Magnificent or Mundane May Rides!

[Fredwina]

I did 40 miles on Saturday, but none yesterday.

[colorisnt]

Glad to see you ladies had some cool rides.

We had a great weekend with family back home in Indiana, my sister and her BF graduated, my BF asked my parents for their blessing on our hopeful engagement in the near future to much success and we saw a whole lotta cyclists out but no riding on our parts. And it doesn't look like our long ride will happen this week either thanks to terrible weather. I want to get some quick miles in today on the commute but we have severe storms coming and I'm not sure. Blargh.

We determined the next time we are going back WITH the bikes and more time! I missed Brown County State Park something fierce.

[ny biker]

Crankin, re: announcing canceled rides -- I have a tale of two clubs. One club posts ride news (cancellations and other important announcements) right on their website's main page, and again on the top of the page that shows the ride schedule for the month. Anyone who views the website can see the ride updates; you do not have to be a member and you do not have to be logged in. There is also a voluntary yahoo group for members only, and most ride updates are also sent there.

The other club has a forum section on their website, and ride updates are supposed to be posted there. You need to drill down a couple of links to find the page with the ride news. Also you have to be a club member and be logged into the website in order to see it. There is also an unofficial gmail listserv that was started by people who did not want anyone to moderate what they say. It is not publicized and you only know it exists if you overhear someone talking about it. Most ride leaders post their ride updates to the secret unofficial gmail list.

The first club is friendly and welcoming to new members. The second club is neither. I recommend taking an approach like the first club -- keep things simple and obvious to anyone who might show up for a ride.

(Okay yes I am ticked off at the second club and recently decided not to renew my membership with them, so that was a bit of a rant. I actually did a ride with them yesterday. I emailed the leader on Saturday with a question about the ride start location. It turned out that the actual start location was several blocks away from the address posted on the schedule. The ride leader said she would make sure to send an email to the secret gmail listserv to make sure everyone was aware of this. I pointed out that not everyone knew about the secret gmail listserv, but she didn't seem to care about that. Many people went to the wrong location as a result.)

I rode 46 miles yesterday. The weather was perfect. I guess I've been doing some pretty flat rides lately, because my pace was slow yesterday and I thought there was a lot of climbing, but when I plotted the route on ridewithgps.com, it was not really all that hilly. We were in an area of Virginia that I don't often visit. Some of the roads were very nice, quiet lanes with no traffic. Then there were the parts on roads with a speed limit of 55 mph, one lane in each direction and no shoulder. After the ride I visited a friend who is in the hospital, then went home, ate lots of food and called my mother.

[emily_in_nc]

I did blog post about our long ride on Saturday. It's here if anyone is interested:

http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com/1...to-kansas.html

Didn't ride today due to off and on rain, lots of wind, and way too much to do. We're moving out of the house we've been renting in Prairie Village, KS on Wednesday so are busy busy busy. We did get a LOT done today, though, so we think we'll have time to ride tomorrow and take our cable modem back to Time-Warner Cable when disconnecting our service. Since we'll be doing an errand we can justify a ride too!

[Crankin]

I commuted yesterday and it was so warm, I had to stop at 9 AM and take off my bolero, which I was wearing over a sleeveless jersey! Actually had to use my hygiene supplies when I got there, because I was sweaty, even after my little 5.2 mile ride where I purposely go slowly.
I went to the Bike Committee meeting last night, and found out we can post a ride as cancelled on the on line trip listing site of the club. It would have been nice if someone had told us! This is only an issue for show and go rides, as the other ones I do, people have to call and register with me. Some of the other leaders make a google list or use the Yahoo group. I cannot start doing all that... usually the rides where i screen people and they register with me are smaller and I have no problem calling them about a cancellation. The whole thing is justa problem because we are part of an outdoor club, where the corporate office is just starting to realize that not everyone who belongs is there for hiking and backpacking.

[ny biker]

Normally I would be getting ready for a bike ride right now. And I would really like to go for a ride this evening, but I'm sick. I started coming down with a cold on Monday night. The thing is that right now I'm alternating between feeling fine for a while and then feeling not so good for a while, and during the feeling-fine parts it's driving me crazy to think I should just stay home and rest.

I'm not sneezing much, I can breathe fine, and the sore throat phase didn't last long. My legs feel like they're up to the challenge. It's just that my brain feels a bit fuzzy at times. For example I just typed "store throat" instead of "sore throat" and almost didn't notice it.

I guess I really need to stay home and rest. Grrrr.

p.s. to Crankin -- one good thing that the second (bad) bike club does is post in the original ride listing if there are weather conditions that will cause the ride to be cancelled, such as temps colder than 40 or hotter than 95, or if the chance of rain is greater than a certain % or the roads are wet at the start time. Something like that might help for your show and go rides.

[Crankin]

NY, we will just post in the original listing something like "look at trip listing for cancellation by 8:30 AM." Our stock statement is "steady rain cancels." It just would have been nice if someone had told me this! I've been a leader for 9 years. My own personal limit is above 30% chance of rain, or if the radar really shows something moving in.
I rode with my friend this afternoon, only 15 miles. It was beautiful, but she is exceedingly slow. I sprinted ahead on 2 roads, so I did get a workout. I had to see a client this morning, so no group ride. And, the ride was listed as 47 miles at a spirited pace, or 23 miles at a relaxed pace. I wanted neither, though 47 miles at a moderate pace would have done well. My issue is, I can do the faster pace, but not for that long. They would encourage me to come, and then I'd hold them back.

