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  1. #16
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    Jul 2003
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    Quote Originally Posted by ny biker View Post
    Emily, I think that rain you're expecting is from yet another tropical storm. And I think we might be seeing rain from it early next week. We haven't had any rain in quite a while, but I hope we don't get anything really heavy since that tends to cause flooding.
    Actually, TS Nate is not an issue for us here in central Florida. But there's been a tropical wave and just general tropical disturbances off of the southeast coast of Florida that has been bringing us off and on showers to brief heavy downpours for the past couple of days.

    Fortunately, this morning was simply overcast and super humid...drip drip drip! I was absolutely drenched after my 31.5 mile ride. However, the sweat was worth it as the rains and wind finally eased enough for my first ride since Monday, so I will take it. And due to the light winds, I managed my fastest speed ever for this route: 14.4 mph. Slow to some, but I will take it! Very enjoyable ride!

    NY, I am in my jammies by 8 pm and in bed by 10pm, so your night rides are hard for me to wrap my head around. However, I can see how they would be more peaceful than riding during the busy times.
    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

  2. #17
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Speaking of night rides, had a passing thought about trying to ride our trails at night, using a good light. I know the trails by heart, so that's plus. Might be fun, though, I jump into my PJs right after dinner, too.

    Lots of rain, overnight, and still raining, this morning. Not sure if I'll be able and/or willing to ride, today, so just doing some laundry and around the house things. Oh, well. Won't be long before that rain is snow.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    I rode 26 miles with DH today. Unplanned and we kind just decided on a direction to head out, and we went. Not very many cyclists out, which is weird, as it was 75 degrees out. But, schools are closed on Monday and a lot of people are away. Kind of humid, but a little cloudy, so not bad. We avoided apple orchards and big climbs, so I had a respectable for me, though not fast average, despite the fact that just before we started, my right glute started hurting. I have done nothing that would do this, thinking it's referred pain? Well, I've been stretching like crazy since I got home, massaged it with the shower head, foam roller, and ice.
    I guess i have a pain in the azz!
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  4. #19
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    northern Virginia
    Posts
    5,897
    Years ago when I used to actually ride single track, I would join up with a group of people who rode at a local park at night. In some ways paved vs unpaved in the dark is pretty similar -- you need to be prepared for bumps in the terrain that you don't see. I always followed others when mountain biking in the dark so I don't know how hard it was to know when and which way to turn.

    I have always been a night owl, never a morning person even during times when I had to get up early every day for many days in row; getting up early never gets easier with habit. When I was in college I would stay up until 4 and sleep until noon during holiday breaks. I could go to bed at 10 pm but wouldn't sleep for hours.

    Yesterday I did a 46-mile club ride. Every year one of my friends leads a 60ish mile ride to Gettysburg that spends a fair amount of time meandering through the battlefield. This year I'm not in shape for that many miles, especially since it's a pretty hilly ride. So I and another friend started at a park in a town north of where the longer ride started and met up with that group at mile 8 on their route. It was another unusually warm and humid day, mid-60s to start and 88 when we finished. As we arrived at the battlefield we passed an observation tower where we climbed to the top to see the view. As I started to climb the steps I remembered that when I had gone up to the top of the same tower a few years ago I had cramps in my calves for the rest of the ride. Fortunately I didn't have cramps yesterday but my calves are sore today. So lesson learned: don't climb lots of steps in road shoes with cleats. I did come close to hamstring cramps after the ride and had to stretch a few times before starting the drive home, probably due to a combination of not being acclimated to the heat and not being in shape for riding steep hills. In spite of the discomforts, it was a fun ride. As I mentioned last month, Gettysburg and the surrounding area is a great place for cycling.

    - Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
    - Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
    - Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle

    Gone but not forgotten:
    - Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
    - Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    No riding for me.... the little pull in my glute has morphed into something sciatica like.
    I've had more injuries this year than all of the previous years combined. I know what caused this (not sport related), basically a missed step, followed by a jump like maneuver, where I probably twisted my right side. I have the day off, more time to heal, call the PT for tomorrow, and hope I can lead my ride on Saturday.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  6. #21
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Had two plus inches of rain on Saturday, which we probably needed - our woods were getting pretty dry. The good news is that my problem areas on the trails where water collects are still no longer a problem, thanks to some platform bridges my hubby built for me to lay down in the trail in these spots. Love that they allow me to ride in our low swampy areas without damaging the environment or tearing up the bike with a ton of mud.


