Memorial Day Weekend Rides

[Catrin]

Headed out this morning before noon and put in 29 hot miles. If the weather had been more normal this spring it probably wouldn't have seemed so hot, I think this was only my 5th ride without vest, tights, or something similar.

Awesome ride though! I rode from my LBS and headed north into the country roads to check out some farms with reindeer and other exotic animals! I fully expect to be sore tomorrow after the trail maintenance activities yesterday and the ride this morning, but I do have riding plans if I am not sore.

Wind kicked my butt on the way back to my LBS though - AND I forgot to take food

[emily_in_nc]

I rode my age (50) today - first time I've ridden that many miles since summer 2009. It was a fairly hilly ride, some urban, mostly rural. DH was doing some extra loops to get more miles in (and b/c he's faster), so I took a break at a rural dairy and ice cream shop and got a pint of chocolate milk -- only $1. Whatta deal, and well worth it to use their rest room! Actually ran into someone else riding a Bike Friday there, a bit unusual!

I actually had my fastest average speed of the year today too (I won't say what it was b/c I am slow!) and felt pretty good even at the end of the ride, so I count that as a victory. The TENS unit I am wearing on my right ilium in back to counteract my post-accident pain has changed my (riding) life this spring -- before using it, I would often get pain just a few miles into a ride, and doing 50 miles was a thing of the past. I owe a lot to the doc who suggested it.

[Blueberry]

Yay Emily!! Ah yes - such a lovely place to stop Was the other Bike Friday purple? Just curious if it's who I'm thinking of....

(and I would BET you're not slower than I am....)

[Duck on Wheels]

Lovely day for it. Sunny, not too hot, bit of a breeze. Trek and I rode from home (her place) south to the Alameda Creek Trail, then up the trail to Mission Blvd and up Mission to Mission Peak Coffeeroasters for our first stop. About 15 miles altogether? Almost all of it uphill, but only the last couple of miles steep at all. Thought the return ride would be a breeze, but the breeze was blowing the wrong way and building up speed. Headwinds all the way home. Even had to pedal down the steep bits. Oh well. A good 30-mile workout. And was that LeeBob who raced past us just as we got back on Hesperian for the home stretch (which we shortly thereafter interrupted for a second café stop at Paddy's)?

[owlice]

All this talk of slow.... sheesh!!! I averaged 11.5 MPH on my ride yesterday, so there! I hope that makes some of you feel better, and if it doesn't, I averaged 10.8 MPG when I was riding around the ginormous parking lot. I'd love to be able to sustain 15 MPH so I can do a century; at my usual average, I'm too slow to try one.

And those averages are on flat trails!

[TrekTheKaty]

Rain all week and I had to work on Sat (and Mon) so today was it. We opted for a hilly 32 instead of riding long. DH dilly-dallyed around the house until it heated up and the wind kicked in. He promptly dropped me and then I hit a bump and dropped a water bottle. I had a 50/50 shot of guessing which way he went--and guessed wrong. Instead of calling, he backtracked. By the time he called, he was almost home! He finally caught up. I thought I was taking it easy on the way out with a good average speed. However, I bonked right after we turned around. Crawled home in my granny gear--into the wind. No money for a soda at McDonalds almost made me cry Probably dehydrated and should have taken Cytomax instead of Nuun--plus it was only our second "hot" ride (into the 80's, high of 90 today and HUMID). Gotta dig out the camelbak.

But at least I got out there! I'm still happy

[Trek420]

Duck just figured out in Mapmyride (because my computer's out of batteries) that we did 35. Longest ride I've done in who knows when. Duck's training for a half marathon so might have been easier for her.

[emily_in_nc]

Yay Emily!! Ah yes - such a lovely place to stop Was the other Bike Friday purple? Just curious if it's who I'm thinking of....

(and I would BET you're not slower than I am....)

Thanks! I was actually surprised not to find more cyclists at Maple View while I was there, but I did see several cars with bike racks parked along the road there. A couple of weeks ago when we did a similar ride, it was packed with cyclists.

The Bike Friday was a black NWT. I talked to the man (and his wife) who owned it. There's a woman around Chapel Hill we see quite often riding a Friday with really, really high handlebars, and it might be purple. Can't recall.

My speed actually isn't that bad, but is a lot slower than I used to be on my Aegis Swift. Not sure if it's the bike or the engine - probably a bit of both. I feel pretty strong, but I am definitely not as fast as I used to be. On my Aegis, before my accident in '05, I averaged between 15-18 mph. On my Friday I'm usually doing utility rides so generally average between 11-13 mph. Today was 14.2. There, I said it.

