Weekend Ride 8/11

[bmccasland]

So I haven't riden in quite a while....
Found a "meet-up" group - Grumpy Old Cyclist over 50 and today was the first ride. Three of us, two guys and me, rode bike paths and roads for something like 40 miles. Not too fast pace, mainly flat, but there was a rather nasty hill.
I've decided that the path designers were sadistic - at the end of a run, you have to make a hard turn to down ramp for a road crossing. This wasn't once or twice, but several times.
But the company was good, I survived....
AND across the parking lot from the rendezvous place was a bike shop, where I was tempted by shiny new bikes (on sale!) for commuting.

[redrhodie]

Yay Beth! That must mean you're feeling a lot better! Congratulations!

I did the lbs ride last minute, which was pretty stupid on my part. Nothing to drink but water, and after the ride when I got dressed for work, I discovered I forgot my sandals. Luckily I had shoes at work, because my bike shoes looked kind of orthopedic with my dress, but with the discomfort factor of cleats.

Without time to get my fast bike ready, I rode my steel bike. It was really wet and gross out. I made the mistake of drafting but that ended quickly after a delicious mouthful of salty crunchy puddle splash. Without being able to draft, on that bike, I really struggled to keep up for the rest of the ride, and got dropped a bunch of times. And this was the slow group. I need to remember not to ride the steel bike on group rides, unless suffering is desirable.

It was still fun.

[Crankin]

I've been sick, but rested Friday, so set out for a slow, short ride. Ended up with a just under 15 mile ride at a pace not much less than my average.
It was about 90% humid, but not so hot, about 75. Rode up Strawberry Hill to start, when a fast rider passed us, said hi, and I responded," yea, we're old, slow, and tired..." By the time we got to the flatter part of the ride, I was moving along as more usual, and then we decided to go up the other bigger hill in town. Took the long way back, and except for going slower than usual up the hills, I survived.
Was hoping to do a longer ride today, as I have a special 4 course dinner/wine pairing tonight that I bid on at a charity auction. Been looking forward to this all summer, but I need to get the metabolism going. It's been raining, still, though just very wet outside now. More storms on the radar.

[Gypsy]

Did a ride this morning with friends. We thought it was going to be pouring rain, but it turned out to be beautiful. 27 miles, more or less, faster than I expected (one friend hadn't ridden in weeks and she was pushing us to go faster!) so we averaged about 14.5 mph throughout the whole ride. Not bad.

[lovelygamer]

Did a 20 mile ride yesterday with my other half. It was a rainy day but we watched the radar and made it with very little rain.

[Skierchickie]

Did 77 today. Coulda left out that first hill (at 1 mile) without missing it. Gorgeous morning. Felt really great for the first 40 miles. The last 37, not so much. Chose my route/direction based on wanting to ride up a particular hill (which is way fun as a 40+ mph downhill). Okay, so that hill started at about 41 miles, and sucked me dry for the rest of the ride.. I hurt EVERYWHERE. Cheek/saddle interface, neck & shoulders, LEGS, etc. This is the first time I ever remember just wanting to quit, and wondering how I was going to make it, anticipating all the uphill grades in the last 10 miles. Average speed dropped by 2 mph in that second half, but for me, 15.4 for 77 miles isn't that bad. I was wishing for somebody else to pull for a while!

I've gotta ride more, apparently. Just haven't been getting out there enough.

[velo]

This weekend was beautiful. Great temps, but fairly windy on Saturday. I had to take Friday off the bike. It was beautiful riding weather, too, but I had already made the mistake of riding on Thursday. My week starts on Monday and by Wednesday, I already had 100 miles in. I rode Thursday and had no juice in my legs. So, I should have taken Thursday off. Oh well. Saturday, it was windy, so I rode into the wind the first half of a fairly flat out-and-back. I did a few intervals into the wind. The return was a blast! Got in 37 miles Sat. Today, rode a hillier loop for 34 miles. I would have ridden more, but we had lunch plans a few towns over. I had to use my *new* arm warmers at the beginning of those rides... autumn is around the corner!!

[mzone]

We had a nice drop in temperature the last few days. The morning was cool, the sky was blue, and there was a slight breeze. I had a new handlebar and tape, so I decided on a shorter route to break things in.

I went down Huron River Drive. I kept having the urge to stop and take photos, so I gave in. I went a total of 30 miles and kind of treated them like intervals until I got to a spot that called out for a view and a photo. I think I had a smile on my face the whole ride. What a beautiful day!

[lovelygamer]

Just got another 11 miles in. Trying to keep both my mind and body busy these days.

here I am before tonight's ride:

[nscrbug]

Cooler temps made for a nice riding weekend...finally! Got in 88 yesterday and 75 today.