April Rides

[Crankin]

It's sunny!
I just saw a FB post from Prospect Mountain, in southern Vt, the last place I went Nordic skiing. They are *still* completely open and had 4 inches of snow yesterday. The place is at elevation, 2,200 ft, but it's only 8 miles from Bennington, VT. To say that this is most unusual for a nordic ski center to be open on April 20 would be putting it mildly!
Boot camp was really hard today; she tried a new format, so I think I am going to skip riding to my lunch. Of course, if it's really nice when it's time to go, one never knows.

[north woods gal]

Love the post, Emily, about riding from town to town with all that shopping and things to see along the way. It's one thing we do NOT have in our rural area and one of the things I do miss from my years of bicycling and commuting in more urban areas. I'll always be a country girl at heart, but having bike paths and places to stop and shop made city life bearable for me. I miss it, sometimes. Thanks for the post.

[emily_in_nc]

Love the post, Emily, about riding from town to town with all that shopping and things to see along the way. It's one thing we do NOT have in our rural area and one of the things I do miss from my years of bicycling and commuting in more urban areas. I'll always be a country girl at heart, but having bike paths and places to stop and shop made city life bearable for me. I miss it, sometimes. Thanks for the post.

You're so welcome! I do enjoy this kind of a setting, but it's not the most ideal for real fitness, since there is more stop/start, slow riding, and of course those stops off for yummy things to eat! But, this is a vacation for us, only a week (minus one day since I have to get back for an orthodontist appointment), so it's not an everyday thing. We'll be back to our longer rides in Winter Garden soon enough!

The path does sound similar to yours, Rebecca (nice pic, btw), and here too, there are ways to bypass the busiest stretches in a couple places; we've discovered one already. We were able to detour off the path and ride through uncrowded neighborhood roads most of the way to a Publix 3 miles away, which was great.

Today has been super busy here as lots of long weekenders have arrived, or just people playing hooky from work for a day, since it's so beautiful out. We haven't ridden yet but are going to take a short ride (an hour or so) in a few minutes -- I'm waiting for DH to get ready. We did do an 8.5 mile beach walk this morning, with a couple of detours off the beach for a healthy lunch AND a donut, so we have gotten some exercise in, but we're missing the bikes too much to stay off them altogether, so a short ride just to enjoy the breeze and the sunshine is in order before wine-thirty and then dinner!

Here's our campsite:

I sure will miss this spot!

[Crankin]

We went out to ride with our friends, into Historic Deerfield, about 12 miles from their house in Western MA. Clear and sunny and it got up to 57. But, a vicious headwind, for the first half of the ride, I could barely get my speed above 11 at a few points. It was about 20 mph, wih sustained gusts. That, plus my hamstrings screaming from yesterday’s boot camp, was demoralizing. Went through a few places I haven’t seen and we did have tailwind for about 8 miles near the end. A 22 mile ride turned into 27.5. It was tough.
Afterwards, we went to the spring wine release event at the winery down the street from our friends house. It’s 8.15 and I am ready for bed.

[emily_in_nc]

The wine event sounds fun, Crankin!

We ended up riding today after all. We did a loooong beach walk this morning, and DH's achilles started bothering him from stretching too far in the sand, so we walked back on the path along the road. We noticed it was not as busy as we'd have thought for a Saturday, because most people were on the beach, even though it was a mostly cloudy day. So, we headed out around 3:30 pm and rode for an hour. Very nice. We found a spur trail that went 2 miles north and was free of cyclists and walkers, and only one road crossing, so we enjoyed that little bit very much, and even the main trail wasn't super busy. Between that and riding to the beach to walk a bit after dinner, ended up with 15 miles on the day. Not much, but combined with all the walking, still a fairly good fitness day.

We leave tomorrow morning and drive back to the Orlando area. I am sad. This beach is so beautiful! I will miss it. This really does feel like going home after a wonderful vacation, something that was always a letdown for us. Even RVing, some spots are like "home" and some like "vacation".

[rebeccaC]

just a quick 22 miles on the beach bike path to clear my mind from working all day and then a nice dinner out with some of Alex's colleagues.

[Crankin]

I didn't take any pictures of my rides this weekend.
Today, we did 32 miles from Whately to Montague MA and back. It was still a little windy this morning, but it died down. Some climbing in the first half of the ride, most of it the kind I don't love, longer shallow grades. Since this is when it was windy, I just dug in. Then we had a steep, shorter climb, which was fine. We got on a bike path for about 3 miles, into Montague, where we stopped in a park at the end of the path. Just as we were leaving, we saw that the street we were headed on was closed and a peloton went by, very quickly. There was a criterium going on. Our alternate was another steep hill, but I was feeling good. Then, on to the Montague Book Mill/Café. It was mobbed, with tons of cyclists and others, so we decided not to wait for food. The ride, overall was beautiful, rural, farms, along the Connecticut and Deerfield Rivers, and a canal. Even a waterfall. We ended up stopping at a little pizza/Italian restaurant only open on the weekend, and ate our sandwiches outside. Then we had only 4 miles back to our friends' house.
I felt a shift in my attitude and strength in the second half of the ride. My speed wasn't fast, but it was a good ride. And, it was 64 degrees out.

[emily_in_nc]

That sounds like an excellent ride, Crankin! I like varied rides like that.

Today we made it back to our "home" RV park in Winter Garden, Florida and stayed ahead of the storms heading into Florida from the west -- Yay! No riding today, and probably not tomorrow either, as rain is in the forecast, and I have my orthodontist appointment. If it happens to hold off, we might get a ride in in the morning. After tomorrow, though, looks like great weather the rest of the week. Riding awaits!

