July Rides

[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.

[khg]

Are people doing rides on Sunday for the Women's 100? (It's an idea/event put forward by Rapha, whereby women around the world ride 100 kilometers/62 miles on the 20th--a sort of global solidarity of women's cycling. I guess.)

I'll probably be doing something, though I don't know what yet. I was thinking of biking Hurricane Ridge, but I think the weather will be better for that in a few days. I might join Cascade Bicycle Studio's ride that they're hosting, or just do a ride on my own if that's more my mood.

At any rate, happy riding on Sunday, whether it's 1 or 100! Or happy ride recovering, if that's the agenda!

[azfiddle]

I've ridden nearly 300 miles so far in July but really haven't posted. Started the month in California on our vacation, and had a chance to ride in the Santa Cruz Mountains for one last steep hill before driving home to Arizona, on the Soquel road up to Summit Road and toward Loma Prieta (we didn't finish the climb- not enough time or energy and it was getting hot).

After getting back to Arizona, I've done quite a few 20-ish mile rides for commuting (5 times in two weeks!) or after work on "training" rides (following instructions for intervals etc, from my coach). Other than the that, the only longer rides have been 30 miles taking the long route in to work via Pistol Hill and Colossal Cave Road last Sunday, and this morning's ride).

The ride today was 42 miles with my women's group, and as usual, I am usually at the back of the group once we start any climbing. The intervals don't seem to be helping that much, at least so far. As soon as I start trying to go faster on hills, my quads hurt. It's like I have a built in upper limit Maybe it will get better.

But the route was good, it wasn't too hot, and part of the time someone stayed back and rode with me so I didn't feel totally left out, and we ended up at a coffee shop that sponsors us.

[Crankin]

Today's ride was wonderful. Not as long, but beautiful. We rode out of the inn, into Sheffield, through just outstanding rural neighborhoods, farms, and forest. It was all slightly rolling, with one big climb, which I had done before. It seemed harder than I remember, or maybe I am just getting old? Well, there were some spots where it flattened, I was able to recover, and slowly spin to the top in my granniest of gear. AZ Fiddle, no amount of intervals would increase my speed on these kinds of climbs; it's just too painful, I'd rather just be able to get to the top. And today, I had a moment of wavering, when I reminded myself it's a head game. Without DH to talk me up the climb, I get lazy. Well, I've felt pretty strong at home, so I guess I don't care. After the climb, we descended into Salisbury, CT for more ups and downs, until we got back to a road that connects to the one our in. Is on. With 9.5 miles left, Brant took off and I was alone to tackle some relentless small hills on a busier road.
Good ride in cooler weather. 28 miles with about 1900 ft of climbing.

[Catrin]

Sounds like good rides all around! I found myself waxing nostalgic this morning on my way to my usual Sat morning competition training session. Most of my route is actually an old route that I used to ride all of the time. Indeed it feels odd DRIVING that route I could remember the level of effort THIS hill took or THAT section of rough rode. It was a good kind of nostalgia however, for which I am thankful.

[marni]

You can tell when you have been riding to many days in a row when in the car, you find yourself taking your foot off of the gas pedal 100 feet from to stop light , hoping that the light will change before you come to a full stop or when you find yourself calling out" on your left" to the woman ahead of you in the grocery aisle.

sigh....

[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...