October 14 rides

[Fredwina]

I met up Amy and Aly, had breakfast , and then did a loop of Griffith park In La. about 14 miles

[mimitabby]

We got home from oregon; i have a headache and my stomach is... so so... Raleighdon, as full as enthusiasm as always was "oh, come on, let's go for a ride"
i finally gave in, we rode 18 miles up and down some hills and then along the lake and then back up the hill again home.
bleah. it's gorgeous out but i still feel stinky.

[deedolce]

What beautiful fall colors! Today I broke my record of how many miles in one day, outside of an organized ride (63.25 miles). AND I rode something the locals call 'Cardiac' for the first time! And I ate 1 Cliff bar, 1 gel, 1 breakfast sausage panini, and too much ice tea. So I had to pee once in the bushes on the way back.

[makbike]

I rode a club century today. The day did not start off well, a lot of bad juju surrounded me. I awoke at 4:30 a.m. and almost talked myself out of riding - the thoughts of climbing Doolittle Hill scared me beyond belief. However by 5:15 I had convinced myself to give it a go and went about getting myself ready for a challenging ride. I left the house with plenty of time to spare and this turned out to be a very good thing. The club offers directions to a lot of the starting points and I had printed these off last night, however, they proved to be very inaccurate and well I got lost in southern Indiana. Thanks to the gentleman who turned me around and got me headed back in the right direction. Thanks to the couple who had stopped at the end of their driveway who also gave me directions. I arrived at the starting point with 5 minutes to ready myself and my bike. I quickly signed myself in and returned to air up my tires. More bad juju struck - I torn the valve stem off my front tube! A club member came over quickly to help me - he changed my tube while I finished getting myself ready. The main group left but Paul, the guy who changed my tube and the ride captain stayed back with me until I was ready to ride - a very kind gesture. Finally, we journeyed out of the parking lot and onto the route. We rode a couple of miles and while making a left turn I saw my bike computer come apart right before my eyes and trail behind me! I turned around and went back only to find the screen - the buttons were MIA. However, the good news is the computer components and display screen were still with me so I was able to track my mileage and all the other nice data it likes to supply. I told myself at that point three bad things had happened all in the course of an hour so the rest of the day would be delightful and I was right!

The century took us around southern Indiana - and boy did we spend a lot of time climbing hills/knobs as the day progressed. However, we were treated to some beautiful sights along the way. We climbed Skyview Drive at the start and the view down into the valley and across the river into Louisville was awesome. I think the funniest sight of the day was the bathtub shrine we passed early in the ride. This shrine was painted purple on the inside and had a large owl statue sitting it it - not like the others we had passed on our many rides. I give the owners major points for creativity! We passed a lot of dried fields and creek beds all evidence of the power of the drought that has settled upon us in the region. As we passed on plowed field we were treated to dueling dirt devils as they danced across the way - a cool sight to behold.

The ride took us up and down a lot of knobs/hills today and the toughest one came at the 80 mile mark - dreaded Doolittle Hill. It is a 13% grade, goes on for .7 miles with no breaks and came to about 450 feet of climbing. It was a killer and I was determined to not walk any portion of it so I settled into a slow pace and kept climbing - I thought I was going to die several times but I made it to the top and felt a huge smile consume my face. This was a first for me. I had to laugh for a couple of the men following me up the hill told me at the "summit" that they had decided they would stop and walk when I did but I kept going so they had to keep pedaling. I told them "I never walk up a hill."

It was a great day to be on the bike even with the bad start to the day. In the end we rode 100.52 miles. My average speed was 15.46 - not my best but I'm really happy with it given all the climbing we did today.

[sundial]

My average speed was 15.46 - not my best but I'm really happy with it given all the climbing we did today.

Wow! You made great time! Congratulations for persevering in the midst of bad ju ju!

I rode with my dad and it included 2 state parks. It was a father and daughter kind of day.

[onimity]

It was in the 40s and rainy here all day (anyone watching the NL playoffs will know what I'm talking about...) so I just rode the 10 miles to and from my piano lesson. I figured it was a good chance to try out my rain & cold weather gear for riding in Patagonia. It worked well

I was amazed at how much nicer motorists were to me in the rain! A lot of people rolled down their windows to wave or say encouraging things. Some even pulled back when they realized they were blocking the bike path! I don't think I'd mind if it rained more often...

Anne

[Kathi]

It was in the 40s and rainy here all day (anyone watching the NL playoffs will know what I'm talking about...) so I just rode the 10 miles to and from my piano lesson. I figured it was a good chance to try out my rain & cold weather gear for riding in Patagonia. It worked well

I was amazed at how much nicer motorists were to me in the rain! A lot of people rolled down their windows to wave or say encouraging things. Some even pulled back when they realized they were blocking the bike path! I don't think I'd mind if it rained more often...

Anne

We call days like this "an Ohio day" because we had this kind of weather so often in Cincinnati. We actually had thunder and lightning last night! My SO drove the 1 mi to the gym, I think that was a first. Me, I'm working on ski conditioning, slide board, intervals, squats, lunges, etc.

BTW, the mtns got snow! Winter will be here soon!

[Crankin]

We did an abbreviated version of a challenging hill climb ride. It was about 57 when we left; first time I wore my tights since April. The wind was gusting up to about 10 every so often, too. We rode out of West Acton into Littleton and climbed Oak Hill into Harvard center. Before starting the climb i switched to regular gloves from long ones and lost the head cover. It's about a 4 mile climb that is never that steep but seems to go on forever. I was going slow, about 8-9, considering all of the medical crap I've been having. The end of the climb turns into a super downhill, which was recently repaved (yay!). I did't feel super confident about speeding descents, so I think I hit 30 at the most. We rested on the town green in Harvard Center and then turned back and headed back into Stow and Boxboro. All familiar roads, with lots of cyclists out.
The total was around 23 miles. I won't eventell you my average, it was slow! Afterwards, the 4 of us went to a cafe and had coffee/tea/and a little sweet treat.

[onimity]

Hi Kathi, "Ohio weather," that is great! It certainly is rare enough here, but all the precipitation we've had this summer/fall makes me wonder if we aren't in for another winter like the last.

There is snow on the top of the flatirons this morning! I'll be in South America Dec 1-early Jan so no early part of the ski season for me...but I'm so looking forward to that when I return!

Anne

[ibcycling]

36 miles today. Beautiful weather, pretty ride, but I was tired so it was slow and I was really dragging at the end. I planned to go up the "wine hill" which is a nice climb up and fun to come back down but I didn't have enough leg to do it today. I pushed myself this week and I'm beat. Time for pizza, beer, Advil, and bed!

Lora