June rides, summer begins

[emily_in_nc]

After reading about the Dirty Kanza 200 , I have right to complain about my ride yesterday, but I will anyway.

OMG, the humidity was brutal! We really did have a nice spring here in Florida, but then the rains came for a couple of weeks, and now that we've dried out a bit, summer is here with a vengeance. Yesterday we were riding in the 80s up to about 92F, and the humidity had to have been about that high as well. DRENCHED! I stayed hydrated and had some yummy potatoes (with coconut oil, salt, pepper, mustard, and tumeric) for my snack, but it was still rough.

Today we are hitting the road for some time in NC visiting my family and a few doctor/dentist appointments. We'll take three days driving up in the motorhome. Probably won't get to do a lot of cycling in the next couple of weeks as I'll be doing stuff with and for the family, but I honestly don't mind missing during such a hot time of year. We'll be back here in Florida in the latter part of June and still have plenty of hot and humid rides ahead!

[north woods gal]

That was how that heat hit me in Florida, too. I do understand. That kind of heat and humidity combo is brutal. Hope you can escape some of it up in North Carolina. Ride when you can, of course. Have a great trip and visit.

We're doing fine, now, for our weather. Normal stuff for us in June. Cool enough i the morning for a light coat if I ride, then the coat comes off for the rest of the day.

[Crankin]

It did get up to 65 today, but, it rained half the day. Going to be 45 in the AM, with another chance of showers early, so I am meeting a friend for breakfast and will ride later. The group ride is a city ride, Cambridge and Boston, not for me! Not sure what I will do for my ride, but it should be 20-25 miles and I might ride Thursday morning, before work. I am no longer working on Fridays, so I finally have a chance to do the group ride, for the club I lead for. Not more than 4 have showed since my friend restarted it in May, but I get credit for co-leading if I go. We're heading out to western MA Friday afternoon, to help our friends lead a ride on Saturday. It's an easy ride we did last year, and then we will head home after the ride.
Hopefully, we can get through a weekend with no rain.
Have a good trip, Emily.

[north woods gal]

Finally, finally brought the Log Lady home, late, yesterday. Slapped some pedals on it and rode my trails till it got too dark to ride. That should tell you something about what I think of the bike. The most important thing I learned is that I got the gear ratio just right for my trails. All my calculations and experience with the other single speed paid off. Will report more, later. Unfortunately, looks like an all day rain, today, so riding may be a bit iffy. Cold, too. Of course, we all know how crazy I am.

[Crankin]

Well, it was cold this morning, and gray, so I met a friend for breakfast at 7:30. As I was pulling into the lot of the restaurant, I felt a little "off," in a way that is usually a sign I am coming down with something, allergies, or a weird kind of headache that isn't throbbing. I got through the breakfast, thinking eating would make it better, but I felt worse when I got home. So, I sat down and did some work. By 11:30, I knew I shouldn't ride. Another wasted day off, but I have a lot of riding planned in the next few days.
DH is working from home, so we took a 2 mile walk at lunch time, after which, I took an allergy pill, which has helped some.
The plan is to do an early AM ride tomorrow, if I feel ok at 5 AM.

[ny biker]

So I've been busy with too many things lately, some good and some stupid wastes of time. I had led a 50-mile ride on May 20, which overall was nice except for it being a very hot day. There were two rest stops, the second one at a church that was having a strawberry festival. I was feeling the heat between the rest stops but after only 5 minutes in the air conditioned church I recovered. Others in the group were also suffering, however, and they chose to sit outside in the shade rather than go into the A/C. This made a difference in the last few miles, and we had to stop several times for one person to rest in the shade. The result was the last part of the ride lasting much longer than it should have, so the heat started to get to me again (it was 3 pm by then) and I ended up with a bad headache. So a day that was both good and bad.

Then I went out of town for 6 days including Memorial Day weekend. I was in the Chicago suburbs with my sister, visiting my nephew who just started a job with a minor league baseball team there. It was hot and sunny which was okay for the night games but not okay during the Sunday afternoon game. I nearly melted. It did occur to me that at least it was a step on the road to acclimating to the heat.

