May 20th daily rides

[DrBee]

I had a great morning! I rode a new personal best distance today! 26.2 miles! As corsair would put it - a half of a half century! I started the day at 6:30 am with a Luna bar and a glass of OJ. Yummm. Then off I went.

I was struggling for the first 5 miles until I figured out what was going on. I also figured out why yesterday's ride was so miserable.... uhhh.. .duhhhh.... perhaps air in the tires would be helpful. So, I did a quick stop back at the house and pumped up the tires (they were at 60! ) and off I went again. Wow - what a difference. I could've ridden longer - my legs felt great and my heart was not jumping out of my chest! In fact, for the last mile I broke out into song. I sang "oh susannah" for some unknown reason. But- was grinning ear to ear!

I hope everyone else has a great morning, too!

Enjoy the day! I'm off to put in 2 more garden beds. Oh, the joy. I'd rather be on my bike - that's for sure.

[Grog]

I'm off to a club ride in a few minutes... I'd like to ride about 60 km to get to 1800 km since January 1st. It's a bit chilly and cloudy today so I won't go for a full hundred... or maybe, who knows, depending on what the other chicks do... (I ride with a women's club called the Dizzy Chicks.)

[Popoki_Nui]

I had a great morning! I rode a new personal best distance today! 26.2 miles! As corsair would put it - a half of a half century! I started the day at 6:30 am with a Luna bar and a glass of OJ. Yummm. Then off I went.

Nice! Congrats on a new personal best!
I'm suffering a near-total lack of motivation today. Cold and windy outside, looks like rain may hit soon....any words of encouragement would be appreciated

~Sherry.

[rocknrollgirl]

I just got back from a couple of hours on the trails with "the boys". My hubby is working today, so I met up with one of our riding buddies and a couple of his buddies.
We got sprinkled on in the beginning, but it cleared off, and was just warm and humid. The trails we a bit slick from the rain, but not too bad. Once I got warmed up I felt pretty good, and did not have any trouble keeping up. They were on a sadistic "hit every hill twice", kinda ride, so it was a great workout.
I had sort of envisioned doing a brick workout, getting off and doing a trail run after the ride, but I did not have enough gas in my tank. So the trail run will have to wait until tomorrow.

On the way home I stopped at the local farm market and bought my hubby his favorite pie, strawberry rubarb.

All in all, not too shabby.....

Ruth

[betagirl]

Today I did the breakfast ride with the local club for the first time. Nice group of ladies came out, and we did about 15 miles together. The pace was a little slow for me, but it was a nice social ride. Stopped for a good breakfast at this little coffee shop place, then headed back. The weather here is great today, so I didn't want to go home just yet so I rode into the city and back. I took a different route, more through the west side - for those who live in Chicago I went down Lake Street, under the green line. I tried to race the train but lost. Badly. I went down to the West Loop Gate area (where Oprah's studio is) then headed back out Washington Blvd. The neighborhood in this part of town is sketchy, but I had no problems. So now I have an alternate route for commuting if I'm in a hurry and need to skip my 3 mile detour. Time for a shower and then some yard work.

[DrBee]

Nice! Congrats on a new personal best!
I'm suffering a near-total lack of motivation today. Cold and windy outside, looks like rain may hit soon....any words of encouragement would be appreciated

~Sherry.

Thanks!

If it still hasn't rained, you could try to slip in a quick ride and beat the rain. You could make it a race against the rain Or - you could curl up with a nice book and cup of hot tea or coffee and enjoy some quiet time???

[Nanci]

I rode 24 miles today in gorgeous 85-90F weather. I dropped my daughter off at a rest area to meet my ex to drive back to MN with him, _plus_ got to visit my ex-cat and ex-horse who I hadn't seen in years and years, then rode to where my group's ride had started two hours previously, and rode the route backwards to catch them. Didn't get many miles in- but had a great lunch at a Persian place- a sandwich of artichoke hearts, tomato, capers and provolone. Mmm!!

[makbike]

Today was the ADA's Tour de Cure here in Louisville, Kentucky. It was a beautiful day for a ride. I opted for the 62 mile route which was actually 53 miles but that's okay (they had to change starting points and thus lost some miles). We made our way out to a couple of the surrounding counties - all back roads with very little traffic. They had SAG's set up about very 8 - 10 miles. There were cheerleaders positioned at the top of Lilly Pike giving riders the last little ump they needed to make it to the top of a nasty climb. Upon our return they had a nice lunch (burgers, green beans, potato salad, chips and cookies) and free massages! I ate and relaxed in the warm sunshine. It was a wonderful ride with a great purpose. I'm looking forward to participating next year. I'm not sure if I will make the 25 mile club ride this evening for my legs are tired (was it all the hills on Routt Road out and back, the assault on Lilly Pike, the wind or a combination). I do hope to participated in the 50 mile club ride tomorrow and of course the nap that will follow (today's was very nice, too!).

