April Fools Ride Reports

[uk elephant]

Didn't see anyone else having started a ride report for today, so I thought I would....

Had a great 55 mile ride, and for once had company on today's ride. I'm training for the CA Aids LifeCycle and have been putting in lots and lots of miles of solitary training. Turns out there is another ALC participant in the area, based in London! He travels a lot, but today we were finally able to coordinate a ride. He came up here on the train and we cycled up through Essex and Suffolk to the historic town of Lavenham full of 14th century buildings and is a very nice little village where we had lunch in a quaint little tea room (I had delicious carrot and apple soup). A very enjoyable ride despite the headwinds which seemed to follow us both there and back and a glorious sunny and warm spring day (although he thought it was a bit on the chilly side, but then again he is from LA and I'm from Norway).

And among the sights along the way....adorable baby sheep, baby rabbits (it must be spring), beautiful pheasants and a large flock of llamas. Should have brought the camera...

[makbike]

Sounds like a wonderful ride, UK Elephant!

I went out to do a short, easy recovery ride today. I rode a slow 15 miles and simply enjoyed the warmth of the sun! I only wish the wind had not made this ride so hard on the way home. All in all it is a great day to be outside. Guess I'll venture out now and mow the grass (I hate yard work).

[Chile Pepper]

I had a great ride this morning--54 km with some nice climbing/descents. Max speed: 50 kph I left early to beat the traffic (there is always traffic on the best roads here), so it was a bit cold (it's fall here, not spring). I was out for two and a half hours, which is my longest ride since I started back in January. I'm very pleased.

[Offthegrid]

I did a test ride of my route to work on my commuter bike. Wow, it definitely is different than my road bike. Rode about 20 miles (no computer on that bike) -- 10 miles there and back. Learned a few tweaks I still have to make to the bike but the route went well although my muscles are very tired now.

I saw two cardinals and a blue jay. Very pretty. And the rain held off.

[mimitabby]

This morning the temp was 37 degrees! oh man, that's cold! and windy!
There were big patchs of blue sky and so I met Tiegyr and her boyfriend
and we all did a quick spin down the River trail got to kent and turned around and came back. THe weather forecast said 6mph winds, but according to Noaa, it was 18 mph! BRRRR
and Tiegyr was in shorts and shorty gloves. She's a tough strong rider..and has a beautiful Orange Orbea!

21 miles according to my computer, 23 according to hers.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

25 miles, 38-45 degrees. My very first and pretty low key official "club ride"...see other thread for how it went.

[DebW]

31 miles this morning with dh, 16.8 mph. Temp was 50F at the start. We rode up to Concord and did the Lowell, 225, Monument loop, then home. Later I went canoeing and now I want a nap, except I'm hungry.

[Crankin]

I didn't get out until about 2:30, since i was cooking for Passover (my favorite holiday). We did somewhat the same route as Deb mentioned, but the loop part is about 15.7 miles from my house, so we added a bit more through Carlisle and rode 19.8 miles. All of a sudden, I felt very strong, my legs didn't hurt, and neither did my lungs. I wonder if it's from the hill climbing ride I did yesterday. Everything felt easy today. My husband was tired and I pulled him for the way home. I also managed to get up the steeper side of my street, which is nice, because then you get a downhill that helps you get up the driveway.

[jobob]

I did my now fairly usual ride out along Niles Canyon, over Palomares, and then I took Dublin Canyon to Foothill.

I was passing really close to the Radisson in Dublin where Snap & Kit & X were still staying ,and I thought about stopping by & saying hi, but I figured they were going to be on the road soon, if not already, so I decided not.

Anyhow folks, hope you heard me say hi as I rode by...

I headed down Foothill & took a side trip on Bernal to Main St in Pleasanton to see if I could get a packet or two of Perpetuem from CyclePath for the remainder of my ride (I finally got around to trying the sample pack of Perpetueum I got in my Hammer Gel order, and ME LIKE!) - but nooo, they were closed. Idjits!

I continued back down Foothill into Sunol and up Calaveras. It's really pretty on Calaveras right now! Sometime past the false summit I decided it would be much more pleasant and scenic to turn around and go back down Calaveras thru Sunol and return via Niles Canyon, rather than return via the urban spawl of Warm Springs Blvd and Mission Blvd, so that's what I did.

