June 13th rides!

[NoNo]

No pictures of my ride, though there were some lovely stretches. Pushed out just before noon, and immediately realized I should have eaten first. Got over the hills and pulled over at a liquor store on the corner. A man came out and as I noshed on a bar I heard "Did you see these?" He motions for me to walk around the wall to the side of the store. I go over and there are three baby skunks in a trap. As we stood there, three more came out from under the building, but didn't set the other trap off. He explained that the mother had been caught already. Then another man and the owner came out and we all looked at the skunks a bit more. The owner said the skunks were being humanely relocated somewhere, but it costs $285 for the first one and $85/each after that! I'm glad he's sucking up the cost instead of choosing another method.

Continued on along the lovely marshes, passing (and getting passed by) numerous other cyclists. Got into the next town and turned south towards the water. I got to the street I normally turn down and there were people everywhere. I asked someone what was going on and they said it was a garden tour. These are really nice houses, some are just summer beach homes for New Yorkers. I contemplated joining them as I've always drooled over these houses, but continued on.

Went around the town green and turned back towards my house. Passed a cyclist with a flat, but he had a ride on the way. Caught up with two cyclists that had passed in the other direction back near the green. Then returned to the hills and chicked a guy on the steepest climb! This is an extremely rare occurrence for me, and I reveled in it. The sun had disappeared and the sky was getting grey, so I found my way home. A very happy 27.4 miles.

[emily_in_nc]

Had a great ride today, ended up with 37.99 miles! Too bad I couldn't eek out that .01 for an even 38, but I ended on my very steep, very gravel driveway, and I just couldn't go another 10th! Still, it was my longest ride of the year and longer than anything I did in 2008.

Rode with DH to the post office, farmer's market, and food co-op for some great organic produce, which he carried in his panniers. We took a very long way home to get in the mileage we wanted and had a blast.

Low point: Two stealthy and very persistent dogs chased us for quite awhile in farm country, and they were FAST. I had to sound my air horn quite a few times which startled them slightly but didn't stop them. DH, who was a bit behind me, finally nailed both of 'em with Halt, and they gave up. I know some don't agree with using pepper spray on dogs, but after fracturing my pelvis in a dog-induced accident in '05, I (and DH) do whatever it takes to avoid a repeat performance. There are rather a lot of loose dogs in the rural south.

Highlight of the ride: We're riding pretty fast for us (18 mph) with me tucked in behind DH on a long, flat stretch of road. He has four panniers, and I have a rear rack and rack pack. We're riding Bike Fridays with Halt on the handlebars and kickstands. Total fred. A fast roadie on his tricked out bike that couldn't have weighed more than 16 lbs. approached us from the rear, and when he pulled up beside us, he asked if we were training for some big tour. He said "ya'll are awesome" before he rode off. Sweet!

[ZooZoo]

36 miles, one big hill, the rest rolling. Took a spill (forgot about my toe clips and did/couldn't get out of them in time and paniced) and the right shifter/break lever got pushed sideways. Didn't affect tbe shifting, so was able to ride back to the car, but took it in to the LBS to have her checked out. All okay. Why is it that every time I go in there I end up buying something in addition to the service? Although he didn't charge me for realigning the shifter/brake lever, or checking the bike out, I bought a bag for under the saddle to hold my repair kit and extra tube, and my keys. Also bought an adaptor for my tire stem so I could use a regular pump on it, but that was all of $1.25.

[7rider]

Glad you had a good ride with Possegal, DB!

DH and I did the Patuxent River Rural Legacy Ride. The ride name is a mouthful!
We did the metric route - 62 miles of rolling terrain that hits some really nice spots along the Patuxent River. Usually we see eagles and osprey, but today all we saw as a great blue heron and a goldfinch. Oh, and a young fox that crossed the road in front of us on our drive home.

[OakLeaf]

Three of us drove down for the roving Saturday ride sponsored by the city club. It was a good hour from my friends' house, but the scenery was worth the drive for sure, down in the Hocking Hills with quiet streams, spectacular ridges and abundant sandstone outcroppings.

The ride had a reputation of being super-hilly, but at our relaxed pace I didn't find it so. No doubt climbing 350' in the first two miles is part of the mystique.

One of my friends doesn't ride quite as much, so we set out a few minutes early, thinking the rest of the ride would come to us. Instead, we missed a turn early on, did an extra 7 miles, and wound up at the back of the pack.

Unfortunately, at one intersection where I stopped to wait for them, I turned my computer off, then forgot to turn it back on when we set off again. I'd gone nine miles (I later figured) before I realized it wasn't on, and I'm especially bummed because one of the ride's three big climbs was on that section. I sure would've liked to have that elevation gain in my track.

Just 60 miles by my friend's computer (and it would've been 53 if we'd been on the route the whole time ) - not normally a distance I'd drive such a long way for, but for a change of pace, it was absolutely beautiful.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Still getting over a bad head cold, and heavy rain was predicted for this afternoon (and did come)...so we did a very modest but pleasant 12 mile ride this morning. I'm still weak from my cold but the ride felt good and the weather was great during it.