July rides

[Crankin]

We had our heavy rain, but it didn't last as long as predicted. Temperature and humidity should be down to normal in 2-3 hours. It's below 80, finally.
Granddaughter is here; we fit her helmet to her and before we could test out how she fit in the trainer, she ran over to the strider bike we have sitting in the basement, and tried to get on. She's not big enough yet, but she knows hemet=bike. We are going to do our maiden voyage with her in the trailer, tomorrow, just 2.2 miles to the playground. After she goes home, we will do a small ride.
Only 3 people in my boot camp today. It felt really hard, and I was kind of dizzy until I ate breakfast. Then, went I went out to the store, I started feeling off. It's kind of calmed down, though and I am looking forward to a low humidity weekend of riding.

[emily_in_nc]

Have fun riding with your granddaughter, Crankin!

Pax, great to see you on here. Are you in Florida?

Amazingly, we managed to get all four of our weekday rides in this week (M Tu Th Fr). This morning's was the most comfortable, since it was overcast, which kept the heat down a bit. Still very humid, but at least without sunshine, you stand a fighting chance. The last two rides this week, I felt a bit better, so perhaps I am acclimating to summer in Florida.

We met a nice guy visiting from Puerto Rico today on our ride (he needed directions), so we rode with him for a few miles. He was riding a cool little Tern folding bike. Talked to him about the hurricane last year and how he fared. He owns a business and said that they have gone full-solar now, so if the power goes out again, they should be good. Really nice guy and a strong rider. Then I get home and see Hurricane Beryl heading for the islands and cringe. Hopefully it will weaken and give them a break -- and not come up to Florida either!

[north woods gal]

Neat to meet such a guy, Emily. I do hope those people can get a break and avoid any hurricanes, this year.

Our temps have moderated to more normal July for us, so the walking has been quite pleasant. Okay, except to the deer flies and black flies. Used to be able to mostly outrun them on the bike, but not so on foot. Never leave home without the bug spray, now. Darn things.

Still need to do some mods on the new Pugsley I bought just before the accident. Hope to switch out to better rolling tires and will be adding a rear rack. The new Pugs will be kind of my heavy duty ECR for going down dirt and sand roads where even the ECR might struggle and, yes, we do have such roads, up here. Once you start down an old logging road or fire road you never know what you'll find. The new Pugs may even get modded to a single speed. Kind of a doomsday utility bike. That would be fun. We'll see.

[Pax]

Emily - yup, we got invited back to New Smyrna by a couple of friends so we’re spending the month of July at the beach.

[emily_in_nc]

Emily - yup, we got invited back to New Smyrna by a couple of friends so we’re spending the month of July at the beach.

That's great, although not sure I would choose July to come to Florida. But a free place to say is a free place to stay, right?!

[Crankin]

Our first experience with the Burley went fine! I rode ahead of DH, who has the trailer on his Guru, so I waited after I turned onto the street with park. She was perfect. There were others at the park with trailers, too... lots of young parents my kids' age, I seriously don't know how they can afford a house in my town. We stayed for about an hour and fifteen minutes, and then she promptly fell asleep in the ten minutes it takes to ride home. My son had to wake her up when they got here an hour later, and she was not happy. But, the experience was a success. Next time, we will ride on the bike trail, although we probably will drive to the beginning.
Later, DH and I went out and did our shortish 18 mile flat loop. It is just perfect out, 78 degrees and dry. It was kind of fast, but, I handled it. Hope to do a long ride tomorrow. We leave for the Berkshires on Thursday, and I have not ridden more than 36 miles on one ride, although, I've climbed enough.

[north woods gal]

Love the pic and really, really glad to see the helmet. Thank-you.

[rebeccaC]

Feels sooooo good to be back home and with Alex!!! Back to just commutes for, again, a while….. but with some good rides during this work trip in my memory bank!!!

it's not much fun for him to stay with me the entire time when he's feeling good, since he could go a lot faster than me.

I’m grateful that Alex and I are equal in our riding and we actually like challenging each other especially on climbs. With her pregnancy she’s now focused on swimming/water aerobics, prenatal yoga and just the occasional bike path ride…..i’ve really missed her on my recent long rides/climbs! I am thankful for our beach walks together and helping her stay strong and happy!!!

If all my riding from now on is road or rail-to-trail kind of riding, so be it.

Thinking we are entering a new phase that will include much less of our past kind of riding but is more than balanced by being blessed with the new journey of raising a child…..and when the time is right, starting with a jogging stroller ftw!!! i'll be happy to just go with what the future holds....even if it's mostly commutes.

[north woods gal]

Dogs are not much of a problem, up here, even though we are very rural. Our game department gets very nasty about dogs running loose and chasing deer or other game and will issue citations for it. Have lived in farm country, though, and farm dogs in some areas that see few bicyclists or even vehicle traffic tend to be very protective of their home. Those have been the worst, in my experience. More than once, I've had to get off the bike and use it as a shield. Was bad enough in some areas, that I changed my bicycle routes. Up, here, though, it's deer popping out in front of you with no warning.

