Sunday, Sept. 9 Rides

[KnottedYet]

I won't have to go mad afterall...

Finally got to go for a bike ride. Just a little wander down to the beach. Walked around the sailboats for a while, watched a huge cruise ship sailing up the sound, the ferry leaving the dock, some scuba divers, kite flyers, etc.

Found some very nice benches and just soaked up the sunset, islands, ocean.

Aaaaaah.

[Livin the Dream]

Today's ride was pretty short -- a little over 13 miles. I've been trying to lengthen my "regular" route that includes a very peaceful stretch of road that runs along the river, is wooded and shady and was just paved this year. I love riding that road and I've been trying to find a route that is low-traffic and includes some scenery that is longer. The most direct route around is 9 miles, the route I tried this evening is a little better than 13 miles, which will work well for an after-work ride for the next month or so.

Today's ride taught me a few things. At a stop sign about 3 miles into my ride, I saw and older, quite overweight man on an old Schwinn road bike. He followed behind me, and of course I was thinking that he would think I was fast Wrong. About a mile down the road, he flew past me (I looked down and I was doing 17.3 mph when he passed me). And he stayed ahead of me. He took the same route I did and I pedaled like crazy, but I never did catch up with him. I sure did push myself trying, though. I set a new personal speed record for a route that includes some hills of almost 15 mph average.

So, what did I learn? Don't judge others' riding abilities by their performance. I've got a lot of room for improvement. And, I will push myself harder when I'm trying to keep up with someone faster. (I've not yet ridden on a group ride.) All in all, a beautiful day for a ride!

[michelem]

Sara - Congrats on the Tour de Tahoe! Are you sure you can't make it to the Tahoe-Sierra Century on the 22nd? I know, I know . . . just thought I'd try throwing it out there again.

Yesterday I did approximately 42 miles with lots of climbing. I tried to do a routeslip on it, but it stopped calculating distance and climbing about 1/2-way through the route and now it won't save - over an hour of pointing clicking down the drain . . . grrrrr . . . I am beginning to hate routeslip!

Today I did approximately 27 miles with even more climbing. Somehow, I managed to shave 40 seconds off of one of the steepest climbs. Who know how with my balky shifting and me feeling pretty yucky.

All in all, a good weekend for riding - I'm SO glad we're out of the triple digit temps again!

[7rider]

DH and I went out for a 25 mile "recovery" ride on Sunday.
We did Rock Creek Park into D.C., which is relatively flat and has lots of tree cover, so it was cooler for our later-in-the-day start time. We treated ourselves by sleeping in and having a big breakfast after yesterday's killer century.
It took about 13 miles for my legs to feel like anything other than useless lumps of flesh at the end of my trunk. Was good to spin all the junk out of them, but I'm STILL beat. I suppose scrubbing the new kitchen floor didn't help matters any later in the day!

[cosc]

I enjoyed a 23 mile monthly ride with my dh. The cooler weather was a drizzily 57. Coming down a long descent we passed about 20 wild turkey on the shoulder of the road. About 20 minutes after the ride dh back tire had a blow out. Mighty glad we were home. My dh thinks the tires are too big for the rim. The last time the bike was used the tire had a blow up airing it up. Time for new tires I think.

[IFjane]

See my report under "crazy drivers"...