July Rides

[emily_in_nc]

This morning was just a little 8-mile ride to the farmer's market and grocery outlet on our Bike Fridays with panniers. Got lots of goodies!

Catrin, I so know that feeling. No matter where we happen to be, we ride much more than we drive, so whenever we get into the car and drive on roads we've ridden (often numerous times), it feels so strange!

[azfiddle]

Marni- I knew I was riding too much the day I was driving alone in the car and saw some debris in the road, and pointed at it.....

Catrin, Sorry you're missing out on riding. You have had such a challenging journey but glad you are still here.

Crankin- if I was alone I wouldn't care how fast I went up, really, but there is this peer pressure and everyone is faster than I am, even when I get in more miles.

[Catrin]

...

Catrin...You have had such a challenging journey but glad you are still here...

Thanks so much for your kind words - and I am very thankful to have found something else that my body will allow me to do without any real problems. Over the years this forum has come to mean a lot to me, and while I've been on the internet since...well it actually wasn't the "internet", at least not in a form that modern users would recognize, I've yet to see another forum as open and supportive of women as this one. Riding brought me here, but the great group of TE women kept me here :-)

[marni]

Did the Katy Flatland Century, a supported ride,this am. Now this is a ride you have to sign up for in advance, pay a registration form for etc. It''s a big ride = or - 3500 riders. Simce this is right in my back yard I always ride it. My big problem is that in a ride like this, at least around here, there always seem to be an excess of flats withing the first five miles. I counted 15 today and then another 25 in the remaining 57 miles. Since people presumably plan ahead for this ride and are good riders, and I ride these roads month after month without a flat why are there always so many flats.

and why is there always at least one (three today) large groups/ teams in matching kits who persist in riding in the lane in spite of traffic behind them. Not just for a short distance until it is safe to single file or at least edge over but for several miles holding up the traffic and endangering the rest of us who are riding single file over to the right, trying to ride save? Idiots like this are who make it hard for the rest of us normal bike riders.

Anyway, enough of the vent did a metric century in 3:30 with an average speed of 15.8 which for me is amazing. Don't know what was in my morning coffee but I want more!

[khg]

I'm working on my climbing, so I used today's Rapha Women's 100k event as a motivator to ride out to a couple big climbs in the area (both gain + or - 1000 feet, with some cruelly steep bits...). I ended with 62.3 miles and 5300 feet of climbing. Ouch--but I guess that's the idea! Yesterday I did an abbreviated, 50 mile version of the same ride, so that added to the fun today...

At least it was a great day here for climbing--overcast and in the 60's, and after a system came through overnight, the air was really fresh. My ride went through a couple wooded areas, and the smell in the air was so amazing--green, growing, and alive. It made me glad I was having to breathe so deeply! It was also encouraging that even though I found the ride today to be really difficult, it was way beyond what I could do not too long ago.

Right now I'm trying to motivate myself to get off the couch and walk as far as the fridge--no success yet. And I'm taking a rest day tomorrow!

Marni, congrats on the blazing fast metric century--if you figure out what was in your morning coffee, send me some too! As it was, I set no land speed records on my metric century today...

[Crankin]

I did a small ride when we got home from the Berkshires today. It was kind of cloudy out there, and had rained last night, and the weather looked better at home. Ate lunch, read the paper, and went out for my short loop, around 11 miles, with 2 climbs. As I was cresting Strawberry Hill, a guy passed me and said "good job." Now I know this is meant as a compliment, but I always take it as "good job for a newbie, Fred, old person." I laughed and said, "Yeah, for a 60 year old lady," as I was going about 10 at the top. He actually slowed and said he had been riding around 22 years; when I said I had been riding around 14 years and didn't start until my late 40s, he said, "You must hve been a runner before," to which I replied, definitely not, I was a fitness instructor, but starting to ride was like starting all over. We rode together, chatting for just a bit and I turned off. I pushed myself, had an average of 15.2 when I got back to my neighborhood; well, I count my average before I go up the climb, as the last mile is a 5-15% grade and I use it as a cool down, or it's not pretty.
Going to commute tomorrow and Tuesday, hopefully.

[emily_in_nc]

45 miler today. The first 20 miles were into the stiff wind and mostly uphill...not huge grades, but a grind. I was only averaging 12.7 when I turned around and was pretty miserable. Fortunately, most of the way back I had either a tailwind or crosswind with just a short section of headwind. It's been so windy here lately! Supposed to have a less windy day tomorrow, so am crossing fingers. Ended up with an average speed of 14, which I was delighted with considering the first 20 miles were sooooo slow!