4/19 rides

[Crankin]

It seems like I haven't had time to do more than a 15-16 mile ride any day this week. After doing a bunch of Passover cooking, went out to do the Hanscom Base loop. A big part of this ride goes through Minuteman National Park, where several battle reenactments were going on, to celebrate Patriot's Day. There were thousands of people walking down the side of the road, where we were riding, plus lots of cars and police patrols everywhere. At least no muskets went off this year!
It's beautiful out, about 71 and sunny.

[Susan126]

No cycling today for Joe and me. We had planned on doing a mountain bike ride but . . . well, we didn't go.

I woke to snow coming down! What?! This is April right? Geeish! So I cleaned house, did laundry, and made pizzelles!

Weather is supposed to improve starting Monday. If so I plan to ride every single nice day after work! And I think tomorrow is supposed to be dry. If so a definite bike ride will be scheduled in!

Sigh . . . well here are a few pictures of me making pizzelles on this not so fine spring day!


9:00 AM, me in my PJs


Two golden pizzelles ready to come off the pizzelle iron


Pizzelles cooling on my kitchen table


Cleaning up


Ready to be placed into containers

These won't last very long. One recipe makes 6 dozen . . . there are 4 1/2 dozen on the counter. Joe and Jackie (ahem and me) had been "sampling" a few. This recipe is my great Aunt Rachel Marsico's recipe. They are to die for!

And to all you lucky gals who did get a ride in today . . . wooooo wooooo! I am jealous! Please send some of your nice weather my way! PLEASE! Sundial I just love the pictures! Especially the one of the mare and foal! So cute! redrhodie, rub it in! No wind, major blue skies, abundant sunshine! sigh sigh and double sigh! kelownagirl, I know the weekend you are talking about. I got sun last Saturday!!!!! It was a warm (hot) 75 F (about 24 C). Wasn't that a gorgeous day kelownagirl! I was in heaven! Joe, Jackie, and I did a 25 mile ride. Would have done more but Joe's rear hub came loose! Had to turn around and head back.

Sue

[makbike]

Joined the club for yet another century. This one was much more fun than last week's ride and cheaper too!

The ride started in Charlestown, IN and made its way to the town of Dupont where we had lunch at the General Store. A sad and scared pit bull (unneutered male) joined us and seemed to enjoy the sandwiches, chips and other goodies that were tossed his way. From Dupont we made our way to Lexington, IN and back to Charlestown.

The weather was iffy at the start - little rain, strong winds and very gray skies. However, by the time we made our way to the first store the sun was out, the skies were blue and the wind was still ever present. By the time we made it to Dupont the sun had disappeared, temperatures were dropping and the wind was stronger (about 14 mph). Talk of rain was present and I found myself in a group racing to beat the precipitation. I elected to stop at the final store stop and most elected to press on. The rain did tease us from that point on but never made a serious attempt to soak us, thank goodness. As we pulled into the parking lot the rained started and I was glad to crawl into my warm car.

In the end I logged 102.17 miles and averaged 15.86. I will admit I'm a bit disappointed in this average speed for last year I averaged 16 mph. However, the wind was a factor the last 50 miles so I'm not going to complain to much.

It is now time to ice the ankle (it did some serious talking the first 50 miles or so), feed my critters and myself and crawl into bed early tonight.

[Geonz]

Wanted to get a.m. miles in and got out of the bed... but got serially distracted. Note to self: Drink the tea first. However, I *did* remember that breathing stuff and got some laundry sorted.
Rode out to my 9:00 ride to lead and NOBODY was there. The 8:00 group's cars were there (about four of them) ... 8:57 and... four riders come drifting in and they are NOT saunterers. I steel myself for trying to do the pace they'd suffer me to do with me along on the Xtracycle and getting a dyno-mite workout... and we chat... I consider begging off 'cause I'm rpetty sure they'd rather go faster.. and then get my excuse as not one, but THREE riders drift in, one new young guy (as in 14) on a fast bike but *no* experience except on the trainer, one fella about my speed and one coming-back-after-ten-years lady on a hybrid.
We ignore the drizzle (47 degrees) and take off... average at the end was 8.6 mph. for 20 miles.
I get home and no, I *can't* find my fanny pack so I hop on the folder and sprint out to school and back 'cause it was there 13 peppy miles.

