8 July Rides

[Velobambina]

So those West Coast Wenches can't accuse us East Coasters of slacking off, I will start today's thread. Got in a 43miler, starting before sunrise, today. My legs were tired, but I was still pretty spunky on the hills. Must have been the magic from my pink Luna Eclipse--such a lovely bike. Anyway, saw three foxes. The heat and humidity that's descended on us must be making them antsy.

When I got home, I took my new Seven Alaris for a test ride around the 'hood. The bike is the perfect addition to the stable.

Got home in time to lift weights before watching Phil's favorite, Robbie, win today's stage of the TDF! What a finish!!! My new crush, Fabian, gets to keep the yellow, too.

[7rider]

No slacking off today for this East Coaster, either.
DH and I did the shop ride with our LBS. We had to detour, as Tiger Woods and some golf thing are in town. Our usual route goes by the golf course where they are at, and the road was clogged with tour buses.
DH had me ride with the "B" group today. He promised to hang with me if I fell off the back, but I think I did okay. We were doing 25+ on Clara Barton - - I think....I was too focused on the wheel in front of me to look at my Garmin! I'll go by what others tell me.
Other than falling off the back on the hills (as usual), I think I did okay with the group. Ended up with a new p.r., too....32.75 miles at a 18.8 mph!
I told my friend, Art, and he commented...."Better living through chemistry!" Yeah, I was on the juice...my epidural seems to be working...no pain on the ride! Yayyy!!!

[divingbiker]

Well, it looks like those of us in the DC area are tearing up the roads today! I did 62 miles out at the Agricultural Research Center/Wildlife Refuge, my longest ride so far this year and my last road ride before Cycle Across Maryland next weekend. I'm hoping to do a century next Saturday, but if it's as hot as it is today, and if it's as windy as it got after about mile 45, I may have to stick with the metric.

[makbike]

I joined the club for a 60 mile ride from Louisville to Eminence - beautiful roads and scenery once we got out of the city. My legs felt great and I was able to hang with the "middle group" that quickly formed. It was a fast ride to Eminence and the whole time I'm thinking "this can't be real, I'm flying!" We stopped in Eminence at the "Chat-n-Nibble" for lunch and I enjoyed a wonderful country ham sandwich and the company of the group. Back on our bikes and off we went passing a large draft horse in a pasture, a beautiful field of sunflowers all in bloom and some great looking fields of corn, a hawk circling above us and a vulture enjoying a meal ahead of us. Up and down the hills we flew enjoying our bikes and the company of the cozy little group that had formed. The ride ended up being 56.5 miles and I had an average speed of 17.16 mph - I'll doing a happy dance!

[Fredwina]

For once, I didn't start the thread
since it's now "merely" 90 degrees and I had a meeting i wanted to attend this this PM, I got up early and got on the road at a 7AM. did one of my Favorite loops, out Bonita and back Baseline. I had some spare time, so I climbed up Benson in Upland and came down Campus to Baseline/16th where I pulled in to the parkling lot of Saint Mark's Episcopal.
We have a bulletin board with pics of all the members of our parish. The job of church photographer has changed, and the new guy is an avid cyclist. I keep trying to get him and his wife out on their tandem at the club ride. Hey, my own post went OT! Anyway, Don wanted to replace my Pic with one of moi in biking regalia. so I posed, The only thing was we did inside and I thought afterwards we should have done one by the church sign.
I had some extra time, so I took the long way home. Almost stopped by the Coffee shop that's our "HQ" to see if any of the biking "Heathens" we hanging out but I didn't. Came up with about 35 miles

[RolliePollie]

Ahhhh, sprinklers! I rode by a vineyard today and they had their aerial rainbirds going. They were doing a great job of watering the road, so I took advantage of it and circled around several times until I was quite wet. Next was a 2 mile downhill stretch. What a great cool down!

It was just a typical solo training ride for me today. 21.6 miles, pretty uneventful. I passed three other cyclists on an uphill and I was kind of excited about that.

[Crankin]

Since I spent all morning at the vet hospital getting my cat looked at, by the time we came home, read the paper, ate lunch, it was hot and humid, so i decided that the 16 mile loop would be fine. It was. We passed another couple who seemed to be going a bit faster than us, but I guess they weren't! I was able to stay in the big ring and keep my speed over 18 the whole way on the back side of the loop on Lowell Rd. My average was just over 16 until I began the climb up my street, so I ended up with 15.6, I think.
I just finished doing about another 1.5 tons of rocks for the landscaping. It started pouring, so I decided it was time to come in.

