June 16th Rides

[Velobambina]

Interesting outing today. Started before sunrise--my "mother of all headlights" shined on a passed out drunk, lying in the right lane of the bike path. Easily avoided him. Ten miles later, I spot a police chopper in the air with it's spotlight beaming down and cop cars hauling a@@ all around. My pink Luna & brand Club Hypoxia jersey kept me safe. Later, I saw a fox and then a guy with a 'cow patterned' Newfie. The dog had a fresh summer hair cut and was looking sporting. Not too many folks on the trail, which was wonderful. Got in 43 very pleasant miles!

[Chile Pepper]

It's cold and I'm sick. Harrumph. I actually got on my trainer yesterday and will again tomorrow, but today I think I need a nap. Maybe I'll get out on Monday, although this whole week is supposed to be really, really cold.

[Zen]

This whole week is supposed to be really, really hot.

42 miles today, my longest ever but three miles short of the official finish. I did a dumb thing today, drank plain water. Because of that my quads cramped up bad, real bad. I had to call for a ride.

Three covered bridges.
One blind old lady who turned right in front of me.
One dog making sport in the roadway.
No dead people except for me right now, I'm pooped.

[SouthernBelle]

I go to a funeral and Meg tells on me.

On the outside of my right leg I have dog bite. On the inside I now have incised chain tat. It's all most attractive. Hot Legs.

[Crankin]

Another not so great ride today. The weather was perfect, about 78 and partly cloudy, so we went out to test the cue sheet for the ride we are leading Friday morning. This is part of a series that is every week from April to October. It gradually increases miles, from 15 to about 35. Anyway, we drove to the start point, because tomorrow we are doing a 50 mile charity ride for the Lions club and we didn't want to do 40 today. OK, so the route was planned with our GPS, mapping software, which I have no clue how to use, but Steve does. Everytime he uses it, it seems like a pain. I am familiar with the roads near the starting point, but I really don't know the names. Several have no street signs, which is typical for around here. The ride was supposed to be 20 miles and it goes from Weston (the start point) to near where I live in Concord, and back in a loop to Weston. So the second half of the ride was easy to plan. Right away we noticed some mistakes, things we needed to add in. Then we made a wrong turn and then another. So we had like 8 or 9 miles of back tracking. Steve has no sense of direction and depends on the GPS to get anywhere, I mean, he is really challenged. When I finally got us to the point where we were supposed to turn toward Concord I said let's go back. We had already gone 12 miles and I knew if we did the rest of the route, it would be more than I wanted to do. My legs hurt and it felt hot enough that i should have been wearing a sleeveless jersey. So we headed back on a main road.
Most of this ride that we did is in Lincoln, a town that has the worst roads around. Tons of bumps and pot holes. Every time there was a downhill I would have to slow because there were some serious holes. And, the drivers in Weston and Lincoln seem to be angry at cyclists. What a difference from around where I live, which is only about 10 miles away! Tons of cars got right up behind us, passed and gunned their engines to show us their displeasure. There were also many "recreational" cyclists, which there is nothing wrong with, but many without helmets and not crossing intersections properly. We saw one family with a tandem and kids on singles riding the wrong way on th road. . .

Oh well. The cue sheet is now fixed and I did get 17.6 miles in. I hope tomorrow's 50 miles are better because some of the ride is on the same roads.

[Meg McKilty]

I go to a funeral and Meg tells on me.

On the outside of my right leg I have dog bite. On the inside I now have incised chain tat. It's all most attractive. Hot Legs.

This makes me want to play ZZ Tops "Legs" for you.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Interesting outing today. Started before sunrise--my "mother of all headlights" shined on a passed out drunk, lying in the right lane of the bike path. Easily avoided him. Ten miles later, I spot a police chopper in the air with it's spotlight beaming down and cop cars hauling a@@ all around.

Hey maybe that "drunk" was actually DEAD, and the cops were searching for his killer!!

Kind of hot and sunny today. DH & I had breakfast in the village (French toast, bacon & latte) and then headed up a bunch of hills to a big health food market there at the top about 15 miles from home. We got into the nice cool air conditioning and ate strawberries, bananas, and chevre cheese on sourdough rolls. Filled our bottles with cold water and zoomed home downhill all the way.
30 miles, 9.6mph average (hills...sigh) and 35mph maximum on some of the downhills (when it was safe to do so).

[RolliePollie]

Today I rode up Iron Mountain Rd. near Pollock Pines with a good friend of mine. I think there are some TE'ers out there who are familiar with this road. The best pavement in our County (with some shoulders even!), absolutely beautiful views, and loads of climbing! We only made it 12.5 miles up (started at the first dam at Sly Park), but that was plenty far enough for me. I surprised myself by making it that far...it was hard work, but I wasn't dying. I could've gone farther if we had stopped to rest, but we decided to head back to the car and go out to lunch instead!

Coming back down the hill was a blast. I hit a new personal speed record...41.5 mph! Our overall average speed was just 11.5...took us about an hour and a half to ride up the road and only about 20 minutes to ride back!

[Fredwina]

I led a ride for my club (Cycling Connection), Riverside Bicycle Club, and Redlands Water Bottle Trans Company (a rec.club). I got most everyone beck safe, and took off to do some climbing up a canyon, I ran across a lady who had a flat. I showed her how to change it. when I got in the canyon, I was passed by at least 10 fire trucks and 1 Fire copter. I turned an around and came home, but stopped by REI first.
about 65 miles -which is about what I was aiming for

[mudmucker]

Nice solo ride today out where I live in rural northcentral MA; from Phillipston over to Petersham and Templeton. Although, halfway into the ride I was surrounded by dark thunderheads. Could hear cracks of thunder in the distance. Uh oh, decided to cut my ride short as at first they were on one side of me, then they seemed all around. Knew I was in trouble when it got dark fast and the winds swept up all cold - met into the front and knew the rain wasn't far. It happened fast, soon the lightening joined the thunder, but at that point I only had 6 miles to go so I decided to hi-tail it home instead of taking refuge. I got caught in a deluge for the last 2 miles, didn't make it home dry. Don't like riding in a downpour - I wear glasses and they get wet, and then I can't see, especially when they start to fog. No storm drains where I live so the edge of the roads start to flood. Put in 33 miles. For my wildlife viewings today I rode by a deer at the edge of the woods. It didn't run and just looked at me. For domestic wildlife there were horses, cows, banty hens running around a property and riding by a farm there was a nanny goat standing on top of a rock wall eating weeds. Her two little baby goats were running around the road (might only be 2 cars an hour on this particular crossover road). They were so cute. Slowed down to a crawl when I passed - the cute little ones seemed confused by the bike. Ahh, it's always a good day when I get to ride.

[7rider]

DH and I did our "Triathalon Loop" - about 40 rolling miles through Montgomery and Howard Counties. Was nice - I don't think it ever got as hot as they predicted. Rode for a bit with a guy on a Bike Friday - tiny wheels! - who was pleasant to chat with. DH and I kept a running tally of friendly roadies vs. unfriendly roadies (based on whether or not they waved or said hello). Happily, the friendlies outnumbered the un's.

[Velobambina]

Found out the cops were after a guy who murdered his roommate. They caught him. The passed out drunk was in North Arlington and the murder was in South Arlington---not the same dude. Last summer, I passed a different passed out drunk, sprawled across the trail, in the same general area. Must be a good place to pass out, even though it's on a hill. Who knew? LOL