Sunday Rides, November 14

[Catrin]

No ride for me today - already had my allowed quota of one ride this week on Tuesday and my hamstring tendinitis is complaining today for some reason. Went walking instead in my favorite park to get some sunshine and at least some exercise. Only saw one cyclist out, and he was having fun going downhill Lots of sunshine and quite windy and cooler than it has been. I hit the trails in the woods to get away from the wind. I was the only hiker I saw and it was an enjoyable walk.

Since I can't get out there myself more than once every week or two just yet - tell me about your weekend rides this weekend so I can live through you

[hirakukibou]

My dh and I went for a ride with a new club today. I wasn't impressed with the group -- they were not very friendly. Anyway, we ended up riding in the back with people I knew (imcluding deb w) which suited me just fine, but dh wanted to be with the pack. Oh well. The ride it self was lovely and a new route for me. It was not too cold and we went about 48 miles.

[nscrbug]

I rode 62 very windy miles with my cycling buddy today. With the wind, it made the temps feel like it was in the high 20's when we left early this morning. Definitely not one of my more enjoyable rides, but it was quite challenging which made for a decent workout.

Linda

[PamNY]

Twenty glorious miles today -- I've had a cold and haven't been out, hence the glorious part. Sun and autumn leaves couldn't be better.

Looked for my monk parakeet flock who recently had their nests destroyed for the second time in four months, but only saw one bird. Saw two juvenile hawks sparring.

[kimikaw]

Does several loops around the yard testing out a new saddle I put on one of hubby's old mountain bikes count? Haven't ridden all week. Which makes me a bit sad. Time to drag the road bike to the basement for trainer duty.

Fingers crossed for decent weather Thursday orFriday (outoftown biz trip M-W) so I can get over the afraid of the dark on the ride home thing I have going since the time change.

[redrhodie]

20 glorious miles for me, too. Easier ride than yesterday's hills. Managed to pass a guy on a Litespeed after he thought he could drop me, but couldn't. The hill climbing is paying off.

[WindingRoad]

I had a great 50 mile ride Saturday, despite the bike wreck I had getting to the car. I am learning the bike trails and best roads to ride on and it is so exciting! There are so many cyclists here it's just amazing! The Schuykill River Trail is very popular and I love seeing all the people out riding, quite fun. As soon as I get healed up I'm planning a road bike ride from my house to the trails. According to MapMyRide I can get about a 60 mile round trip ride from my house which would be AWESOME!

[Catrin]

Does several loops around the yard testing out a new saddle I put on one of hubby's old mountain bikes count? Haven't ridden all week. Which makes me a bit sad. Time to drag the road bike to the basement for trainer duty.

It absolutely counts! If it makes you feel any better, I haven't been able to have what I would call a good ride since September 18 This injury won't last forever though...at least that is what I keep telling myself

I had a great 50 mile ride Saturday, despite the bike wreck I had getting to the car. I am learning the bike trails and best roads to ride on and it is so exciting! There are so many cyclists here it's just amazing! The Schuykill River Trail is very popular and I love seeing all the people out riding, quite fun. As soon as I get healed up I'm planning a road bike ride from my house to the trails. According to MapMyRide I can get about a 60 mile round trip ride from my house which would be AWESOME!

This sounds fantastic! I am so glad that you had a great ride yesterday despite the wreck. I look forward to hearing about this new route

[Crankin]

I didn't ride today... but I did ride yesterday, after having to cancel an AM ride with Deb W, I got my family obligations out of the way and we finally headed out about 1:45. It's kind of late for this time of year, but it was about 60 degrees out, for the first part of the ride. I made DH bring his Carradice bag, so I could bring my vest, heavier gloves, etc. And we brought our lights.
Which all turned out to be a good thing. We planned a route into Bolton and Harvard, up a favorite hill, and when we rode past our friends' house, about 4.5 miles into the ride, Brant was in his driveway, about to clip in, for a ride. We rode with him for about 6 miles, but, he was planning a fast 20 mile ride up Oak Hill and to me, fast and Oak Hill don't belong in the same sentence. We parted at the Littleton Depot and headed to our original destination. It was gorgeous out, although the bright sun was smack in my eyes for about 3/4 of the ride. Despite my dark glasses, I felt like I kept wanting to put the visor down! We stopped by a pond near my old house for a snack, where we had to move across the street, because an older man was fishing and smoking a cigarette, which was not nice. Then I realized it was getting cold. And darker, even though it was only about 3:00. About 2 miles later, the lights and vest went on. Funny, how those shady roads that feel great in the summer felt freezing now.
We ended up riding about 37 miles.
Hirakikubou, I am glad I didn't go on that ride (Deb had mentioned it to me). I would have been miserable. Maybe one day you can come on a Wednesday Wheeler ride with me; they are the older and much nicer group within CRW.

