October Rides

[emily_in_nc]

what was paisley's reaction the first time traveling in that carrier? is there light that gets into it? nice photo of an urban landscape, your dh and a hidden paisley!!!!

paisley is loved so all's right in dog world

Thanks Rebecca! This is her airline travel kennel, so she is pretty used to it since we've flown with her quite a few times now. It has mesh on each end and on top that can be covered up all or partially by velcro'd flaps, so she has plenty of ventilation. She made it home just fine and looks great. She is zonked out now, though, after all the doggie play time!

[ny biker]

Catching up... back on the 18th I did the metric that was sponsored by the bike advocacy group, police department and parks and rec department over in Anne Arundel County, MD. It was ridiculously cold for mid-October. I started in Amfib tights, Woolie Boolie socks and Gore windstopper fleece-lined booties -- my heaviest winter gear. On top I wore a long sleeved wool base layer, short sleeved wool jersey and wool arm warmers under a Gore windstopper jacket with a wind vest on top of that. After a few hours it seemed like the sun had gotten warm enough to take off a few layers, so naturally the dark clouds rolled in followed by cold rain and I think some actual sleet mixed in. Luckily I ran into a friend at the start, and he had just run into one of his riding buddies, so the three of us stayed together. We all agreed that we didn't like the route all that much. My legs were exhausted and aching for much of the ride, which didn't make sense since it was not any harder than the ride I had done a week earlier. I think either I was worn out from several miles of bumpy milled-down pavement along the route, or it's possible that my front brake was rubbing slightly. Anyway it was the first time in a while that I actually completed an event that I had planned earlier this summer, which is good. But not great.

So a few days later I went out for my weekly post-work hill ride, on a relatively warm evening. Tried out my new Gore Oxygen windstopper knickers. Had a pleasant enough ride, thought about adding a few miles to take advantage of the good weather but decided against it since I was leaving for a long weekend in Austin the next day and I still had to do laundry and try to figure out what to pack. I think I was about 14-15 miles into the ride when I shifted the rear derailleur and um wait what just happened did a cable break or something? It was too dark to see much, even with my headlight, but it felt like the cables were okay. So I tried to shift again and the lever went way too far to the left and stayed there. So there I was, in the small chain ring and smallest cog, several miles from the ride start. Fortunately the most difficult hills were behind me and I was able to take a shortcut back, about 3 or 4 miles in all. But as someone who likes to spin in easy gears, they were some hard miles. I felt it in my lower back and quads the next day.

While I was crosschaining through the last few miles, I weighed my options. I could proceed with packing, laundry, etc., leave for the airport the next day and forget about my bike for a few days, and then take it to the LBS on Tuesday after I returned from Austin. Or I could somehow squeeze a trip to the LBS in before going to the airport the next day. Of course I wanted to go with option B, especially since I had a feeling they would have to order a part in order to fix it. I decided to leave the bike in the car overnight and try to get out of the house early enough to go to the bike shop.

Packing for my trip was not easy because the weather forecast called for the opposite of the warm sunshine that I had hoped for. I spent a lot of time trying to fit my rain boots in my too-small suitcase, eventually giving up and packing some old leather sneakers instead. As it turned out I should have left some of the clothes home and gone with the boots, but that's a tale for another thread. The good news is that somehow I managed to get packed and out of the house in time to go to the LBS and still make it to the airport with time to spare. The problem was a broken shifter, they had a replacment part in their warehouse and the repair was done the next day.

While I was in Austin I caught a cold -- sick again!!! third time since April!!! -- so I have been laying low since I got back home. I did go out and pick up the bike yesterday. It needs to be cleaned and I want to test the new shifter. It rained here tonight so if I wasn't sick, I wouldn't have gone for my weekly hill ride anyway.

Next up -- on Saturday I'm heading up to Frederick County, MD for a ride that I've been wanting to do since early February.

[emily_in_nc]

Ugh, ny, sounds like you've had some challenging times! I broke the rear shifter cable on a very long (over 80-mile) ride last year and had to limp back in one gear, so I do feel your pain! It was mostly flat, thank the gods, except at the very end, where there was one long and steep climb that I had to walk.

I hope you feel better in time for your ride Saturday. Colds suck, and though I don't get them often, mine tend to linger and turn into a horrible cough at the end, so I pretty much know I'm going to be "out" for any athletic endeavors for about a month when I get one.

