August Rides

[Crankin]

I won't be looking until at least the late fall/spring. Although we toyed with the idea of fatties, I don't think they would get used enough to justify it. I wanted a dirt/gravel bike and possibly an around town bike with flat pedals. My Guru is just too nice for that, although that is what I use it for, since I got my Trek that is only one cog higher in gearing. Plus, I want a bike that I can easily wear a skirt on...
Went to do a ride that I had done with a club earlier this year, modified to start from home. It wasn't long, 25 miles, but goes into an area of another town that is not known for it's "beauty," but actually has a part that is quite lovely and rural, similar to where I live. I knew DH had not ridden here and thought he would enjoy. We relaxed all morning and went out at around 1 and looked up at a very dark sky, that was threatening. After looking at the radar, we determined it would be very close, and felt a bit uncomfortable to go on the planned route. So, we ended up riding 18 miles in Concord and Lincoln. The dark clouds moved slightly northeast, but we were correct; a very strong storm came through, and it poured about 4 miles from our house. We could see the rain pouring down.
So, I haven't done a lot lof long rides this week, but some short, fast ones. Still may do the ride we didn't get to today early tomorrow.

[north woods gal]

We use fat bikes, all year round, but now mostly on our property and for local rides within four or five miles from home. Love them back on the trail or soft stuff, but they are a pain in the butt if you have to do any road work and, especially, if you have to travel any distance. Ten miles on a fat bike is a long ride. Way more work than necessary, unless you are on a rough or soft trail. At least with a standard mountain bike, you can do some distance road work. Maybe not the best choice, of course, but still doable. Used a 26" MTB for many years as my commuter and city bike, riding thousands of miles on pavement.

Very few long rides on pavement since I started this MTB trail project n our property, so my monthly miles total for August is in the dumpster. Do four or five miles of single track work, every day, with lots of climbs, so still in decent bike shape, though. That's the good news. The bad news is that I have been putting in four or five hours a day, too, of heavy labor, making trails, barely able to undress and step in the shower, afterwards, I'm so tired. Have way overdone it. Now coming down with a cold. I do know better than to push myself so hard at my age, but pushing too hard is just my nature. Oh, well.

[ny biker]

This discussion on mountain bikes made me thing that surely Trek is still making a WSD 26 mountain bike that short women can ride. But they show so many different mountain bike lines on their website, I would have to spend a week reading about them all. Seems far too complicated to me. I still have the hardtail 26 that I bought back in 1998 or 1999. It's a men's frame, the reach is a bit longer than it should be for me, but overall it's a quality bike and I plan to keep it. It needs some attention which I've been putting off because I have to spend money on too many other things -- it's not shifting right, handlebars feel a little too wide, and for some reason my heels have started to hit the cranks when I pedal even though nothing has changed with the bike, pedals or shoes so something about the way I pedal must have changed. Anyway I'd like to get it ready to ride this fall or early winter. I got a good back fender for it last year so I can ride it on road in winter when there's lots of sand and salt from storm treatments. I'd rather ride the mountain bike in those conditions than get the road bike so dirty.

Anyway. I went out last Thursday after work for the regular hill ride -- my first since getting the new gearing for the road bike. It was hotter than I expected and I had eaten lunch too late so at first I felt sluggish. But once I got away from the highway and closer to the river it was less hot. I changed the route a bit at the end, adding a couple of flat miles, so in all I rode almost 21. The new gears don't magically make the hills feel flat but they do make it easier when things get very steep.

On Saturday I did a club ride that was very flat. I figured it would be a good chance to play with the new 46T chain ring. Unfortunately it turned out to be one of those rides where everyone else is way faster than me. I had a feeling that might happen, and sure enough it did. I decided that if I was dropped and out of sight of everyone else at mile 25 I would take advantage of a short cut and head back on my own. But at that point we were on a rail trail and everyone slowed down so I was able to keep up. But as soon as we were off the trail they all put the hammer down and I was well and truly dropped by everyone except the ride leader, who was clearly holding back, riding just a little ahead of me, so I wouldn't be alone. This actually kind of annoyed me, though in retrospect I realized I was annoyed because I was starting to bonk and that made me cranky. But it has made me think -- I do the same thing when I am leading a ride and one person is way behind everyone else. Do I annoy them by doing this? Honestly in most cases I'm not riding much slower than I would if they weren't behind me, but a few times I have had to really slow down for someone.

