July Rides

[Crankin]

Today I went on a ride with a former colleague and her DH. She is the one person from my teaching career that I am still friends with. I bagged a very hilly group ride. They are about 10 years younger than me, and fit, they hike a lot. They both have hybrids; he had a crash a couple of years ago, and is just getting back into riding. I knew they would be slow, but they were enthused. I rode to meet them at the Acton library, about 4.7 miles, and we did a really pretty and mostly flat ride through Acton, Boxborough, and Stow. I had to do a lot of "teaching," for my friend, and she was definitely nervous when we got around more cars near the end. But, she managed OK, despite doing a couple of things that were not OK, like following me through a left turn, with oncoming cars. Fortunately the cars stopped and let her and her DH go, but really, I was the only one who had time to do it. We stopped for lunch at Idylwidle Farm and sat outside, where I ate a delicious caprese/eggplant salad. I ended up with 30 miles, they did about 20.
They were slow, but the difference was, they did pretty well on hills compared to other slower people I ride with. I did a lot of explaining and teaching about components, etc to her DH, so much, he paid for my lunch, he said he learned so much. It was a really nice day.

[emily_in_nc]

Took a much-needed day off today. Yesterday's ride was 45 HOT miles, but this time I brought plenty of water. We stopped the little Mennonite bakery we like and bought some goodies to eat at our "10 miles from home" stop. Good ride!

Crankin, glad he bought you lunch -- with all the education you were giving these folks, it was only appropriate!

[Catrin]

Crankin, sounds like a great day!

Emily - would that lovely hot ride have been on Toto or on Gloria? Just curious how the Jamis is standing up.

[Crankin]

I rode with Hirakukibou today, for the first time in a couple of months. She came to my house and we did a slightly different version of my club's rally ride. The weather is really nice, but you can feel the humidity building. I don't know is in the air today, but there was just a surplus of awful/distracted drivers at the beginning of our ride, as we were going through Concord center. Since it was the exact same time and route that I take while commuting, I was very surprised. Two people wouldn't let us move left to get in the lane (one because he was in the wrong lane!) and just a bunch of other small things. On the way home, 2 guys were walking on the sidewalk and about to step out in front of us, with heads down, not even looking. What the? I yelled out and scared the cr@p out of them, and I hope I gave them a headache. What if I had been a car? I mean I was going about 18, not much slower than a car.
But, all in all, a great ride. We ride really well together. Came back here, Hira got ready for work, and then we ate lunch. A nice day.

[emily_in_nc]

Just wrote a longish comment/response here, and the internet glitched, and it went bye bye. The DSL in the airbnb unit we're staying in is a DOG, slow and prone to glitches; the only negative of this lovely place, and the owner is disinclined to do anything about it. So frustrating.

Anywho, Catrin, we can only carry four bikes with us on our travels, so this time the MTBs stayed behind in NC. We brought the Bike Fridays instead since we knew we'd want the panniers for going to markets and groceries, and we have certainly made use of them for utility rides. The Treks are what we ride for our longer rides.

The Jamis is doing great, though! I rode it a lot in KC on the urban trails and crappy roads and on gravel roads in Arizona this early spring. There's definitely more MTBing in our future, but this summer we're concentrating on mileage, and we can get more for less time (in the HEAT) on our roadies.

Today's ride was 53 miles, giving me over 1000 for this month -- maybe my best month ever? It was a pretty ride up to Harris Park, ate berries on the side of the road, met some curious horses and a friendly dog, and enjoyed the screaming descent out of the park. Nice ride!

[Blueberry]

Emily - your mileage is such an inspiration!

I'm just focusing on having fun on the bike. I needed to scout a few things for the upcoming school year (bike racks since *$&% University is under construction and has moved them) - and so I just rode around and explored. In light rain. So much fun!!

[khg]

So great to read about everyone's riding!

I finished off July by riding on Mt Rainier again, then volunteering at RAMROD (Ride Around Mt Rainier in One Day), one of the big events here. I wrote a way-too-long post about it on my blog (link in sig)--but at least there are photos like this too:




My last ride of July was 1.5 miles from my motel room to the volunteer gathering at the start of RAMROD--at 3:15 am, I was trying to figure out what side of the huge high school everybody was on. When I finally found them, I blithely cycled up to the gathering, completely not noticing the curb in my way, and... Splat, hiss, hiss, I pinch-flatted both of my tires right in front of everybody! Oh well... I never have been one of the cool kids, and just need to remind myself of that once in a while. I had to laugh at myself though--apparently I can ride 70+ miles up and down mountains with nary a problem, but can't bike into a parking lot unsupervised...

After my shift I walked my bike back to my room and changed tubes in peace there (and with access to a sink--will I ever learn to remove and re-install the rear wheel without getting grease all over myself?) I had been meaning to replace my tubes anyway, as the rear was patched and the front's valve stem was shorter than I like--so maybe my unconscious was just making sure I stopped procrastinating, at the expense of my pride!

But it was still a great month of riding, and whatever I do, August has got to start out better, right?!?