September riding

[Crankin]

Got back from our trip to Philadelphia around 10 pm last night. Exhausted... our granddaughter's birthday party was out further west, where we did some better areas for riding; however, we only saw 2 cyclists! The remnants of Harvey came through Saturday night, though it was clearing on Sunday. My son and family who live here came down on Saturday night, so it was a very rare occasion for my whole family to be together.
Today is beautiful. We went out for a 20 mile ride, I kind of wanted to do a long ride, but DH is now putting in a new front door and since we have no food in the house, I guess I have to do some meal planning and go shopping.

[emily_in_nc]

Oh yes, it is September! Hard to tell in Florida, so far...

29 miles today. Bike path was busier than normal with all the folks off work and kids out of school, but the roads to get there and back, and the crossings, were much less busy than usual, so it was really a wash. Tomorrow if I can manage 30 miles, I'll have 2000 for the year. Not where I expected to be in early September, but given everything that happened to me this year and 3.5 months off the bike during the spring & summer, I'll take it!

[north woods gal]

Emily, that's quite an accomplishment with all you've had to endure. Very impressive.

[rebeccaC]

Been in the high 80’s this past week which is unusual for the beach area this time of year or actually anytime. Back to the usual low/mid 70’s this week. I rode into downtown L.A. to do some photography and inland temps got into the high 90’s. (stopping at Stumptown coffee twice for their chocolate cold brew and Urth caffe for a green tea boba helped) Being the weekend there was much less traffic, especially in the old industrial areas, and I also do a lot of alley riding when downtown especially in the art district where a lot of street art is. So it was just an enjoyable way of getting around. 38 miles total. Alex and I went out rollerblading before sunrise this morning and enjoyed watching the awakening of a new day together and then going for breakfast.

From my ride into downtown








and back to the beach

[salsabike]

As always, love love love your photos, Rebecca.

[Crankin]

I woke up really early, so another "dark ride." My back is reacting to the 5 hours sitting in the car on Sunday, I probably should have rested, but it looks like tomorrow will be rainy, so no group ride, or any other ride, most likely. It's really warm and humid out. I had arm warmers on, which I pulled down, near the end of my ride. I kind of did an aimless ride of ten miles, with plenty of hills. I've come to the conclusion that these early morning rides were easier when I lived on the other side of town, in that they were flat, until I had to climb the hill to get to my house. Now, it's flat out my door, but any ride I do is full of rollers and small hills. At least that makes it easier for me to justify only riding 10 miles! This morning I was out the door at 5:05, so early, that it was realy quiet out. But, in the 12 years I've been riding at this time, it has become busier and busier.
Tomorrow I am going to rejoin the health club I went to right after I got out of school, 6 years ago. Looking forward to twice a week, killer bootcamp, which my aging body severely needs. The ritzy club I just left kept cancelling the early morning classes, except for spin, which I only go to in the dead of winter.

[rebeccaC]

@ salsa....

[ny biker]

We also had rain on Saturday from Harvey, nothing major but not a pleasant day to be outdoors. I visited relatives in Charlottesville for a Labor Day "cookout" which was mostly indoors. I'm sure some of my friends went out for a bike ride, but I was glad that I had other plans that day. I got home late, slept late on Sunday and went out for a late afternoon bike ride. I decided to do an out-and-back on a rail trail that I used to ride often. Since I haven't been on it in a while, it was a chance to see some changes that have been made -- some good changes to eliminate busy at-grade intersections, some that really are intended to speed up car traffic and do not improve trail safety, plus some new development next to the trail. The main reason I don't use it anymore is that it's become too crowded as more homes are built near it -- good for the people living there, not good for someone who just wants to ride a long distance. Except there are still plenty of people who think the trail is a good place for time-trialing and have no concept of how to pass others safely. Really it would be a nice trail if there weren't so many jerks on it. But since I started late in the day, I saw fewer and fewer jerks as my ride went on.

There are some long unshaded sections on this trail which are not good for hot sunny days but were okay on Sunday, especially since I started after 3 pm. I wasn't sure how far I'd ride, but ended up going all the way to the western terminus before turning around. In all I rode 54 miles. This trail is basically flat, but there are sections of 2-3% slope that last for several miles. For much of the upward sloping sections I used a gear that was just hard enough to make my legs work, so I was pretty tired out by the end. It was good workout.

On Monday our bike club had our annual century ride. We had a good day for it, in terms of weather. I volunteered as SAG driver for the late shift, from 11 am to the end of the picnic. There weren't too many people who needed help, which was good. One person did crash and was injured, but thankfully it was not too serious. I was in motion quite a bit, stationed at one rest stop until it closed at 1:30, then driving part of the course to make sure there were no stragglers, heading to the last rest stop to help break it down, then to the picnic. In all there were more than 900 riders. I think everything went smoothly overall, though I know there will be debriefing and reviewing of rider comments in order to address any weak spots for next year.

There was one person who needed a ride back to the start from the rest stop at mile 62 because his Di2 battery died and he was stuck in too hard a gear. I'm at a point where I have lights to recharge after every ride and my Garmin needs to be charged every 75-80 miles. I am glad I don't have to worry about charging my derailleur, too.