    Other fun stuff

    Rocks to roll over


    Logs to hop


    Humps to roll over


    Lots of steep climbs/drops. Halfway down a long one (green Pugs at top)

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
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    Traveling Nomad
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    Love your trails, NWG! Thanks for sharing the photos. Love the platform bridges your husband built. Those are great for the mucky parts.

    Crankin, sorry that you are still ailing. Sounds pretty miserable! I hope it will heal up quickly.

    NY, sounds like a good club ride. Hope your calves are better now!

    Had a good ride today, and I was thinking I'd have my fastest speed all year, except I lost .6 mph at the end of the ride, dang it. We've moved to a different RV park in the same city, just a bit down the road, really, but it requires a different route to and from the bike path we ride on. We are still working on the return trip to see which roads are best, have the fewest stop signs and least amount of traffic. Today we made some bad decisions and ended up riding through downtown on lots of brick streets and hitting a lot of stop signs. Oh well...it was still a fun ride with 33 miles total. Tomorrow we'll try a different route back after studying google maps again.
    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. #23
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    california
    Posts
    1,232
    Emily have you looked at (mapmyride)? It can show bike paths and connecting roads in any area you want.



    Great photos NWG….you’ve also done a great job on making your woods into interesting trails for your riding….any chance that one of these days you’re going to come upon someone else who finds them?

    For a different kind of landscape/ride…from our Sunday ride into one of the lesser steep canyons going into the santa monica mountains.





    ‘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. #24
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Love the pics, rebecca, as always. What a beautiful area.

    As for encountering others on my trails, not an issue, since it is private land and we know all the neighbors. Also, on the two access points to enter, away from the house, I placed rocks and logs to negotiate to keep out ATVs and casual bikers. Have to be a fairly competent MTBer to get past those. With so many other MTB trails in our area, though, no interest in my setup, anyway, with the local MTB crowd. Encounters with deer, though, are a potential issue, so I have to keep an eye out for them. Have actually had some close calls as far as collisions when coming down off the steep drops.

    I'd actually like to have some company, now and then, and despite inviting some local gals who want to try mountain biking, no takers, yet. Really would make a nice learning trail for mountain biking, since I've built by-passes to go around the trick stuff should you not want to test your skills. This has been done mostly with my husband in mind. Yup, I've managed to get my husband out on the easy trails with me, now. First time, ever, off the pavement for him. Doubt he'll ever be up to trying the scary climbs/drops or doing any trick stuff - has no interest in that and thinks I'm a little nutty for doing it - but it is nice to have him along. Star, our Border Collie, though, is my constant trail companion and knows the trails as well as I do. She takes shortcuts, now, across the trails to meet up with me, as I go. Be lost without her.
    Last edited by north woods gal; 10-10-2017 at 07:37 AM.

  10. #25
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    Jul 2003
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    Quote Originally Posted by rebeccaC View Post
    Emily have you looked at (mapmyride)? It can show bike paths and connecting roads in any area you want.
    Yes, we use that frequently when traveling to a new area. But here we know the area and the bike trails very well; this is our third year in this area (winters only until this year). We know of all the road alternatives to getting to and from the trails, but there are so many different choices of neighborhood roads that it's mostly a matter of which ones have the least number of stop signs, stoplights, and bumpy brick road segments (historic area), and those are kinds of things you really just have to try for yourself to figure out. It seems like most who ride here drive to one of the many trailheads rather than riding to them; we're the oddballs who bike everywhere! We did try a better route back from the trail today and even have a third option we'll try on our next ride to compare.

    Love your photos, as always!
    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

