Weekend Rides?

[goride]

No ride Saturday. I was saving my legs for a 75 mile organized ride today. There were 7,200 participants spread over 6 distances and routes, with varying start times. Some friends and I rode the 75 mile route, which was the earliest start at 7:00 a.m. The highlight of the ride was at the beginning, and was an opportunity to ride across a 2.5 mile bridge near the city lakefront that is normally closed to bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The bridge was closed to motorized traffic for several hours for this to happen. For the entire ride there was great traffic control, streets (urban, suburban, and country) that were in good riding condition, volunteers at every turn (saw some of them doing some gravel sweeping in a turn as we passed through), ride marshals on bicycles patrolling the route, sag wagons patrolling the route, good rest stops with decent refreshments, etc. The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at mile 48 really hit the spot! On top of that, we had perfect weather – 65 at the start and 79 by the end of the ride, sunny with a few passing clouds, and winds of only 10-12 mph for a change And most importantly of all, I got to ride with good friends!

[ZenBiker]

No ride Saturday. I was saving my legs for a 75 mile organized ride today. There were 7,200 participants spread over 6 distances and routes, with varying start times.

Wow, I thought Little Red was big at 3600 riders - your event was DOUBLE that! Sounds like a great ride.

Reesha and Catrin - thanks!

[Roadtrip]

Thanks Cat!!

[lovelygamer]

Reesha, you are killing it and looking great while doing it. It sounds like everyone had a great weekend of rides.

[goride]

Wow, I thought Little Red was big at 3600 riders - your event was DOUBLE that! Sounds like a great ride.

But your ride was a women only ride, and our ride was mixed, so that probably accounted for a lot of the difference. The name of your ride picqued my interest right away.

[chatnoire]

I'm checking in here, since it seems like a good log/conversation place. (still a TE newbie)

Got in 31 miles today on an organized ride. The ride details put it at 34 miles/2200 feet of elevation gain, but gps put it at 31/1400. No biggie, since it was the biggest/most intense climbing I've ever done.

Feeling pretty awesome about it! I topped out at 38 mph on a downhill, and worked hard to keep my feet in motion for most of the ride, which included some powering through on the last 1/3, including uphills that I passed people on.

Ours was a mixed ride, 7600 people, with 100, 62, 34, 25 and 7 miles routes, and they also do crits the day before, which I would kind of be interested in for next year. I like speed.

[Norse]

Did 61 miles on Saturday out in the horse country, slightly rural West side. For part of the ride I explored a new trail that took me into some real farm country and it was all headwind on the way out but a lovely tailwind on the way back to my rest area. Yesterday just a quick 19 mile jaunt to the Mississippi River and back. It was a beautiful weekend. Next weekend is the MS-150.

[Jo-n-NY]

Yesterday was my first organized ride of the season, Bike Boat Bike. We did the 50 mile route which is just the nicest of all the routes offered. If anyone is familiar with Long Island this ride begins out east in Mattituck on the North Fork and we ride through Southhold, Greenport and take a ferry to Shelter Island. We do this every year and it is always fun.

2 weeks is my first century ride in 2 yrs. The last couple of years we only mustered up metrics. I feeling stronger this year so I am curious how I will feel at the 75th mile which always was the breaking point for me. This ride is from Babylon to the lighthouse at Montauk Point. The ride has always ended in the town of Montauk, it is first to go all the way to lighthouse

[Jo-n-NY]

Reesha, love that pic of you and your smiling face. Very nice!!!

[goldfinch]

Did 61 miles on Saturday out in the horse country, slightly rural West side. For part of the ride I explored a new trail that took me into some real farm country and it was all headwind on the way out but a lovely tailwind on the way back to my rest area. Yesterday just a quick 19 mile jaunt to the Mississippi River and back. It was a beautiful weekend. Next weekend is the MS-150.

I wanted to do that ride but was too late to arrange lodging in the middle as my motorhome is inconveniently 600 miles south of me right now. Hope you have a great ride!

[rubysoho]

Rode 170 miles over Saturday and Sunday in the NC Tour de Cure. This was my first organized ride, on more hills than I've ever trained on, riding longer than I've ever riden, and I absolutely LOVED it!

It still feels like a dream (though my legs and right knee would disagree, sore but not terribly) and I can't believe I did it. I know a good portion is because the staff and volunteers were fabulous. I felt like the only thing I needed to worry about was pedaling.

[Norse]

I wanted to do that ride but was too late to arrange lodging in the middle as my motorhome is inconveniently 600 miles south of me right now. Hope you have a great ride!

Thanks! Sounds like it's going to be a scorcher this year.

[Artista]

Got in 31 miles today on an organized ride. The ride details put it at 34 miles/2200 feet of elevation gain, but gps put it at 31/1400. No biggie, since it was the biggest/most intense climbing I've ever done.

Feeling pretty awesome about it! I topped out at 38 mph on a downhill, and worked hard to keep my feet in motion for most of the ride, which included some powering through on the last 1/3, including uphills that I passed people on.

Hey Chatnoire, I did the same ride. I overestimated the difficulty of Russelville Road and underestimated the hills on the last third of the ride. I used EVERY gear combo on my bike except for cross chaining on that ride!

I was really afraid that Russelville Road was going to result in a 4 hr ride for me. I finished in 2 hr 45 min. I was thrilled. 36 mph on some of the downhills helped my average speed a lot

What time were you there? We started about 9:15 and finished about 12:30.

[chatnoire]

Hey Chatnoire, I did the same ride. I overestimated the difficulty of Russelville Road and underestimated the hills on the last third of the ride. I used EVERY gear combo on my bike except for cross chaining on that ride!

I was really afraid that Russelville Road was going to result in a 4 hr ride for me. I finished in 2 hr 45 min. I was thrilled. 36 mph on some of the downhills helped my average speed a lot

What time were you there? We started about 9:15 and finished about 12:30.

Hey Artista!
We pulled away from the start at 8:45, and got back in just before noon, for a total of 2.5 hours in the seat, 3 with breaks. What a fun ride! That last hill was a BEAR, for sure, but in lowest gear, I was able to stay in my seat and keep going, and still had the power to push through. Have you done that one before? It was my first time, and only my second sponsored ride.

[Artista]

Hey Artista!
We pulled away from the start at 8:45, and got back in just before noon, for a total of 2.5 hours in the seat, 3 with breaks. What a fun ride! That last hill was a BEAR, for sure, but in lowest gear, I was able to stay in my seat and keep going, and still had the power to push through. Have you done that one before? It was my first time, and only my second sponsored ride.

Sounds like we just missed each other. At least I know now that you aren't the young woman who managed to pass me 3 times on the same ride!

Yes, that last hill was TOUGH! I had a blast going really fast on the downhills but I was down to 4mph the last time I looked at my computer on the really steep hill

This was the first time I've ridden the 1/3 century route. I did the 7 mile Elephant Rock "family" ride about 12 years ago when I was at my lowest ever fitness level. Back then even the family ride was routed over some pretty intense hills. I thought that I was going to die on that ride! Yesterday's ride was my redemption