Roctober Rides

[azfiddle]

I have been super lazy about posting- have ridden over 300 miles this month but nothing longer than about 45 miles. I'm supposed to ride a century Sunday.... not sure if I will stick with the century distance or do the 71. I did a couple of 60+ mile rides in September and then had a cranky IT band and hip for a few weeks. Trying to get ready for El Tour de Tucson in November.

[emily_in_nc]

I too have been riding but not posting. We've been traveling from the NW to the SE and stopping to ride in many places along the way. I'm behind on the blog (we're now in Mississippi and blog is still back in the west), but here are some of the rides I have had time to blog:

Crater Lake NP (only my DH rode this one, I drove it): http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...y-bike-and-car

Northern California Redwoods: http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...g-the-redwoods

Redding, California: http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...ing-california

Reno, Nevada: http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...-reno-and-elko

Salt Lake City (various bike trails and "Cycle the City" downtown: http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...lake-city-utah

~~ Emily

[ny biker]

I've been to Elko. My sister lives there. Lamoille Canyon is nearby, and it's a nice place for a hike.

Did you take I-80 to SLC? It's quite a drive. There's a 50-mile stretch that is completely straight, and the salt flats are like another planet. And at the state line, the difference between Wendover, NV and Wendover, UT is striking.

[Crankin]

Really nice, Emily. I find it interesting that all of these places have bike trails that you can ride for miles. We have nothing like that around here.
This really reminds me that I have seen very little of this country.

[Helene2013]

So many memories with that blog. We traveled those areas a few years ago and loved it. Salt Lake city flats are something to see in a lifetime too. Can't wait to retire in a few years to travel and cycle as much as we will like in X area.

True we do not have such paths here either but we have a few. And road conditions are rarely wow.

[Veronica]

Emily you gotta start posting your itinerary before you get to places. I would have loved to get together when you were in CA.

Veronica

[Crankin]

Took my first ride since getting back from my trip. First time I've felt that going on a tour didn't make me stronger. I don't feel weaker, just the same... it's cool, about 50 when we started, with a stiff breeze, with gusts up to about 20 mph once in awhile. It was partly cloudy when we started, then it got sunny, then back to some clouds. At one point DH's Garmin said it was 47, which is probably true on some of the shady roads we were on. We just took it slowly, until the end, where we ticked up the speed once we got within about 7 miles of home.
The fall foliage is just about at peak and is just beautiful this year. I savored every minute, as fall is my favorite season. Riding from now until the snow flies will be just for fun. I am going to do my birthday ride next weekend, since DH will be away the Sunday before my birthday. This year, though, I will plan the route, with no dirt roads for my skinny tires.
22 miles.

[emily_in_nc]

Emily you gotta start posting your itinerary before you get to places. I would have loved to get together when you were in CA.

Veronica

We didn't make it any closer to the Bay Area than Redding, though. I know there are several TEers in the Bay Area but didn't think there were any in Redding. Typically we have such a short time in places we visit that unless we have old friends there we can make plans with ahead of time, it's just too much to try to meet new people, especially being the introverts we are. We can only handle so much social time, and if we only have one full day in a place, we prefer not to throw socializing into the mix. We do enjoy visiting with friends when the opportunity arises (as it did in Portland, Salt Lake City, and Durango on this trip), though!

[marni]

Houston has been having a spell of perfect fall weather. Dry air, sun,and temps in the mid 60's raising to the high 80's by mid-afternoon a nd then cooling down.

I have been doing back to back rides but Saturday I did the Sealy (town name) Kiwanis Fall Classic also known as the "pie ride" since they serve pie at all the rest stops along with barbeque and St. Arnolds beer at the end. The terrain is flat to gently rolling and the traffic is pretty much non existent as it is farming country. A plenitude of press seal paving is about the only slight downer.

My riding buddy and I along with the SAG guy all started together a bit ahead of the start time. The Sag guy hasn't ridden for about 8 months as his current work schedule is 5:30 am to 7:00 pm and he spends the weekend trying to get caught up on energy and sleep. We rode slow and easy to the first rest stop, had a small slice of pie. I had the chocolate chip pecan pie which was sooo.. good. They had left the pecans a bit salty and used a semi sweet chocolate which cut the sweetness. SAG guy had the chocolate coconut cream which was also quite tasty since I had another slice at the turnaround. The apple pie that I had after lunch was also delicious.

At the first stop Sag Guy headed back and my riding buddy and I went on to ride another 46 miles for a total of 68 in 4:30 which is not too shabby for a couple of old ladies. The weather was picture perfect, mid 70's during the ride, full sun and little to now wind which is probably why our speed was relatively good.

The pie came from the Texas Star Cafe in New Ulm, Texas. I highly recommend it if you ever in the Houston vicinity around the last weekend in November. The added bonus was that it is a not very advertised local secret sort of ride and the total number of riders for Saturday was 350 riders.

Here's hoping thegood weather continues as I am actually clocking some great mileage on the bike.

[Crankin]

I rode 32 miles yesterday, nothing special, but a ride that reminds me just how wonderful it is to ride right in my own area. We started out really, really slow, and sped up a little near the end, so I actually finished with an average not so much below what I do when trying to go fast. I feel like I've been riding for so long that now I'm starting to sound like my grandfather, always saying, "Remember when...?" as I ride by different places where stuff has happened.
Today the weather was a little drizzly and blowing at 20 mph right when we wanted to go out and ride, so I went on a 4 mile hike instead. Of course, the rain stopped and the sun peeked out, but I'm good with that. The I went to the lBS and started the process for my new bike build.

[emily_in_nc]

Really nice, Emily. I find it interesting that all of these places have bike trails that you can ride for miles. We have nothing like that around here.
This really reminds me that I have seen very little of this country.

I feel you! The more we see of the US, the more we realize that we still haven't seen. Still, it's been amazing seeing SO MUCH more of it since returning from Belize in March 2013. We have now visited all the states in the US except Alaska. Strangely, our 49th state was Arkansas, of all things. We'd been above it and below it, but never through it! We spent a couple of nights in Little Rock and rode the very nice river trail there, saw the Clinton Library (from the outside, ran out of time for a tour), etc. Even though we've crossed a lot of places off our bucket list, we've probably added at least as many as we travel around and learn about more places -- or find places we want to re-visit.

[emily_in_nc]

Did you take I-80 to SLC? It's quite a drive. There's a 50-mile stretch that is completely straight, and the salt flats are like another planet. And at the state line, the difference between Wendover, NV and Wendover, UT is striking.

Indeed we did take I-80 and saw the salt flats for the first time. Fascinating drive! Blogged it:

http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/t...lake-city-utah