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    Yesterday I did an 11 mile ride, to see how my sciatica is healing. It was OK... got kind of humid just during the 45 minutes i was riding. It did rain overnight, but when I got up, it was a lovely 53 and dry. I went out at 5:15 AM and did a route I had done when I first moved to my condo. It's a little longer than most of my early morning rides, but I am sick of the ones I normally do. One part of the ride goes down a favorite road I used to commute on when I was still teaching and where I used to ride a lot, when I first started riding. When I first did this as an early AM ride, it must have been late spring or early summer, as it was not dark out. There is part of this road that has no homes, wooded on both side, which felt very creepy this morning! Although it is a well used road, it was early enough to not be busy. After that, I was back in suburbia, where I had one hill to climb, before a nice gradual downhill for the last 3 miles. There was actually a "traffic jam," where I had to wait behind 5 cars to make a turn, bout a mile from my house. Mostly pick ups full of mean looking guys, going to Dunkin Donuts. Well, this is Massachusetts...
    13.5 miles. I was dressed correctly, but my new helmet was bothering me with a head cover under it. It either felt too tight or too loose when I adjusted the ratchet. It's not the first time I've worn a head cover with it, but now I have a headache!
    Still unsure if my ride will go on Saturday. The forecast for the area we will be riding in is getting a bit better, but the decision is in someone else's hands.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  12. #27
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Don't know if all Border Collies are like ours, but Star is very much the look before you leap type. Anything new and different gets a good looking over and study before she proceeds. Even if I change the furniture around in the house, she notices and has to inspect, first. The good news is that we have no poisonous snakes, up here, though we do have plenty of garter snakes, right in the yard and our woods. Star has seen these and will follow them at a safe distance, but a simple command of "No" and she backs off. Same with deer and other animals. As I said, she's a great pal and very easy to work with.

    On the other hand, our English Setter requires two of us, full-time, managing him when he's allowed to run in the woods for his daily workout. I have trained him not to chase deer, but off the leash, all he wants to do is hunt. Can't lose track of him for a second. Why we got a hunting dog when we don't hunt was a decision I do regret. Great dog, but not in the same class as Star as a companion or in terms of IQ.

    Back to biking. Our leaves are about 75% fallen, now. Going to wait a few more days and then do a little trail clearing of leaves to get ready for winter. Will also be changing some of the tires on the fat bikes to more snow friendly design tires. Also, the last few days, have been riding my classic 26x2 MTBs for kicks and to get some time in on them before the snow comes. Then they go in the shed for the winter. Yeah, I love the fat bikes and the plus bikes, but those old standard 26ers still do the job. Like any other MTB, they have their strengths and weaknesses. On the skinny tire MTBs, mostly a matter of being careful in the soft stuff and when rolling over rocks.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    california
    Posts
    1,232
    Quote Originally Posted by Muirenn View Post
    He does not have any sense of caution. His method of discovery is to dash up to something and stick his nose into it. What a goober.
    ...

    Golden retrievers ftw….had one growing up and he always liked having me in sight until we were day hiking, especially around the lakes of Huez and in the foret d’Huez in the nearby Alps, then he would dash off to explore, jump in the lakes, make birds take flight and generally be more of a manic mess….but then we’d get home and he would nuzzle me with pet me eyes, actually he'd do that with anyone ….i miss him, his personality and unconditional love. When we have children I’m getting another one.
    ‘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

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
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    Quote Originally Posted by Muirenn View Post
    My 15 year old Boston Terrier is a long legged guy who has always been very fit and strong. (30 pounds). He is such an inquisitive, clueless dog, I've never allowed him off-leash. He does not have any sense of caution. His method of discovery is to dash up to something and stick his nose into it. What a goober.
    Oh god, you have just described Paisley (our 9.5 year old Boston Terrier) to a "t". They don't know caution, do they? Even on leash she has gotten herself in trouble. In Belize she got bit or stung by something on our after dinner walk (in the dark, so I couldn't see what it was), and her faced swelled up huge. Terrifying. Fortunate a Benedryl brought it down quickly, as this was at night on a weekend on a third-world island with only one vet, and us without a car. If it had been a true emergency, we might not have her today.

    On the October rides subject, did our same 33 mile loop today and have found the best way to get back to our new RV park. Each route we try gets a little better. We have one more tweak we might try to this one tomorrow to avoid a busy four-way stop.
    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

  15. #30
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    Jul 2003
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    Quote Originally Posted by Muirenn View Post
    Scary, Emily. That is one thing that worries me about the idea of travel outside the US with my dog. Glad Paisley is okay.
    Yes, and that is why, if we take her out of the country again, it will be back to Mexico, and only to a city with plenty of good vets. We had good luck in Playa del Carmen, where not only are there a ton of good vets, house calls are common and don't even cost extra!

    Ended the week with a nice 32.3 mile ride on a windy day. The tweak to our going home route did not work out, as it involved a longer stretch on a road that ended up being brick surfaced (through downtown) for several blocks. We'll go back to the route we did yesterday, which has a busy-four-way stop followed by a quick left turn, but at least avoids the brick street. Plus it's 3/4 mile longer, extra 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

 

 

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