Aug 5 ride report

[SouthernBelle]

Yay me.

I rode with Trek52, who isn't a regular poster here, but posted about HOW100here recently. We had cooler temps, overcast, and a nice chat to boot. I seldom have someone to ride with, so it was a great thing for me.

We did about 16-17 miles.

[alpinerabbit]

No ride, it's raining, I am ultra sore from running 6K* on Thursday night, so instead I went shopping. I got two yellow jerseys (hehehe mellow johnnies)- promised myself a reward for completing my bike marathon.

One is from PI, the other from zero rh+ which is starting to become my favorite.


* I cannot believe I improved so much on basic endurance that I manage to run myself sore. For me, being the non-athlete all my life, I can't believe I am doing this at 33.

[GLC1968]

Rode about 28 easy miles this morning with a newbie to our cycling team. She's been a triathlete for years, but this is her first year doing some non-competitive, non-tri cycling. She's on our MS Ride team, so we hung with her and tried to give her some group riding hints. It was actually a lot of fun and a nice change of pace for me and my DH. Next weekend is our first century, so we are taking it easy this weekend with two shorter rides at easy pacing.

Oh, and the heat wave broke today, YAY!! It was only about 80 degrees for the first time in what seems like weeks!

[btchance]

Got out the MTB to ride with a friend who was in town. Went to a wildlife refuge I hadn't explored yet, got completely lost, but had a great time. Have to say, though, I felt like a goon on my MTB after being on the road. Kept avoiding things I would have ridden over without thinking about earlier.

[KnottedYet]

Did a 39 mile loop with some Team Survivor riders. My little Kona Commuter-Mobile struggled mightily to keep up with the sleek road bikes, and managed pretty well! She managed her fastest speed with me yet: 31.5 mph! yay Kona! (needs a name...)

Weather was perfect, riding companions were great, lattes were fab-o. Nice scenery too.

Now I'm pooped and need a nap.

[Nokomis]

46 miles or so?

Went on a ride w/ our local group - decided to stick w/ the Bs, and the slowest half of them. By the 5th mile, the ride leader's bike broke down - sheared off the rear derailure cable, and kaput! So we were told to catch the other half of the Bs. Weren't able to do that. I spent a lot of time communicating w/ those at the back & those at the front to try to keep us together & motivated. Around mile 15, after going thru construction, gravel, and a small detour, realize that the person up front took us the wrong direction - so that added a 3 mile detour. By mile 20, one of the riders decided to bail, and wait for a ride home. Mile 30ish, we get to a small climb. Over a recently pebbled / gravel covered hill. where did all those rocks come from?! One of the guy's chain seized, and down he went, middle of the road, and we had to jump to keep oncoming traffic away. Walked the hill, (too steep & rock covered to start riding again) and made it down in tact, rolled in to the finish about 1 hour later than the group we were to catch. Exhausting!

[Dr. Liz]

35.4 miles with DH and a friend of ours who has been persuaded to join us, after having not been riding for 20 years. He rode with us for about 15 miles (understandably, he wants to ease himself back into it) and the DH and I did our shorter loop. I think I'm starting to understand the 'correct technique' that the LBS guy was trying to teach me.

Which is good - I think in the long run I'll be more efficient, but in the short run, I'm using my muscles in a slightly different combination, and by the end of the ride, my legs were ready to be done.

But the weather was perfect, the company was nice, and we somehow managed to ride against the Arts Festival traffic for the entire ride

[DebW]

I hadn't ridden since Wednesday, so I NEEDED a ride today or I was going to be in serious withdrawl. DH went along and we did 32 miles at a 17.2 mph avg pace. Headed from Wayland to Concord and did the Lowell St. - 225 - Monument St. loop. Carried a 9 inch folding saw in my jersey pocket and made a quick stop to get the small downed tree out of the road. DH held my bike so I didn't have to lay it down in the poison ivy while I was cutting. This was only the 2nd or 3rd time that DH has been on his bike this year, and we discovered that it needs some work. Was making a clicking noise that seems to be the pedals. They have loose cones and need grease badly. The rear wheel needs to be trued and the chain needs lube. That will keep me busy for an hour or so tomorrow, depending on how stubborn those pedals are.

[oxysback]

Personal best this morning!!!!

Dh convinced me to go with him to Willamette Mission State Park. From Newberg, it's a nice flat route...2 or 3 larger hills, but nothing I couldn't get up. This is the farthest I've ever ridden at 44 miles!!!

I've mentioned I'm a heavier rider. I weigh in at 260 or so, so this is quite an accomplishment for me! My butt really hurts, and my arms feel like they're dead weight, but I did it!

