My Sunday Ride - August 24 rides

[Fredwina]

no pics today
I went down to Mira Loma before church. I was doing good and was going to further than I had planned until I realized that getting back to church involved about 800 feet of elevation gain. I got about 2 minutes late, which was wasn't
Went to mass, led the bible study, and the made a side trip to Claremont before coming home. A great day!

[Blueberry]

Yay mudmucker!! What a beautiful post And lovely fruits of your labor - great photo

Mimi- Love the photos!! Your bike is a Davidson, no? (Starting to plan for my next bike...which involves lots of drooling at bikes)

CA

[mimitabby]

yep, it's a Davidson and I'm happy to announce that I chose the correct time of day to ride, it's pouring now!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wonderful pictures, Mimi and Mudmucker!!

Orange peaches, orange bike....all glowing in the sun!

[shootingstar]

yep, it's a Davidson and I'm happy to announce that I chose the correct time of day to ride, it's pouring now!

Yea, the rain came from Vancouver. It was never sun today in Vancouver, compared to your earlier pics today in Seattle.

Today we walked 12 kms. round trip to and from market in the rain. Usually a walk in our area, makes me more aware of the lush summer flowers and vegetation vs. whizzing by on bike.

[Crankin]

We rode from our house into Harvard Center, by way of Oak Hill. The general store there has reopened, but they had nothing to eat, except hot dogs. So, we sat on the "bench" on the town green and ate our Luna Bars. The first 2 photos are from here. I like the one of the street sign, because it says the names of the 2 places I have lived around here. It was really nice out, but when we left here, it got cloudy and a little cool. We made our way to Bolton, crossed Rt. 117 and found the porta potties were gone, since the last time I did this ride. The rest of the pictures are from Bolton, on one of the prettiest roads in the area. The horse was refusing to get in the trailer, no matter what the people did. When we got back to Rt. 117, we decided to book it to West Acton for lunch. We had been taking it pretty easy, but I knew the cafe closed at 2 and we got there at 1:30. But, it was closed . So, no gourmet sandwich or coffee. We went to a pizza place and shared a turkey sub and then biked the 6.5 miles home, including the last 2 hills.
When we got back we went to Cycle Loft to pick up my new bars. When we were there, we took the last picture, which is a photo of a photo from the 2000 NEBC team. If you look on the right, about 3/4 way up the top, you will see a very handsome, young man with a big smile. That's my son, Scott when he was 15.
40.7 miles

[Dogmama]

20 miles in a monster headwind - both ways.

I would have taken pictures, but the heat coming from the pavement melted my camera. OK, not really. But you ladies are making me very jealous. It's still 100 degrees in southern AZ.

[bmccasland]

MS Training ride, rained out due to TS Fay. Rain, all day, and still raining. Supposed to be raining all night and tomorrow. Now I remember why the thought of moving to Seattle may not be such a good idea. Although, I do enjoy the fact that I can open up the house and get some fresh air through - except for the windows that the rain is hitting. Weatherman said we're 16 degrees below normal, the day high was only 73! I also enjoyed watching this morning's swirly winds.

So my bike is parked in the garage, it's new Brooks saddle still untested.

[chicagogal]

I thought that this weekend was going to be a cycling disaster. The forecast was for thunderstorms pretty much all day saturday and great weather sunday. However, "my" bike path that I ALWAYS ride on b/c it is beautiful, the perfect length, and starts a block from my apt was in use for a triathlon (that I wasn't participating in). This meant that I was going to have to find an alternative plan for sunday, so I recruited my tennis partner to join me on a route that I hadn't mapped out yet and had never been on before.

Lucky for me, however, the rain never came, and I got a great ~40mi ride in on saturday and clocked it in as faster than my usual ride. The weather was great and I was feeling really good after a day off.

Then this morning I met up with my tennis partner who is in great shape b/c she plays nearly every sport under the sun. However, she doesn't bike more than a few miles at a time, and that is on a small mountain bike with thick knobbed tires and all the "wrong" gear combinations. She tried to get slicks from her LBS yesterday afternoon but they were going to take 2d to get them on and my LBS could do them right away but only if she got the bike there in 10min - so she had no choice but to ride with the old tires.

