July rides

[emily_in_nc]

Have fun riding with your granddaughter, Crankin!

Pax, great to see you on here. Are you in Florida?

Amazingly, we managed to get all four of our weekday rides in this week (M Tu Th Fr). This morning's was the most comfortable, since it was overcast, which kept the heat down a bit. Still very humid, but at least without sunshine, you stand a fighting chance. The last two rides this week, I felt a bit better, so perhaps I am acclimating to summer in Florida.

We met a nice guy visiting from Puerto Rico today on our ride (he needed directions), so we rode with him for a few miles. He was riding a cool little Tern folding bike. Talked to him about the hurricane last year and how he fared. He owns a business and said that they have gone full-solar now, so if the power goes out again, they should be good. Really nice guy and a strong rider. Then I get home and see Hurricane Beryl heading for the islands and cringe. Hopefully it will weaken and give them a break -- and not come up to Florida either!

[north woods gal]

Neat to meet such a guy, Emily. I do hope those people can get a break and avoid any hurricanes, this year.

Our temps have moderated to more normal July for us, so the walking has been quite pleasant. Okay, except to the deer flies and black flies. Used to be able to mostly outrun them on the bike, but not so on foot. Never leave home without the bug spray, now. Darn things.

Still need to do some mods on the new Pugsley I bought just before the accident. Hope to switch out to better rolling tires and will be adding a rear rack. The new Pugs will be kind of my heavy duty ECR for going down dirt and sand roads where even the ECR might struggle and, yes, we do have such roads, up here. Once you start down an old logging road or fire road you never know what you'll find. The new Pugs may even get modded to a single speed. Kind of a doomsday utility bike. That would be fun. We'll see.

[Pax]

Emily - yup, we got invited back to New Smyrna by a couple of friends so we’re spending the month of July at the beach.

[emily_in_nc]

Emily - yup, we got invited back to New Smyrna by a couple of friends so we’re spending the month of July at the beach.

That's great, although not sure I would choose July to come to Florida. But a free place to say is a free place to stay, right?!

[Crankin]

Our first experience with the Burley went fine! I rode ahead of DH, who has the trailer on his Guru, so I waited after I turned onto the street with park. She was perfect. There were others at the park with trailers, too... lots of young parents my kids' age, I seriously don't know how they can afford a house in my town. We stayed for about an hour and fifteen minutes, and then she promptly fell asleep in the ten minutes it takes to ride home. My son had to wake her up when they got here an hour later, and she was not happy. But, the experience was a success. Next time, we will ride on the bike trail, although we probably will drive to the beginning.
Later, DH and I went out and did our shortish 18 mile flat loop. It is just perfect out, 78 degrees and dry. It was kind of fast, but, I handled it. Hope to do a long ride tomorrow. We leave for the Berkshires on Thursday, and I have not ridden more than 36 miles on one ride, although, I've climbed enough.

[north woods gal]

Love the pic and really, really glad to see the helmet. Thank-you.

[rebeccaC]

well we have some heat (for here) for the weekend....90's here at the beach and 100's not far inland, back to the 70's next week though. since i'm planning a hard ride next week i did a 64 mile ride into the santa monica mountains with two friends for the climbs. Lots of water/fuel/taking breaks in the shade and thankful for the help the ocean breeze gave on the last 9 miles home on the bike path. my first climbing in too long felt good!

[Crankin]

NWG, she loves the helmet. Given how tiny she is, this one will fit for awhile. It even has a ratchet!
My son told me they were very nervous about her going in the trailer, but they survived. When my DIL dropped her off, we showed her everything, and that helped a lot.

[Crankin]

Note to self. Do not eat cranberry walnut chicken salad in the middle of a ride, on a hot day.
I survived, but that semi-ruined a really nice ride I have done twice with a group, in an area I don't ride in often. It starts in the town my DH works in, about 22 miles northeast of here, in a park that has tons of parking and bathrooms . The first part is a bit hilly, goes through some suburban semi-rural roads and developments and then through part of a state park. We stopped at a farm at mile 15 or so, and while the stop here on the group ride is more of a rest/snack stop, we were ready to eat. There wasn't much in the cool food section, so I thought the chicken salad would be healthier than a huge muffin or cider donut. I shared with DH, ate my Lara Bar and also shared an ice coffee. So, I didn't eat too much, and I actually felt a bit energized right after we took off, at least enough to get up the last big hill. There's a lot of downhill and rollers, more rural riding in the second half, until you get about 5 miles from the end. I was fighting barfing, which is not something I do more than every 10-15 years. Stopped twice to drink long drinks of my Skratch bottle, and 1.5miles from the end, I wet my head with water.
OK, I was feeling a bit off at the start, but nothing that could have caused nausea. It was between 80 and 83, no humidity, and the ride was very shady most of the time. So, I attribute this to the food, and the fact although I've been riding 4 days a week, most of it has been short rides. This was 35 miles... hope the heat (85 degrees) predicted for our trip this week does not have the same effect.
Still, glad I went.

[north woods gal]

Glad you survived, Crankin. Could it be that the salad or chicken was bad? Has happened to me. That might explain it, too.

