August 15 rides

[Crankin]

Just a short 20 miler. We started out later than I wanted and then after riding a few miles, my stomach didn't feel so good. I guess the mojito and glass of sangria, along with steak frites last night, just was too much for my usually healthier eating habits. But my legs felt strong and I actually rode much faster than usual. When we were about half done, I was riding down a short hill and DH was a bit in front. I felt a guy behind me, trying to catch me. It took him awhile, but he did. Now, I know better than to judge someone's fitness by the way their body looks or the type of bike he has. But, this guy was struggling, red in the face, and looked out of shape. He came right up behind me, passed me and kind of scowled at me. He got beside DH, who first thought it was me. DH decided to just keep going his speed instead of kicking it up, but the guy could not keep up. He told DH that, "he couldn't try anymore." So, he starts sliding back, trying to get in the gap between us, with no signal or vocal cue. I felt like I was being "cut" in line at school. By this time, we were starting up a little rise. Since he was already out in the middle of the road (no cars around), I pushed the pace just a little and the guy was out of my view, in seconds.
He really pissed me off. He was just rude and it seemed like he was upset that a "girl" was in front of him. Oh well. It certainly got me going.

[badgercat]

That guy would have gotten me boiling too!

I rode in an event today... I debated just starting a Sunday Rides thread and writing about it there, but I wrote so much I decided to just make a thread for itself. http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=39264

[trista]

DH and I went 23 miles together. We had a really nice time. Averaged 16.5 mph, which I was happy with since it was a new route and also pretty hot.

[sjane]

Today was my first ride with clipless pedals and my first brick -- 17 miles on the bike followed by a 4.5 mile run. I didn't fall and the run went way better than my solo runs have been lately, so I was pretty psyched.

[Kubla]

Just a short 11 mile ride this afternoon through two neighboring towns. My pre-ride attempt at fitting three different saddle bags on the Dolce was unsuccessful, so I gave up and threw everything in a large fanny pack.

The temperature was in the mid-70s and dry. I love Sunday rides; there is a big drop in the traffic and overall speed of passing cars. Unfortunately, there seems to be a general disregard for pedestrians in crosswalks around here. At one busy intersection at least 10 cars whizzed past before someone finally stopped and motioned me to cross. Usually when one car stops, the opposite side follows suit. It's getting that first car to stop...<Sigh>

[BikeHN]

35 mi. with some girls from a local riding group. We got an early start but by the time we finished the sun was beaming. The temp. was in the mid 90s here. Pretty easy ride, it just felt good to get the legs moving today.

[emily_in_nc]

Had a really nice Sunday morning ride with DH to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. They're in a busy area that normally we don't dare take the bikes to, but turns out that on Sun. morning, the traffic is light and very manageable. Fun and productive too! Just 10 miles; would have added some more mileage at the end except that I have a very painful $*#&(@ saddle sore and needed to get OFF it.

[crazycanuck]

I had an "AGGGHGHGHGHG" moment on my well planned out long dirt training ride yesterday for event next month.

Rule 1-Don't forget your phone when setting off.
Rule 2-Remember that a new chain & a new chain link may be harder than previous ones to unhook
Rule 3-Remember to purchase bigger multi tool

I was happily riding along & around the 8km mark I heard a "noise" and then realized...my chain had snapped...I had stopped a few km's before to use a tree & thought.."where's my phone?" Phone was in vehicle, vehicle was with my dear spectating/assisting @ a downhill race. Not that i needed money for water. I had a planned stop at one of the campsites along the munda biddi & understand there's water there.

I stood trying to get the link undone but then realized it was a new chain & hadn't played with the link etc. I thought to myself..."ian would get this in 2 seconds" so i continued on but realized even if i did manage to fix it, i wouldn't be back on time @ the planned meeting place. So, i decided to walk back.

No one on the trail (as I decided i wanted to do something different for a training ride & use another section of the munda biddi i'd never been on..).

