november rides....outside and inside

[ny biker]

Not lame at all!!! It's progress!! Woo hoo!!

[Crankin]

I did a 37 mile very hilly ride. It was 61 and windy/cloudy when we left our friends' and house. I should have had my light long fingered gloves and toe covers. I rode my Guru today and it just felt heavy on the back end. We got to Bolton Farms to eat lunch and it was 5 degrees colder and we realized not fun to eat outside. I got chilled, but thankfully, we had a climb a after that. DH was really suffering today, in a way I rarely see.
Got back to our friends' and had tea and good conversation. I am exhausted. Glad I did it, but hoping I feel revived tomorrow.

[Crankin]

I decided I would ride to yoga this morning. It's at 9:30, so I figured I'd leave at 8:30, give myself plenty of time to get there, do a bit of clothing re-arranging, and relax. Well, I had a moment of wavering if I was going to ride, but decided I would. Didn't realize it was later than I thought. The real feel temperature was 37, despite it being 42 out, so I put my heavy tights on, over my commuter capris, that look like any other yoga pants. Wore my yoga top, a winter jersey, and my winter riding jacket. Didn't leave until 8:45, felt pressured, as the class fills up and people run in to get a spot. Somehow, the ride that felt so easy and fast a few weeks ago, felt tiring. The club is about a mile past my new condo, and the road to it is a hill (of course). Got there at 9:20, ran in with my bike, which I stored in a closet, and got to class with time to spare. However, it was crowded. And, I was sweaty. But class was good. On the way home, I did not wear the tights, and stopped at the condo, where DH was doing work, and left my jacket in the car. It was already 52 or so. Looked goofy with my winter shoes, Woolie-Bullys, etc with my capris, but it was not a fashion show. And, did I mention my heated gloves. I needed the highest setting for the ride there, but didn't need even the lowest for the way back.
I actually looked at my Garmin for my mileage totals. I've been keeping track in writing in my journal, but, apparently, I made my least acceptable riding goal of 2,500 miles, probably last week. Pretty close to 2,600 today. Now I don't feel so badly. I won't make 3K, but maybe 2,700.

[emily_in_nc]

Sounds like you may just have been tired from the tough ride the day before, Crankin. That sounded like a doozy!

We just did our regular Sunday ride -- 21 miles including urban to/from the bike path, two loops on the path, and Sam's Club for a few items on the way back. It was hot, humid, and sunny. Still, I would rather have this than cold and blustery! But I must say that riding here is not that much fun. There are very few routes, so it gets boring. And the urban part is stressful for me because there are these strange speedbumps they have here that consist of a series of round metal humps (half spheres). There are two rows of them, one row offset from the other, and in order for a bike to go through, you have to angle so that you go in between on a diagonal. DH thinks nothing of them, but I am always so worried about hitting the humps as I'm not as good a bike handler, and my depth perception is not the best. I have managed to go over a hump a couple of times, and it's quite jarring, though I didn't fall like I thought I might. There are at least 6 of these that we have to traverse during this ride, and I dread them.

[ny biker]

I had a really good ride today. I led a club ride on a route that I've done before. We rode just 39 miles, sort of a big loop and smaller loop that lets us pass the Chesapeake Bay twice. Great fall weather, mid 50s with sunshine, all in all just a nice ride and a nice day.

If the weather holds I'll be leading club rides again on Wednesday and Saturday this week. And yesterday I was working on a route for a ride later this month. Before I went to bed last night I actually had to check the club website to remind myself where I was going to this morning -- too many different routes in my head.

[emily_in_nc]

Sounds like a fun ride, ny! Good weather always helps.

[Sky King]

This has been such an odd fall for me. Riding once a week is pathetic. We did get out on the pavement Saturday, We had no real plan but when we hit an intersection with a half marathon in process we decided to ride "against" the race instead of in the race as they were running with traffic on the side of the road - we thought that was a bit odd as traditional runners and walkers face traffic. Anyhow it was enjoyable as we rode a common route backwards, so to speak. Lots of wind so tucked home via the cemetery and some back roads. Sunday my BFF and I opted for a walk instead of a ride. Today she is having brain surgery to remove 3 tumors, my mind is certainly elsewhere as I type this.

[rebeccaC]

I want to ride through lots of rural fall color!!!!!

Azfiddle….i got lightheaded just reading that…..hoping your friend has a lot of positive moments on her healing journey!!!! The Tucson Celtic Festival looks like a good weekend...i like the idea of a welsh baker's tearoom too. It must be good to have the Festivals influence in the community….and good for your enjoyment of playing


