May 3d rides

[OakLeaf]

Today was an adventurous 73-mile, 7100' ride in the pouring rain (over the hill to an 18-mile social group ride, then back over the hill home). My bike and I were filthy afterward! (Clean now, though.)

Ack! Are you one of those real troopers who starts the ride knowing you're going to get poured on?! And how many of the regular group riders showed up?

And... well, I'm newly returned to the hill country, and I already mentioned how my legs were slaughtered after much less climbing than that on Saturday, but that would be hilly for here even if I were in better shape. (That's more like the two-day ride I'm training for in September.) Anything over 80 feet/mile is impressive to me!

PS wanna wash my bike too?

[kfergos]

My 64-mile ride Sunday took me through Shirley, MA, which has to be one of the cutest, most picturesque areas I've had the pleasure of riding through (especially since I had just gone through Fitchburg, which is like a mini-Worcester up north -- or possibly even sketchier). Took lots of backroads, which is adventurous for me since I'm an expert at getting lost, and they really paid off -- first because the newly-leafy trees kept me from getting totally soaked in the endless dripping from the sky, and second because it was GORGEOUS. All those nicely-maintained old farmhouses surrounded by rolling fields and the occasional horse or two; the greenery on trees and everything looking all springy, despite the overcast skies and eventual rain; I swear I spent 50% of my ride gawking. No wonder I swallowed so many gnats!

With about 20 miles left, I encountered another cyclist going my direction and we rode about 15 miles together. It was nice having company, and he knew the backroads around there really well, which helped me.

Along the way I saw somebody with a veritable herd of those plastic rocking horses suspended from springs that were popular in the 80s. They probably had a dozen or more of these things all standing around in their front yard. I really, really wanted to stop and ask why. If only I had my camera!

I also had a hawk escort me for a short distance. He flew down the road ahead of me for a little ways, then landed on a branch off the road a bit. Wasn't fazed at all by my presence. I swallowed more bugs during that experience, too.

[uk elephant]

Finally got out for a decent training ride after a long time of rest due to illness. Lovely day, but a little colder than I first thought. The sunshine felt nice, but it was actually only about 10C which felt freezing whenever I was going downhill so I was happy to have packed extra clothes. Met up with BF and a friend for a pub lunch along the way. Tasted great, but perhaps next time I will plan on the pub lunch being at the end of the ride. It was hard getting going again with a belly full of delicous roast lamb...Ride ended up being just under 37 miles in total, with nearly 6500ft of climbing. Some of those climbs were over 20% grade! Had to walk a couple of places from fear of falling over backwards. No wonder my legs are knackered today! I am definitely no where near ready for ALC, but less un-ready than I had expected. I'll try to get a bit more regular training in for the next few weeks and then just do what I can when I get to CA.

[msincredible]

Ack! Are you one of those real troopers who starts the ride knowing you're going to get poured on?! And how many of the regular group riders showed up?

Oh yeah, was ready to be rained on...was soaked within the first two miles. Surprisingly enough I think there were 9 of us on the group ride, I was amazed that many showed up.

Here are some of us drying out at a bakery/cafe.


And a close-up of my filthy legs.

[NoNo]

Sunday I showed up for the 5 Boro Ride in NYC and instantly regretted it. For starters, though the "start" was at 8, we didn't budge until 9. Of course it was raining and maybe around 60. Even once we were "moving" a lot of it was walking. You'd get a few blocks and all the sudden everyone would slam on their brakes and you were walking. Just as suddenly, you'd be riding again. While riding, I was constantly on the defensive, as I had to contend with people that clearly hadn't riden in 20 years, people that didn't know how to ride in a pack, and people that were trying to race through the crowds and squeezing into spaces they shouldn't. And the potholes. LOTS of potholes. Why these two guys thought it would be a good idea to ride giant unicycles amongst 30,000 people, I don't know, but one of them went down right in front of me when he hit a pothole on a bridge.

There were lots of near-misses. After the Astoria Park rest stop half way through the ride (21mi) my brother and I were once again stopped for no reason. A guy came flying up next to me, lost his footing, and fell on top of me, which pushed me onto my brother and knocked him over Naturally, the guy was fine and rode off. My brother's chain came off, but otherwise his bike seemed fine. I, in the middle of the bike sandwich, fared the worst. At first my front tire wouldn't budge as it was pressed against the upper part of the fork. Took it off and put it back on, and it spun, but with a horrible wobble Went to one of the marshals and he did some adjusting to the spokes and the bike seemed rideable. Got a few blocks, stopped again, and while walking, noticed a ping go through the bike every few steps. There was also an occassional rubbing noise. At that point, 3 hours and only halfway through the ride, I'd had enough. Found the nearest subway and got out of there.

I will never do that ride again! Bike's in the shop, hopefully nothing serious is wrong. I keep finding new bruises on my legs and my arms are really sore. The route wasn't even nice, we were in some nasty-looking areas, and the few landmarks we did go by I didn't see because I didn't dare take my eyes off the road in front of me! If any of you are thinking of doing that ride, I'd recommend against it.

[Biciclista]

geez, Nono, that sounds awful! i hope the bike repairs aren't too expensive!

[PamNY]

Nono, what an unpleasant ride you had. I'd thought about doing that tour, but now I'm glad I didn't. The ride starts near where I live, and it looked like a mob scene to me. I would love to ride over the Verrazzano Bridge, but I doubt it's worth all that, plus it sounds like you couldn't really enjoy the view.

Hope your bruises and bike are okay.

Pam