Sunday, July 5th rides

[Reesha]

I hauled my bum over too Madison County Illinois to sample some of their trails and they are as good as I hoped (well with one exception!)

It was in the 70s and balmy today in St. Louis and I was thinking I had 20-30 miles in me, providing I could readjust my saddle so it didn't squish my undercarriage

The readjustment was a complete success!

I started out on the Nature trail riding NE from Pontoon Beach, IL. There was a light headwind, but there was also a lot of tree cover on this trail. 'Twas lovely!


I rode back in the opposite direction on the Nickel Plate trail which led me through the county cornfields along a stretch of Union Pacific rail line. With the dark skies and beautiful, green fields, I decided it must be quintessential Midwest.





After that 15 mile loop, I decided to bite the bullet and do a 22 mile loop along the Nature Trail, the Schoolhouse Trail through Collinsville to Troy, the Goshen Trail, the Heritage trail and that same stretch of Nickel Plate trail.

The Heritage trail was supposed to be asphalt, but it was more like a crumbly hard pack. I had a verrrry bumpy ride on my stiff little road bike!

Overall it was a lovely day, complete with baby bunnies, lots of other enthusiastic cyclists, a man with a flat tire I was able to help out and a kitten lazing on the warm asphalt of the trail (who I shooed away for her safety). Then I went home and had a bowl of sprouted wheat pappardelle with fresh pesto and sauteed italian sausage. Yum!

[mudmucker]

Love the photos Reesha.

Today I left the house at 6:45 am and biked to Fitchburg to catch the criterium and last stage of the Longsjo Classic. It was about 52 miles round trip. I wasn't sure I was going to bike it in due to the previous eve's celebration and libation, but I felt ok when I woke up. A beautiful sunny day and I was there to cheer my friend racing in the Women's Cat 3/4. I love the criteriums, they're fast, close, and if you stand in the middle of the looping you get to see them go by twice. I also hung around to watch another friend ride in the citizens race. The pro's were racing much later but I did not stay for that as I wanted to get a move on and I had seen them before.

I was wheeling my bike through the crowd and people thought I was a racer and asked if I had won anything. Funny I had my hi-viz yellow on and no team kit. Kinda like you Kfergos, how funny people were cheering when you were riding to the point where you wanted to watch.

Chuckle, if people think I look like a racer I'll take it. Looking like one would certainly be the closest I'd ever come to it.

[TrekTheKaty]

The 22 mile loop including Schoolhouse and Goshen were a part of the Trailnet Bridge Bash last weekend. What a gem--may have to move across the border

[Reesha]

Yeah I had intended to do the 50 mile bridge bash loop but I worked too late the night before and then got locked out! Didn't get to sleep til 2:30 AM

Bummer!

I guess there's a 22/33/49 mile Big Bottle Ride starting in Collinsville on the 14th. I might hop into that one if I can find a friend to ride with me.

[ZooZoo]

Did 20 mile loop this morning. (as a side note, I usually start at the park and ride, and was absolutely apalled (sp?) at the fireworks mess people had left from the night before! Wow! And where the trail ran behind some apartment buildings, it was almost as bad! Sheesh!)

A good ride, and the best part was seeing three very large cranes fly off acrss the trail. Haven't seen cranes around here in a long time, and they were beautiful. Made having gotten up early woth it.

[PamNY]

I went hawk-watching and found the hawks none the worse for wear after July 4 fireworks. The juveniles were being dive-bombed by some very aggressive mockingbirds, but that didn't stop them chowing down on the rats and pigeons their Mom had caught.

On the way home, I saw a pump fly off the bike in front of me. I stopped, grabbed it, and yelled as loud as I could, but they guy didn't hear me. He was a Spandex boy on a road bike, so I couldn't catch up with him. I'm going to put an ad on Craigslist. I will ask for approximate time and location of loss, gender of rider and brand of pump. Probably won't find the owner, but I can try.

Pam

[evangundy]

We did the BOG ride today, had 21 riders. Ride started at 8am, we got back home a little after 9pm. 84 miles. Lots of climbing. Lots of regrouping points. Lots of food stops :-) One new-to-Portland rider got lost on the way back, that's why we were so late getting home, getting him back on route by cell phone, we waited to make sure he get back ok. I'm too tired to mess with my pictures tonight, but here is a link one of the faster riders posted just a few minutes ago. I think his pics might be better than mine anyway. http://gallery.me.com/captusn#100426

Even on hot days like today, this is still one of my very favorite rides.

Edna