September Rides

[Crankin]

Beautiful weather to start out the month. But, heat predicted for next week...
Did another short (10 mile) 5 AM ride today. I haven't been sleeping well, so I was half awake for the beginning. It's always so humid in the early AM, but it was also only 63. Felt strong, until right at the end when the pain of keeping up with DH got to me as I climbed the hill back to my house. He was long gone and in the house.
Tuesdays there is a large group (extremely fast) ride that starts at 5:30 AM on the town green. We saw people riding to the ride, and then doing warm up laps around the green, when we were heading home. Amazingly, some of the riders had no front lights, when it was still fully dark out. I hope they didn't travel far like that.
I am debating whether to do a very warm and hilly group ride tomorrow, or go see a friend from HS that's in town for coffee. I am really exhausted.

[azfiddle]

I took my bike in to get tuned up over the weekend- cranky shifting and some creaks and squeaks that I couldn't get rid of with lube- and picker her up Monday evening. It was stormy so I didn't get out again until Tuesday around 5 pm. It felt surprisingly pleasant out - the sky was overcast and temps might have been in the very high 80's. I think I only took one drink of water in 16 miles. I went out again this afternoon in similar conditions and about the same distance.

The routes were similar, just on the eastern edge of Tucson at the less urban desert edge of the city. Tonight's sunset as I rode back toward the west was spectacular. The shop did a fantastic job- replaced the chain, did a wash and lube. Apparently I spilled some electrolyte drink into the shifters which was causing part of the problem. So it was much smoother to ride.

Saturday I'm going with a friend to do a 66 mile organized ride from Willcox to the edge of the Chiracahua Mountains. The route has some great scenery, not much traffic, and one big hill in the middle (about 1000 foot climb). I'll try to get a few pics.

[Crankin]

We did a 44 mile ride in Little Compton, RI./ Westport, MA and environs. We used the route I am going to be using when I co-lead it in 2 weeks. This ride is an old favorite, ocean and rural views, without the crowds, as the beaches we ride by are all private beaches, so no crowds. Lamar (my friend who I am leading with in a couple of weeks) had changed the last half of the ride, to avoid some sketchy turns, which was great, but it was all a 2-5% grade, a long slog for about 15 miles. I always think this ride is flat easy, but it actually has about 1,900 feet of climbing, all after lunch. Still, we rode it kind of fast for this kind of ride.
The day couldn't have been more perfect. Temperature 78 derees, light breeze, sunny. There was no traffic. When we were done, we cleaned up and changed and headed to Sakonnet Winery and had tapas and wine.

[azfiddle]

Crankin, your rid sounds lovely.

Yesterday, a friend and I rode the Willcox Flyer- 66 miles (actually around 64) east of Tucson. It's a beautiful route that climbs out of Willcox (3800 feet) to the little hamlet of Dos Cabezas, through desert and desert grassland, then dips down into desert grassland/ranchland to a turn around point at the turn-off to Chiracahua National Monument. The weather was very forgiving: a tropical air mass brought all day overcast with a occasional scattered droplets but no actual rain. The temperature never went above 80, mostly from 70-75 until the last half an hour or so and virtually no wind. 2500 feet of climbing, beautiful scenery, good company, and a moving average of 14.5 mph.

Today, I took one of my students and her mom through Saguaro NP on the loop road. They are training for the 40 mile distance of El Tour de Tucson in November and have never done this ride. Some walking took place on the big hill on the back side ("Cardiac Hill") but they did great, riding on hybrid/flat bar road bikes. The 12 year old never complained even though she had to walk on the steeper hills. Still a bit cool this morning though not overcast.

[Crankin]

It's warming up and I wasted the morning doing nothing but reading the paper. Did a quick 14 mile, hilly ride, going up the steeper side of my street on the way home.
Now, it's off to Arlington for Mexican food with DS and DIL.

[azfiddle]

Hey, it's you and me doing all the riding here Crankin!
I was "invited" (facebook friends) to yet another Mt. Lemmon ride. They were planning to go to the very top (the observatory). I was less motivated but still got to Summerhaven. I parked at mile 0 instead of the coffee shop so I shaved 10 miles off of the ride, but not much of the climbing. 50 miles, about 6200 feet of climbing- and got an ice cream bar as my reward instead of going to the cookie cabin.

It was incredibly green above milepost 5, from all the summer rains, but I forgot my phone, and thus, my camera as well, and have no new pictures to share.

[creationsbyuli]

Remember, I'm a beginning (or back to it after many years) rider so my rides aren't huge.... Did 19km with a friend yesterday (my longest on my new bike so far). Had much fun!!

We went out fairly early and went longer than we had planned. It was the perfect morning outing.

[azfiddle]

Creationsbyuli- you look SO happy in your picture! It's not at all about how far you went. You had a great time out on your bike

[lph]

Agreed. Awesome grin, creationsbyuli!
I started a Facebook group for cyclists in my area a few days ago and needed a good photo for the page. So for once I have a few photos from my regular commute here. Bear in mind, these are the nicest parts ;-) I didn't bother documenting the messy intersections, the roadwork etc.

[Crankin]

I did my original loop ride, 15.2 miles this morning, before it got too hot. It was 78 out, but about 80% humidity. Thankfully, a breeze, too.
So, I had about 2 weeks of feeling good, and after my trip to Westport Saturday, my allergies and stomach started acting up, and then my weird muscle aches start. Funny, my legs still feel strong, but this ride, although faster than I planned, didn't really feel great. I've also not been sleeping, so if I don't exercise, that won't get solved. I plan to rest again tomorrow, although if I wake up early enough, and feel OK, I might do a dawn ride. With no shower at work, commuting in these temperatures is not really fun, and it's only 10 miles round trip. I can ride more than that if I go out at 5 AM. Probably next longer ride wiill be Saturday, as weather Friday looks crappy.

