May 31st Rides

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

8PM and I'm the first? HUH?

Was argueing with myself too long this morning on whether to ride again today after the brutal century yesterday, but riding won-out. Unfortunately, I was 30min late to ride with the official start of the Tulsa Tough ride. Oh well.. so I take off south and hook up with the route where I knew I could without riding more than I wanted.

It turned out to be the perfect recovery ride. Let that be a lesson..whenever you're in doubt..just get yer bum out the door and ride.

35miles today, only 1500ft climbing...15.6avg Easy-goins..

[Miranda]

Ha... I was looking at the board earlier today and thought the same thing... "...what, no one has started the thread yet???". Thx for the Annie up.

Went out with same new ride pal as yestereday. Hillier terrain for 30mi. Bit cooler, but beautiful sunshine and fairly low wind speed. Great ride day.

[7rider]

Today was supposed to be a training ride. One of the local racers has offered to coach me for a day - basically do the shop ride's route - stopping and talking about climbing technique, strategy, pace lines, and tips to ride stronger and better. He's been coaching me and two others for the past several weeks on the ride. This time, he was going to coach us on a more one-to-one basis.
I call him my "little coach." If you've seen the movie "Ratatouille" you know that Linguini referred to Remy, the rat, as "Little Chef" - who controlled and coached his cooking in the restaurant. Well, Little Coach barks out instructions to me "C'mon...breathe, breathe, breathe....in through your nose...out through your mouth. C'mon. Sip. Sip. Sip. Give me one more gear! Don't waste my time. C'mon. Get on my wheel!" All in his distinctive Moroccon accent! Well, follks say I've been riding stronger since following Little Coach's instructions. I was really looking forward to this ride.
But...sigh... we awoke to rain this morning. He decided it best to postpone.
So...DH and I did a puttering route through Rock Creek Park. Saw a few folks we know. Stopped in to the shop (I got a flat because of the wet roads...and decided to finally go to CO2 for the road bike, too).
But then...best of all...DH and I went up to the local reservoir with DivingBiker for a bit of boat time....she in her kayak, and we in our new old canoe. It was the first time taking the canoe out - much higher up than the kayaks, and it caught the brisk wind like a sail.
Now, I'm beat.

[shootingstar]

58 kms. It was a route made up of 4-5 bike routes stitched together with some hills. Some of it on road, some of it not. And no, hardly anyone on most of the stretches..contrary to what people might think on a beautiful very warm (23 degrees C) sunny day. Road traffic was very light.

Just gorgeous.

He wanted to check out if construction, signage for new cycling routes/bridge was done.. So I usually follow along, trying to remember every turn and all the connections.

[Biciclista]

46 miles. it was supposed to be a training ride but some people asked us directions and it turned out they were tourists from NJ and we ended up taking them to Discovery Park, around Magnolia point (all the way out to the lighthouse AND BACK UP A KILLER HILL) and then we went back across downtown on the waterfront to Alki and it was BICYCLE SUNDAY!
our new friends bought us fish and chips and we had a great time.
great ride
great weather

happy day!

[nolemom]

I finally made it on the group ride to Babson Park. It is a hilly ride for central Florida and I have always been too scared to attempt it. Today the guys were in an especially encouraging mood and convinced me I could make the ride. They waited for me at the end of the major hills section and one of them always stayed with me even at my incredibly slow pace at times. All and all it was a 69 mile adventure and I had a fantastic time. I am beginning to believe that I can take on the century ride through this area at Labor Day.

[ZooZoo]

A little over 23 miles, from Seward Park to the University of WA with friends who really 'pushed' me outside my comfort zone (which I wanted and needed). Had lunch in a little Vietnamese resturaunt, and had a glorious day.

[OnTerryOh]

The good thing about my ride today was

• Cindy -- just hanging out with her
• having a caramel frappachino
• Cindy found sunglasses and wouldn't let me touch them
• laughing about the sunglasses
• Cindy lost her orange tiger-striped gloves but found them again
• talking to that woman from Evanston on her green touring Trek
• we biked 52.5 miles and walked 2.5

The bad thing about my ride today was

• almost hitting a squirrel
• too many people on the bike path
• nothing
• getting sunburned
• maybe doing too much
• feeling tired now
• it was great -- none of it was bad

[kenyonchris]

