What, no ride reports?

[pbbob]

here is mine for what it is worth. rode the shorefire century on sat. it is a 100 miles in delaware and maryland. It was a typical ride for this time of the year on the eastern shore, hot, humid, a 15 mph breeze that felt like 30, chip and seal roads aplenty, little to no traffic and the occasional fragrance of chicken poop from the many chicken farms. I broke one of my rules of preparation for this ride by changing cassette,chain rear der. and crankset 2 days before and then putting on new cleats the night before. but it all worked out well without problems. I would like to say this ride was a lot of fun, but thats tough to do when its as hot as it was. corn and soybeans don't give off much shade. I took my time and stopped a lot and made a day of it.
One halfway comical event took place. at the 10 mile mark a group of us came to a sign that said "slow gravel". one guy said I wonder what is the speed of gravel? 2 miles later he went down in a corner after sliding out in a bit of gravel he wasn't expecting. I guess he learned the hard way what the speed of gravel is. fortunately he and his shimano weren't hurt, but his us postal kit got some damage.
and your report?

[bcm119]

How long do we have to wait to see some TdFL pics??

Anyway, I did a 65 miler on Saturday in some beautiful cool late summer weather. Kings Valley loop from Corvallis. It became a pretty fast ride with 6 of us pushing it up front, but everyone had fun and nobody really suffered. One of the summer's best rides for me.

[Tom]

A good week, after last Sunday's skip due to an overnight work schedule.

Monday - Friday all shorter rides, 30-40 with a short hill fest on Wednesday.
Tuesday was cool, rode with BBD and Russ. I feel sorry for Russ because it wound up damn cold - I was uncomfortable and I can imagine how unpleasant it would be if I were coming straight from Miami into that. I hit 54mph on the Crawford descent. New record.

Considering I had worn arm warmers several times and my tights twice in August, this weekend's upper 80s with dewpoints about 73 was a cruel trick.

Saturday: 45 mile hill fest west of town. Crawford - Ennis - Mariaville - Rynex and back home Crawford. My gracious, it was hot.
Sunday: 58 miles up to Lake Desolation and back. (One wrong turn. How, I'll never know.) Could it have been hotter than the day before? Slow and cranky run back home into the wind that kicked up.

No complaints here. I so love to ride. Life is very, very good that I can go out and play when I want.

[BumbleBeeDave]

It's Bumble Bee Dave, not PHOTOMAT Dave! . . . ;)

BBDave

[weisan]

BBDave, the question is whether you are a working class bee or one merely good for reproduction? :D

Hurry, hurry!

weisan

[William]

Monday thru Friday was various shorter loops ( 25 -45 miles). Generally for me, the shorter the ride, the harder I go.

On Tuesday I hooked up with fellow forum member Molly22 and did a hilly 30 mile run on the Congdon loop. It was a lot of fun riding with someone for a change. Really, there are no hills in Rhode Island.:rolleyes:

Saturday I went out early and did a warm and humid 70+ miles. Did a little exploring and found a short but very steep climb about a 1/2 mile in length. A mostly uneventful ride except for the last mile or so. Apparently a very craggy looking elderly woman driving an old beat up Pontiac wanted to show me her displeasure for riding my bike in the road and not being able to get by me before a stop sign. After the stop, she pulls along side of me (about 28 mph) and starts flipping me the bird (leaning close to the driver side window for emphasis). I just smile and wave back at her, which really seemed to piss her off even more. She guns it and hangs her left hand out of the car holding the bird on high until she disappeared from sight over a distant hill. Don't you just love old red neck women!?:rolleyes:

Sunday I set the alarm again for early a.m., shut it off, and rolled over and went back to sleep with my wife. Rode the rollers for an hour and a half that evening (yup, in August Roy :D ).


William

PS: bcm119: The Kings valley loop is a good one. I learned a very important, valuable, and painful lesson on that one when I first started riding....don't wear underwear under your bibs :no: :no: :no: :D

OUCH!!! :D

[Spectrum Bob]

Got out Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday for mid 20 mile rides down in Rock Creek.

Sunday managed to get in 80 miles out to Poolesville and back through the city. It was a good ride.

[davids]

Tuesday: My normal 21-mile loop. I got out of the shower to the news that my wife's grandmother had died. :(

Thursday: Out my mother-in-law's door at 7:00 for a quick ride before the funeral. 23 miles, first due south into the wind (pushed past an open field at 14 mph), and then due north with the wind at my back (chasing cars past the same field at 28 mph!) The ride made the rest of this difficult day a little bit easier.

