterday, supposed to cool down later this week.

I went swimming, first time in years.

My gym has a pool at the location nearest home, there are actually several public pools nearby, outdoors and probably more fun but since this is part of my membership why not go?

I'll need goggles if I keep this up. My eyes gave out before it did. But it felt great. Thanks TE swimming thread for reminding me how much I love to swim.

After that I stopped by Sears "where America shops", I'm looking for a small patio table. Everything I see is humongous. I'll keep looking. Dear Marketing/design people, some of us just want room for 2 coffee cups, maybe a scone. That's all I need. I don't need something that fills the entire patio.

Now back home keeping my dog cool.

[Kimmyt]

Congrats Makbike on the great century time!

Just got back from ride #2 here, 43 miles so around 80 total here today.

Lady was all decked out for the ride (and not a car honked at us, when we encountered one).



Ended up riding the last tough hilly 10 miles home in the pouring rain, but we still had fun!!

K.

[Kimmyt]

Also, Trek, you should look around for 'cafe tables' or 'bistro' sets, they are the very small (enough for a coffee and scone!) round tables that usually come with 2 chairs. I think Target.com has some...

[ladyicon]

It sounds like we all had a very pleasant biking morning . I did a July 4th ride with about 1000 other people I did about 28 miles on some very steep hills. My legs were just burning with lactic acid and the sun was in my face, but before I knew it I was at the top (hey, somebody has to bring up the rear ). The ride felt like an accomplishment and they had free beer at the end and a big party in the park .
I am now home for the day and we will be bbq'ing steaks later. It is so great to be an American!!

[divingbiker]

Kalidurga, MDHillSlug, Regina and her husband, my neighbors Anna and Julie, and I did a 9.75 mile MTB ride in Rosaryville State Park. As usual, it was great fun. This was MDHS's first ride in the woods, on her new Jamis Coda Comp with knobby tires. I overcame my jitters after about 3-4 miles, as this was my first MTB ride after my face plant a few weeks ago.

[MomOnBike]

DH & I tried out a new trail south from Lincoln to parts still unknown. We stopped at noon in a little town for hamburgers and iced tea (and to cool off it was a bit on the warm side today).

We didn't make it to the end of the trail, as I have work to do and DH has to get ready to travel tomorrow. It's on the list, though, perhaps an over-nighter in Beatrice, the next town on.

The trail is a bit new, we had to walk our bikes over some bad bridges and ignore "Road Closed" signes, but we had a good time. Speeds were slow, as we were on gravel the whole way, but that's OK.

The root beer floats were nice, too.

[luvs2ride]

DH and I went riding around our house. It's a 20 mile loop that we do a lot. We started around 8 am to beat the heat (it's over 100 today !!!!). As we were going up Mt. Baldy Road from Mills we saw some guys in a truck with mountain bikes in the back pulled over and looking at something in the bushes. We didn't stop but we were going to slow enough (as it's a steep uphill at this point) to see the cutest little black bear !!! Maybe he/she was trying to beat the heat too! Anyway, we kept riding and about 5 minutes or so later, pulled over to fix a flat on my bike. Well wouldn't you know that this was the time the mountain bike guys started honking their horn at the bear. All we could think of was the bear running up to where we were, etc. I have to say that that was the quickest tire I've ever seen DH change !! We were off uphill to the turn off towards Euclid Avenue to finish the rest of our ride without incident. Where is a camera when you really need one !?! Watch out Jiffers and Fredwina as I know you frequent this road a lot yourselves!!
Happy 4th to all !

Blessings!
Susan

[Triskeliongirl]

DH and I joined our LBC for a special 4th of July ride in Fredericksburg, a quaint old German town in the texas hill country. Last night storms were predicted, so we were sure it was going to be cancelled, but at 6am things looked good so we headed out (bit of a drive). We started with a really nice ride at 8:30, I did the 38 and DH the 50 so we could get back at the same time. A couple that just had a baby couldn't decide who would get to ride and who would have to babysit, so they decided to share the ride and run a rest stop since it was so rural there were no convenience stores to get water at. She rode the first 25 miles, and then relieved him at the rest stop, well stocked with hydration and snacks. In fact, she even ended up loaning her wheel to a gal with a bad tire failure. Another cycling spouse took the older children of the other riding couples to the parade, so they could ride together instead of having to switch off to babysit. Then we all met at a restaurant for a really nice lunch afterwards, joined by some of the non-cycling family members. We did get rained on during the final 2 miles, but all in all a fun day was had by all! It was nice to ride in a different place, and the route that was selected was incredibly pretty and traffic free. I should have taken a camera to share!

[Trek420]

Also, Trek, you should look around for 'cafe tables' or 'bistro' sets, they are the very small (enough for a coffee and scone!) round tables that usually come with 2 chairs. I think Target.com has some...

Thanks Kimmyt,
Have you thought about leaving the flags on if drivers treat you better? I've noticed even here in the bluest of blue states that I'm treated better in my one and only Red White and Blue jersey (A Rails to Trails jersey).

I'm shopping impaired, hate to shop unless it's bike stuff of course. I already checked Target', Lowes, Sears, Orchard Supply, a couple local nursery-garden supply spots, Homeless Depot, I refuse to go to Wallmart so don't tell me they have "bistro sets", don't care.... my local Ace has some , they are pricey but I know I can get 'em there and they are very simple and elegant not unlike me.

Onward to Shopzilla to compare! Also may check around Sonoma when I go Friday to see my Mom.

Sorry for the hijack, gals.

[7rider]

Great ride with the D.C. T.E. gals - and my DH.
As DivingBiker noted, a bunch of us rode Rosaryville State Park for a sweet singletrack fix on Independence Day. With a few extra spurs, I got in a hair over 11 miles.
DH left our group when he hooked up with friends and discovered a whole new section of the park - definitely the "R" rated section to our "G" - well, perhaps PG-13 - ride!
Check out our route at: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Rosaryville-SP

[GLC1968]

DH and I opted out of the big 'Red White and Blue" local ride (too many people with lousy bike handling skills!) and drove up to a quiet county north of us. We love riding up there, and most of the time, we don't have time to do the drive and then the ride, so today was a good opportunity. We rode 45 miles of country roads in an incredibly unpredictable wind. It was DH's first ride on a new bike, so we didn't want to go too far, so it was just right.

The route we chose only had 3 major climbs. The nice thing about today's ride was that mother nature aparently felt badly about the wind, because she was super nice to us on the climbs. Each time we started climbing, a big cloud moved in to cover the sun and offer some otherwise nonexistent shade! Temps never got much above 95 either.

All in all, we had a fun ride.

Happy 4th of July to all!!

[HillSlugger]

Kalidurga, MDHillSlug, Regina and her husband, my neighbors Anna and Julie, and I did a 9.75 mile MTB ride in Rosaryville State Park. As usual, it was great fun. This was MDHS's first ride in the woods, on her new Jamis Coda Comp with knobby tires. I overcame my jitters after about 3-4 miles, as this was my first MTB ride after my face plant a few weeks ago.

Yes, my first dirt ride and boy did the bike look it. I had to hose it down before I took it into the house.

I was an absolute newbie, riding the least competent bike of the group.

I also had the distinction to be the only one to fall, twice, (but we won't talk about the first one). I have a bruised right hip, but my left ankle came through it all fine.

Check out these dirty legs!

[Jo-n-NY]

I rode with my bike club in the towns parade. It is sure hard to ride at 2mph lol.
I have to say this was a lot of fun. We put the American Flag on our bikes and gave bike pins to all the kids.

I rode to there from home so at least I got to some regular riding in there also.

~ JoAnn