August 8 Ride Reports

[Kano]

Dh and I went for a 9.2 mile ride this evening after dinner. I don't think I can ride with him in the evenings after eating dinner. I mean I can do it, but it makes me feel kind of miserable.

Good for you DDH! It can be hard to go out after dinner -- when we go out for a ride, DH and I will have a light snack when he gets home, ride, and then come home and do dinner, but he gets home from work at like 3:30 in the afternoon, so it's a little early for dinner anyway. We'll wait until a little later if we have dinner first -- let things "settle" a while, y'know!

Anyway, we turned around and came back to the pavement and went the rest of the way with a little smoother ride. It was fun, he hasn't ridden in a long time either so he would pass me, then I would pass him. He ended up beating me home though. He is not overweight like I am though and has clipless peddles which I think helps a lot. Oh, I guess I am making excuses. LOL

His lack of weight, his pedals, yup, both those things will help him a lot, and I think just being a guy is an advantage sometimes. Mine's overweight too, and he's still got a huge speed advantage over me. I load him up with things: grandson and trailer, air pump, whatever else I can find to pile on his bike! Then I strip mine down to make it faster, and pedal my guts out! I'm pretty sure I have to work harder at just about everything to keep up with mine -- he's got longer legs, so walks faster just cuz his stride can be longer, so I just get glitzy track shoes for when we go out, rather than pumps or something!

It's probably nuts to try to keep up, but it challenges me to work harder, and I need that -- without a good challenge, I can be one heckuva slacker!

Karen in Boise, who didn't ride today, but the head-cold is getting better, and the weather is cooler, so tomorrow should be a lovely morning to get out and about!

[DDH]

Yeah Kano, I should've loaded him down.
I'm like you, without the motivation, I will become a slacker too. I think I have worked harder my last couple of rides with him, than I do when I go out by myself. Not that I don't feel it then too, just that I had to slow down a few times yesterday to catch my breath, instead of pacing myself better.

Hope your cold is better today, and you get to ride.

[Kalidurga]

Did about 16 miles on the C&O Canal towpath yesterday. I had intended to do about 30 miles, but had bad legs and even the 16 miles was an effort. Of course, I kept checking the bike to find some reason that it was the problem and not me But, no flat tire, no rubbing brake pads, just a pooped pedaler. I finally realized that I was more tired than I thought when I fell asleep on the side of the towpath on one of my breaks. Gorgeous weather, though, so I just stared at the beautiful views of the Potomac River as I pushed myself to pedal in circles instead of squares. Today's definitely gonna be a rest day.