July 24 rides

[makbike]

I took to the roads today feeling very weak after my bout with a nasty stomach virus on Tuesday and Wednesday. I would have skipped the ride today but I was the ride captain and I knew there were over a dozen people driving out to my small community to ride. A good group of friends hung back with me and made sure we stopped about every 20 miles or so.

I treated them to my favorite route today - the route on which I discovered my little buddy Harper back on July 3rd. It was a beautiful day to ride - reasonable temps (mid 70s) and very low humidity. This is not our typically July weather in the Ohio Valley. We traveled some very remote and scenic roads and all seemed to enjoy the new roads.

Today we encountered a horse running free on the road. Seems the first group of cyclists spooked the young stallion and he broke free. Unfortunately, the person taking care of him was a bit slow afoot given the horse broke her leg recently. I was finally able to approach the horse and grab its halter rope and lead him back to the lady who was trying hard to catch him. She tied him to a fence post where I was greeted by a big pig. After securing the horse and talking to the pig I instructed the group with me to slowly walk their bikes pass the horse - he spooked again and off he went. We were finally able to chase the horse into its pasture at which point we all mounted our bikes and resumed our ride.

The group I was with stayed with me the for 54. 7 miles. It was a very slow day on my bike for I felt very weak early on in the ride. However, toward the end of the ride I felt like I was riding a bit stronger. My stomach was not very happy early in the ride but had settled down the last 15 miles or so. I have a century scheduled on Saturday and I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll be able to eat something more then just applesauce, bananas and dry toast.

As always it was a good day on my bike and I'm very blessed to have such good friends.

[OakLeaf]

54.40 or fight. I was feeling cr*ppy today too - haven't been sleeping much, hadn't ridden in over a week, still a little jet-lagged, plus my last three outdoor workouts were in 60F and it was a very pleasant 78 here. So I was definitely the anchor of our foursome today We rode some nice roads though. And, the road we returned on, which was in horrid shape just two weeks ago, had had the worst section re-paved It was good to get out.

[JLMitchell]

Twenty miles yesterday with a group. STILL can't get into my clipless pedals seamlessly, but I'm working on it. I'm doing a little bit of sprint work, I guess, when they take off without me.