May 31st Rides

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

8PM and I'm the first? HUH?

Was argueing with myself too long this morning on whether to ride again today after the brutal century yesterday, but riding won-out. Unfortunately, I was 30min late to ride with the official start of the Tulsa Tough ride. Oh well.. so I take off south and hook up with the route where I knew I could without riding more than I wanted.

It turned out to be the perfect recovery ride. Let that be a lesson..whenever you're in doubt..just get yer bum out the door and ride.

35miles today, only 1500ft climbing...15.6avg Easy-goins..

[Miranda]

Ha... I was looking at the board earlier today and thought the same thing... "...what, no one has started the thread yet???". Thx for the Annie up.

Went out with same new ride pal as yestereday. Hillier terrain for 30mi. Bit cooler, but beautiful sunshine and fairly low wind speed. Great ride day.

[7rider]

Today was supposed to be a training ride. One of the local racers has offered to coach me for a day - basically do the shop ride's route - stopping and talking about climbing technique, strategy, pace lines, and tips to ride stronger and better. He's been coaching me and two others for the past several weeks on the ride. This time, he was going to coach us on a more one-to-one basis.
I call him my "little coach." If you've seen the movie "Ratatouille" you know that Linguini referred to Remy, the rat, as "Little Chef" - who controlled and coached his cooking in the restaurant. Well, Little Coach barks out instructions to me "C'mon...breathe, breathe, breathe....in through your nose...out through your mouth. C'mon. Sip. Sip. Sip. Give me one more gear! Don't waste my time. C'mon. Get on my wheel!" All in his distinctive Moroccon accent! Well, follks say I've been riding stronger since following Little Coach's instructions. I was really looking forward to this ride.
But...sigh... we awoke to rain this morning. He decided it best to postpone.
So...DH and I did a puttering route through Rock Creek Park. Saw a few folks we know. Stopped in to the shop (I got a flat because of the wet roads...and decided to finally go to CO2 for the road bike, too).
But then...best of all...DH and I went up to the local reservoir with DivingBiker for a bit of boat time....she in her kayak, and we in our new old canoe. It was the first time taking the canoe out - much higher up than the kayaks, and it caught the brisk wind like a sail.
Now, I'm beat.

[shootingstar]

58 kms. It was a route made up of 4-5 bike routes stitched together with some hills. Some of it on road, some of it not. And no, hardly anyone on most of the stretches..contrary to what people might think on a beautiful very warm (23 degrees C) sunny day. Road traffic was very light.

Just gorgeous.

He wanted to check out if construction, signage for new cycling routes/bridge was done.. So I usually follow along, trying to remember every turn and all the connections.

[Biciclista]

46 miles. it was supposed to be a training ride but some people asked us directions and it turned out they were tourists from NJ and we ended up taking them to Discovery Park, around Magnolia point (all the way out to the lighthouse AND BACK UP A KILLER HILL) and then we went back across downtown on the waterfront to Alki and it was BICYCLE SUNDAY!
our new friends bought us fish and chips and we had a great time.
great ride
great weather

happy day!

[nolemom]

I finally made it on the group ride to Babson Park. It is a hilly ride for central Florida and I have always been too scared to attempt it. Today the guys were in an especially encouraging mood and convinced me I could make the ride. They waited for me at the end of the major hills section and one of them always stayed with me even at my incredibly slow pace at times. All and all it was a 69 mile adventure and I had a fantastic time. I am beginning to believe that I can take on the century ride through this area at Labor Day.

[ZooZoo]

A little over 23 miles, from Seward Park to the University of WA with friends who really 'pushed' me outside my comfort zone (which I wanted and needed). Had lunch in a little Vietnamese resturaunt, and had a glorious day.

[OnTerryOh]

The good thing about my ride today was

• Cindy -- just hanging out with her
• having a caramel frappachino
• Cindy found sunglasses and wouldn't let me touch them
• laughing about the sunglasses
• Cindy lost her orange tiger-striped gloves but found them again
• talking to that woman from Evanston on her green touring Trek
• we biked 52.5 miles and walked 2.5

The bad thing about my ride today was

• almost hitting a squirrel
• too many people on the bike path
• nothing
• getting sunburned
• maybe doing too much
• feeling tired now
• it was great -- none of it was bad

[kenyonchris]

An irritating MTB ride. I try to hit the MTB twice a week, it makes me so much stronger on the road. I met my ex husband to ride, he was 35 minutes late, and brought a chain smoking friend ( a male one ) with him. No problem, the more the merrier, but they parked a car 6 miles in and decided to make it a short one way trip. When I pressed my ex, who I know can do more than just 6 miles easy, to finish the 22 mile loop, including the technical stuff at the north end, he told me he wasn't going to leave his friend to go home on his own (in the car!!).
The trail itself was crowded with joggers and walkers, people going to wrong way on the loop, and my ex and I seriously outpaced the chain smoker, so I would grab a tree and wait, clipped in, till he puffed into view. For my efforts, I wound up with a tick.
All in all, it was 6.5 miles of semi-technical, semi hilly singletrack. I barely broke a sweat and was just getting warmed up. In the end, though, I had a zillion things to do today, including cleaning two bikes, which I got done thanks to cigarette man.
But not a good day on the bike. I lost my mojo after than.