Niles Canyon going westbound from Sunol is kind of a drag in parts because there are stretches with no shoulder, and a couple of narrow bridges. I hadn't ridden it going in that direction for at least a year and a half, but it wasn't nearly as stressful for me this time. A bonus heading back on Niles Canyon was that the wind wasn't so bad, the canyon blocked most of it. But riding back along the Alameda Creek trail to home I got the brunt of it. At least I'm dealing with the wind a lot better nowadays, but if I had to ride in that wind for say, 50 miles or so, I would have gone batty.

A very nice day out, about 75 miles, 13.5 mph and 3000 ft of climbing.

[Veronica]

Thom and I set out to do our local loop today. It's about 40 miles, a nice ride to do and still have energy to do chores. We were on the road out to the Las Vaqueros Reservoir, which sees almost no traffic, and my cell phone rang. It was my sister Vicki, calling with the latest update on my sister Valerie who got diagnosed with tongue cancer on Thursday.

I slowed down and rode one handed, talking with her. But this road is pretty far out and as I went around a corner, I lost the signal.

We turned around and went back to where we had a signal and I stood on the side of the road and called her back. We'd been talking for about ten minutes and I heard riders coming up behind me. I turned to see who it was, lost my balance and because my right foot was still clipped in, toppled over. It was a pretty funny fall according to my husband.

I have three, inch long gashes on my right knee. My left knee is banged up on the inside from hitting my bike. I rode the 12 miles home with my knee oozing blood and Thom drafting me.

As I was falling, I was still talking to my sister and I was more worried about the bike hitting the ground then me.

It's been a heck of a week.

V.

[RolliePollie]

Today was my first ever solo ride on the road!

Only 15 miles with a slow average of 13.5 mph (but in my defense, I'm still a newbie on platform pedals and it's really hilly here!). This was a big hurdle I needed to cross because I am really rather petrified of the traffic around here. No shoulders, curvy country roads, still sand and gravel all over the pavement from recent snow, and hills, hills, and more hills! I was literally shaking during quite a bit of the ride, but I did it and now I feel great!

[jobob]

Only 15 miles with a slow average of 13.5 mph (but in my defense, I'm still a newbie on platform pedals and it's really hilly here!).

Well, don't beat yourself up, this oldbie on clipless pedals did 13.5 mph as well (look 3 posts up).

ma, she's callin' me slow!

[mimitabby]

I slowed down and rode one handed, talking with her. But this road is pretty far out and as I went around a corner, I lost the signal.

We turned around and went back to where we had a signal and I stood on the side of the road and called her back. We'd been talking for about ten minutes and I heard riders coming up behind me. I turned to see who it was, lost my balance and because my right foot was still clipped in, toppled over. It was a pretty funny fall according to my husband.

I have three, inch long gashes on my right knee. My left knee is banged up on the inside from hitting my bike. I rode the 12 miles home with my knee oozing blood and Thom drafting me.

As I was falling, I was still talking to my sister and I was more worried about the bike hitting the ground then me.

It's been a heck of a week.

V.

uh, don't you mean CELL PHONES are dangerous??

[jobob]

I'm thinking Veronica is dangerous.

Really sorry about your sis! Yep, this has been a heckofaweek for you!



I have to ask ... do all of your siblings have names beginning with V ?

[yellow]

Well, don't beat yourself up, this oldbie on clipless pedals did 13.5 mph as well (look 3 posts up).

ma, she's callin' me slow!

Jo, this woman is riding where I used to live, you know, the area that SK had to educate me on what "rollers" were (I always thought "rollers" described rolling uphill terrain...go up a hill, flatten out a little, go up another hill, flatten out a little...you get the idea). I know better now. Sara is not riding on rollers.

Sara: 13.5 mph average is not slow for that thar part of the world! I often had average speeds in the 13s or low 14s when I lived there (and that figures in the 40 mph downhills). You did a GREAT job!

Oh, by the way, I rode 300 miles in a snowstorm, all on my 52x11 while talking on the cell phone and drinking lattes handed to me by Peter Reid.


APRIL FOOL!

(I can't believe someone else didn't do this before me.)