June rides, summer begins

[north woods gal]

Thought I would get the June rides thread going.

Nothing special to report, here, for rides. Just my daily mix of trail and pavement work. Did check in with my bike shop and, yippeee! The Log Lady has arrived. Now it needs to get assembled and modded the way I want. Since my bike guy - the owner - has given his main helper a long vacation, he's going mostly solo in running things, so it may be awhile before the Log Lady comes home. No problem.

While, there, I mentioned to him that I might want to sell or trade off some my aluminum bikes, specifically, my old Trek 8000 26" MTB. I rarely ride it, anymore, given that I've moved to the larger wheel stuff. He mentioned that we have a local club that helps find bikes for youngsters who want to learn the basics of MTB riding, but can't afford a good bike. Some of them have to settle for some really low end bikes, for now. Given how the market for old 26" MTBs has hit rock bottom, anyway, I figured I'd sell the Trek cheap or even donate it to the cause. Back in the day, I upgraded all the parts, so it would make some kid a great bike. Be nice to pass it on to the next generation.

[emily_in_nc]

I agree, nwg, nice to have a group to donate it to. My DH recently traded in a 26" MTB and only got $125 for it at the LBS, and it was a very nice Jamis Dakar, so the market has indeed tanked. He had also considered donation, but even that small amount helped offset the cost of the Townie he wanted for cruising around the campground.

We did our usual ride (roads and bike trail) yesterday for 35 hot and sticky miles. It was the most uncomfortable ride so far this year because of the humidity. Sultry! The weekend is for walking, laundry, and staying off the busy trail, then back to riding on Monday.

[north woods gal]

Glad you survived that kind of humidity. Last time I bicycled on a visit to Florida, I think that's what did me in the most when I bonked. We'll be going back to the same area, come September, but at least I know what I'm up against.

My hubby and the other neighborhood guys got together, this morning to work on repairing a community dock on the lake used only by members of our association. I got to help by hauling tools and gallon jugs filled with water with my Surly ECR. The ECR is designed to handle heavy loads, so I was eager to see how it handled the extra weight. Ha! Couldn't even tell the difference in the way the ECR handled. In fact, with the extra weight, it rode a bit nicer. I honestly think I could load all my camping gear on the ECR and disappear for months. After all, it was designed with that in mind.

[Crankin]

Our club bike rally was today, and our ride was a success. The forecast, as I mentioned earlier, was all over the place. It was 82 and humid/sultry when we left and rain/scattered thunderstorms predicted. We were scheduled to leave at 12:30. Before we left, DH and I figured out several bailout points, going back a shorter way, on a main, flat road, if I it either started raining hard or lightening. We had about 40 people, and then broke the group into 2 by speeds, so we ended up with about 20. The group was pretty good, with 2-3 people who stayed back behind me, as the sweep. DH seemed to speed up after we did the big climb, so I stayed with these people, until they told me to go ahead. I seriously was working hard to catch up with the next rider, whom I could barely see up ahead. At this point, we had sprinkles, it got cloudy, and was cooling down, thankfully. I was super hungry, too, even though I had a big breakfast and large snack right before we left. At one point, it was clear that it had rained quite heavily, about 5 miles from the end of the ride, with the street very wet and road spray hitting my shorts. But, we never got wet from the sky. I caught up to the last rider, who was struggling, stayed with him until the second to last turn, and then kept him in my rear view until I got back. I rolled in about 5 minutes after DH, so not bad compared to other years.
We had no incidents and no real azzholes in the group, which has not always been the case. We left to quickly drive home, shower and change, to go back for happy hour and dinner, at the local farm where we start. It's under a tent and they do a great job of catering. On the drive home (5 miles), we saw the slower half of our group returning; the sky opened up. They got soaked. But, when we returned, it was sunny, much drier, and cooler. Overall, a success, but I feel like I am on the edge of even being the sweep for this group.

[north woods gal]

You mean the stem was not aligned with the front tire, Sheila? If so, that can happen on its own, over time, with any bike. I have to redo the stems on all my MTBs I use for my trail riding, on a fairly regular basis, because he front ends on those bikes take a pounding, of course. Have had it happen with road bikes, too, but nowhere near as much of an issue. Something I check, now and then, though, with any bike.

Hope you get the pain issue solved. Been there. The worst of it is trying to figure out what caused it. Since you have other bikes, might see if it goes away when riding them. Best of luck.

Another good rain for us, last night, but very cool, today, only in the 50s. Our weather really is like a box of chocolates ... Will take a fattie out and see how the trails did, later in the day.

Put a new set of trail tires on my old Kona steel 26" MTB, yesterday and then proceeded to do some tuning on the rest of the bike. Almost forgot what a pain in the *&# those old center-pull brakes are! Disc brakes have spoiled me. Got it ready to ride the trails, though, and off we went. That old school steel Kona and I have a lot of history, together, so it was a nice ride down memory lane. Still the same old pal of a steel bike it's always been.

1995 Kona Kilauea. Steel bikes never go out of style for this gal

[Crankin]

Sheila, I am glad you found the cause of your pain, but sorry it took so long. I hope it resolves soon.
I woke up with my hip/back really hurting and my sinuses screaming. I rushed so much to get back back to the dinner last night, I neither stretched or did my saline nasal rinse. Upon waking, I did both, as well as take some Claritin, and I felt much better.
It was only 55 today, clear, dry, and breezy. We decided to do something different and took a 2 hour walking history tour of Somerville. It's a very cool, but rapidly gentrifying city, next to Cambridge. The change has been extremely fast and the young man who did the tour grew up there and is into social activism to help the different factions work together. So, not a sedentary day, as the tour was about 2 miles, including a couple of big hills. When we finished, we had wine and an app and then went across the street to the restaurant where my DIL is gen manager, but she had taken the day off. We didn't say who we were until we were paying the check, and we were surprised when the waiter knew both our son and granddaughter.
So, I am full of food and my legs kinda hurt from walking up big hills in the city and we are in for 2 days of cold rain. Gym tomorrow and rest Tuesday.