July Rides

[Crankin]

I did a small ride when we got home from the Berkshires today. It was kind of cloudy out there, and had rained last night, and the weather looked better at home. Ate lunch, read the paper, and went out for my short loop, around 11 miles, with 2 climbs. As I was cresting Strawberry Hill, a guy passed me and said "good job." Now I know this is meant as a compliment, but I always take it as "good job for a newbie, Fred, old person." I laughed and said, "Yeah, for a 60 year old lady," as I was going about 10 at the top. He actually slowed and said he had been riding around 22 years; when I said I had been riding around 14 years and didn't start until my late 40s, he said, "You must hve been a runner before," to which I replied, definitely not, I was a fitness instructor, but starting to ride was like starting all over. We rode together, chatting for just a bit and I turned off. I pushed myself, had an average of 15.2 when I got back to my neighborhood; well, I count my average before I go up the climb, as the last mile is a 5-15% grade and I use it as a cool down, or it's not pretty.
Going to commute tomorrow and Tuesday, hopefully.

[emily_in_nc]

45 miler today. The first 20 miles were into the stiff wind and mostly uphill...not huge grades, but a grind. I was only averaging 12.7 when I turned around and was pretty miserable. Fortunately, most of the way back I had either a tailwind or crosswind with just a short section of headwind. It's been so windy here lately! Supposed to have a less windy day tomorrow, so am crossing fingers. Ended up with an average speed of 14, which I was delighted with considering the first 20 miles were sooooo slow!

[Veronica]

We spent the first two weeks or so of July mountain biking in the Hood River, Mount St. Helens area. At some point I'll have pictures. It was a blast and I came home covered in bruises, so much so that I have had people ask what happened to me. My chiro said it looked like I had been beaten. We don't have much in the way of single track in our immediate area and these trails were a real challenge for me - technical, steep. I only had two falls and those were both in the first few days, but every day I had more bruises. We also "hiked" through a two mile lava tube. That was pretty cool. I say "hike" because it involved a lot of rock scrambling and one section that we had to scale. It had really good hand and foot holds though and was not very tall, maybe ten feet.

Yesterday we took the road bikes out for the first time in forever and rode 30 miles. We actually got rained on a little bit. It doesn't typically rain here until the fall. It was just sprinkles, so the drought is not over. My road bike is SO light! But on every hill I wanted a smaller gear than I had. I think my legs are use to the feel of climbing in my mountain bike gears. It wasn't a big deal that I ran out of gears. I think the steepest climb was 15% and they were super short. My road bike is a compact double so of course the gearing feels different.



I have decided to race tri again in September so this ride was kind of a benchmark ride to see where I am on the road bike. I'm pretty happy with how I felt on the bike and my average speed. It's a good starting place. I'll have different things to day about tomorrow's first run I'm sure. I don't think I've run outside in the last six months.

Veronica

[roo4]

I rode the Keystone MS150 this weekend. About 75 miles each day through rolling country roads. I averaged about 14.5 mph on both days. The first day I started with my group, but they outpaced me after 20-30 minutes. We regrouped at each rest stop and repeated this throughout the day. Yesterday I just did my own ride and never saw them after the start. The ride was extremely well organized, roads were marked, most intersections had people flagging traffic, there were lots of support vehicles on the road and plenty of food at the stops. The weather was overcast and cool the entire weekend, just perfect for cycling.

[emily_in_nc]

This morning before our longer road ride we loaded up the Bike Friday panniers and rode the 4 miles over to the recycling place here, since there's no pickup where we're staying. It was a fun little ride and a good warm up for our longer ride. 8 miles for the recycling ride and 39 for the road ride. The wind was finally lighter than it's been recently, and the temperature was lower as well -- 70s! All in all, an excellent day.

Panniers loaded with recycling, plus mixed paper/cardboard strapped on top of DH's rack:

Attachment 17283

[Irulan]

I did some exploring this weekend. I finally found some trails in an area that DH likes to go for whitewater boating. Now I've got something to do besides being shuttle bunny.

There was some of this


and some of this


and on one trail, a whole lot of this:

[roo4]

Irulan, that is gorgeous! Enjoy exploring.

[emily_in_nc]

Wow, gorgeous, but you are brave! Those look like hiking trails to me. I am such an MTB weenie!

[marni]

not only are the seasonal salt/sweat circles on the garage floor back, but so are the triple digits. Finished the standard training ride of 40 miles at 10:00 AM and the temps was 93 with 100% humidity- Definitely at least a "feels like" of at least 105. sigh......

