April Showers bring... riding

[north woods gal]

Been riding my trails on a daily basis and enjoying spring blooming all around me. Then, wake up, this morning, April 27th and, yup, it's snowing. Maybe up to 3", today. So what's a girl to do? Ha! I knew better than to put the fat bike with studded tires away for the summer. Look out snow, here I come.

[ny biker]

Happy anniversary, AZ.

I finally got out and rode again last night. I did a short, least-hills-possible version of my post-work hill route two weeks ago to test my ankle, and it was okay but I felt like I had to stay in a really easy gear. Then I went away for Easter weekend and we had a long rainy stretch, so no rides at all for two weeks. This was probably a good thing since it gave me a chance to strengthen the leg and ankle muscles after wearing the boot last month -- it's still been less than 4 weeks since I stopped wearing it. So last night I did a slightly longer version of the hill route with a little more climbing but no really steep hills. All went well and I was actually able to forget about the ankle, unlike my rides earlier this month. Of course everything else hurt from lack of saddle time -- my quads are like noodles, my sit bones are still not in riding shape and for some reason I was hunching my shoulders for the first half of the ride. And when I looked at my Garmin I found that I'd been riding slower than usual. But there was no pain and afterwards I felt at peace for the first time since I can't remember when.

Oh and I almost forgot -- I start the ride at a community center. While I was in the parking lot getting ready, a class or activity for children must have ended because people started coming out to their cars. I heard a child talking to me and looked up. It was a little girl with Down Syndrome, dressed in a dance outfit. She was with a man, I assume her father, and their car was parked next to mine. Her speech actually wasn't very clear so I had trouble understanding her, but she was obviously very excited about something that that she wanted to tell me about. I was able to understand just enough words to make it seem like I understood -- something happening in July, getting braces and having her hair done. She was really sweet.

[Crankin]

Rode today for the first time in almost 2 weeks. Between some horrible viral thing, my back, and rain, it has not been good. But, I rode to work, my big 2.8 miles there, and 2.5 back. On Fridays, I am only there for a short time, so I wear regular clothing when I ride. At 9 am it was 60 and it had rained about an hour earlier. Cool, humid, but smelling beautiful. I was happy. Glad I changed my original plan of cycling in a dress with commuter knickers under, as the roads were still wet. I wore my commuter pants, which look like regular pants and a regular semi-lycra t shirt that is nicer than just a t shirt. I did wear my rain jacket, kind of unzipped, and it was perfect, as the tail of the jacket did get wet and spattered and it was cool enough to wear a jacket. The way home, oy, it was 78 degrees, bright sun, and humid. I was soaked with sweat when I got home, from just the 2.5 miles. But, it was nice.
Going out to western MA tomorrow for 2 days of riding with our friends.

[emily_in_nc]

Going out to western MA tomorrow for 2 days of riding with our friends.

Sounds like fun, Crankin, enjoy! Glad your commute went well.

[Crankin]

Today we did a pre-ride of a ride our friends are leading in the Amherst area. It was the absolutely flattest 21 miles I've ever ridden. We started on the bike path in Hadley, for about 5 miles and then rode into Sunderland, a little bit in North Amherst, and back to Hadley. Uneventful, humid, but thankfully, cloudy and 80 degrees. Lots of farms and small town stuff until near the end of the ride, where we rode through some suburbia and behind the U Mass campus.
Tomorrow we are doing a hilly ride up to a lookout on the Quabbin Reservoir. It will be cooler, a front is moving through now.

[Helene2013]

What a nice week (weatherwise) we had. Weather was very warm for time of year. But lots of rain too. So I enjoyed a few rides outside trying to get ready for my 2 upcoming 100km+ challenges.

Friday afternoon I took time off and we rode 42km.... on strong winds. ouch. But I'm impressed by how well I did. The hard work of winter training paid off and it shows. It was not a long ride, but with the winds gusting at nearing 40km/h W, it was a good job of pushing against it. Today is so cold I think if it was raining, it would snow.

[ny biker]

I had a great ride yesterday. It was a charity ride that is the first big event of the year for me and many bike club friends. Many planned to ride together. I opted to play it by ear rather than decide in advance on the route distance I wanted. I ended up getting started 10 minutes after the last group of friends left, but figured I might catch up with someone I knew at some point. Sure enough, I caught three friends who were doing 35 miles at roughly my pace, maybe a bit slower, but I was not trying to break any speed records. I rode with them to the end, had a great ride, and as a bonus got a great tip on a local foot and ankle doctor to see for a second opinion. At the post-ride picnic I saw other friends, though not as many as expected. It was 90 and humid so I guess many opted to ride a shorter route and thus finished ahead of me. With no plans for the day I hung out at the picnic to see a few folks who did the longest route at a relatively slow pace. They finished just in time to get food before the picnic closed down. On the way home I stopped at a small independent grocery store that we often use as a reststop and bought some strawberries from a nearby farm. Also bought a smalll picture of a sailboat made by a company on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. Supporting local businesses FTW.

Overall my ankle felt okay as long as I don't use too high a gear. There is a twinge of pain if I push too hard.

The only problem was saddle-related. I am experimenting with saddle position a bit to try to alleviate some chafing. But, yesterday before the ride I noticed a small lump below the skin in front of one sit bone. It felt like a bruise, with pain when I touched it. But no discoloration of the skin. After the ride I think it was a little bigger. I wasn't really uncomfortable for most of the ride, it basically felt like a normal early season thing where your butt is still adjusting. I'm declaring the saddle position experiment a failure and putting it back where it was before. I've iced the lump a few times but that didn't help. Not sure what to do next. It's on the right side, on the thin bone that's in front of the sit bone and to the left (closer to the crease).