Weekend Rides?

[sookiesue]

Biked my 12 mile hill-training loop on Friday evening, after a week and a half off my bike (on vacation). Surprised myself by beating my PR on this loop by 2 1/2 minutes!

Then lifted my 5 year old son back onto his bed in the middle of the night and triggered a moderate back spasm. A little muscle relaxer and lots of advil and I was feeling ok in the morning, but wasn't able to do my planned 40 mile ride.

I did go out for about 15 miles to see if it felt better or worse with a bike ride, and discovered that it felt better while riding, probably due to the fact that I could support myself a bit with my arms instead of relying on my back for all the work. Didn't want to push it, though, and kept it short.

Next day, I could feel it in my mid-back/shoulders that I had been making them do more work than usual!

Hoping a couple more days of rest will mend this and I can get back to a regular riding schedule tomorrow.

Trying to be mindful that I should be appreciative that I only experience this occasionally and no longer live in chronic pain, but overall, back spasms suck.

[Norse]

I spent the past 4 days doing the Red Ribbon Ride which is the AIDS/HIV ride for MN - a grand total of approximately 300 miles. Weather-wise, it may have been the RRR's best year ever - the dewpoint stayed reasonable, the temps under 90 and we frequently had glorious cloud-cover. Rain on the second leg of day 3 did cause one of my teamates to go down hard right behind me. He had a cut above his eye that was bleeding and bruises and gashes filled with road-dirt and pebbles in his shoulder, arm and leg. Mr. Tough Guy though insisted on continuing and he did! Day 3 also saw another teammate total his bike in the most bizarre way: he had athletic tape around a knee (many developed knee trouble during and following the unrelenting, multiple steep hills of day 2) which came loose, got stuck in a spoke, then the rear derailleur and when it was over, his derailleur was turned inside out, flipped 180, nowhere near the back cassette and it somehow bent the frame of his bike. Oh, another teammate got his tire caught in a crevass riding out of town on day 3 and flipped over his handlebars, but he was ok. There was more; day 3 was the Twilight Zone for our group.

I suffered from a saddle sore that was acquired in training, and of course got worse during 4 days of hard riding, but other than that, my body and bike both did very well. All in all, it was a fun, tough, delightful 4 days of bike riding with a great group of people for a very good cause - I achieved a personal fund-raising best of a little over $1,800! Yea donors!

[lovelygamer]

I spent the past 4 days doing the Red Ribbon Ride which is the AIDS/HIV ride for MN - a grand total of approximately 300 miles. Weather-wise, it may have been the RRR's best year ever - the dewpoint stayed reasonable, the temps under 90 and we frequently had glorious cloud-cover. Rain on the second leg of day 3 did cause one of my teamates to go down hard right behind me. He had a cut above his eye that was bleeding and bruises and gashes filled with road-dirt and pebbles in his shoulder, arm and leg. Mr. Tough Guy though insisted on continuing and he did! Day 3 also saw another teammate total his bike in the most bizarre way: he had athletic tape around a knee (many developed knee trouble during and following the unrelenting, multiple steep hills of day 2) which came loose, got stuck in a spoke, then the rear derailleur and when it was over, his derailleur was turned inside out, flipped 180, nowhere near the back cassette and it somehow bent the frame of his bike. Oh, another teammate got his tire caught in a crevass riding out of town on day 3 and flipped over his handlebars, but he was ok. There was more; day 3 was the Twilight Zone for our group.

I suffered from a saddle sore that was acquired in training, and of course got worse during 4 days of hard riding, but other than that, my body and bike both did very well. All in all, it was a fun, tough, delightful 4 days of bike riding with a great group of people for a very good cause - I achieved a personal fund-raising best of a little over $1,800! Yea donors!

Congratulations! That sounds like an awesome ride and accomplishment on both the fundraising and the riding. I'm glad your teammate is okay. Goodness.

[Norse]

Congratulations! That sounds like an awesome ride and accomplishment on both the fundraising and the riding. I'm glad your teammate is okay. Goodness.

Thanks! I just heard from Mr. Tough Guy this morning - he and his bike are both safe and sound at home, neither feeling any worse for the crash.

[Giulianna23]

Jumped from 20 miles weekend rides to 30miles today and feeling great!!!!.The weather was really good and I got a nice workout. Looking forward to 30 more tomorrow.

[Crankin]

Did our first ride on San Juan Island. Well, I was not mentally prepared for the climbing. The first 11 miles to Roach Harbor were rolling, but I was having issues with the different feel of the bike with the Arkel pack on the back, the off camber bike lane, and the chip seal. I'm a cautious descender at best and the whole combo slowed me down, even more than the "touring pace" I planned. We ate lunch in Roach Harbor and after that, we had a nice 15% grade out of there, and then continued relentless climbs. But, I settled in and the scenery was beautiful.
31 miles with 2300 ft of climbing.
Tomorrow, Lopez Island, supposedly flat. I am tired.

[Kubla]

Yesterday my friend (riding a Specialized Crosstrail) and I (Jamis Aurora) headed out shortly after 8:00 a.m. and rode 17 miles through 3 towns.

Most were nicely-shaded (very hilly) country roads-some unpaved-but the ride did involve crossing a couple busy intersections to get to "a better place". On the return route, we opted to take some dirt paths and pedal within a cranberry bog in the area. It was a pleasant change of pace, and the Aurora handled the variant terrain fairly well.

The weather forecast for today is iffy; I'm not sure I'll be able to get out again. (Perhaps more accurately, I'm not sure my legs are up for the task. We'll see...)