[Catrin]

Woah! Those are some awesome mtb trails! I suspect I would be afraid WALKING a couple of them :-)

[Crankin]

I went on a group ride today. It's about 91 degrees with 47% humidity. I questioned my sanity, but it's local, led by someone I ride with and know, and there was a catered lunch afterwards. I correctly chose not to ride to the start, as that would have been close to 50 miles and I knew I would not want to ride home in this weather, after lunch.
So, this is the group that uses human arrows; since I know the area and the leader, I vounteered to arrow on the second turn. Took me awhile to catch back up, after the sweep went by, but, I did. Then, about a mile after that, Jack, the leader, missed a turn, despite having a GPS. One of the safety coordinators for the club yelled out, "Who has a GPS that can ride with Jack and you don't have to arrow." I volunteered, and made everyone happy. However, when we got to a hill in Westford, on a busy street, I got dropped a bit and few of the faster guys stayed with him, until I caught up. I stayed at the back of the front group until he missed another turn, and I yelled out, got the 4-5 guys to reel him in and we turned around. By this time, despite the shady roads, I felt crappy, despite drinking my Skratch and one Shot Block. When we turned onto a street that was in full sun, I finally pulled over, dumped water over my head, and went on. So now, I could see no one. One guy had been behind me, but he went ahead. The whole ride was in familiar territory, so I slowed down. Finally, affter making 2 turns and seeing the human arrows, someone caught up with me. We were almost back, and voilá, there was Jack with one other guy. The 4 of us got to a left turn with a steep little uphill, that I hate, someone else took the arrow post and I took the next one, which was the second to last turn. I got to stand and point the way, under a shady tree, and down what was left of my water and Skratch. I was there awhile, and then I rode back to the start with the sweep.
I don't think I've ever sweat so much. I brought a skort to change into and I could not stop sweating when I was changing, cleaning up. Ate a chicken breast with mushrooms and some salad and had a well deserved beer.
It's really ugly out there. 35.5 miles and Ilearned a nice route that I can make into a 50 miler from my house.

[ny biker]

I have never heard of a ride with human arrows before.

After finishing a ride on a hot day, I find that I need to wait a while for the sweat to stop pouring out like buckets before I change into clean clothes. Ideally I'll find a place with A/C to cool down, otherwise I try to find some shade where I can sit and drink the OJ that I keep in a cooler in my car. I also have blue ice packs in the cooler, which can help cool me down faster.

I want to go for a ride after work tonight or tomorrow, but I can't tell which day will be better, weather-wise. Tonight there is a chance of thunderstorms, but the forecast for tomorrow is not clear on whether it will rain in the morning/early afternoon or continue through the evening.

[Crankin]

Well, this is a sub group of a club that is known for faster rides, where no one stays together. It's social. What's happened though, in the ten years I've been riding with them, is that we have faster riders, who average around 15, even on really hilly rides and those that like the regular pace of an average of 13-ish, though we certainly get our speed up to 17-18 at times. We often have 2 groups go out, at diffrent paces, sometimes 3. Today, I was with the fast group, but it was advertised a regular pace... which even for me, with arrowing and stopping was over 14. The intent of human arrows were so they didn't need to give out cue sheets. Now, about half or more of the people, at least the ones I tend to stick with, have GPSs. Some of these people are incredible, 60-80 years old and ride tons, travel, do tours, run marathons, do the PMC. Others are younger, in their 40s or 50s, but can get Wednesday off. Quite a few also belong to AMC and sometimes come on the rides I lead (that's how I found this group). I know enough of them that it's friendly, but I am not in the inner circle, since even with Wednesdays off, I don't go every week. When I was teaching, I had a few years of going frequently, but since some of the summer rides repeat, and require driving long distances to the start, I don't feel the need to do those again. Most are around the area I live in, though.

[emily_in_nc]

Ugh Crankin, that sounds like tough weather. It's not the heat, it's the humidity! Not missing that in eastern WA one bit.

Today I surpassed my previous annual mileage record of 4279 set in 2004 before my cycling accident in April 2005. I honestly never thought I'd be able to ride that much again because of the pain I continued to have in my upper right buttock/lower back, but this year, since we've been traveling and following the good weather, I was able to start training in January and build up mileage slowly. Plus DH put a stem extension on my Trek that put me in a more upright position, which may have helped as well. Whatever the cause, with today's ride I have now had my biggest mileage year ever. And it's still only July!

Today's ride was 51 miles, and I actually averaged over 15, which is rare for me these days. Of course, it helped that I drafted off DH...when I do this route or a variation of it on my own, I would be somewhere in the 14s.

I ate a nice large bowl of ice cream when we got back to celebrate. Yum!

[Crankin]

You know, Emily, I often wonder if I would ride as much as you do, if I was in your situation. Something tells me no. When I quit teaching, I had all intentions of riding tons and actually, the opposite happened; I felt paralyzed, anxious, and ended up not riding for a whole fall, which is my favorite season! I know I ride plenty, and this year, I am making more of an effort, but sometimes I wonder about both my physical and mental toughness. Yesterday, there were several people who did a very tough century on Sunday (goes up Mt. Wachusett) on the ride I did, which was stressful because of the heat. They were also talking about what rides they were doing Thursday/Friday. I know everyone is different, but there are plenty of moments when both DH and I say we want a day to be "regular people." Of course, we might go for a hike or walk, but we are not riding. My limit seems to be 4 times a week, maybe 5, as long as I am going to the gym for boot camp. You and I seem to be somewhat the same type of rider, so I guess that is why I am comparing to you. I am finding more and more it's a mental thing, but I definitely need more rest than a lot of the other riders I know.