July Rides

[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.

[marni]

another successful 36 miles at 14.9. Can't believe that I have done two days in a row at a speed which is almost light speed for me. Guess for once there hasn't been any head wind, or maybe the heavy leg presses actually are paying off. time will tell.

[emily_in_nc]

That's great Marni! I averaged a pitiful 13.4 today. But with the wind, I'm not beating myself up too badly.

[smittykitty]

Rode Tour D' Cure for cancer out of Bend OR with DH last Sat. This had to be the most scenic organized ride we have fine so far. Beautiful farm country on quite country roads, with incredible mountains everywhere! Wonderful support and great cause.

We planned on the 50 miler due to our limited riding this year, but we feeling so good that we jumped on the 74 mile route! In the end we wished we had stuck with the shorter route. Upper 90's and LOTS of rolling hills was a lot harder then the much cooler, flat rides of W. WA!
I also had a bad experience with leg cramps, in my clip out leg no less. Guess I was dehydrated. Never want to experience that again! Ouch and scary!

We plan to do it again another year, but will train and properly hydrate (lesson learned). Won't forget Advil again either!

[Crankin]

Today's ride was an epic fail. First, we decided to bail on the climb over the mountain. We have not done this route before. The climb (we drove it) was hard,, but doable. It, just as we suspected, the descent was not so good, with broken pavement t. The worst was, the next road was a dirt road, very muddy and rocky. Not ok for road bikes. Next road was more climbing. Got to the new start point and rode about 4 miles on a rail trail. Then our GPSs all were going nuts. After a couple of more miles, Brant said he thought Janine and I should ride back to the car, as the GPS was trying to send us in the opposite direction. We were in a very rural area in NY, so no guarantee about road conditions or climbs. We rode back, got in the car and were back at the inn in 11 miles.
Brant just posted a pic of him eating lunch in a graveyard in Connecticut, about 15 miles from here.
I rode 12 miles at a slow pace and now I am going to sit at the pool.

[emily_in_nc]

Great ride today! I'd planned on around 40 miles, but riding with DH, ended up with 55...figures!

We rode up to a park. Terrible headwinds for about the first 14 miles, but then we turned and had crosswinds as we climbed to the park on a very low-traffic rural road. Only heart-pounding moment was when three LARGE dogs started chasing us, but they stopped at the end of their property, thank goodness! The grade was not bad at all -- 1000' elevation gain in 11 miles. The park was gorgeous! We didn't stay long, just looked around, then turned around and headed back down. This time we had more of a headwind, but downhill, it was okay. And the three dogs were nowhere to be found in this direction, thank goodness!

When we got back to town, we treated ourselves to lovely cinnamon rolls from the Mennonite bakery, then continued on back to where we are staying, mostly with tailwinds, for the rest of the mileage.