June 24th Ride Reports

[Lifesgreat]

Me, Auntie K and two friends met at 6 am to get a ride in. The sun hadn't come up over the mountains so it was shady and the weather was perfect. 21 miles. Good friends, no wind, no heat. Life is good.

[TsPoet]

Don't usually post my rides, but love to read about others.
I'm posting this for an odd reason, to describe the roads. Roads around here are just plain awful. To get anywhere from my housing community requires a ride on a winding 50 mph very narrow 2-lane road with no shoulder (none, zilch, not even a hint). I once got a 2nd degree burn down my arm from the heat coming off of a truck’s tailpipe. This road is well-used by cyclist because it’s really the only way to get from one town to another.
The last 2 years this has all been made much worse by road construction. I haven’t commuted into work yet this year, I can’t figure out how to get there on a bike, last Wednesday the detour had a detour!
Anyway, this morning I decided to see what they had been doing for the last 2 years, extending the aforementioned narrow road the opposite direction toward the next town. I made a loop, going down to the other town, then back over, and up this new extension.
WOW! It’s still narrow and winding and 50 mph, but it has the most beautiful shoulder I think I’ve ever seen.
I’m so happy I’m beside myself. I can’t wait to see what they are doing with the rest. I’m even less upset about all of the dirt, blowing dust, and the detours – if this is the outcome.
Sorry to ramble, never though a shoulder on a road could be so pretty.

[CycleChic06]

I'm so jealous of anyone that is able to ride this weekend. Massachusetts weather SUCKS! It's raining all day Saturday and Sunday with the threat thunderstorms...of course it's going to be beautiful all next week, but I don't have time on the weekdays to do the long rides I like to do. And now that I"m headed on vacation next weekend it's going to be about 2 weeks before I'm going to be able to do a decent ride.

OK, just had the complain about it.

[Denise223]

CycleChic06 --

I hear you loud & clear.... Raining ... I heard that it wasn't going to clear until Thursday... I hope that's not true!!

[SouthernBelle]

I had an excellent ride from Lebanon to Hartsville, TN and back. Here is my route:
http://www.routeslip.com/map.php?map=1816

I got a late start due to fog.

I was a little afraid of this route because there is not a level spot on it and not much in the way of shoulders. But I never had to get off and walk uphill so I'm rather pleased with myself. My new polar bottle was excellent. I put 1/2 water, 1/2 pedialyte with a little crystal lite for flavor. The only problem is I can't carry one in my back cage because it is too tall. I was also lucky in Hartsville. I ran into a lawyer I know, so I got him to let me into his office to get ice and cool off. He kept saying, "you rode from Lebanon?"

Good ride.

Check out that website. Very cool.

[AuntieK]

As Lifesgreat said, we had an early morning ride with some friends. My ride ended up a little longer than hers because we split off from each other about halfway into the ride. I ended up doing 28.5 miles. It was a good, easy recovery ride...just what I needed today. And the company was great, too.
Lifesgreat has a better attitude than I do, plus I'm a cold wimp: she says the weather was perfect...I was freezing my rear off! At least the first half of the ride before the sun came up and we hit some heat-producing hills. Then I was finally able to take off the arm and ear warmers and stop the shivering and teeth chattering! Only then was the weather PERFECT!

[AuntieK]

BTW, Lifesgreat, I love the new avatar!