At any rate, we reached a rest stop after about 30 miles and at that point I did decide to take a shortcut back. So everyone including the ride leader went on without me. After that I was able to ride slower without feeling like I had to push harder than I wanted to. The short cut used a longer portion of the rail trail, and I stopped a couple of times to read some historical markers (I love historical markers) and to answer a text message from a relative that I thought might be urgent. So the fast riders ended up passing me near the end even though I was riding fewer miles. Oh well, I was having fun. Then at the end I learned that one of the fast riders was not back yet, after being separated from the group by a red light. He didn't answer his phone so the ride leader drove back to look for him. A couple of minutes later I also drove back to help look, and it was lucky I did because the missing rider was on the trail and not visible from the road when the ride leader drove by, but he was off the trail and on the road when I went by. He had stopped for a few minutes because of a leg cramp and then missed a turn, but did not want to be sagged back. So I drove back to the park where we started and waited for him while I called the ride leader to give him and update.

[Crankin]

Last week 2 riders were killed in separate accidents, near here, on the same day. One, it is clear what happened. Both were during the morning rush hour. The other, which happened on the road by Hanscom AFB and airport, was about a few yards over the town line from my town. This is a hugely popular road with cyclists. The part in Concord has some homes, then lots of office parks. The accident happened either on, or on top of a hill, where there are a few houses and condos, on one side of the road. At the top of the hill, the road turns somewhat sharply left. DH and I could not imagine what could have happened. Unlike the other incident, there has been no talk of it, no names. Last night, I found out it was someone from my temple. I didn't know him, but 2 of my friends know the wife. It kind of shook me up, but, I made myself ride to work today (not on this road, although I did ride it Saturday).

[north woods gal]

NY, glad you have a rail to trail to ride. We have some very short ones in our area, but I enjoy being able to take my road bike off the pavement when I can. Love the variety and the scenery on most R-Ts is often very nice, too. The 11 mile one I did in southern Wisconsin a few weeks, ago, while at my family reunion, could have very easily been done with a standard 700x25 road bike.

Crankin, it always hits me in the gut the I hear of a cyclist going down like that. I worked with a gal in Chicago who lost her boyfriend that way and it was on a road on my commuting route. Nasty road and I could see how it could happen. Really makes you think when you know someone who is in any way connected to such a tragedy. My thoughts and prayers to their loved ones.

[rebeccaC]

Once more my after work before heading home from Oxnard favorite ride….Caryl rd.
I’ve seen wild geraniums bloom first, then wildflowers and now bougainvillea’s are adding their color to the ride. Perfect low 70’s and no wind. We haven’t done any longer rides lately but Sat. we are going to the Napa Valley to spend a few days of riding through the beautiful wine country, relaxing and just being together…..feeling blessed.



















and back down ending at the ocean and someones chair

[Crankin]

So.... the sh!t hit the fan last night, when the Lincoln police took down the ghost bike someone had placed at the site of the cyclist death that I described in my earlier post. I've seen a lot of emails and FB posts about this. The person that put the bike there is looking for a private homeowner near the site, who is willing to host the ghost bike. This happens to coincide with the upcoming memorial for another cyclist who was killed in the same town in June. The town is "allowing" a ghost bike to be up for this person for 3 days, and are providing traffic control during the ceremony, but are otherwise being azzholes. There's a lot of bad stuff going around right now, showing how much people hate cyclists. One of the articles I read stated that advocacy for cyclists has finally come to the suburbs...

[north woods gal]

rebecca, thank-you. What wonderful pics! Just looking at them makes me want to grab my bike and ride.

Crankin, do take care. It's sometimes hard for us to understand why anyone would hate bicyclists, but as we all know, those people are out there. Watch your back.

