Sunday 15th July Rides

[enzed]

Today was a sunny winters day's & I was trying out a ride with a new BUG(Bicycle User Group). It started from Waterfall station & thru the Royal National Park, a ferry from Bundenna to Cronulla & a ride back to the CBD.

The national park bit of the ride was awesome. To get down into it, there was a 2km winding down-hill ride, followed by a steady climb for 4km. It was a great day for it, what with the blue skies & good company. Once up the hill, there was a series of small rolling hills. It gave me a chance to get into my big chain ring and see how fast I could go. Then we (we meaning the 3 of us), rode down into Bundeena & caught the ferry to Cronulla.
The ride leader (Geoff) was riding a roadie, me & Patricia were riding hybrids. Geoff reckoned we made good time going up the hill & wouldn't mind riding with us again. He didn't mind the slower pace & we had some interesting conversions.

The ride itself was approx 65Km. I rode 22km to catch the train to Waterfall & also rode 20km home from the city. That means I did over 100Km

I haven't ridden over 100km for ages, so it's good to know I can still do it

[Kano]

DH woke me this morning with "Want to go practice hills?"

NOT FOR ANYTHING!

Not that I didn't enjoy the ride yesterday, despite the evil air quality and the heat, and that my legs had BETRAYED me on a hill that I knew I could climb. We went with a group I haven't gotten to ride with much this year, and There I was, bringing up the rear again -- now, at first, we got behind on account-a someone had left my bike in the big ring and little cog, and it didn't want to start (had it serviced, it was LBS dude. I'll remember to check that next time) Then, we're tooling along, Sweep and DH and I, we're following sweep, and he doesn't follow the route map he's got in his hand: we're lost. Didn't catch the group until the rest stop, though we did eventually get back on track (We're MEN, they said, we don't need to ask...)

Oh, wait, that's yesterday's ride!


DH did give me another option this morning: The much easier out and back to the coffee shop mostly flat ride. PLUS, I got to sleep an extra half hour. He tried to get out of it: No, your half hour was up a half hour ago. My arguement in favor: You didn't tell me what time it was when the half hour started, so how could I POSSIBLY know when the half hour was up?

But, YIKES: I pushed myself HARD yesterday, and my body is complaining mightily! (it deserves to ache after that hill it refused to climb!) The coffee shop is an easy, mostly flat 11 mile out and back ride, with a lovely italian cream soda with whipped cream on top in the middle.

DH was constantly after me to pick up the pace, "the light's going to turn red!" Then there was "What's the matter?" Like he didn't KNOW how I'd pushed myself, and because of his competitive spirit, him too. Well, too bad for him, eh? I'm just knocking out the cobwebs that settled in yesterday, and loosening the legs back up so I can walk again! This was a nice, if slow ride, and helped a LOT!

(I gotta admit: I enjoy that intense achy feeling that goes with a well-worked body, but I'm glad to be able to move again now that I've had a gentle ride this morning!)

Karen in Boise

[liberty]

I did a little 7.8 mile ride on the hilly roads around my house. Was nice to start a ride straight from my house instead of driving somewhere to ride. My legs were still dead from Thursday's club ride, but hopefully they will remember how much they like hills.

[makbike]

Today was the club's "ice cream" ride and I just could not pass up the chance for free ice cream. The ride starts in Jeffersonville, Indiana and follows the river up to Utica where we turn around and head back for the ice cream. The pace was fast, very fast on the way out for we had a great tail wind pushing us. At the turn around we were hit by a strong head wind and the threat of rain (a good incentive to pedal hard and fast). My legs responded well the first 15 miles or so but in the end yesterday's fast century took it toll and I fell off the back of the pack I had been riding with. Not a bad day on the bike for I set yet another personal best today, an average speed of 18.0 mph and enjoyed my free large milk shake compliments of the club.

[NJBikeGal]

110 miles today. 70 with the Philly Cancer Society Ride and then 40 back to my friend Jenny's house to take a dip in the pool! BEAUTIFUL day, wonderful ride and now I get to sit and watch the evening edition of the Tour. Can a better day exist?

Today's ride put my at 1074 miles since June 1st. Woo Hoo!

[Crankin]

