Oct 31/09 or Hallowe'en rides

[shootingstar]

I was dull today...just in my cycling gear and did 42 kms. in sunny, fall morning.

But great to see some homes with veils of cotton batten swoomped all over their front lawn bushes and carved pumpkins. The market also got into the spirit with many vendors doin' the Hallowe'en decorations and staff in costumes. One guy's face looked pretty make-up-bloodied up at the regular salmon and fish stand.

[7rider]

D'Oh!
We were supposed to ride in costume today, and I completely forgot!!!
PFunk12, DH, and I did a 40-ish mile loop out of our house into Howard County today. It's our standard "not doing the group ride, so let's do this loop" ride. It's always refreshing to ride someplace you don't do often and get a change of scenery. I've gotten tired of the N2 and shop ride loops.
Today, we got to see sheep and cows and goats, and not golf courses and shopping malls.
But a full week of riding and Spinning, plus a strong headwind did me in. By the time we hit the last hill, I was about ready to walk it. My legs were dead.
But, other than that....it was a nice ride. I'm glad Pfunk showed up so we could show her one of our favorite routes.

[nscrbug]

Hubby and I rode 50 miles in a brutal wind. I swear the gusts had to be close to 30mph...I was getting blown all over the darn road! Then to add insult to injury...it started to rain when we were at the farthest point away from home... We pulled into a gas station for a few minutes to let the rain pass...which it did. But by the time we got started again, I was freezing. The air temp was only in the low 40's, and with the high winds and rain...it made it feel 20 degrees colder. There were segments of our ride, where we could barely keep a 10mph pace due to the insane headwind.

Gee...can you tell I REALLY hate riding in wind?!?! IMO...wind just sucks the enjoyment out of riding for me.

[RolliePollie]

Great Halloween ride for me today! 52 fast miles on the bike trail and it was sunny and warm with very little wind. I wore an orange jersey and socks with skulls on them. Then after my ride, I stopped at the grocery store and I was wondering if people realized I'm a cyclist or if they thought I was in costume.

[pfunk12]

Great ride with 7rider and her DH. Like she said, a different route than the usual group ride AND a totally new route for me since I had never done it before. As I told them, much of the ride reminded me of where I group up in northeast Pennsylvania - quiet country roads with beautiful scenery and farm animals. I ended up doing 59 miles because I rode to 7's house and back.

[azfiddle]

Beautiful weather for a ride here- I went about 27 miles with my DH and a friend from work. It was cool (high 40's) when we started but the desert warms up quickly and it was fine for regular jerseys and shorts by the end of the ride.

Pics are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dadgad1/...rk?feat=email#

[Brandy]

94 miles of chasing the boyfriend!

[luv'nAustin]

I rode a metric century today to support our local habitat for humanity. The route was very hilly and it rained for most of the 62 miles! It wasn't a cold rain and I never did pull out my rain jacket...just got wet and dirty. It took me two hours to clean my bike this afternoon.

[marni]

my ride with the ladies from the pitts rd. crew today was absolutely stellar. Did a loop from the Academy sports parking lot at state higway 59 and 726, out around smithers lake, out to guy and back through richmond. Pefect riding temps staring out in the 50's and ending at about 65 degrees, full sun, moderate winds, wide highway shoulders, not much traffic. since rain kept me off the road and in the gym all week, my legs were fresh and ready to go. I finished strong and could have done another 30 or so with no problem.

really nice to finally have a decent fall ride.

[arielmoon]

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Great pics azfiddle!!

I went with the other LBS group ride for the first time. They normally do a 40+ mile ride but a few of us did about 10 extra miles. It was a lovely day and I had nothing better to do. A few of the peeps from my Mon night ride do this one too so I knew some folks and met some new ones. Good times.

I am going to start going to this one on a regular basis now that the Monday night ride is over for the year.

[Selkie]

Early morning 43 mile ride in Frankenstein (misty/drizzly) weather. Saw a lot of wildife---raccoons, rabbits, and for the first time ever, a deer in the middle of the road in my urban neighorhood (have seen them off the MUT but never ever in my n'hood). After I got home, changed, went to the pool and swam 75 minutes. Slept like a baby last night (the extra hour was a treat).

[Brandi]

So you know I had been working my butt off for months now. And when finally home was going to put my butt back on my bike right away. Day after we got home I got the worst cold (or mild case of h1ni according to the Dr) Finally on Halloween night i felt way better. But i didn't look so good.....

[annielynn]

My Halloween marked my longest and fastest ride to date. I was toast. 30 miles with an avg speed of 16.5mph. Although I was toast I felt like a winner just for finishing it.

I was that only one in the group that dressed up for Halloween but I had a ball so that didn't matter. It was a beautiful morning that turned into a pretty hot afternoon. I am really looking forward to next weekend.

[chicagogal]

Team training ride on Halloween. No Halloween costumes. But it was a great fall ride. I am a roadie, but we hit the trails on 'cross bikes and had a great time and I fully enjoyed the change of scenery.

Sunday was the usual LBS ride. Fast paced ride that always makes me test my limits. I expected a bigger turn-out due to the time change away from daylight savings time giving us sun earlier in the morning, but a lot of our group must have been partied out from Halloween the night before! Fewer people meant longer and more frequent pulls, but mercifully, it wasn't a windy day so I survived, and had fun doing it.

[Onix]

Brandi--that is an awesome paint job!!! Looking good!