Sunday July 13 rides

[tulip]

Okay, I'll start. One day to Bastille Day!

I went out for a nice spin today through two Civil War fort/battlefield parks. It was HOT, but I'm so glad I got out for an hour or so. I really like Richmond because, at least where I live, I'm in the city and I get on my bike and a couple of miles later I'm on country roads. And then you have these great National Battlefield Parks that are quiet and have nice roads and are shady.

Final stats: 17 miles, 1 hour and 15 minutes, avg. speed 13.5.

[Fredwina]

I rode up Mt baldy road before going to church. about 24 miles

[oneskineejosie]

Today was my first "organized" ride! I did a charity ride today for one of the local commuity center's youth w/ disability programs. It was a 50 mile ride, but we got a little off track and did an extra 8 miles. So, we finished with 58 miles @ 16.3 average. A good day

[RoadRaven]

Just an easy half hour on false flats with my 14 year old.

I needed a gentle unwind after my Saturday effort - he needed to take it easy as he still has a cough hanging on from a cold he has had.

I love country roads too, Tulip - lucky, since I live in the country

[MillieNZ]

I joined our local bike club ride, stuck with the leisure group since it was the first time out with them since getting sick........ we did 41km in two hours in a beautiful sunny winters morning........... and I'm so stoked with my effort, wasn't sure that I was fit enough to cope with the distance

Next week I'll move in to the longer ride group that goes a little faster

It's a nice winters day again this morning, so I'm thinking of a ride out later today

[Blueberry]

We did 20.77 miles on the tandem averaging 13.0. Came back with a pannier full of Trader Joe's goodies! Yummy!!

Now there are storms close - looks like we timed it just right!

CA

[7rider]

The C-group - which Mike termed the "Conversational" ride - seems to be getter fast and faster each week. The back quarter of the group got gapped from the main group at a red light, so we had a fair sized group (about 20 or so) for much of the ride. A good dozen of us did the "extra" loop into Rock Creek Park. I was setting the pace at the front, so I got to lead the group up Ross Ave in MY favorite direction (counterclockwise) so that I could climb the hill in my big chainring the whole way! Hector was razzing me at the re-group point at the bottom, saying how he couldn't catch me the whole way up. Normally, I can't catch HIM. Even Miguel was commenting on how strong I was riding today. I think it's because I didn't kill myself on the N2 yesterday, having opted for a more socially paced fun ride with Team TE DC along the C&O Canal. I'm really training to make the leap to the B-group. We'll see.......
39 miles at a season best 18.1 mph average! WooHoo!

[makbike]

I rode a slow and flat 19 mile with the club this afternoon. My legs were tired and sore so I did not ask a lot of them. I simply enjoyed the company and the sights on the Ohio River. The best part of the ride - the free ice cream at the end!

[Popoki_Nui]

Hot, breezy, and dusty geocaching ride on roads/trails/across fields/thru forests. Only found one cache myself, but I bumped into a fellow bike-cacher and had great fun watching him go crazy at a particularly tricky hide in a lake that I'd done a couple of weeks ago. My bad He eventually got it, we rode on awhile together, then I headed home for a cold wobbly pop and a nap. 30km total.

[elk]

I did an easy 10 miles with some friends, one of whom has not been on a bike in 10 years (thus only 10 miles)...and one of whom regularly does STP and Cycle Oregon etc.

Now I was itching to ride....and I was out ahead of the others by a wide margin...I would slow down to wait and then they'd fall back again. At the end, some of them remarked on how strong I was (!!!!!!!!!!) ; even DH said I was just uncatchable today.

who... me? seriously...I was kind of shocked (and WAY stoked) at what a better rider I am getting to be.

was it wrong of me to leave the group? i mean if I went with some of you guys, I'd be eating your dust and probably whining.... would that make me a hypocrit?

[arielmoon]

I rode solo for 26 miles on a rather hot day on somewhat hilly terrain. Took it easy after pushing hard yesterday. Average speed 18.1. My knees are not as sore as yesterday so I feel good.

[Melalvai]

A friend of mine bought a bike a couple weeks ago. I've been pestering him for ages to go for a ride with me. I even offered to go to church with him if he'd go for a bike ride. He called yesterday, "So when are we going for hat bike ride?" I said "How about this evening?"

So I met him on the trail. This is funny--he thinks I'm absolutely nuts for riding on the road and dismisses anything I say about sidewalks being dangerous. At least, that's what he says. Actually I think he's mostly joking, especially after he told me about someone else griping about those bikes on the road, and how he corrected her using my arguments.

His longest ride ever was 12 miles a couple days ago, and his new bike has maybe 15 miles on it. I didn't think this would be a long ride. But we went clear to McBaine (near where the trail intersects the main Katy trail) and then I said "Have you ever been to Eagle Bluff Lookout?" which is only 1 or 2 miles further. Actually it's 3 miles further, as we discovered.

We climbed up the 169 steps to Eagle Bluff Lookout and saw a beautiful sunset. I was a little nervous because I realized it was going to be dark before we made it back to town.

Sure enough, as we got into town, the trail gets really dark because it is completely shrouded in trees. I took my light off my bike a while ago because it interferes with the fender, and I just don't use it much in the summer. Ok, I'm getting a handlebar bracket for that thing!! I felt about as dumb as anything, having this beautiful generator hub, and my light at home!

He went 20 miles. Besides it getting dark, I wish we'd cut the ride a little shorter, I worry that if a new cyclist is hurting too much the next day he won't want to ride again. On the other hand, that sunset was probably worth it.

I didn't want to bike home on the streets with no lights. It's one thing if I fall off the side of the trail, but quite another if a car can't see me because I only have two little reallight blinkies. And he had gotten a new bike rack to cart around that new bike anyway. So he gave me a ride home.

His car is not even a year old. He's already been sideswiped once. What do you know but on the way home--through town--he hit a deer. He swerved and nearly missed it but we could hear the THUNK plainly. Here's the crazy part. There was not a mark on his car! No scratch or dent, nothing. No sign of the deer back there either.

Lesson for me is, get the handlebar mount for my light, and as always, ride the bike instead of the car, I nearly always regret putting my bike on a bike rack if there is another option!

[Blueberry]

Melalvi-

Out of curiosity - which generator hub do you have? (conducting my own "poll").

CA

[Melalvai]

Melalvi-

Out of curiosity - which generator hub do you have? (conducting my own "poll").

CA

Shimano Nexus
It was very cheap, to get the wheel already built with the hub. I wanted to build my own front wheel, but I couldn't do it for $148. I believe it's been discontinued? Which is why it was so cheap.

[Blueberry]

Thanks

I have the other Shimano generator hub on one bike, and schmidt hubs on 2 others...Current debate is whether I get a non-generator hub for the shimano bike. I really wish it had the schmidt (but I can't justify buying one when there's already a generator on there) because it's my long distance bike...MS Rides, etc

CA