riding into the heat of july

[rebeccaC]

"My wheels no longer touch the ground,
they’re floating on passionate effort,
a whole hearted singleminded effort,
the rhythm of a perfect circle,
a pulsing rhythm that rises above the worlds woes.

Movement brings freedom.".......Carlo Castelvecchi

[Crankin]

Appropriate title to this thread.
DH and I set out on a little celebratory ride, after the closing on our house. It was after lunch, and I had sat down for a bit to digest, then got up to get in my bike clothes. I felt sleepy! I ignored it and off we went. It's only 80 out, but humid as hell, with a big storm coming tonight. On the first hill, I knew this was not going to be fun, but, I did it, 15 miles at a decent pace. My legs felt great, but I have to remind myself not to eat a veggie bowl with sirracha before riding...

[north woods gal]

Hope everyone manages to deal with the July heat, wherever you may be. Sounds like a lot of you have been dealing with it, already, but be safe.

July is our hottest month of the year, but not very hot compared to what most folks call hot. Our average highs are in the 80s. Once or maybe twice a year, we actually hit 90, but some years, not even that. Also, most of our riding is in forest country, so a lot of shade. What I like most about July, though, is that it's one of our quietest wind months.

Happy Fourth to all, by the way.

[azfiddle]

I got up extra early to ride with my husband on on Mt. Lemmon. The Tucson Tri-girls run a 6 week set of rides up Mt. Lemmon, going further each week, and they have water and food along the way. My son met up with us and the two of them (much faster than me) went ahead to Molino Basin (mile 5 or so) - usually just a rest stop on the way up. I knew the son was turning around but as soon as I got there, my husband says "I'm done". I wasn't really expecting that. It was kind of warm, and humid (for southern AZ) but usually I just rest for a few minutes and I'm ready to go further.

So... maybe I just would have gone a couple miles further, or to a good turn around spot at Seven Cataracts (mile 9) but I couldn't help feeling irritated that he just decided to stop and turn around so suddenly. We hadn't really talked about how far we were going before we started ... I could have kept going on my own but would have had to ride home an extra five miles (actually 8 miles because we didn't park at the usual spot) and I was grumpy about the whole thing. So...

just 13 miles altogether (about 1500 feet of climbing). Maybe I'll take on the whole mountain again one day next week before I go back to work. And I'm trying not to be too irritable until I get over it.

[emily_in_nc]

No heat here! It's in the upper 50s here as I write this on July 2. Cray-zee! It's raining today but supposed to be back to the 80s-90s next week, so I guess I shan't complain, but I am a little bummed. We actually had to turn on the heater a little bit ago.

No riding (or even walking) here today in a state park in Iowa where I am sure there are a lot of unhappy campers stuck inside at the moment!

[north woods gal]

Great ride, today, to start the month. Sunny and 70s. Did a 30 mile loop, but about 12 miles was a combination of gravel bike path, gravel road and/or sand roads. Love going off pavement and getting completely away from traffic, back into some gorgeous and wild north woods. Have never been able to manage all the fancy MTB riding skills, but get me back along a fairly level and somewhat straight path, even single tack, and I'm fine. I leave the kamikaze stuff to others.