June 21st Rides

[Meg McKilty]

SouthernBelle and I went for a short ride today (16 miles) but about 2 miles into the ride, I was chased by a quite large german shepard, then a pit bull mix. At least the owner of the pit bull mix was outside with the dog. I was very scared and sprayed the dog with my water bottle. SB came up behind me and sprayed the dog with Halt.

The rest of the ride was good and easy.

[Aggie_Ama]

We did 32.37 miles after work. Surprisingly cool for Texas in June. I am not sure what was with me today but I was like superwoman! We averaged 17.1 mph and I never needed the little ring. The way back is about 8 hilly miles with a headwind. I have been trying to drink more water, don't know what is in our water at work.

[tygab]

three coworkers and I headed out for a route I planned, my first attempt at doing such a thing. Ride was 18.5 miles for some, and 28 for others.. I did provide printed maps but they were a little hard to read.

anyway, these three are guys and two of them are jackrabbit types. The other is just getting his riding legs and I slot in between them time wise. We stayed more or less together for the first 12 miles or so (the fast guys would wait for me, then we'd all wait for our last rider etc). But after a recollection point, the jackrabbits took off and I stayed with the newer rider, and didn't see them again. We had a very hilly course that I planned (mwuahhhhahaha), and I had a blast. Some of the roads were a little more trafficked than I'd like but it was rush hour after all. Got honked at a few times. Don't know why they honk, it only startles me more.

Anyway, we take a slow pace back on our last leg and pull into work and the jackrabbits are nowhere to be found. So, after waiting a bit and trying to call them, we hop in the car to go the course in reverse to see if we can find them. Sure enough, we do, about 3 miles out and where we'd just ridden through. Turns out they "improvised" part of their route, got some bad directions, etc. So, they ended up doing more like 28-30. Of course, if you're going to pick a day to be on the bike longer than expected, the day of solstice is not a bad choice. We told them the way to get back, and they rode in.

The funny think about cycling is a longer ride than expected is at once a source of complaints but also lots of secret pride... so, they are happy tonight.

All in all a nice ride for after work. I wish it were a little easier to get to quiet roads tho! We got back just as some storm clouds were rolling in.

I'm hoping to jam with some good rides this weekend. It's been hard to find enough time on the bike recently [I haven't been here in ages, among other things], but my bike butt has come back at least