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  1. #61
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
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    Concord, MA
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    Just got back from a group ride that was so horribly hot and humid, it was making me feel weird. I get a certain feeling when it's really hot and I had it almost the whole ride. My mistake was volunteering to be a human arrow, at about mile 2. When my turn was done, I never made it back to the front. I did end up riding with a small group, but I also was alone a lot of the time. There was one point, where we were within 1/4 of a mile of my house and I almost went home. But, I knew I would have to ride the 10+ miles back to the start for my car, so I dug in. We went up a very steep hill just about then, and I was really getting overheated when we turned on a flattish road and I was able to tuck in behind a guy and draft him up to the point where we were getting close to the rest stop in Concord center. By then, a lot of others were fading. When we stopped, I finished my bottle of Scratch, ate a Shot Block, and dumped some cold water down my jersey. It was 7-8 miles back to Great Brook Farm, with one climb right at the outset. I actually dropped a few here, but I was done!
    As we turned on to the road the park is on, I realized the front group was right in front of me, so I finished with them. I checked my average when we got back, and sure enough, it was faster than this group usually does. Not faster than I ride, when I am with DH, but I felt pressure to move it. A group had also done a mountain bike ride at the park, and they were done when we got back. I had brought my lunch to eat there, as did a few others. On my drive home, the temperature on my car said it was 90 degrees for most of the way home, dropping to 88. It's clouding up now, thankfully, fall will resume tomorrow night.
    32 miles. I am done with summer!
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
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    2011 Guru Praemio
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  2. #62
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
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    Traveling Nomad
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    Amazing about those temps there, Crankin! We have been 93-94 the past few days for highs, which is horrible, but this is Florida, not New England!

    Yesterday I had my fastest average for our usual West Orange Trail ride all year, so I know the change in tires (from Schwalbe Marathon Plus, super heavy-duty) to Conti Gatorskins, plus lighter tubes, is helping. 14.1 mph, which is still "slow" by my old standards, but given the urban nature of this ride, many road crossings, slow campground roads at the beginning and end, I will take it! It's hard to imagine averaging 15-17 mph, as I used to in my peak cycling years of 2003-2005, but I was a lot younger then too! I felt pretty good despite the heat and humidity, so I guess I'm pretty acclimated to this climate now. 31.6 miles.
    Emily

    2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
    2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
    2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow

  3. #63
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
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    Emily, I wish we could ride together.... I still have a few rides a year with a 15-16 average, but since I live in a hilly area, it's not too often. For me, it's a little bit age and chronic health stuff, but mostly this year, my back. I finally looked at my total mileage the other day, and I just haven't been riding enough. I've been on a roll for the past month, but with cooler weather coming, I know I won't be riding as much during the week. I usually ride into December, on a regular basis, but I love to hike in the fall, and that always takes over.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
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  4. #64
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
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    Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
    Emily, I wish we could ride together.... I still have a few rides a year with a 15-16 average, but since I live in a hilly area, it's not too often. For me, it's a little bit age and chronic health stuff, but mostly this year, my back. I finally looked at my total mileage the other day, and I just haven't been riding enough. I've been on a roll for the past month, but with cooler weather coming, I know I won't be riding as much during the week. I usually ride into December, on a regular basis, but I love to hike in the fall, and that always takes over.
    Sounds like you're doing very well, despite any health issues! I can't even remember the last time I averaged over 15 mph, even in ideal conditions. I think if I had a lighter bike I could be a little faster, of course, but I've finally gotten my Trek Pilot dialed in with lower gearing, saddle that works for me, stem extension (I need my bars higher than my saddle for my back issues), so even though it's not as light as the newer models, it fits me well, and a new bike just isn't in the budget right now.

    It's definitely a lot easier to rack up the miles being in Florida most of the year than in New England, though I am way behind where I would have been had I not broken my jaw -- that cost me 3.5 months of riding. I went over 2300 miles on the year this week.

