July 1st Ride Reports

[LL_Super_D]

Decided to ride the 3 Bears Loop today (about 20 miles)... ignorantly and foolishly in the heat of the day - so not the brightest idea! I first tried this ride when I started cycling this past winter and back then, Papa Bear hill had me turn around cause I couldn't make it up that 7% grade hill. Today... I finished the loop! To my surprise, Papa Bear hill wasn't as awful as I remembered.

[EvilTwin]

Rode a sweet, scenic 40 mile loop into the hills around here. Absolutely a gorgeous day, although a bit warm by the time we finished. Stopped at the top of the ride to look out over the valley, then screamed down the hills into a little town where we stopped for milkshakes. Nothing better than a strawberry shake loaded with fresh picked Oregon berries. Awesome!

[SouthernBelle]

23 miles is still 23 miles! If it's hot and humid, goals go out the window. (Or in the window, to curl up on a couch and come back another day.) Imagine how yummy you would have felt after a heat exhaustion induced wreck (and they happen every summer).

It was cooler at home. It smelled much better too.

[Lenusik]

Rode to Tempe and hooked up with the bike club.... It was 87 degrees when I left the house at 5:30am and 97 degrees when I rolled in at 9:30. I hopped right into the pool when I got home and that was AWESOME.

Yeah, I wish I had a pool. My hubby and I rode 50 miles today. We decided to take a moderate pace: 18 - 22 mph on average. We did a few laps along our usual rout on Pecos and added a few hills. The heat was creaping up. By the time we got back it was already over a 100F, plus it was nasty humid today. We got back tired. I just loved my nap afterwards.

[Crankin]

Today, I rode our annual "Chicken Ride," so named because it goes by a chicken farm with a very large plastic chicken outside on a post. We cluck as we go by.
This has to be the most challenging ride I do that's close to home. 45.8 miles in central Massachusetts, starting in Westminister, going through Sterling, Rutland, Barre, Hubbardston and back. There are 2 long climbs, not too steep, maybe 5 percent in the first half. There's good downhills, but the roads are in terrible shape. I have never seen so many potholes. It was getting hot and I didn't feel really zippy until I ate a Cliff bar after 19 miles and ate a Cliff Shot block. Lunch is at 28 miles and then the fun begins... you go downhill for about half a mile and then there is a nice 10-13% percent climb. I remembered that and felt prepared. I even dropped my husband, who had a momentary lapse of power. What I didn't remember was the next climb. My husband said, "Oh yea, that's where you were crying last year!." Well, I didn't cry, but I think it's the only time I have felt like stopping. I thought I was going to fall over. I could barely push the pedals at 4.5 mph! I haven't looked at my Topo program yet, but I am pretty sure this climb was 15-17%, based on what i did in Europe last summer. Then, another downhill, and another climb. Not as steep, maybe 12% but longer. We stopped to eat again (another Cliff bar) at 36 miles and then headed back to where we had parked the car. It's a slight uphill almost the whole way back, for 9 miles. Not terrible under normal circumstances, but my legs were shot. Total average for the day, a whopping 13.01 mph.

[Quillfred]

Finally the arm-twisting paid off and I convinced DPITA to ride a 30 mile jaunt, capped mid-way to patio dinning at Ray's Boat House (on the waterfront overlooking the Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains).

It was her first ride of the year. Well, I did clean her chain so she "owed me". Got to have one of my favorite beers, Hale Cream Ale. I referred to it as my "handicap".

We went slow, especially coming home but had to stop several times on the way home as she clearly was overspent. I rode in higher gears to comensate. I even shared my Shot Blocks. It was a lovely 82F.

Quillfred

Floyd, oh yooo hooo........

[Kitsune06]

Left the house at 9:30 in an attempt to miss the heat of the day. Got to the trailhead at 10:00 and started to explore. I guess there's much more singletrack to 'my' little park than I thought... I biked 3 hours and didn't even see it all before I had to head home to get showered and ready for work.

Despite an 'incident' involving a half-endo and the top tube, all went well.

[DebW]

I did a 48 mile ride to attend my nephew's 3rd birthday party. The party was at 3:00 pm, and I left at 11:15, intending to arrive early enough to shower and be presentable for the party. The ride was delightful for the first 35 miles, then I had trouble following the route - having to check the map frequently and occassionally backtrack. Arrived at the party at 2:50 and never got to shower, but did change into normal shorts. After a 30 minutes rest, I was playing tag wth the kids, having water fights, playing soccer. By 6:00 pm I was ready for a nap. I put the bike in the car to come home (my SO drove up), so none of it counted for green miles. I'll have to work on perfecting this biking route - it should be under 40 miles without the intentional and unintentional deviations, and then maybe I can ride the round trip.

[bcipam]

Yesterday was another So Cal TE ride and this time I was joined by Tracey, Audrey, Nina and Nina's husband Alex. My friend Mike also joined us for the ride.

This is part of our training for the Cool Breeze Century. The day promised to get hot and it was warm by the time we started at 8:30a. After a too short warm up we started climbing into the hills of Lemon Heights. Thankfully most of the roads were in shadow so stayed fairly cool. After a quick descent we started climbing again up Newport Blvd. This is a long hot and tough hill. Yes the day was going to be warm.

After finishing the morning climbs we headed down towards the ocean to catch some breezes but unfortunately it didn't get much cooler. Mike took Tracey and Audrey up Newport Coast, a long but doable climb and I took Nina and Alex the long way and we all met up at the coffee stop for a quick break. After a refreshing iced coffee, we were off again for the last 10 miles, thankfully flat, back to our start.

By this time the sun was high. Taking the Peter's Canyon Bike trail we had a slight tailwind which means the air got stale and it got very hot. In the
90's it was tough to finish the last couple of miles (which was as light grade up). Several of us got alittle dehydrated. We did all finish the ride and were thankful to be done. Final tally was 44.6 miles and just under 2000' of climbing.

Today, I hanging in watching The Tour and will think about riding tonight when it's cooler.