saturday apr 7th ride

[Celeste]

We had SLEET in TEXAS in APRIL!!

Well, DH and I were on our hills part of training for our Tahoe TNT ride in June....yup! We had some nasty winds of 20-25 miles an hour and nasty cold rain about 34-36 degrees! Not sure we had sleet in Chappell Hill, TX but it was nasty none the less!

My cleat broke right at the beginning of the ride . Coaches told me it was not a good idea to ride the hills with only one foot clicked in. I was bummed, but decided to help with SAG services instead. Good thing too; our ride was supposed to be 45 miles....Most only made it half way and SAG'd back to the start. Independence, TX was the dying point for most at about 25 mile mark.

Frozen fingers, hands, toes, feet and legs. We are just not used to riding in these freezing conditions down here! And for our first real hill training, it was rough! Hubby continued on with the ride and he completed 30.15 miles with 11.5 mph average. He felt bad that he had to SAG some...I told him I was proud of him that he completed as much as he did. I thought everyone did great considering the conditions.

I was cheering my team on at the top of the hills and posting my Jeep at corners that had no signs where they needed to turn. Good to see my team dig in when I was cheering them on.

Will get my cleat fixed tomorrow so I can ride during the week. Bummed I have missed out on some hill training. Getting nervous that I am falling behind. But maybe I was in the place I needed to be.

[Kano]

Our sixteen mile ride yesterday morning turned into twenty, which was a fun surprise! Tater missed the ride -- SPIN had its first group ride of the season, with a surprising 35 or so riders sprawled out along an 8 mile path to a coffee shop. (which was very busy, so we wandered off to the Moxie Java down the road) Funny how an out and back route turned out to be 8 miles to the coffee stop and 12 back!

We were just cruising along, back toward the parking lot where we'd left the cars, wondering why none of the route looked real familiar (did we see that hoard of cattle on the way out?), but we were following many others in our group, and had many behind us, so we MUST be going the right way, yes? Turned out most of the group took an "alternate" route back. Eventually, we did meet up with the "non-alternate" members of the group, and found the parking lot!

This was the longest ride so far on my new bike, and aside from that disoriented feeling of being just a little bit lost, it was a breeze! (some hand troubles, so I think I will try, was it Lisa's or Mimi's suggestion to adjust the handlebars just a smidge?) And, I'll gleefully admit, it was a delight to NOT be the last rider in!

DH and I decided that it must have been a downhill ride going out, and uphill coming back, because we weren't going near as fast on the way back -- but it didn't LOOK like we were climbing, except a few times. BUT what I thought was really cool was that I didn't use my small ring, and didn't go below 10mph all day, even on the hills! Well, no, that's not quite right, I did have to slow down for a bit, til it was safe to pass other riders.

It was a bit cool when we started -- about 49 degrees. Got really nice by the time we finished, and then later in the day it got rainy, and most of today was rainy too. Good thing we got in a nice ride yesterday!

Karen in Boise

[mountainchick]

Karen, sounds like you guys had a good ride. I think those are my favorite, getting lost

My Saturday ride, I started riding and just kept going. I didn't know where I was for the first half, but ended up circling back to a place I knew and kept on going. Its a little harder here where if you ask someone about the next town over they sometimes don't know how to get there on the roads. That and they might not be able to understand my broken Japanese!

[DebW]

20 mile ride on Saturday through Wayland, Sudbury, and Marlboro. Went up the big steep hill on Edmands Rd. in Marlboro for the 1st time this year. My lowest gear still works, and I needed it. Rather chilly - I cut the ride 5 miles short because my feet were cold.

[smilingcat]

managed to do my old training route

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...training-route

but I had to stop on the hill climb. also fell over when I forgot to unclip out of my pedals when I stopped. (yes ladies, it happens to all of us no matter how experienced you are.)

Tad cold, and slightly windy. But was it fun. The views were just gorgeous. and riding by the ocean, I could smell the clean salt air. The early June gloom, the heavy marine layer/heavy dark overcast, and with the cold temp, it felt like January rides.

I need to take pictures of Lunada Bay, several at Malga Cove and from the top of Hawthorn Blvd. You would think I was riding in Tuscany. Hills, honest to goodness fountains in the middle of the "town center" , surrounded by tiled roof villas.

Shawn