[Blueberry]

Crankin-

Do take care of yourself. I've dealt with some similar stuff (friend killed by a drunk driver on a road that was less than a mile from my home) and then someone complained and the city threatened removal of the ghost bike. I have not forgotten how horrid it all feels. Please take care of yourself and let us know if we can help!

[Crankin]

Thanks. I am OK, just pissed! But, glad to be connected to so many different cycling groups, so I am getting good information. There seemed to be a news blackout about this incident, until Mass Bike (an advocacy group) put the article about taking down the ghost bike all over the internet. It was in the Boston Globe today. Although I did not know the man that the memorial on 9/10 is for, I will go, with a group of people. My DH commuted through the spot where he was killed for almost 15 years... Although I also did not know the man killed in the incident where they took down the ghost bike, there is a connection, besides the synagogue. When we first moved to MA, we became very close friends with a family who had also moved here from the west. We were inseparable for years, until a stupid thing ended the friendship. It wasn't like we had a fight, but we did drift apart. About 8-9 years ago, we saw them, as we were leaving a restaurant, and talked for awhile. The husband had also become a cyclist, and I clearly remember him saying he rode with the guy who was killed. It makes sense, as they live in the same town.
Did a 30 mile ride with DH today; this is not stopping me from riding at all. We rode to to the start of one of the after work rides we led last year, did most of the ride, then stopped and had lunch in Concord center. By the time we left lunch, it was 86 degrees and feeling like a desert. DH made a poor choice for lunch, a meatball sandwich, so the 4.5 miles home from lunch was slow...

[rebeccaC]

thanks nwg.....and yeah you should go for a ride

(friend killed by a drunk driver on a road that was less than a mile from my home) and then someone complained and the city threatened removal of the ghost bike.

had a friend who was hit and killed in a Venice alley last year. We first made the important contact with the family because they lived in the area and asked how they felt about our doing a ghostbike. then we also talked to the city. We were able to secure a ghostbike to a post by where the incident happened. The family removed it a month or so later and kept the bike. Before, during and after its presence i did and i now usually think of my friend when riding in that block of the alley.

[Crankin]

In both of the cases I cited, the families had been contacted and there were no issues. It's the small town New England attitude that is hurting advocacy, because each city and town is a fifedom unto itself... townies running amok. If you are from here, you understand what I mean.

[north woods gal]

I will do my best to send some of our traditional late August cool down weather your way, Crankin and anyone else who needs it. We'll be just tickling 70 for a high, this next week. Normal for us.

[Crankin]

I still laugh at the wierd looks I get from some, when I ride my bike to the gym. Not from those in my 5:45 am circuit training class, but from the others who are walking in or driving up when I arrive. One even asked, "How can you get up that hill?"

[ny biker]

I walk to the gym, down the big hill to get there and up the big hill to get home. In winter I see most people leaving (going out the back door to the garage) wearing shorts and a light jacket, while I'm bundled up in my long down coat, scarf, hat (sometimes two hats), mittens (sometimes with wool glove liners), wool socks and Ugg boots.

So I did the weekly hill ride after work on Wednesday. Tried another route change that ended up making me climb a really steep hill, oh well. Forgot the cue sheet I had written up for a short extension toward the end, tried it anyway from memory, ended up going up another steep hill to a dead end at a school. Oh well. I might actually do the dead end to the school on purpose in the future. Also I had some problems with my contact lenses, possibly from ragweed or some other late summer pollen. I had to stop and put eye drops in my eyes at one point, and was a little worried the lenses would come out and leave me to finish the ride in blur. I guess I'll wear my glasses next time.

This weekend I'm looking at doing a ride with the club that I don't really like, because the route looks good. None of my friends are available to come with me and I know I'll be dropped within a 1/4 mile due to pace inflation and no sweep, so I'm going to start a half hour early. Also I modified the route a bit to add a second rest stop which I think is necessary on a hot day, and then changed a few things at the end to use more scenic and lower-traffic rural roads. The risk is that I'll be alone with no one to help if something goes wrong, but by starting early I'm hoping to have someone behind me for much of the ride. And I'll send the route to a few friends that I can call in case something goes really wrong.