July riding

[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

[Crankin]

If I didn't ride when it was hot/humid, half the summer would be gone. I did have to build up to being able to do this, and I still don't love it. Most likely, on Wed.-Friday of this coming week, I will ride very early in the AM (5-6). I'd rather get a 15 or 20 mile ride in at this time, than suffer just to get more miles. I used to actually go a spin class on those kinds of days, many years ago, when I started riding, but I would not do that now. I either go out early, take a rest day, or go running in the woods. I have a lot of really shady, short rides I can do when it is hot out. The thing is, that this kind of weather never lasts more than 3 days here, so it's not like I am in Florida or Texas.
I've ridden in the Blackstone Valley area, but not on the Bikeway. We did a tour across MA a few years ago, and that area was a big part of it.

[Crankin]

So, after we discovered the memory card had fallen out of my GPS sometime last week, got a new one, and went out for a short ride to test if everything worked correctly, because I have not been able to get the right screen when I'm following a downloaded route. All kinds of weird stuff has been happening, on and off, even before the memory card got lost. DH made a route of one of our simplest 15 mile routes to test it. After 3 stops to work stuff out, I think it's OK. It's not so hot out, but very humid, and big dark clouds threatening. I felt really strong and good, when I really didn't want to do any speed records today. I didn't, but the speed was much higher than I thought it would be. I really babied my knees, using the easiest gears for the terrain.
It started sprinkling right when we turned back onto our street, which actually felt good. I proceeded up the steep side of our street, so I could get momentum up the driveway.
I may commute tomorrow, but there's a 50% chance of predicted thunderstorms when I will be leaving work.

[Helene2013]

I only did a 15km ride today. We took a different route from campground and it was better on the knees. Still hilly but less than the other way.

We felt some rain drops and we turned around. It was so hot and sticky. I did not realize until I got out of the motorhome all dressed up. Oh well. I pushed up some of those hills at over 30km/h which is very good for me. It was easy to get speed since some I was able to get the speed up (going down) before going up. We also had good winds facing us on the return and thought I'd choke more than this...nope. I would not have done a 60km at this rythmn but it was good enough for me.

But after 15km I was very happy to get back to campground, change into swimsuit and dip in the pool and hot tub. Hubby just dropped me off at the gate and he went to do a Froome out of him and did his run twice. He came back soaked up. Clothes went into our washing machine while we went swimming.

Those bikes are really nice to ride. Easy and still fast. I'm impressed.

Storms here tonight and tomorrow as well. They said this of today and it's almost 6pm and we got nothing.

[azfiddle]

Two work commutes, (Tuesday & Thursday), a short ride up to Saguaro NP on Saturday and another climb up Mount Lemmon this morning. I dragged myself up to mile 14 on the mountain- (36 miles total with the ride up to the base). About 4000 feet of climbing. I felt like I was riding through molasses around mile 8.... felt better but not much faster on the sections after that.

I was not with my husband, who had gone up further, when he almost had a disaster descending. His bike apparently started shimmying and he lost control, though he stayed upright, and careened into the lane which fortunately had no oncoming cars at the time. That's it- he's getting a new and stable bike before he goes back up the mountain. He test rode a couple of Specialized this afternoon.

[Crankin]

DH took DS to the airport at 5 AM, for his flight back to LA, so since I was getting up to say goodbye, I decided to ride. Today and tomorrow are going be 95+ degrees, with humidity, and I knew I would not be going on the hilly 35 mile group ride! It was a perfect temperature, 75, though it felt soaking from the start. I did a bit over 15 miles. I am noticing that I feel the need for caffeine when I ride this early, although I never have coffee before any exercise in the morning, no matter how early, as it upsets my stomach. The feeling eventually goes away, but it's strange how this developed all of a sudden.
Noticing how much darker it is at 5 AM . I had to use my "big" light, as it was still fully dark when I left. I wish the solstice was at the end of July, instead of June!

[marni]

by dint of an early start I got in 38 miles today before the heat hit the triple digits. To further enliven the day, I encountered 5 dogs, four of who were loose with their owners and gave me no problem. The fifth was on a leash but his owner let him run to the end of his leash and across the line in the middle of the road to lunge at me. Then a bit further on, just as I was contemplating a rest pause, I hit a herd of cattle being moved up the road and spent a brief period watching the lead cutting horse lunge back and forth across the road and into the ditches to chase down resistant laggards. It was a lovely interlude as I grew up in cattle country and used to ride a cutting horse. All in all a lovely 40 miles in spite of the heat humidity and headwinds.

[azfiddle]

So far this week- just one commute to work. Fine in the morning but it was pretty hot riding home. Only mid-90's but humid with a storm on the horizon.

The DH brought me to work and I planned to ride home, but the bag with helmet, shoes etc was on the kitchen floor. Guess he'll be picking me up later today.

[Crankin]

Led another ride today, with my friend, Jack. We are trying to get a Friday morning series going again. Only 2 people came today and one had to leave after half a mile, as her disc brakes were rubbing and Jack had no experience fixing them. We were still pretty close to the bike shop, near our start, so she went back. It is less humid today, but still hotter than I like for riding. We did the same ride as last time I led this, and it's mostly shady, but I felt horrible near the end. I really wanted to ride to the ride, but I knew I might feel crappy at the end, and didn't want to torture myself with 8.5 hot and unshaded miles riding home, so I drove there. Good choice. The one woman peeled off near the end, so Jack and I went to lunch and split a sandwich, and then I rode the last half mile to my car and he went to play pool at the Bedford Council on Aging.
30.1 miles, some good climbs. Next time, I do this, though I am planning the route.