Oct 8th rides

[Crankin]

We did a variation of the "hill climbers delight" ride we lead in September. Since we had a big party on Sat. night for my husband's 50th birthday, we decided to start at 12, instead of 10. When we got to our friend's house, we decided to modify the route so there would be less climbing in the beginning and end, but preserving the two very challenging climbs in the middle. As Tygab said,it was a perfect New England day. I had on a regular long sleeved jersey and knickers. At a few points, i pushed my sleeves up, but it was really fine. We did do one climb in the beginning that I had only been on going down; it's about a 4 miles gradual ascent at a steady 5% grade. The theme of the day was to slow down and just enjoy the foliage and scenery! When we got to the top of the second challenging climb, we stopped and ate our lunch by the side of the road, by an apple orchard. We commented that if we blindfolded someone and plopped them down here and told them they were in Vermont, it would seem pretty plausible. I feel pretty lucky to live in such a gorgeous place. We were only about 15 miles from my house and yet it seemed to be far away. On the way back we rode by our old neighborhood, on roads that I love to ride on.
Total, 37 miles, average 13.9 (those were BIG hills).

[Bad JuJu]

Fourth or fifth club ride for me--I had never ridden with a club before this fall, and I'm really beginning to enjoy it. Usually I ride in the club's Saturday ride, bringing up the rear with at least one other woman who's way more experienced than I am. But today, I did the Sunday club ride, and a couple of guys joined us who did a longer ride on Saturday so did their recovery ride today with us.

The weather absolutely ROCKED! Sunny and cool and gorgeous. Here on the Gulf Coast, you can almost hear the collective sigh of relief when the summer heat eases up and fall weather really begins. Today, it made for a glorious, relaxed 32 miles, on quiet, rolling country roads. Nice balance of uphill and downhill, sun and leafy shade, gentle climbing and quick spinning.

I did realize that I have to hunt down a pair of arm warmers for these cool mornings--might check out that bolero by Terry.

Later, DH and I took our kayaks out on the bay for some sunset paddling. What a nice day!

[xeney]

I finally had a decent ride on my road bike, the first one since August, maybe? It was such a good ride. I want to go again today since we have the day off work.

My husband is supposed to be training for a century next week, and as of last weekend he was ready and this weekend was just going to be an easy day. But then Friday he got food poisoning, and although he's better now he is planning to do the metric instead, because he is so wiped out and he still can't stand to eat very much.

Very sad for him, but for me, it meant that I could actually keep up with him! And it's all about me, right?

This was my first ride since we put the new stem and seatpost on my Bianchi, and the difference was amazing. My average speed was two miles an hour faster than any previous average speed, mostly because I was taking corners much faster now that I can ride comfortably on the hoods, get some flex in my arms, and not feel like I'm hanging on for dear life. I also had no knee pain, and on the few occasions when he did get ahead of me, it was really easy to kind of shift positions and just go 20+ miles an hour to catch up. (We mostly rode at about 16-18 mph, depending on the wind.) We only did 25 miles, partly because he felt so bad, partly because I am still getting used to my new saddle, and partly because we had to be at a barbecue and we were running late, but I definitely could have done another 20, at least, without problems, which is awesome considering I haven't ridden in two months.

I have been riding on the trainer, though, and I guess that is helping. Money well spent on that thing, I guess.

I think I love my new Vitesse saddle -- no chafing and I love that it is easy to move around on when I change my handlebar position -- but it's significantly harder than the Butterfly and my butt needs to get used to it. I feel fine today, but I was starting to feel it on my sit bones by the time the ride ended.

When we ride together we have some agreed upon "drop zones," places with lots of swoopy S-curves where he likes to go fast and I like to take them at my own pace, so he just waits for me up ahead. On the first drop zone this time, some guy passed me and then drafted off Jeremy for a minute, and then Jeremy dropped him (and I was happy, because it seems sort of rude to pass a lady and then draft off her husband, ha). I found out later that Jeremy thought that was ME trying to show off, and he was all impressed, but stomach flu or not he wasn't going to let me think I could actually keep up. I shouldn't have told him that he had me confused with some hairy guy.

And then on some of the later drop zones, he didn't actually drop me, or I caught up without his having to wait for me. I'm sure it will all be different when he is healthy again, but yesterday was the best ride we've had all year.