Nov 10 Rides

[makbike]

I opted not to ride the club century today simply because it was 30 F when the ride started at 8 a.m. Instead, I joined the club's slow and easy ride at 10 a.m. It was a bit warmer so I convinced myself I should ride. I went out with the fast group for I've been on my trainer all week and wanted to really ride. All was well until we left the park to head back to our cars. A group of riders passing me informed me my back tire was going flat. I pulled off the road and sure enough it was low. A closer look revealed a big staple in my tire. I went about getting my tools/tube out to change the tire. Before I knew what happened a group of guys in the club joined me and took over the task of changing the tube for me. I'm not complaining because I hate to change tubes. They did a great job and we were back on the road. It was a beautiful day to be outside - clear blue skies. My only wish would be for warmer temps - I hate to ride outside when it is chilly. Tomorrow looks like another pretty day and I hope to make it to the afternoon club ride.

[bmccasland]

38 mile, 1st annual Tour de Jefferson (Parish). We started at a State Park, rode by a National Park, ferry across (so it was a swamp tour boat) a shipping channel/bayou, to Lafitte, and back. Although for the return trip we rode the very high bridge over the shipping channel. Should I mention while the rest of y'all in North America are bundling up, we started in the upper 60's and finished in the mid 70's? Beautiful day for a bike ride through some of the more rural parts of Jefferson Parish. Sponsor was the Parish Chamber of Commerce - so there is hope for bike lanes in the area! The route officially had three "hills" - two bridges over shipping channels and we swear the on the return trip over one of the bridges, it got steeper.

Did my own bike awareness - after one gal complained to me about being sore in her neatherparts (she didn't know about padded shorts, and only looked in big box stores), I told her about TE. And some other gals, staffing an info booth for one of the other ride sponsors, asked about getting into biking in general - so I rattled off names of LBS until we found one that was in their neighborhood.

So now I'm home and totally wiped out. And Nala wants to go for a walk...

[Fredwina]

I rode as a course Marshall on the half metric route, I also got early and got in some extra mile (half to get my Saturday metric in!)
Very nice, I surprised my self with my pace Along the way, I recruited some else for my fleche team (she does Ultraman tris) ,so i I figured it would be up her alley.
Hung around the club booth for a bit before heading home. We going to do a Team E thing, but It sounds like a lot of folks got called away at the last minute. C'est La vie!

[sandra]

Another crash for me today. Crash while WALKING! Hubby and I had this bright idea that we would do something different, go to the outside edge of our neighborhood, slip around a fence and down a little hill and come out in a big ole church parking lot and go from there.

The little hill was a bigger than it looked. And it had some vines and briars growing on the ground. My foot got hung underneath a briar and I stopped except the bike didn't and pulled me down with it. I took a small roll down the hill before I stopped. More wounds and bruises.

We rode anyway and I have no idea how far. We didn't have a bike computer with us and it was a leisurely ride.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

DH and I did a pretty tiring ride today. It was only 32 miles, but it took us FOUR HOURS.
It was 30 degrees F when we headed out, and windy and cold. We took a very hilly route around the area through various towns. Saw some dustings of snow on the ground here and there in the woods.
Wound up doing 1600 feet of climbing which (for me) was more than usual in 32 miles. Some of those hills seemed to take forever in low gear, and the downhills were a bit too cold and windy for my liking.
Luckily I wore just enough layering to keep warm enough. My fingers came close to being too cold, but then another uphill and they were warm again.

When we got home it was about 40 degrees, my legs were real tired and my bones were chilled through. But I did feel good about doing this ride today which was a "vertical challenge" for me. I laugh when some of you ladies complain about how "slow" you are at 12 or 15mph. Today we only managed 8.2mph. (ok that is lower than my usual 9.5 or 10).
I took a long hot shower and ate split pea soup and hot cocoa. I've got wool on for sleeping tonight- going to sleep well!

[sandra]

Lisa, that actually sounds good to me. We were in the mid 70's with shorts and short sleeves and HOT. I'd like to try a little of that cool.

[solobiker]

Didn't ride today. Opted for a nice long walk in the neighborhood. It was a beautiful day, I was warm enough to wear shorts and a long sleave T-shirt.

[emily_in_nc]

Lisa, that actually sounds good to me. We were in the mid 70's with shorts and short sleeves and HOT. I'd like to try a little of that cool.

Mid 70s is hot???? Ooh, that's just perfect cycling weather to me! Actually, 80s are even better (I do start to melt at 90, though!) It was in the 40s/50s both days of the weekend here in NC. We hiked and did some pretty heavy yard work (moving lots of logs on our 11 acre wooded property), no riding. I didn't mind. I'm very much a cold-weather weenie!

Emily