[Crankin]

Had a really nice 25 mile ride today, when we had to be out of our house for the open house. We basically did one of our flatter routes, and then rode back past our turn off for home and went to have lunch at Ferns, in Carlisle and then rode home. It was cool and rainy in the morning, was wearing arm warmers for the first 6 miles. Then the sun came out. Legs felt good and my average was up there, for a supposedly slow ride.
Going to rain tomorrow. Boo.

[smittykitty]

Warm and sunny today. To celebrate our anniversary (which was yesterday), wer rode 50+miles on rural roads in southwest WA, out the front door. It was a nice mix of hilly and not so hilly. Absolutely beautiful country side, lots of farms. We are very fortunate to have such great cycling so close to home. Legs are tired!

[creationsbyuli]

I puttered around on this gorgeous trail today while my daughter was at the dance studio. Perfect way to kill a couple of hours!!

Attachment 17795

[creationsbyuli]

Oops. Didn't mean to post the picture twice.

[ny biker]

I've been off my bike way too much over the past couple of months, for good reasons and bad -- vacation with family, sick with a bad cold, ongoing allergy/autoimmune problems, weekend family visit, etc. I have managed to get in enough rides here and there to get back to a decent level of fitness after being sick during the first half of August. I did a few weekend rides that were about 45 miles long with just enough mid-week hill rides to get my legs back. But nothing consistent. Last week my usual post-work hill ride was "rained out" -- they forecast rain between 8 and 10 pm, continuing into the next day and ending in the afternoon, so I decided to push the ride back to the next night, so of course it didn't rain the first night and did rain the next night.

I really don't like riding in the rain. Light rain is okay, I have gear for that, though I rarely have time for the extra clean up that's necessary afterwards. Heavy rain just sucks, and it's not safe.

Yesterday was one of my favorite rides of the year, the Civil War Century. It starts in Frederick County, MD and goes up to the Gettysburg battlefield. That's the metric route, which I prefer. There are longer routes that go to South Mountain battlefield and the full century also goes to Antietam. Those routes have more climbing. I love riding in that part of Maryland and Pennsylvania. There are lots of quiet farm roads and I love the views of the mountains. The CWC is very popular, for good reason. In addition to the great routes, it's very well run and the food is fantastic, with lots of fresh, locally grown produce. Plus ice cream from a local dairy at the end.

The weather forecast for yesterday was a bit mixed. Some of my trusted weather sources were saying that there would be rain on and off, but it wouldn't start until afternoon. One website said rain all day. Guess which was correct.

If it had been any other ride, I would have just stayed home. I checked "epic ride in heavy rain because I paid the registration fee in advance" off my to-do list years ago. And over the past few years I've done enough club rides in the same part of Maryland and Pennsylvania to learn the roads well. I've even led some rides up there. I can go back any time. In fact I was just there last month. But yesterday I had plans to meet up with a friend who I haven't seen in a while. So I packed up the car and headed north. I figured I had options -- they have a 50 and 25 mile route that you can choose in addition to the longer routes, and over breakfast I mapped out a shortcut back from the rest stop near the mid-point of the metric just in case. My friend was doing one of the longer routes and we were going to meet at that rest stop, where all the routes comes together.

It wasn't raining when I got to the start, but the radar map did not look good. I decided to do the metric route. It differs from the 50-miler near the start -- the 50-mile route heads north right away while the metric goes south first and then circles back up north. I had my Gore rain jacket and helmet cover and a rear fender on my bike. Light rain started after only a few miles, but it was manageable. I stopped after a while to put on toe covers, since I have such problems with cold feet and temps were in the 60s. When I reached the first rest stop I checked the radar map again -- there was heavy rain heading our way. I started riding again. Heavier rain started to come down.

After riding just a few more miles, my feet were soaked and my jacket looked like it was going to soak through. Conditions had gone from manageable to this-is-not-fun. And I was worried that I would get cold if/when my jacket soaked through. So I decided to bail. I reached an intersection with a road that I knew would take me back toward the start, and I made the turn. I actually passed a couple of cyclists going the other way -- by coincidence I was going back on the roads that the 50-milers used at the start of the ride. I ended up riding 25 miles in all. I got back to my car, put the bike inside, got in and closed the door. Changed into dry clothes, texted my friend to let her know where I was and offer to come get her if she decided not to finish. Then I made the long walk up to the picnic area through the field where all the cars were parked. It was not muddy (yet) but I wished I had thought to bring my rain boots. At least I had the umbrella that I keep in the car.

Although my ride was over, the day was not. I had a sandwich and more fresh fruit. Drove up to the last rest stop, waited for my friend there and drove her back to the start. There was very heavy rain while I was waiting there. People were soaked through, some wearing trash bags, some shivering with teeth chattering. Fortunately the rest stop is at a fire station so they were able to move things indoors. Once back at the picnic we had ice cream, waited for her husband and some other friends to finish, saw a couple of those friends and chatted with them while they ate. I ate way too many peaches, but they were too good to pass up. I also ate too much ice cream considering I only rode 25 miles.

I thought about going out for a ride today since I didn't go far yesterday, but I was too tired last night to do anything other than hang stuff up to dry and do laundry. I need to finish cleaning my bike today.

I've signed up for a metric next Saturday and another on Oct 4. Both are in northwest Virginia, both raise money for charity. I'm also planning to do two more metrics in southern Maryland in October. I usually prefer shorter rides in the fall, especially since I hate starting early when it's chilly in the morning but will warm up nicely in the afternoon. But I haven't done nearly as much riding as usual this summer, so I'm hoping to get in some good long rides before winter sets in.