[7rider]

Since I can't get out there myself more than once every week or two just yet - tell me about your weekend rides this weekend so I can live through you

Well...
Yesterday was a "ride to run". I took the commuter to a friend's house and we ran thru the park for 5 miles. So, 11 miles biking and 5 miles running. The running definitely hurt more!

Today was just 35 miles of ambling thru the park and around town with another friend of mine. (DH was off mtb'ing, checking out a nearby area that we had never ridden before.). This friend with whom I rode just had an accident, and I was surprised he was out riding at all. He came swooping around a corner in a residential neighborhood on Friday, doing about 20 mph, and lo and behold, there was a car there! He ended up side-swiping this Honda - took out the guy's side view mirror & crashing pretty hard. He's got a goose egg on his forehead, and assorted cuts and bruises. The handlebars of his bike snapped in 2.
So...today, he was on his old bike and we were just taking it easy, enjoying the absolutely wonderful weather, with a sky so blue, it hurt.

[sfa]

Gorgeous fall weekend biking up to York, PA on the NCR and York Heritage Trails this weekend--up on Saturday, back on Sunday--with a great group of people a friend of mine introduced me to. She's done the GAP and C&O with them before, and now they are making plans to do these routes again, plus some others. This is the first time I've ever done any riding with a group--I really like just going at my own pace where and when *I* want to go, so I was a bit nervous about this, but it was a lot of fun. Lots of like-minded people--similar riding skills, and more interest in just having fun than anything else. It's just a little over 40 miles one way on the trail, so it was a leisurely ride--late start both days, long lunch break, stopping to chat and take pictures on the way, and stops at a winery on Saturday and ice cream today. We couldn't have asked for better weather, either--sunny and dry and in the 60's both days.

Sarah

[malkin]

Twenty cold miles at 32 degrees on the tandem.
Toasty fingers all the way because of mittens + mittens + bar mitz.
Warm face because of wool hood + wool balaclava + funny looking winter helmet.

Dear Santa:
My feet got numb. Hint: insulated shoes.

[Cataboo]

We've had some gorgeous weather here lately, mid 60s or so and sunny.

Friday afternoon, Kmerzhad and I did about a 30 mile ride around the countryside - through 3 covered bridges and when we were stopped to admire some birds that a farmer had, he saw us and told us that we could go in with them. I always stop to look at his white peacocks, he had some piebald ones this time:







Sat, R & I tried to go mountain biking, we did about 2 miles and then when he needed to adjust his front derailleur, he dropped the washer & lost it... and that was the end of that mountain biking trip.

This morning, I met up with my older brother to go mountain biking, just mostly some nice mostly easy singletrack - with the fall colors, it was gorgeous:





I picked up a mountain bike off of craigslist after that, just a great deal that I couldn't resist and it lets me have a mountain bike at R's house and one at mine (I hate having to drive an hour each way to get a bike). It looked barely used, and I think after I swap the stem and handlebars I'll be in good shape.

After that, we had thanksgiving dinner early with my Mom since some of us will be gone for thanksgiving... I got my 9 year old niece on "Scar" after dinner and biked up and down the street with her - she's too scared to ride the 24" bike I got her last year 'cause she thinks it's too big 'cause her feet don't completely reach the ground when she's sitting on the seat. Scar's a 26" wheel, 13' frame, so I eventually got her comfortable on him - I have no idea what my sister or her husband have been up to, but noone had told the girl to do obvious things like lean the bike to the side when you get off and slide forward off the saddle when you're getting off, to start with the pedal up,and how to shift and brake. I had her zipping down hills after a bit. To be fair, my sister had a really bad bike accident when she was 15 and hasn't been on a bike since and is terrified of them and has imparted the fear to her daughter. It was cute to see her stop and shift gears to go up hills, etc. Scar's cables had stretched since he'd been made, so I tuned him up a bit.

So it was a fun weekend

[Catrin]

Beautiful pictures Cataboo! That singletrack looks like something that perhaps my LHT could handle. I still want to try her out on dirt, I just need to find something that doesn't have obstacles...