July Rides

[ny biker]

You ladies put on some MILES!

My "long" rides on the weekend are 20-30 miles, and my weeknight rides are 15-20.

I did 25 miles on the trail yesterday and it was a PERFECT biking weather day. If not for a packed day, leaving very little time in my schedule I definitely would have went further. I am such a newbie.

My biggest problem with rides over 2 hours is my back ends up killing me. I think I am going to try and move my seat down a little and see if that helps.

Moving your seat down could cause knee problems. What kind of bike do you have -- hybrid, road, mountain, other?

[jilliebeanmn]

2014 Cannondale Quick-a hybrid with flat handlebars.

[emily_in_nc]

Today I did 47 on the roadie and 2.5 afterwards on the Bike Friday w/panniers to get groceries.

My DH finds the end of our rides here hard too -- I think it's a combination of chip-seal roads near the end, a slight but very long "false flat" back to our rental, and the fact that by the time we're heading in, it's HOT. Today was 88 when I finished up, and I was dripping from every pore. The last 5 miles or so were a grind, but I did it.

I am proud because I achieved 4000 miles on the year today. I have a lot more time to ride now that I'm retired, and it's looking like this will easily beat my previous record year of 2004, where I did 4279 miles, but a good % of those were trainer miles. Living in NC at the time and being a cold-weather wimp, I rode almost exclusively on the trainer from Nov-Feb and occasionally outside those months as well. Now we're able to follow good weather, so getting in outdoor miles is much easier.

[ny biker]

2014 Cannondale Quick-a hybrid with flat handlebars.

You might want to try posting in the Health forum for advice. It could be a problem with reach, which might be fixed by a different size stem or different handlebars. But it also might be an issue with core strength or flexibility. When my lower back hurts, it means I need to stretch my hamstrings.