May rides, may they all be wonderful

[north woods gal]

I totally get it about changing bikes. With me and all my bikes, even though they are all flat bar bikes, it takes me awhile to settle in on my bike of the day. Have learned not to get in a hurry about changing anything on the bike till after I've been riding for half an hour or so. Like you, I am very sensitive to changing the little things on the bikes. I do a lot of fussing with adjustments, too. When I get a bike that just fits me like a glove the way it is set up, though - my new Gunnar is a good example - I get religious about not changing anything.

I think you did exactly right on playing it safe in the soft and rutted section. When I'm riding a new trail, I often stop and scout out a rough section, rather than get into it and find I'm in over my head. Believe me, we do have some trails around here that are truly "expert only" trails.

As for me, did 16 miles on the pavement with the single speed shortly after breakfast to avoid the heat. Wasn't too bad, with temps in the mid 80s by the time I got back. Hit a recored high of 91, shortly after noon and looks like another record high for tomorrow. Finished the day with a late afternoon trail workout of about 4 miles, but had to go it alone. Star wanted to go, of course, no way was I going to risk taking her along in this heat. And here it is still May. Crazy.

[Crankin]

Well, sandy, rutted trails are not a place for road bikes, even with 25 cm tires. I was just happy I didn't crash! I can ride this kind of stuff on a mountain bike; it was the rocks and roots of the northeast woodlands that did me in, a few years ago. Being in the woods is why I wanted to mountain bike, but when I really got out there, it was so technical and scary, I gave up. I'd be fine with gravel riding or easier trails, if I had the right bike. For now, I hike!
It's 55 and drizzly today, so maybe no more than a walk.

[Geonz]

I've ridden every day this month

Yesterday I even got my Xtracycle out and successfully diagnosed why it was dragggggging... I thought it must be the disk brakes 'cause I couldn't see anything else but when I took the wheel off ... oh, the bags on the rack were sagging down and rubbing madly.
Brakes still squishy so I rode it out to bike shop which was not busy ... and ... it rode pretty sweetly -- well, it's hardly been ridden... so I asked "hey, will it be just an adjustment?" and ... he peeked at them and said "well, for starters, you've got no brake pads left."
Note to self: when I drop it by for periodic maintenance remind 'em to check and ... check 'em myself...
... b/c new pads didn't fix things either, so it's staying there 'til they can look at it again...
but an honest 35 mile day in the heat yesterday~ today we'll have a moonlight ride THat's the time to ride in these conditions...

[north woods gal]

Hi Sue. Great to hear about riding every day. It's what I do, too, but I'm retired so it's something that is practical to do. Yeah, I've worn down pads to the point of damaging the discs, so good reminder for me to have some of the bikes checked.

Our record heat wave continues. It's either morning or evening rides, now, but by the time I got home, this morning, it was already 88 and not even noon, yet. Tomorrow looks to be another 90s day, too. All in all, though, I'm managing. Had a brisk headwind on the way home, so that helped keep me cool. Not a big fan of headwinds, of course, but sometimes they are a blessing.

My ride, this morning was 5 miles into our little town. Just got a little lonely, I guess. Thought it would be nice to ride over to our local park to be around people enjoying the holiday. Remember, most of my riding is solo on very lightly traveled roads. Not that I like traffic or crowds, of course, but sometimes I do miss bicycling in the city, just cruising around with no particular destination in mind. As luck would have it, ran into some of my bicycling pals from one of our bike shops. They drooled over the Gunnar, of course.

Speaking of the Gunnar, after only a few weeks of riding the Gunnar out on the road, I've built my strength up to the point where it's probably time to go to a bit higher gearing if I'll only be using it for road work.

[Crankin]

Didn't ride yesterday, it was still kind of misty and cool in the AM. When my son and family got here for the holiday, we walked to the playground, which ended up being just under 4 miles RT. It was interesting to watch my granddaughter play around other kids her age. She is way more physically agile and unafraid than most of the other girls we saw. I am so happy they are encouraging this!
This morning I went out and did my usual short "dark ride," although now that the sunrise is at 5:10, it's not dark. It was 57 out and humid as hell. Rode the Guru, with pedals loosened, it was better than Saturday, but now that I am used to the electronic shifting on my Trek, my hands are sore from the regular Ultegra. It's really more on the front (left hand) that bothers me, so I will have to do some kind of strengthening before my trip. I can definitely see how Di2 would help someone with arthritis.
Tomorrow, the club ride is another beach ride, up on the North Shore. However, this time, it starts in a place that is a pain to get to. I have no time restrictions, but I just can't get motivated to drive in traffic for this. I do want to ride in some different places, though. Well, I'll do something on my own.
Weather looking horrible for our club rally on Saturday. Looks like I'll be getting a free happy hour and dinner, without the volunteer leading part!

[north woods gal]

Hope everyone had a chance to ride over the long weekend. If not, still hope you had a nice holiday.

Crankin, I've had the same problem, too, with shifting up to the higher chainring (left side) on road bikes. I get a little arthritis, too, now and then. Some days, it seems like it takes way too much effort. Down is not bad, but on a compact double, that's a lot of teeth to cover when you shift to the big ring. My usual 105, though, was at least better than the SRAM Apex is used for a while. That one was really hard to shift.

We broke records with our weekend heat wave and, believe me, heat waves are a rare thing in these parts. Spooky strange. Still, I managed to do my usual daily 15-20 miles by riding early and/or late. My morning rides army favorite because I get to ride laps around the neighborhood with my husband. (A lap around our neighborhood is 2.2 miles, by the way and all hills.) This time of year, we often get to stop and visit our neighbors, which we all know. Mostly, though, it's just special being able to ride with my guy.

He's good for a few laps, but because of his long history of back issues, longer rides are out of the question. I then continue on my own to finish my road workout farther from home. Ever since I got that darn single speed, it's been what I've been riding for my road work. It's a "skinny" tire bike as far as MTBs go, so it's does fine on good gravel roads or hard pack dirt roads, but a 29x2.2" bike wheel is no match for the worst of our gravel and sand roads. Time to grab the ECR and do some exploring on those roads.

Late afternoon is when I finish up my daily riding with trail work on my own MTB trails. Our trails are so dry, right now, that I rarely grab a fat bike. Besides, I get plenty of fat bike riding all winter long. Even the skinny tire MTBs do fine, right now, but my favorite to ride on my trails is still my Krampus with its 29x3 wheels. What can I say? I love riding steel bikes, either on the road or the trail. I may just sell off a couple of aluminum bikes, in fact, and stay with almost all steel bikes to ride.

One note to add: my Gunnar SS was built with a carbon flat bar. It's my first ever carbon handlebar. I love it! Has just enough flex to absorb a lot of buzz that gets to my hand with metal handle bars. Very nice feel. Feather light, too. May get one for the Log Lady when it arrives.

[justalex]

I am too busy on my task at work that I only get to ride my bicycle on weekend. BTW, I am a newbie so pardon me for being an intruder.