June 17th rides

[Crankin]

Today we did a local charity ride for the Acton Lions Club. I did this ride 2 years ago and it's a very nice route. No fundraising needed, just a sign up fee. When I got up, my stomach was hurting and I did not feel well at all. I took a bunch of preventative medicine and had tea instead of coffee. But, I still felt sluggish for the first 15 miles. We started off really fast and then one guy crashed in front of me after about 2 miles; I stopped to avoid the pile up and then had some trouble starting up again on an uphill. The 2 guys involved in the crash got in behind us and scared me to death. We had to make a right on a main street (Rt. 62) and then an immediate left. I have done this many times. All of a sudden, I see one guy riding on the wrong side of the road, to make the left . We turned and they still were behind us and I didn't feel safe with these guys, so after 10 miles, Steve told them we were slowing down. They stayed ahead, but in sight. Finally, right before we made a stop to buy Gatorade, they stopped. The route here was beautiful and shady. After stopping for about 15 minutes in Weston Center for the Gatorade, I felt much better. There was only one long bigger hill, but lots of rollers. There was a rest stop at mile 30, which was right near my house and it was tempting to just ride home! It was hot (85) and I knew i was riding faster than I usually do for a 50 mile ride. Before the rest stop, we rode with a tandem consisting of a blind para Olympic champion and Ed Koss, who has done the race Across America several times. We rode with them through Hanscom AFB into Concord Center. The rest of the route was on roads that I ride on all of the time. We stayed with one guy for a bit of the ride between the rest stop and the finish, but we dropped him going up West St. in Carlisle. He looked like a racer, but maybe he was consciously trying to go slower. There were a few times I told Steve to slow it, but we made it back to finish in 3 hours, 20 minutes, an average of 15.19. Two years ago my average was in the 13s, so I am happy. Now to stretch.

[kat]

Hi all... kind of new here, posted a few things here and there...

Today I am resting as I completed the Horrible Hilly Hundred yesterday (100K), what a blast!! Gosh if you get the chance to do this race, you gotta go for it!! The hills are a killer, but the descents are well worth the journey. It was an amazing ride/race, and one I won't forget

So today I am going to rest and watch Tiger hopefully win the Open

Have a good day all

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I've been riding an average of 106 miles per week this past 7 weeks. For me that is a lot. Today DH and I did a measely little 26 mile ride and my muscles felt pretty wiped out. I've decided to take a rest day tomorrow and do some gardening instead.

[RolliePollie]

28 miles for me today. I can't believe this, but I'm really starting to appreciate and almost enjoy the hilly terrain around here. First of all, screaming down the hills is a blast! And a nice cool down too. Crawling up the hills is getting easier every time I ride. I only stopped to rest once today which is a big improvement from just a few weeks ago.

One unpleasant thing that I encountered was a freshly smashed roadkill skunk right in my lane. Wow, the smell couldn't have been any stronger! The up close and personal smell of skunk is MUCH worse than the whiff you might get if you pass an unfortunate dead one in the car. The instensity of that stench nearly knocked me off the bike!

[7rider]

The "official" June TE-D.C. ride today consisted of KaliDurga and myself -- okay - maybe next Saturday's monument ride will be the official one.
We left from Riley's Lock and did a 26 mile loop that was loaded with hills. KaliDurga was...well, noticing it more than normal, but I'll let her tell her tale. I tried to ride the delicate line between encouraging and nagging as we stared up et another daunting hill.
Followed up the ride with Sunday brunch at Bassett's in Poolesville, which was packed. We had forgotten it's Father's Day. Still, we sat at the bar and had a high protein brunch of questionable meat-like products (me: corned beef hash, her: scrapple <<shiver>>). Yum!

[Zen]

I prefer puddin'. What happened to her, anyway?!

[Kalidurga]

We left from Riley's Lock and did a 26 mile loop that was loaded with hills. KaliDurga was...well, noticing it more than normal, but I'll let her tell her tale. I tried to ride the delicate line between encouraging and nagging as we stared up et another daunting hill.

I'm a whiny, out-of-shape weenie, and that's all there is to it Actually, I surprised myself by keeping up a 15-20mph pace for longer stretches than I ever have before, but then, of course, we'd hit an uphill grade and I'd crack and slag back down to 8-10mph... I'd love to see what my avg speed would have been if I hadn't walked up those three big hills And Regina was a great "coach". If she hadn't been there with me, I would've been hitchhiking back to the car halfway through the ride

ZenC, I sent you an e-mail!

[sah]

Today I rode my usually ride in Carmel Valley with DBF and a fellow rider rode up and asked for directions and said," watch out" whoosh, a paceline zoomed passed us so fast we could only see the name on the back of the jerseys Team Rwanda. Really cool to see them speed by us. I saw them on the way back too, they flew up the little hill like they were going down a hill.
http://www.projectrwanda.org/serendipity/

http://www.worldpeaceemerging.com/ar...rticle_194.php

[makbike]

I did walk three times today for a total of 6 miles. Gosh I miss my bike and I can't wait to go for a ride. Maybe, just maybe my doctor will reduce my "recovery" time when I return for my post-op appointment on Wednesday.