[north woods gal]

Love hearing about all these great rides and pleased everyone is having nice weather, now. We are, too. Been one week of glorious sunny weather with highs in the 50s. Still been mostly riding our paved roads, but have no complaints whatsoever. Loving it. All our local MTB trails, mine included, are now in mud and slush season and while they could be ridden early in the morning after a night of freezing, just no reason to tear them up. I'm using this in between time to tune and get all the summer bikes ready to go. Will probably put the two fat bikes with studded tires in the shed for the summer, now. They served me well for my snow riding. My standard fat bikes will be ready to go by the time the trails are open for summer riding. My other MTBs already are. Come on summer!

[emily_in_nc]

We are back in our "home" area in central Florida and did a 28-mile ride this morning. It was a bit strange being on the road bike again after riding my MTB for a week, but it didn't take too long to adjust -- having the same saddle on all my bikes helps. Nice tailwind on the way out, plus clouds, though it was quite humid. Head to cross-winds on the way back were a bit tougher, but I still felt pretty good overall. The trail and even roads were light on traffic today, perhaps because it was Monday, or perhaps because so many snowbirds have left the area.

[north woods gal]

Would that be the Clermont area, Emily? That's the area we visited, last time in Florida.

Spring has sprung in our area. Went for a short 15 mile ride on the pavement with the ECR, late afternoon, yesterday. Temp was in the mid-60s. I've been so used to dressing for cold weather that it never occurred to me not to wear leggings. Got out in the sun and then wondered why I didn't wear shorts. Such an abrupt change in only one week. I'm still adjusting to it. Out of habit, I'm still bracing myself for that shock of cold air when I step outside the door. Next week, we may even hit 70.

Very pleased with the Surly ECR as a pavement bike. It's no feather light skinny carbon bike, for sure, but I actually hit an average speed of just over the 13 mph on a 10 mille stretch of gentle hills. That ties my best for average speed on that section with a standard road bike. Pretty amazing for a heavy steel 29 plus bike. Once you get it up to speed, it just wants to stay there with very little effort.

I did notice that the ECR rides stiffer than my Surly Krampus, which is essentially the trail bike version of the ECR. The ECR felt almost like a tri bike in this regard. Not harsh, but not as forgiving on pavement as my other steel bikes. This stiff frame may have helped with the speed, though. I was expecting this kind of ride, based on my research before buying, so no surprise. The ECR frame is designed, specifically, to carry heavy loads. Reports say that it's at its comfy best with a load. It is, after all, a gravel or offload camping bike that can pack enough gear to carry you across a continent. Not sure I'll ever do that, but stiffness notwithstanding, it is a bike I can ride all day. Fits me like a glove, now that I have my Terry Rosie on it. Way cool.

[Crankin]

Glad you felt the warmish air on your face!
So, we've had 3 days of 60+ degree temps. Today may possibly hit 70. But, it's so dry and clear, that it has been in the 30s at night. Yesterday, when I went to the gym, it was 32. Yet, when I went out for a walk at 2, it was 65. Today, I planned to ride in the early AM. I made myself go, despite being 38 degrees and me being in full winter gear, including heated gloves. The only part of me that was cold was my face, though. So, I went out at 5:20 and the sun was already coming up. It was a gorgeous sunrise, but too cold to stop and snap a picture. I only was out for 7.25 miles, about 33 minutes, but that was enough. I could make myself get out, but not stay out to do 13 miles.
The forecast for our ride Saturday is driving me nuts. Right now, looks good, but last night it was 50% chance of rain in the morning (the ride is at 10), with a chance of rain all day. Now it's just a chance spot showers.

[emily_in_nc]

Would that be the Clermont area, Emily?

Yes, close. We are in Winter Garden, just to the east.

Haven't been able to ride much since we returned because our dog has been sick. We spent hours at an excellent vet here yesterday and found out that she has congestive heart failure. The vet did several things and started her on several meds, and she is much, much better today. We have to go in today for a follow-up check and to get the results of her blood panel.

Bonus: Since we don't have a car, we took her to the vet in a basket on the rear rack of DH's Bike Friday. I rode along on my Trek. She did great! So we'll be doing that again today. It's only 1.7 miles each way door to door, so not much of a ride, but sometimes other things take precedence. I did get a gym workout in yesterday and a couple of walks.

We'll start back on our normal riding schedule tomorrow.

Crankin, hope your weather cooperates for the weekend. They were talking about rain in New England this morning on the Weather Channel.

[Crankin]

Yes, it's raining today, but this will be gone by tomorrow morning. Still looking good for Saturday, with just a chance of a shower in the AM. The ride is at 10, but I am not worried. Hope your dog is OK!
I went to spin/core class, where I am the only person who actually rides outside. I like the instructor, so I ignore the stupid questions I get asked. Class was good, but since it's so humid out, the room was horribly humid, despite the AC and fans. The core part of the class, thankfully, is in the fitness room, where it was better. And, I got to work on standing from a seated position, no hands. I can actually do it about 90% of the time.

[emily_in_nc]

After two days of very short utilitarian rides (taking Paisley to the vet -- and yes, she is much better -- meds are amazing!) we finally got back to our usual route today and rode 35.6 miles. Felt good, no aches and pains, perhaps because I hadn't done any long rides for awhile and gave my body a bit of a rest. More tomorrow. Weather is really nice right now: low 60s at night and low 80s during the day. Humidity not bad yet, so it's very tolerable since we're riding in the 70s, my favorite temp for a ride.