Four days to go till my follow up X ray on my neck and I'm really, really sweating it. All the worst case scenario stuff keeps floating through my head. I so desperately want to ride, again, but I know it's up to the doctors, not me. Oh,how I wish I could go back in time and get a do over, but life doesn't work that way. Time to keep the faith. In the meantime, I just keep on walking.

[Crankin]

NWG, our brains are wired to go to the worst case scenario. Even those of us who are not prone to anxiety or negative thinking often have to fight it at times. You are right, the decision is not yours, so focus on what you can do. You know that eventually, you will ride!
I don't think the food was bad, as DH ate it. He was fine. I attribute it to a combination of things, but mostly assuming I was fine to ride, since I did a fast, but shorter ride on Saturday, after feeling crappy on Friday. I did not sleep well last night, so I skipped the gym, and am heading out for a short walk, before it gets up to 90 again. Thankfully, I don't have to be at work until 10.

[emily_in_nc]

Hope you're feeling all better now, Crankin. I rarely eat anything beyond a cereal bar, poptart, or (my fave when I take the time to make them) potatoes on my 35-36 mile rides. I am afraid eating anything heavier might make my tummy rebel too, though I tend to have a strong stomach. And I drink only water because of my braces, not wanting to have anything sugary in my mouth for very long (I rinse well with water after I eat my snack). My rides are obviously easier, though, with only gentle climbs, not like what you are dealing with up there!

nwg, good luck with your doctor's appointment. I hope he will clear you to ride (fingers crossed)!

[north woods gal]

You're so right, Crankin. Sometimes I just have to tell my brain to shut up and let my heart do the thinking. By the way, I'm like Emily. I can't ride on a full stomach at all. Makes me very uncomfortable.

Thanks, Emily. Hoping for the best, but if I have to fo for another month with the neck brace, doing all my riding, indoors, it won't be the end of the world. Been through worse. I'll get past this. Besides, those darn black flies and deer flies are making my walks just plain miserable. Have to douse myself in DEET not to get bitten. I may just stick to indoor riding for awhile. Get to listen to my music, too, when riding indoors. Something I don't do out on the road for the sake of safety.

[Crankin]

I can't ride on a full stomach, either, but when it is lunch time, I have to eat. My go to is either a half or whole turkey sandwich or veggie sandwich. If I have to make my own, it's almond butter and whole wheat bread. I have a "stock" breakfast or two I eat before a long ride, too. In retrospect, I was still feeling sick from whatever viral thing rolled through my body on Friday. When I get sick, it is always the same. In the winter, it's sinus/bronchitis. In the summer, it's stomach, aches, etc, sometimes mild sinus stuff. I've come to the conclusion that my body really doesn't like hot weather or the sun or really intense exercise (funny, since I lived in 2 sunbelt states for years) and as the cycling season goes on, I usually make through some big event or tour, and then this stuff starts. It's hard to keep a good mental attitude about riding, but since it's so much a part of my lifestyle, I've been trying to just get out there, with no thought of speed or length of ride. I really enjoy riding in the spring and fall a lot more. Still, I look at others who appear way more out of shape than I, and they seem like stronger riders. Well, I keep going! I feel much better, slept well last night and rode 13.2 miles at 5:30 AM. It felt almost cool, at 64 when I started, but after 5 miles, that stopped. I did a variation of the ride I did last week, over to the other side of town, but I will have to reverse one part of the loop, where I chose to go down a small hill, instead of climb. Today the sun was so much in my eyes on the downhill, it felt unsafe. I know the cars can see my blinkies, but if I can't see ahead, neither can they.

[north woods gal]

Crankin, sometimes our bodies are such a mystery as to what's going on with them. I think your attitude to just keep riding because it is a such a part of your lifestyle is so very relevant for me, right now. I'm down to just being able to ride my trainer, for now, but even that meager excuse for riding helps me so much, right now. I used to hate riding the trainer so, but now I'm grateful to the point of tears to be able to do it at all.

My riding during this recovery has been much on my mind, of course. I've already made some resolutions as to the changes I will make when I do start riding, again, but I suspect my accident has changed my attitude in ways that I cannot yet foresee. Maybe being forced to sit out and reflect on my riding will be a good thing. Funny about what I do and what I don't miss, right now, though. I find myself daydreaming about riding out on the road - paved, gravel, sand - or on paved bike trails or rails to trails setups or even logging and fire roads. Yup, roads and more roads. Even for my snow riding, I've been daydreaming about riding around the neighborhood on our plowed roads.

For all my trail riding that I've done these past few years, though, I don't daydream about that technical riding at all. This accident may have spooked me to the point where my techy trail riding days are over. I'm okay with that. I'll just have to try it and see. Just not missing it, at this point.

My taste in bikes remains very much the same, though. These last few years have been very much an odessy of riding plus bikes and fat bikes as distance bikes on roads of all kinds. Can't wait to get on the old Pugsley, again, and just ride out and take any kind of road this country can throw my way, even to playfully riding off on the shoulders and do a little exploring. Such are my dreams, right now.