September 30 Rides

[im4smiley]

Brrr it was about 39 degrees when I left this morning, I was dressed with a sleeveless shimmel, a long sleeve shirt and a cycling jacket, long tights, wool socks. I thought my ears were going to freeze but once I got going they were ok. I should get a hat! THe plan was to do 40 miles with some good hills but after about 10 miles I thought...I will never make it so I went a different route that gave me a shorter less hilly option, however, I added to that route and ended up doing 35 miles! I seemed to be struggling on my ride but I did avg 15.8 mph. I only passed 2 other cyclists this morning! The ride was so much better than going to the gym!!

[emily_in_nc]

xeney, loved your ride report. DH and I often do utilitarian rides like that too; they're fun and serve a great purpose, and I am always proud of negotiating town traffic, since I live in the boonies so don't do the town thing often.

No ride today...too cool this morning for this southern gal (upper 40s), and if we don't leave home early, the traffic gets to be too much on our ride to the the markets, so we kicked off the hiking season with a 7-8 mile hike at a state park nearby instead (much warmer since you don't create wind). Lovely day for that - 60s by the end. Perfect weather, neat birds (wild turkey, great blue heron, pair of wood thrushes, etc.), minimal people, nice trees.

Emily

[DeniseGoldberg]

Brrr it was about 39 degrees when I left this morning... I thought my ears were going to freeze

A hint for your ears for those cold day rides - I've been using Earbags (http://www.earbagsus.com/) to keep my ears warm, and they really do the trick. (There are a couple of different manufacturers of the same type of item, but this is the brand I've used.)

--- Denise

[Crankin]

We did a charity ride yesterday, which raises money for many children's agencies in Boston. My husband's company paid for the fundraising ($700), so that part was stress free. The weather was perfect, but it was cold at the start (47). I was wearing a midweight fleece lined jersey and my hoodie to start, tights, full finger gloves, and a headband. Oh and toe warmers, too. My husband and I were astounded to see more than half of the riders wearing nothing but shorts and a jersey. We keep thinking that we are wimps because we lived in AZ for so long. But, really, it was cold! My legs still felt dead from doing the century last Sunday. I guess I haven't rested enough. I realized that this was the first bigger charity ride I have done and I did not like having all of those people around. But everyone spread out quickly and they started us off in groups. At the first rest stop I took my hoodie and headband off, but it was still pretty cool out. We were going a really fast pace and i felt like a panting dog for most of the ride! It was flat, with a few small rollers near the end, which was too bad, since I really had to slow down for the last 5 miles. I admit that i was complaining for almost the whole ride.
The food was great afterward (ribs, bbq chicken, and beer) and the best thing was that we could take a shower at a health club that was on the start site.
Total, 52 miles, 3 hrs. 15 minutes, av. speed 16.

[Selkie]

Coldest ride yet this fall---45 degrees when I left the house, but I was able to wear my Exte Ondo knickers.

The ride was good, except there was still some debris from Thursday night's storm (a tree across a bridge on the trail--it was there when i rode Friday morning, but apparently, the Park folks couldn't move it completely, so they cut a tunnel through it so one lane could get past). Everything went well until the last 10 miles--Team in Training trail hogs, more than usual (I think multiple groups got together), were doing some sort of big event. I swear those people are oblivious, as they run platoon style-two abreast in these formations--and don't seem to give a whit for others using the trail. Well, several of them were yabbering and wandering all over the trail. Had words with a couple of them who would not get over to the right. I got tired of it, so I left my usual route and went East toward DC (the "killer hill" route). I really didn't want to push it because I'm getting over some ankle/foot tendonitis, but everything worked out OK.

Suffice it to say that I can't wait until the TNTers do their Marine Corps Marathon and go into hibernation until next spring. I think it's great that they are raising money to help others, but you think they would be a bit more considerate when they are supposedly "sharing the trail." It's a safety issue, for crying out loud.