[Owlie]

I was going to ride my age (23) today, as I owed myself a birthday ride from October. I somehow added an extra mile. (So an early birthday ride for this year?)
Left the house at 7:10, left trail parking lot at 7:30. When my ride started, it was in the mid-sixties and humid. When I got back to the car, it was in the 80s...and humid. I took it slow, as my knees were bothering me the first half of the ride. There were twigs everywhere from last week's thunderstorms. I took a few pictures--I'll put them up later. I had a slightly unnerving encounter with a deer, and got whacked in the face a few times by plants or small branches that I didn't see in time to duck. A tiger swallowtail followed me for a little while. I had a bit of a headache by the time I got back to the car, but a little trip to Starbucks on the way home (and the sugar and caffeine) made it all better.
All in all, not a bad ride.

[MojoGrrl]

I did the Indian Valley Century (metric) on Saturday. Longest single ride I've been on, at an altitude WAY above what I'm used to, lots of small hills but I am totally new to hill climbing. And on the way back, for the last, oh, 20 miles, it was 40 degrees and raining - eventually sleeting/hailing, VERY painful - and I have never ridden in the rain. And did I mention I was wearing shorts and fingerless gloves? Thankfully I had 5 layers on top and a waterproof windbreaker. My boyfriend, who did the full century and got up to the elevation where it started snowing, did not have any wet weather gear on and came back soaked and almost hypothermic

I felt pretty bad-*** for completing the ride, especially under those conditions...and considering I have only bee riding for 3 months

[Grits]

Friday's ride got canceled due to weather. Got in 27 miles today with some friends during the hottest part of the day - upper 80's and HUMID, but it was the only time I could ride. This was officially my first really hot ride of the season, and it showed in my speed. Tomorrow morning we are leaving at 8:00 to beat the heat and planning on 50 miles.

[goride]

Friday evening rode 27 miles with a friend. We made a stop at our LBS for her 100 mile tune-up. Yesterday I took the day off from biking as there were intermittent rain showers, but spent about 4.5 hours digging up my garden and planting my annual flowers and some tomatoes. Today did a hilly, rural 38 miles with some friends. Planning on another 25-30 miles tomorrow on a paved rail trail. I really need to NOT do hills tomorrow, so the trail will be perfect. We will go out early before it gets crowded.

[owlice]

Just in a bit ago from a 13.5 mile ride on my usual trails. Had I realized that the fitness challenge I'd signed up for at work went through today, rather than ending last night at midnight, I'd have gotten out earlier and taken a longer ride, dangfraznabbit!

Average speed was 12.0 MPH, but only because the computer was showing 11.9 when I got back to the car so I rode up and down the neighborhood streets fast (for me) until I got the MPH bumped up to 12.0

81° when I left, and humid. Saw deer and little hoppy frogs (hope I didn't run over any...), one rabbit, geese and goslings, and a lot of people who don't know which side of the trail to walk on, poor dears. Then again, I don't know what side I'm passing some folks on, and called out, "Bike on your right!" when I was passing on their left. They corrected me, I thanked them, we were all laughing as I rode up the trail.

No bats. Lots of bugs. Off to wash them out of my eyes.

[Reesha]

On a whim went out for a leisurely, ~10 mph helmet-less ride around the park for five miles or so. I'd forgotten how nice it is to ride like that with the breeze in your hair-- haven't been riding without a helmet since I lived in Belgium. It was divine!

[emily_in_nc]

I did the Indian Valley Century (metric) on Saturday. Longest single ride I've been on, at an altitude WAY above what I'm used to, lots of small hills but I am totally new to hill climbing. And on the way back, for the last, oh, 20 miles, it was 40 degrees and raining - eventually sleeting/hailing, VERY painful - and I have never ridden in the rain. And did I mention I was wearing shorts and fingerless gloves? Thankfully I had 5 layers on top and a waterproof windbreaker. My boyfriend, who did the full century and got up to the elevation where it started snowing, did not have any wet weather gear on and came back soaked and almost hypothermic

I felt pretty bad-*** for completing the ride, especially under those conditions...and considering I have only bee riding for 3 months

You are a bad-azz! Wow, riding in sleet/hail. Yet another reason to wear a helmet, right?

Hope your bf has recovered. We did the Seagull Century in MD years ago, and it absolutely poured a chilly rain. We were soon soaked to the skin and quite cold, even with it just being rain (not snow). DH's lips were turning blue and quivering with about 10 miles to go in the century, and I got pretty scared. We were riding a tandem, and the cold wasn't bothering me quite as much as it did him (probably b/c he was in front breaking the wind for me). We were not dressed warmly enough b/c it was not supposed to start raining until mid-afternoon (when we would have been done w/the ride), but instead it started at 11am and rained from then to the end.

This is one downside of events -- we feel compelled to finish no matter what the conditions. Glad you did, but doesn't sound like fun!