june adventures on a bike....

[rebeccaC]

on my commute to work....

[NoNo]

Great pictures! Looks like you have an interesting and exciting ride in.

[Helene2013]

Rub it in! Grrrrr. ahahahah

Here we've had super cold rainy weather yesterday, and same today. Even risk of ground frost!!!! We're June 2nd!!!!! Unbelievable. But hey! At least we have water that California does not. haha

Seriously though, very very nice pictures. I think I envy you! So many good memories from our camping trip in that State.

[rebeccaC]

Rub it in! Grrrrr. ahahahah

Here we've had super cold rainy weather yesterday, and same today. Even risk of ground frost!!!! We're June 2nd!!!!! Unbelievable. But hey! At least we have water that California does not. haha

Seriously though, very very nice pictures. I think I envy you! So many good memories from our camping trip in that State.

Helene we have water…just not much of it at the moment. June/July were good months to ride in Quebec when I lived there!! You’ll have lots of low to mid 20°c days to come. June days here usually have a cloudy marine layer (June gloom) which keeps temps in the mid 60’s to low 70’s, which is perfect climbing temps for me….but then it’s usually 70 +/- 10 degrees year round here.

Thanks NoNo. it is a good place for bicycling.

just commutes for riding this week and next for me, have work this weekend so i have a week and a half left for a good workout on my bike.

[salsabike]

Great pictures!

[Crankin]

Did a little 19.5 mile ride this afternoon. So nice and cool out, after Saturday's disaster in the 89 degree heat.
Other than my GPS getting stuck at 20.5 mph for a couple of minutes and saying I was "off course," when I was not on any course, a pretty good ride. I stopped messed around with the screen and it righted itself. Also took off my arm warmers, although it was barely 60 degrees, the sun came out.
There's a lot of road resurfacing going on in Concord. It's sorely needed, but it seems like it takes forever, when the neighboring town had better advanced warnings and got it done in 2 days. One place had grooved pavement on a small downhill that is nice to use for momentum for an uphill, but I had to slow down instead. Then, I started to get home a certain way, but, I had to turn back, as it wasn't just grooved pavement, but a one way obstacle course. I hope this gets fixed soon, as it impacts my commute on Tuesdays, when I have to take an alternative street to avoid a traffic back up.

[Crankin]

A quick little 5 AM dark ride, which isn't really dark at this time of the year! It was predicted to be 44 degrees, but it was 49-50. I was a bit overdressed, in a thermal jersey and short sleeved base layer and wind jacket, but the light tights and winter shoes/woolie bully socks were right on. Not so much the fleece beanie and Mavic fleece lined gloves. But, I only did 10 miles, as I had to be at work by 8:30 and the above mentioned grooved pavement wold have impacted my usual longer route of 15 miles for this time of the morning.
Glad I did it, but very tired. Deciding if I will ride tomorrow or just do boot camp. I have a big eating weekend coming up, as well as a hard 50 mile ride on Sunday.

[Helene2013]

112km yesterday. Finally nailed a challenge.

Winds were soooo strong coming North at 30km/h plus the gusting. We had 2 different loops to do. 60km and a 50km (a lunch in-between was served). The 50km was the hardest because of the major hills. I only walked the end of the last one - very steep - and I did not want to risk injuring my knees. We only had 25k done by then. After we finished the hillier part of the ride, I was able to get some speed and hit 37km/h for a very long stress (using the wind in my back). Never was able before. The 2nd part of the ride (50km), was flatter but some smallish slopes but the wind was against us probably 40 out of the 50kms. Hubby never complains on a bike but this time he had his truck with the wind. I was rarely able to get 25-26km/h. It was more like 18km/h. Discouraging. For the first time, I was able to ride in the drops to gain some speed from that heavy winds. But I did not feel totally 100% safe so only did this when the road condition was good. Wind was pushing us left and right and it was no fun.

But we did it and are very happy.

[azfiddle]

I posted elsewhere, but my June rides have all been city commuting (3-6 miles a day or so) in Cambridge UK, where I have been visiting my daughter... plus a round trip from Cambridge to Ely. About 15-16 miles by car, 28 by bike each way if you don't get lost (but we got lost, so it was a bit more).

