July 7th Rides

[mimitabby]

we started out by taking the ferry to Southworth, and then hopped on our bikes and did about 12 miles to Port Orchard. From there we went on to Burley, Ollala,
and some other little hamlets strung along like beads along a very very hilly road. Yes, some of those hills were steeper than what i found on Hurricane ridge, but there were lots of downs too, including one steep and straight enough that I broke my personal downhill speed record of 32 mph... I was plummeting down that hill at 35 mph at one point..
About 10 miles outside of Gig Harbor, we got lost. Raleighdon who kindly stayed behind with me has only done this ride once before so he wasn't completely sure where to go; so after two false turns, he decided that the only way we'd ever catch up to our friends was to go the direct route over the hill and down into Gig Harbor. That was a nasty climb, about 10% grade for a distance. We caught up to our friends in Gig Harbor; had a quick lunch, and then I was informed that we needed to hurry to catch the ferry and we had 20 miles to go. I didn't think that was bad until DH told me he wasn't sure we could make it because the next 20 miles were HILLY. augh..
upon leaving the restaurant i noticed my legs were TIRED. REALLY tired.
but DH enthusiastically informed me each time we completed another of the three main (nasty) hills. and continued to be a warm, sweet coach/cheerleader.
With 20 minutes to spare, we finally arrived at the ferry terminal. It was beautiful and hot, well, for me. 64 miles and 4400 feet of climbing. I am toast. literally. but i completed yet another "grown up ride"

[HillSlugger]

Because of my sprained ankle, this was my first ride on my regular road bike since my Tour de Cure 50 miler almost 4 weeks ago. I've lost a lot of fitness! I felt uncomfortable for a while and weak, but finally felt good towards the end of the ride.

I did my "time trial loop", 11 miles at 17.6 mph, my fastest ever. Then did another 14 miles. At this point I discovered I had locked my keys and my phone in the car. Doh! There was a guy playing tennis in the park with his son, but he didn't have a phone. So, I road another 6 to my mom's house and called DP to pick me up with her set of keys. So, 31 miles total at 16.3 mph overall.

[makbike]

I took my recumbent out for an early spin. Given my time restictions I only rode 15 miles this morning. I had to be on the road before noon to make it to Evansville to celebrate my niece & nephew's birthdays. They my niece and nephew are growing like weeds and I enjoyed my visit with them.

The birthday meal was great as was the homemade blueberry pies. I also got a chance to visit with my older brother and his son (yet another nephew) who just completed a 1800 mile bike journey from Oregon to Colorado. Sounds like they had a blast and I do believe my nephew is hooked on cycling.

[tygab]

Hubby and I did a variant of our ride from last week, to Amherst NH. We ended up logging 51 miles. Rode up the road we have nicknamed the "grind" as it is a 2.8 mile uphill (not steep, just long), and there are also no trees for shade, and strong head/crosswinds. We rode by lots of farms and Silver Lake, Massapoag Pond, etc and I wanted to jump into the water so badly along both. It was warm out today! We closed out our ride with Lost Lake Road, which is this crazy, roller coaster winding road where the grades are over 10% (I think we logged that one of them is 14%). Arms feel a little sore. We'll see what we feel like doing tomorrow.

[Yes, I am having fun with all the data from the Forerunner & MotionBased... ]

[mudmucker]

[QUOTE=tygab;221165]Hubby and I did a variant of our ride from last week, to Amherst NH. We ended up logging 51 miles. Rode up the road we have nicknamed the "grind" as it is a 2.8 mile uphill (not steep, just long), and there are also no trees for shade, and strong head/crosswinds. We rode by lots of farms and Silver Lake, Massapoag Pond, etc and I wanted to jump into the water so badly along both. It was warm out today! We closed out our ride with Lost Lake Road, which is this crazy, roller coaster winding road where the grades are over 10% (I think we logged that one of them is 14%). Arms feel a little sore. We'll see what we feel like doing tomorrow.

Is this the same Lost Lake Road in Groton? I remember I wanted to do a smoother metric last year so I drove over to ride and chose a route starting in Lancaster, went through Shirley, Townsend, Groton, and Ayer. I was on rt 40 in Groton and decided to cross south over on a road called Lost Lake Rd to pop in and say a quick hi to friends on the other side. It was funny. You go down the road and you sort of get enveloped in this lost world of green and like you say, continually go over all these roller coaster hills - it sort of makes you laugh. Short stand in the pedals sprinty kind of hills but I do remember rolling my eyes saying "how many are there" and I do remember one that was over 10%.

[tygab]

Is this the same Lost Lake Road in Groton? I remember I wanted to do a smoother metric last year so I drove over to ride and chose a route starting in Lancaster, went through Shirley, Townsend, Groton, and Ayer. I was on rt 40 in Groton and decided to cross south over on a road called Lost Lake Rd to pop in and say a quick hi to friends on the other side. It was funny. You go down the road and you sort of get enveloped in this lost world of green and like you say, continually go over all these roller coaster hills - it sort of makes you laugh. Short stand in the pedals sprinty kind of hills but I do remember rolling my eyes saying "how many are there" and I do remember one that was over 10%.

Indeed, this is the one. It's very close to our house and I've never ridden it before, mainly due to the cars that are having fun driving the road too. But it wasn't too bad.