Weekend Rides?

[Kubla]

I finally broke out of my current 10-13 range and rode 18 miles today. <Yay> Stopped at 3 yard sales along the route, but managed not to buy anything. (I'd started out early, but guess I didn't pick the right ones to visit.)

All went well until I had to cross a busy road on my way home. Most drivers in my area do not seem to believe that pedestrians have the right of way. I almost always get off the bike and wait at the crosswalk on the worst roads.

An elderly gentleman stopped to let me cross, but traffic coming from the other direction ignored the stopped traffic. After several cars whizzed by, I signaled for him to go ahead; I didn't want to hold him up any longer and the line behind him was getting longer.

He again smiled and gestured for me to go. It was clear the next oncoming car was not going to stop. The driver in the vehicle behind him grew impatient and leaned on the horn. He in turn honked and shouted something at the offending oncoming car. I prayed I was not going to witness a full-blown road rage incident involving a well-meaning senior citizen. Finally, I was able to cross.

I was close to home when a car abruptly pulled into a driveway in front of me. I had to stop a bit short.

A guy in his 30s jumped out of his car and called out to me. I couldn't imagine what he wanted. He then asked if I had a cell phone he could use "for a minute". (You're stopping a passing bicyclist to borrow a cell phone??) <RED FLAG>

I typically don't trust anyone and told him, "Sorry, I don't carry a phone." "You don't??" he said, surprised. "NOPE!" says I, pushing off to get away as quickly as I could. I did not go right home, just in case...but had a plan for stopping at a neighbor's if it turned out I was being followed. Thankfully, that was the end of the encounter. <Phew>

[lovelygamer]

Kubla, congrats on breaking that 13 mile barrier. I'm working on that one myself.

We went kayaking today instead of cycling. I will ride my bike tomorrow, probably in the 10-13 mile range.

I had a lot of fun in the kayak and did really well for a first timer. When I can, I'll put a picture or two up. We went for 1.5 hours and about three miles.

[MojoGrrl]

Attempted to do the Sierra Century in Plymouth, CA (106 miles, 7400 feet of climbing) today but it was already 100 degrees by about noon, so we cut it short and did the metric route (still 4400 feet of climbing) and I had a brief moment of glory when I took off on my racing bike for a few miles at speeds of 28-35 mph and left my far stronger and more experienced cyclist boyfriend in the dust. It was so hot that almost all of the full century and 200k riders ended up doing the metric. At least one person collapsed from heat exhaustion at the end of the ride, and I'm sure there were a few more casualties. I was pretty wiped out and miserable myself - where my burst of energy and speed came from I have no idea.

[Kubla]

Kubla, congrats on breaking that 13 mile barrier. I'm working on that one myself.

We went kayaking today instead of cycling. I will ride my bike tomorrow, probably in the 10-13 mile range.

I had a lot of fun in the kayak and did really well for a first timer. When I can, I'll put a picture or two up. We went for 1.5 hours and about three miles.

Glad to hear your first kayaking outing went well. I know you were a little apprehensive. It's a lot of fun, and you'll learn quickly.

[Crankin]

I rode 42 miles today, which included riding to our bike rally, leading a 15 mile ride, and riding home.
Weather was picture perfect. Leading the ride, not so much. We had every kind of issue, from people with borrowed, crappy bikes, people with no air in their tires, helmets on incorrectly, no bike skills, not knowing how to shift. We know that leading the shortest ride of the rally will get less experienced people, but this was the worst. One girl had her crank fall off, but DH fixed it... I ended up leading the last 5 miles when he did this and I had to sprint like hell to catch up to the others. Up a hill. At least I was able to leave the woman (she was with a guy) who was riding about 6-9 mph and couldn't get up any of the hills without walking. As the sweep, I had to stay with her, but her bf said it was OK for me to go ahead once they got back to the next to last road.
I found out the rally was put on Meet Up at the last minute and this is where some of these people came from. Granted, this is more of a social type of riding club than others, but . My ride report will have some choice words for the event planners.
We were exhausted on the way home, but we booked it and managed to get back, shower, and drive back to the site for the dinner and speaker in about an hour and a half.

[chatnoire]

Ugh, Crankin, that sounds brutal. I hate poorly planned events.

We did a ride today that was ~35 miles, average speed 12.6 mph, elevation gain 1000 feet. It was cool and breezy, and the last 10 miles were spent outracing a thunderstorm...which never actually made it to our side of town. *shrug* No biggie, the speeds on that half of the ride were good.

We're doing a "recovery ride" tomorrow, less than 10 miles - up to the farmers market, shopping, and riding back before tackling mountains of homework for both of us.

Oh, and of course, I fell again. Gah.

Here's a snap from our ride at the highest point, with the thunderclouds behind us:

[redrhodie]

I wasn't going to ride yesterday, but at 3 pm I made the mistake of pumping my tires. I guess I've trained myself to ride after pumping, because once it was done, I had to ride. Now, the reason this is bad is because at 3 pm on a Sat in June around here, traffic is mad. (And I mean both definitions of mad.)

So, I knew I was probably going to have a stressful ride, and it was. I only did my 18 mile loop, but it was plenty. I yelled at one driver, passed one tour bus in a high risk way because I was boxed in and it was my best option. I took some chances that I normally wouldn't, but nothing bad happened. I really need to reconsider riding at that time here. I know better. Just thanking my lucky stars it turned out fine.

[Crankin]

Same reason I won't ride through Concord center on a weekend, Red.
And add about 2,000 extra cyclists who all seem to start and finish their rides here. It becomes too much when combined with tour buses, people who don't know where they are going walking out into the middle of the street, and tons of regular people just out doing their weekend errands.