An irritating MTB ride. I try to hit the MTB twice a week, it makes me so much stronger on the road. I met my ex husband to ride, he was 35 minutes late, and brought a chain smoking friend ( a male one ) with him. No problem, the more the merrier, but they parked a car 6 miles in and decided to make it a short one way trip. When I pressed my ex, who I know can do more than just 6 miles easy, to finish the 22 mile loop, including the technical stuff at the north end, he told me he wasn't going to leave his friend to go home on his own (in the car!!).
The trail itself was crowded with joggers and walkers, people going to wrong way on the loop, and my ex and I seriously outpaced the chain smoker, so I would grab a tree and wait, clipped in, till he puffed into view. For my efforts, I wound up with a tick.
All in all, it was 6.5 miles of semi-technical, semi hilly singletrack. I barely broke a sweat and was just getting warmed up. In the end, though, I had a zillion things to do today, including cleaning two bikes, which I got done thanks to cigarette man.
But not a good day on the bike. I lost my mojo after than.

[smilingcat]

Its day shy of June; but, we have our June Gloom already. It started last week. After picking up our foster kitty from showing, I went for a ride. Light drizzle, cool 67F (19C) overcast and wind blowing from the ocean. Love this kind of days. The humidity and the rain brings up that wonderful sweet earthy smell. Yes coastal community of Los Angeles do get the foggy weather for the month of June. I love it. Really, I do. Sunny today, sunny tomorrow, sunny for next nine month is enough to drive me bonkers. I need variation.

Leisurly ride, and just enjoyed the view, the smell of trees, and flowers. didn't huff and puff really. just one easy 6% grade for about 800 feet up. And at two separate stop lights, I had to sprint. didn't have to wind it up, so got up to only 24MPH and took it really easy after the sprint. Its keeping me semi-honest. Okay the 6% grade may not be all that easy. It didn't kill me or wipe me out. kept an easy steady tempo up the hill.

[msincredible]

I had this great plan of a half on-road, half off-road loop so I took the Birdy (folding bike with full suspension and fat tires) today.

Sadly after lots of exploring I discovered that there is no way to get through...the trail goes through private property and is closed off. There was another trail that had an easement through private property and actually would end up pretty close to my place (after many miles), but it didn't allow bikes, just hikers and equestrians.

I ended up having to backtrack out of there and reversing my route. Did a lot more climbing than I intended to. I think my total for the day was about 66 miles, ~9000'. Not bad for an 8-speed bike.

Oh, and no more long rides on the Birdy until I get a better saddle for it. Been meaning to replace it for a while now.

[Kano]

Dead skunk, dead snakes, plenty of traffic. Chipmunks, horses, cows - one in particular that I loved the expression on his face! Also a fox, standing in someone's driveway, but the most interesting wildlife was one of the biker's who passed me on a relatively quiet residential stretch ------ on the back of his shorts was the text "Handmade in the Rockies." Not sure what was that was handmade in the rockies, but it was ALL good!

A bit of sun burn on me too -- couldn't find any sunscreen this morning. Time to buy more!

All in all, a lovely 30+ mile ride today despite a lot of wind, but naughty me: forgot the cell phone, and took a longer route than DH expected, which had him fretting! It was hills: they were calling me!

Karen in Boise

[Caroline]

160KM/100 miles randonee ride for me, a few hills... but I was on my Fixed gear bike ... 46-17 ... hills were shortish so it wasn't that bad going up them at all, going down them was a bit mad.

There was about 120 people doing the ride and myself, my BF decided to go mad and do it on the fixies. It was great fun but most people thought we were mad ( but we knew it already )

[Aggie_Ama]

I went mountain biking with DH at a harder trail. We were having a little clinic on ledges at the nice stair step ledge part. Made it down number 1, number 2. Did that three times. On the last time I was feeling confident and went down number three. But instead I flew over the bars on my chest. My shoulder is scraped, my torso bruised and my legs bruised. I am still determined I can be a mountain biker! I am sore but not too bad today.

[Tri Girl]

I went mountain biking with DH at a harder trail. We were having a little clinic on ledges at the nice stair step ledge part. Made it down number 1, number 2. Did that three times. On the last time I was feeling confident and went down number three. But instead I flew over the bars on my chest. My shoulder is scraped, my torso bruised and my legs bruised. I am still determined I can be a mountain biker! I am sore but not too bad today.

YEOUCH!!! I stopped mtn biking because I got tired of crashing. Now I'm just afraid to go on the trails...
Hope you heal quickly, you poor thing.