June rides, summer begins

[Crankin]

Well, I finally made it to the group ride, but I had to force myself! I rode to the start, 3.7 miles and off we went. This group uses human arrowing, so I volunteered at the third turn, unfortunately, right before 2 climbs, so I was playing catch up for awhile, as we had one really slow person with the sweep, and I had to wait. Thankfully, he stopped at the top of the second climb. Since we were still in Acton, I had to keep forcing myself not to turn around and go home, as my groin was killing me. But, I knew once we got to the next climb, it would be flatter after that, so I kept going. We stopped here, and someone went back a different way with the slow person. Then, we got a really nice road that its a scenic bikeway, which I don't ride too often anymore. We stopped at a pond to use the porta potty and I decided at this point, I would take the bike trail back to the point where I can quickly access roads to get me home, like I did a couple of weeks ago. I was not going to the lunch, it was getting hot and by this point my hamstrings were cramping. The trail is shady. Glad I made this choice, because otherwise the I would be riding through both town centers, totally unshaded, with added heat from cars at lunch time. I enjoyed the trail, although I had to slow a bit because of my hamstrings. When I got off of the trail and turned onto the first side street, I stopped and finished my Skratch Lab bottle, poured some water on my head, and then headed across the highway, which leads to a short, steep hill. When I got within about a mile of my house, after the last climb, I drank the last of the water. I never do that. It's only 80 out, but humid, and thankfully, partly cloudy.
I may need a massage! Enjoyed the ride, but I need to do more of these.
34.5 miles

[north woods gal]

Sounds like a hood workout, Crankin. Glad to hear you stuck it out and finished it the way you wanted.

My "substitute bicycling" (walking ) is going well. One week out from my accident and I am averaging two miles a day of ever more brisk walking. Can't say that I'm falling in love with walking again. In fact, it's kind of blah compared to my bicycling. It is so very necessary for me to be doing, now, so it will continue. All my neighbors encourage me when they see me, so that's nice.

We did stop at one of our local shops, the one where we get most work done on our bikes. I discussed some projects and builds I want to do during my recovery period. It will be a good way to keep me busy and, hopefully, remove any temptation to get on a bike and ride before getting cleared by my doctor. Really is hard for me, though. Been riding so long it's almost like breathing. My husband, though, says he will get a huge chain and lock up my bikes if I try any riding before the doc says its okay.

A few days before my accident I had traded in a couple of aluminum bikes to finance a new steel bike. Was going to get a Salsa Marrakesh which is a very traditional 700x35 touring bike, but that same premonition that prompted me to get a new helmet for the sake of safety before my accident also prompted me to avoid going with a skinny tire bike for the same reason. This is what I got instead. Came in a few days after my accident, so all I get to do is drool on it for now. Doesn't get safer or more stable than a fat bike. This is the new edition of the Pugsley. This edition has been redesigned to now be more of a heavy duty, off road touring bike. Love the color.

[Crankin]

That is a cool looking bike, NWG.
I saw an article about the ultimate commuter bike, a custom 7. Just for fun, I read it. Sure, it's everything I want, but it costs just slightly less than my Silque, so that won't be happening!
I did my annual early AM summer solstice ride. I left at about 5:20 (not exactly sure). It was only 57, so I was wearing arm and knee warmers and a vest. Could have taken the knee warmers off near the end, though.
I did a different early morning ride than usual, as although I woke up feeling pretty good, I didn't want to stress my back/groin/hamstring by climbing, so I rode over to Concord Center and back, trying to recreate the rides I used to do, before I moved to my condo. This necessitated crossing the highway twice, and on the way there, I had to wait awhile for the light, as there were not too many cars to trigger it. But, the ride was fine and I was almost back home at the actual time of the solstice at 6:07. The ride was just over 10 miles, which is perfect for a ride this early in the AM.

[north woods gal]

Thanks for the reminder. Yes, Happy Solstice, everyone!

Sheila, I got the medium on the new Pugs. The new Pugs is a bit longer and taller than the original Pugs. A medium on the new Pugs is right between a medium and a large on the old Pugs. A large in the new Pugs is definitely larger than the large in the old Pugs.

My original Pugs is a large. Wouldn't have ordered it in that size, but I bought it used from a guy who had just gotten the bike and discovered he needed a medium. Got a great price on it and it was practically brand new. Couldn't pass it up. Anyway, I made the large work on the original Pugs by going to a shorter stem to get the correct reach, but my seat post is down about as far as it can go and the standover height is just doable on this original large Pugs. A large in the new Pugs would have been too large, in other words.

Fat bikes do make fabulous utility bikes, by the way. The ride is so stable and comfy, too. No such thing as a road you can't ride on a fattie. My husband discovered this, yesterday. His Specialized fat bike (which he rides every single day) started having issues with mis-shifts. Since I can't do any bending over to work on a bike, right now, we just loaded it up and took it into the bike shop for a complete tune. it needed it, anyway. That left him with his old 26" MTB with its skinny 2.2" tires to ride. He came back after half his usual ride and was not happy with it. Said it felt too twitchy and finicky about steering and not at all stable to ride. I'm going to set him up on my old Pugs to ride, today.

[Crankin]

I finally got to the Friday ride I sometimes help lead, meaning, I sweep. I really don't like to ride, other than utility riding, on a day I go to the gym and do boot camp, but it is so gorgeous out, I decided to just go. It was 72 when I got to the ride start, dry and clear blue skies. Of course, only, Jack, the other leader showed, and I knew this would work in my favor. Jack is a fast and strong rider, but is perfectly happy to ride at different speeds. So, off we went. I knew my legs were kind of dead, so as we approached a very hard and steep climb, I told him "no." We altered the route, so it was 25 miles, instead of 30, but there was enough climbing for me, even with this. We actually came back on the same road we went out on, and it is flat, with a bit of a false flat, near the last couple of miles, and we really pushed it, so my average was not that bad.
I am glad I went, but I am really tired. Somehow, I managed to get all my shopping done this afternoon, and am now awaiting the arrival of my granddaughter for the weekend. The weather is going to be kind of crappy, so I hope we get our hike in.

[ny biker]

Catching up... my parents were in town for a visit earlier this month, which meant I missed a ride that I had done every year since 2004 -- the Patuxent River Rural Legacy ride, which is a metric in southern Maryland with rest stops along the river. But I have gotten in a couple of good night rides after work in the past couple of weeks. There was a chance of rain for both of them, so I was prepared to take short cuts if needed. But I got lucky and was able to get in 20 miles last week and 19 miles last night.

Last weekend I did a bit of exploring. I joined a ride with a different club than the one I usually ride with, for a 30-mile ride around the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. I've ridden around that general area before but this particular route was new to me. I had really wanted to do a longer ride, especially since the ride start is quite far from my house, so I went up early and did a quick 13-mile loop on my own before the club ride began. Of course I was running late so I had to motor on my pre-ride to make sure I finished in time. It was the first time in a while that I really pushed myself on the bike. The weather was great, sunny and in the 80s but with reasonable humidity and no wind. Afterwards I drove around exploring some other roads that I will try to incorporate on future rides.

This weekend if the forecast holds I will ride on Sunday.

[Crankin]

We bought a Burley trailer for our granddaughter! We won't have it for a few days, but I think DH finally saw the light, in that if she is going to be here for the whole weekend, we want to be able to share some riding with her.
Taking her to the LBS today, for a cool helmet. Now, she just has to grow, so she can use the balance bike we have waiting. She tried to get on it last time, but, it's going to be a few months, or a year, she is so little.