August 12 Rides

[RolliePollie]

40.12 miles and about 3,000' of climbing for me this afternoon...and my thigh muscles are complaining about it! I rode in the heat of the day (not too hot...probably about 85) and for some reason, my body felt great. This is the longest distance I've ridden here locally and it was a great ride.

Two kind of weird/negative things...I stopped at two different vineyards to refill my water bottles. Both places did end up filling my bottles for me, but they acted really funny about it. I guess I'll have to keep trying different places until I find some friendlier folks. Then I passed a guy on a mountain bike, and I guess he did not appreciate it, because he suddenly flew by me and said "catch me if you can, you little p*s*y" which completely scared me to death so I put my hand on my pepper spray, made a quick u-turn, and took off the other way.

Here are some pics of where I ride...it's a little smoky and hazy today so they didn't turn out that great.

[sandra]

Sara, sounds like a nice ride. Love the pictures. The guy on the bike would have scared me too. Where do you keep your pepper spray?

I have pepper spray and have thought of taking it myself. There have been a few reports of attacks on the rails to trails that are scary.

I didn't ride today. Yesterday I pushed myself harder and further than ever. My body was complaining and my thighs were sore. It was so hot today, 101. I rode around the neighborhood a little and then used my Aqua Jogger in the pool!

[Fredwina]

I did 28 and 1/2 miles. was 96 when I started. wasn't too bad

[7rider]

I did the Sunday B-ride with the LBS today. Someone must have sent out notice that Mike, LBS owner was not going to be around this a.m., so no "adult supervision" as one guy put it. There must have been 120 riders on this mornings' ride! It was amazing to see them all -- and there were a few local race clubs represented with several riders apiece. So, the A-ride was a pretty speedy affair. Fortunately, the only attacks here came on the hill climbs.
The B-ride, with our 25 or so, was more reasonable pace, but everyone seemed to have the flat-tire-bug today. I stopped to help or lend moral support to 3 people today, changing flats on the side of the road. And I passed two others, where things seemed to be pretty well in hand.
I dropped into the park today, for my "Extra 10" - I had the small Camelback on, so I had enough water/gatorade to do it. With this exertion, I can't do 40 miles on just 2 water bottles. So, during the heat of summer, out comes the camelbak. If you think it's fred, tough noogies.
38 miles at 17.5 mph.

[RolliePollie]

Sara, sounds like a nice ride. Love the pictures. The guy on the bike would have scared me too. Where do you keep your pepper spray?

I have pepper spray and have thought of taking it myself. There have been a few reports of attacks on the rails to trails that are scary.

I found a very high tech (ha ha) solution for carrying my pepper spray. I hooked a velcro strap to my handlebars using a zip tie. Then I just velcro in the pepper spray. In theory, I should be able to grab the spray, pull it out of the velcro, and spray whatever it is that's after me. However, in reality, I can only imagine myself crashing, the pepper spray flying through the air, and my attacker either attacking me or collapsing in laughter at the sight of it all. But it makes me feel better having it with me on the bike.

[sandra]

Thanks for the pic. It's a very clever idea! I have this visual of myself saying "WAIT!" while I dig around in my seat bag for my pepper spray. My fear is also that the pepper spray would drift back on me instead of the attacker.

[RolliePollie]

Thanks for the pic. It's a very clever idea! I have this visual of myself saying "WAIT!" while I dig around in my seat bag for my pepper spray. My fear is also that the pepper spray would drift back on me instead of the attacker.

I read a post somewhere about someone who sprayed a dog and inadvertently also sprayed her water bottles. Spicy water would NOT be a good thing.

[maryellen]

today i went on my first group ride since my accident last year. it was too early for me to be nervous about it. surprised at how difficult i'm finding it to get my mileage up.

today (sunday) about 40 miles in westchester and fairfield counties. took the train up to westchester and returned home via connecticut. the best possible choice on a warm day.

[ehirsch83]

Did a 50 miler yesterday, longest ride yet since coming back off of the ankle injury. Really wanted to do 60, but I overslept and didn't leave till 7:30. The South Florida heat was to much for me to continue. By the time I hit the turn around point for the 50 miles I was almost done with both water bottles, and I had about 10 miles until I got to a place to refill. So I turned around, stopped at 7-11 on the way home, got some gatorade and mixed it with 50% water in both water bottles. Good ride overall, felt like I could of done the 60 leg wise, just not heat wise. Every time I got stopped at a light, or the time I got stopped at a draw bridge, the intensity of the heat really hit me! Averaged 18mph before cool down, 17.7 with cool down, pretty happy!

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks for the pic. It's a very clever idea! I have this visual of myself saying "WAIT!" while I dig around in my seat bag for my pepper spray. My fear is also that the pepper spray would drift back on me instead of the attacker.

Pepper spray is pretty useless in your seat bag. If you can't rig it to your handlebars, just put it in your jersey pocket. I have a "Halt holder" from Nashbar ($2!) which attaches HALT (brand) pepper spray to my handlebars for very easy access. Won't fit other brands, though. I have never had to use it on a human, only dogs (very rarely!)

Emily

[Crankin]

Tested our annual September "cookout" ride. We rode 39.5 miles, 3600 ft. of climbing. This ride is probably the most challenging local ride I do. We played with the route a bit, taking out one of the climbs and changing the last part a bit. We ate lunch on top of the biggest climb in Bolton, on the side of the road, by an old barn at an apple farm. It really feels like you are way up in Vermont at this spot. It was pretty hot (85), but 85% of this ride is very shaded. Otherwise, I would have been miserable. My average was 14.6, which, considering the climbing is pretty good for me.

[tygab]

We are back on the Cape to visit with family and turned in an 18 mile ride on our MTBs. We did not bring the road bikes because of the salt air, sand etc but my husband already said he wished we had. We could store them in the E no problem.

Anyway, I am good riding my seasoned Hardrock though, it is a nice (if not heavy) change of pace... We did one short off road section to a park but the rest were roads. Plenty of hills for challenge. Saw a lot of tourers but even the roadies were nice (which as we know doesn't always happen when not looking roadie). Was a warm lower or mid 80s.

A bit overcast today. Not sure what today's activities are...
would be nice to do more trails here.

[luvs2ride]

DH and I did a popular loop near our home. Only 24 miles but over 3,000 feet of climbing. It was a first for me and my legs were "cooked." DH does it at 240 pounds with only a double chain ring. I have a triple and it was still difficult! That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right !?! And, did I mention that it was a HOT ride also (low 90's) !!!

[tjf9]

DH and I did about 8 miles with me towing the kids. Pretty flat, along the Columbia River. The route passes right by the airport, so the boys really enjoyed watching the planes go by.

We considered briefly doing the Bridge Pedal - a ride around Portland where you ride over all of the bridges in the city - but it has been described as a rolling traffic jam and that didn't sound too appealing. From reading accounts of the ride this morning, it sounded even worse (many people had to walk 2 or 3 of the bridges and there was a one hour wait to cross another one). Anyone here do it?

[HillSlugger]

I did my last training ride on the Iron Girl route for next Sunday's triathlon. It was my plan to hold back a bit on the ride to see if it would help out my legs for the run. Even though I coasted down many of the descents instead of pushing them hard like usual, I ended up doing the route a little bit faster than last week. Maybe my ascents are improving!