I also got up to 37mph down one hill...wheeeeee!! (benefits of being larger...you fly down the hills...hehe)

[kelownagirl]

Did my first metric century on my road bike! I hadn't been on my bike all week and was dying to get out. My little guy was at his dad's so we had all day and we just took off with no particular plan of where or how long. The weather was perfect, in the 80's, and we had a great day, making a few stops along the way to get food/drinks and to wade in the lake for awhile. Did tons of hills so I am pretty tired and sore now. Found out that the 30 minutes warmup on the flats really is important for me because we went straight into the hills and I was wheezing and struggling for the first hour. Once I got going, I was fine though. Got stung by a wasp on the front of my thigh, right near the panty line, and owie, that hurt. Oh, also did my fastest downhill speed today 62.5 km/h, about 41mph or so? Now to go add my miles at BJ...

[Fredwina]

WE did something a little different We met and carpooled up to Big Bear Lake. We then rode around Big Bear and Baldwin Lake. It was lot cooler , due to the elevation (Cucamonga is 1200 feet and big bear is 6700) Very gorgeous! The ride started OK with some climbing through big bear city. We soon crossed the bridge and rode around the north shore (Same as a I did on Ride around the bear) We then continued past the turn off for RAB, and continued on to Baldwin Lake . We had a regroup. After that we were off again. Came around Baldwin, and found the turn to go to Onyx Summit. Some of us went back to the cars, and other went up to Onyx. I , of course, went to Onyx. Some of the slower riders got lost and wound up trying the road to Onyx as well. I Think I surprised some of the "Big Dogs" by making it up to summit as fast as I did. It's an 8 mile, 1700 foot climb. I was felling pretty good, too. Of course, not riding my bike form Redlands (50 mile and 5700 feet) helped a lot! Unfortunately, no one was there to document my accomplishment, as the other had already started down.
going downhill was a blast. Max speed was 46.9 mph! Then I had to navigate through the Traffic Jams in Big Bear City. Had to stop and let a Ambulance get to a Motorcycle -car crash . I managed to get lost on the return and had call some one for directions. Got accused if deliberately getting lost to increase my lead in the club mileage competition(had about 50)! Great Ride! and Pasta for lunch!





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[Kano]

Wow! 44 miles! Excellent! And wow! 37mph! COOL!!!

We had a pretty good ride today too -- 36.2 miles of Boise River Greenbelt. It's mostly flat, though there are some dips one gets to fly down. Lots of traffic -- both foot and bike, and rollerbladers too. One older gentleman on a bike much like ours. We passed him several times along the way -- I think we went a bit farther into the Lucky Peak area than he must have, and then we stopped to rejoin a friend who had stopped for a rest a few miles before we turned around.

Osprey sighting this morning -- three young ones sitting around the nest on top of the cell phone tower. One had a fish that looked almost as big as the bird -- at least from my vantage point! There were some other big birds sailing around above the canyon walls along the river a bit farther east, too, and I think, maybe Cormorants in the water. I'm not sure about those big black birds down there!

A couple of notes -- I'm doing battle with a cold that has my throat raw, and sinuses clogged, and is causing much need for napping, so I was a bit surprised at how good I felt on the ride. I rode a total of 90.4 miles this week: that's almost a century! Okay, so it took five rides to do it, but some day....

Karen in Boise

[Kalidurga]

Decided against the C&O Canal towpath this weekend and went out to Patuxent River Park/Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary instead (out near Upper Marlboro, MD), to ride the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Driving Tour. It's only open to auto traffic on Sunday's, so aside from two other bikers and a couple of hikers, I had the whole place to myself.

The Patuxent section of the road is paved, but there's a long, curvy hill heading up from the park office that is way more steep than I'm used to. Then, on the Merkle side, the pavement gives way to a sand/dirt/pebble combination. The sand seemed deeper than usual today, so between that and the loose rocks there was a lot of rolling resistance and I found myself fishtailing a few times. Funny how you can get used to riding with a helmet and then feel yourself getting paranoid the first time you go out without one...

The weather and scenery were beautiful. At one point, I flushed a hawk that was perched along the road, and then a handful of feet later had a deer run out from the woods almost right in front of me. At almost 16 miles, the ride was a bit challenging, yet also relaxing, and way, way too short.

[chickwhorips]

took the mtb out for an hour ride. felt so good to be out. worked on keeping my heart rate in the right zone. worked well except on some hills. felt good to get out. no wind and i was able to cruise just as fast as i normal do with a high hr, felt so good. i think my saddle is finally breaking in my butt.

[Kalidurga]

i think my saddle is finally breaking in my butt.

They don't tell you in the LBS that that's what's supposed to happen...