October 14 rides

[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

[indigoiis]

Here is my ride report from the Northeast section, Norwich metric, Sunday 10/14/07, that Redrhodie and I completed.

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This was a great ride.
Well, at least I thought it was a great ride.
RR might believe differently. Actually, she had an experience at the end that made it a great ride, and it involved men.
But I'll let her tell you about that.

This ride is 60-63 miles with 31 hills. That's one hill for every two miles. Some hills were more manageable than others, but none were "forgiving." The riders who organized this metric were serious about hill training. I had routed this on mapmyride.com to get the elevation, and I have to say that the elevation map was intimidating to look at. However, being the Pollyanna that I am, I figured, if I can ride a century, I can do 63 miles with hills.

We started at ten in a pack of about twenty and quickly spread out. RR and I slowed our pace way down with the idea in mind of saving our stuff til we needed it. We rode with a gentleman RR called "Eagle Eye" because he spotted all (but one) arrows on the road. After she called him this, he was distracted and missed an arrow (as did we all) and we went two miles the wrong way. I turned us around and we went back down and we dropped Eagle Eye.

The next 15 miles were a joy; rolling hillettes, state forest mixed with rural farmland and low woodland; stone walls and bluffs characteristic of the area, and early color on most all of the maples and nut trees. Connecticut roads are a joy to ride on. We are used to the ruts and potholes of Rhode Island roads. We were in high spirits, averaging around 14/15 (my computer is not working and RR's new bike isn't hooked up with one yet.) We got to about mile 20 and I lost RR for the rest of the ride. I picked up another female rider and tailed her for about eight miles of narrow, winding climbs and hair-raising descents into ravines where the temperature was ten degrees cooler, then passed her and headed for the ferry. At the ferry, I had a pb sandwich and waited for RR. A guy turned up and we checked around and found out that the ferry was closed due to high winds. So I finished my lunch and headed out up towards Gilette Castle.

The hills to Gilette and just beyond are long, straight hills, one after the other. They are backbreaking. I got a call halfway up the second from RR and she was just behind me. I told her I'd meet her at Devil's Hopyard and got back on the bike. I'd have to say this was a challenging set of hills. I used my grannies on every one. The guy from the ferry and I kept passing each other. I latched on to the girl I had worked with before at the top of the hill heading toward Hadlyme and we circled around to get onto a long stretch of flat, where I passed her again. At this point, I was alone and the arrows were hard to see, so I kept thinking I'd passed the turn for the Hopyard. But I had not. Finally, I took the turn for the Hopyard and into the campground (I camped here years ago so it was a nice re-visit) and went in to the loo and refilled my water at the ancient pump. I took a minute at the falls and then got back on my bike and took off for the next set of hills. I caught up with the girl I had passed a couple of times before and passed her; she said, "if you pass me one more time, I'm going to kill you."

Miles 50-55 were some steep graded hills. I kept looking ahead and thinking, "uh oh, RR is not gonna like this." I came flying down one grade only to look up and see a terraced hillside just ahead, with bulldozers and a quarry operation. The road went straight and then disappeared left. I figured from the way the ride was going up to this point that this only meant one thing: another hill. Head down and tuning my brain to some Styx song (where did THAT come from... the brain is an amazing thing) I headed out for it. As I rounded left, the road went straight up. Like College Hill in Providence. Yes, that steep. I geared to mini-mouse and spun up the first half, and then heard a huge truck behind me. I knew that the road turned sharply right and by the way I was wobbling, knew it would be dangerous to stay on the bike while the truck and I rounded that bend. So I got off. The truck blazed past me leaving me in a billow of sand and dust. I walked ten paces (like hiking up a trail with a bike in your hands) and rounded the curve and... more up. So I got back on, because riding HAD to be easier than trying to walk in bike shoes. I got to the top and it leveled out for about a half mile, and then, another hill. I think this was hill number 28. Judging by the time (and having mapped the ride including waypoint mileages) I knew that I only had about 10 miles to go and how many hills can you get in ten miles? So I humored myself and counted them down and managed to do them all except for one, where I got off and walked ten paces for a rest. At this point, I was passed by ferry guy. I got back on and pedaled hard. I passed ferry guy and he yelled out, "that's it! I'm done for today!" and I said, "hey! we're almost done! Just think, in two hours you'll be home, showered and having a big dinner!"

The road at this point was quite pretty. Bozrah is a beautiful little community and the hills became less steep and more rolling. I was feeling fairly good except for the shoulder/neck thing I get on all long rides. But I could live with it. I had eaten steadily all day so I had no bonking episodes, but I did feel a little lightheaded at this point. I rode along and took the next hill, the last series of hills. And I must say I was spent at this point, but I did spin them out, maybe going 3 mph. I think this hill is called Leffingwill hill. I came down the other side and checked the map and I was a mile away from the finish. I jumped on to 82 and flew back to the park and ride, where I found RR waiting for me! She had a big smile on her face and so I know she had a good time, despite all the hills. But I'll let her tell that part.

All in all, a good hilly ride. I'll do it again next year. I think this would also be an excellent training ride for anyone who wants to ride in the Adirondacks or in New Hampshire white mountains. It took me about five hours, and I averaged around 11/12 mph. I lost two pounds even though I drank 3 bottles of water.

It was fun.
I love hills!

[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