October 8 and 9 rides

[bluebug32]

I did a 64 mile organized preview ride of the Tour of the Battenkill's new race course in Cambridge, NY. It was fast with some crazy hills and a good deal of the roads were dirt. One had an 18% grade climb. The roads are some of the best I've ridden and, though we don't have a lot of changing leaves in Upstate NY yet, the autumn fields, old barns and covered bridges made for some gorgeous scenery.

[azfiddle]

pll- wow, very scary experience and I do hope the other cyclist is really okay.

I took a DOR yesterday. It's fall break at our school, and I took advantage of the time and nicer weather last week- I had accumulated 194 miles between Saturday October 1 and Friday October 7, so I was completely ready for a day off.

Today I rode with the El Tour de Tucson / Carmichael training group again. The theme of the day was pacelines, and we practiced double pacelines, rotating double pacelines and single rotating pacelines, mainly along a freeway frontage road with little traffic. Even though we self-selected into 3 groups based on experience with pacelines, my group still had a few riders who didn't seem to be "experienced". Some of my regular riding buddies were in the group, and I was more than comfortable sitting 6-12 inches from their wheels, but there were a few that were very unpredictable and I kept more of a distance. On the way back, my small group of 7 were led off by a tandem at 18-20 mph. I managed to keep up with them for about 6 miles, and just dropped off a little for the last 2.

[smittykitty]

Got to ride both yesterday and today with my fav. riding partner (DH). Just 14 miles yesterday and about 18 today with a latte stop along the way. Rode on the local country roads. Traffic was a bit busy today though.

Weather is getting a bit cooler, but still very nice. Colors haven't changed much here yet. We've had a wonderful fall after a cool, wet summer.

The weather predication was for rain both days, but the rains held off!!!

Odometer passed 1000 miles yesterday for this year. It doesn't sound like much compared to so many of you, but a biggy for me

Hoping to get many more nice week-end rides in this fall.

[Owlie]

I think I need to get my a$$ in gear, reading some of these posts!

[redrhodie]

I was going to take a rest day today, but the next thing I knew, I was on my bike. I did a relaxed pace 21 miles. It was amazing out. The ocean was at low tide and there were no waves or wind. Lots of water fowl sunning themselves on rocks usually submerged, ones I've never noticed before. Lots of butterflies, too. I had to swerve around a few to avoid hitting them. There was an almost magical beauty to the whole thing.

[Dannielle]

Saturday I rode 23.5miles and Sunday I rode 14miles...on the Katy trail both times.

I really, really want to get out today as we're about to lose our 80 degree temps but I've got so much work to do I don't think I can make it happen.

[ridenread]

It was an absolutely beautiful New England morning. I did my favorite loop which is about 23 miles and the whole time I was riding I was thinking about how much I love where I live.