July 16th weekend rides

[grey]

Friday I rode 50 miles, most of it the 62 mile option of the upcoming Century ride coming up on the 13th. Such a nice ride. It stayed overcast and therefore wasn't too hot, but we were afraid it might rain on us a time or two. Average speed 14.5

Today I rode the 30 mile option of the century ride. Some really nice hills! I was trying out a new saddle and that killed some of my joy as my left foot kept going numb, but I'll keep adjusting it and see how it does. It fits my sit bones nice, never felt like I was going to roll off of it, so that was a nice change. It also changed my riding geometry some so I'm glad my riding partner today wasn't interested in breaking any speed records. Average speed 13.5

[buffybike]

15 miles on Saturday morning. Cut it short because of the weather plus I wanted to watch the end of the Tour stage.

32 miles on Sunday--felt pretty good. It's just so hot outside and I haven't been able to ride as much with my kids being out of school and all. One more month, and they'll be back in school then I will FINALLY have my mornings back.

[Becky]

33 flattish, hot, windy miles with DH today. For whatever reason, I've been struggling with energy this year. I can't decide if it's mental burnout from work or mental and physical burnout from working out more this winter. Or something else entirely... And I haven't acclimated to the heat at all

At any rate, I had fun once I actually got out the door. I wore my new screaming pink Terry jersey, and I commented to DH that I'd read on TE that drivers give cyclists more room when their clothing is more feminine. Well, apparently there's something to that theory....we didn't get buzzed once, not even by trucks hauling boats! It became a joke after awhile...."yeah, chick jersey!" I'm looking forward to testing this theory on my commute.

[Crankin]

Yes, you read that correctly. We did not hit him. He rode right into our Saris bike rack, loaded with 4 bikes, as we were waved on by a volunteer at a park we were trying to leave as we assessed the parking situation. Here's what happened.
We decided to scout out the route for an upcoming beach ride that a friend and I are leading. I've done this ride once. I had real reservations about taking a group on a ride near the beach in the summer. So, our usual parking place is the commuter rail lot in west Gloucester, but that now charges $. So, we decided on Stage Fort Park. I have parked there for other group rides. We enter the park and it seems like hundreds of cyclists are riding toward us, some right at us, on the wrong side of the road. There clearly is an event going on, as I saw bike related stuff set up in the park. Then we saw that parking was $15.00. Maybe it was just for the event, but I suspect the city needs the $. So, we went to exit out the other side, as we had seen parking on the street, in front of some houses. AMC people would never pay 15.00, and I am getting a bad feeling about the upcoming ride. We get to the stop sign, where we are turning right onto a main road. The volunteer waves us on and we sort of see a guy coming down the main road, clearly wanting to turn right into the park. DH slows and proceeds very carefully. The guy ends up going straight, right into our car and we hear the sickening thud of something. All 4 of us get out, and the guy is standing there, saying "I couldn't stop, my brakes failed." We look at him. No helmet, wearing flimsy Vans, and an I Pod. His bike was about 30 years old, with down tube shifters.
It looked OK. He had one small cut on his leg. DH asks the traffic guy who told us to go, "You waved us on, right?" and the guy says yes. He says over and over it was his fault, which it was, but I can't believe this guy was riding in an event. Maybe he just fell in with the riders.
On we went, got a parking place and then rode to a gas station with no bathroom. Back to the park. Used a port a potty and headed out on some horribly pot holed roads. It was about 95 out. Got our lunches in Manchester by the Sea at mile 13, and rode to the beach. They charged 5.00 just to go on the beach! Changed, ate our lunches and sat on the beach for an hour and half. The water on the north shore is freezing and I did not go in. The beach is nice, but not worth the hassle... we changed back into our cycling clothes and took off. The last 7-8 miles are pretty, but hilly and it was friggin' hot.
I have never been so happy to be done with a ride in my life. Janine and I are canceling the ride on the 30th and will reschedule for September. 22 miles of hell.

[skywalkerbeth]

Thanks for starting the thread!

22 miles yesterday, culminating in a fall (not hurt).

9 miles this morning but all hills.

[MojoGrrl]

62.5 miles on the tandem on Saturday (including climbing some very steep hills) and 72 miles today with 6500 feet of climbing. I am WIPED.

[TrekTheKaty]

On we went, got a parking place and then rode to a gas station with no bathroom. Back to the park. Used a port a potty and headed out on some horribly pot holed roads. It was about 95 out. Got our lunches in Manchester by the Sea at mile 13, and rode to the beach. They charged 5.00 just to go on the beach! Changed, ate our lunches and sat on the beach for an hour and half. The water on the north shore is freezing and I did not go in. The beach is nice, but not worth the hassle... we changed back into our cycling clothes and took off. The last 7-8 miles are pretty, but hilly and it was friggin' hot.
I have never been so happy to be done with a ride in my life. Janine and I are canceling the ride on the 30th and will reschedule for September. 22 miles of hell.