We were up in the Mt. Washington, NH area from Friday late PM until this morning. My husband's company has their annual outing there. They rent the whole Mt. Washington Hotel, many condos at Bretton Woods and several other hotels in the area. This is only the second time we'v gone to this; there's no business involved, basically it's a free 2 nights up there, with 2 breakfasts, one dinner, and a lunch provided. We stayed right at the hotel, arriving around 5:30 Friday. I had done a brisk 30 mile club ride Friday AM, so i was tired. We drove over to Gorham for dinner, through Jefferson Notch Rd., which is a dirt road, only open in summer. I was thinking about my mountain bike, but the great italian food we had kept those thoughts out of my mind. On Sat., we set out for N. Conway, ariving there around noon to start a ride I had got out of a book in the library. I chose one that was described as a ramble and not the climb of 3 notches.... It really was a beautiful ride. The first 7-8 miles were completely flat. We stopped at the town beach (a lake) in Eaton to eat and my average was just under 17. I was tired and it was really quite a bit hotter than I thought it would be. The lake was beautiful. So we start out of there, on a road decribed as a "gradual" climb. It was up and down, but I would say it was a bit more than gradual in spots. Finally, at the top, we crossed into Maine. Lots of dairy farms and beautiful scenery here. As we turned onto the road that would lead us back to N. Conway, we had quite a surprise; this was a real long climb! Not super steep, I'd say about 4-6%, but long. I found out that while I am used to short and steep climbs, i haven't really done a lot of long and steady ones. After my husband told me repeatedly to slow it down, I settled into a rhythm at about 6-8 mph and was rewarded with some nice downhills. We got back to Rt. 302 and about 2 miles from where our car was, Steve ran over something and blew his tire. We stopped and he booted it with a dollar bill, changed the tube and as we took off, we passed the Louis Garneau store Mr. S. had discussed last week. So after reviving with some soft serve ice cream, we headed to the LG store. Not a lot of good cycling stuff for me there; there were hardly any x small jerseys and the ones they had were down to my mid thighs! But they did have some really nice casual clothes all for 30% off. I got a pair of board type shorts in a wild pink and orange print, a technical T, and a skort that fit perfectly.
When we got back, I discovered my average was 16 for 34.5 miles and about 2,000 feet of climbing, a personal record for me.

[BikerJen]

Finished 1st and last in a mountain bike race today. No one else was racing in my age group. I did beat the other 3 women in the race and 2 guys I think. I was either 4th or 5th overall. Great ride today. A tad hot here in VA today!

[SouthernBelle]

Meg & I headed out about 6:00 this morning to do a quick ride before church. I took her on a route she had never done before, and I had only done once. It had a couple of climbs of about 8% but was otherwise rolling and pretty. For some reason we saw lots of rabbits. As we went by a truckstop I could smell ham cooking. It was hard not to stop and have a ham and biscuit.

18.97 miles

[Fredwina]

I was going to ride to church, but I had altar guild, which meant I needed to be there at 7:30. I drove there instead I had to go to a committee meeting later, and then I did some shopping, and then I composed a post on Bikejournal,com about the pluses and minuses of biking in LA.
So at 4:45 I got on the road. Only 98 degrees . did about 28 miles with 1400 feet of climb, and felt pretty (for those who want to know: went out Arrow/Bonita, up Wheeler, down Esperanza, across Baseline, up Benson, across 21st and back down through the Colonies) . I bought some Accelrade to try out, and seemed to work pretty good

[RolliePollie]

Today, while literally moaning and groaning my way up one of my least favorite hills, I was thinking about the Death Ride (near Markleeville, CA, which is near Lake Tahoe). Today, those amazing folks, some of whom I'm sure are TE'ers, rode 129 miles with over 15,000 feet of climbing! I guess my little ride was nothing in comparison! Just 24-ish miles with 1600-ish feet of climbing. That wouldn't have gotten me over even one of the Death Ride passes! But tonight I was talking to a friend and he mentioned next year's Death Ride. He's done it 3 times. Hmmmm...I must start considering this.

[Aggie_Ama]

We did the Katy Flatland Century. DH predicted we would "thrive" and we did! It started with a rain storm which meant the first 7 miles were at about 10 mph, but then the skys cleared and we were off! I couldn't believe how strong a girl used to hills can ride when it is flat. There were 5 "speedbumps" and nothing else. The only significant climb was up an overpass.

101.16 miles
5 hours 37 minutes
17.7 mph average

[KnottedYet]

30 miles for a visit to my bike shop, where they turned my Shimano double into a Campy triple for $19.

I love my LBS.

Today I rode my Surly Cross Check. Flat pedals. Fenders. Rack. Pannier. Chaco sandals. Wild print Terry Skort.

And I had SO MUCH FUN passing dudes all dolled up in team kit with purty carbon frames and sexy clipless road pedals... on my steel bike wearing my flip-flop-ish sandals and a SKIRT!

Oh, yeah.

[salsabike]

34 mile tandem ride (slept too late to do the full lake ride), including the side excursion up and down Juanita Hill (not steep but long, about 2 miles). Could swear I saw Eden cruise by with a Group Health teammate while we were hanging out at the top of Juanita Hill.

Looking forward to more riding now; we'd like to take the tandem on Tour de Peaks metric century in two weeks and Tenino Rally two weeks later.

[Eden]

34 mile tandem ride (slept too late to do the full lake ride), including the side excursion up and down Juanita Hill (not steep but long, about 2 miles). Could swear I saw Eden cruise by with a Group Health teammate while we were hanging out at the top of Juanita Hill.

Looking forward to more riding now; we'd like to take the tandem on Tour de Peaks metric century in two weeks and Tenino Rally two weeks later.

I wouldn't be too suprised- I did go up Juanita hill with a teammate this afternoon. We did a little sprint/attack practice with some of the team over on Mercer Island this morning, then two of us did the north end of the lake.

[uk elephant]

After a very lazy start to the day, I finally got out for a ride. Had planned on doing my 25'ish loop around Dedham, but then half an hour in I hear rumbling thunder and the skies opened. I didn't mind the rain so much, but thought it best to head home with the thunder storm. Then ten minutes later the sun came out so I changed my mind again and went out to Dedham after all. Turned out to be a beautiful ride and I felt great! And I didn't feel too guilty about going out for a pub dinner afterwards.