[Crankin]

Ugh, I broke my rear shifter cable going up my hill, on a commute home, several years ago. Thankfully, I was in the small ring up front. I did have to walk up the driveway. Also, broke a shifter cable, which tangled itself up in the derailleur, on a ride on Patriot's Day 2014. My friend jerry-rigged it and we got to a bike shop, where they said they couldn't fix it, but put it in a decent gear, for me to get home.
I did a little 12 mile ride this afternoon, as it's nice out. Still windy, though. Man, I was slow. I don't care, I was out there. Going to do 62 for 62 tomorrow .

[emily_in_nc]

Going to do 62 for 62 tomorrow .

A metric birthday? If so, Happy Birthday! Hope the weather cooperates and that you have a wonderful day. :-)

[Crankin]

My metric birthday is Wednesday... there's a chance of showers tomorrow. I gave DH the choice of doing it all today, or splitting the miles and being like "normal" people tomorrow.
Right now it's 28 degrees. Supposed to be 42 at 10, though. I know DH wants to wimp out, but I will strong arm him. I can't ride that long by myself; 40 miles is my solo limit, or I get bored and cranky.

[Catrin]

My metric birthday is Wednesday... there's a chance of showers tomorrow. I gave DH the choice of doing it all today, or splitting the miles and being like "normal" people tomorrow.
Right now it's 28 degrees. Supposed to be 42 at 10, though. I know DH wants to wimp out, but I will strong arm him. I can't ride that long by myself; 40 miles is my solo limit, or I get bored and cranky.

Hoping you're having fun right now on your birthday ride

[emily_in_nc]

My metric birthday is Wednesday... there's a chance of showers tomorrow. I gave DH the choice of doing it all today, or splitting the miles and being like "normal" people tomorrow.
Right now it's 28 degrees. Supposed to be 42 at 10, though. I know DH wants to wimp out, but I will strong arm him. I can't ride that long by myself; 40 miles is my solo limit, or I get bored and cranky.

Ditto...40 is the most I've ever ridden solo. 42 degrees sounds pretty darn chilly!

I did my little ride (very short, like 2.2 miles each way) to the dog rescue this morning, as usual (I go every Saturday, unless it's raining). It's a really pleasant way to start the day, and since I get to walk dogs once there, to get some activity without it being too much in the heat/humidity. Temp is still in the mid- to upper-80s with very high humidity (dewpoint of 79F). Supposed to be about the same tomorrow to ring in November. Hope it will start cooling off a bit soon.

[ny biker]

Ugh, ny, sounds like you've had some challenging times! I broke the rear shifter cable on a very long (over 80-mile) ride last year and had to limp back in one gear, so I do feel your pain! It was mostly flat, thank the gods, except at the very end, where there was one long and steep climb that I had to walk.

I hope you feel better in time for your ride Saturday. Colds suck, and though I don't get them often, mine tend to linger and turn into a horrible cough at the end, so I pretty much know I'm going to be "out" for any athletic endeavors for about a month when I get one.

Thanks Emily. Fortunately the thing with bike rides is that if you have a few bad ones, you just keep going out there and riding until they get good again. I worked from home all week so I could rest and by Friday the cold was almost completely gone -- with no bizarre complications or secondary infections like the last two times I was sick, so yay for that. Saturday we rode 49 miles and had a really nice time. My friend and I co-led it for our club. The route was a variation on one that we did in February on a day that was supposed to be spring-like but ended up cloudy and cold. I reversed it for a bit of variety and added a slight detour to pass a historic site in the area. We had a few minor incidents -- made a wrong turn due to a weird mistake from ridewithgps, had an unexpected gravel section that lasted more than a mile, then some confusion due to signs saying the road was closed for road work when it was really open. But the weather was nice, sunny and warm enough for late October, and we enjoyed the scenery along with good conversation.

The new shifter feels loose compared to the old one, but I spoke to the mechanic at the LBS today and he said that's the way SRAM is making them these days. It works well enough, just moves more when I shift than before. While I was there I picked up some new windshell hi-viz windshell gloves along with some knee warmers and compression socks that were on the clearance table. And the gloves were 20% off so all in all it was a good shopping trip.