July 4th Rides

[Crankin]

We did 51 miles, a variation of a group ride I did a couple of weeks ago. We were going to do a club ride, but I wanted to leave earlier; we are at the beginning of a heat wave. Today is hot, but not humid and it felt a bit like AZ as the ride progressed. So we left at around 8:30 and it was already 70 degrees. We headed to do a loop south and back toward our start at first. I miscalculated a turn and figured out it wasn't so bad, as we were a bit ahead in our mileage at that point. At mile 15 we stopped back in Concord center, used the bathroom and ate my first shot block. We headed the flattest route we could find to Acton (cheating a bit from the original ride) and got into a rhythm. This ride is on all familiar roads we ride all of the time, taking us into Littleton, and Harvard just for a bit. There's a little climbing (rollers) at miles 20-25), but really it was a good route for a blistering hot day. The ride turns off of a road that becomes very steep and hilly and you ride through the Cisco Corp. campus, skirting a gate (it is the fire truck entrance), which takes back into Boxborough, through my old neighborhood. By the time we got there, we had stopped a couple of times, briefly, to take long drinks, eat, and loosen my shoes. I was starting to feel the heat at about mile 40, so we stopped at mile 43, bought some cold Gatorade, which did the trick to get me home. I was sort of not feeling great, but nothing specific when I got home. I made myself a tall drink of chocolate milk, and that revived me. I definitely was not dehydrated, though. After a shower and a nice cool chicken salad for lunch, I am enjoying a coffee and waiting to go to my friend's house for a BBQ.
Saw just a few cyclists today and it was great to ride on some busier roads that were traffic free. We did run into a 5 mile road race in Concord, but the runners were going in the other direction. They didn't look happy.

[Aggie_Ama]

50 miles before calling my big brother to rescue me. We set out on a hilly route and I should have cried uncle earlier when we could have still shortened the ride. My doctor is tapering me off Lexapro and I am in withdrawl hell, my stomach feels constantly like I am car sick and I can't sleep. So of course with my stomach wonky I don't feel like eating which means my energy level for exercising is lower. Plus my body seems to be struggling to regulate it's temperature so even though it was mild for Texas summer, I was overheating.

Silly me thought if I just kept a lower pace I would still be fine for 75-80 miles. Plus we are working on riding longer before we go to New Mexico for vacation so I figured I needed to get some miles under me. I knew there would be a tailwind the last 25 miles so it should be a piece of cake to deal with the Lexapro problems. Hey, we all have stupid days right? Luckily I have an awesome family and they all have trucks so I got to quit before I got too sick. When he got to us I was teetering on the edge of throwing up, not fun. My brother being the safety manager for the construction company he works for was of course worried but trying to baby me on what to do to recover. I love my brother.

[ZooZoo]

17.5 easy miles, new route for me. Wanted to get out and done before it started getting crowded and before the rain.

[malkin]

Did a 20 miles on an out-and-back...we interrupted our TdF viewing in order to be back for the finish and before it got hot.

SURPRISE! It was cold and the day never did get hot!
A welcome relief from the recent heat.

[colorisnt]

I was supposed to ride with the club, but I called it off because 50 miles in 95 degree heat would have killed me. I am not built to handle that heat.

I am jealous of all of you who got out and rode!

[HipGnosis6]

I decided to "practice" what would be my commute route to work. It's short but kind of hilly. I failed on the hills pretty badly, I'm afraid.

I'm in terrible shape! I'm not worried, though - I remember how long it was before I could make it all the way up the long, gentle slope home on my last commute. It took a while, and I've barely ridden since my wreck four years ago. I'll get it back, but it'll take time.

Anyhow, it was still a nice ride, even if I did have to bus home. Only about 3 miles, but there was no traffic to speak of and it was nice to be outside.

[Grits]

26 mile there and back ride. Knew the first half was way too easy, and our average MPH verified it when we got to the half way mark. Tail wind. We dearly paid for it on the way back. The temps ended up at 90 by the time we straggled in. Glad we didn't try for a longer ride! Now yesterday, when we left at 7:30 and it was barely 70 degrees, now THAT was a nice ride!

[mudmucker]

I went down to the valley (western ma) to visit friends and parents over the last few days. My dad and I went to the fireworks on our bikes. I had my mt bike with me. I got him a comfort bike last year and he rides it like crazy. He's 83! Remember, it's never too late. So I set him up with blinky lights because it'd be dark. I took a blanket and rolled it into a backpack and put that on (for me). So dad would be comfortable, I strapped a collapsable lawn chair on my back along with the pack and off we went. The fireworks were great and it was fun to bike there with my dad. Then this morning we got up and we rode 6 miles on his favorite bike path. I have to say his riding skills have improved a lot since last year. It was hot but he was fine. We had to drive the car to get there and on the way back he dropped me off to a place where I used to mt bike a lot. So I aired it out a little and did some single track and it was close enough to ride back to the parents.

I'll be 50 tomorrow so I'm going to take the road bike and on my birthdays I usually go out and do some sort of long pilgrimage ride in celebration of life. I'll also be going to a BBQ tomorrow and actually will be celebrating with various friends during the month because I can't get together with them all at the same time.

What a privilege though, to be 50 and able to ride with your 83 year old father.