Week of June 28th - weekday ride reports

[OakLeaf]

Sweet corn takes big jersey pockets!

I showed up for the club ride, but as soon as we left the bike path that takes us out of town, I got a wild hair and took off by myself. The guy who usually rides with me at a harder pace didn't show, and the new member who I'm pretty sure could've left me in his own dust, stayed with the ride leader instead. I hammered (by my standards , and considering I was still a little bit sore from Monday's running intervals) the 32 and got back to the Y a full 15 minutes before anyone else.

73°, sunny and dry. 40's overnight. This is why I can't get acclimated to the heat... it's supposed to be high 80s again by the weekend. Don't really feel like running this morning, after two pretty hard days with an aerobics class in between, but probably oughta get it done...

[Crankin]

I've ridden every day this week , despite a viral thing that has me feeling just slightly bad enough to complain (but not stay home).
Monday was just ride the 4 miles into town on the Jamis, walk around, buy a magazine and drink, and sit on a bench and read, and back. Funny thing was that I went into a snooty store because they were having a 40-70% off sale, but I was so sweaty from riding (it was hot), I couldn't try on the cute sundress I saw. I got lots of looks from the Concord ladies I usually never see. There was road construction on the way back, so I ended up doing 10 miles. Tuesday I did a loop ride, feeling very sniffly. First, there was a car, 2 cyclists, and a loose dog blocking traffic on West St. in Carlisle. The dog had escaped its house and they had called the owner. After waiting, I caught the male cyclist who told me what happened. He was struggling up a little hill, so I caught his wife, until he caught up. I had just finished telling her to go ahead, that I was a slow descender, when the guy came right up on my tail and *passed me on the right.* That certainly scared the cr*p out of me, making my descent even slower than usual! I worked really hard to catch a younger rider on the way back; I didn't think I could do it, but I did. But then, I had to turn off.
Yesterday DH took the day off and we went on the club ride. I had planned to do the 45 mile route with the slightly faster group, but the 30 mile group was heading back to the cars before the lunch stop, and we really wanted to change out of our cycling shorts. I don't know how these people can sit around in sweaty shorts for 2 hours after the ride? So, we rode from Portsmouth, NH to York, Maine and back. It was an unbelievably gorgeous day, which made up for the bad riding etiquette and slow speed. And I didn't want to stay behind the leader, because then you end up having to be a "human arrow" for the turns. Still, it was fun. After lunch, which ended at 3:30 or so, we drove along the NH coast and stopped and had ice cream in Rye, NH, with a view of the ocean. Today I rode with a friend, who is much slower than me, but I didn't care. Only 20 miles, but I got to ride on one of my favorite local roads 1.5 times, because she took me on a loop where we passed the same spot twice.
Tomorrow I am meeting Hirakukibou at 6 AM, so she can find some new roads around here. I'd better rest up.