May rides, may they all be wonderful

[north woods gal]

I totally get it about changing bikes. With me and all my bikes, even though they are all flat bar bikes, it takes me awhile to settle in on my bike of the day. Have learned not to get in a hurry about changing anything on the bike till after I've been riding for half an hour or so. Like you, I am very sensitive to changing the little things on the bikes. I do a lot of fussing with adjustments, too. When I get a bike that just fits me like a glove the way it is set up, though - my new Gunnar is a good example - I get religious about not changing anything.

I think you did exactly right on playing it safe in the soft and rutted section. When I'm riding a new trail, I often stop and scout out a rough section, rather than get into it and find I'm in over my head. Believe me, we do have some trails around here that are truly "expert only" trails.

As for me, did 16 miles on the pavement with the single speed shortly after breakfast to avoid the heat. Wasn't too bad, with temps in the mid 80s by the time I got back. Hit a recored high of 91, shortly after noon and looks like another record high for tomorrow. Finished the day with a late afternoon trail workout of about 4 miles, but had to go it alone. Star wanted to go, of course, no way was I going to risk taking her along in this heat. And here it is still May. Crazy.

[Crankin]

Well, sandy, rutted trails are not a place for road bikes, even with 25 cm tires. I was just happy I didn't crash! I can ride this kind of stuff on a mountain bike; it was the rocks and roots of the northeast woodlands that did me in, a few years ago. Being in the woods is why I wanted to mountain bike, but when I really got out there, it was so technical and scary, I gave up. I'd be fine with gravel riding or easier trails, if I had the right bike. For now, I hike!
It's 55 and drizzly today, so maybe no more than a walk.

[Geonz]

I've ridden every day this month

Yesterday I even got my Xtracycle out and successfully diagnosed why it was dragggggging... I thought it must be the disk brakes 'cause I couldn't see anything else but when I took the wheel off ... oh, the bags on the rack were sagging down and rubbing madly.
Brakes still squishy so I rode it out to bike shop which was not busy ... and ... it rode pretty sweetly -- well, it's hardly been ridden... so I asked "hey, will it be just an adjustment?" and ... he peeked at them and said "well, for starters, you've got no brake pads left."
Note to self: when I drop it by for periodic maintenance remind 'em to check and ... check 'em myself...
... b/c new pads didn't fix things either, so it's staying there 'til they can look at it again...
but an honest 35 mile day in the heat yesterday~ today we'll have a moonlight ride THat's the time to ride in these conditions...

[north woods gal]

Hi Sue. Great to hear about riding every day. It's what I do, too, but I'm retired so it's something that is practical to do. Yeah, I've worn down pads to the point of damaging the discs, so good reminder for me to have some of the bikes checked.

Our record heat wave continues. It's either morning or evening rides, now, but by the time I got home, this morning, it was already 88 and not even noon, yet. Tomorrow looks to be another 90s day, too. All in all, though, I'm managing. Had a brisk headwind on the way home, so that helped keep me cool. Not a big fan of headwinds, of course, but sometimes they are a blessing.

My ride, this morning was 5 miles into our little town. Just got a little lonely, I guess. Thought it would be nice to ride over to our local park to be around people enjoying the holiday. Remember, most of my riding is solo on very lightly traveled roads. Not that I like traffic or crowds, of course, but sometimes I do miss bicycling in the city, just cruising around with no particular destination in mind. As luck would have it, ran into some of my bicycling pals from one of our bike shops. They drooled over the Gunnar, of course.

Speaking of the Gunnar, after only a few weeks of riding the Gunnar out on the road, I've built my strength up to the point where it's probably time to go to a bit higher gearing if I'll only be using it for road work.

[Crankin]

Didn't ride yesterday, it was still kind of misty and cool in the AM. When my son and family got here for the holiday, we walked to the playground, which ended up being just under 4 miles RT. It was interesting to watch my granddaughter play around other kids her age. She is way more physically agile and unafraid than most of the other girls we saw. I am so happy they are encouraging this!
This morning I went out and did my usual short "dark ride," although now that the sunrise is at 5:10, it's not dark. It was 57 out and humid as hell. Rode the Guru, with pedals loosened, it was better than Saturday, but now that I am used to the electronic shifting on my Trek, my hands are sore from the regular Ultegra. It's really more on the front (left hand) that bothers me, so I will have to do some kind of strengthening before my trip. I can definitely see how Di2 would help someone with arthritis.
Tomorrow, the club ride is another beach ride, up on the North Shore. However, this time, it starts in a place that is a pain to get to. I have no time restrictions, but I just can't get motivated to drive in traffic for this. I do want to ride in some different places, though. Well, I'll do something on my own.
Weather looking horrible for our club rally on Saturday. Looks like I'll be getting a free happy hour and dinner, without the volunteer leading part!

