Memorial Day Weekend Rides

[KathiCville]

I did my longest ride of the year today: 39+ miles, on a beautiful rural route that I had never ridden before. My longest ride this year before today was 26 miles so I was a little nervous about whether I could go the distance without holding up my much faster BF. I surprised myself by staying pretty strong from start to finish, 'though my average (as usual) wasn't anything to crow about (12.8 mph). Nonetheless, a gorgeous day, terrific scenery, satisfying ride, and a perfect excuse to snarf down a yummy gyro on the way home.

[emily_in_nc]

Today was our market ride, and we had a LOT of places to stop. Here's where we went:

- farmer's market
- food co-op
- Trader Joe's
- Performance
- Great Outdoor Provision Co.
- Whole Foods

19 miles total at a VERY leisurely/urban pace (10.7 mph average) With all the stops, this was a long ride -- left home a few minutes before 9 am and didn't get home until after 1 pm! One thing that slowed us down a lot was a bike path by a creek that we didn't realize had flooded yesterday in the heavy rain. The water had receded, but there was leaf/branch debris and mud all over the (paved) path. A couple of places we had to get off and walk (VERY glad we were using Eggbeater pedals and not our old Speedplay X-2 -- the cleats would not have liked the muddy conditions at all). Kind of an adventure!

[owlice]

I got in one whole mile yesterday, just around my block once and up and down the street, and got the bike into the shed and me into the house before the sky opened up and dumped a lot of rain. Great lashing winds, thunder and lightning, too; it was magnificent, though I had really hoped to get in 12-14 miles last night.

Today, 20 miles on the trails; my legs felt like lead when I started. I finally hit a great groove... at mile 18. Oh, well, at least I finished strong! I then got in another 5 while I waited for my kid at a Metro station -- yes, that's five miles in the ginormous parking lot at the Greenbelt Metro, past hissing geese with their goslings in the lot's grassy islands and through the empty outer lots and the Kiss-and-Ride.

On the trails, I got hissed at by another goose out with goslings, saw a rabbit, plenty of red-winged blackbirds and (ugh) cowbirds, and heard a peewee crying from the woods. The water lilies are budding, so will be blooming soon, and oh, the honeysuckle!!