    Today's ride was tougher; we went west into hillier Lake County, and I had a terrible night of sleep last night. Plus we had head winds on the way back and the temps hit 93 on that return leg. Ugh. I was having visions of cold, icy drinks instead of the very warm water I had to drink and slogged out the miles with a 13.9 mph average for 35 miles. Ready for cooler weather!
    Emily

    2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
    2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
    2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow

  5. #65
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
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    13,394
    Wind can be as bad as hills.
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  6. #66
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
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    1,110
    Have to commend all of you doing so many miles out on the road and anyone who can manage 15 mph for an average speed has me beat for sure. Ever since I built MTB trials on our property and now ride them every day, though, just haven't managed to get out on the road all that much. Only ride the trails one to two hours day, but that's everyday and I'm now up to 7 to 10 miles of trail riding, per day, so that's still a decent weekly and monthly total. By my count, have actually only missed about four days all summer. Wish there was a way to accurately convert MTB miles to road miles, but at least in terms of hours, I am riding probably more this summer than summers where it was mostly road biking.

    Anyway, I LOVE reading everyone's road adventures. Just don't want to give anyone the impression that I'm not riding, much. Just wish I had more to share in the type of riding everyone else is doing, though. All the same, my heart is with you.
    Last edited by north woods gal; 09-28-2017 at 04:54 PM.

  7. #67
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    Jul 2003
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    NWG, I love reading about your trail (and other rides)! And I know from experience that MTB miles are much, much harder than road miles, under most circumstances. I have only rarely averaged over 10 mph on my mountain bike, usually less than that.

    Today's ride was our usual route east, and although it wasn't quite as hot and there was less sun and wind, it was sooooo humid as we are getting a tropical front in from the south and east. I was absolutely drenched in no time, very unpleasant. To top off the unpleasantness, we got behind a leaf blower vehicle for a short while and got absolutely covered in a fine leaf dust that was just nasty (not to mention bad for eyes and lungs!) At my rest stop, I wiped off as much of it as I could with my bandanna, because it stuck to my damp, sweaty, and sunscreen-coated skin. The bandanna was absolutely brown when I finished. UGH!

    32 miles to finish up the week. We leave the bike paths to the families and weekend warriers on the weekends and do other things (walking, at-home workouts), and I am ready for my two-day break after riding four days this week. First time I've done that since spring!

    Hope everyone has a good weekend!
    Emily

    2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
    2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
    2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow

  8. #68
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    california
    Posts
    1,232
    I spent two days at a desert art collective refuge for eclectic artists….East Jesus, which is just outside of Niland Ca. by the Salton Sea. It’s an interesting self sufficient, communitarian creative collective in the middle of nowhere. An artist friend is doing some work there and invited me out.

    I used the trip to ride the east side of the Salton Sea…78 miles of basically flat road, with a good shoulder, not much traffic (the west side has a busy state highway which is used by most of the north/south traffic). The east side road is broken up by sections of fun rollers, which I assume makes up the 700 ft of gain on the ride. A good headwind going north but I knew that so I just saw it as a good challenge and then a blessing coming back…..and with temps in the high 90’s it was a challenge. The success of the ride was probably as much about my preparation for it, some hot yoga, hydration/nutrition (before/during/after) and having balanced electrolytes for the entire ride. Hard riding in dry desert heat means salty sweat stains and deposits’ for me so I also washed off my head a few times during the ride. Just three places to get water on the ride, mostly just abandoned buildings/business’s on the route, so I planned water carefully. It was a good ride for me…..still slower than before but with the same positive determination I always try to put into a hard ride.

    No hipster reward food to be had out in that area of the desert….sitting in the shade with a quart of chocolate milk from the only grocery store in Niland, helped when I got back. The woman I stayed with also fixed a wonderfully nutritious roasted sweet potato salad for a recovery meal when I got back too.

    Just three weekends left before the Tour de Pink. With the rides I’ve done in my training plan I feel good about where I’m at. Doing a long ride this weekend with Alex on the first day's route of the tour and then cut back until we do the 3 day tour.
















    +1 on emily's wish for a good weekend for all........
    ‘The negative feelings we all have can be addictive…just as the positive…it’s up to
    us to decide which ones we want to choose and feed”… Pema Chodron

  9. #69
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Emily, I continue to be impressed with the way you've bounced back from your injuries! That would be a good week for me, anytime. Not sure how long it would take me to acclimate to that heat and humidity, though, should we ever venture down to Florida, again. Will never forget the way I bonked in it on our Florida trip, last year. That was close. Too close.

    Rebecca, that is some very interesting country and, as always, beautiful pics. Looks like it could be fun for mountain biking or, better yet, fat biking.