[north woods gal]

Hope everyone had a chance to ride over the long weekend. If not, still hope you had a nice holiday.

Crankin, I've had the same problem, too, with shifting up to the higher chainring (left side) on road bikes. I get a little arthritis, too, now and then. Some days, it seems like it takes way too much effort. Down is not bad, but on a compact double, that's a lot of teeth to cover when you shift to the big ring. My usual 105, though, was at least better than the SRAM Apex is used for a while. That one was really hard to shift.

We broke records with our weekend heat wave and, believe me, heat waves are a rare thing in these parts. Spooky strange. Still, I managed to do my usual daily 15-20 miles by riding early and/or late. My morning rides army favorite because I get to ride laps around the neighborhood with my husband. (A lap around our neighborhood is 2.2 miles, by the way and all hills.) This time of year, we often get to stop and visit our neighbors, which we all know. Mostly, though, it's just special being able to ride with my guy.

He's good for a few laps, but because of his long history of back issues, longer rides are out of the question. I then continue on my own to finish my road workout farther from home. Ever since I got that darn single speed, it's been what I've been riding for my road work. It's a "skinny" tire bike as far as MTBs go, so it's does fine on good gravel roads or hard pack dirt roads, but a 29x2.2" bike wheel is no match for the worst of our gravel and sand roads. Time to grab the ECR and do some exploring on those roads.

Late afternoon is when I finish up my daily riding with trail work on my own MTB trails. Our trails are so dry, right now, that I rarely grab a fat bike. Besides, I get plenty of fat bike riding all winter long. Even the skinny tire MTBs do fine, right now, but my favorite to ride on my trails is still my Krampus with its 29x3 wheels. What can I say? I love riding steel bikes, either on the road or the trail. I may just sell off a couple of aluminum bikes, in fact, and stay with almost all steel bikes to ride.

One note to add: my Gunnar SS was built with a carbon flat bar. It's my first ever carbon handlebar. I love it! Has just enough flex to absorb a lot of buzz that gets to my hand with metal handle bars. Very nice feel. Feather light, too. May get one for the Log Lady when it arrives.

[justalex]

I am too busy on my task at work that I only get to ride my bicycle on weekend. BTW, I am a newbie so pardon me for being an intruder.

[emily_in_nc]

justalex, we welcome newbies here!

Down in central Florida, we managed to ride the past two days. Memorial Day was very busy on the trail with folks on vacation and off work, so not as good, but yesterday was back to normal and very nice. It's been breezy and warm but not nearly as warm as what you're experiencing, nwg! When I heard that Minneapolis hit 100, I knew I was better off in Florida at the moment. Our highs have been in the 80s, typical for this time of year.

Today we are getting steady rain, which doesn't make me happy, as Paisley has a vet appointment at 1pm, and we will have to take her in my husband's bike basket unless the rain is really hard. In that case, I might break down and ask my neighbor if I can borrow her car. She has offered, but I would only take her up on it in an emergency -- which this might be. We'll see. A lot of times the rain will taper off here and just be sprinkles. The sad thing is, just two days ago, it looked like today would be fine, with afternoon t-storms only, just like the past two days. If her appointment had been either Monday or Tuesday at the same time, the rain was still hours away. Bad timing, and one of the down sides of a car-free lifestyle!

ETA: I can't really change her appointment, as she's out of all her meds as of this morning, so I have to get to the vet for those anyway.

[north woods gal]

justalex, we welcome newbies here! ...

I'll second that. Intrude away and welcome to the forum.

Our heat spell appears to be over. Temps back into the more seasonal 70s. Rain on t's way, though, that too is a relief and much needed.

Hubby and I did our morning neighborhood ride and, as usual, stopped and talked to a neighbor along the way. He's retired and recently widowed, so will be moving, soon, to be closer to the kids. I do get that. Love my north woods, but I would not want to live, alone, so far from family. Hope I never have to face that but, of course, what will be, will be. I have no say in that.

