Magnificent or Mundane May Rides!

[TrekDianna]

I took the Salsa out yesterday to see how it would feel on a longer ride than just the commute. I did 34 miles and it felt great.

[Fredwina]

I did 40 miles on Saturday, but none yesterday.

[colorisnt]

Glad to see you ladies had some cool rides.

We had a great weekend with family back home in Indiana, my sister and her BF graduated, my BF asked my parents for their blessing on our hopeful engagement in the near future to much success and we saw a whole lotta cyclists out but no riding on our parts. And it doesn't look like our long ride will happen this week either thanks to terrible weather. I want to get some quick miles in today on the commute but we have severe storms coming and I'm not sure. Blargh.

We determined the next time we are going back WITH the bikes and more time! I missed Brown County State Park something fierce.

[ny biker]

Crankin, re: announcing canceled rides -- I have a tale of two clubs. One club posts ride news (cancellations and other important announcements) right on their website's main page, and again on the top of the page that shows the ride schedule for the month. Anyone who views the website can see the ride updates; you do not have to be a member and you do not have to be logged in. There is also a voluntary yahoo group for members only, and most ride updates are also sent there.

The other club has a forum section on their website, and ride updates are supposed to be posted there. You need to drill down a couple of links to find the page with the ride news. Also you have to be a club member and be logged into the website in order to see it. There is also an unofficial gmail listserv that was started by people who did not want anyone to moderate what they say. It is not publicized and you only know it exists if you overhear someone talking about it. Most ride leaders post their ride updates to the secret unofficial gmail list.

The first club is friendly and welcoming to new members. The second club is neither. I recommend taking an approach like the first club -- keep things simple and obvious to anyone who might show up for a ride.

(Okay yes I am ticked off at the second club and recently decided not to renew my membership with them, so that was a bit of a rant. I actually did a ride with them yesterday. I emailed the leader on Saturday with a question about the ride start location. It turned out that the actual start location was several blocks away from the address posted on the schedule. The ride leader said she would make sure to send an email to the secret gmail listserv to make sure everyone was aware of this. I pointed out that not everyone knew about the secret gmail listserv, but she didn't seem to care about that. Many people went to the wrong location as a result.)

I rode 46 miles yesterday. The weather was perfect. I guess I've been doing some pretty flat rides lately, because my pace was slow yesterday and I thought there was a lot of climbing, but when I plotted the route on ridewithgps.com, it was not really all that hilly. We were in an area of Virginia that I don't often visit. Some of the roads were very nice, quiet lanes with no traffic. Then there were the parts on roads with a speed limit of 55 mph, one lane in each direction and no shoulder. After the ride I visited a friend who is in the hospital, then went home, ate lots of food and called my mother.

[emily_in_nc]

I did blog post about our long ride on Saturday. It's here if anyone is interested:

http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/1...to-kansas.html

Didn't ride today due to off and on rain, lots of wind, and way too much to do. We're moving out of the house we've been renting in Prairie Village, KS on Wednesday so are busy busy busy. We did get a LOT done today, though, so we think we'll have time to ride tomorrow and take our cable modem back to Time-Warner Cable when disconnecting our service. Since we'll be doing an errand we can justify a ride too!

[Crankin]

I commuted yesterday and it was so warm, I had to stop at 9 AM and take off my bolero, which I was wearing over a sleeveless jersey! Actually had to use my hygiene supplies when I got there, because I was sweaty, even after my little 5.2 mile ride where I purposely go slowly.
I went to the Bike Committee meeting last night, and found out we can post a ride as cancelled on the on line trip listing site of the club. It would have been nice if someone had told us! This is only an issue for show and go rides, as the other ones I do, people have to call and register with me. Some of the other leaders make a google list or use the Yahoo group. I cannot start doing all that... usually the rides where i screen people and they register with me are smaller and I have no problem calling them about a cancellation. The whole thing is justa problem because we are part of an outdoor club, where the corporate office is just starting to realize that not everyone who belongs is there for hiking and backpacking.

[ny biker]

Normally I would be getting ready for a bike ride right now. And I would really like to go for a ride this evening, but I'm sick. I started coming down with a cold on Monday night. The thing is that right now I'm alternating between feeling fine for a while and then feeling not so good for a while, and during the feeling-fine parts it's driving me crazy to think I should just stay home and rest.

I'm not sneezing much, I can breathe fine, and the sore throat phase didn't last long. My legs feel like they're up to the challenge. It's just that my brain feels a bit fuzzy at times. For example I just typed "store throat" instead of "sore throat" and almost didn't notice it.

I guess I really need to stay home and rest. Grrrr.

p.s. to Crankin -- one good thing that the second (bad) bike club does is post in the original ride listing if there are weather conditions that will cause the ride to be cancelled, such as temps colder than 40 or hotter than 95, or if the chance of rain is greater than a certain % or the roads are wet at the start time. Something like that might help for your show and go rides.

[Crankin]

NY, we will just post in the original listing something like "look at trip listing for cancellation by 8:30 AM." Our stock statement is "steady rain cancels." It just would have been nice if someone had told me this! I've been a leader for 9 years. My own personal limit is above 30% chance of rain, or if the radar really shows something moving in.
I rode with my friend this afternoon, only 15 miles. It was beautiful, but she is exceedingly slow. I sprinted ahead on 2 roads, so I did get a workout. I had to see a client this morning, so no group ride. And, the ride was listed as 47 miles at a spirited pace, or 23 miles at a relaxed pace. I wanted neither, though 47 miles at a moderate pace would have done well. My issue is, I can do the faster pace, but not for that long. They would encourage me to come, and then I'd hold them back.

[Jolt]

Very mundane, short ride today--just a quick run to the LBS to pick up a bottle of degreaser and get my new Lambda pedals put on (which I am quite happy with...they work nicely with the flexible/thin soled shoes I tend to wear). Then came home and cleaned the drivetrain...it appeared that the person from whom I bought the bike hadn't done that in a while. It looks much better now! I need to do the same to the Trek but didn't get to it today.

[Crankin]

It turned out to be a gorgeous day, after torrential rain that ended around 8:30 AM. I didn't think I'd get any riding in this weekend, because the forecast was so sketchy. Just got back from 23 miles, nothing special, but we did do most of the route sort of backwards from the usual way, so that's always different. The biggest event of the ride was we were sitting at Great Brook Farm, eating a snack when I looked up and saw the crazy father of my very first client when I became a therapist. Thank God I had my helmet on. I jumped up, told DH "I gotta go," and got on my bike, really fast. That man was so threatening my boss had to call the police to have him stop harrassing our receptionist!
I should not have had gazpacho before riding....