Friday: The morning is free! I head south, in the general direction of dbrk's, hoping against hope that I might run into some Serottans. I already know that my schedule won't let me hook up with the group, but I'm trying for a contact high... I have a great ride, south from Pittsford through Honeoye Falls and on to Honeoye Lake. Again, the wind is solid from the south, so I'm slogging into the wind for the first 25 miles. Average speed at that point is 15.4. But then I point my wheels north, and fly through the beautiful rolling hills. It's getting hot, but I'm feeling good and moving fast. I feel strong and peaceful when I roll into the driveway. 50 miles, 17.5 average for the ride. Ahhh. Grandma would have approved. :)

Sunday: Back home, I decide to blow out my travelling cobwebs with a quick late-morning loop. It's hot, I'm achy and tired. Another 21 miles, but not a lot of joy...

[csb]

.

[SteveE]

Thursday: Wandered around the Los Altos Hills seeing if there were any interesting streets I might have missed. There weren't. Went out through Portola Valley and up Old La Honda. My left contact lens wadded up on me twice. Had to stick it in my mouth so it wouldn't dry out and try not to swallow it! Finally got to the store at Skylonda and put it back in. Rode home. I dunno, about 45 miles?

Saturday: I planned out a new ride for the club. We left Los Altos at about 40 riders strong. A couple of riders bailed out at Mt. Eden Rd so they wouldn't have to climb Redwood Gulch. One guy had enough at the top of Redwood Gulch and headed down to Saratoga (CA, that is). At Saratoga Gap we lost a few more, some heading south on Skyline and going to Los Gatos, others heading in a northerly direction. About 16 hardy individuals made the 14 mile descent into Boulder Creek. For the return trip we headed toward Big Basin State Park but veered to the right and took China Grade Rd back to the upper portion of Hwy 236. I had never ridden China Grade before. There's a gentle lead in, followed by 1.25 miles at an average grade of 11%. After the regroup at the intersection with Hwy 236 there's a short ascent followed by a descent to Waterman Gap. Then 6 miles back up to Saratoga Gap, a few riders descended Hwy 9 to Saratoga,north on Skyline to Page Mill Rd. and back to Los Altos with a total of six riders. My totals for the day were 78 miles and 6,000 ft. of climbing.

Sunday: Headed out for the start of the A-ride but figured my legs were too tired from the exertions of the previous day to make it all the way out to San Gregorio and Pescadero. So I went up Old Honda and descended Hwy 84 to La Honda before turning onto Pescadero rd. and up West Alpine. Four other guys on the ride had the same idea. We stayed together until we hit the base of the climb and then everyone kinda did their own pace. Another rider, Reese, and I stuck together and eventually caught Rich, who had gone up ahead of us, on the Page Mill descent. After I got home, I went out with my wife for a short ride on the tandem. She broke her upper arm on July 4th and this was her first time out on the bike. so we didn't want to push it. Everything worked out well and I guess we'll be getting on the tandem again later this week. 61 miles total. The club had a congratulatory party for Christine Thorburn (4th in the Women's TT, 16th in the Women's RR). She told us about her Olympic adventures and we got a slide show of some photos taken by her S.O. A reporter from a local radio station was there to interview her.

[pale scotsman]

Spent Saturday with my dad after his knee replacement Wed. It was his first day home and I'm pretty sure the nurses celebrated for hours when he left, as he's a terrible patient.

Got a late start Sunday and tooled around for a couple hours on the Legend looking for new roads. Even stopped at a convenient store and sat in a rocker sipping a diet pepsi. Some times you've just got to slow down and enjoy life.

Also the peanuts are ready for harvest and a few fields have been turned to allow them to dry. I love that smell!!! The cotton bolls on the edges of the fields are starting to open as well. My favorite time of the year is just around the corner.

[Dekonick]

Lets see- I workled 48 hours of overtime,but managed to get in a 15 mile standard hill ride, a 40 mile ride on flat stuff, and today 44 miles of HELL. It was extremely hot and humid. Went riding with Frank Johnson (if any of you know him... then you know....) he humbled me, I rode hard for the first 20- but totally out of gas for the last few (10 or so) miles. Unfamiliar terrain - hills- no rest between - just hills. Boy was it a great ride! Stats were so bad I wont share em, but my heartrate never dropped below 150, and was mostly 160-170 the entire ride. Good stuff! I cant train like that alone. Need to have someone to yell at you.

Thanks Frankie!!! :hello: :banana: