October rides: put a little color into it.

[north woods gal]

Ouch, girl! And here I thought hiking was safer than riding. Seriously, though, glad you survived it and were able to ride, the next day. Good for you.

Heavy duty trail work for me, today. Decided to do my first clearing of all the leaves and litter on the trails using a leaf blower. Not crazy about going with that kind of tool, but it allowed me to to do a full day's work or even more with a rake in a matter of a little over an hour. Still a lot of work. Of course, clearing the trails also revealed a lot of dangerous rocks and roots I hadn't noticed, before, so had to grab the axe and shovel, and go to work, next. Really kind of scared me to see some of those hazards I hand't seen, before, on trails that I had been riding hard and fast. Some could have flipped me. Not good.

Three days of rain in the forecast, so not sure how much riding I'll be dong.

[Crankin]

That sounds terrible, Sheila! Have you had migraines for a long time?

Yes, hiking in the northeast is almost as difficult as mountain biking. In fact, when we got to the flat part of the trail, we could see bike tire tracks, which was upsetting, since it was so wet, and it's just not good for the environment to do that. Yet, while hiking we saw so many people out there, like it was a walking the park, wearing regular sneakers or Tevas, definitely not in hiking clothes. My hiking knickers save me from having worse injury!

[Crankin]

Definitely get that checked out, to eliminate medical causes. Dental things cause a lot of misery. I have decent dental insurance, but it still doesn't pay for things like implants or very much for crowns, etc. Thankfully, I haven't had much dental work in my life. But, my jaw/bite/TMJ has not been the same since I had a bike crash in Spain last year. I didn't get injured, but what started as a massive headache, settled in my teeth, and then became a weird clicking. My dentist told me a crash couldn't cause this, but I don't believe him. No pain now, just a weird bite and clicking.

Are you getting ready for another hurricane?

[north woods gal]

Sheila, OMG, get that checked, right away. Can't begin to tell you how sorry I feel that this sort of thing has happened to you. You are in my prayers, girl. Please keep us posted.

Steady light rain and drizzle, when we woke up, this morning. Not sure how much riding I'll do, but I suspect everyone knows by now, that, yeah, I'll go riding, anyway, so might as well not even bother to question it. May even do a little trail work, too. My trails, little by little, are becoming smoother and and hazard free. By the time I'm done, I could probably ride them with a road bike. Yeah, before my accident I would describe this as making my trails more boring and dull, but funny how an accident can change your outlook on things. The important thing for me is that my trails remain the same as far as my physical exertion and conditioning needed, but they are now safer to ride and a bit more comfortable, too.

[emily_in_nc]

Sheila, ugh! I hope it's nothing serious. Please report back. Crankin, sorry you fell. I have fallen when hiking before too. No fun, but glad you weren't seriously injured.

I haven't been able to ride at all as our bikes are all taken apart. DH had to partially disassemble them to get the rental car packed with all our bikes + other things we'll be storing at my mother's while we're in Mexico. So, we didn't even bring our bike shoes up since the car was literally too full for another thing, and we're taking our bike shoes to Mexico. The neighborhood we're staying in in a very nice Airbnb house is VERY hilly, so cycling would have been an interesting challenge after Florida, if we'd been able to.

Car before unloading!


Looks like the Orlando area (where our motorhome is) will not have any significant issues from Hurricane Michael. In fact, western NC will be worse, but mostly just rain by the time it gets here on Thursday. Too bad, though, because we're heading up to my folks' mountain vacation home for a few days, and it sounds like we won't see the sun at all. It's too early for good foliage there, but it is a fun family time, and my brother and I enjoy catching up and hiking, since it's usually the only time I get to see him all year. I'm sure we'll still be able to hike some, but I'd hoped for bright blue skies. At least it isn't supposed to get cold until Michael is past.

[Crankin]

That sounds lovely, Emily. When are you leaving for Mexico? I forget.
I had a nice recovery ride to check out the new gourmet market on the other side of town. I was looking for some failed birthday cake replacements for tonight; I tried making a vegan pound cake with a frosting and it was a disaster, I think because the measurements were translated from metric. Luckily I have 3 frozen pieces of left over vegan chocolate cake (granddaughter is allergic to dairy AND eggs, DIL is vegan), so after I saw the new place didn't really have anything my son would like, I rode back to West Concord and stopped at another bakery where I bought 2 huge triple chocolate brownies for DH and my son. Of course, when I went out to unlock my bike, it was drizzling. I was wearing regular clothes, well, some wicking clothes that are nice enough to wear to work, and I did not want to have to change. Thankfully it stayed a drizzle, was starting to feel wet in the 2 mile ride home and I did not have to change. I had to quickly eat, go to the next town in my car to get a present for my son, come back, and make the dinner. If it had been nice out, I might have ridden to TJ Maxx to get the gift, but I was not prepared for rain.

[emily_in_nc]

That sounds lovely, Emily. When are you leaving for Mexico? I forget.

November 1. Can't wait as cold weather is coming here to NC by the end of the week (after Michael). I had to dig out some fall clothes in the vaccuum bags we have stored under my mother's guest bed so I'd have something to wear -- have worn nothing but shorts and t-shirts or tank tops in months. We leave to drive back to Florida on Monday, so we'll be back in the heat, but only for 1.5 weeks before we leave for good. Excited!

[north woods gal]

Congrats on the new bike, N.Y. Always fun getting a new bike tuned and fitted.

