My Most Recent Ride 2013 (Part VI in a series)

Rode today! I decided to risk it since my neck, shoulders and arms felt almost normal. It felt absolutely great!! Loke and I both have been about to climb the walls while I tried to heal up.

Only the River Loop for 8.6-ish miles, but it's the first pretty day since the weathermen declared the arrival of meteorological spring back on Friday. Ironically, all day Saturday had a soggy snow.

Blue skies with only a few wisps of clouds, not much wind and around 40 F. Oh, and people. Lots and lots of people. Barely had enough room on the MUPs for them all. Meadowlarks have started singing and fluttering! Smelled someone grilling too. *drool*

If this hasn't set me back, I might go out for a longer ride tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Terii

 

I started rebuilding my DF muscles. 6 miles. If I can't do 10 miles in snow I can't be carfree next winter.

 

Rode one of my favorite local rides on Friday - Coulter Bridge to Tremont Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP).

Sunny, high 60s and breezy. Perfect riding weather (could have done with less wind though.) Total miles 33.8.

Spring has come to the GSMNP. Trees have new leaves forming. Spring flowers are out and blooming. The park is coming alive after it's winter siesta.

Here are some pictures of my ride.

 

Nice ride Saturday morning. Cold, 42 degrees when we started but I shucked most everything by the time we finished. Pretty good run on some rollers over gradually rising terrain.
http://app.strava.com/activities/48576677

 

A very soggy 4.6 mile ride. It started sprinkling before I'd even brought Loke and my handlebar bag out to the waiting trike. Admittedly, I considered just wheeling it out of the rain to come back inside, but I sucked it up rode instead.

After the first mile, it turned from drizzle into light rain. Around 2.5 miles, it grew a little heavier and colder so I decided to cut the 18 mile ride I'd planned to the basic River Loop. No sooner than I'd decided _that_ then came sleet! Half frozen raindrops splatting down and leaving a developing skin of ice all over me. I thought it overkill when I'd pulled on my light wool thermals for 50 F. Glad I did or I'd have been blue with cold by the time I got home. As it is, I feel chilled. I guess I should have dragged on the 'bullet proof' wool.

Terii

 

Longleaf Trace

My husband and I went to Hattiesburg last Thursday to ride the Longleaf Trace. We had a nice drive down, staying behind the bad weather that preceded us into the area. My friends, who had arrived before us, were treated to tornado sirens and room evacuations earlier in the day.

Folks are still a little antsy about bad weather in Hattiesburg after their tornado a month ago. That storm passed right by the hotel where we stayed and the hotel employees told us it was quite frightening to watch it pass, just a 100 or so yards away. Southern Mississippi University is right down the street and damage was still visible on campus, as well as just to the east where there was some very bad destruction of houses, a church and other commercial buildings. The hotel (Micortel Inn & Suites) is very conveniently located near the Longleaf and the hotel employees allowed us to leave our cars under their security while we did our overnight to Prentiss, MS.

The Trace is an extremely nice place to ride. it runs just over 40 miles from Hattiesburg and has very nice rest stops along the way with picnic tables, benches, functioning water fountains and real, nicely maintained restrooms. No portapotties here. Since the trail follows the old rail line, it has very gentle elevation changes and passes through forested areas and open countryside. We were especially pleased to notice how well-maintained the trail is. We saw no litter the whole trip. There are several small towns along the route with places to stop for snacks and meals. Our best stop was in the town of Bassfield. If you have never had the experience of walking into a True, small town general store then Bassfield is where you want to go. The A.F. Carraway Store sits just off the trace and is like a walk back in time. They carry tools, implements, seed, clothes plus a selection of grocery items. It is an absolute must stop if you ride the trail. The store has been there since 1919 and has a guestbook to sign. It was a highlight of our day.

We rode from Hattiesburg to Prentiss on Friday, stayed overnight, then returned to Hattiesburg on Saturday. The motel in Prentiss was just ok, but good enough for overnight. Met some really fine folks and enjoyed the leisurely ride. Once back, our friends took the cut back to the Microtel but my husband and I went on into the trailhead on the USM campus. Had a short tour around the campus then headed back to the hotel. We got 85 miles total for the two days and felt like we could have done more.

On our way home, we stopped in at Ride South, a very nice recumbent bike shop in Brandon, MS. It is quite a shop, with around 50 recumbent bikes and tadpoles, plus velos, deltas, kayaks, some DF's and lots of accessories as well. Jim had an especially nice selection of Greenspeed trikes, something no one carries in DFW.

 

Sounds like a lovely trip, Patti! To my old college town no less! Makes me long to return there to explore as you did. Glad you missed the bad weather!

Thank you for sharing!

 

We went from Winter to Summer in about a month. Last month riding in 50 degree weather. Today low 80s. Where did Spring go????

