11/17 report

[SouthernBelle]

Happy Saturday!

Headed out about 8:30 to get a few miles under my belt. Temps were low 40s and it was windy. But I did pretty well getting the layers right. Ativa top and tights under regular shorts and my orange smartwool hoodie. I could have used warmer socks.

Rode into a headwind, which with my lack of riding of late was a little tough. I didn't get warmed up and into a good rhythm until about the 10 mile mark. After a bit my feet, ears and the back of my neck got a little cold, probably from the wind. But as I was headed toward home, the sun came out for a bit and felt so nice and warm on my back.

But a nice ride and 25.43 miles.

[RoadRaven]

Hey there Belle... glad you had some sun on your back

Well my ride was sweet... Club race, Individual Time Trial... I did a personal best over the 25.6 km flat course in a difficult changeable light winds...

Very sore legs, relatively pleased with myself (my average was .3km below where I wanted it to be...)

Total of just under 40km with warm up and cool down...

If I get some energy I'll post a race report - but the 17th was (its the morning of the 18th here in KiwiLand now) a very good day

[Tri Girl]

Sounds like you both had fantastic rides!
I rode with a small group- for about 5 miles then got dropped. I'm just no good on hills (the uphill part anyway ). Wound up riding the rest of the time by myself then rode home.
On the way home, went by the hospital for the "drive-up" flu shot clinic. They laughed and said I was the first bike to come through.
A great fall morning here- 35 slow miles- but very enjoyable ones!

[SlowButSteady]

Chilly and windy here in the Piedmont of South Carolina. Our fall colors are still beautiful, just beginning to fade a bit. Our small group rode 25 miles--we're so lucky to have crop fields, cow pastures and woods on our routes, which are also light on traffic. We also rode past fields of cotton, a crop that is making a comeback in this neck of the woods. These fields are white as though dusted well with snow. Just beautiful and well-worth bucking the wind to ride.

I'm riding my new bike, a Giant OCR A-1 W. Still in the "getting used to it" period and doggone if I didn't pick up something in the rear brake pad that scraped my rim a little bit. But the good news is that I can keep up with the group better than I could on my previous bicycle, which was a teeny-weenie Trek 1000 WSD. Yay!

[PinkBike]

what a great day for a ride!
started out a little nippy but warmed up dramatically.

we showed up at the start around 6 am and the gold section was filled up and the silver was getting there, so we lined up halfway into the silver. it took prob'ly about 10 minutes to actually get up to the starting line once the ride started. there were 5300 riders on the 109-mile route. so i spent the first hour just trying to work my way up the pack. got into some good pacelines that helped a lot. i didnt have a problem with the steep snyder hill but the rollers were endless and a couple times i couldnt stay with the group i had settled in with.

i dropped my chain somewhere on airline road and had to stop and fix that, and i stopped once for water. being such a big event there were cops at EVERY intersection to direct us thru and i only had to stop twice for traffic. it seems like all the riders were just so friendly, and the crowds were outstanding! we even had one guy who was running along the road next to the riders going up rattlesnake pass like you see fans doing in the tour. too funny.

so i finished in 6:12, i had so wanted to do it in 6:00 but it was such a good event that i'm not really that disappointed. and the great news was that DH finished in 6:47, but when he crossed the line he was just so happy. usually at the end of a race he's a big drama queen about his aches and pains, this time he was just gushing about how much fun he had! i am thrilled!

i sure would've liked to have met up with any TE-ers, i hope mimi and don and mtk and any others had as much fun as i did.

[Fredwina]

I did 66 miles
Did the what we call the "Bryce" version of the club ride,a fter the guy who cam up the idea. It has the mileage of the long ,with out the climbs. Did some climbing to a ranger station, and checked out a detour for one of my brevet routes. wound up hitting a pavement edge wrong(Time for my yearly Fall )
some pics:

[Aggie_Ama]

Pink Bike- That is a great time for 109 miles! Glad you had a good ride.

