May rides, may they all be wonderful

[north woods gal]

87 degrees, already? That's just nuts. Oh, I can handle 87 if I have time to adjust, but we just had a major snowstorm only a couple weeks, ago. Right now 60s feels hot.

Thanks for sharing your experiences with being harassed and your feelings about riding solo in remote places. It does make me feel better to know that I'm not being too sensitive. I do think a woman traveling solo in a remote area is vulnerable. A few years, back, when I was getting back into trail riding, I did a lot of trail riding back in a remote area not too far from us. Honestly, I could travel miles down logging roads, far from access roads, that hadn't seen a footprint in years. Just finding me if I ran into trouble would have been a challenge. Exciting and neat to be in such unspoiled places, but than I would stop and ask myself what an old gal like me was doing all alone in such places. Really not smart. It also violated one of the basic rules of wilderness travel about never traveling alone. Finally got to me and I called it quits on those kinds of rides. Wonder Woman I am not.

My solution was to build my own trails right at home on our property. Not as "adventurous, to be sure, but so much safer. Would love to go back to those remote places, but not going to do it solo if I do.

[rebeccaC]

nwg....no no....you are a wonder woman!!!....i thought we settled that already...
I’m picky about the rural roads I ride and my favorite long isolated ones just have a way of making me happy even when alone. I prepare well for personal safety and communication issues but I’ve haven’t needed it so far, mostly cuz of the roads i can pick...well maybe some faith as a backup too. I had more initial worry about biking and photographing in south central and east L.A. but found in that kind riding just stopping and interacting with people in an open and honest way is a big asset. I can also understand the reluctance of others too though....now getting nasty stuff said from a vehicle and once a breast grab has only happened to me in very urban riding.


Shelia, hoping something simple like exercises for and massaging your trapezius muscles helps.....in anycase it’s good for supporting the neck/head when riding.

Still solely on the fixie and just urban riding. Having the pedalling imperative focusing attention on fluid and smooth leg movements, especially on downhills, will help in my climbing too....plus track stands are easier now

Too many work and volunteer commitments have ended weekend riding for a couple more weeks.

[Crankin]

I had a wonderful very early AM ride this morning. Went to bed early (even early for me) and DH and I were out the door by 5:15 am. It was actually still a bit dark. I usually do these rides alone, so it was nice to have company. We chose a route that would take us across the highway that splits my town, around the perimeter of Concord Center, and back through West Concord. Only 10 miles, but flat except for a small hill in there beginning. This is sort of like the first early AM rides I did from my house on the other side of town, without the added thrill of having to climb the 10-13% grade to get home! It was a fast pace for me, especially at that time day, but I felt better we we returned. Pollen counts through the roof and the air quality is a bit off, too. I took my inhaler, as a precaution.
It's going to thunder/rain this afternoon, so I won't commute. Tomorrow, probably ride to the gym and to work, because it's going to be a repeat of thunderstorms in the afternoon, so I won't be able to ride when I get home at noon.
North Woods, 87 is about 15-20 degrees above normal for this time of year. We took the cover off of the AC compressor when we got home, so it will be cool when I get home from work. It's really humid, today, also, and was already 70 when we got home from our ride around 6 AM.

[emily_in_nc]

Just heard on the Weather Channel that NYC was 90F yesterday. Much hotter than here in Florida; we were something like 82! So, I can see why you're getting such above-normal temps, Crankin. I suspect they won't last for long in New England.

We are supposed to hit 90 here in central Florida for the first time this year tomorrow. I am not looking forward to it. We've had really nice weather for the past month-ish. Still not too humid or hot, but that is about to change. It's May now, so not at all unexpected. This is the latest we have stayed in this area (due to my orthodontia), and I'm not really looking forward to it, but hopefully I'll be acclimated. And at least there's a very nice pool for cooling down after rides!

[north woods gal]

Sheila, good for you on the road biking. I really like the idea of mixing things up on the types of biking, but not sure I'm up to contorting my body back and forth between flat bars and drop bars, anymore. These old joints get achy enough when I wake up in the morning.

My sister-in-law in Philadelphia reports 90 degrees, too. Were in the 70s, again, but that is also well above normal for us, too. All but a few isolated patches of snow are left, now, but it was only three weeks, ago, that we had the biggest snowstorm of the year with over two feet of snow still in the ground. About the fastest I've seen the snow disappear. Have to wonder what summer will bring.

Star is having a hard time adjusting so rapidly to the unusual heat. She still has her winter coat. She did find one lone mound of snow, though, and rolled in in it, giving herself a snow bath. Border Collies don't do well in hot weather so I halve to keep an eye on her..

No precipitation for awhile, now, so my trails are drying out, nicely. Did combo ride just short 20 miles, today, spaced out over several sorter rides on different bikes though out the day. Half road and half trail work. Best ride of the day was with the Surly ECR on a very rough and sand/gravel road. It's a nearby local road, though, not at all isolated, with several homes along it, so I feel very safe riding it. Nice practice road and a lot of fun to ride, because it changes all the time. Never know what to expect. It would swallow a skinny bike, even a drop bar gravel bike or a cyclocross bike, but the ECR just took it in stride. No fishtailing at all, even in the deeper sand sections. That bike is just about unstoppable.

Happy to report that we heard our first frogs singing, today. Our north woods are famous for spring frog orchestra music. In a couple weeks it will be almost deafening at night. Real north woods treat. Even better, a loon on our lake had been calling at night. Nothing for me is quite as beautiful and dreamlike as the call of the loon on a calm night. Such primitive beauty. If you've never heard loon music, your really missing something.

[Crankin]

Yes, the sounds of the "peepers" in our wetlands is deafening after dark. They were a little late in getting started this year, but they are full blown now.
So,the forecast looked like it would be raining both at the time I go to the gym and to work. But, I got up at 4:45 and saw it wasn't going to rain until 7, so I rode there, with my rain jacket in my bag (the class is over at 6:30 and it takes me 8 minutes or so to ride there). No rain, though. When I got home, I looked at the radar and now it looks like the rain is all south of here. It's warm, cloudy, and humid though. I will be riding to work in about 45 minutes, with the same strategy. If it's not raining when I leave at noon, I will take a longer route home, so I'll have 10 miles for the day.
Planning on a long ride tomorrow, where, I don't know.

[emily_in_nc]

nwg, I have only heard a loon maybe once in my life, other than on TV. I agree -- what a haunting and goosebump-inducing sound. I do envy you that!

When we lived in the woods in NC, we built a small garden pond, which the peepers found pretty quickly. It was under our master bedroom window, and on what we called "party nights", the peepers were deafening, and we'd have to wear earplugs. I loved hearing them, but not when I had to be up for work the next morning!