Aug 25, It's Saturday!

[tygab]

One of the things I love about this area - want forests to ride among? got them. Want hills to climb? got them. Want big hills/little mountains? Ocean views? Yep...

Met with a coworker who has started cycling this year, and a friend of his to ride early this am. We rode from Salisbury MA (I think) to Kittery ME and back for a total of around 45 miles. The ride was gorgeous, route along the Seacoast Century which is quite flat and has many ocean/beach vistas. This is definitely the flattest ride I've done on roads and a very different on bike view from my usual.

It was in the upper 90s and humid (temp feel over 100 I believe), and the coworker rides at a slow pace with many breaks, which prolonged the time out in the heat by hours so at the end I was pretty cooked (maybe literally). Spent a good amount of time riding ahead and then waiting (coworker's friend could ride circles around either of us but took the diligent role of staying with the coworker). This was nice because I am developing a little more confidence in riding alone, but I still need some fixit skills.

Coworker's buddy had ridden to/from the departure point so was getting closer to 80 miles for the day...

But, it was beautiful scenery and in the morning we were treated to occasional blasts of cold air coming right off the water which was outstanding. We got to see surfers, the brightly covered beach with sun umbrellas, chairs, towels, people, the waves crashing on the shore...

I would definitely like to do this route again in the fall after the tourists are gone. There was an awful lot of beach traffic today (no surprise).

Got cut off by a SUV yahoo darting across traffic to get into a parking lot, I don't even think he looked to see me... but I had seen/anticipated him so problem averted. I would have liked to tell him to pay more attention tho since I did feel he was not looking out for obstacles in his quest to get a parking spot.

All in all a great ride and tomorrow's weather may be iffy, with t-storms. We'll see. At least that should cool it off here. I feel sorry for those who've been dealing with this heat for weeks, a day is enough for me! But I am getting pretty used to riding on the hot days - drink lots, and find shade or AC as needed!