April 27th weekend rides

[MGM]

Just rode north to Portsmouth on this gorgeous day. I did one of the steeper hills, first time this year. Saw bunnies and cows, and chickens (which were out on the road, luckily a low traffic one). One of the roads is still closed from Hurricane Sandy, 6 months ago.

I think I rode around 21 miles. Perfect conditions. All good.

Was that Portmouth, NH? Or RI?

Did 25 miles on a charity ride in very pretty country in NJ. Turned out to be a lovely spring day!

[ny biker]

48 mile charity ride yesterday. Way more hills than I was prepared for and a good 15 miles longer than any other ride I'd done since last fall, but it was in one of my favorite areas to ride, near the Chesapeake Bay, and the weather was great.

Early in the ride a Maryland State Police officer pulled me over and told me to move to the shoulder of the road. I responded by asking what I was supposed to do when the road had no shoulder, as was the case here. We had a nice chat about safe road position for cyclists when there is no shoulder and the lane is not wide enough for a car to pass with the legally required 3 feet of clearance without crossing the center line.

[eofelis]

I haven't done many long rides lately. Mostly commuting to work (5 miles) and riding around town.

Finally got out to do a proper road ride today. We rode the Rim Rock Drive of Colorado National Monument. A crown jewel ride here. Many ride it regularly. Google it! (look at images)

We rode with some friends who brought their tandem bike. The gal wanted to try my Specialized Ruby bike and suggested I try riding on the back of the tandem. I'm a tandem newbie and the tandem captain was good to ride with. She enjoyed my go-fast bike (we ride the same size bike) and it was fun on the tandem for a little while. My bf and I aren't likely to get a tandem.

About halfway over we met up with some other friends who came up the other side. They turned around and rode the rest of the way with us. There were lots and lots of riders up there today.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day. No wind, 70-80F. We rode about 45 miles.

Here is a picture. I'm the one on the left with my road bike.

[azfiddle]

Friday- the once a week commute to work- 20 miles RT.
Saturday- a ride with my women's "team" - some folks went about 45, but 4 of us went just more than a metric century- 63 miles to the Biosphere north of Tucson.
Sunday- rode from my house to the Cyclovia event- streets closed to vehicles for about 3 1/2 miles, and many fun booths and activities along the route. My DH drove there with my fiddle and I played at contra dancing "flash mob" event at one of the activity "hubs". It was a very cool event.

[velo]

I really wanted to get in rides three days this weekend Fri - Sun but Sunday was drizzling and 60*F all day, so no ride. That was OK because we took dd to see a play instead. Got in just shy of 50 miles on Fri and a little over 25 miles on Sat, so I was happy enough. Saturday was one of those aggravating days where there was no wind when I went out and then starting blowing about 15mph into my face on the way back. But I'm not going to complain because we finally have some decent temps and I don't work today (Monday), so I'll get to ride as long as I want. I'm ready to leave the 40's and 50's behind and today should be some of the nicest weather we've seen here. Yippee!

Azfiddle - that event does sound very cool. Fun!

[Crankin]

Eofelis, when we went to the graduation at Mesa State last year, I was one of those people who had never heard of the Colorado National Monument. We only got to do some hiking, but my former exchange student "son" trained there all of the time. We got to see him take team pictures up there one day, when we happened to be driving by and saw him riding toward the monument.
That part in the tunnel looks a little scary, though.

[eofelis]

Eofelis, when we went to the graduation at Mesa State last year, I was one of those people who had never heard of the Colorado National Monument. We only got to do some hiking, but my former exchange student "son" trained there all of the time. We got to see him take team pictures up there one day, when we happened to be driving by and saw him riding toward the monument.
That part in the tunnel looks a little scary, though.

The name "Colorado National Monument" doesn't really give many clues as to what kind of area, magnificent red rock canyons, it really is. Years ago when I first drove through the Grand Junction area on the interstate I saw the signs for it and assumed it was just some sort of roadside marker for the Colorado River, or something like that. Unimpressed, I kept on driving.

Many other people also think this way. There has been some push to rename it to a National Park that might draw in more visitors.


The tunnel on the east side is a long uphill tunnel and it scares me sometimes. Even though we have to have a red blinky tail light on our bikes I don't feel very safe in there. I either wait at the tunnel entrance for a long break in the car traffic and them sprint through the tunnel (going anaerobic!); or on days that there is a lot of car traffic I motion a vehicle to stop and ask them if they will follow me through the tunnel for a bit of protection. People are happy to help me out for a few minutes there. Going the other way, downhill, that tunnel doesn't bother me much. I do get a bit of vertigo cruising along in the dark in there. The west side has two short tunnels and they don't bother me at all, though the pavement in them is quite bumpy.