September 28 Rides

[ASammy1]

...through the Great Dismal Swamp on the VA/NC border. Here are our pics!

[ASammy1]

The remaining pics

[wackyjacky1]

The doggie basket thing is flippin' AWESOME!

I had a great ride today. The weather is near perfect (sunny, mid-80s) although we're having an Air Quality Alert today (too much ozone). I only did 9 miles, but that's a lot for me (still doing those baby steps ) and I felt fresh and strong throughout. I even took on two big hills that I would have avoided in the past. (Yay, me. )

Here's my trusty bike waiting for me outside the coffee bar I like to stop at toward the end of my Sunday rides. (That is the carrot I dangle in front of me for motivation -- if I have a good ride, I treat myself to an iced soy latte, then it's an easy 1.5 miles the rest of the way home.)

Now I gotta grab a quick shower and settle in to watch my beloved Redskins BEAT THE COWBOYS!!!

[Mr. Bloom]

After being puny and unmotivated to do any long rides the last few weeks, I'm back! I hate the shorter days.

A loop from our house making a nearly perfect metric century: 62.08 miles at 17.9mph with 3,200 feet of climbing (despite constant head/cross winds).

Silver is still riding...she's completing an imperial century

[ASammy1]

Hi Wackyjacky! We love the basket! It's nice to be able to take Nigel on rides. The way the basket is set up, we have to put it on one of the hybrids because of the straight bars. DBF is actually riding my hybrid while I took the new road bike out (hee hee!).

[HillSlugger]

It's been rainy all weekend since Friday but I decided I was going out this morning unless it was pouring buckets. Left the house under threatening skies with a 50-70% chance of rain, but got through the whole 2.5hr ride without rain. Still, my bike and I ended up a mess from all the wet roads. While washing her down I found a cut in my front tire that was making bubbles No idea when that happened. I guess I'll replace the tire even though it only has about 500 miles.

Didn't see any other riders at all.

[MrsB]

Im jealous! No ride all weekend. Pouring buckets here in Maine. Ive been trying to ride my stationary bike at night for 6-10 miles but its been killing me. I cant believe how I can ride 40-50 miles outside but the stationary bike just kills my butt and knees. Ive got to look into buying a trainer cuz Im a real wimp when it comes to cold weather here in Maine. Im good to go till about the 45 degree weather!

[andtckrtoo]

I had a nice 60 mile ride today. Took a break from hills and decided to just ride the rollers around here. Climbed a total of about 1000 feet (which is much easier than the 2500-3500 I've been doing - around here it's tough to get anything without SOME climbing). Didn't quite make it to the resevoir that was my goal because of time constraints, but that's okay. I wanted to do 60 miles and I got those in.

[Skierchickie]

I'm pumped. DH & I did a section of the 120 miler I did last weekend. Even though I SWORE I'd never do that section again, I really needed to know what % grade it was, and DH's computer has an inclinometer. We started in Eagle Harbor, up to Copper Harbor (into about a 50-55 degree headwind), turned around & headed back, but over Brockway Mountain Drive. Not a real mountain - wouldn't want to insult those of you who live in the actual mountains. Anyway, this road is 9 miles long, and all the climbing is in the first few.

The steepest section turned out to 17% - it turns out that is pretty darn steep on a standard double! We both have 53/39 in front, and 12-25 in the rear. The next section was 15%, with several more climbs after that. After a while the 7-8% ones felt pretty easy. I think 12% or so is the steepest I've been climbing this summer, and this is way harder.

It was cool - there is a little tourist overlook at the top, and there were lots of people out enjoying the fall colors. A guy standing there with his family pointed us out to his 2 little girls, and they asked us questions about which side we came up (we were on the way-steeper side), if it was really hard, why we did it (I said it was to see if we could), etc. Hopefully they'll be motivated to become cyclists in the future (okay, so if they're 6-ish now, they won't remember this when the day comes. I like to dream of motivating kids, anyway.

Oh - I forgot. About 1500 feet of climbing for 29 miles of the ride. I did 35 miles - I did an extra 7, riding to the next park, and DH picked me up there.

[berkeley]

I did my first metric! Well a little over... 67 miles total.

It rained on us, and my seat post broke, but dammit I finished.

5000 ft of climbing, ave speed 13.4, top speed 41 MPH!

Took me five hours and at the end, I was soaked, covered in road dirt and totally tired!