The first weekend in June I figured I'd be able to get in a good bike ride, but it rained. Heavy rain with lots of flooded roads. And I had to spend time cleaning and getting my apartment ready for my parents to visit -- they arrive tonight. So no bike rides this weekend.

Fortunately the rain finally ended and I was able to ride after work on Monday, 17 miles. We are having spring weather now, with temperatures more typical for April. It was in the 60s Monday night.

p.s. My mountain bike is an old Trek 26" hardtail and I'm happy with it. But then I'm not into particularly technical riding.

[north woods gal]

NY, sounds like you got that heat that nailed us the last part of May. Broke all kinds of records, here. As for the old 26" MTB, the old 26ers will never die and they still do a great job, no matter how many new things the bike industry tries to sell us.

Well, here's the Log Lady.


Really is a beautiful steel frame, nicely done and well-designed. My only regret is that it doesn't say "Log Lady" anywhere on it. I can understand that All-City doesn't label their bikes with the models for the sake of sales, though. After all, they also make bikes like the Macho Man, Nature Boy, Electric Queen and Mr. Pink. Not sure I'd want to be tell people I ride a Macho Man.

Anyway, the Log Lady is a great trail bike and I've got the gearing set just right for my trails. Did a full 5 miles of trail riding, today, even though the trails were a bit squishy and slow after a rain, this morning. That's a complete set of laps that I usually ride and each lap has a strenuous climb. I'm going to feel it in the morning, but I did it.

Had the bike shop outfit the LL tubeless (highly recommend tubeless) with some very aggressive Continental 27.5x2.4" Trail Kings. I found out, just this morning, in fact, that climbing wet trails by standing on the pedals is a real plus with tires that have a good bite. From my snow riding experience, I know how much traction you lose when you get up off the seat. That's a big no no in the snow or real soft stuff. The Trail Kings are NOT fast rolling, but about as safe a tire as I can get when trail conditions are not at their best.

Talked to my bike guy at the shop. He used to race single speed MTB. He told me that almost all ss MTB racing is standing on the pedals. I can't imagine that. I'm NOT up to that, physically. Way beyond me. Oh, I can stand to pedal just enough to do my climbs, but no way could I manage it full time. Fortunately, I don't have to, with the way I geared the Log Lady. I can stay mostly seated when riding the flat sections. Still a heavy workout, but doable and that was my goal. Really is a trick to riding this single speed stuff, so it's been interesting and fun to learn. Kind of nice, too, to have handlebars with only brakes to operate. Hey, who needs shifters, anyway, right?

[azfiddle]

Hi everyone- I've been MIA for quite a while- just had other stuff going on.

I was commuting at least 4 days a week for most of the spring. May 8, a kid on a scooter stepped off the curb, turned in front of me (perpendicular to my direction of travel) and I looked up with the realization that I was going to hit him. He was fine.... I'm 30 days out from the accident and finally feeling almost back to normal. The right side of my rear end hit the ground really hard and jarred my lower spine as well as doing some soft tissue damage. Things have calmed and I'm going to PT now, which is helping work on my core, stretching hamstrings and strengthen my back and gluteal muscles. I was actually worried it was worse than it was because it got worse before it got better, but I'm now back to riding on the mostly flat bike paths. Not back to climbing yet though.

Anyway- I'll try to check in again regularly. I've missed you guys.

Sharon

[rebeccaC]

beautiful bike nwg....wishing you lots of enjoyable trail rides!!!!!.....glad to read you're getting better Sharon!!

.....too much going on for me and it's down to pilates/yoga and commutes for a few weeks.

[rebeccaC]

Good grief ……Hoping the healing process is quicker than you anticipate (remember you ARE Wonder Woman!!!) ….and that you find satisfying things to replace your wanting to be back on your trails in the meantime.
On my late ride home tonight from the office I lit some incense at the Buddhist temple here (covering that base for you ) …with wishes for strength and seeing such obstacles as vehicles for learning about and strengthening the body, heart and mind...
…….you know…i know somehow we are related
((HUG))