riding into June and the beginning of summer

[Helene2013]

I had my 110km (60km and 50km loops) on Saturday. It was very cold (11c), windy and last few kms rainy. I only did the 60km loop. It was 10km of hills in the middle and since I had not been able to train properly with my tibial plateau fracture in January, then the other issues that rose up because of this, my training started only mid-May and it was minimal vs the 5-6hours a week pre-fracture. Some hills I finished walking up to preserve the other knee as it has a baker's cyst and I do not want it to rupture (going to call ortho so he can take a look at it at some point). It felt great, I had no problem, did good speed on flat surfaces and hills...are hills. Last year I was able to climb them all but the biggest one which I ended up walking (because of knees again). But this year, I had to stop and walk 3-4 of them. But that's ok. I finished the 60km with a smile, and the last 2km were in the rain. We opted out of the 50km loop at that one is following the Champlain lake, and lots of opened fields. No need to push my knees or risk a fall at this point in my life. We did the 110km last year and the 50km loop, although mostly flat I think is a bigger (but boring) challenge due to winds. I think I prefer the hills.

I will register next year and hoping to do this time all the hills...on the bike. But hey! There are worst things in life than walking up a hill (saw a few women finishing on feet) and I count myself lucky to even be able to cycle right now.

[azfiddle]

Helene,
Glad to hear you took care of yourself and finished your rides.

We've been traveling since a week ago Friday. The route so far included rides Saturday June 4 in Silver City, New Mexico (30 miles, with friends and the hubby, and lots of climbing). In Albuquerque, on Monday June I road solo from the motel up the Tramway road and across town to meet up with the husband at the Bio Park, the long way, so about 25 miles. Part of the ride was on the path along the Rio Grande, so that was nice.

Thursday we camped at about 9400 feet in the mountains outside of Colorado Springs, and did about 20 miles of down and up and then back again. Highlight of the ride was seeing two bighorn sheep ewes cross the road and hang out on the hill for a few minutes. Yesterday (Sunday) we did a beautiful ride outside of Boulder, Colorado. We drove from my friend's house, which is above Jamestown, to a nicely paved road that runs north south through the mountains. We started about 9600 feet, rode downhill on the highway to about 8500 feet, then climbed back up mostly on a small road along the creek. The only time the altitude was a real problem was when the grade crept up over 7%...(not much of the time). Today, we hiked instead.

I'll post some pictures after I upload them to Flickr

[Crankin]

I was away for 3 days, and while I had the goal of riding Sunday when I got home, the winds were gusting up to 40 mph and it was cool. Much nicer than the 90 degrees and humid in Philadelphia. Clear, dry, and sunny. This is why I moved back here. Just 60 miles south of here, triple H weather.
I commuted today. It was cool this morning, around 56 and perfect when I rode home at 6 PM, about 77. Next week, is my last week of the 3 mile commute. When my office moves it will be 2.5. Not sure if it's worth it.
Going on a club ride tomorrow. Not long, but with riding to the start it will be about 40 miles.

[emily_in_nc]

We are in Missouri, and today I got to ride a segment of the Katy Trail I've not had the pleasure of riding before. Actually over to the trail from the RV park in Hermann (about 3 miles), over the mighty Missouri River, and then west to Mokane. I was ready to turn around in Portland, 10 miles earlier, but there was NO water at that trailhead, and it was 90+ degrees, so more water was a necessity. (I wasn't out but would not have made it back without getting more). Mokane had a cool hand pump, so I got to quench my thirst and refill my big bottle before we headed back east. At our last rest stop, there turned out to be a soda machine, so I got a Sundrop. That tasted sooooo good. I was absolutely drenched in sweat.

Final tally, including riding back into town: over 55 miles and 4 hours, 38 minutes in the saddle. Since the Katy is unpaved, it's fairly slow going by normal standards, so it was the saddle time more than the mileage that got me. It was an hour longer than any other ride I've done this year.

