June rides....hopefully a pleasant month of weather and rides for all

[ny biker]

So I had a great bike ride on Saturday. And I'm not going to be humble here -- I designed a seriously awesome route. I lead a club ride in northern Maryland, with a few miles in Pennsylvania for good measure. I used some roads I knew from the Civil War Century, a few that I picked up on a Baltimore Bike Club ride a couple of years ago, and some that I had never seen in person before but was able to scout out virtually using Google Street View. The result of 50 miles, with many quiet country lanes, lots of creek crossings, two covered bridges, an Oreo cow sighting (http://beltie.org), and just a whole day of fun rural cycling with friends. The weather was near perfect; after several days of rain and humidity, the skies cleared and it was actually cooler than normal for mid-June, with a just a bit of a breeze at times.

Every day should be this good!!

[Crankin]

I commuted for the first time in a week or two? I can't remember. Anyway, I went to boot camp this morning, came home, showered, got ready, got in my bike clothes, ate, and went to work. It was cooler this morning, around 64, and perfect. Tonight, I left the latest I've ever left, probably was 7:20 before I actually clipped in. Still nice, about 74, but you can feel the humidity rolling in. Thinking about commuting tomorrow, but I do need a rest day, because I have stuff planned for the rest of the week. Even though it's still light out at 7:30, I had my headlight flashing; it gets very shadowy and dark around the big trees.

[AppleTree]

So I had a great bike ride on Saturday. And I'm not going to be humble here -- I designed a seriously awesome route. I lead a club ride in northern Maryland, with a few miles in Pennsylvania for good measure. I used some roads I knew from the Civil War Century, a few that I picked up on a Baltimore Bike Club ride a couple of years ago, and some that I had never seen in person before but was able to scout out virtually using Google Street View. The result of 50 miles, with many quiet country lanes, lots of creek crossings, two covered bridges, an Oreo cow sighting (http://beltie.org), and just a whole day of fun rural cycling with friends. The weather was near perfect; after several days of rain and humidity, the skies cleared and it was actually cooler than normal for mid-June, with a just a bit of a breeze at times.

Every day should be this good!!

Oreo cows!! Who knew?! I thought maybe they would be just black and white cows, but no they really look like an Oreo cookie! What an awesome ride report. Now I'm hungry though...

[Crankin]

We might be going on another "tour" in Vermont over 4th of July. It's a trip run by the other bike club we belong to, not AMC, although the leader is also an AMC leader. It's really not a tour, we stay in one place, and do the rides out of there. It's in the same area we rode in, in central Vermont last September (big climbs), but it would allow us to do the ferry ride over to NY, across Lake Champlain, that we missed because of bad weather. Waiting to hear if there's space open still, and if we can get GPS files for the rides, as we will most definitely be riding on our own.

[Jolt]

We might be going on another "tour" in Vermont over 4th of July. It's a trip run by the other bike club we belong to, not AMC, although the leader is also an AMC leader. It's really not a tour, we stay in one place, and do the rides out of there. It's in the same area we rode in, in central Vermont last September (big climbs), but it would allow us to do the ferry ride over to NY, across Lake Champlain, that we missed because of bad weather. Waiting to hear if there's space open still, and if we can get GPS files for the rides, as we will most definitely be riding on our own.

Sounds a lot like an AMC trip I am doing at the end of this month...it's advertised as a "food tour" where we ride to different places each day of the weekend (and go to farmers markets etc.) but are based out of someone's home. As for the ferry ride, is that the Ticonderoga ferry? If so, I've taken that several times to meet up with my family and a big group of other people for an annual camping get-together at Lake George. Back on the topic of this thread, I had about a 12-mile day today but it was just utilitarian riding...grocery run in the morning and riding to/from the community bike shop to volunteer in the afternoon. Very hot and humid today so probably just as well that I didn't do a long ride.

[Crankin]

Yes, the Ticonderoga Ferry. It was 48 degrees and raining when we were supposed to do it last September, and since it was the last day, we just wanted to get done. It was a wise decision, as the rain got heavier, and the hills got harder. Much harder.
ETA: We are definitely going on the trip!

[Crankin]

Went on a club ride today. It was a really pretty, flattish route (2-3 hills), in northern MA, starting at a park in North Reading. I've been on a lot of these roads, but not in a long time. I was somewhat concerned, as it's HOT and humid, but there's a stiff breeze, the route had shade on the majority of roads, and the clouds are rolling in, despite the fact it was between 80 and 88 during the ride. I kept feeding myself Shot Blocks and drank 2 bottles of Skratch Lab stuff. Ate a Lara Bar at the rest stop. 37.8 miles. I didn't get my average, as when I have my GPS set on a course, I am not sure where it is. But, I rode up front most of the time, so I know this was a very fast ride for me. I also didn't stay for the lunch, as I have a haircut/color appointment soon.
There was one new woman who just moved here from PA. I had to get away from her, or I was going to throw up from listening to her tell another new person about all of her tours, trips, fast rides, sports, etc. Her voice was getting on my nerves. Eh, I dropped her on the hills, but other than that, it was fun.

[colorisnt]

Did a ride with a local group. It was fun but WAY faster and longer than advertised. Advertised it was 22-24km/hr and 40 km for the slow group. We averaged almost 28 and ended up doing closed to 50km on the "short" route. One of the anchors of the "slow" group wasn't there but a ride leader who wasn't in a hurry did the loop with me. I feel like people here are a lot more intense than back home but generally just as nice I ended up doing the fastest miles of my life for that long of a time! Who knew? I've done about 90 miles so far this week.

[ny biker]

I had to take a vacation day today (I'm a government contractor and there's a delay in getting funding for our work due to a paperwork problem), so I got a few friends together for a 32-mile ride this morning. We're having our first heat wave of the year, yesterday the high temp of 97 broke a record and today was only a few degrees lower. I tried to plan a shady route, but ended up with lots of shade in the first half and some long sunny stretches in the second part of the ride. Luckily there were large white clouds in the sky that kept the sun from blazing down on us without mercy. Despite the heat, it was a nice ride overall.