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

[Crankin]

I decided to get in a ride before the rain from Arthur started. Got out a bit later than I wanted to, and spent the first half of the ride convincing myself not to just do the 11, 13, or 15 mile loop. while keeping an eye on the sky. While I've always done these short loops alone, I do find it hard to motivate myself without DH. Plus, these often end up being my faster rides. Decided to do what we humorously call the "flat route," and today I realized the one part that sort of seems really flat, isn't, it's a false flat. The humidity was 99%, which made breathing a bit hard, even though it was not that hot out, at 73 degrees. I've had an average as high as 18 on this route (OK, 6-7 years ago), and most of the time, even when I'm alone, it's usually about 15.5-16.5. On this route, I can pretend I'm fast. Not today. It took me until I was turning into my neighborhood to get to an average of 15, and that was with sprinting for the last few hundred yards. I totally slowed down after that, and climbed the steep side of my hill for the first time this year, as I wanted the momentum to get up the driveway.
I don't know how people in the south can ride in humidity. When I came inside, DH said he has rarely seen me that sweaty and with my jersey unzipped almost down to my navel!
It started raining even before I went up to take a shower.

[Crankin]

Today I rode with my neighbors. He's a triathlete and she is a boot camp and spin instructor. Both are very fast runners. Needless to say, they are also 15 years younger than me.
I rode with them once before, when they both had hybrids and it was fine. I had a bad feeling about today, as we were heading into Harvard and Bolton (hills) and they now have road bikes. They don't know their way around that well, so of course, they needed to keep me in sight. I managed to stay with them until we were about a mile and a half from the base of the first big climb, and told them where to turn and where to wait for me. They waited at the top. There was one more bigger climb and one smaller one, before we got to the climb on our street! I also went my usual speed on those, but they waited. It's a beautiful day out, with little traffic. At one point, the woman was fading, and got behind me. Then, about 3 miles from home, I just felt awful; not sure why, we stopped and I ate a Shot Block and poured water over my head. It's actually warmer out than I thought it would be.
I am glad I went, but I was stressed. Just a teeny bit too fast for me to have fun, but I am glad I pushed myself. The ride was 36.8 miles, with about 2,000 feet of climbing.

[emily_in_nc]

Been away for awhile, traveling the US and doing lots of riding! Here are a couple of recent blog posts on some of the great rides we've done across the US:

Billings, Montana (beautiful, challenging road loop): http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...llings-montana

Spearfish, South Dakota (riding the canyon): http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...-dakota-part-2

Now that we're settled down for awhile, I'll be around more. Have missed my TE family!

Emily

[rebeccaC]

emily, that spearfish canyon road ride is in one incredibly beautiful area, it's on my want to ride list now...thanks for the write up and photos.

someone needs to start a july ride thread!!!!

[emily_in_nc]

emily, that spearfish canyon road ride is in one incredibly beautiful area, it's on my want to ride list now...thanks for the write up and photos.

someone needs to start a july ride thread!!!!

Yes, I highly recommend Spearfish Canyon -- one of the best rides I've ever done!

Both of the rides I posted above were done in June, so I didn't post a July thread. I am way behind on my blogging!