May 27 rides

[Zen]

Went out with no particular route in mind. It was hot by the time I started so I decided to just do a sunday drive, no worries about increasing speed but I do want to get better on the downhills.

I took a road i had never been on before and ended up walking a l o o o o ng way. That was OK coz otherwise I wouldnt have seen the cool snake or the lane where I ducked down to pee.
17.5 miles
top speed 20
avg. speed 10 maybe

max: 1136ft
min: 647ft
ascent: 940ft
descent: 943ft

Yep, I live in the hills

[RolliePollie]

I made a map of most of my regular route on bikely.com (I can't get Routeslip to work on my computer). I kind of deviate from the loop and ride hither and yon if I feel like it. Like today, I added on several miles. Anyway, it is pretty neat to find out the elevation gains and such on the main section of my ride.

So here's what bikely.com says:
16.6 miles
1,433 ft. elevation gain (and of course, 1,433 ft. of descent...the fun part!)

I am very excited about the elevation part because now I can estimate my weekly climbing. I'm trying to incorporate this loop into my rides 3 times a week. That means over 4,200 feet of climbing per week (if I can manage the 3 times)...so I guess I should make myself some monthly climbing goals now?

[mimitabby]

Today we rode in Yakima with a bunch of pretty tandems. Raleighdon rode with DS's GF and I rode my Bianchi. We were warned to finish our ride as quickly as possible because of the winds.
Well, there's nothing like 1000 feet of climb in 10 miles to a nearly 20mph head wind. I was ready to quit after 3 miles!

after 10 miles we turned a little so it wasn't so bad.. but oh good grief, every time we turned into the wind, it was ferocious. The wind speed continued to pick up all day.
Finally, during the second half of the ride we had a tailwind. Imagine, i was going down this gentle descent. I stood up and went from 18mph to 19mph!!!
i needed a sail!

52 miles, dearly won. and I finally went over 1000 miles!!!!

[Kano]

We had a nice ride this morning -- not that DH thought so! We had to have a little talk about "Sunday Morning Rides" at one point. FIRST, I wasn't riding fast enough to suit him, so he thought we should go home, because we weren't being "efficient" riding at the pace that was working for me. (yesterday's ride was significantly longer than others this year and left me with aching muscles and some nasty aches in certain places!) While debating that (and stretching complaining quads), we made a quick call to our daughter regarding plans for tomorrow, which could affect tomorrow's ride. Got cruising again, and my phone rang: daughter had to make some changes to plans for tomorrow, which amended things for today a bit. Oh MY GOSH, two phone calls in one mile of ride. Gee that's awful! DARN, gotta stand still on the side of the road, looking over the valley for a few minutes on a beautiful Sunday morning....

So, after talking with her briefly, I reminded DH that "Sunday Morning Rides" are for FUN and the rides to work are the ones that need to be "efficient" -- he then suggested riding to a new favorite coffee shop, which made the ride a decent length, more fun than "quitting" because I was a bit achy, but without the climbing we had originally planned.

Sad ending for him -- a clutzy clip out had him breaking several spokes in his rear wheel. The bike shop said it was too bunged up to fix well, so he has a new wheel tonight. He also swapped out the wheels from my comfort-beast onto his, since he's been thinking he might like that anyway, for his commutes.

Me? I got nasty chafing yesterday, so was coping with that as well as possible today (how is it I can still enjoy a ride?) While dealing with his wheel issue, I picked up a new saddle to try -- longer, narrower, and hopefully a better choice. (been debating the "old" one for a few weeks now)

He wanted to ride again tonight, to "test drive" those tires that he put on, so I quietly put my new saddle on, and test drove it. Couldn't wear the same shorts, they're in the wash, so I can't say for sure, but it seems like if a sore bottom can feel better on the new saddle than on the old, I could be on the right track...

It was a nice ride tonight: ten miles, which means 28 for the day, just tootling around the neighborhood, with a deliberate pass by a farm with a herd of miniature horses. We had passed by this morning, and noticed a new foal -- such a cutie! So tonight, I took the camera along, and we stopped to take a picture of the new baby. Baby wouldn't come anywhere near the fence, but this one -- I don't know if this is the proud papa -- but he came marching up to the fence demanding we take his picture too!

Karen in Boise