Ride Report June 14

[Dogmama]

I got out at 4:45 this morning, but there wasn't even a hint of coolness in the air (84 degrees, I think). Sweated like a pig through the 20 miles, but it was nice to ride anyway! Very little traffic and not many cyclists out at that time of morning. Is always pleasant to ride before dawn.

80 degrees in Tucson - I'm with ya, mtkitchn! 19 miles through the foothills starting at 5:15. Nice ride, bombed downhill & dried off most of the sweat before getting home.

[makbike]

I got in a nice 46 miles this afternoon. The 3 hours I spent on the bike were heaven and h*ll. My legs did not want to pump the first 20 miles or so and I almost turned around and headed home. I also have a bad case of poison ivy on my neck, chin and face and the straps on my helmet were rubbing and I was at times very uncomfortable. However, I found a Clif bar in my bag, downed it and decided to finish the route (I was riding a route I had put together on paper for a club ride I'm hosting next week). I'm glad I finished the ride for I finally found my rhythm and had a great second half. I saw some quail, a doe and a beautiful orange bird (I think it was a Baltimore Oriole but I have to look it up in my bird book this evening). The weather is great here, mid 70's, low humidity, slight breeze. Time for dinner and some quiet time on the couch with my cross stitch and my cats/kittens.

[uk elephant]

Did a short version of my ride from the station before my town, loop through countryside, home. 14 miles total and for some reason today my legs moved as if through treacle (which I have only just figured out what is since I moved here to UK). Slow going. I blame it on the winds. Which will hopefully at some point make me strong enough to tackle hills at some point in the future. Less than a year to AidsRide! AAAA!! Panic!!!!

Did a bit of exploring on my ride too. Found a website for a local farm offering pick-your-own berries not too far from town. Turns out it is only 4.5 miles from my house. And next door to that farm is another one with a plant nursery and tea room. Could make for a nice Sunday outing if I can convince people to join me. I think at least BF is up for it.

And on a completely unrelated side-note: Susie Q the cat is being very cute. She for some reason prefers curling up on paper or cardboard. She has now made herself cozy in my cardboard box full of papers I'm supposedly using as references for my thesis. She is putting the papers to much better use than me.....

[Lise]

Nothing much, 3 miles to the clinic and 3 miles home on the Marin, because the Bianchi's back tire was flat this morning--broken valve on both front and back tires. While it took me over an hour and a lot of swear words and tears, not to mention self-deprecatory pleadings for help on this very forum to change the first tire Monday night, it took me an easy 10 min to change the back one today! Whoo-hoo! The Green Hornet rides again, and if she flats, I can fix it! Even with a short ride to and from work, it felt so good. This is my favorite weather, cool, sunny, everything in bloom and smelling good. Reminds me of summer as a kid, when you'd just gotten out of school and got to ride your bike all over.

beta--where are you? I go offline for a weekend, and you're exploring a deer-infested countryside populated by camp-going children? Toto, I don't think we're in Oak Park anymore!

ukeliphant--SusieQ?! How adorable. I'll have to scan and upload a picture of Isaac the cat sleeping on my keyboard when I was in grad school. One time I got up to go the kitchen while I was working on my thesis. When I came back, the screen was blank. Had I saved my work before getting up? Of course not. Oh, the sick feeling my the pit of my stomach. Fortunately, Isaac had just put his head down on the "tab" key and inserted 5 pages of tabs. Whew.

mtbdarby and janet--good luck with the hands. What precious tools they are.

[betagirl]

beta--where are you? I go offline for a weekend, and you're exploring a deer-infested countryside populated by camp-going children? Toto, I don't think we're in Oak Park anymore!

LOL. I'm up by Chain-O-Lakes state park playing camp therapist for a week for a camp for kids who have a parent who's had/has cancer. I get back Friday. Not exactly too remote, but surely not Oak Park either

[Fredwina]

Well, after I got backup keys to casa, and permission from my boss to swap days off. I went on a ride.
I pedaled west thru Upland and into claremont
That's Ontario peak in the background.
I rode to a shinn road. It normallly takes me about hour twenty miniutes from place. Today it only took hour 15! Whoo Hoo!

I decided to climb a little bit further. Saw plenty of Spanish broom along the way:

Finally I reached the south tunnel on Baldy road:

There was also a neat Yucca Plant that was still in bloom:

I decided to turn around here and fly back down the hill. about 24 miles and 2,000 feet

[dachshund]

I actually rode my new bike today! Woo hoo!
I got a serious flu right after I bought it, so this was my first outing with the clipless pedals. I took it to a nearby park and rode around and aound... in the grass. When I got the hang of clipping out, I rode around and around in the basketball court. Clip out, back in, stop, start. I did this for an hour and then rode home.

It's a start!
Now that I don't think I'm going to fall EVERY time I ride, maybe I'll put the computer on.

Amy

[JoyfulGirl]

Decided to ride into town for groceries today. Thought I'd take a little detour. Finally got to town. Loaded up with groceries. Realized weight makes quite a difference when biking. the 6 miles there was a coasty spinny downhill dream. the 6 miles back was an uphill, a slow meandery one but still UPHILL, almost the entire way. The last leg of it is of course uphill but it's a gravel road that takes a mountain goat or a range rover <or my mountain bike> to get up.

I flopped down on the porch glad I made it home, looking forward to stretching and then making some dinner. Realized I hadn't picked up any smokes. Well, that's one way to quit. I'm sure as &*@) not biking that again tonight to get a pack of coffin nails. I'm sure I'll do it later. in a day or three. when I'm feeling seriously masochistic. That last half mile nearly killed me. I know I'm out of shape but GEEZE that was brutal.

[crazycanuck]

Reminder to self..do not lose extra bike light in house...Where is it...???

I wanted to go for a 2-2 1/2hr ride tonight but knew that if i couldn't find the extra weeny light i'd be relying on imaginary night vision goggles for the venture home....I have 1hr on my light before it needs recharging....

I wanna ride my bike....it's calling me...

c

[Duck on Wheels]

Decided to ride into town for groceries today. Thought I'd take a little detour. Finally got to town. Loaded up with groceries. Realized weight makes quite a difference when biking. the 6 miles there was a coasty spinny downhill dream. the 6 miles back was an uphill, a slow meandery one but still UPHILL, almost the entire way. The last leg of it is of course uphill but it's a gravel road that takes a mountain goat or a range rover <or my mountain bike> to get up.

I flopped down on the porch glad I made it home, looking forward to stretching and then making some dinner. Realized I hadn't picked up any smokes. Well, that's one way to quit. I'm sure as &*@) not biking that again tonight to get a pack of coffin nails. I'm sure I'll do it later. in a day or three. when I'm feeling seriously masochistic. That last half mile nearly killed me. I know I'm out of shape but GEEZE that was brutal.

Now just think how much easier that hill will get for each time to you ride it and keep "forgetting" to buy the lung gunk. You'll be building hill climbing strength twice as fast as the rest of us.

[SJCzar]

Yep, janetsplanet that the same tour I'm doing. I can't wait. By the way did you get an email today regarding this year's Paperfest Ride? I'm going to try to switch my work schedule so I can do it. Maybe we can meet up again....I'm sure you're ready to do the 75 miles this year.

OK... Back to the Topic : As for today's ride, I did our usual Weds. night group ride. The weather was a bit cloudy with a few drizzles but no swarms of gnats like have been out on the trails lately. We took a detour thru the botanical gardens and the smells were heavenly. Since there weren't any walkers around we cheated and went up and down a few of the paved garden paths for a closer look.