July 16th weekend rides

[Catrin]

It looks like we haven't started one yet so I will

Friday - 22 miles in my favorite park, and today I rode 30 miles on country roads. Too much other stuff going on to get in a good long ride, but I will take 52 miles in two days Tomorrow morning will head out early to play on the mountain bike and do some drills before it gets too hot - if there is time I may switch bikes & get in another 20-30 road miles as well. Or not, I try not to ride more than 3 days in a row without taking a rest day.

[Owlie]

I did 17 miles on Thursday (does that count?). Tomorrow I'm going to try to do 20 or so if I'm feeling up to riding. (I'm really tired, for some reason.) Next week I won't be able to ride much for various reasons, but maybe I can tootle around the neighborhood a bit before it gets too hot, or in the evenings.

[OakLeaf]

Well my bike computer is on the fritz and I'm waiting for a refurb from Garmin. I meant to bring my GPS watch but forgot it. So my ride today didn't really happen. (Okay it did, sort of, but only in the cloud - I tracked it on my phone with iMapMyRide+, but you can't download that data to another fitness app. )

[WindingRoad]

85 for me today..... So sun burned! Sweat all my sunscreen off.

[Crankin]

All rides count. Seriously, most of my weekday and some weekend rides are like 15-20 miles.
Friday I rode 16 miles, including a stop to hit up the LBS for a donation of 2 helmets for one of my clients. Yeah, they did it with a smile (it got back to me that someone there read what I wrote here about my bad fitting experience and they figured out who the actual writer was ). I did the loop around Hanscom AFB, which I don't do too often. Yesterday DH and I rode about 20 miles, just around Concord, Carlisle, and Bedford. I couldn't go out until 3:00 and it felt hotter than hell, although it was only 84. What started out as a slow ride, on purpose, became a faster ride, with me hitting a pb on the hill going up by Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (16 mph). It's just a little hill, but I used to have to use my granny gear on this hill.
Today we are driving up to the north shore and going on a beach ride, with a swim stop.

[Owlie]

I meant "does it count as a weekend ride if it was Thursday and I haven't mentioned it?"

No riding for me today. The word "disgusting" doesn't begin to describe it. The humidity is ridiculous. Between that and the fact that my body very much wants me to go back to bed, I'm not sure I want to go out. Tootling it is.

[Trek-chick]

I am not sure on mileage, but I did 45 minutes on the local mountain bike trails on Sat. Had a blast it was too hot in the afternoon to be on the road bike. I hope to go back today and maybe check out the mountain bike skills area they have there. I had so much fun gettin dirty. I could also feel muscles I do not use riding the road bike getting a workout.

[indysteel]

I am not sure on mileage, but I did 45 minutes on the local mountain bike trails on Sat. Had a blast it was too hot in the afternoon to be on the road bike. I hope to go back today and maybe check out the mountain bike skills area they have there. I had so much fun gettin dirty. I could also feel muscles I do not use riding the road bike getting a workout.

Cool! I wish we had a MTB skills area here. Where in Michigan were you riding?

[TrekTheKaty]

Big accomplishment yesterday My new madone has only been on short rides, so finally all the tweaks were done and we headed out for 40 miles. We found a new route that would connect a home route to a route we usually to drive to! Beautiful countryside, exploring new areas and flat-flat-flat! Temp was 80 with low humidity and high overcast (However, it was 94 when we rolled back up to the car). I did a high-spin, easy cadence for the first half, hoping to do negative split (faster on the way back) since I always start out too fast. It worked--I picked up a small tailwind on the way back and was FLYING I reached my goal--I gained 1.0 mph with the new bike! I managed to hang onto the back of my DH's wheel a few times and spent some time in the drops. Also, no stops (except the following photo op)--I ate all my snacks while riding. My new baby was worth every penny

We even saw some sunflowers:

[azfiddle]

I rode with my Saturday group for one of my favorite southern Arizona rides, but it required a very early morning wake-up because it was almost an hour's drive! Woke up around 4 am to get to the carpooling meet-up at 5, and then we drove to our start.

