May 5 rides

[Kano]

Here I am at my computer while DH arrives to ride with our SPIN group -- he's going to have a glorious ride while I'm at work all day. When I get home, maybe I'll go climb a hill or something, but more than likely, I'll just be ready to curl up in a corner and read about what you ladies have done all day!

I suppose I'd better get off my chair and get ready to leave for work now....


Karen in Boise

[makbike]

I hosted a ride for the club today in my neck of the woods. We rode 48 miles under gray to partly cloudly skies. It was a low turn out but given it is Derby Day here in the Louisville area that did not surprise me. Three of us tackled the route and enjoyed the scenery as we cruised at along at a nice clip. We elected to skip the store stop and that turned out to be a very wise decision given about 20 minutes after arriving back at our cars the skies opened up, so we would have been soaked had we delayed our arrival. All in all it was a great ride. I averaged 17.1 mph which made me quite happy. It seems all my hard work on my trainer during the winter months is paying off in big dividends.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Derby Day.

[Triskeliongirl]

I had a great 34 mile ride with my club today. The weather is finally nice, really felt like spring. I have been eating a low carb diet to counteract a problem I've been having with reactive hypoglycemia, so the nutrtion part was tricky, but it went better than I was expecting. The ride was very scenic, hilly, and windy, and I rode with a good friend I hadn't seen for a while which was nice. All in all a great ride!

[Fredwina]

I led the short club ride today. I had a guy who hadn't ridden in 12 years, so IT was rather leisurely. he was have real problems with the hills, so I took him on shortcut that he didn't know existed, Caltrans had closed a street to build freeway, but curiously, the sidewalk is there for about half mile. Stopped , and had a burrito (it is Cinco De Mayo) and then took longer route home to come up with metric century (had to get my crazy mileage in somehow ).

[Crankin]

We lead our club's new member Ride. We had 44 people! Thankfully the group was split, with 2 other people leading a "slower" ride. We only had one challenge; the starting point road was blocked off because of a hazardous wate recycling day, so we had to lead everyone over a footbridge, to the next street, which was very busy. Steve got out in the middle of Lowell rd. and stopped the traffic! Concord Center was crazy with people, cyclists, many club rides andother special events. I lead for the first half, determined to keep some of the testosterone laden ones off my back. I think I did OK; I only had one point, going up a little hill that 2 of them went in front of me for like 2 minutes.

We stopped at Great Brook Farm for about 10 minutes and then i switched with Steve and rode sweep. The slower ones weren't really too slow and it was pleasant. Great weather, about 65 degrees. i pushed my arm warmers down and now I have a farmer's tan, since I didn't have sun block on.
Nice ride.

[im4smiley]

A friend and I left this morning around 6:45 for a 40 or so mile ride, actually our 1st long ride on our road bikes, he has been riding single speed and I have been riding my mtn bike. We were had a nice ride into vermont and then we turned onto a road we have taken before to head for home but now it is closed for construction so we had to turn around and go back another way...ended with about 65 miles! I think I will sleep well tonight!! It was a beautiful day for a ride about 40 degrees when we left and sunny!

[ehirsch83]

Rode alone:-( but it was nice.
Taught lessons at the barn until around 2 to all of the kids who didn't go to the horse show this weekend.(I had taken my bike with me because it is air and sea show weekend here, so my normal bike route-the beach- is closed off for the first 6-8 miles of my normal route)
Anyways, after I finished up the lessons I headed out from Delray to Wellington to see how the horse show was going(about 40 miles round trip from the barn).
It was a hard ride all around(big crosswinds) but nice and relaxing.
It was a nice ride, didn't realize that there was bike lanes the full ride! Something I don't have where I live. A lot of big trucks going by, but nothing horrible

[missymaya]

Had a terrible ride. I went on the Lakemont ride and totally got dropped . I think I'm in a slump right now or something 'cause I'm just not riding at the speed I could be So, I'm currently emailing one of the women who leads our club rides (and who also totally kicks @$$ when it comes to cycling) for tips and help.

[SouthernBelle]

The thunder and rain finally stopped so that I could get in a ride. Since my time was shortened I didn't do the route or miles I had planned. But I tried out a route I have been working out in my head for hill work.

Stupidly, I was not wearing the shoes with the inserts, so ended up having a lot of pain in my left foot, having to stop 2-3 times to take the pressure off. Gotta get some more inserts so all my shoes are covered.

With the new toy, discovered that one hill that always kicks my butt is a 20% grade. For those who have wondered about a Garmin, here is my ride on motion based: Click me.

[Aggie_Ama]

I did the 85.70 miles Great Austin to Shiner Pedal (Shiner GASP). In a little bit I will write a whole adventure story of it but let's just say it was awful. I didn't realize how little conditioning I had right now for a long ride. Their was never a flat section and almost constantly a headwind (the last 15-20 miles it was probably 15mph).

I hurt in places I didn't know I could hurt this morning, but I am proud I finished!

[HillSlugger]

I only did 17.5 miles today, but it was a great 17.5 miles. I rode the Iron Girl triathlon route and then did a 2.4 mile run (the Iron Girl route but without the challenging uphill section). Last time I did this brick I averaged 14.85 mph on the ride and then pretty much blew up on the run; I had to do the run with 3 walks because my knees were complaining too much (11.5 min/mile average). Today I rocked the ride at 16+mpg and did the run without walking, at just over a 10 min/mile average. I am so pleased with myself. Still, I can't help but wonder how much harder this will all be after a 1000m open water swim.

[chickwhorips]

i did the ride & roll for hope which the whole thing was 22 miles. i had a blast. it was my first event ride.

what was more important to me that my roommie and her boyfriend went and did 5 miles. first time on a bike in who knows how long. i am just so proud of them for getting out and doing it!

[Starfish]

Saturday was cold, gray and spitting a little rain, but the real rain held off until today, so yesterday I stayed dry!

Rode one of my favorite routes. It encompasses 3 river crossings (one on an old-fashioned one-lane bridge), one salt water beach, three lakes (one a huge glacial lake), and many mountain views. Lots of bald eagle sightings, and no cougars or bears! We have cougars around here, and when I am huffing up a hill through dense old growth forest at 4.5 mph sounding like a dying elk, I always wonder...

50 miles, 3430' climbing, and a stop at Granny's Cafe for a PB&J!

[Veronica]

That sounds like a great ride Starfish.

I saw such a sad thing yesterday - a smooshed bobcat. At least I think it was a bobcat. It seemed too big to be a housecat and the fur was spotted.

At one point in my ride, I looked over into a gully and saw a turkey.

V.

[annie]

My bike club hosted a Cinco de Mayo/Tailwind ride on May 5. We had an amazing ride this year. The wind was from the east at 20-30 mph with gusts up to 40. We headed west. A few hills at the start and then pretty darn flat roads. 21 riders and everyone made 100 miles. For some, it was their first century ever. Yay! For me, it was my second sub-5 hour century. And not even sore today. That wind was amazing! I was spinning out, out of gears, at over 30 miles mph at some points in the ride. That NEVER happens. What a day! Will probably never happen again, so we all savored this one time.

Annie

p.s. We had a bus to bring us home into that horrendous wind. I felt sorry for the bus! The gas mileage must have been horrendous.