WOW! It sounds so good on paper I have friends who moved to LA. They had only ever rented bikes on the boardwalk at the beach. I spent the day with my head hanging out the window (dreaming of the long ride I was missing that day) watching all the bikes on the longest, prettiest bike path I had ever seen. Turns out they live on a path (away from the beach) that goes for miles and miles and miles! They called me a week later to say they bought bikes

[bmccasland]

10 minutes on my bike on the trainer. Does that count?

Me and repaired left knee are trying to be friends. I have been informed by my PT that soon, in a couple of weeks, I can take bike outside and ride on a flat trail, NO hills.

[maggie's sister]

I did 22 miles on Friday and 55 on Saturday. It was brutal out there - hot and humid. Nothing spectacular about either ride.

[sfa]

I did 30 miles on Saturday (found a nice route from home to the airport trail, so now I can start adding mileage by looping around the airport) and ten miles Sunday with my daughter. I'm attempting to teach my daughter the skills she needs for cycling on roads, but I think all I accomplished was raising my blood pressure and aging myself another ten years. She's 12 years old and not at all comfortable being on the roads (we stayed on quiet residential streets and a couple of busier streets with either wide shoulders or bike lanes) but is a terror on the sidewalks--she's not great with steering and is in danger of either running off the curb or plowing into people. I'm generally forgiving of kids on bikes on sidewalks, but I think it's time for her to transition to streets. Yet those same bad steering skills are REALLY dangerous on the streets, especially when you add in all the other things she should be paying attention to but hasn't learned how to yet (cars coming out of driveways, cars coming up behind you when you need to manoeuver around someone parked in the shoulder, staying to the right but not TOO much to the right, watching out for debris, etc.).

I'm sure I was just as clueless at that age, but I don't think I was given the opportunity to hurt myself so badly. We lived in a suburban development so I was able to stick to sidewalks for a long time, and the roads were quiet. I didn't start really riding on roads until I had been driving for some time, so I already had the instincts you need for managing traffic. But now we live in a small town off the main road, so she's learning how to get around when there are restaurants and traffic lights and people coming in and out of various businesses. She's also going further than I ever did at that age--I used to ride my bike a lot, but I don't think I ever went more than a couple miles from home.

[OakLeaf]

sfa, can you get her signed up for a LCI course?

[withm]

Does her bike fit her? Wobbly steering could mean the bike is just too small for her.

[redrhodie]

10 minutes on my bike on the trainer. Does that count?

Me and repaired left knee are trying to be friends. I have been informed by my PT that soon, in a couple of weeks, I can take bike outside and ride on a flat trail, NO hills.

Yes, that counts! Progress, for sure! Hope you're back to your old form soon. This has been a long time coming.

I did the lbs easy ride. 30 miles. Big group this week of about a dozen riders. I prefer this ride to commuting on Saturdays in summer, because like Crankin pointed out, riding by the beach can be a bummer. Commuting, I end up at the beach at 5 pm, when everyone is sun drunk and leaving en mass. It's great to have a better alternative on the weekend.

[sfa]

Does her bike fit her? Wobbly steering could mean the bike is just too small for her.

I switched her this weekend from her old bike to my Townie because she had outgrown her old bike. At 5'4" she really needs an adult sized bike, and the Townie is infinitely adjustable while also giving her the ability to get her feet down to the ground quickly if she needs to (which she did, lots of times). I'm thinking, though, that she would do better with something less laid back. That's a comfy bike for flat paved trails, but is very hard to control going downhill and hard to push going uphill, and it's so big that you can't steer it easily. She's drawn to cruisers--she really likes the look and comfort of them--but overall I think she'd be better off with a good hybrid. But we don't have the money for a new bike just now (or used, for that matter) so we'll have to make do with what we've got.

There's a four mile stretch on the way home that is mostly uphill. I was so proud of her for making it most of the way on the bike--she had to get off and push only a couple of times. While sweating and straining on the uphill, she was inventing a solar-powered bicycle motor to make the hills easier without harming the environment.

I've looked into safe cycling classes in our area but can't find anything. I'll have to ask at my LBS--there has to be SOMETHING in this area, surely? With two major cities, a state government that's encouraging more cycling, and so many adult riders out on the roads that every weekend ride starts to feel like an organized event, you'd think someone would offer a basic safety skills class. But all I've found online are beginning racing skills, basic maintenance classes, and commuting classes at a community college for adults.

And now this has me thinking--the college where I work has a summer "kids on campus" program with week long half-day classes on all kinds of topics. We also have a motorcycle skills class with a safety course on campus in a big empty parking lot (lines to ride on, practicing turns and stops, etc.). We also have a branch of a big LBS across the street. I think this is the ideal place for a road cycling skills class aimed at middle schoolers. I might have to push for this idea for next year.

Sarah

[OakLeaf]

I'm not sure where you are in Maryland - but if you go to bikeleague.org and search for instructors rather than courses, there are two LCIs in Baltimore. You might contact one of them (or if you're near the border, search for instructors in the other state).