It has been fun, but I won't be sorry to leave the heavy hybrid bike behind and get back on a road bike.

[BikeDutchess]

Beautiful photos, RebeccaC!

Little Red Riding Hood was yesterday. Went up the night before with my riding besties - 2 longtime friends and my daughter. We had a blast! I haven't been riding much, so decided to drop down to the 50 miler this year. One friend did the 100 and the rest of us met up with her at lunch and at the finish. The 50 mile route was actually much prettier than the 70/100 miler we've ridden in past years. The cut-off after the Benson stop, along Blackrock Rd, was gorgeous! The weather, which had looked threatening as I watched the forecast in the days leading up to the ride, turned out quite wonderful. We had some wind after lunch, but didn't get rained on. My daughter (5 1/2 mos post hip surgery) had no problems with her hip (such a relief). Saw the occasional rider stupidity (why oh why do some women keep ignoring the "single file riding only on this road" signs??), but not as bad as in some years past. The volunteers were fabulous - this year, instead of admonishing riders to do a full stop at every stop sign, volunteers actually helped direct traffic at intersections. Brownies at the first rest stop, and creamies at lunch, yum! It was a super fun day. Even though I didn't win the bike at the raffle.


LRRH 21015 by DutchRosie, on Flickr


LRRH 2015 - finish line bling by DutchRosie, on Flickr

[Crankin]

A good riding weekend, and I am tired! A good tired, though.
Yesterday, did a quick 11 miles and my DH killed me, ending up with the highest average I've had in a long time. I did not intend this! We were busy with a lot of house stuff in the morning and last night we went out with some of our friends from AMC.
Today we did our Kimball Fruit Farm ride, with our friends. We've done this ride for years, and in the past couple of years, we've changed the second half quite a bit. It's a 45-50 mile hilly ride from Boxborough up to Pepperell/Hollis, NH border, then back through Nashua and Dunstable, Tyngsboro, Westward, and Littleton. We are planning to lead it in July, so we needed to test out the changes before we go on our bike tour. The weather was perfect, and the hills, while challenging, felt a little easier thn I remembered. Although the biggest climb is right before the lunch stop, the second half actually has more climbing. There's one change in the end, that involves making a left across a busy road and then riding along by the entrances/exits to I-495. I am a little concerned about people doing this, given the bad behavior I see on some rides, but we have a plan to bring everyone through together. This actually makes the end of the ride a little shorter.
48.8 miles, 2,685 feet of climbing.

[lauraelmore1033]

Rolled out Sparky (the tadpole trike) fully intending to ride the one mile to the Interurban trail (on the sidewalk, if I had to) for an easy spin, but I couldn't do it. Two houses down from mine, a truck pulled up and suddenly started backing up, and I freaked out, and turned around and went back home. At least I did establish that I could readily sit down and get back up from the low seat, and that the bumps in the driveway didn't hurt the ribs too much if I went over them slowly.

[Sky King]

We did a ride on Sunday that I haven't done in 15 years. We rode in the Boise Foothills on a Sunday - what were we thinking... Many, many bike riders, Way to many Weekend Warriors who need to attempt to pass on narrow trails or ride your a** on technical descents. We took a relatively inexperienced trail rider with us so quite a bit of waiting, only adding to the crowds. We bailed out on the last half of our planned ride and decided next weekend to go back to the quiet of the desert, yes it means a drive but oh well. Still on for Boise to Ketchum the end of the month, just need to get some miles on the bike. Have yet to ride more than 40 miles in one day and each day of our trip will be about 50 all on dirt roads, carrying gear.

[Crankin]

I had a really nice commute today. I thought it might rain, but the forecast changed, so off I went. It was coolish, 62 and cloudy/breezy in the morning. On Mondays, I work until 6:45 and it is so much nicer riding home at that time, compared to 6-6:15 if I ride on Tuesdays. Amazing what a difference 30-45 minutes makes. On the way home, it was about 72, but very windy, so it felt cool.
Nothing special, just a hassle free ride, which put me in a good mood!

[BikeDutchess]

I just did a 2.5 mile ride with my daughter to get some after-dinner ice cream. The weather is so nice, perfect temp for a quick evening neighborhood ride.