I am a slug. Got passed by 3 DF riders. But they were all serious riders. All shaved legs. One guy had one of the time trial helmets on and stayed in his aero bars. I on the other hand was lopping along enjoying the weather and scenery!

 

At last spring is here, bright sunshine all day in Southern UK today. Managed my longest ride since September last year - 52 miles Maybe not the quickest, but it's a good start. let's hope for a few months of decent weather now.

I know you guys have Mount Rushmore, but look what some Brits put in their front garden !
http://cdn-2-service.phanfare.com/images/external/2066399_1296490_184680355_Web_3/0_0_7a2b9bb18716eb1c5e2288ffb9fd1038_1

http://cdn-2-service.phanfare.com/images/external/2066399_1296490_184680370_Web_2/0_0_ab7e047a761fdde9ca97c66bb2886618_1

Adrian

 

Rode today. It was 31 F when I woke up. Finally got moving for Jens to drop me off at Wik's Castle just to give me something other than the Hamster Track of the River Loop.

It was about 58 F by the time Loke and I moved out from the castle. A gorgeous day, beautiful scenery, larks singing, sunshine and mild winds.

Loke was a machine! Perhaps he's even fully healed. He was ticking along at almost 9 mph even around mile 18. It was on the warm side for him, but a perfect day for me. I felt great... Then I ate something and the weird body aches I often get when exercising reappeared. I was fairly certain they were associated with vigorous activity within a couple hours of eating more than a mouthful.

Made it home with 22.35 miles and a happy day. This was the longest ride of 2013 and the longest since a 24 miler in Sept 2012.

Terii

 

My long rides are mostly northwards. Today I went west to the beginning of the area I will later reach by bus and DF. I saw some businesses I could browse some other day when they're open. Ride fuel was roasted chickpeas and baklava. 42 miles.

 

Post on my blog about Sunday's ride. Lots of nice photos with scenery, flowers, geese, a butterfly and of course, churches, runestones and Wik's castle.

Terii

 

I put a basket on my DF. Now I can carry eggs without a trailer. I saw a backhoe on a barge on Lake St. Clair. The backhoe was used for supplemental propulsion, like a giant steel noisy slow and inefficient scooped rowing machine. 19 miles.

 

Another 50 mile ride today - leisurely with 3 stops for tea, plus a bacon sandwich at the first stop, slice of blueberry and white chocolate bund cake at the second and a couple of caramel waffles (small) at the third. I don't think cycling is doing anything for my waistline. Still my GPS said I'd burned over 2000 calories, so maybe I'll be OK !

 

Go Adrian!

I also went out for a ride. A friend of mine mentioned that there was an arts and handicrafts event happening in the area of a church between here and Stockholm. A bunch of yellow signs and arrows guided people around either via car or bike to the various places. The church was also going to be open to provide a rest stop (bathroom, coffee, cookies).

Off I went, map in hand with runestones marked! Jens dropped me off at the church. I ran inside for a peek. Gorgeous! Safe to say that every available surface of the interior walls and ceiling were covered medieval artwork. Not very faded so either they've been lovingly cared for over the centuries or meticulously restored.

We almost didn't ride at all. After I'd finished around the church, I went to sit on the trike. I fell into the seat and yelled, clutching my knee. It wasn't a scream, but apparently I yelled loud enough to worry someone to ask if I was okay. I almost called Jens, but Loke was so excited I figured he'd be pulling enough that maybe I could give him at least a mile or so though even flexing the knee brought tears to my eyes.

I'm glad I tried it. The pain lessened so I still managed to get a full ride.

While heading out across a field to find a pair of runestones, a horse being trained to long rein to pull a wagon seemed to sort of spook, jumping from the road to the field, nearly dragging the woman on the reins. I called out that maybe the horse was a little frightened of the trike. The woman laughed as she grabbed the bridle's chin strap. 'No, she's curious. She loves dogs and wants to meet yours.' I thought that was so cool.

Loke also got to meet a ram. He didn't have any horns and had been recently sheered. He was making the most ungodly sounds. Rather like a set of bagpipes being stomped. I think he was pining for female company in a pasture across the way and thought Loke might be an acceptable 2nd. He ran along the fence with us. When I stopped, he even touched noses with Loke before butting the fence post. Was funny.

Somewhere between 17 to 18 miles. I'm not entirely sure about the exact mileage since I forgot to turn on the GPS. Bunches of runestones, the interior of one church and the outside of another.

Oh! The 'Da Brim'! LOVE IT. The sheer amount of shade it offers. It's surprisingly stable. Going downhill 17 mph into the wind, it tried to push the helmet back, but 15 mph was no problem. The biggest problem though was when high gusts came in from the sides, I grabbed it rather than risk it tugging around. Most of the time I just enjoyed the shade without needing to mess with it. It never interfered with using the headrest even with the long back brim. I'm quite happy with it!!

Terii