Happy July 4th US!

[Fredwina]

My club had a "show n' go " ride today. Only two of us showed. Warren and I changed our minds halfway through the ride and went up a road in the mountains that is closed to cars (Glendora Mountain Road). Despite it being blazing hot, we both made good time. We had to make little detour for the City Of La Verne's 4th parade. I did a little extra so I could get a metric century in for the day. watched Le tour, too

[LL_Super_D]

Went mountain biking today, and discovered what a clipless wonder I am off road . Fell too many times to count cause I couldn't clip out in time (maybe it's just time to admit I need different pedals). No harm done though! In fact if I wasn't clipped in to my bike as I fell, there was one point where I definitely would have fallen a lot further into the ravine! Off to a bbq and a game of kickball.

[Geonz]

12 of us went on a ride (45 miles), then I went out on the parade route ChampaignCountybikes.org with the blender set up and my piggy helmet. There was a two-person bike wtih mujsical instruments as part of it, a "buddy bike" (tandem with two people next to each other), some amazing bike decorations... and at least soemthing else besides Scot's neat 3-speed that he built... It was neat 'cause there were about 20 riders. We were the very, very last people in the parade (besides the street sweepers). THe smoothies were great at the end.

[im4smiley]

Well I left the family while they were still in bed and headed out to do a group ride and picnic in Vermont. We drove to Putney and then we split into two groups, one doing an old race loop that was 62 miles and my group did a 25 mile trip that really ended up being 35 miles. The first seven miles was a slow steady uphill climb! ugh! We had a nice down hill run to the town of Saxtons River. They were having a town celebration so we walked through town because there were too many people to ride. Then we headed uphill again. I don't remember all the towns but we went through Bellows Falls and ended up back in Putney. I couldn't believe the hills! The heat and humidity made it tough, we were (dare I say this) actually wishing the sprinkles that landed on us would turn to a rain shower! After the ride we went to one of the group members houses and had a nice potluck picnic. I got home around 5pm and now will spend time with the hubby. Our fireworks are next Saturday!

[makbike]

I rode a short century (90 miles) through some very hilly terrain. It was a small group, started out as six riders and quickly dwindled down to three. There were only two store stops along the way and boy did I welcome both. Our biggest and longest climb took us up the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Our ride captain was very knowledgable about the area and share tid bits here and there along the way. A the top of this long and what seemed endless climb (it was approximately 1 long) we stopped at a lookout sight to catch our breath and take in a beautiful sight. From there we had only 25 miles to go but I swear they were the toughest 25 miles I've ridden in a long time. I found myself counting off the remaining miles. We found ourselves racing an approaching storm the last 10 miles or so and those dark clouds helped all of us dig a little deeper and push a little harder to the finish. The heat and humidity were tough today. I drank 8 bottles (20 oz) of gatorade during the ride, a liter of water and felt somewhat dehydrated (mild stomach/intestinal cramps).

Our ride captain today had ridden a century on Saturday and was riding strong today, boy I hope I can do that some day. He also shared that he has ridden at least one century every month for the past 63 months - I found this amazing to say the least and so very cool.

[im4smiley]

oooh I forgot to say....I saw a Pileated Woodpecker on my ride today!! Flew across the road in front of us ....soooo cool!!

[Trek420]

I awoke to fog. Watching the tour I checked TE, bikerz had PM'd me "how about a ride?".

"let me get some coffee first" I replied and I did.

We agreed to meet up at ACT noon'ish (scene of next Saturdays ride, hint, hint). We had a great ride, the weather had cleared by the time we set out, it was not crowded on the trail. They must all be watching the Tour

I had a case of hotfoot, time to change shoes or new Smartfeet or both so we just did the out and back, skipping Jobob nemesis hill...but not Jobob.

We ran into (not literaly) the Bob's and stopped for a chat.

According to Bikerzs digital helmet mounted weathervane (just kidding, she does not have one but wouldn't that be cool?) we had about 60% headwind, 20% crosswind.

Great ride, great company, nice to see the Bobs. Thanks TE for introducing me to these great folk.

Now just keeping the dog calm.