November Rides

[MarieV]

We've had two unusually sunny November Saturdays in Seattle. Last Saturday I organized lunch and a bike ride to go wine tasting with friends. I rode 25 miles to Redmond to have lunch at La Isla--love their plantains! The weather was overcast, but a lot of people were out on the Burke-Gilman and the Sammamish River Trail. Then five of us rode from La Isla to Woodinville and did tastings at Zerba Cellars and Lachini Vineyards. We had so much fun but totally lost track of time. It was 5:30pm when we finished, and I still had to ride the 18+ miles home. Luckily, I had front and rear lights since the last 45 minutes were in the dark.

Today was so beautiful and unusually warm! DH and I did the pre-ride for my new 100K (65.6-mile) Seattle Int'l Randonneurs Seattle Lakes and Trails ride. We started in Greenlake, rode up the Interurban Trail, down NE Perkins Way (nice long descent), rode along the Burke-Gilman to the Sammamish River Trail, down the west side of Lake Sammamish, up Newport and around Newcastle (a few more long descents), then counterclockwise along the bottom half of Lake Washington. We ended up at Husky Stadium about half an hour before the start of the UW-UCLA game. It was CRAZY but AMAZING!!! The photo below was before we crossed the street and got engulfed by the sea of purple. I wanted to take a photo, but there were so many people. I was afraid if I stopped, my bike and I would get carried along to the stadium. We had to walk our bikes across Montlake Bridge to the Hec-Ed bridge, almost half a mile. The Burke-Gilman Trail was so full of people, we were afraid we wouldn't make the 7-hour cutoff for the ride if we kept walking with the crowds. We eventually had to just ride on Montlake Blvd., which is usually scary since there's no bike lane and cars are either crawling bumper-to-bumper or speeding by at 35-40 mph. For the next half mile there was a constant wave of purple converging on the stadium from every direction--it was INSANE!!! We finally made it back to the Greenlake Starbucks with 35 minutes to spare, then we sat outside and had hot cider and coffee. What a perfect day!

[rebeccaC]

that sounds like a wonderful ride MarieV....purple and all

about to ride to the farmers market..... late season Tenerelli peaches ftw....and quinces and pears!!!

[Crankin]

I made my yearly goal today, by riding into just about every little pocket of Concord and up around the loop to Hanscom AFB. I knew we would be very close, and when I added up the totals, it was exactly 2,500, without even an extra .1 mile.
It was warmer today, but cloudier. I was dressed about right and all I did was take off my head cover at about mile 7, after climbing a small hill. Legs felt less dead today, although my speed was not much different, there were parts of the ride that I felt really good on. This is becoming rarer and rarer, it seems. I really want another 3K year next year, but I will have to get to more group rides, as I can't really motivate myself to do longer rides alone, other than the ones I do on the weekends. And I should work on my speed a bit. It was OK through the summer, and in retrospect, this is how I feel every year. Any riding I do until it snows will be "whatever" type rides.

[marni]

today could have been a Houston Chamber of Commerce day for a ride. Temps started in the low 60's as we headed out at 9:00 AM and had reached mid 70's by the time we finished. Bit of a breeze (less than 8 miles an hour), full sun and non existent humidity. Glorious.

Second perk was that this is the second week in a row that I have managed to ride 130 miles in the week.

Today's stats 50.7 miles in 3:30 at 14 mph average.

[Dog]

Pulled out some winter gear and got out on my Surly LHT yesterday for about a 20 miler on Whidbey Island - was able to drop off and pick up some books at the library. Perfect day - in mid 40's with beautiful views of the Olympics and Mt. Baker. I haven't ridden as much this year due to more time spent hiking & scrambling in the mountains. I may get out again this week with more sun in the forecast.

[ny biker]

I rode 40 miles today with a small group of friends. The weather was nice, a bit cloudy but temps in the mid 50s. My legs are pretty sore -- there were more hills than I expected. But we had a nice day.

[azfiddle]

Went 68 miles yesterday- not the 85 planned- it was probably my last long ride before El Tour de Tucson (century) in 2 weeks.
Today, just 20, downhill and then back from Oracle Arizona to San Manuel. Very pretty ride and almost no cars on the road. I usually like going uphill first and downhill coming back, but it was just where my friend and I were starting from.

[cosc]

I went to Ohio to babysit my 4 year old grandson the end of October. I rented a bike and rode 30 miles on a great bike trail with perfect weather.
The covered bridge is new this year. Can you see the trail under the leaves?



First week of November, I rode a 50 mile out-back overnighter to Snake Creek state park by the Missouri River. Daytime temps was a 60's so nice for riding. Night temps plunge quickly with the setting of the sun.
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Last week I enjoyed a 3 day 170 mile ride. Mornings were in the low 30's but warmed to 50's. Wind was mostly favorable except 30 to 40 mile crosswinds one afternoon. Roads were very decent considering this is SD and I only had 10 miles without a shoulder. I spent 2 nights in a hotel and my Hubby came and picked me up on the last day in Yankton, SD. I rode my trusty salsa vaya with 2 front panniers and my handlebar bag.

Yankton is on the Missouri River which is the border between SD and Nebraska. The old Meridian bridge in the picture is a double decker built in 1919 and had many years of use, until the new Discovery bridge was opened in 2009. The great old bridge is now a bike/pedestrian trail. The end of my trip was definitely the highlight of the trip.



I hope I have bike riding out of my system because we now have average temps of 20 and a few inches of snow on the ground.