Weekend Rides?

[Reesha]

Congrats TC!! What were the distances?

[Catrin]

I never know which thread to put Friday rides, but since it was for fun decided to put it here

Last night I did a quite windy 26 mile ride on a tandem - and decided I like being stoker on a windy ride Tonight was a fun and easy 10 miles. Rode to a friends house and then just tootled around a park for an easy ride. Tomorrow morning will be a longer ride with friends but we are just going to play it by ear.

[Crankin]

I was supposed to do a 30+ mile ride with Hirakukibou yesterday. As I was arriving home, she called and said rain was forecast for 2 PM and we were going to start at 1:30. It did look very threatening. So, we decided not to ride.
It never rained and I went out to lunch with DH, drank beer, bought some flowers for the yard, and went to the grocery store.
I had what I call one of my "regular people" days.

[Kubla]

I didn't get off to the early start I'd hoped for, but managed a 13 mile ride in conjunction with yard sale-hopping a bicyclette. It was tempting to push past the 13-mile mark, as my goal is to get closer to the 30 mile point by the end of summer.

However, I am supposed to ride with a significantly-younger friend tomorrow and did not want to overdo it today. The weekend has barely begun...

[Catrin]

Did 37 miles today with Winding Road and her SO, we took almost 3 hours for the ride. It was about having fun rather than going fast (which is a good thing for anyone riding with me as I am not very fast). We knew there was a heat warning starting at noon and assumed we would be back by then, but of course we weren't. It was a great ride though and I am glad we did it. My legs did fine, and while I did have a few issues with the heat as it was 20 degrees higher than the average for this time it the year, it was fun! Starving afterwards, but again, my legs feel great!

[Crankin]

Did our almost 50 mile "Fruit farm" ride up to Hollis, NH. This is probably the earliest in the year we've done it. The farm wasn't even open yet, but they let us in to use the bathroom and fill our bottles. We start at a ball field in Boxborough, as it has a porta potty. This ride is beautiful, except for one part near the beginning, where there's a lot of traffic on RT 119 in Groton and a weird and dangerous left turn I despise. We ate lunch at the top of the hill at the farm, at their picnic tables, and headed back through Hollis, Nashua,NH, Dunstable, and Tyngsborough, MA, and then up through Lost Lake in Groton and back through Littleton.
Last year we changed the second half of the ride, so there's an additional steep climb after lunch. The road up to the farm is also a long, 6 part hill. I "chicked" another guy going up that. When I made a comment that the climb kinda sucked, he said "oh no, it doesn't" and started weaving all over the road to catch me. He couldn't, which made me feel a little bit good, except that I was riding the Guru, with super low gears (although I was not in the lowest or even second lowest).
We got lucky that it stayed cloudy, as it's hot and humid.

[Fredwina]

did about 50 today on the bent, Thought about going out with the local club , but decided not to.

[goldfinch]

Did all of 10.45 miles today, down the dirt roads, stopping and looking at birds. It was kind of hard going because all the rain in the last week has made the roads a bit loose. But I saw a Merlin so I was happy. And the yellow warblers were singing and darting about.

[ZenBiker]

I was looking forward to a couple long rides over the holiday weekend but have been thwarted by wind. It's averaging 27, gusting to between 40 and 60 mph, and is supposed to continue through tomorrow. Aside from the physical challenge that poses, there's a whole lot of dust blowing around. So instead I went to the local greenhouse to get the last few things for my garden - and they advised waiting til Monday to plant due to the wind.

Plan C is to get in some time on the elliptical machine at the gym, then read a good book.

[Reesha]

55 miles this morning with one of my students. We planned on 60 to 70 but her knees were bugging her (she has some patella tendon issues). It's just so glorious to leave at 6 am sharp and to ride out and be back by 9 or 10. The whole day was before me!

I've got another 40 miles planned tomorrow before my 90 miler on Monday!

[Crankin]

Even though it's a beautiful day, I planned a short recovery breakfast ride today, as I didn't want to overdo after yesterday's hilly almost 50 miler.
We did the loop around Hanscom AFB and Minuteman National Park. There were so many cyclists out (we left earlier than usual), it was almost annoying! Anyway, I went slowly in the beginning, pushed it during the middle, and after we stopped on the way back for breakfast, rode very moderately for the last 3.8 miles. 16.4 miles total.
We sat in the "bike alley" by Main St cafe and ate our breakfast burritos with the rest of the cyclists. I wanted to laugh as I listened to the conversation of the 2 gentlemen by us. They were at least 5-10 years older than me and were talking about Cross Fit and Insanity work outs, trying to "outdo" each other in terms of what they do. This was an interesting juxtaposition with the other middle aged tourist types who walked by us and were scowling and not so fit looking.

[Catrin]

Sounds like you had fun Crankin! I am taking today off as a rest day...grumble mumble grumble. My legs feel fine - even after the very hot almost 40 miles yesterday (longest ride since injury recovery), but I've ridden the last three days in a row. Mountain biking & gym tomorrow so rest today...

[goride]

Crankin - your "bike alley" story made me chuckle.

Our ride yesterday got cancelled due to rain, but 11 of us rode out at 6:00 a.m. today. Lots of riders were out early trying to get their rides in before the temps hit 90. It seems like our whole group spent most of yesterday pre-hydrating; we made more "pit stops" than usual. Rode through beautiful rural and lake country area. The corn is just starting to grow and only a few inches high, but it was nice to see something other than brown fields. Finished with 56 miles and the temps had only reached 77F. We were very thankful for that.

Another ride planned for tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. with a sub-group of the group that rode today. Hoping to get in another 50ish miles. Looks like we won't get the lucky break with the temps again tomorrow. It will already be 70 and humid when we start. A month ago I was complaining because it was only 42 degrees and I was tired of wearing tights, layers, and long fingered gloves, so I guess I shouldn't whine about the weather.

Took my primary bike to the LBS after today's ride because in the last 5 miles of the ride it sounded like I had a cage full of chipmunks living in the bottom bracket. They only had one mechanic on duty. He would have taken care of it after he finished the bike he was working on, but they have done me so many favors that I told him I would pick it up Tuesday (they are closed on Monday for the holiday). I will use my back-up bike tomorrow.

[MojoGrrl]

Did the Indian Valley Century in Plumas county (Northern CA) yesterday. Last year I did the metric and got rained/sleeted on while the full century riders got snowed on. This year I did the century and when I got to the top of the climb (a loop around Antelope lake) it was really cold and windy with threatening clouds, so I started out for a couple of miles and then decided I didn't want to risk it and turned my bike around. As soon as I turned to head back - literally, as soon as I was pointed back in the direction of returning back down the mountain - it started hailing, so I got the hell out of there. Had to wait at the lunch stop 20 miles down the mountain to wait for my boyfriend and friends to meet back up, and we got a little rain on the way back, but I got 92 miles in anyway. Almost 500 miles on my new bike and I've only had it a month and a half!

[Reesha]

50 miles today and afterward decided it was time to fix a number of ailments on my bike. Seriously mangled bar tape, loose/slipped cables, cleat position/hot foot problem. Hopefully now my 100 miler will be awesome tomorrow!