September rides

[ny biker]

I rode almost 20 miles after work last night. Was hoping to ride Wednesday but we had thunderstorms so I had to postpone to Thursday. It was hot, I was dripping sweat at the end, but I'll take a September heat wave over winter cold any day.

Last Saturday I did 41 miles in Virginia, in a rural area around Warrenton. It was a nice route, some roads I'd ridden before and some that were new to me. The ride leader says he likes to do variations of it in the winter, so I'll keep an eye out from them. Afterwards we had lunch near the ride start. There's a cluster of buildings on land that was purchased by federal government back around WWII and used by cryptographers (or something like that), and now they're a brew pub, small cafe, produce market and museum about the Cold War. We got food from the cafe and brought it to the brew pub for a nice post-ride lunch.

Then on Monday our bike club had our annual century ride. I helped at a couple of rest stops, taking leftovers from one that closed early to another one that was open later, then driving to a third stop to help out until it closed, then driving back to the ride start by way of the final rest stop while picking up route-marking signs along the way. It was a long day but perfect weather and lots of fun. We did run out of food at one rest stop, and at the post-ride picnic were already talking about how to keep that from happening in the future. The ride is in an area that is not close to any grocery stores so it's not easy to get things on the fly when you start to run out.

Tomorrow is one of my favorite rides of the year, the Civil War Century. I'm doing the metric as usual. I'll be riding with someone from work and will be on the lookout for some bike club friends who will be doing a longer route. The food is always great at this ride, fresh fruit from local orchards and ice cream from a local dairy. I'm looking forward to it.

[Crankin]

I am getting a bit nervous about going to the ghost bike memorial service tomorrow. I did not know the man that was killed, but feel compelled to join the huge group of cyclists that are attending. This accident occured just about 5 miles from where I live. Glad I will be surrounded by people I know.

[north woods gal]

Crankin, by all means go if you feel you should. Can't imagine there would be any problems with that many people. No guarantee, of course, but seems unlikely.

As for me, doing 4 or 5 hours of heavy physical labor on the trails around our house and then finish the day with about hour of riding on them. That usually nets me about a humble 5 miles, but I'd estimate about 70% as being up and down with a fair number of steeps and humps that require me to stand on the pedals to crest, plus the trail is rough enough to require standing on the pedals to absorb the shock or risk having my teeth shake loose. Lots of quick braking and hard accelerating. The see saw ride, tight turns, tricky spots and hills take their toll. Very physical type of riding. Has me wheezing and panting for air when I push hard. Very few catch my breath kind of spots along the way. In other words, typical mountain biking for our area.

Hope to work up to two hour workouts when I'm done with the trail work. Lots of work for sure, but the trails will be doing double duty for my cross country skiing in winter.

[emily_in_nc]

Yesterday we had the pleasure of riding the historic Union Pacific rail-trail in Utah. We started in Coalville, where we were staying in an RV park, rode north to Park City, rode around the city, had ice cream, and rode back. The trail is mostly gravel, so we took our mountain bikes. The last three miles into Park City are paved. The trail is a very gradual climb into Park City, and PC itself is hilly. The great thing is that once you're there, you know you have mostly downhill on the way back. We did have to contend with northwest winds over 20 mph sustained, and at times they were in our face or even at our sides and tough, but on the way back, we flew through a long ENE section, downhill, which was most enjoyable!

The day was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and 50s through 70s. Low humidity, of course, and even some gorgeous early fall foliage. Hardly anyone else on the trail on a weekday. 47 miles total.

Attachment 18150 Attachment 18151 Attachment 18152

[BikeDutchess]

Wonderful photos of your ride, Emily! That is a nice trail, especially starting & ending in Coalville to catch the downhill coming back. It's so nice to see all the signs of fall.

[Crankin]

Looks beautiful, Emily. Another place I haven't seen.
North Woods, I am not nervous about going to the service because of anything to do with the people or the fact there will be tons of cyclists. I am just worried I will be too emotional. We have a hilly ride in Amherst, MA area tomorrow, so right now I am trying to decide if we should just ride home after the ceremony, or ride into town for Ag Day/farmer's market, or over to our former town, where they are also having an ag fair we never got to during the years we lived there. I don't want to do too much, as it's hilly where we will be riding tomorrow, and I have never ridden in that area, so there's a bit of unknown nervousness, along with weather forecast that is kind of iffy. But, it's a charity ride, we paid for it, so we are going, even if it rains.

[north woods gal]

Cranking', I do understand. I'm widely known for breaking down at such events, myself. Have had people tell me I could make a good living as a professional cryer at funerals. Oh, yeah, I do understand.

Emily, our family once had a reunion in Park City and I was very impressed with the bicycling in the area. Didn't get a chance to actually do any riding, but would love to return to the area and give it a try. My only issue would be needing a day or two to adapt to the elevation. We flew into Salt Lake and drove up from there. Only at 1500 feet, here, so noticed the change, right away. With you working your way west, I imagine you've acclimated as you go.

[emily_in_nc]

Wonderful photos of your ride, Emily! That is a nice trail, especially starting & ending in Coalville to catch the downhill coming back. It's so nice to see all the signs of fall.

Thanks BD! Where in Utah are you? We are in Dinosaur Nat'l Monument now. More excellent cycling!

[BikeDutchess]

Thanks BD! Where in Utah are you? We are in Dinosaur Nat'l Monument now. More excellent cycling!

I'm in SLC. The weather is just perfect right now - glad you're having fun!