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

Hope she does it! I've never managed a century myself.

I headed out for a ride today. It was a little nerve-wracking as I had to leave Loke at home. His hip has been bothering him since Monday morning. I had to be a little sneaky about it. I dressed in my cycle clothes, complete with the shoes and took Loke for a 20 minute walk in the get-up. When we came back in, I hid bits of cheese in a rumpled old blanket for him to hunt for as I slipped out. He didn't even notice I when I left. Neighbor said she heard not a peep and all our shoes and furniture is intact.

I took off and combined my Läby Church loop with a dash through the city. 17.18 miles. That makes 40 miles total for the first 3 days of the month!

Terii

 

Rode 20+ miles today. It actually felt like summer. 89 degrees and 50% humidity. I was really sweating. Haven't done that all summer. The weather this year has really been wet and cool. (Had HUGE thunderstorm come through Knoxville last night. WOW!!!)

Recumbents -2
DFs - 1 (Got surprised but then I passed him and he never caught up.)

 

Here's some footage from the last day of DALMAC. Just RAW stuff, to show the scenery and the bikes going by (to the rear...)

 

wasn't just Knoxville. We got some really nasty weather at our place too. Woke me up with all kinds of thunder and Lightning. Heard on the radio today that we got 1.9 inches of rain last night...giving TN a total of 51.9 for the year Just 21, more inches and we will have the "soggiest" year ever since 1817.

 

Out again today!

First ride, headed out the door at 7:15 am. Jens had to leave at 5:30, so took Loke for an outing with the trike. I wasn't too worried about going though he limped Monday and Tuesday. He'd been limp free for more than 24 hours so out we went and I took it easy.

Oddly, though it was just the River Loop, he wanted to run! I guess Sunday's outing in fresh ground recharged his tolerance for the home area. Finished that ride in good time with 5.32 miles.

Took a moment to refresh his water and upload the distance to my computer before heading out the door again. It was still cool, but warming quickly with a rising wind.

I couldn't quite decide which loop to do. Läby which is about 12 miles, Ulva/G. Uppsala which is 14 or Börje that totals about 18-19.

It was a good ride and I enjoyed it despite the 'old ground'. I really need to temper my efforts when solo riding though. That's one thing Loke's been good for. He might slow me down, but keeps me from killing my knees. Now, I need to learn how to do it for myself.

I did the Börje loop which is has been a few months. As I neared home again, I spontaneously added the River Loop for a total of 22.6 miles. Not bad and I got back before the heat became too bad.

So far, that's nearly 28 miles for the day. It will be more than 30 by this evening though since I'm going to take Loke out for a rolling walk as my back is bothering me too much to walk the fuzzy one.

Terii

 

3 rides in one day. I think that must be a new record to me even if 2 of them only totalled to 9 miles or so.

Loke needed another 'business' outing and with the achey back, it had to be the trike. I kept it shorter and slow. 3.7 miles at about 5 mph. That rounds the day's total for me to about 30 miles and the month at 71 so far! If I keep this up, it might turn out to be my best month ever for miles!

Terii

 

Well I only got out ONCE and I bonked. I pushed it too hard yesterday so my legs were toast.

16.7 very slow miles. I didn't even try my usual 20 miles.

Going to be on an airplane Friday, all day business meeting Saturday and on a plane all day Sunday. No riding for a while. But at least my legs get a rest!

 

It is called recovery Jon...remember that?

 

23 miles yesterday on one of our typically hilly route. It has some great segments and I planned on hitting them pretty hard on the Cheetah.

http://www.strava.com/activities/80390885

Interesting to compare different vehicles on the sme segments.
I had my best ride of 21.8 on Dragons back and 14.8 on Wildcat backside.
Ever With the Cheetah.

http://www.strava.com/activities/78070758

This was a TT I rode on the Venom last week riding against
Other riders on DF. Dragons Back 20.4 and 13.5 on Wildcat backside.

http://www.strava.com/activities/10002747#

Now this is an old ride on the Dragon with the fastest time I
Posted on Wildcat backside 16.3 mph. Not a TT mind you but in the middle of a long ride before there were any segments. Me just trying to get over the hump.

 

22+ miles today.

Started out about 10 am. It was clear, cool and calm. Patched together a ride of old ground and a few newer tidbits into a large loop. Kept a pretty good pace for me, except on one unpaved track that had weeds growing higher than my head at sides and centre in some places. Lovely and quiet other wise. Ended up on a 'rail to trail' path which anyone is welcome to use as long as it's not motor driven. Pretty, green and flat. Loke would have loved it, but he was home with Jens as we're waiting to see if antibiotics will clear up another infection in his right front foot.

The only annoyances on the ride was when a women was walking on the cycle side of the path and weaving to and fro. Made her hard to dodge and I ended up slamming into a pothole.

Immediately, there was a grating sound from my rear wheel. I found a spot to stop and discovered that one of the bolts holding my rear rack had either shaken loose over the course of the bumpy day and the pothole was the final straw... or hitting the pothole sheered it off. The rack had dropped, forcing the mudguard to rub the wheel. I swapped my little pannier to the other side and managed to brace it. I still had to stop every time I hit a bigger bump to nudge everything back in place.

The other was sunscreen. I hate the smell. I hate the feel of it and it does icky things when I sweat. Not to mention all the little gnats that stick to it. Ewwww.

Other than that, a nice day. Pretty weather though it did get a bit on the warm side. Not too breezy.

The miles today were enough to tip me over 900 for the year!

Terii

P.S. Made a post on my blog this morning. Photos of the inside of Gamla Uppsala church. I'd never been inside of it! Ridden and walked by it a couple hundred times at least and this was the first time.

 

4.5 miles with Loke this morning. Probably another short, slow outing with him this afternoon as Jens is in Finland until tomorrow night.

Too busy with planning, printing and such for the trip to take a longer ride in the next few days. We leave Saturday morning!

Terii

 

I feel like I am in a casino. Round and round I go, where I stop, I sure don't know.

Riding loops is the most efficient way to build up miles, but I am starting to get bored. Think I will break out the V Rex and start doing the greenways which I have ignored for most of the year.

20.1 miles yesterday and today.

 

It's good to mix it up Jon, keep things fresh.
I rode Sunday north of town. Lots of climbing for 21 miles then a six mile stretch of smooth sailing downhill. Temperature was great, didn't ever feel hot.
Ended up with 45 miles and home by 11am. Plenty of time to work on the house

 

Was on greenways week ago Sat. Becoming dangerous. SUN getting lower in sky so not drying surface as much, and leaves beginning to fall. Stick to roads lest u become a statistic.

 

natural stickiness

Better watch out for mowed grass that has been blown onto the road too. That can be just as dangerous...has sent my rear tires spinning a time or two.