[Aggie_Ama]

We did 54 miles combining two short loops we do. There is a lot of hills and we had a head wind on one of the hilly roads. I impressed myself by only needing my little ring for the toughest climb! It was pretty hot today but the wind made it feel cooler. The sweat was at least evaporating fast. I ended with an average speed of 15.2 which suited me fine since we did a climbing ride yesterday and had the hills and headwind today. I saw a roadrunner and tons of butterflies. Made me think of LBTC.

[KnottedYet]

26 mile TE ride on the Waterford.
10 mile hilly ride on the Surly.

I'm utterly pooped. Having a post-ride snack (crackers, cheese, pickled herring, beer). Then I'm taking a nap.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Everyone's rides sound so lovely today!!

DH and I had a nice pleasant 20 mile ride this morning too. It was 90 degrees but there was a breeze and shade here and there under the trees.

I set a new speed record for myself (previous was 39mph)- I finally hit 40.1 mph on a descent.
Woo-HOOOOOOO! The best part was that I felt in control and wasn't scared at all this time. Big difference from past times at 35mph when I was usually pretty nervous. This particular hill is long and smooth with very good visibility, so it's a good one for speed.
First we have to "earn" it by slowly climbing a couple miles of rough gravel hill through beautiful farmland in the blasting sun. Then we get to the top and the dirt road ends in a T and we can ZOOM down the smooth asphalt road towards another village.

[BikerJen]

18 miles on road bike today. It was around 85°F for my ride. I rode from home towards downtown. Overall I was pleased with my efforts, especially since I was riding a new saddle! A Selle San Marco Aspide. I like it!

Also rode 12 miles on mountain bike yesterday. I'm ready for a nap now.

[mudmucker]

Took another venture into southern New Hampshire but decided to turn around as storm clouds swirled above me and the wind kicked in a bit. This time I at least brought a jacket. Started to pedal back home as far as I could until the rains and some lightening started. Darn, I got stranded at the roadside ice cream joint for about a half hour while I waited to see how violent the rains would get. Logged 38 miles.

[Kalidurga]

Another east coast non-slacker here I had an awesome late-day ride on the C&O Canal today. Drove out to Shepherdstown, WV, for lunch of fritatta and English muffins at Sharazade's Tea Room, then crossed back over the river to get on the C&O at about 4:00pm.

I had planned to duplicate the 65rpm/13mph pace of last week's ride since I felt so comfortable at that combo, but I quickly settled into a faster rythm of 75-85rpm/15-17mph over the dirt, gravel and tree roots of the towpath.

Headed upstream all the way to the Big Slackwater area, at which the canal used to let out into a smooth section of the Potomac River to bypass some cliffs along the Md shore. As a result, there's a detour onto nearby roads to get back onto the towpath farther upstream. Well, I rode as far as the stop sign warning of the detour, and noticed that fishermen/hikers/etc had worn a nice little singletrack trail along the river's edge beyond the detour. And of course I had to ride it After about .5 lumpy, bumpy miles of parched dirt and one spot where I had to shoulder the bike to climb over a fallen tree, I got to the fence blocking the other end of the detour and had to turn around.

The 15 miles back towards Shepherdstown were blissful. It was late enough in the day that most folks were heading home, so I saw very few people. This is the kind of ride I love the most: just me and the bike, the river and the trees, with mental processes reduced to nothing but the perceptions of my five senses as I push myself just hard enough.

I got back to the car with just over 30 miles on my computer and cranked the stereo for the drive home through the Frederick County countryside. After a shower to wash away the sweat and grit, in the words of Lillie Von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles, "I feel wefweshed!"

[salsabike]

First time on the bike in a month, again.

A beautiful PNW day here. Saw bald eagles, herons, river otters, AND KnottedYet---what a deal! Did just a 28 mile, pretty flat tandem ride with spouse, with short steep hill thrown in. Am totally fried and have been ever since. But had a great ride.

[Starfish]

First time on the bike in a month, again.

A beautiful PNW day here. Saw bald eagles, herons, river otters, AND KnottedYet---what a deal! Did just a 28 mile, pretty flat tandem ride with spouse, with short steep hill thrown in. Am totally fried and have been ever since. But had a great ride.

There was a beautiful day here in the PNW somewhere?!? *Sigh* I'm glad you had a great day! Nothing but gray, cold wind, and spitting rain over here.

No ride for me today...still recovering from Friday...had an extra nap!