June 30 rides

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Donna, Great the you are getting back in to riding again!

All- Yes, happily my DH DID feel way better after a major hurl and a shower - we then went out and had a lovely dinner and he looks and feels normal again. Getting a good night's sleep tonight. He thinks it was a combo between dehydration and the eggsalad platter (!) he had for lunch during the ride. I tend to agree. He says he was drinking water constantly but probably just couldn't keep up. Anyway the two century Boys are happy and safe now.

Ellen those are great pictures. But Suzie's going to be way mad that you caught her with her mouth open so big! That guy behind the screen is priceless too! Oh my god if I saw all those berries I would have to try to pack them ALL into my saddlebag!!!!! (after first packing myself full) YUM!!!!!!!!!
Glad you girls didn't eat at Fatheads Smoke Pit there (eeeeww)....or you'd all be hurling after your ride too!

[DDH]

Lisa, glad you got your mulch done. I wish I really could have been there. I make good tea, you would have enjoyed it.

Today was my birthday so I was going to do what I wanted to do today and that was, ride my bike, if the weather let me, and it did, held out until I got home then it cut loose. LOL

[Crankin]

Well, I did ride, but not my road bike. I haven't been feeling well, but don't want to bore you guys with that. Anyway, we hadn't used the mountain bikes since December, so after cleaning and adjusting we put them on the rack and set out for a trail i see on many road rides. One of the clubs I ride with did an x country ski here last winter, so I was like "OK, it's flat," so it shouldn't be that bad. I had a feeling this might be a "no bikes allowed" trail, but i did want to check it out. Got to the parking lot, unloaded the bikes and started down a very sandy path. There were little ridges, like at a beach and I wasn't doing that well controlling the bike (I'm more used to rocks and roots). There was some type of community farm garden up ahead, so we rode in a grassy field until the trail got harder packed. Finally, we see the entrance to the real trail, which of course says "NO BIKES." We started to turn around when I hear my husband yell "S***!" It seems as if his front brake is totally not working. He went on ahead and I slowly made it back to the car, this time tackling all of the sand and not falling. I wanted to ride more, so we decided to go to Estabrook Woods and do the main trail, which Steve said he could handle with just the rear brake . I know this trail really well, so OK, we went. My goal was to not have to put my foot down, which i achieved, but I rode REALLY slowly, so I could tackle the technical stuff. This is not a totally flat and clear fire road. It's about a 2% uphill on the way out, which flattens in spots and has a couple of sections of loose gravel and several large rocks along the way. There are some rooty parts, too, but nothing terrible. There is a stream crossing, but it was dried up. Steve was going so fast I lost sight of him. We rested at one end (it's about 2.6 miles) and then turned back. I slowly made my way back and then we drove right to the bike shop to get both bikes worked on. I guess i should mtb more, since I felt like it was my first time, but I just hate not riding my road bike. So, I ended up with around five miles. I didn't get the time, but I don't really care how fast I go on the trail. When we got home, it was only 2:30, so then we put the canoe on the rack and headed over to the Concord River. We put in at Lowell Rd. and paddled to the South Bridge boathouse, where millions of people who don't know how to steer were renting canoes and kayaks. It was a gorgeous day, but the river was like a freeway with people and I didn't really like having to pay that much attention. It seemed like we went a much longer distance than it is if you drove this distance... we were out over an hour. My arms feel it today.