June rides, summer begins

[Crankin]

Glad you are doing well, increasing your walking, NWG. Yeah, I hate the trainer, too. So much so, that they have not been used since we moved 2 years ago. I'd rather walk outside in the freezing cold, snow shoe, nordic ski or even go to spin class, before the trainer.
I have a weird schedule today, so I worked from 9-11 and then came home. Did one of my short 9 mile rides and just finished lunch, will be heading back to the office at 2:30. It is a perfect quintessential New England day, 77 degrees and no humidity. My legs felt strong, but I am still having groin/back/thigh issues. I am just too lazy to start up PT again, but I may have to. This time, I will see one of the therapists at the hospital sports med center; my prior PT is a nice guy, but the office is awful, won't go into all of it. My trip to the Berkshires (big hills) is in 2 weeks, so I have to see what happens. It's going to be nice again tomorrow, on my day off, so I really want to ride 25 miles. Hopefully, the stretching and icing will help.
We are going down the Cape early Friday, for the weekend, to stay with friends. They ride, slowly, and this time of year, not such a great place to ride. I think we will skip bringing the bikes, as we have hiking planned. Last time, DH and I went out at 6 AM, and there were already horrible 90 year old drivers out!

[north woods gal]

Don't blame you about the traffic. That's one thing I DO NOT miss at all. We have our own set of challenges, up here, when it comes to biking, but traffic is never one of them.

I overdid my walking, yesterday, with a full 4 miles. I made the mistake of wearing my neck brace too loose and that meant too much neck movement. My muscles just weren't ready for all that pounding. The muscles locked up, bad, overnight and despite the pain pills, had a miserable night. The good news is that I went back out, today, with the neck brace properly tight, slowed down and cut back to my usual 3 miles and feel much better. The muscles are finally relaxed.

The depression, though, does wear me down a bit, but I've anticipated it and just keep going, dreaming of the day when I can finally get back and ride.

We're in for another couple of 90 degree days over the weekend. If so, that would give us more 90 degree days in one summer than we've had in the entire 9 years since we've lived, up here. Our biologists are a bit concerned about the heat, because we do have some northern species of plants that are heat sensitive. Our forest experts tell us that our north woods are slowly, but surely, receding north with each passing year, now, and becoming more hardwood forest than conifer forest, thanks to global warming (and they do have the data to back it up).

[ny biker]

I led a club ride on Sunday, 49 miles. It was very humid and the pavement was still wet in the shady areas when when we finished even though there been no rain for hours. High clouds kept the sun from warming things up too much until the end of the ride. There were only three of us; although we were in an area that is one of my favorites and is generally popular for cycling year-round, very few people in my bike club are interested in riding there. Not sure if they think it's too far away from where they live or what. Anyway, most of the people who are willing to ride there are out of town now doing Bike Virginia or recovering from injuries. So I actually expected no one to show up, and was pleased to have two companions. We stayed together the whole time and had a very nice ride. Two of us have birthdays this month, and the third treated us to birthday ice cream at our second rest stop.

Today the weather is about perfect for summer, warm but with low humidity. Tomorrow the rain returns. So I am going out to ride tonight. I expect my legs to feel tired because we rode faster than my usual pace for most of the ride two days ago. But that's okay.

[emily_in_nc]

I got out for my first ride in two weeks today! Our usual ride on the West Orange Trail, 35+ miles. More people out in the heat and humidity than I anticipated, but it was nice to see others suffering as well.

I actually felt pretty good for having such a long layoff, and managed my usual average speed. I suspect my legs might be a little sore tomorrow, but we have a long list of chores and errands, so it will be a day off the bike. Then riding again Thurs. and Friday.

[north woods gal]

Good for you, Emily. That's he same trail I rode on a rented bike when I was in Florida. Of course, it's also the same trail where I bonked for not being acclimated to the heat and humidity. Really enjoyed the trail, itself, though. We have no such long distance bike trails, up here. The more populated areas of Wisconsin to the south do, though. Still, it would be great to have one, up here.

I'm holding up, well enough, but throwing a leg over a bike and taking off for a ride has become such an ingrained reflex for me that I actually have to concentrate NOT to do it, now. Just nuts. Not being able to go for a ride sometimes leaves me with a weird stranded, cut-off sort of feeling, like something is very wrong. Kind of crazy the way bicycling can get into one's blood that way.

[ny biker]

I rode last night, 21 miles. When I started out I felt like doing the hilliest version of my weeknight hill ride, but as I rode I decided my legs were not up for it. But I still did one of the more challenging versions, and then added some loops around flat neighborhoods at the end. It was a good ride.

It was in the high 70s and I actually felt cool at the start. It was much more like spring than summer. Also much more like spring -- with the low humidity, there was all kinds of pollen (and/or dust) in the air, and it stuck to my contact lenses and made my eyes hurt a lot. Pollen levels are officially "low/moderate" right now, but I guess that's enough to cause problems for me. I think the best thing would have been to wear my Rx glasses rather than contacts. I removed the contacts and put saline in my eyes as soon as I got home, and used the antihistamine eye drops last night and this morning, so now the itching has mostly subsided but my eyes are still puffy and I look terrible.

Despite the eye problems, it was a very good ride. I was able to ride a slightly faster pace and felt stronger than I've felt on the bike in a long time, despite my on-again off-again schedule of late.

[Crankin]

We don't have any longer trails, either, NWG. The one by me has taken so long to start being built, because each town has its own set of rules, etc, that the guy who it is named after died (he was the one who started the push for it). But still, even now, it's only about 12 miles one way. In the end, it should be about 20. Even the Minuteman, which is well known is only 11 miles. It's just busy as hell.
I am being thwarted by the cycling gods and my own laziness. Got all dressed in my cycling clothes, prepared my bottles and set up my bike for a longer ride. Went to put on my shoes and I found the strap that you push into the ratchet was on the floor! These cycling shoes are only 6 weeks old, and the ratchet/strap is backwards from other shoes I've had, in that the strap is attached to the outside of the shoe and the thing you push it into is on the body/top of the shoe. These shoes were the closest to the old ones I had, which are no longer made. I did find a small screw on the floor next to my shoes, so who knows. And yes, I have another bike, with other shoes/pedals, but I don't have a bag on that bike; DH set up an attachment to move my bag from bike to bike, but I am not quite sure how it works. And I didn't want to tempt fate by riding 20-30 miles without flat stuff and food. I am totally useless when it comes to this mechanical stuff (moving the bag), that I will have DH show me, but that doesn't guarantee I will remember the steps.
So, I changed clothes and did a 4+ mile walk/hike involving neighborhood streets, a dirt road, and a trail. Didn't see a soul and I do feel like I got a good workout, but I want to ride.

[emily_in_nc]

Sorry Crankin, what a pain. Sometimes it just seems that we aren't meant to ride that day, but there will be another one!

Today we had some errands to run and had planned on walking, but it was just so darn hot and humid that we took our cruiser bikes instead, and I am so glad that we did. First to the bank to do some business, then to the vet for some dog food. While there, I remembered that we didn't get cash at the ATM while at the bank doing other business (cancelling a wire transfer order we used while in Playa del Carmen), so we had to ride back to the bank. It was too bad, as that was a much busier route back than we'd planned. All in all, just around 4.5 miles -- I don't have a computer on that bike so am just guessing. I sure am glad we didn't walk it, with the extra trip to the bank. We would have melted!

My trapezius muscles are sore today from the ride yesterday after the longish layoff. Just one of many reasons I don't like layoffs! We'll be doing our usual ride tomorrow.