Rides This weekend 10/26-27

[Crankin]

Did anyone else ride?
It was really windy here yesterday, so I bagged my ride, but today I rode 22.5 miles, including Oak Hill.
And, I found out why I kind of have been feeling like a slug on my Kuota the past 2 weeks. I haven't ridden my Guru at all, and I've been having back issues. I felt like my lowest gear on the Kuota wasn't low enough and climbing was really hurting my back.
Today, when we stopped before the climb of Oak Hill, DH heard my bike squeaking as I got started. He told me stop, and lo and behold, my rear brake had been rubbing. No wonder I felt "off." I seriously was worried my impending 60th birthday had caused a sudden loss of strength. The rest of the ride was much better, and I am not worried about suddenly turning into a sloth.

[Owlie]

I did 27.3 miles yesterday. I should not be this sore.

[Irulan]

I joined some friends of mine for a birthday mtb epic ride. The local to them has an area that has tons of trails. Many of them aren't real long but you can link them in a myriad of ways. Kyle's goal was to get in 20 miles. His wife (my biking pal) and I took a few shortcuts. All in all the two of us got in 24 miles and 3900 feet of mountain biking, her hubby did 29 mile and an extra 1000 ft. Groan...!
It was a beautiful fall day to be out on the trails.

[shootingstar]

I only did around 28 km. with a hill. Did grocery shopping and café hopping. I made sure the whole lovely day in shorts stretched out yesterday.

'Cause today it's been wet snow the whole day. lst snowfall for the season. I went out for 8 km. for coffee somewhere and made sure I started off early enough before things pile on. That was enough. I kept wondering when the wet ground would freeze up or fill up with slush.

[ridebikeme]

I got out for a ride both days, and although I worked very hard because of the wind... well it was very interesting! Yesterday I watched a storm that had the mountain tops socked in, watched it come into the valley and eventually it started to rain. I felt a bit of sleet when I first started the ride, but it went away very quickly and I ended up cutting the ride a couple of miles short simply because it was now raining. Faboulous watching the storm coming in though...

Today was a bit more windy than yesterday, but I was determined to ride anyway. Later in the ride the mountains were again surrounded in very dark clouds, and the weather forecast mentioned that we should have a bit of snow after midnight.

I guess this time of year I always feel as though I just accomplished one less trainer ride for the year, even if it was slower than I would have liked.

Crankin: Glad to hear that your doubts turned into nothing more than brakes that were dragging; you should feel like a ' hero' the next time that you go out HA!

[BikeDutchess]

It is so gorgeous here this weekend. Warm for the end of October - colder and wetter weather is coming tomorrow. Went on our favorite coffee ride this morning with my daughter.


Fall Ride by DutchRosie, on Flickr

[Catrin]

Bike Dutchess, beautiful picture! I am also quite jealous of your weather though it has been nice running weather here.

Crankin - SO glad you found the cause of the problem, that would certainly do it!

I am hoping to be able to get out on my bike in a week or so - I've taken myself off the bike for a couple of weeks - hoping that after this week I will be able to get back out and ride in my favorite park, we will see.

[rebeccaC]

Fall Ride by DutchRosie, on Flickr

great image!!!! I enjoyed looking through your photos on flickr!!!
first weekend for a long bike ride since my double century two weeks ago and without a future ride goal. 87 mile ride into the santa monica mountains with a friend. It feels strange no longer having the goals I've had the last 9 months.

[Becky]

Saturday was our club's annual mountain bike festival. I was there at 6:30 and spent most of the day working for either the club or at my team's shop tent. I only got 4 miles in at the very end of the day, but I still had a great day. The free beer for volunteers and a good score at the raffle definitely helped

On Sunday, I rode 34 windy road miles with a friend who was also feeling the need to get out and stretch the legs.

It's hard to believe that the year is almost over and I need to start thinking about either night riding or trainer workouts. :/

[Giulianna23]

32 hilly miles yesterday with great weather. Went up Observatory Hill once again. The Church that offers our group kind of like a SAG for this ride every Tuesday had a pitch -in and invited the group to grab a snack but they ended up giving us lunch (mac n cheese, salad, Ham etc etc).
Had a great time with the group yesterday it was beautiful out there.

[Sky King]

We wanted to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather yesterday as the rest of the week is forecasting rain. We also needed a few items from Costco so why not combine the two.
We loaded up with our panniers, front bags and saddlebags and had an great long ride. A set of "road" bikers passed us and one rider said something like "wow" or "oh my" so I shouted, "we are going to Costco" they all laughed. They probably also wondered why we were headed in the opposite direction A nice ride heading east along the river and then a big loop back west found us at Costco after about 22 miles. The down side was Costco happened to have one of our favorite beers in stock - by the case of course, and we knew we hadn't planned well enough to fit 24 bottles of beer in our bags. The entire ride was just under 32 miles with the last 10 being fairly loaded - I had a case of Amy's soup, kiwi's, avocados,bread and organic chicken on my bike.
Next time we may have to shorten the ride and take the Bob but then they probably won't have the beer - ha

[BikeDutchess]

Thanks, Catrin and rebeccaC!

[ridebikeme]

Ahhh Guilianna23 you're making me the Hoosier state!

[emily_in_nc]

Beautiful photo, Bike Dutchess -- breathtaking color and scenery, so nicely set off by your colorful jersey!

Up until today, we have had crazy gorgeous fall weather here in KC -- bright blue skies, bright foliage, and not too cold to ride, at least in the afternoons (highs in the 50s and 60s). DH and I got out for two very nice rides Sunday and Monday.

On Sunday afternoon we did a 20 mile ride on our road bikes, just around the neighborhoods. I took a few foliage photos as it was so pretty out! Yesterday (Monday) we did a 34-mile urban ride on our mountain bikes. About 2/3 of the miles were on the Indian Creek Trail (paved multi-use trail -- we tend to avoid on weekends since it gets too crowded). The other third were getting to and from the trail and doing a grocery stop. We also stopped in at Subway for a Tuscan Chicken sub and some PowerAde.

Here are a few of the foliage photos I've taken in the past week. We're having rain now for the next few days, so I am glad I got these when I did!

Attachment 16758Attachment 16759Attachment 16760Attachment 16761Attachment 16762

[emily_in_nc]

I love that you rode to Costco, Sky King! We did that recently too. We didn't need too much, which helped. I had a backpack, and my DH had his Arkel Tailrider on the rack, plus extra stuff under a cargo net and bungees. I don't think many people in Kansas City ride to Costco, but we love being different.

Normally we are getting way too much there (including a case or two of beer) to ride, but this time it just worked out.

Attachment 16763Attachment 16764