September riding

[north woods gal]

OMG, never thought there might be one of my forum friends in the area! Duh. Anyway, my bad on that one.

I always try to see the best in a new area, just like I always try to see the best in people, even when they are way different than me. I do think that SD area has a lot to offer. Not really me, but I could adapt.

Back home and riding my north woods trails, again, and, have to admit, it feels good. Trees are turning, but not looking to be a great color season. Some trees have already lost most of their foliage and some have barely turned color. One of those mixed color change years for us.

[emily_in_nc]

Yesterday was my first ride since we've been back in Florida (west of Orlando) post-Irma evacuation. DH had explored the bike path to the east on Monday while I went to the orthodontist and ran errands. He discovered that it was closed, with numerous trees blocking it. Not too surprising. So, he took the path west into Lake County, which we've been avoiding since returning to FL in early August because there are fewer trees and more hills = VERY HOT this time of year. But temps have cooled just a bit, humidity is lower than it was a month ago, and this part of the path was open. Yay! So we did that yesterday. Saw a lot of post-Irma damage but all had been moved off the path. Kudos to the Oakland, Clermont, Groveland city & Lake County workers as I know they have been busting butt.

We also found out last night from an acquaintance that works for the Orange County parks & recs dept. that more of the path east is now open -- not the whole thing, but more (Winter Garden to Ocoee) -- so we'll explore that tomorrow.

35 miles yesterday.

[ny biker]

I rode on Saturday. Just 30 miles, but with steeper hills than I've ridden in months so it was quite a workout. Another club in this area had its annual century on Sunday out in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, which is just over the river from Sharpsburg MD and the Antietam battlefield. They have started a tradition of holding a ride around and through Antietam the day before the century, and this ride is open to anyone regardless of whether they paid for the century ride. I've been wanting to explore Antietam so I decided to make the drive, about 1.5 hours and more than 80 miles. Fortunately the start time was at noon so I didn't have to get up insanely early for it.

The weather was sunny, humid and warm, very nice actually, and the first time since July that I've had really sweaty helmet hair after a ride. Several of my friends were there and we stopped several times in the park to visit significant battle sites. It was a very good ride. There was traffic near the battlefield which was to be expected, especially since Sunday was the 155th anniversary of the battle, but enough of the ride was on quiet roads. The first and last few miles were on a road next to the C&O Canal, a part of the canal that I've never ridden. We talked about planning other rides in that area in the future, since it's definitely worth making the drive now and then.

The rest stop on the ride was at an ice cream parlor in Sharpsburg. I had peach frozen yogurt, delicious with big peach slices. After the ride I went with a friend to a pizza place in Shepherdstown. The crust was a little thicker than I usually like but it was still foldable and quite good. It's hard to find really good pizza in DC but sometimes when you get away from the city you find some that surprises you. Shepherdstown had a bunch of restaurants that looked good, and on the drive to and from the ride I passed a few others in the small town of Boonsboro. I suspect the proximity to a major battlefield site draws enough visitors to help support them.

Antietam and Gettysburg are roughly 50 miles apart. It's possible to tour both of them by bike. There are some areas of both battlefields that are only accessible on foot, but both have paved roads with designated auto tours that could also be done as bike tours. One of the friends I was with on Saturday estimated that a full bike tour of Antietam would be 9-10 miles whereas a tour of Gettysburg is about twice and long. It is also possible to cycle between Antietam and Gettysburg, though there are a couple of mountains that would need to be crossed.

So that was my weekend. Last night I went for a ride after work, about 16 miles. It's still warm and humid. I had planned to take tomorrow off as a part of the furlough time that I have to take before the end of the month, and was going to do a club ride in a nice area near the Patuxent River in southern Maryland, but today I had a change of plans. A colleague is out from tomorrow through next week and they want me here to cover for him, so I no longer have to take the last 3 furlough days that I thought I had to take. This is a good thing overall since it means 3 days of sick and vacation time that can keep for the future. I am kind of disappointed about not being able to do that ride tomorrow, though, since I haven't ridden in that area in months and I was looking forward to enjoying a warm sunny day outdoors. I will do a shorter ride after work instead.

