June 23 ride reports...

[DrBee]

I took a short ride today (12.6 miles) 'cause we're heading out of town to Knoxville, TN for the weekend. I rode well - still not 100% from my brief headcold, but averaged 16-17.5 in even the shortest straight sections of road. I looked a bit like Veronica's bag of skittles. At least my ... shoes and helmet matched the bike (silver/blue), my jersey and gloves matched (yellow), and my socks - well they are just cute (PI - pink flowers).

[margo49]

Yeeeowwww! Am I a Real Wild Woman or not?
Rode out to the Israel/Jordan border where the rivers meet. Heard my beautiful bee-eaters trilling away and then looked down to the sandy track just next to the Border. The First Patrol jeep had not gone over it yet with the rake and so all the night tracks were there - wild pig, jackals and a lot of different tiny birdy feet too with beak-poke-holes...Did I feel like The First Woman!
And then I saw an even more wonderful thing ... a track made by a snake.

Absolutely perfect morning!

[btchance]

Rode about 8mi of easy trails on my MTB, exploring some of the area where I just moved to. It was so peaceful and beautiful to be out there. I then went and test rode road bikes.

[makbike]

I hosted a 45 mile club ride today. Only one brave person showed, guess the threat of rain kept the rest at home. We stayed dry the entire ride. Skies were gray, temps in the low 70's and humidity hanging at around 60%, it was a prefect day to ride.

[Fredwina]

I tried a different route to aviod the train that I had been catching the last couple of days. It worked, and I got some extra miles in.

[hirakukibou]

I rode with my SO, 35 miles, faster than I have ever averaged (15mph which I know isn't fast for some of you women, but it is fast for me!) It felt good to get out before the thunder showers started. It was a good ride.

[tprevost]

I road the Wine Country Loop w/I TRI (Nicola). Perfect day for riding. We got in 25.6 miles w/some hills. Our average was 13.9 but I'm sure Nicola would've gotten that up a bit more if she didn't have to wait for me to catch up! Its a good thing we road relatively early as its now 104 at my house!

Trac'

[salsabike]

Gorgeous day today in the Seattle area--sunny, clear, 75-ish. Beautiful 27 mile ride on the trial this morning. Still ingesting gnats, but it was so nice out I didn't care. Getting into the high 80s by Sunday (80-mile tandem ride due on Sunday), which I am not looking forward to. You guys who ride in REAL heat (by which I mean, Arizona, California, the Midwest, the South. etc.), I totally admire. Know I couldn't do it. Saw lots of ducklings today, fuzzy and yellow. Right off the end of the cute meter.

[Lise]

...Daniel Burnham, that is, one of the architects who redesigned my fair city after it burned to the ground a century ago....

Day started with the usual 3 mile ride to work. Chillier than I expected, and the clinic was freezing cold. They closed the clinic early for a retirement party, so I rode home, and was really chilled by the time I got here. Changed clothes and drove back for the party. Left in time to catch "X-Men".

Somewhat peeved that my plans for fun and romance came to naught for this weekend, and feeling a bit like a mutant super-hero myself after the movie, I came home, fueled up my tummy, dressed warmly enough, and took off on the Green Hornet. Put another 25 miles on the bike, riding about 1/2 on city streets and 1/2 on the south branch of the lakefront path.

Which is where Mr. Burnham comes in. The view of Chicago from the south lakefront is spectacular. It's like seeing the Emerald City rise up from the poppy field in Oz. Today turned into a gloriously sunny day. Pretty windy out of the NE; at some points I was fighting to keep up 12 mph. With the wind at my back, I went down in the drops and hit 25 mph. What a delight.

I ate a pack of sport beans at about 20 miles, and drank both bottles of water. I was surprised at how much power I had throughout, even when I was fighting the wind. How I wish I could run as strong and long as I can ride!

[Geonz]

No snake tracks, but 43 miles of SUN that gets me to 829 for the month 'cause I took the long way home. Uneventful, happily :-)

[kelownagirl]

Haven't ridden since Monday.. So sad... Too much work this week but school is almost done and the end is in sight now!

Gonna try a LOOOOOONG (to me) hill (10km) tomorrow though. Gotta drive 2 hours to get there though... Wish me luck.

Still haven't found a good road bike - aaack the more I try, the harder it gets...

barb, kelowna-offtopic-girl... sorry...

[DirtDiva]

Just the ride to work today (well, yesterday now) - 12km each way. Detoured on the way home so I could drop off my timesheets and pay for my agency's end of term function. Discovered that the cafe in their building does really good coffee (a relative rarity in the UK). I was flying on the last leg home!

[Aggie_Ama]

I got home from work at 7:20 pm and realized I had one hour of daylight. Since my 6/22 ride was cut short by a flat I hopped on the bike. I rode a short rolling route by my house as hard as my little stumps would let me.

After not sleeping well all week my body was a little drained. I still put in 13.1 miles at an average speed of 18.2.This is pretty high for me and I was glad I burned that last bit of daylight! I was managing to keep a high cadence up the hills and was happy to see my first flat change held.

[Lise]

I got home from work at 7:20 pm and realized I had one hour of daylight. Since my 6/22 ride was cut short by a flat I hopped on the bike. I rode a short rolling route by my house as hard as my little stumps would let me.

After not sleeping well all week my body was a little drained. I still put in 13.1 miles at an average speed of 18.2.This is pretty high for me and I was glad I burned that last bit of daylight! I was managing to keep a high cadence up the hills and was happy to see my first flat change held.

Congrats on both the speed and the flat change. That really boosts the confidence, doesn't it?!

[Duck on Wheels]

I am again Bikeless, temporarily, so no ride today. Walked to spin class one last time, though. It'll be tough for other spin instructors to measure up. Today's surprise element was a "coast". As we neared the end of a looooong tough "climb", Chris told us we were getting to the top, "slow your pace, slower, slower, ..." until we were just standing still on the cranks and "coasted" down the hill in the wind from the fans. Chris also had left a farewell present for me with another instructor on Wednesday -- a card and a water bottle. Unfortunately, I missed Wednesday and came on Friday instead and meanwhile Chris doesn't know where Deb left the gift, so she said she'd mail it to me. Now how many spin instructors do that?! Chris's spin participants also go out to lunch or coffee once a month after class.

Oh well. I may not find an instructor quite like Chris when I get home, but I can hope for a good one nevertheless. There's plenty of room for good down the ladder from exceptional.