[chicago]

wow, what a great ride today. the boyfriend and i went out a bit later this morning hoping to avoid the rain, but we got hit on the 20 miles back... but that's okay, i need the rain practice for our bike tour.

so we ended up with 45 miles... and I tried out my new Cobra aero bars and they rock I like my new saddle (Terry Butterfly), so that's good... so I think I'm good for this year on bike components... at least this week

oh and on another note... I'm glad to be a part of this site because it seems alot of you talk about your SO's and husbands in your posts, and alot of you do riding with your SO's and husbands. On another forum where I posted, I was asked "why do you bring up your boyfriend in every post?" ... and I wrote back "because he's a part of my life everday, therefore he's usually a part of my daily posts". Why did I even have to defend myself?, sad I was pretty hurt by that... apparently good relationships are not something they want to hear about... oh well.

[jesvetmed]

Oh... you guys with your decent weather! Nice reading about it. I ventured out today -- the sun broke through and I got very brave. Even left the shoe covers at home. MISTAKE! Made it 18 miles... hit rain, sleet AND hail, along with cold and strong winds. YIKES Not what I had in mind. I've been home 30 minutes and still my big right toe is numb! What an idiot I was!? A day with coach Troy may have been better.

But... had I not gone, I would have missed seeing the lambs with their moms, the blue heron that flew right over me, the doe that crossed in front of me, that weird-looking bird I have to look up (do we actually have vultures here, b/c it looked like one!), and the thrill of the hot latte my hubby met me with at the end of the ride. NEVER HAS COFFEE TASTED BETTER! He had impeccable timing today! So, next time I hope I can do a longer ride, in nicer weather. But for today, a sense of accomplishment. As soon as I can feel my extremeties I will pat myself on the back!

Here's hoping the rest of you had better rides today!

[Jenerator]

Mid-week snows have melted, so back to shorts & sleeveless jersey for today's 55 mile meander.


Wind, my constant riding companion.


At least the views were nice


But it was a little crowded


So I took the road less traveled

[Fredwina]

I did 62 miles, again
This may be a bummer
we had visitor from Redding join us on our club ride.
I actually made it to the regroup before mt Baldy before everyone left!
I stopped to change my glasses,and everyone left
I was coming down Euclid Avenue, and a Firefighter was in the middle of the road waving for me to stop.
The Guy from redding was laying out cold in the middle of the street
You can easily 50-60 mph on this descent. He developed a speed wobble and locked his front brakes. He would up being airlifted to Loma Linda.
Since I don't deal well with blood and gore, I rode back to notify the rest of the gang what had transpire> I then rode to San Dimas to get a metric. I talked with a couple of women riders (didn't get their names. Punish me!) before heading home
San Antonio Dam:

The Crash triage group heading in:

The URL on the bus: repobustour.com:

[Bad JuJu]

Sigh . . . well here are a few pictures of me making pizzelles on this not so fine spring day!

Pizzelles! Yum! When I was in the navy, my Italian friend's mom used to send her pizzelles--and she was so good about sharing. You could do worse things on a day that didn't lend itself to riding.

[Zen]

Pizelles
I knew they must be bad for you.
I dare not taste a one,cookies are my Kryptonite

[solorider]

I still have my fingers crossed that we're finally done with the snow here in Michigan- we had loads of it this year and I'm really ready for spring to stay! sorry to hear that some of you are still getting dumped on...

I finally was able to get in a longer ride today - I'm hoping to do a 75 mile ride 2 weeks from today- but have only managed to fit in commutes so far this year.

Today was a nice cool comfortable 45 F, and foggy, and a great ride- I fit in 25 miles before my in laws got into town- and it felt so good to be on the bike for longer than my 20 minute commute, and seeing some different scenery. I found a new route that I hadn't tried before that thankfully was a road with very few potholes.

the pizzelles sound great- I haven't had any made fresh in many many years.

[Susan126]

OH Cookies are my kryptonite too! I usually make them to give away. I'm sending some to my son this week plus I'm taking some in to a friend at work who helped me with a project. A nice way to say thank you. Oh I do eat a few for myself but they are nice quick and easy cookie for me to make for people. And my friends just LOVE them.

You can shape them into a tube too. When they first come off the iron they are still soft. You have to work fast because they "harden" up FAST! Sometimes I will roll them around a thick wooden dile. After a few seconds I remove them and I have a "tube" shape which I can fill with my cream cheese frosting using my pastry bag and tip. And I even add frest summer berries along with the frosting too! Now these are no doubt a lot worse for you but they are also very delicious too! I usually make these in the summer as an after dinner or after bbq dessert. For company usually. Great with coffee, iced or hot!

Oh well I just bike an extra 20 miles after eating one of those!

Forgot to add . . . Joe and I went to the gym today. We did 50 minutes on the eliptical machine, 10 minutes on the stairs, and then did some weights. Tomorrow after work I hope to get a bike ride in! Depending on weather!