Nice day out though!

[SheFly]

The list of what doesn't hurt today is shorter than the list of what does!

DH and i drove home to MA from ME early in the AM thinking we could make it to an event our friend was putting on. That didn't quite happen, so we opted for a "long" MTB ride instead. Except that I didn't know what "long" really meant...

Five and a half hours later (5:09 riding time) and 53.7 miles under my belt, I finally limped home. And by that point, it was ALL I could do to even keep turning the pedals over. This was my longest MTB ride in years, and we did the whole ride on our SS bikes. OUCH!

For those in MetroWest, we rode the Burlington Landlocked Forest, Minuteman National Historic Park, Estabrook Woods, Great Brook State Park, Russell Mills and back through Great Brook and Estabrook to the old railroad bed.

I'm luck to even be upright today .

SheFly

[Catrin]

For some reason I can only access TE today on my iPhone...

Did a 15 mile recovery ride after my 60 on Saturday. I think it should have been longer but 15 miles is about as long as I can take my favorite park and I chose to believe the forecasted storm. I should have known better. The park is very pretty, there are deer and a pretty decent hill to climb. I am also never more than 15-20 minutes from my car so it is a good quick place to ride if bad weather seems on the way.

[tulip]

Nice 30 miles with five friends. 15.5 mph, which is good for me. Followed by a picnic.

[redrhodie]

I had an annoying ride, similar to Crankin's, but my rude encounter was with a tour bus. First time I passed him, we were heading in opposite directions, and he was waving cars to pass him, which meant he was telling them to pass over the double yellow lines, on a curve, into my lane, which they did. I was yelling "wait" but he either didn't hear me, didn't see me, or most likely, plain old didn't care. I made it through with only inches of room.

Then, I went around the loop, and about 2 miles ahead, I caught up to him. This time, we were traveling the same way. Obviously, if I had caught him in such a short distance, I was riding much faster than he was driving. So, I waited until a long straight section of road, and passed him on the left, when no oncoming cars were coming. So what did he do? Of course, he sped up. He tailed me for a few miles, then passed me, on a curve, with way less than 3 feet between us, and then he slowed to a crawl. Well, I wasn't about to slow down for him. I passed him again, but this time, another car passed him, too, giving me a buffer. At that point, I dropped him.

What a jerk. I was going to call the bus company and report him, but by the time I got home, I forgot the #. At least I got the satisfaction of dropping a bus.

[schnitzle]

I'm posting late but I wanted to share...

It was 90 here but we were sick of hanging around in front of fans and decided to put the bikes on the rack, grab the dogs and go out to my old workplace to ride. It's just a 2 mile loop around but it's tree lined and there are is never anyone else around so the dogs can be loose and there's no one to laugh at us if we fall Sometimes there are even deer, and usually Canadian geese at the pond.

A friend had given us a wire bike basket and we put it on my partners bike, added a towel and put our female doxie, Myra in it. Mojo, her brother likes to run and run so we just let him trail his leash and he ran beside the bikes. Well most of the time anyway, I had to circle back and get him a few times because he smelled something good in the brush Helped make it a more of a workout though.
I got a bit of practice on some easy slopes and could just basically ride in total relaxation.

Unfortunately, when we went over a bump Myra was startled and jumped out of the basket (My poor S.O. was horrified and felt so guilty for not having a hold of her leash at the time) she's fine, but limping a little. She still tries to jump all over and run, so today we took her to the vet and they gave us some anti-inflammatory for her and she needs to be on crate rest for 10 days Poor thing. We ordered a proper doggie bike carrier so we don't have that kind of problem ever again. Mojo took breaks in the basket too. I think he'd run himself to death if we let him!

Soooo other than the accident it was a really nice day, and Mojo had a blast. I bet he ran a mile all told, which is a lot when you're 8" tall! It was a nice little bit of exercise for us too and we enjoyed being outdoors.