We found an amazing bike path along the north branch of the chicago river. I will definitely be going back there! It's a 20mi trail (40mi out and back) totally in the shade, with a freshly paved incredibly smooth surface making for an exhilaratingly fast ride. The only problems are a) lack of water stations b) too many tight curves (especially for a fast ride). However, the trail wasn't very crowded, so even the tight curves were not too scary.

The lack of water thing was an issue. I am used to water fountains nearly every quarter mile on my usual path so we didn't bring enough water for a path that has, like, none. (For those who want to use this trail, it turns out there is no water in the north section, but reportedly, some on the south section.

My friend was struggling with her sub-optimal bike, and her lack of experience, and she could tell that I was getting frustrated. She voluntarily let me drop her under the condition that I came back to get her. So I went ahead and added a little loop to the top of the ride. I would have ridden further out, but the no water thing was becoming an issue.

I met up with my friend, took a short snack break, and then went ahead again and this time came back with water! The trail crossed a couple of big streets and at one crossing there was a gas station! Of course when I went back with the water, I had to climb a steep hill (no we don't have hills in chicago, this was man-made) for the 3rd time and just as I descended there was my friend! So I had to immediately turn around and do the hill again - hill repeats were not in the plan for the day, but I survived.

In the end, my friend did about 16mi and I did ~23 (hard to count without a computer and b/c of all the turning around). It was a shorter than usual ride for me, but having gotten my long ride in yesterday that was fine. The most important thing is that I discovered a really great new trail that I definitely want to try again, but next time with more water on board!

Another problem with the trail is access. It is pretty far from my house on not-so-nice roads, so the bike has to be transported there by car. W/o a bike rack this was probably the most challenging part of the whole experience. I'll just have to pick one up before we lose the good weather.

Unfortunately, no pics - next time.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

DH and I did a pretty hilly 30 mile ride this morning. About 1500 feet of climbing:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...m/197823777158
It was 85 F. and sunny, and our sunblock was melting like white icing down our faces and arms. yuk. Didn't burn though!

Hey Robyn- we started out with that 7 mile "gentle climb" up route 203 that you liked so much when you left my town the other day. Then the climbing continued.
One great treat were the descents at the end though.

My legs feel like rubber bands. Man that hot shower felt good afterwards.

[7rider]

Well, inspired by BleekerSt_Girl who yesterday rode her good ol' Rivvie, and motivated by my DH, who looked longingly at my Axiom in the utility room and exlaimed "That's such a pretty bike", I decided to try the Axiom on today's shop ride with my LBS. I haven't been on it, except maybe up and down the street, since I picked up my custom ID8 last August. So, we pumped up the tires, adjusted the saddle (I realized that the last one to really *ride* it was my friend Terry), and dusted it off.
Now, yesterday was a hard ride for me. I've been bike commuting 4 days a week and riding lots on the weekends. My legs are tired. My legs were tired at the start of the ride today. I marvelled at how differently I fit on the Axiom vs. the ID8....how differently it responds to my body (standing on hills was like stepping on a live wire...the bike squirted and darted and it took me a few hills to get used to its movement. The ID8 is so planted to the road, it's like it rides on rails).
But still I felt...."off."
The group split up - a crash at an intersection (not mine), a few red lights, a thrown chain (that one was mine...the Shimano crankset is SO much more forgiving of crappy shifting than the FSA). It was down to two of us. Bless Tamison for sticking with me. Or I would have been solo for 25 miles of a 30 mile ride. We stayed on MacArthur Blvd, I drafted behind my partner the whole way. She was fresh and was okay with it. I was toast. I got dropped on Old Angler's Hill and posted my worst numbers of the year for it. We hooked up with the group, but still, I got dropped, and ended up riding the last 10 miles back to the shop alone. Feeling rather pathetic and sad, I might add.
Dropped, dropped, dropped.
Back at the shop, DH and I are riding the bikes back to the truck. "What's making that noise?" he asked.
"I don't know. It's been making noise all day," I respond.
We dismount at the back of the truck. He lifts the front end of the Axiom and spins the wheel. "It's not the Polar pickup" he said.
"No. I think it's coming from the back." I said. I picked up the back end of the bike and spun the rear wheel. It moved maybe and inch and stopped dead. No spin. Not at all.
The rear brake was rubbing and holding the wheel tight!!!
Aaarrrrrrggghhhh!!!!!!!
I can't believe I just rode the ENTIRE SHOP RIDE with a rubbing back brake!!
What an IDIOT!
I think I'm taking tomorrow off the bike.