8/17 Ride reports

[Fredwina]

I went to Fontana before church. went to church, and did a little loop after wards. Ran into Jiffer going the other way. About 30 miles

[uforgot]

I rode the St. Louis Moonlight Ramble last night, or rather EARLY this morning. First bike took off at 12:01am. There were so many bikes (10,000+) that it took almost 45 minutes for me to get to the start after we lined up. Great ride, but I forgot my camera. The St. Louis police blocked off every road for the 18 mile route. I wondered about safety and parking downtown in the middle of the night, but it was an extremely well supervised and organized event. There was a band and lots of pre and post ride activity including a free Fat Tire beer, t-shirts, water and string cheese. Here is a link to the slideshow. When you get to pic #6, I'm the one in the center back in the peach nike shirt.

St. Louis Today Moonlight Ramble

[arielmoon]

Went for a mid morning ride with BF and he had no get up and go so I played around. I mashed all the hills in the biggest gear, worked on one leg intervals, and had some fun on the downhills. I felt bad for BF and at times was impatient as I waited for him to catch up but I am actually glad to have a 'rest day'. 17.3mph average.

[LBTC]

Wahooooooo! What a great ride! After the sufferfest yesterday, today felt GREAT! I added a hill to a standard ride because I just wanted to. Super fun!!

16.49 miles, 14.5 mph average, 1330 ft of climbing
26.54 km, 23.3 kph avg, 405 m climb

DH stayed home as his shoe hurts his foot BIG time. His ride yesterday was awful because of it and his foot still hurts now. We ride together most of the time, and a lot of the time I'm worried that I'm holding him back, that he wants me to go faster. Funny thing, without him there, I did some parts of this ride faster than usual. See, I'm not a slacker! heehee

Love the moonlight ride - cool photos. So cool to see you in there uforgot!
And Fredwina, you are one FAST chickie!!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[squirrell]

This morning, I headed out from near Chincoteague, VA up into the southern part of the MD Eastern Shore--35 miles total round trip.

[makbike]

The club hosted a 110 mile ride today that was suppose to be very hilly. I decided to join in the fun and spend the day with some of my cycling buddies. I have been having problems with my RD and have had the bike back to the shop twice. Yesterday they worked on it and told me the cable was loose and that it should be fine today. At the first climb it was evident all was not well with the RD and things got worse as the first hour passed. At the twenty mile mark I could not longer shift in the back. I pulled off the road and several people stopped to offer assistance. I was very evident the cable was the culprit. Another rider had a cable and gave it to me. Two guys offered to work on my bike and I quickly accepted their generous offer. The new cable was installed and it still would not shift. It was decided after several adjustments that the cable head on the old cable had broken off and was stuck somewhere in the shifter keeping it from working. The big decision now was what to do. I was given my choice of which cog I wanted the chain put on so the cable could be adjusted. I quickly went from having thirty gears to three in a blink of an eye. I had them place the chain on the fourth cog down and kept my fingers crossed I had made the right choice for I knew the next 90 miles were tough ones and my ride had just become very challenging. Club members stayed with me throughout the day checking on me and offering words of encouragement along the way. It appears my 43, 55, 71 gear inch choice was a good one for I was able to climb and I was able to maintain a pretty smooth cadence throughout the day. Toward the end each hill sucked a bit more out of my legs and by the time we arrived back at our cars I was beat. However, I really did have a good day on the bike. I ride with some great people and I knew if my spirits or legs started to falter they would be there to encourage me. The weather was great and I felt very lucky that today was only in the mid-80's with low humidity not typical Ohio Valley weather for August. I also realized how blessed I am to have strong legs and a strong will - both came in handy today. So in the end I rode 109.8 miles and had a respectable average speed of 15.4 mph. Life is good!

P.S. I also got stung by some insect who flew into my jersey and planted its stinger in my left beast. What a day!

[wackyjacky1]

Wow, makbike, that's an amazing account! I'm so glad you had a good ride after all the potential setbacks.

[Aggie_Ama]

It is oddly cool here for August (only 85) and we took advantage by sleeping in and riding later. We did a 30 mile ride that is one of my favorites but I just wasn't feeling it the entire ride. My hip flexor muscle was really tight from yesterday and the humidity was not helping my sluggish self at all. Averaged on 13 mph on a ride I usually am around 16 on. Got home feeling weak and sick from the heat. I took a shower and then a nap. My legs are so sore I don't know if I will ever walk again.

[7rider]

This morning was about as nice as you could ever ask for in the D.C. area in mid-August. Blue-bird sky, no/low humidity, low-60's. It was bliss on a bike. And, being a sunny, beautiful Sunday morning, the super-cars came out of their garages in Potomac to strut their stuff. I'm not talking the pedestrian stuff: Mercedes or BMW or Porsche. No...I'm talking the Aston Martins, the Bentleys, the Ferraris. And if it had a drop-top, the top was down. Potomac is a funny place.
Had a BIG crowd on the C-ride today. Probably 30-strong at its peak with a few newbies. Mechanicals and traffic lights seem to break it up always, and there were just 5 of us who did the extra loop through the park at the end. Ended up with 38 at just shy of 18 mph. Then back home to the mile-long "to do" list.

[Zen]

This morning, I headed out from near Chincoteague, VA up into the southern part of the MD Eastern Shore--35 miles total round trip.

Oh, that sounds nice...

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

Meant to make my ride a nice 'recovery ride' after my self-served sufferfest on Saturday. I didn't do it right...(not slow enough/easy enough)

43 miles, 2500ft climbing, and 14mph

[redrhodie]

I did BabyBlue's recovery ride for her. I didn't have a sufferfest to recover from, just felt like takin' a "smell the roses" kind of ride. Rode around the island, enjoyed the early morning lull in motor activity, managed to not get hit by all the fishing poles.

18 gorgeous miles.

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

I did BabyBlue's recovery ride for her. I didn't have a sufferfest to recover from, just felt like takin' a "smell the roses" kind of ride. Rode around the island, enjoyed the early morning lull in motor activity, managed to not get hit by all the fishing poles.

18 gorgeous miles.

Bless you, Red! You know... I'm feeling more refreshed already! Ahhh...