March 14th rides

[TrekTheKaty]

Yeah! It's warming up here in the midwest. Enough of the spinning class at 5:30 am! I wanted to do 25 miles today--in training for a metric century. But I followed my husband out on a hill route. Oh, well. Still got out on my bike! Maybe tomorrow?

[michelem]

CRAPPY ride today. Wind gusts up to 27mph. I just couldn't handle the wind. There were times where I was going a mere 7mph! It took me close well over 4 hours to make it 50 miles. I had to stop altogether several times. I just couldn't go the extra 6 to get back to my car, so called my dh to pick me up. Bleh. I have a race (running) tomorrow, and just couldn't chance completely burning myself out. It's just a two-person 1/2 marathon relay and I really could not care less about it. BUT, I am running it with my sister-in-law and don't want to let her down, 'cause she's super-excited about it.

I was just so excited for a weekend without rain! Oh well, hopefully next weekend there will be no rain AND no wind! One can dream . . .

Okay, for some positives: I saw a huge jackrabbit, some roosters, some squirrels, and some wild turkeys. I do love seeing wildlife while out on my rides, as long as they don't run out in front of my bike!

[chicago]

well coming off 16 days of the flu and bronchitis and a lung infection, I made it out on the bike. maybe not the smartest thing, but I did it. 50 degrees today and it started out warm but ended up chilly. i hope i didn't overdo it.

32 miles...

[gnarwhal]

I went out to the woods with my other half and we slogged up a very very long hill where i got to experience the advantages of my new Crank Bros clippy pedals and then we came down through the trees, on single track, roots and rocks and i got to experience the disadvantages of my new Crank Bros clippy pedals (or at least the disadvantage of not being used to them yet). Rode some stuff that i hadn't been able to last time; stormed through a rock garden section which had scared me pantless previously, powered through a boggy muddy section and managed a little teeny tiny drop off jump thing and a planked river crossing.

Windy but sheltered in the trees and we saw a pheasant and a squirrel and then a whole pond full of about 100 frogs and their spawn, they were so croaky that it sounded like a distant helicopter.

[kfergos]

We had a relatively warm day yesterday. I rode a pretty much flat 40-mile loop around the 'burbs of Boston and had a tailwind much of the way. People in Wellesley and Weston had jaw-dropping mansions! I can't believe the money out there! I got distracted and rode slowly, gaping like the country cousin, at some of those places. Yowzers.

Sadly the last 10 miles, along a really unpleasant, heavily-trafficked, no-shoulder road, buffeted me with a steady relentless headwind. Most of the ride I also went at what felt like an agonizingly slow pace (I averaged 14 mph, so 40 miles took me 3.5 hours) because I still have studded tires on my bike -- we did get snow last Monday! It's not too late for MORE snow! -- but at least it was warm enough that I did get to use clipless pedals for only the second time since November. Clipping in -- I forgot how great it was.

Today: Another 40-miler, hillier, but out in the boonies. Should be picturesque, at least, even if none of the plants have started turning green yet.

[channlluv]

I did 15 miles around my favorite five-mile loop at Lake Miramar. The weather in San Diego is mostly beautiful and the first 14 miles were beautiful, but just as I was heading for the fourth lap, a storm blew in and it got cold and damp, and I don't have a long-sleeve jersey or rain gear of any kind yet.

When are those new jerseys going to be ready?

Roxy