[north woods gal]

Good for you, emily. I have several loops of gravel road on my daily routes and it is nice to go off pavement, now and then, and explore some of the true backroads. I go with one of my bigger tire bikes when I do, like my Salsa Warbird with 700x35 tires. Does a very good job as long as I don't hit too large a gravel pile.

[emily_in_nc]

Good for you, emily. I have several loops of gravel road on my daily routes and it is nice to go off pavement, now and then, and explore some of the true backroads. I go with one of my bigger tire bikes when I do, like my Salsa Warbird with 700x35 tires. Does a very good job as long as I don't hit too large a gravel pile.

Fortunately the "gravel" on the Katy is actually very finely crushed/packed limestone so much easier riding than most gravel roads (though not as silky as asphalt, of course). We rode our Bike Fridays, which have 1.35" tires, but we saw other riders on skinny tired roadies, and a few on MTBs. When my DH did the entire length of the Katy, he rode his MTB, but after riding yesterday on our Fridays, he now wishes he'd done it on that, since the MTB was actually overkill for the conditions. For true gravel, the MTBs are a necessity, though. Gotta have that suspension and the wider tires!

[north woods gal]

Yup, there is gravel and there is gravel. Makes a huge difference as to the size of the particles, how much gravel is on the surface and what the surface underneath is. Some of our dedicated "unpaved" bike trails with very fine gravel and hard under-surfaces are actually very easy to do with a standard road bike. On the other hand, our true gravel backroads designed for vehicle traffic are often MTB, only, and even then, the MTB makes a difference. Since our woods are basically built on a huge pile of sand, some of our backroads that are not graveled over are fat bike country, only. The deep sand just swallows anything else. In fact, a lot of us, up here, use fat bikes for all of our MTB riding. We use fat bikes all year long.

[Crankin]

Had a pretty good 27 mile group ride, with just under 5 miles each way to the start and back from home. After about 4 miles, our group split in 2. DH was with me and went ahead of the leader, because he saw a guy with the same jersey! But, a bunch of other people did, too. They waited, after I spent considerable energy sprinting up a hill to catch them. The leader the reigned everyone in. Last year at this time, this guy (he is about 75-80 years old) was on death's door from cancer and now, I would say he rides like me, just slower on the climbs. A role model for sure. All familiar, local roads, with about 500 feet on a bike path. We had lunch at one of the member's house, just outside of Concord Center, overlooking the river. Nice, but we ate and ran, since I didn't want to be caught up in the traffic from the high school dismissal. The proceeds at the lunch went to the PMC.
It's bordering what I consider to be hot, about 80-82, dry, with enough puffy clouds and shade that there was a lot of respite from the sun. Going to relax now.

[north woods gal]

Speaking of gravel roads, we had a heavy rain, last night, and after a rain is a good time to hit our gravel roads. The rain tends to firm up the gravel and smooth things up a bit. Did a 25 mile loop, 5 miles of which was some really primitive back country gravel roads. Was ready to add another loop for the day, but noticed the clouds building up, so headed back for home. Got two miles from home and it started to sprinkle and at one mile out, started to thunder. Just beat the nasty stuff as I made it home. Glad I took the rain jacket.

[emily_in_nc]

Yup, there is gravel and there is gravel. Makes a huge difference as to the size of the particles, how much gravel is on the surface and what the surface underneath is. Some of our dedicated "unpaved" bike trails with very fine gravel and hard under-surfaces are actually very easy to do with a standard road bike. On the other hand, our true gravel backroads designed for vehicle traffic are often MTB, only, and even then, the MTB makes a difference. Since our woods are basically built on a huge pile of sand, some of our backroads that are not graveled over are fat bike country, only. The deep sand just swallows anything else. In fact, a lot of us, up here, use fat bikes for all of our MTB riding. We use fat bikes all year long.