Woke up to a skiff of icy snow on the ground, this morning. Most of the leaves are down on the ground, now, so spent most of yesterday in the rain and falling snow clearing the trails of the heavy leaf layer. It's mostly a matter of safety, since the leaves hide some trail obstacles that can easily be avoided when you can see them. Clean trails also make for faster riding trails. I did finish up with some trail riding on the fat bike, of course. Can't go a day without some riding, right?

Looks like our fall season is going to be about as short as our spring season we had, this year. Some of my trails behind the house.

[north woods gal]

Despite the cold, did a lot of trail improvement work on a rough section. Finished up and just as I stepped back into the house, got a call from the bike shop that my gears for the Nature Boy were in. Loaded up the bike and they changed out the gearing while I waited. They gave me a lesson on how to change a chain ring in front and a single speed cog in the back, plus they sold me the two tools to do the job. Love these guys.

Went right home and did 16.5 miles on the Nature Boy, now with lower and more comfortable gearing. Turned the Nature Boy from a 15.5 mph bike at my max spin to 13.2 mph bike at my max spin. Doesn't sound like much of a difference, but it really is significant. It means that while I am a bit slower on the flats, I can do most of my climbing without having to stand on the pedals. Then, too, today I had to deal with strong winds and the lower gearing was much appreciated. Very pleased with my decision. I think my knees are pleased, too.

Did I mention that temps were only in the 30s during my ride? Still some colors on the trees and did have some sunshine, so despite the cold, it was a beautiful ride.

Here's a very retro add on I found at the bike shop. It's a Nantucket bike basket. I love it. It doesn't flop around like a nylon bag and the rigid construction with a big wide open top make finding items MUCH easier. Quality construction. Okay, not modern, high tech, but then, I'm not too modern and high tech, either. Wouldn't be riding steel single speed bikes if I was.

[Crankin]

I like that basket, NWG. I saw some like that at Belmont Wheelworks, when I bought the Ariel.
No riding today or yesterday. Bootcamp kicked my azz yesterday, but in a good way. However, my leg/knee started hurting worse from my hiking fall, mostly I think from the 2,000 ft of climbing I did on Sunday. I iced my leg 3 times yesterday and once this morning. It was such a beautiful fall day today, DH and I went on a 2.5 mile walk when we got home. My knee/leg feels sore, but it's not acute pain. I iced it again when I got back and I plan to do a 40 mile ride tomorrow. I did bag out of the 18n mile 1,300 ft of climbing ride, but I will ride with my usual group, right around here. It starts about 4 miles from my house the ride is 32 miles, so if I can stop myself from turning right onto my street when we ride by near the end, I should end up with 40. I have nothing else to do and I should socialize at lunch with these people.

[north woods gal]

Take care of that knee, girl. I worry a lot about blowing out a knee with all my single speed riding, now. A bad knee could really put an end to my biking. Do enjoy the fall weather, though. Get out and ride while you can.

Very nice day for us. Temps got up into the upper 40s and had some nice sunshine. Really nice day. Very welcome change from what we've been having for fall weather. Did our usual neighborhood roads ride of about 6 miles, me on the Nature Boy, now with more knee friendly gearing. Got home and traded the Nature Boy for the Log Lady with its trail friendly gearing and did 6 wonderful miles of laps and just noodling around for fun on my trails. Star loved it, too.

[Crankin]

It is not directly on my knee, so I am not overly concerned. It is right underneath, and also on the smallish bruise on the right side. I also have to consider I had that bike crash about 8 weeks ago, pretty much in the same spot, plus another one in June 2017. Nothing that required medical intervention, but, still repetitive stress.It basically feels bruised. Been cautious, but I think it just needs time.

[Crankin]

OK, I did the ride, at least most of it... I knew dressing for a temperature starting at 40 would be hard, because it would be going up to around 52-55. Though it was partly cloudy when I left to ride the 4 miles to the start, it became sunny. My mid layer (jersey) was basically too heavy... I was able to unzip my jacket and jersey and basically ended up taking both the heavy and light head cover off, and taking off my gloves in the middle of the ride and putting the liners I had used for the trip to the start on as gloves. I did wear my winter cycling shoes and that was fine.
There were about 15-20 people. Some I like, others, just weird. The leader was the woman whose DH got hit and killed by a driver a few years ago (on his way to the dentist). They are/were lovely people, but she's sometimes edgy when riding. I can't explain it. She can sustain a faster pace than me on flats for a longer period, but I can drop her in a minute on a climb. So, I alternately felt sweaty and my legs were burning from trying to stay with the front group. This ride was really just on all of the typical roads I ride on, especially the ones in Acton, Stow, and Boxboro, and back to Concord. However, near the end, where I had told her I was going to peel off and head home, she took a wrong turn (how can you do that with GPS?). It wasn't a big deal wrong turn, but it ended up in a spot where she was going to lead the group to make a left onto a busy road with a small rise and poor sightlines. I would never do that. Since I was already feeling tired from being overheated, I decided to part ways there and make a right on the busy road and then a left, which is a parallel street to the one they were heading for. I rarely take this way home, because it is really hilly, with 3 climbs, the first one the worst. It's also narrower than the other street, which is my go to way out of my area. But, I decided I'd get home quicker, although with less miles, and I could go as slow as I wanted, with no peer pressure!
I was very glad to get home. My total was 29 miles, not the 36 I thought I would have, but it's more than I would have done alone.