June 17 Ride Reports

[Dogmama]

Pooks - yahoo! You'll be talking to us about training for a century before you know it.

Nanci - thanks for the comment on the shorts. Like your new avatar too!

My report - Started at 5:30 - 40 frustrating miles. Roadwork hampered my plans - had to double back around at one point to avoid a completely torn up road. I've been really tired too - not sleeping well - so that didn't help.

Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

[AuntieK]

I got in a 35ish mile ride this morning, starting out at a chilly 5:30 a.m.
Last 5 or so miles there was a headwind, but otherwise the weather was pleasant.
Had a big scare (like life passing before my eyes) when a car coming in the opposite direction decided to pass another car going the same direction. He was coming straight at me, but managed to pull back into his own lane just before I practically dove off into the bushes on the side of the road!

[DebW]

I did 40 miles today from 2:30 to 5:30. Used a cycling road map and tried a new route on some nice roads, through an area of horse farms, past the Wayside Inn, etc.. Then I went off the edge of the map but still managed to not get lost. A short stop at Walden Pond to refill the water and eat a snack. I bet Thoreau would have enjoyed Walden Pond even more if he'd had a bike.

[ladyjai]

61 miles here. I rode to the bike club, was running a tad late. I arrived as the A Group was leaving, and went to join the other group. (Note the b group rides at 20-23mph, so I'm not sure how much of a B group they are, though they have long warmups with chatting)

However, I was a little confused to find the bikes still in everyone's trucks! With some confused sleuthing, I discovered they were driving up to a point about 1-1.5hrs north of us, and riding to Prescott!

They said they had room for my bike if I wanted to come. I said yes!

Once on location, we took some photos and headed out slowly into our first climb, which i suspect was only about a 3-4% grade. A couple more miles and the grade increased to ~6%. By the time we hit the downs, I'd let the 3 guys i was trailing go, and thus had the decents to my own speeds. I stopped only once to allow a car to pass so i could take the lane back. I'm still very leery of fast decents, and turns and falling, so I want ALL the lane at those speeds! not to mention, I LOVE my Take-A-Look mirror! it allowed me to see when i needed to worry about cars, and when not to.

We stopped at a Waffle place in prescott and headed out another road, with a 8% climb for a good 5 miles. I started to overheat, so i let the tire i was chasing move on. I don't need to draft on hills, but I use the tires as encouragement to keep my pace up. I don't find my speed changes.

We hit the top of the hill and the guy who was hanging on my wheel takes the lead. i let him fly down as I try not to panic on the decent. This is one of those decents that if you tuck in and close, 40-45mph easy. And there was some vicious crosswinds. I caged my speeds in at 35, and tried to talk myself into not letting fear turn me into road kill.

I slowed down and moved over for an annoying semitruck which honked at me as we neared the construction zone. they were repaving, and thus only allowed cars to pass in one direction and blocked the rest of us until it was our turn.

We collect most of the club before we're off again. Mr Beeps makes a nuisance of himself (and we're going only about 25-30 in a construction zone!) We're trying to be nice and stick on the shoulder, which is only about 3 ft wide. Mr Beeps passes me and his trailor almost takes me off the road. Mr. Beeps has a friend behind him. Jessica is mad! I signal and take the lane. Mr Beeps has 2 cyclists pacing him down and I'm a little further back, but I refuse to let this second truck knock me off the road. i'm flying down the hill (yes on fresh tarstuff, flying everywhere, sticking to the tires, going in my shoes, yuck!) and I tuck in low and tight and pedal my little heart out. and it almost goes out when we have a mini-hill which I maintain a high speed on. When we're stopping to let Mr. beeps move over to the other side of the road (he's carrying asphalt) I realize what i did. i went fast. i did it on purpose. on conditions that weren't so great. Why wasn't I freaked out? because I was mad.. but it turned out ok. i'm glad it happened. yes, I'm glad a truck almost ran me off the road. because I've made a huge step in my journey. I'm reclaiming my speed down hills! I noticed that when we encountered any more significant decents, they didn't phaze me. insert happy jessica here!