[Crankin]

We had mist and light rain from José yesterday, so no group ride. I went to step and sculpt class instead, where I had the thought of comparing the level of suffering between that and a hot, hilly ride. It was so humid out, that the AC in the room was struggling. I always put Nuun in my bottle when I go to this class.
I wanted to get up and do a dark ride this morning, but, I hardly slept last night. I will rest today. It's Rosh Hashanah, and I am going to work, which is making me feel guilty... my family is coming over for dinner tonight, so there wil be a little celebration.
Tomorrow will be my last Friday group ride for the summer. The series has not attracted a lot of people, so it's mostly been me riding with the other leader. Not sure what is going on, as about 10 years ago, DH and I led Friday AM rides and they were well attended. I think part of the issue is my friend, who set up this series does the same ride every week! It's also at a start place that is further away from the city than the previous one. We always started in the same place, but we did different rides. He's kind of an old, set in his way guy (won't travel anywhere, except into NH), but is a good friend, and volunteers hours for both of the clubs I belong to.

[north woods gal]

Warm, rainy and then foggy all day in our woods, yesterday. A little different to be riding trails in the fog in mid-afternoon, to be sure. That's when it's a real plus to know your trails.

Also a real plus to know my trails now that they are almost completely covered with downed leaves. A stranger would be lost, but I know them like the back of my hand, so not an issue in that respect. On the other hand, a buildup of wet leaves under the tires can be a hazard as far as the tires slipping as I'm sure some of you have experienced with your road biking with wet leaves on pavement. Can be an issue for MTB riding, too, especially with wet leaves on rocks. Yup, I do get sometimes get slippage on wet leaves with my classic MTBs and their skinny 26x2" tires on our trails under these conditions, but not with the fat bikes. The fat bikes pretty much take that hazard out of the equation. Nevertheless, I'll probably walk some of my trails with a rake at some point before the snow falls. Trails dry out, quicker, when not covered with leaves.

Talk about slipping on wet surfaces. Yesterday, as I was walking one of the fat bikes down our wet wood steps from our deck, I slipped. Me and the bike went sliding down the steps to land on the hard pavement at the bottom. Ouch! Fortunately, just a scratch on my arm, but I know people who have been seriously injured taking a tumble down steps. Pretty spooky, but mostly just a bad scare. Bike survived just fine, too. We both headed off to the woods and forgot about it.

[emily_in_nc]

NWG, I remember slipping on damp fall leaves on a wooden bridge at one of our local MTB trails in NC. Went right down on such an easy little stretch. I was just starting to MTB and honestly didn't expect it. Lesson learned!

NY, the year we did Bike Virginia, much of the ride was actually done in WVa, and we went through Shepherdstown. In fact, that may be where I spent several days in a gorgeous inn suffering mightily from the waterborne illness that took so many of us out that year (2003, I think?), Campylobacter. If you had to be deathly ill, that beautiful suite was the place to do it. (We did the inn option rather than camping and booked late so had to take a very fine suite. It even had a bidet in the gorgeous marble bathroom, and that was a godsend for my very poor intestinal condition!!!)

It is definitely a hilly but gorgeous area. Glad you got to do a nice ride there!

Today's ride took us east on the West Orange Trail, where we saw lots and lots of evidence of Irma damage. The entire length of the trail is pretty much lined with piles of branches and logs. All the debris has been moved off the trail, but it's definitely a lot less shady now. So many beautiful trees down, but so many survived, which is a great thing. These are mostly Live Oaks with Spanish moss and add so much to the ambiance and charm of this area. Glad we still have many left to enjoy but so sorry that so many were lost.

30.25 miles.

[north woods gal]

Emily, that's the trail I rode on our Florida visit. Glad to hear it's open. May take some time, but the trees will come back.

Crazy weather up here, too. Highs in the upper 80s today and the next few days. That's as hot as it gets at the peak of our summers. About 20 degrees above normal. Oh, well, may as well get some tan in while I ride before winter sets in. Weird, though.