[Crankin]

I did a decent ride today. I've learned my limit for riding alone is 25 miles and I did 22.
My goal was to ride on the new section of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail. Things move so slowly here in MA, with these kinds of projects. The new section goes to the next town. The part in West Concord is almost done and will open next March. However, the bridge over the major highway to connect these 2 sections will not open until 2020 or 21, I can't remember. Every town has to have a design study (with money for that), then hearings, then appropriate the money before building begins. Once that bridge opens, I will be able to do a lot more of my shopping by bike.
Anyway, I was going to do the ride I did with my friend 3 weeks ago, as you can catch the older part of the trail at one point of this ride. However, I was once again rerouted due to road work. The work is needed, so no complaining here, but it changed my plans. The alternate main road I took north also was ripped up, but, it's flat and I didn't want to have to stop on a hill on scarified pavement. This was OK, but it was one way at 3 points, so lots of stopping. I turned off where it ended and went up and down a shady road that ends up right where the new part of the trail begins, which is what I wanted.
The trail was nice and didn't have a lot of stops, as compared to the older part. I already knew the road crossings were well planned from driving around town. It went through lots of woods and wetlands, had access to a historic old pencil factory and hiking trail we often do, as well as access to a huge recreational park/pond in Acton. I got to go over a very high bridge over a main road that I watched them build all winter. The bridge part is made of rubber-like material, I assume so it doesn't freeze. After that, I saw where there is access to my LBS and grocery store, although once the bridge over Rt 2 is built, I will be coming from the opposite direction. I got off the trail before the end, so I could get home without having to backtrack through Concord Center and West Concord Center again, and crossing the highway at a decent spot, that I used to use when I was teaching.
It's not as warm as yesterday, which was almost 90, but at the end of the ride, it felt like it was heating up and getting humid. I think the sun must have come out more, as it's only 78.

[emily_in_nc]

That sounds like my kind of ride, Crankin. I love trails like that, especially when they make for efficiencies in utilitarian rides. It will be lovely for you when they finish the connectors, etc.

Had an interesting ride to/from the vet yesterday. Of course I made the appointment on the one rotten day this week. Woke up to rain, which continued on up to one minute before we had to leave on the bikes. It had been a real gullywasher just 10 minutes before we had to leave, super dark out, before tapering off and finally stopping. There were huge puddles everywhere. I rode my cruiser bike because it has fenders, and the vet is only 1.5 miles each way. DH had Paisley in her basket, and he'd made a cardboard top for it to protect her from rain.

When we got to the vet, there was a HUGE puddle at the entrance, but we were able to lock the bikes up and get around the puddle on wet grass. While there, it started pouring again, so our bikes and DH's panniers got drenched. It was raining lightly when we left and stopped during our ride home. Of course the puddles were worse than on the way over, so we were quite wet (aside from the parts under rain jackets) when we got home. Paisley stayed pretty dry, though!

Quite an adventure for three miles, and one of the times being car-free is a challenge.

This morning is lovely, and we'll be heading out on our usual 35-miler in a little bit. It will be hot and humid but at least not raining!

[north woods gal]

Glad you stayed at least relatively dry on your adventure to the vet, Emily. Brings back a lot of memories of commuting in the rain. Oh, having a bike as your only means of transportation sounds romantic and all that, but that gets a old pretty quick when you have to ride in a downpour to get to work on time.

Speaking of rain, we had over an inch of much, much needed rain, yesterday afternoon. Started just as I was finish my afternoon trail riding. It was our first significant rain in over a month. Our woods were dangerously dry. Cooled things off, too. Checked my trails, this morning and they were still in good shape. That thirsty soil soaked the rain pretty quick.

Speaking of my trails, it's funny how the little things make a difference, as in the things you never really think about till you're there. One I noticed, recently, is all the shadows and reduced visibility on my trails, now that the leaves are all out on the trees. The trails are much easier to see in the winter, for sure. If I didn't know the trails so well, I could see how things could get a bit tricky in the shadows. As I've mentioned, before, prior knowledge of the trails you're riding is a huge plus.

[emily_in_nc]

Glad you stayed at least relatively dry on your adventure to the vet, Emily. Brings back a lot of memories of commuting in the rain. Oh, having a bike as your only means of transportation sounds romantic and all that, but that gets a old pretty quick when you have to ride in a downpour to get to work on time.

Agreed! We were never car-free when working, and for the most part, lived too far from work to even consider bike commuting. I sweat too much anyway, and am not an early morning person so wouldn't have been able to manage it. The last year I worked, we lived on a bus line, though, and I took the bus to work most days. I really enjoyed not having to drive. I could actually read on my way to and from work, and the short walk to the bus stop at each end was almost always a nice way to start or end the workday (heavy rain excepted!)

Glad you got some rain, nwg. We are still all puddled up here in Florida but got in our usual 35 miles yesterday morning before afternoon storms. Today looks good too, and less chance (40%) of afternoon storms. High of 91, but we'll be back long before it gets that hot.

[north woods gal]

Whoa! June 1st, today. Looks like time to start a new thread for June. Have to say, though, this May has been a very interesting month for me and my riding. On to summer.