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.

[AppleTree]

Way to go Emily! And the year's only half over, so well done you! Riding in the heat is hard, I hate it. I'm glad I didn't do STP this year, as the first day was in the 90's. It would have killed me for sure, haha.

I've been sick all week, horrible bronchitis. I'm hoping to feel better to ride tomorrow maybe.

[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.

[emily_in_nc]

Way to go Emily! And the year's only half over, so well done you! Riding in the heat is hard, I hate it. I'm glad I didn't do STP this year, as the first day was in the 90's. It would have killed me for sure, haha.

I've been sick all week, horrible bronchitis. I'm hoping to feel better to ride tomorrow maybe.

Thanks AppleTree, and so sorry to hear that you're sick...bad time of year for that.

I was amazed to see how hot it would be for the STP. I'm sure that's atypical!

I'm sure my miles will tail off this fall as we'll be traveling back east, so lots of days in the car, then some family time so not a lot of cycling then either. So for me, the year is well more than half over...and really it is since this is the 7th month, not the 6th. I was thinking the same thing today as I rode along: "Hey, today the year is just about half over!" when I realized that actually occurred a month ago. Time flies!

[Crankin]

Getting ready for our annual trip to the Berkshires. Decided to rest yesterday and just got back from a very fast 3 mile walk with DH at 5:30 AM. I want my legs to be rested, as my friend who plans the routes has 2 new ones: one is 57 miles with lots of climbing in the beginning and the other has a 15% climb. The others, well, I already know the suffering! Oy. I will be tempted to sit by the pool with DH as he heals, but I intend to ride every mile. This should add in some good mileage for me. I'm at 1,100 and I need to be at 2,000 by the end of August to get near 3K for the year. It probably won't happen, but, I am hoping for a nice fall.
DH went to the ortho yesterday. He doesn't need to wear the sling, can walk or run. He's still targeting easy riding around Aug. 15. The doc said he'll be easily be ready to lead a ride we are doing on 9/27 and for our trip to Portugal, the week after that.

[marni]

Woot! 15.2 mph for 36 miles today in 2:15 in the 80/80% heat and humidity. This at a 7:30 am start. Guess leg pressing 220 lb x 40 per week is starting to pay off. Either that or it is so ****miserable on the road so that all I want to do is get off!

[emily_in_nc]

That's awesome, Marni! I would be thrilled with that speed. I normally average 13.5 - 14.8 depending on route and whether I'm riding with DH or not. I have averaged 15+ just twice this year. Used to be much faster, but since my crash in '05, I've never been able to ride that fast since. I can do the miles, just not quickly!

[Crankin]

Did our Berkshire warm up ride late yesterday. 18 miles, with enough climbing to make me hurt. This was a slightly different version of a 15 mile ride I've done before. Woke up not feeling so great, definitely allergies, but my stomach and other parts not so great, either. Our ride is 40 miles today, a really beautiful ride, so I have to get myself in gear. My friend is really ow, so I can always ride with her, instead of trying to keep up with her DH.

[cosc]

Yesterday was a perfect (70's without much wind) day to ride. I rode 46 miles, but wasn't feeling up to snuff. About 12 miles in I started getting a stitch in my side which spread to other parts.
I saw a cute scene which I would of stopped and taken a picture if I wasn't looking forward to plopping on my bed at home. There was about 20 red cows cooling themselves in a creek, while their white calves were all in a group keeping flies on the bank of the creek. Amazing thing to me as none of their babies were red like their Mom and not 1 calf was in the cool water.

[ny biker]

I rode 19 miles last night, one of the longer versions of my standard post-work hill ride. Thanks to a derailleur/shifting problem, I had major issues shifting into my largest cog, which meant I couldn't use it like I usually do for the short but steep climbs. What better way to get back in shape after a sedentary vacation? My legs were tired by the end but it was a good kind of tired, as they say.

The weather was damn near perfect, and a found another small park with a restroom that's near my ride start, since the portolet has been removed from the park where I start.

[Crankin]

Today's ride in the Berkshires went from our inn in Gt. Barrington, through Alford, into W Stockbridge, up Lenox Mt. Into Lenox, past Kripu, and Tanglewood and into Stockbridge where we ate lunch. Then we took a back way through Housatonic back. 40 miles, 2500 ft of climbing, but it felt much harder than the last time I did this ride. It is really a beautiful ride, but really lots of ups and downs.
Tomorrow, 57 miles.

[emily_in_nc]

Yesterday was my day off the bike.

Today was WINDY. Sheesh! Worst wind we've had here so far. I made it about 10 miles into our planned route (which pretty much headed out right into the wind for 20 miles and would have a great tailwind on the way back) before deciding I just couldn't handle 10 more miles of headwinds and turning around. DH left later than me and would have caught me, but we both detoured on different roads and missed each other, so I finally called him and let him know where I'd be going. We both did loops closer to "home" to avoid any more westward pedaling, and I cut my ride short with "only" 31.25 miles. Still, glad to get that in these conditions!

[Crankin]

That should have said Kripalu.