Labor Day Weekend Rides

[Reesha]

I grabbed a peanut butter nutella sandwich for breakfast and then did 2 hours of hill intervals with one of the students on my team. He is FANTASTIC! I am always surprised and thrilled by how genuinely cool and unique my cycling kids are. He just got himself a Bianchi Nirone and is loving it! I'm not sure how effective it was, but we took this 0.3 mile hill spinning and in big gears, alternating every other climb. It was probably only a grade of 6% or so, but nonetheless, got my heart rate going! I am psyched to train

Later, I forgot my bike was on top of my car and drove into a mall parking garage. My bike is ok, the shifter got twisted around, but the Thule tray it was in is toast. Whenever I tell my students that failure is an opportunity to learn, I will tell them of this story. Ugh!

[Biciclista]

did a 65 mile ride today, a very warm day; a lot of it was with Susan126. She an incredibly strong rider.

[Crankin]

My ride today was 43 miles, not 50, but it was about 80% humidity. Thankfully, it stayed cloudy and around 73 until we got back at around 1:00. We did some challenging hills, ate lunch on the side of the road at the top of the biggest one, and then rode rather quickly back home. I was exhausted, but glad we got out before the temperature went up to 85, with the humidity.
After our ride we went to the LBS, where I picked up my new road shoes and a pair of new mountain shoes and Frogs for the Guru. I got Shimano shoes in both, as my Sidi road shoes are giving me terrible hot spots. I am sad to see my red shoes be relegated to my "second" pair, but it's driving me nuts.
DH is going to put the Frogs on our Kuotas so we get used to them before we get the Gurus.

[tangentgirl]

Today I rode almost the same route I rode yesterday...on the back of a motorcycle.

Ok, that doesn't count, but it was fun.

[redrhodie]

I just did 18 windy miles. It's so humid. I am my own private rain forest. It was so windy the ride took 7 minutes longer than usual, and I was working! I felt really good, though.

[Becky]

Our planned 40 miles turned into 21 miles. It started raining about 3 minutes after we left the house, so we cut the ride short. However, all was not lost- we stopped at the Italian bakery near our house on the way home

[Melalvai]

I feel guilty that I'm posting my story without having read the 4 pages of everyone else's stories!

We went to my parents' in Kansas this weekend. My dad said "We'll bike the Flint Hills Nature Trail, south of Topeka. We've got plenty of bikes around here, you don't even need to bring a bike." Ha ha. I brought my bike anyway. But my daughter Nell decided to leave hers at home, and I unwisely went with that. Here's the thing. My dad is 6 feet tall. My mom is 5 feet tall. They each have two bikes. My brother and his girlfriend also have at least 2 bikes each-- they are both super tall too. Nell and I are lots taller than Mom, lots shorter than everyone else, and pretty close to the same height.

The day before our ride, I looked at the options for Nell and realized we might have trouble. I've ridden Dad's commuter bike before, and it's not lovely but it's not horrible. I was able to lower the seat enough that it seemed to fit, at least in the basement not actually going anywhere. I said "We should take it for a test ride before tomorrow" but we didn't end up having time to do that.

So off we went to Vassar, Kansas. The trail conditions were not good, at least, not as good as the Katy Trail that we are used to. There was some almost sandy stuff that grabbed at our tires, and it was dumped in the middle and sloped out toward the sides. After a couple miles, Nell was walking her bike more than anything else. She said her arms hurt. I looked at her on the bike and saw how much she had to stretch to reach the handlebar. It looked horribly uncomfortable.

Then Dad started this game of musical bikes, trying her out on every single bike. The logical thing would be for me to switch bikes with her, because I know my bike would fit her--if we could lower the seat. Neither Dad nor I had brought a multitool. That's probably the first time in ages I've been caught without a multitool. I always have one! I don't know why I left it at home this time. We got the seat on Mom's bike high enough for Nell, but she had to stoop so much to reach the handlebar on Mom's little 13" bike! Nell and I were ready to give up, when a couple rode past. "Do you have a multitool?" we asked. They did, and we adjusted my bike for her.

After that we had a good ride-- though it wasn't long before I was remembering why I don't like to ride Dad's commuter. It's just so uncomfortable. But the wind was neither a headwind nor a tailwind, just a reasonable crosswind, and the temperature was PERFECT, and the sun shone but didn't burn me.

Here are the lessons from this ride. Some of them I already knew, but they were reinforced.
1) Bike fit is the most important factor to an enjoyable ride. Well, bike fit, and appropriate clothes. Well, bike fit, appropriate clothes, and a bike in good repair...
2) Bike fit is about so much more than seat height.
3) Always carry a multitool (in addition to a flat kit). And know how to use it.
4) When planning to use a bike you haven't ridden lately, try it out before the ride.

Dad on his big bike


Mom on her little bike


Resting in the shade