[Jolt]

Very mundane, short ride today--just a quick run to the LBS to pick up a bottle of degreaser and get my new Lambda pedals put on (which I am quite happy with...they work nicely with the flexible/thin soled shoes I tend to wear). Then came home and cleaned the drivetrain...it appeared that the person from whom I bought the bike hadn't done that in a while. It looks much better now! I need to do the same to the Trek but didn't get to it today.

[Crankin]

It turned out to be a gorgeous day, after torrential rain that ended around 8:30 AM. I didn't think I'd get any riding in this weekend, because the forecast was so sketchy. Just got back from 23 miles, nothing special, but we did do most of the route sort of backwards from the usual way, so that's always different. The biggest event of the ride was we were sitting at Great Brook Farm, eating a snack when I looked up and saw the crazy father of my very first client when I became a therapist. Thank God I had my helmet on. I jumped up, told DH "I gotta go," and got on my bike, really fast. That man was so threatening my boss had to call the police to have him stop harrassing our receptionist!
I should not have had gazpacho before riding....

[Crankin]

Did about 20 Sunday afternoon. We set out with no idea where we were going, except to ride slowly. Ha, that's often a recipe for disaster. After climbing up Strawberry Hill first, we headed out to do our "flat ride," which is really pretty flat until we get back to the house. Of course, being flat, the speed ratcheted up, until by the time we got back to the neighborhood, I had my fastest ride of the year. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to ride in a flat place all of the time, which is why I don't pay much attention to my speed, given the terrain around here. Yes, not mountains, but lots of very short, steep hills and rollers. Anyway, the weather was cooler that Saturday, which I appreciated. I have discovered I really feel it once it goes over 70 degrees. If there was a gradual increase, it would be OK, but this being New England, of course not!
So many riders out today, and it was already about 2 when we left. There was a Brain Tumor Society ride that went through my neighborhood earlier, so that was why we waited.

[Dragonfly5]

Got together yesterday with some ladies that I met through a facebook cycling group (see? FB is good for something!) Went for a 22 mile ride - my longest so far. (i'm looking forward to the days when I can be like some of you and say "Oh just went for a short spin - about 20 miles." lol One pedal stroke at a time ) The weather was nice, not too hot or too cool. The sun peeked out here and there. I'm really loving meeting new people that enjoy cycling as much as I do.

[Jolt]

Longest ride so far for me too (at least recently)...about 25 rolling miles or so with a total of 972 feet of climbing (need to get a bike computer, MapMyRide is a PITA to try to get the route entered right). It got interesting when one road first turned into a dirt road (no problem there), then into what appeared to be an ATV trail--this was NOT shown on my map, it just appeared that the road continued. So, I started down the trail thinking it would hook back up with the road. I must say, the LHT did pretty well off-road except for coming to a dead stop in the middle of a puddle with squishy mud at the bottom (which really had more to do with my having slowed down too much before hitting it) resulting in me having to dismount in the middle of said muck and finish the ride with soaked shoes. Shortly after crossing that mess, the trail became a pretty steep uphill at which point I said "screw this, I'm turning around" and went back the way I came, then found another road that led to the rest of the loop I had planned. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, and BTW I did find the other end of the road that seemed to turn into a trail, maybe next time I will follow it and see where it actually goes. I won't even say how long the ride took me, because it's embarrassing. Suffice it to say, it was enough saddle time for me to realize there are a couple more adjustments I need to make to the bike before my 50-mile ride that's coming up.

[ny biker]

I rode on Saturday. It was a 58-mile club ride with a stop at a strawberry festival after 45 miles. The terrain was flat for most of the ride and the group I was with rides fast. My average speed halfway through the ride was 16 mph, which is very high for me. Fortunately at that point someone else cried uncle, and four of us ended up riding together at a more manageable pace for the rest of the ride. My average was 15.1 at the end, still higher than average for me, and I'm still feeling it in my legs. Also I've had a bit of a cold for a week now, and I felt worse yesterday than I did the day before the ride. I spend most of yesterday on the couch but I'm still feeling a bit weak today.

I had strawberry shortcake at the festival and brought home four chocolate-covered strawberries, which I enjoyed for lunch yesterday.

[IBrakeforPastry]

It's so nice reading about everyone's rides! Except for local errands, I haven't been out yet at all. When I finally had some time last weekend, I came down with a cold, then some allergy attack (new to me in the past two years) that kept me home from work for a day, cold weather, hot weather. Now I'm working midnight shifts. So I hope it's okay to ride vicariously through this thread, and hopefully get out soon! But I did get the bikes out of the basement, wiped down and adjusted.

[redrhodie]

I've been riding like once a week of late. I took my white bike out today for her first ride of the year. It was really windy and that bike is much better in the wind than my others.

It was a pretty day with white caps on the water and gold finches flying. I had California Stars playing in my head on a loop. Doesn't get much better than that! I once had Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen stuck in my head on every bike ride for weeks. It was ominous, so this was pleasant in comparison.

Glad you're all still riding!