Memorial Day Weekend Rides

[Catrin]

I will start with my ride this afternoon. Sadly I had to break out the tights yet again as it was a little cool, and my knee was acting up, so I just rode a relatively gentle 12-13 miles and called it good. I've noted that I tend to have more kneecap tracking problems with I am wearing tights, which is interesting - and nothing at all when I am not.

Tomorrow I will head down to Brown County State Park and help clean up the miles of mountain bike trails from the recent series of terrible storms, and am planning to ride about 35 miles Sunday and 25-30 Monday. More about those later this weekend, assuming the weather doesn't interfere.

[Owlie]

I'm planning on heading out tomorrow morning for 15-20 miles, earlier than I got out last weekend. Maybe take the day off Sunday or do just a short ride, then Monday a pre-dawn, slightly longer ride, because it's supposed to get HOT.

[Catrin]

Same here, 61 today & 90 both Sunday and Monday! I see quite early rides on those days...

[Possegal]

I rode with 2 women from my new job after work today. We rode about 18 miles, with a stop at about mile 17 to sit and chat at a nearby pub. Heard some wicked thunder, and got drizzled on a little bit. But the skies seriously opened up just as we were putting our bikes on the car at the office. It's all about the timing.

[emily_in_nc]

I had to work today, plus it rained and rained. Flooded roads, lightning, thunder. 5" of rain in Chapel Hill! http://www.wral.com/weather/story/9653716/

Looking much better for the actual weekend. Will report back!

[nscrbug]

Today I did a nice, casual 32 miles with DH this morning AFTER I had put in a full 3.5 hour gym workout....whew! Saturday & Sunday we will head out at 6:30am for longer rides, provided the weather cooperates. Monday is supposed to be near 90, so we will likely be on the road by 6am...maybe even get in a century...so we'll see.

[dingster1]

I'll be riding the WMRT today after I get off. I want to see the new section. Any Md ladies want to join me?

[ridenread]

I did a 27 mile ride yesterday on the first beautiful, warm, spring day I have seen this year. It was 81 degrees out by the end of the ride. Hope to get out again today!

[redrhodie]

Since I chose the wrong bike Thurs, riding the bike least suitable to rain, I decided to ride my commuter yesterday, since it looked about the same out the window as the morning before. Wrong choice again! It was quickly sunny, hot and very humid, and I was overdressed in a long sleeve jersey.

I met a nice woman riding a road bike, which isn't that common around here. She looked fresh as a daisy in her appropriate sleeveless jersey, and I was like a weed on the side of a puddle of mud. I had to laugh at myself when I got home, because one of my hair bands had fallen out, but my pig tail was still in place, all by itself, due to my sticky sweat.

21 miles.

[Owlie]

I slept terribly last night and woke up late to boot. My usual route is the local rail-trail, and if you don't get back to the car by about 9, it is physically impossible to get out of the parking lot. Just as well, as I'm sort of sore from yesterday. I took the easy way out and did three or four relatively fast miles around the neighborhood, just to get out. Weather was perfect, of course.
I'm hoping to go out pretty early tomorrow and get some miles in.

I'm going to go find something caffeinated and then clean my bike.

[westtexas]

Tried to ride yesterday, but failed miserably. Went about 15 miles total, but it was 106 out with winds at 30mph. I couldn't take the headwind and my left leg fell asleep so we had to get off and rest halfway through. I was really upset about the whole thing because it made me feel really weak, but my cycling partner put it to me that even the professional riders have bad days where they do what they can and then go have a beer.

On a happier note, on the way back, we met some nice ladies on their road bikes training for the MS150 in July. We rode back with them slowly with that 30mph tailwind and it was kind of nice to decompress after getting upset about the trip out there.

This weekend we'll probably just ride when we can - supposed to be 108 today with 17mph winds. Memorial Day there is an early morning ride to the Vietnam Memorial with the bike club so I will probably do that since it's at 7 a.m. and should be relatively cool in the low 70s with little wind at that time of day.

[Crankin]

Having a wonderful vacation, but I am missing good riding weather at home.
So, yesterday, we ditched DS, DIL, and my dad to do a 3 hour bike tour of La Jolla and Pacific Beach. Although I have never lived here, my parents moved to San Diego 30+ years ago. I've spent a lot of time here, so I figured I would see things from a bike that you never see in a car.
So, it started out a little on the wrong side, with one too many people for the van that brought us to the top of Mt. Soledad, where the tour started. I refused to not have a seatbelt, so some other woman sat on her DH's lap . Oy.
We got to the top, as DH and I lovingly looked at the incline going up. Very, very, steep and curvy, probably 20% at least in places. Got to the top, where they gave us our bikes.... beefy, old mountain bikes, which was fine. Right away, I noticed my front brake was like mush, so I told the leader and asked if he had a hex wrench. I might be a mechanical dunce, but I knew what he needed to do. He tried to tell me not to use the front brake, but after I talked to him, he was, like, OK...
We descended down a different road, not so curvy, not as steep, but still a real mountain type descent. Being on a mountain bike and not on dirt gave me confidence and I was the third one down the hill. There was an assortment of "regular" people on the tour, with one younger guy with good mountain biking experience who rode with DH and I and the leader. There was a young couple, about my kids' age who were very annoying. The woman kept getting in front of me in places where I couldn't pass her, so I couldn't talk to DH, like on the bike path, but also on the road. After a couple of times of me saying "on your left" and sprinting past her, she still kept trying to drop me. It was silly, this was a leisurely tour and she clearly was not going to win. When we turned back to La Jolla, there were a couple of teeny inclines and then she got it.
The only really unnerving thing was at one point he had us riding the against traffic, in a bike lane on a busy road, rather than have us make lefts... DH and i were mortified and our bike leader minds were going into over gear. He also didn't signal. But, he did verbally tell us and we stopped and regrouped frequently. At the end we went down to see the cave in La Jolla after climbing a pretty steep hill. The young girl was breathing pretty heavy going up the stairs up from the cave and looked like she was going to cry after that.
We learned a lot of interesting things, especially about the coastal ecology. So despite the lack of safety precautions, it was fun. The shop rents road bikes, but maybe next time. Riding around here does not seem like it would be that fun; lots of multi lane roads, clueless drivers, etc. I've seen lots of male roadies, but no women.
I've been walking for 45 minutes on the other mornings, and given the eating I am doing, there will be a lot of riding when I get home.