That makes sense to me after some of the gravel roads and trails we've encountered lately. Some were hairy even for MTBs with the deep pockets of gravel and/or sand. Would LOVE to have a fattie too, but three bikes apiece is all we can manage since we're traveling full-time in our motorhome. :-)

[north woods gal]

Fat bikes do take up a lot of room, too.

[Sky King]

The Katy trail is on my list of places to go, hopefully sooner rather than later! We have a fun trip planned in July- going to Montana and doing the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway. The DH is going to ride from Boise and I will drive over to meet him (somebody has to stay and work ;0) ) Our DD is going to meet us as well, looking forward to having her join us. With that we've been working on pavement miles instead of desert miles. 44 miles last Sunday but weekdays we are limited to taking turns doing a small loop from the shop but it has good hills. If anyone has ridden the Pioneer's let me know!

[Crankin]

I think I mentioned that there was a woman who was very snippy with me when we led a ride for our club's rally. Well, she sent an apology email to me and DH. Very unusual in this day and age!
I think she was dehydrated, so I gave her some info about how to deal with that and heat.

[Crankin]

Had a lovely 25 mile ride over to do one of our regular loops in Concord and Carlisle. It is absolutely gorgeous out! The downside was there is horrible, I mean horrible street construction going into Concord Center, with traffic backed up really far, as Main St. is closed. This necessitated riding between cars and then getting up on the sidewalk. DH has great handling skills and I do not; or at least I have to do stuff like that slowly. But, we made it through and came back an alternate way, to eat lunch at an Italian café that has some shady outdoor seating. As we left, traffic was busy, with people pulling out of a shopping area. DH looked back for me and ran into the curb. He wasn't going fast, but he couldn't get unclipped and fell on the grassy area of a sidewalk. There were tons of people around and a guy in a truck in the parking lot next to the sidewalk got out and asked if he was OK, when I was screaming, "What the hell?" He does stuff like this fairly often, despite his excellent focus in traffic, but usually he catches it! Anyway, we stopped at our local farm on the way back and bought local strawberries, which are now in season for about 2 weeks. Then we went home on a partial dirt road and "secret" path between our condo neighborhood and the next street, The dirt road was fine, but the beginning of the path was a bit rooty, so I did put my foot down a little.
It was certainly a different and fun ride.

[emily_in_nc]

Crankin, I hope your DH is okay. I hate those kinds of falls!

Today we did a somewhat unusual utilitarian ride on our Bike Fridays: we took our laundry into the nearest coin laundromat from our campground and washed clothes! First time we've ever done that as we usually stop along the way in our motorhome and do laundry, or stay in campgrounds that have machines.

DH did all the "heavy lifting", meaning he had all the dirty clothes in two rear panniers plus a plastic basket strapped onto his rear rack. I had my Tailrider and just carried our extra stuff (wallets, etc.) The route was fairly hilly and along a minor highway with a moderate amount of traffic but a decent shoulder. There was no shade, and it was HOT. At least upper 80s-90 on the way back. But we got 'er done, the laundromat was very nice, and we treated ourselves to some yummy donuts at a shop right next door to the laundromat.

As a extra bonus, we stopped at a grocery store on the way back and ran into a pair of touring cyclists -- young men with full panniers doing a cross-country tour. They had come from Erie, PA and were on their way to Oregon, following the Trans-America route. They were eating stuff they'd bought in the grocery, and we had a great conversation with them about touring, etc. They were both wearing Katy Trail jerseys as they'd just ridden the Katy, and since we'd done a section of it just a few days before, we had plenty to talk about there, as well as previous tours we'd done, etc. It was so nice to talk to a couple of bike tourists, and I love how bicycles can bridge the generations, as they were probably in their 20s, yet we felt an immediate kinship with them.

On the way back, there was a long, tough hill to climb (I hit 35 mph on the way to town on it descending), so we were glad we had our Fridays with their mountain gearing.

All in all, a successful and fun ride of 22 miles with two loads of clean laundry to show for it.