We did 13.62 miles- in the dark! We had many errands today getting ready to go to Disneyworld but decided to pick up some lights and try night riding. What a blast!! I felt more visible to cars but those twisty county roads were interesting. Definitely will be closing in on our yearly goal of 4,000 miles with the new lights.

[makbike]

I woke up early filled with anticipation for it was my first ride on my new addtion. Headed into Louisville to join the 10:00 club ride (35 miles). Upon arrival I quickly discovered I had left my shoes at home However, decided to give the fairly flat course a try in my tennis shoes - it was no fun. At about the 10 mile mark I decided to head back to my car for I was having a hard time keeping my feet on the pedals. However, the first ride did reveal a computer issue. I looked down at one point to see what my cadence was and discovered, according to the computer, that I was spinning at an unbelievable rate of 192 rpm - but my speed was only 7 mph. So, once back at the car I loaded the bike and headed back to the LBS to see if they could solve the mystery. It did not take long, they had crossed the wires and quickly corrected the problem. Great I thought for I still have time to head home grab my shoes and still get 40 miles in before daylight fades.

I grabbed my shoes and something to eat and headed back out with a great route in mind. I was flying and feeling great atop my new bike. As I came down a hill I shifted from the middle chainring to the big ring only to hear my chain skip over the ring and onto my crank arm. Keeping pedaling I told myself but the chain slipped further down the arm and with the slack got caught under my rear tire. I quickly got off the bike to discover my chain was broken. I decided to start walking back to the main road (about 7 miles) hoping that a local farmer would pass me and stop to offer me a ride. I was correct, several farmers passed me as I pushed my bike up the road but unfortunately not a single person stopped to offer assistance. I kept walking and finally made it back to the main road. My hopes were again high hoping someone would stop but numerous cars/trucks passed me without a second look. Finally, a mile or so from my house my neighbor saw me and stopped. What an angel for the blisters on my feet were screaming. She dropped me off at my doorstep and I quickly loaded my bike back into my car and made yet another trip to Louisville to see my friendly LBS. They quickly replaced the chain and adjusted the FD and I returned home with the hopes of getting in a short ride before the sunset.

I quickly grabbed a Cliff bar and attempted my third ride of the day. Things were going well until I looked down at my computer to see what my cadence was at the moment - screen read 0. I stopped to see if the sensors needed to be adjusted only to discover the sensor on the crankarm was missing. Did it come off in my walk home, was it in my neighbor's van or did it fall off at the LBS? Don't know but did decide to keep riding and I'm glad I did. It was a fun ride albeit short. I think I'm falling in love with my new bike and can only hope I'll get a few more chances to ride it before winter settles in here.

[emily_in_nc]

Wow, Marcie, you are admirably persistent! After the chain break and long walk most of the way home, I would have been DONE. Good for you for going out for try #3!

Emily

[mimitabby]

Raleighdon and I rode the tdt TODAY. we decided on the 80 mile route since 109 seemed overwhelming to yours truly.
we started at 9am and rode like bandits. we finished in 5 hours and 13 minutes of riding time (i cannot believe i went this fast)
my personal average was 15.8mph!!

i will tell you all more tomorrow. i'm too tired. it was very hot, but this dry air coupled with very very gentle slopes and a bit of altitude makes for a much faster ride.

[fastdogs]

saturday's ride was a short hilly one. My family got together for our thanksgiving dinner (military family, we do birthdays and holidays whenever everyone can get together), my niece wanted to go bike riding with me. My DH came along also. My DH has been out for the past two weekends with me, but my niece has never been into it, the bike was my sisters and was pretty old, a walmart bike (like DH's) and sitting on flats. She aired it up, sprayed some lube on, and we took off. I had her adjust her seat higher, and she did quite well. My DH brings up the rear, but never complains or seems tired. He passed both of us on the hills though. At some point his chain ate his pants leg and broke the plastic chain guard, but he never said anything so I didn't know till we'd got back. We rode to an old cemetary and looked at some of the headstones from the 1800's, then rode back, about 8.5 miles. The plan had been to ride to st. james, but at the graveyard they let me know that I was welcome to go on by myself! I would have, but needed to get back for visiting with family.
vickie