riding through May....National Bike Month!!!

[rebeccaC]

Emily…you should be writing an article/book on the best places to stay in an RV for bicycling!!!!...with ride maps

Wow! Now that is some serious stretch of climbing. Makes what we call hills in northern Wisconsin look pretty tame. Thanks for the pics. Very nice.

I see it as the harder the climb the more nerve cells firing, helping my brain through the production of neurons and releasing neurotransmitters for better brain functioning in the dorsal region and a calming in the ventral region…. Any hard climb for a person whether it be a 3% gradient or 15% (I agree with Alex on the insanity of 20% ) will help in doing it.

So…..just ride….for a better functioning brain!!

[Crankin]

Hope you find some better roads, Emily.
I commuted yesterday. It was quite cloudy when I left the clinic at 5:45 PM, felt a drop or two of rain, but it was nice. Not looking forward to my office moving; it's actually just as close, but there's 2 places where traffic backs up, kind of merging back ups into each other. I have chosen an alternate, which might get my one way commute up to almost 3.5 miles!
Planned to ride at 5 AM, woke up to pouring rain. Bleh. I decided to go to spin class, since I was up and I live .99 mile from the gym. Worked up a good sweat, but I can barely stand to do spin at this time of year.
Doing a group ride along the north shore tomorrow. There's a 68 mile version at a moderate pace, but I am being good and only dong the 30 mile ride, since I need to be on point for leading on Thursday night.

[Helene2013]

Nice warm sunny long weekend for us here.

Hubby got the ok without restrictions from surgeon to ride as much as he wants. I'm ok to cycle, as long as I don't abuse the knees. So we did 2 - 44km rides (Saturday and Monday). Sunday we did campground loops as they have many roads, nice grass/rock trails, etc.

So it is a late start to our bike season but happy to find out we have not lost so much on our cardio/musle. yeah

[Crankin]

Did a pre-ride of what we are leading tomorrow night, as DH convinced me to wait and not go to the group ride. It was like 85 degrees out... rode to the start, 3 miles, did the ride, and I complained the whole way. I felt really anxious, not sure why. Anyway, got back to the start, at Verrill Farm, had a late lunch, and took the long way home. I was fine by then. Most of the ride is shady, but I was uncomfortable. I really hate heat. By the end, there was a stiff breeze (headwind, of course). A total of 26 miles.
I know it will be cooler and hopefully, a bit cloudy when we start at 6 PM tomorrow, but there are a couple of traffic things and rr tracks that are making me nervous about bringing people on this ride.

[ny biker]

Crankin, do you create the cue sheet for the ride or does someone else do it? I always try to mark potential issues like rr tracks or high traffic areas and also mention them in the pre-ride discussion when I am leading a ride.

I rode on Wednesday after work. I didn't do it on purpose but with shortcuts and alterations for variety I ended up making it slightly easier/less hilly. Nonetheless it was my slowest average speed ever for my post-work rides. I was very preoccupied with work problems. Usually I stop once during the ride and have a quick snack, just standing up on the side of the road. This time I noticed some picnic tables next to a school and decided to sit there, but it was too muddy from recent rains so I sat on the curb next to them. And I sat there for long time. It was quiet. I have no guarantee of quiet when I go home thanks to the elephant neighbor upstairs and his lack of area rugs. So I just sat there in the dark and enjoyed the peace. Still was very preoccupied when I got back on the bike -- I need to find a way to get these problems out of my head. Cycling used to do it for me but it's not working anymore. Anyway the ride itself went well. It felt strange to just put on a short sleeved jersey and shorts and be able to go without needing to think about tights or arm warmers or jackets.

Tomorrow I'm leading a club ride. I don't know if anyone else will be there. Many folks will have holiday plans and others will do a different ride that is a tradition here on Memorial Day weekend. I used to do the the big traditional ride but it's grown too big -- hundreds of people -- and I have come up with my own routes in the same area that I like better, so I can go back any day and ride there on my own. In fact I do ride in that area quite often, so this Memorial Day tradition is not special for me. So I planned a different ride in a different county that I think will appeal more to the club members that I like to ride with. If no one shows up I'll be content to do it my myself.