[GreenLady]

44 mile C+ group ride, through the posh suburbs of Philadelphia. Gorgeous weather, cloudy and not too hot. I'm actually getting better on the hills!

Life is great

[Crankin]

37 mile Tri-State ride. Started at 10:30 in Webster, MA with another couple and a woman. One of the women had just had arthroscopic surgery 5 weeks ago! The pace was very relaxed (11-15) for her, but i enjoyed not having pressure for speed. The beginning of the ride was ugly and too much traffic, but we quickly got into prettier territory. Rode through the Douglas State forest, past a lot of lakes and into RI. Lunch stop in a not so quaint looking mill town. After about 6 miles after lunch we started up the "big climb." It wasn't that bad at all. I think my idea of big climbs is changing. Then, we rode into Thompson, CT. a very pretty old New England village. When we got back into Webster, MA my husband i went ahead to get back to the car.
It was nice to ride with different people and in a different place, but I didn't like the ride enough to drive almost an hour to get there. The weather was changeable. It was about 53 when we started and about 67 when we got back. The sun was going in and out, and there was a pretty stiff wind.

[Duck on Wheels]

Didn't ride today, though the weather is (at long last) gorgeous. Instead, I did the walk I'd signed up for weeks ago. The Syttende Mai 17-mile walk from Madison to Stoughton. I thought it'd be easy enough. I know from winter workouts in the gym that I can do 4mph for at least an hour on a 12% grade. This walk would be flatter, and at 4mph it would take me just over 4 hours. Well, 4 hours is a summer evening walk for me, with weekend walks often taking the whole day. So ... easy, right? Not. Must be that when I walk all day I do not average 4mph. Today I did average that for 4.25 hours, and boy do I feel it! Especially after the bus ride home. Still, now I've been there, done that, and got the T-shirt.

It was a pretty route, though not much wildlife to see. Lots of songbirds heard but not seen, a few ducks and geese, some squirrels (live and roadkill), one roadkilled raccoon, a brief whiff of skunk from a distance, some tent caterpillars on a tree, and two miniature ponies on leashes. Also met one sassy lady on the bus. She said she was definitely not going to do this again. Another sassy lady in her group said it wasn't that bad, not as bad as giving birth and you did forget that pain after a while. Sassy lade 1 replied, "I remember all five of them!" So I said, "Well, you did that again four more times, then." To which she replied, "That's just because I liked the s*x. This was no fun at all." But I think she was actually having fun. They seemed to be a fun gang of gals. I think they may even qualify as wildlife too.

[mimitabby]

today was a big deal ride for me. 42 miles of serious hills AND a headwind. broke our all time speed record going down hill at 49mph (we're on a tandem)
not only that we hit a car! (not at 49mph)
the lady stopped to let us go but she stopped right in front of us so we bumped her; don't know if she noticed.
Just got my new b67 saddle and i didn't start feeling any discomfort before 25 miles, so that's a considerable improvement.

[Nanci]

Haven't heard that phrase since I moved to Florida!

But I _did_ learn recently that the reason Minnesotans say "Will you borrow me $5?" rather than "Will you lend me $5?" is because that is the correct Norwegian way to say it, and it just transferred over to English. And here I'd been thinking I'd just learned it wrong!

Nanci

[Duck on Wheels]

Haven't heard that phrase since I moved to Florida!

But I _did_ learn recently that the reason Minnesotans say "Will you borrow me $5?" rather than "Will you lend me $5?" is because that is the correct Norwegian way to say it, and it just transferred over to English. And here I'd been thinking I'd just learned it wrong!

Nanci

Weeelll ... In Norwegian the phrase could be "Kan du låne meg $5" or "Kan jeg få låne $5 av deg?" I.e. Will you lend me $5 or Can I borrow $5. Same verb in both. "Låne" looks and sounds more like lend than borrow and even more like loan, and it means all three. So I can see where Norskies might not learn the difference in English, though it seems to me they'd be more likely to learn "lend" or "loan" than "borrow". But go figure. People keep doing the unexpected all the time. Makes it more fun to be a social scientist.

[yellow]

I did the Salt Lake Century today. Actually it was the Salt Lake Century + 7. Lotsa tailwind going out, not too bad crosswinds across the causeway from the "mainland" to Antelope Island (an island in the Great Salt Lake), but BRUTAL headwinds coming back any time the route went due south. The last 5 or so miles were the worst. Painful for even the racer-boy types.

Not sure I'd do this one again. Large rider field, not very courteous (for the most part), lots of scary behavior, course markings not that great, reallllly long lines for food and water. The course is pretty much flat the whole way and therefore offers up ample opportunities for those riders with a need for speed; whether or not they should be riding those speeds on bad pavement/narrow roads is another question. Saw lots of bikes go down. It was also hot. Wish I had a sleeveless AV jersey!

Here's a shot of hubby and I just after the lunch stop (which we didn't eat at because I didn't want to wait in line for 30 minutes).



And here is an interesting sign I saw, though unfortunately my picture didn't come out very well