8 July Rides

[Crankin]

Since I spent all morning at the vet hospital getting my cat looked at, by the time we came home, read the paper, ate lunch, it was hot and humid, so i decided that the 16 mile loop would be fine. It was. We passed another couple who seemed to be going a bit faster than us, but I guess they weren't! I was able to stay in the big ring and keep my speed over 18 the whole way on the back side of the loop on Lowell Rd. My average was just over 16 until I began the climb up my street, so I ended up with 15.6, I think.
I just finished doing about another 1.5 tons of rocks for the landscaping. It started pouring, so I decided it was time to come in.

[Aggie_Ama]

We did 54 miles combining two short loops we do. There is a lot of hills and we had a head wind on one of the hilly roads. I impressed myself by only needing my little ring for the toughest climb! It was pretty hot today but the wind made it feel cooler. The sweat was at least evaporating fast. I ended with an average speed of 15.2 which suited me fine since we did a climbing ride yesterday and had the hills and headwind today. I saw a roadrunner and tons of butterflies. Made me think of LBTC.

[KnottedYet]

26 mile TE ride on the Waterford.
10 mile hilly ride on the Surly.

I'm utterly pooped. Having a post-ride snack (crackers, cheese, pickled herring, beer). Then I'm taking a nap.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Everyone's rides sound so lovely today!!

DH and I had a nice pleasant 20 mile ride this morning too. It was 90 degrees but there was a breeze and shade here and there under the trees.

I set a new speed record for myself (previous was 39mph)- I finally hit 40.1 mph on a descent.
Woo-HOOOOOOO! The best part was that I felt in control and wasn't scared at all this time. Big difference from past times at 35mph when I was usually pretty nervous. This particular hill is long and smooth with very good visibility, so it's a good one for speed.
First we have to "earn" it by slowly climbing a couple miles of rough gravel hill through beautiful farmland in the blasting sun. Then we get to the top and the dirt road ends in a T and we can ZOOM down the smooth asphalt road towards another village.

[BikerJen]

18 miles on road bike today. It was around 85°F for my ride. I rode from home towards downtown. Overall I was pleased with my efforts, especially since I was riding a new saddle! A Selle San Marco Aspide. I like it!

Also rode 12 miles on mountain bike yesterday. I'm ready for a nap now.

[mudmucker]

Took another venture into southern New Hampshire but decided to turn around as storm clouds swirled above me and the wind kicked in a bit. This time I at least brought a jacket. Started to pedal back home as far as I could until the rains and some lightening started. Darn, I got stranded at the roadside ice cream joint for about a half hour while I waited to see how violent the rains would get. Logged 38 miles.

[Kalidurga]

Another east coast non-slacker here I had an awesome late-day ride on the C&O Canal today. Drove out to Shepherdstown, WV, for lunch of fritatta and English muffins at Sharazade's Tea Room, then crossed back over the river to get on the C&O at about 4:00pm.

I had planned to duplicate the 65rpm/13mph pace of last week's ride since I felt so comfortable at that combo, but I quickly settled into a faster rythm of 75-85rpm/15-17mph over the dirt, gravel and tree roots of the towpath.

Headed upstream all the way to the Big Slackwater area, at which the canal used to let out into a smooth section of the Potomac River to bypass some cliffs along the Md shore. As a result, there's a detour onto nearby roads to get back onto the towpath farther upstream. Well, I rode as far as the stop sign warning of the detour, and noticed that fishermen/hikers/etc had worn a nice little singletrack trail along the river's edge beyond the detour. And of course I had to ride it After about .5 lumpy, bumpy miles of parched dirt and one spot where I had to shoulder the bike to climb over a fallen tree, I got to the fence blocking the other end of the detour and had to turn around.

The 15 miles back towards Shepherdstown were blissful. It was late enough in the day that most folks were heading home, so I saw very few people. This is the kind of ride I love the most: just me and the bike, the river and the trees, with mental processes reduced to nothing but the perceptions of my five senses as I push myself just hard enough.

I got back to the car with just over 30 miles on my computer and cranked the stereo for the drive home through the Frederick County countryside. After a shower to wash away the sweat and grit, in the words of Lillie Von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles, "I feel wefweshed!"

[tygab]

Took another venture into southern New Hampshire but decided to turn around as storm clouds swirled above me and the wind kicked in a bit. This time I at least brought a jacket. Started to pedal back home as far as I could until the rains and some lightening started. Darn, I got stranded at the roadside ice cream joint for about a half hour while I waited to see how violent the rains would get. Logged 38 miles.

Hey! Do you ride a specialized and were you chatting to a guy with a motorcycle at the ice cream stand? We were riding in that area today, and saw a woman with a yellow jacket leaving after the rain had stopped. We stopped at the ice cream place *after* our ride leaving from Lake Dennison. We had already ridden by the ice cream place during the downpour to get back to the car, but we decided we wanted to go for some quick food after our ride!

How ironic, if it is you! We were the two grubby cyclists sitting on the back of a Honda Element hatch.

And oh yeah our ride, hmm from Lake D to Cathedral of the Pines, back along Mononomoc lake etc. Was a blast, even in the rain. Thankfully the rain came at the end!