    50s for highs, here, the last couple days and frost, tonight. Still have a lot of tomatoes in the garden that have yet to ripen. Oh, well. Par for the course, up here. Gardening is a challenge with our very short growing season.

    Been working hard on my trails, doing some improvements on those flatter sections which will double as cross country ski trails. (The steep sections are just too steep for my cross country ski skill level. Tricky enough with the fat bikes.) Hard labor, for sure, but it keeps me out in the woods all day and that's a good thing. Kind of allergic, now, to being cooped up indoors after spending so much time out in the woods, this summer.

  10. #70
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    10,889
    Emily, it's SO good to see how you've recovered and are back to doing what you love!

    Rebecca, those are just incredible pics and the ride itself just sounds wonderful. Hard, challenging, with the temps requiring planning, but an incredible landscape for a long bike ride!

    NW Gal, I love your plan to keep youself in the woods all day, sounds like fun!

  11. #71
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    So, we got to the Amherst area Friday, went out to dinner with our friends, and woke up yesterday to cold rain. Although the rain stopped, it remained cold, windy, and misty. So our exercise ended up being the Smith College museum and eating lunch. Going on a hike now, as we will leva after lunch to go home.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
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    2011 Guru Praemio
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  12. #72
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    3,151
    I got out yesterday for 79 miles!! It was a fundraiser ride for the Kickapoo Rail Trail... that started 12 miles from home so I rode there... did the 44 miles... and a lady who rides with us had wanted to try to get 100 but at least wanted to beat her high mileage of 65. SO, we took a scenic way home -- we parted ways when she had 77 to my 76 miles and she had 9 more miles to get home. I had the feeling she was tired as all get out but ... was still talking about a scenic route...
    I paused on the way in to make sure a fellow lying on a picnic table was okay -- yes, he'd also ridden out and back ... and got home ready to ... go ride a bike, much to my surprise. Yes, I'd been careful to get off the seat periodically from the start, but I expected a little weariness! It goes to show how much weather matters, 'cause previous 85 degree days... I was done after 30 miles. (Granted, they were on my cargo bike.)
    Let's see what October brings

  13. #73
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
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    Congrats, Sue! That's a long ride!

    And thanks everyone for your support re. my recovery. Although dealing with the aftermath of my accident means braces on my teeth and having to be mostly in one place for longer than we'd like, I do still feel very fortunate that I am able to ride again! My thumb, which I also fractured in the accident, is a little stiff and probably always will be, but it doesn't bother me riding anymore. It was a little noticeable when we first started back in August, but now I never even notice it. I am glad it was my non-dominant hand, though!

    Happy October, everyone! I am not riding today but will try to remember to start the October thread tomorrow if no one else does.
    Emily

    2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
    2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
    2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow

  14. #74
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    10,889
    Good to see all of you getting out and riding! Still hard that it's already October! I did get out yesterday with a friend and her dog for an easy 2.5 mile stroll in the woods and it was just lovely.

    Emily - my chiro has done pretty good things with active release techniques have helped my more arthritic fingers - obviously he can't change the actual bone changes but he does release the soft tissues that are affected.. Perhaps someone qualified in the various active release techniques can help your thumb loosen? Very glad to hear it isn't on your dominant hand.

  15. #75
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    Quote Originally Posted by Catrin View Post
    Emily - my chiro has done pretty good things with active release techniques have helped my more arthritic fingers - obviously he can't change the actual bone changes but he does release the soft tissues that are affected.. Perhaps someone qualified in the various active release techniques can help your thumb loosen? Very glad to hear it isn't on your dominant hand.
    Thanks, Catrin. May investigate this at some point! It is not bothering me at all, though, and I continue to work on ROM exercises at home. At the time it happened, I suspect if I'd gone to an orthopod, I would have ended up having surgery on it, and given all I was going through with my jaw at that time, I just couldn't deal with another body part needing surgery simultaneously, so I did a lot of reading online and started doing gentle exercises for it as soon as the "rest" period recommended ended. Also have a therapy ball for hands I purchased to work on strength. Although it is still a bit stiffer than my right thumb, and the joint where it attaches to my hand looks larger/swollen, it's not a big deal to me. Both my parents and all my grandparents had osteoarthritis in their hands, so it's pretty much par for the course in my genes even without added injury! Just thankful it's not painful...yet anyway.
    Emily

    2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
    2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
    2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow

 

 

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