Going to go over the bikes and start getting them ready for riding - again- just in case I get cleared to ride on Thursday. Ot maybe I'll just ride, no matter what. Naughty me.

[Crankin]

The weather here feels tropical, like after a hurricane or tropical storm has come through. I slept late (6:30) for me and woke up feeling groggy from an extra hour of sleep. To my surprise, the sun was out. I was considering going to the gym, taking a walk, or a short ride. I decided to do the walk, so I ate breakfast, and then DH said, "It's raining." I hate this. But, the rain ended by the time I was ready to leave, and I had a nice breezy and humid 3 mile walk. The group ride was cancelled as I knew it would be, as it's already stormy out by where it was going.
I am going to have what I call a "normal person" day, on my day off. Rest day tomorrow, and Friday I am skipping the gym to co-lead the regular Friday ride I hardly ever get to. Sunday we are doing a hilly 31 mile ride in western MA with our friends, in an area I have never ridden in.

[emily_in_nc]

Wow, I can't imagine loose dogs on trails, Crankin. We have ridden trails (paved and unpaved) all over the country and have only a couple of times encountered a loose dog. That's one reason I really like trails these days. When we were traveling in our RV around the southeast, anytime we'd ride outside the campground, seems like we'd get chased by ornery country dogs. Had to turn around several times and cut our rides short for that reason. DH is wonderful, though. He knows how much I fear dogs when I am riding (I love them under other conditions!) and always puts himself between me and the dog(s), or stays back until he's sure I'm safely past, stuff like that. In the south, it is usually the houses/farms that have multiple dogs that are a problem, as there is always a leader who seems to egg the other dogs on.

We have decided to cut back to riding three times a week instead of our usual four, for a couple of reasons. One, DH has had more aches and pains and, at 64, he really feels that too much intense riding is beating up his body a bit too much. He's not the type who can go out and ride "easy", unless he's riding his Townie. But once he's on his Trek, he has to go fast and furious, so three times a week of that (40 miles each time) is enough. The other thing, more for me than for him, is the weather. The heat and humidity are just really tough here, and cutting back by one ride is one less day to have to deal with that. We can take a shorter walk or go to the gym but just don't need to be out in that for 3+ hours. Especially since there's always dog walking, errand running, laundry, and other things to do that put us outside.

So, we took a nice hour-long walk yesterday instead of riding. Today we were back on the trail, and we ended up having to cut the ride short as storms threatened. It looked terrible, but when we got back, it ended up not raining. Seems like storms have been going just east or just west of us all day, but we haven't been hit with rain yet, just a couple rumbles of thunder and some wind. It was super humid on the ride today, though -- whew! Got in 27.5 miles instead of my usual 35, but I will take it.

Good luck tomorrow, nwg! I'll be thinking about you and crossing my fingers and toes you get cleared to ride!

[Crankin]

Yes, good luck, NWG. Cannot wait to hear the results of your appointment.
Emily, when I say trails, I mean trails in the woods. Places where you would hike, trail run, or mountain bike. Every town around here has conservation land, and at least 3/4 of this land has trails. We are blessed with this beauty, but the dog owners in my town are like people who do not believe in vaccinating your kids, if you get my drift. If a dog park is proposed, they go nuts and say it's "not natural." I have been to dog parks in 2 states with my younger son and his dog, and the dog seemed to love it perfectly well.
Your husband is right, we do need more active rest as we age. I generally only take one full day off a week, but today, I did that 3 mile walk and then ran around for 4 hours with my granddaughter at a museum. I feel tired, just like from mild exercise.
When DIL mentioned the phrase, "we'll have fun," granddaughter ran to the basement door and started yelling "bicycle, bicycle... trailer."

[north woods gal]

Thanks, all. Hoping for the best on the report, but will let you know, regardless.

Emily, my routine has been short daily rides for some time, now, but that's typically an hour or two, at most, for a ride, not all day or all afternoon affairs. I find that short daily rides are doable for me at my age without a lot of wear and tear on the body, but they still keep me in good shape. Even if I miss a day or two in one week, I stay in shape. No big deal. It's the long rides that tend to wear me, down, and take so long for me to recover. It's that recovery time that is critical. I'm in my 60s, too, so I know how your DH feels. No shame in cutting back or altering your routine. In fact, it's the smart thing to do if we want to keep riding into our old age. And, yeah, I am going to make a lot of changes in the type of riding I do, thanks to my accident, but plan to keep doing my short and fun daily rides. Those I can handle. Got my DH doing it, now, too, and he loves it. His disabilities prevent him from walking any distance, but he can ride these short daily rides on his fat bike and now he's hooked.

Been my experience, too, on the dog parks. The dogs sure love it, natural or not. They're social animals, after all.