Tri Girl, that is terrible - and thanks for the reminder. As I ride alone most of the time I got a Road ID some time ago - but the reminder is always a good thing.

Quote Originally Posted by indysteel View Post
Oh, Tri Girl, that's awful. I'm sorry. I do wear a Road ID, but thank you for the reminder.

I rode 51 miles with DH and a friend. We went out slightly ahead of our club's ride. The type of ride on offer today was called "grand touring" ride. It's not marked or supported; the ride leader merely provides a map and a bit of support for those who might need it. It stops at a country market, which is nice. I like to support that type of business.

I was somewhat disappointed in the route. I'd done the ride before, but some of the roads were A LOT more chewed up than they were last year. A few stretches were arguably dangerous as they were on a descent. It would have been easy enough to reroute that section. I think the ride leader was a bit remiss in not doing so (although they did warn us about it). In the very least, they could have outlined the area with some paint.

Today's ride was on the hillier side. I felt okay for most of it, but the heat and humidity really started to get to me, even though I've consistently been riding in it. On one hill (a long one for these parts), we were followed by a dog for over a mile. I don't think he wanted to hurt us, but I picked up the pace to shake him past my comfort zone!

All in all it was a good ride. Catrin did part of the ride, too, so I'm eager to her take on it.
I chose the 36 mile option as this was my introduction to real hills - but wound up going on a completely different route for most of the first half of the ride because I got separated from the group, missed a turn, and then was lost for a time

I was at the rear of the group and a small gap developed because I am not a fast climber. Then we came to an intersection where the other traffic had the right-of-way - but I was a little behind the others and got stuck as I watched 10 cars get between me and the group before I could cross. By then they were 2 hills away. I COULD still see them though as I started climbing that first hill. I am not a fast climber. By the time I got up that first hill they were just a sparkle in the distance, by the top of the second hill they were gone.

After considering that I had the map and cue sheet I decided to just keep going at my own pace. The problem was that there were no street signs at intersections so I just kept going (for 6 miles) until I found a sign.

So here I am, on the side of the road trying to figure out where I on a map that only has a couple of street names when a lone cyclist comes along and I flag him down. We figured out a back-roads route to the market where I hoped to meet up with folks, I then called the leader and headed that way. I made it to the market before everyone left I did not call her before then because I had no idea where I was...

Apparently at some point the leader figured out that I was missing and they sent someone back to look for me - but of course that was too late However, I am used to riding solo on country roads so I wasn't overly concerned - I figured that I would find my way out somehow - and I had figured it out when the cyclist came along - he just showed me a better/quicker way.

I agree that several stretches of road on the way back from the market were dangerous - on one of them I was descending at almost 40 mph and all of the sudden there was this very torn up section of road Thankfully I have good brakes and was able to rein in the speed and find a place (in the wrong lane) to navigate through. I think it should have been re-routed - there were several places like that.

I felt fine in the hills, just very slow going uphill though had good, if a little nervous, fun going downhill. The next time I go on a ride like this, at the very least, I am going to have my own map that has all of the street names and more detail in case I should get separated again.