April 17th Rides

[Midmichigangal]

A beautiful warm spring evening with temps in the seventies. Temps hit a high of 76 degrees today which felt great. I rode ten miles today around the neighborhood which was a first for me. Nice to see the daffodils and crocuses blooming.

[mimitabby]

a scary dark sky accompanied me on my ride home. Only i didn't go right home, I went first to the library and then to the produce stand. Upon which I discovered that if i went home the long way I was less out of breath than if i had gone straight home, (straight over the hill).

and I got two chores done on my bike!

[Crankin]

Had a pretty ride with my riding friend. Old familiar roads, good, but not horrible hills. It was about 64 when we started and 58 when we got back.
She rides slower than me,so after awhile I went ahead and stopped and waited for her at several points. I thought I was going fast at some points, but my average kind of sucked today.
17 miles

[makbike]

I was able to squeeze in 14 miles this evening. My ankle is still a tad bit sore but seems to be responding nicely to what my chiropractor is doing. If nothing else this case of tendinitis has given me a great excuse to increase the number of times a see a massage therapist each week

[Tater]

Beautiful day in southwest Idaho! Since I went and signed up for the Crater Lake century, I figured I'd better find a place to get some climbing in. The road to Bogus Basin ski resort seemed like a good place to start. I got in 80.5 miles and 4837 feet in climbing.

[Melalvai]

Last week I attempted a short but steep hill on Champion Dr, pulling a trailer, into the wind, soaked through with rain. (Since then I bought a $10 rain suit. Not goretex, but it'll see me through this spring.)

Today I found myself on that road again, fresh on my bike because I'd just had a meeting (potential job to replace my job which is going to North Dakota without me I hope) in a nearby building. No rain, no wind, no trailer.

I wouldn't say I flew up the hill. But there was never any need to stop. I very very slowly overtook a pedestrian and eventually passed him. I'm not sure I would have if he had been walking briskly.

[sundial]

I pedaled inside the state park and enjoyed every minute of it. The sun was shining, the dogwoods are blooming, the woodpeckers are chatty, and the snakes are......uh.....
I did 9.59 miles on the mtb.

[bmccasland]

26 miles round trip on the river levee

Went on a ride after work upriver on the Mississippi river levee (paved bike path). Lots of folks were on the path, more than usual, to look at the high river muddy river. We're 3 feet below flood stage and something like 8 feet below the top of the levee. The impressive and scary part is to see that the river is higher than the ground on the other side. Without a wide angle lens, a photo doesn't capture it.

But I did find this link today to the LSU Earth Scan Lab, links to satelite images.http://www.esl.lsu.edu/modis/2008/04...3%2Emiss%2Ejpg
The image is from tuesday - less cloud cover - but you can really see the muddy water flow out the Bonnet Carre diversion into Lake Pontchartrain (the big lake due north of New Orleans), and the delta getting nice fresh mud.

Anyway, the ride was "breezy." Weather person said wind gusts from 10-15 mph, coming from the south. So the ride out we had tail winds and cross winds; ride back cross winds and head winds. I was beat by the time I got back. Top speed out - 22 mph, average speed back - 11 mph. Riding in the wind is my hill training. On the river side of the levee there were lots of wading birds (egrets, ibises, and such) foraging. They pretty much ignored activity on top of the levee.