We parked in the historic small ranch town of Amado, which boasts the century old Cow Palace restaurant with the ranch house feel (but a bit bigger) as well as the Longhorn Grill across the street, which is ornamented with a giant sized replica of a set of a cattle horns. Get a feel for the area: http://www.amadoaz.com/home

Then we rode a 46 mile up and back route to Arivaca, also a small, historic town. Arivaca was a cattle ranching town, discovered by hippie types back in the 70's. The factions have seem to be getting along at this point. There is also a nice birding area, part of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately, it is also along a heavily traveled route for both people and drugs sneaking in from Mexico, so there is a big border patrol presence. In fact, we rode through a semi-permanent border patrol outpost (who kindly let me use a port-a-potty so I didn't have to find a bush for a "nature-break"!

1000 feet of altitude gain to the summit, through the ups and downs of mesquite lined washes and green ranch pastures, up to a desert grassland hilltop with great views of the area. Then we dropped about 350 feet into Arivaca. The little Gadsden coffee shop wasn't open at 7:30 am, so the stop was the market in town. Info here: http://www.arivaca.net/
Then we just retraced our steps.

I felt strong on the way out, but I slowed down on the way home. Even though it's mostly downhill, I find that the ups and downs through the washes is harder to focus on than a steady climb. Plus, it was cool on the way out, and getting warmer on the way back.

Anyway- it was a fine 46 miles, with a relaxiing breakfast at the Cow Palace before driving back to Tucson.

[Catrin]

Did an hour of mountain bike drills and played in the grass in my favorite park this morning - I must admit that riding in the grass is good for my quads, but on the Jamis this park is rather boring. That isn't the point though, then I rewarded myself by finding some (very little) downhill mowed clearings and played a little going downhill and weaving between the trees. Nothing like the trails but fun.

This park doesn't allow bikes on trails, so I am limited to the mowed sections & parking lots. That is fine, I can ride there from home which is a great advantage. Mileage doesn't count here but spent close to 2 hours on my mountain bike doing one thing or another. I would like to get in a road ride today as well, but I've a rule about not road riding more than 3 days in a row. Part of Catrin's "anti-injury" rule Also, laundry must be done SOMETIME!

TrekTheKaty - congrats on your wonderful experience with the new bike!

[TrekTheKaty]

I forgot. At one point, we passed two 30-ish guys on mountain bikes. As we BLEW by, I said "good morning." They smiled and said, "Hey, you're making us feel bad about ourselves "

[Trek-chick]

Cool! I wish we had a MTB skills area here. Where in Michigan were you riding?

Stoney Creek Metro Park.

[Catrin]

I forgot. At one point, we passed two 30-ish guys on mountain bikes. As we BLEW by, I said "good morning." They smiled and said, "Hey, you're making us feel bad about ourselves "

This morning I had given some directions to several riders in the park on the flat way to return to their car - they were pooped and didn't want to climb the hill. Two of them were on hybrids, and while I think the third one was more experienced she wasn't familiar with the park. I think the two newest riders assumed that my bike was a hybrid just like theirs, though I say them looking at my tires with some confusion. I explained it was a mountain bike - and since they would be faster than I on the pavement they should just go ahead.

I messed around with my bike a bit before taking off after them - I do raise my saddle a little when I am on pavement. I hadn't realized how slow they were going, and they missed their turn. I managed to catch up to them which was pretty cool. I really had to work since they were several minutes ahead of me. Of course I was only able to catch up with them since this was their first ride of the year, but it was still kind of fun that I could do that - and it was good exercise.

[goride]

Saturday was my first century bike ride. Average speed 15.9 mph, so not super fast, but I am happy with having done that distance at that speed. It was about 75 degrees when we started and 87 and humid at the end of the ride. Sun didn't come out until the last hour and a half, so that helped a lot. A little rain, but it really felt good. Great rest stops, well supplied with water, sports drink, watermelon, oranges, bananas, sweet snacks and salty snacks, and a spaghetti dinner at the end of the ride. We covered three counties, mostly on low traffic rural roads with some gentle rollers and some good climbs. Some roads were in better shape than others. A good time spent with friends and a lot of good people. I am not riding today; the body needs to recover, and my bike is in desperate need of cleaning.