Labor Day Weekend Rides

[Geonz]

I agree -- there's no "just another" MTB ride I got in 99.7 miles today on our annual Perrysville, Indiana ride. We have a 50 and 63 mile route, but it starts 48 miles from home so... I rode to the ride. So did some of the fast folks including our Maarten and Jay who dude! placed THIRD in the team-of-two competition at RAAM! (and without the RVs that the first two placers had; it was these two guys and a car, so when one turned over the bike the other woudl find a motel, sleep a few horus, then chase down the other and swap out again). ( http://www.news-gazette.com/blogs/st...aam-tough.html YES our local rag has CHEESY headlines!)
Me, I rode out at my pace -- well, and caught myself trying to do 18 and backed off to 15-16 because this was the longest ride I've done all year. I decided a month ago to go ahead and replace my Garmin and try to get back to doing Lots of Long Miles == but having a Garmin isn't, um, the same as riding ... had one and a half "dog incidences" along the way. In Grape Creek, my first trip I'd been warned about murderers and packs of wild feral dogs... and had had a woeful nursing dog appear by my side, begging and nuzzling... I'd obliged. Welp, at that turn I remembered her... and ... what should appear but a young, beautiful dog ... who managed to keep me company for at *least* 8 miles. I tried to outrun it... 18 mph was just making it grin wider. (It was truly beautiful. I mean, when you see a race horse running it's beautiful but the joy is tempered by the knowledge that there are nasty human machinations involved. This was just a young dog RUNNING... and it wasn't feral; it was collared and healthy. Yea, it shouldn't have been out there on the loose but it was BEAUTIFUL to watch)... and it just may have kept me from having a second Dog INcident because just before the Indiana State Line I'm riding by a house and I hear "NO!!! DONUT!!! COME BAAACK!" in that special voice of an owner who has NO control over a dog, and SOMETHIGN told me that Donut would not have Peanut's skill at keeping out of harm's way.
Of course, Peanut was *much* more interesting to Donut than me... and I reckon DOnut more interesting to Peanut... *and* Peanut would at least be encountering humans, not be 8 miles from home (soemething tells me Peanut would find its wayback...)
Yea, I have to wonder if Peanut wasn't borne of that litter of the nuzzling mom...

[Skippyak]

Rode in the Uintahs over the WE. along with deer, a snake that I ran over LOL, cows on the road, crazy people who shoot into the hillside from the side of the road and scare the **** out of riders, (Deliverance, 2013, your 5 yr old, a gun and the road). Too much bike crap on the side of the road, who are the riders who throw gel packs and used co2 cartridges? I see that a whole lot in Utah, and this particular ride would have been hard pushed to be gel worthy LOL. Saw lots of riders on sat, not so much sun.

[emily_in_nc]

We had such a FUN Labor Day bike ride. Temps were in the 70s with low humidity and bright sunshine -- couldn't have ordered up a more beautiful day! We rode from the home we're renting in Prairie Village (KS) into downtown Kansas City, MO and all over to various sights there. DH thought the traffic would be light on a holiday, and he was right -- only a couple times did I get a bit nervous about traffic on a couple of roads with many lanes. The ride there and back took us through many beautiful neighborhoods with hardly any cars, we happened upon a beautiful rose garden in Loose Park (we'd never been there), and made it all the way to the Amtrak station. Total mileage was 28.5, but with all our stops/starts and urban pace, that was close to three hours of saddle time.

I posted some photos on Photobucket if anyone wants to take a look: Labor Day Kansas City Ride