We stopped at a convenience shop in Skull Valley and I think just about everyone bought icecream. then we're off. The scent of stables fills the nostrils of 6 of the guys and 1 other gal. we race off, taking advantage of the slight decline and no headwind. I'm barely holding on, though. Every time I looked down it was 24-25, and 20 on the minor hills that popped up. I get dropped at one hill, get my breath back and attempt to catch up. i give up 30seconds later. then I notice the last guy looking back, then the last 2 guys drop off and slow down. I still have to struggle to catch up, but I can catch up! I do so, and slow down to fall in behind him, announce the car which doesn't quite know what to do with us, and he pulls me to the other guy, announces when we catch up and the 2 pull us off to the pack. We catch up with them as we arrive at the vehicles! but I genuinely appreciated what they did and made sure to thank them.

i had such a blast for my second ride with the club!

[pooks]

Oh my gosh.

I was trying to close my eyes in terror and read at the same time.

Major congrats on that ride!

[SandyLS]

I started out at 6am this morning and did a a 15 mile hilly ride. I saw three deer, a bunny and a great blue heron being chased by several little birds. The local fire department was setting up to do a practice burn on an old farm house. I couldn't linger to watch, I had to get down to my parents (86 and 87 yrs young) house in time to fix breakfast for them. Sure glad I got up early to ride at 65 degrees as it got into the 90s later in the day here in Michigan.

[kelownagirl]

I have never posted my ride before but I hit lots of "firsts" so thought today might be a good day to do it.

First off - Pooks - good for you! You are right where I was 2 1/2 months ago. I did 10 km a few times a week, needed a break half way, and managed to average 20 kmh (on the flats). Since then, I have continued to ride 3-5 times per week, gradually increasing my distance and adding hills, and today I met several of my goals! You can do it too - it is SUCH an empowering feeling!

I am nowhere near the ability of many of these ladies but I am so happy to have accomplish the goals I have set so far.

I did my longest ride today - 83km (3 1/2 hours)

Managed to roll my odometer over the 1000 km mark (since the first week of April). Since my original goal was to ride 500 k by the end of June, I'm pretty pleased.

Did my fastest average speed today too - 26 kmh. Would have been 28 kmh if I didn't have to ride the challenging 3 km hill home at the end...

Managed to pass DH twice today - I've only done it once before. He's been cycling for 15 years and is ahead of me 99% of the time so I am stoked to do it at all.

Did my fastest downhill today too - 55.7 kmh. Still scary but becoming more exciting.

I can't wait until I have a road bike and clipless pedals. Should be able to increase my average speed then.

[mimitabby]

I have never posted my ride before but I hit lots of "firsts" so thought today might be a good day to do it.


I did my longest ride today - 83km (3 1/2 hours)

Managed to roll my odometer over the 1000 km mark (since the first week of April). Since my original goal was to ride 500 k by the end of June, I'm pretty pleased.

Hey congrats on the 1000KM Kewlona girl! I am trying to figure out if it's more fun to have kilometers than miles.
We did a club ride today; it was supposed to be 70-80 miles, but when we got there they said it was really 90, and I didn't want to do 90 miles today. there were big nasty clouds everywhere and as they told us about the ride (from the safety of a restaurant) it began to rain. 50 degrees and raining is not the best way to start a ride. My husband hates starting rides in the rain so we were both cranky and decided that 50 miles would be more than enough.
We went up this road where a lot of gravel trucks were hauling loads of gravel. The first incident was when one of these jerks thought it was funny
to blast his horn while passing each bicyclist (we were all on the side of the road, not in traffic, on the other side of the white line)
The next truck passed us peacefully, and my heart rate went back down. THe next guy thought he was funny too, and moved his giant vehicle as close to the side of the road as he could without crossing that white line. We know it wasn't because he was drifting because we watched as he did it to the next group further ahead.
after 10 miles on that nasty road; we turned and went into beautiful hilly country, in the foothills of the northern cascades.
We saw a deer with twin baby fawns, one bald eagle, one red tailed hawk
several horses, one with a new baby; some mules, some goats, a flicker, a hummingbird, and my husband ran over 4 slugs.
Meanwhile the climbs were long and gradual and the weather got worse (as in really raining ) the higher we got. at the 25 mile point, we reached a lodge where we all stopped and the other folks all went ahead and we decided to turn around.
Not 5 minutes into our descent it quit raining and never started again.
when we got into the flatter area, we tried out a new trail and managed to get in a metric century.
the girlparts etc feel great, i am totally bushed though. This was my first ride with my new bike straps (called Power Grips) which i will post about in a moment.