July riding

[Crankin]

Cooler here today, and less humidity. Did my first group ride with the "other" club I ride with, not the one I lead for. This is an annual ride from a guy's house, in the next town, and then a lunch in his backyard. The last 2 years I have done this, it's been blazingly hot, and last year, I almost lost it, about 7 miles from the end. DH came with me today, too. Non-eventful, except for the major azzhole guy who kept trying to get ahead of me. I dropped him on every climb, and he passed me on the downhill. I had to make sure I was away from him on the flats. And, he ah, did not smell nice, either . I had it when after a climb on a busy road, he passed me on the downhill, drinking from his bottle, while a truck was passing us. I got angry, and picked up the pace for the rest of the ride. Near the end, he was behind me (I could tell he was tired), passed me and said, "It's terrible trying to draft you, you are so low down." It took all the reserve I had not to say, "Yes, because I am not a slovenly fat pig like you." Sure, I am short and small, but don't be mad at me for that.
Was glad we drove there, changed our clothes in the car, and had a good lunch. Now, getting ready to go to the airport and pick up my son, who is visiting from LA.
31 miles. My legs hurt, and we have a ride to lead tomorrow night, after work.

[azfiddle]

Back to work so my riding is a bit curtailed.... I commuted once last week and once this week (so far)- I plan to ride Friday again. Still my mileage total for July is up to 445 - which is a bit over my goal of 100 miles a week, and we still have a few more riding days available.

[Crankin]

How come, when we lead rides, there's always a story to tell? Tonight, we only had 2 guys show up. I was not really in the mood to ride, but we are committed, so...
One of the guys showed up on a 30 year old bike and it clearly was not in good condition. He was somewhat strange, couldn't really put my finger on it. He came back from using the rest room and he had cut himself, on his pedal, riding from the port-potty to where we were starting! It looked terrible. I had him rinse it with water and then blot it with kleenex, and then gave him a huge bandage I had in my supplies. It really needed 2, but it was good enough. Off we went. He was wobbling and every time he shifted with the down tube shifters, he was looking down. He wasn't weak, but more inconsistent. After about 5 miles, he says to me, "My bike is broken." Sometimes, people say that when they are tired, but his bike was really messed up. I rode ahead to get DH, who brough him over to where i had stopped with the other rider. So this guy starts screaming at DH that he was fixing the bike incorrectly (he wasn't), and DH had to tell him to be quiet and listen, that he had been a bike a mechanic for a racer (our son). He got the bike going, and we finished, but I was exhausted. I really don't like riding at 6:00 PM, but the rides are short and now I have enough leads to get a free jersey.

[Helene2013]

Wow Crankin...truly a good story. haha Liked it. I would not have traded places though. hihi

We're on vacation and brought our Crux bikes as the roads around here are not in great conditions with very damaged asphalts.

Well well well....they redid the paving for probably 30 miles. We also found a bikeway to use that is fully paved. If we've had known this, we'd have brought our road bikes. But riding on the Crux will make us stronger and when we get back on our road bikes, we'll fly. haha

I have not ridden for about 3 weeks. Too many good reasons: too hot and humid, stuff needed to be done at home before vacation (like staining deck, etc) but most of all, Montreal has been having too much rainy days lately and of course when it is nice, we work. Murphy's law.

So last night it is beautiful here near Boston. No wind, just cooler than the high humidex we had on Monday. We're walking the dogs and I say to hubby...either we go watch the band singing at campground or.... we go for a ride. Guess what he chose (cause he cycling in any condition but rain - not me. I'm too sissy).

So we got our bikes ready and left. OMG. It was soooo hard. Hills after hills. I'm normally not that bad but it shows I've slacked in my training and it totally showed last night. I did not wear my heart rate monitor but I'm sure for part of it heart rate was over 175-180 per minute. I was sooooo hot that we returned after 13km. When I got to campground, I felt like vomiting. I knew I had pushed too much but loved it anyway. Must be insane. haha So hubby told me to just stay in the motorhome so I could cool down some. It only took a few minutes and I regained my body. Went for a quick pool dipping and a soak in hotbut then cool showers. Slept well last night as temperatures were around 12c. That is nice.

We are getting ready for trying a bikeway in Rhode Island. Hoping it is not too hot as chances are I'm turning around. haha

I just can't wait for cooler weather (read: Fall and winter) to come around. I'm so not much a summer person. I prefer to stay in the air conditioning than lying beside a pool. Unbelievable how much I can ride when temperaturs are under 18c and as soon as it hits 22c....I'm out of it.

[Crankin]

Helene, we could have visited! The rail trail in RI is nice, but will be crowded on the weekend. Lots of nice ocean there.

[Helene2013]

Crankin,
We did the rail trail last summer. It was nice.

But today we did the blackstone river valley bikeway which I found much nicer. It was busy and I would not go on weekends as it was fairly busy and just a Friday. A nice 35km round trip. It was hot but lots of shady areas due to trees. So it was good. My Bora-bora (Crux) is riding so well. Sure it is harder to climb hills due to weight/style but it has good kick-ins when you push it. We got back on time to the car before I felt a few drops of rain. Got back to camper, had time to walk my wackos (read : very excited dogs) and took dip in pool/spa before they "kicked" us out due to storm coming in. So now we're relaxing.

But today's ride was much more enjoyable than the one last night. I need time for a good warmup and my knees do not like climbing before I'm good. Today was perfect. Although in the sun it was hot. Too hot.

Probably will just ride near campground tomorrow...if not too hot and if I feel like it.

[marni]

another 28 mile hot and humid finishing at 11:00 in the feels like triple digits gives me 100 miles for the week. Not outstanding but better than last week.

[Crankin]

It's going to be 96 here by Thursday... not sure if I want to do a hilly group ride on Wednesday in those conditions. We shall see.

[Helene2013]

Same for where we are. As the days are passing...it will get hotter and stickier. Yark. So I think I will enjoy the next 2 days cycling a bit (I think Sunday calls for isolated storms). I just can't ride when it is just too hot/humid. I don't know how people can do this. You're tougher than me. So I guess it will be pool/jaccuzi at campground and reading books in the shade, if not in the air conditionned motorhome. Why rough it up when you can take it easy. hihi