Weekend Rides?

[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.

[lovelygamer]

Pictures from yesterday. I hope to ride the bike later this afternoon. I'm still working out the seat height issues.

[redrhodie]

Yeah, Crankin', that sounds bad. There were actually very few cyclists out. Most know better not to go at that time. (I do know better, but I the need to ride outweighed the risk.) This is why I usually do the lbs ride on Sat.

All that adrenalin made for one of my fastest times on that route in a long time, though.

[hebe]

I had two good rides this weekend. On Friday night I'd signed up to do a local Sky Breeze ride. The weather had been awful all week but at least stopped raining, although the wind was 20mph gusting to 35. There was only the leader and myself, but it was a great 12 mile route and I'm sure that I topped my pb for average speed/max speed. However I forgot to start the tracker app on my phone so will never know This morning I did two laps of my 5mile circuit.

[goldfinch]

I did 34 miles of rolling hills in the heat of southeast Iowa this morning. I passed a number of Amish people in their buggies and on foot, most likely on their way to church. Everyone exchanged waves with me. It was a very nice ride and at a good pace for me through the hills, beating my prior best average on that route by .5 mph. Close to town I did get buzzed by a car, with the driver leaning on his horn and me with no place to go as there is no paved shoulder. He had plenty of room to move to the other lane and plenty of visibility. What a jerk.

The best part of the entire ride was the break from the incessant itching of my terrible case of poison ivy. For some reason I don't itch when I am riding. But now, off the bike. Ugh.

[ZenBiker]

I did a nice 34 mile loop with a friend yesterday. It's a ride that cyclists do frequently around here, but this was my first time on it. Last year I was still feeling too new and tentative to try it, fearing I would be in over my head. Yesterday I did it easily. Nice to know I'm progressing!

Just a short ride today, 12 miles to and from church.

[Catrin]

Congratulations Zenbiker, that is a great feeling!

I was planning on at least doing mountain bike drills for a couple hours this afternoon...but my calves are complaining - unsure if they are just really tight (probably) or something else. They are fine as long as I don't go on my tippy-toes, which tells me they need a break. Sigh...and it is so beautiful, guess it is good I couldn't make it south to the mtb trails today...and they've not had a rest since Monday. Drills can happen tomorrow after work and the place where I go will be far less crowded.

Chatnoire, love the photo you took, looks like you had fun!