October 28 rides

[mimitabby]

Such an enticing autumn day. All the trees in their splendor, a slightly weak sun (a haze is starting to cover the sky) casting actual shadows which makes everything else even more beautiful.
I decided to ride to the Puget Consumer Co op, 4 miles from my house to buy my favorite bread. When I ride by myself I am the fastest, and I never have to try and catch up to anyone. So I powered up a hill, feeling splendid, because no one was going to pass me. Added an extra 2 miles of hills to my ride, to add up to 9 miles total.
The first photo is the street behind my house. I live right past the little sign in the middle of the road far down there.
The second photo was taken on our ride yesterday, on the Burke Gilman trail

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

It was 45 degrees this morning, and DH and I went into town on our bikes for our usual Sunday breakfast at Ralph's Pretty Good Cafe. Afterwards, we went on a brisk cold windy ride for 23 miles.
We did a ride we call the Five Chathams. We start in Chatham, then bike through the hamlets of Chatham Center, North Chatham, Old Chatham, East Chatham, and back the Chatham again.
What a beautiful cold autumn day, sunny and windy! Glad I brought plenty of layers, gloves, a balaclava, and warm wool socks.
Last time I did that ride was about 6 months ago....and it seemed longer and hillier to me then.
Broke in my brand new tires today. It felt like I was riding on velvet.
Love when my bike is totally silent when I'm cruising down the highway....stealth biking.

[nic840]

It was a great ride with purpose today! I coach girls U-12 soccer and we had a tournament in town...well on the outskirts of town. Perfect ride destination...18 miles to get there along the river trail. Excellent. Gave the ball bag and change of clothes to my neighbor (coach her daughter) the night before and planned to be on the trail by 7am. Had to be there for warm-ups at 8:15am. Plenty of time!!

Woke up and I did a double take at the temperature....58 degrees!! Heaven! I put on jersey, underarmour, vest and shorts and I was off. It was an incredible fall morning.
The sun rose over the river, geese were just lifting off of the water, light traffic on the trail. Perfect!
Testing out a new saddle, adjustments made on a bridge overlooking the river. Fisherman out there to try their best at the fall run salmon. Enlightening. Back on the trail.
Get to cut-off and climb one of the few hills, brave a little traffic. I pull up to the school just as the first ones on my team show up. Hah! I beat all those Mommy SUVs!! Love it! It was a free ride for me! One of the parents went out and got me some coffee...perfect morning.
We got crushed by the other team. The girls were little older than us...got to work off the frustrations by hoping back on my bike and heading back home to my two little girls!

My team was amazed that I rode to the game, the parents felt a little lazy and my workout was finished!!! Excellent morning - averaging out at 18mph for approx. 35 miles. All smiles here in Sacramento!

[makbike]

I joined the club on their afternoon ride. It was a beautiful day to be on a bike. I really thought a lot more people would show for the ride given all the rain we had last week which meant most bikes were parked for the week. However, a small but fast crowd was there and chomping at the bit to ride. The pace was blistering and I was amazed that I was able to hang on from start to finish. It was so much fun. We set up a pace line moving down River Road to help combat the strong head wind we were battling. I was really having to work to keep up with the guys but I stayed with them and the further and faster we rode the more my confidence grew. Nothing like being the only female in a pack of guys. Did I mention I had a blast! In the end we logged 23 miles and averaged 17.3 mph - a great day to be on the bike.

[Fredwina]

I wish autumn would show up! it's 92 Degrees! not goo for the fires.
Rode out to check the progress of one of my riders on a brevet, but got sidetrack by some friends. The rode over to Claremont before winding up with 32 miles

[fastdogs]

I decided today to ride from my house. Normally, when I ride, I load up the bike and drive to a park or something. I decided to brave the country roads around here. I had a mile of narrow two lane winding road before I got to hwy 30. From a car, hwy 30 looks like it's got lots of gravel shoulders. From a bike perspective, it only has gravel shoulders sometimes. It varies from no shoulder to gravel to washed out debris littered rocks and holes. Invariably, the hills were loose gravel and debris. The traffic was non stop. There are no cyclists around here, apparently they know something I didn't. I got off hwy 30 as quickly as I could, and took another narrow two lane road back to my house, only about 6 miles total. The hills were killing me, I've got to get better at hills. But the bike handled the rough shoulders and hopping on and off the asphalt. I was lucky I didn't have a flat.
vickie

[limewave]

I went for an early morning mountain bike ride with DH and his friends. It was a very cold 25 degrees. I had on tights, long sleeve jersey, full gloves, and a hat. I had planned to wear a wind vest too, but at the last minute I grabbed my post-ride sweat shirt and threw that on as well.

It was a beautiful morning. The bright leaves falling everywhere and the ground covered in frost. I rode about 9 miles out by myself (the guys are way too fast for me). Then turned around. I picked up the pace for the second half of the trail.

About 2 miles from the end, I stopped dead on the trail. Less than five feet away from me, on a low branch across the trail, was a huge white owl I thought I was seeing things. We stared each other down for a minute. And then he unfurled his massive wings and flew up to the next branch and stared back down at me. He was gorgeous.

I finished up the last two miles. Waited in the car with the heat on high for DH and gang. We stopped for real apple cider and fresh-out-of-the-oven sugar doughnuts on the way home.

It was an awesome morning.

[sundial]

I finally took my new mtb out for a spin! And I survived, lol. Dad and I rode some neat trails in the state park.