I’m getting comfortable riding in downtown l.a. now. Took me awhile to get the traffic patterns/moves and know the streets/alleys. I don’t have vision’s of messengers in S.F. yet…..but I have met some interesting messengers. We go to meetings in downtown a few times a month…. frequently meeting with some there that have ridden/walked to the office so that works. Ellie wanted to ride more so we've done a few rides to meetings. We work close to the beach so it’s beach path to a series of paths going downtown to bike lanes and then city streets. It’s nice to have the miles of path going home to go slow and talk about work etc or if by myself just enjoy the ride. I waaaannnt that nice later sunset light back especially for weekend rides. After sunset the path’s are mostly softer light with a couple of interesting dark sections. It gives me an appreciation of looking through the dark with a headlight. ……..anyway we had a great ride on Monday. Perfect first stop for tea and a lemon ginger scone/breadfast oakmeal cookie to go, then we rode into an early meeting. We planned a few hours of being at the moca museum and eating something. That gave us a ride up some city hills and through some really busy streets where you just have to be calm…..which also gives me time to see photo opportunities or just stop and take one. A later meeting went really long so we had dinner near the start of the path and had a couple of short interval challenges on the way home to just tease each other. Just 46 miles but interesting miles and day...with pleasant weather as a bonus. Looking forward to the next ride.

moca mirrors

[Crankin]

Did a nice 23.5 mile ride today, with my friend and DH. Friend's husband was leaving for a business trip, so off we went. We pretty much stayed at her pace (slow), although I went ahead for part of the ride, just a little. DH is hurting from all the work he did at the condo yesterday, including lugging the new vanity for the bathroom upstairs, so he was happy to ride this way.
Went on many favorite roads, with just one bigger climb, near the beginning of the ride, through an apple orchard.
For once, I was dressed perfectly. We both commented that riding at a slower speed is so much nicer!

[ny biker]

I rode 33 miles yesterday, my third time leading a club ride in a week, 11th so far this year. It was an all-class ride starting at 9:30 am. I had declared several weeks ago that I was done with getting up early for bike rides this year because I prefer to let the sun warm things up as much as possible before rides in the fall and winter. But yesterday's ride was special. It was billed as a rededication of a rail trail that had been closed for about a year due to utility work in the area, but really it was a surprise dedication of a new trailside bench in honor of two members of our club, a married couple who have devoted many hours to improving conditions for cyclists over the past several decades. The plan was to offer two routes -- an out-and-back on the trail and a slightly longer route that started on the trail and then circled around on roads back to the start. I volunteered as one of the leaders for the longer route.

The weather forecast did not look good when I went to bed the night before -- overnight lows in the 30s, highs the next day reaching 50 but with strong cold winds from the NW. I prepared a winter riding outfit. Happily when I woke up at 6 am I found that the temperature had not gone below the mid-40s. It was still windy, with the worst headwinds at the the start of the ride, but the sun warmed things up and we spent enough time with tailwinds or on roads sheltered from the wind to make it an unexpectedly good day for cycling. I still wore my warmest tights (PI Amfibs) and my Woolie Boolie socks, but otherwise wore lighter-weight clothes than I had originally planned and was more than warm enough.

As for the main event, the surprise bench dedication, no one expected that we would really be able to keep it a surprise from the honorees. But we were wrong -- it was such a surprise that only one of them came to the ride, as the other had a prior commitment helping out at a local food pantry. Nonetheless it was a nice ceremony, well worth an early start on a blustery day.

[rebeccaC]

Azfiddle - I agree with the others - sounds like a great day on the bike to me!

As an aside - I was so happy to see that Gabby Giffords rode the 40 mile route! So glad she's able to get back out there! Story

makes me happy that she is continuing to challenge herself.....her determination is indeed inspirational !!!

[ny biker]

Well I had hoped to ride after work last night but just was not able to. I'm not ready for Thanksgiving! I'm leaving tonight, driving north for a few days, and will not reach my destination until the early hours of the morning. I had to get up early the past few days which left me very tired last night. So I decided to skip the ride and go to bed early. My next chance to ride will be Sunday, maybe, depending on the weather.

The combination of being sick in August and having big rides rained out in September and October has left me feeling weird -- I should be in the mindset of doing shorter, easier rides now that it's colder and getting dark earlier. Usually by this time of year I really feel like 30 miles is more than enough. But part of me feels like I should be putting in more miles, like there's a big challenging metric century coming up that I have to get ready for. I hope this feeling keeps me motivated through the winter.

[Crankin]

NY, is your bike club the Potomac Peddlers? Today at lunch one of the board members was talking about using your club as a model to change the way they do things. From what he described, it sounded familiar. I am not involved with the board of this club, but the members are getting older and older, and except for the group I ride with on Wednesdays, all the other rides are "we are out to drop you," or you end up riding alone in most cases. I am involved with AMC as a leader and the administration of the bike committee, as opposed to this group, as the philosophy is totally different. But, I thought of you during the conversation.

[rebeccaC]

My mother arrived Wednesday to spend a few days here. It’s good to have her here. This morning she, Ellie and I biked south on the beach bike path to a wonderful bistro for breakfast…orange ricotta pancakes and biscuit french toast both topped with warm mixed berries ftw!!!
The wind gods were quiet, very few people were on the bike path, sunshine, the ocean, perfect riding temps and great conversations. A total of only 36 miles but it was a great time just being with her and Ellie.

[Pax]

Some nice rides going on!

I did an indoor ride at the gym yesterday, really nice to just sit there and pedal instead of dodging cars.