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

Warriors

Great weekend!!!!!!!

This ride was posted on the news bot last week and although it was an ordeal to get there I made the last 2 days of it. Finished off teaching Thu night and went home for 5 hrs of sleep and was up and rolling towards Charleston, SC by 3am.

This is my first ride with these guys on their turf. They have attended our Honor The Warriors Ride here in Mint Hill but they traditionally put on multi-day events that are not close enough for me to get the time off to attend. These guys and gals are from the active duty Warrior Transition Units where they will stay until they are rehabilitated enough to be released form the military. Some are fairly strong cyclists but more are first time riders who until this week had not even seen a recumbent or ridden more than from their homes to school. Linked up with the group in Moncks Corner and we began the ride at 0800.

This 2nd day of riding was not as much a ride as a thank you to the warriors from the town of Moncks Corner. We left the hotel and stop nr 1 was less than 1/2 mile away. It was an elementary school and every child was out waving flags, and handing out candy, and hand-made cards thanking us for our service. We continued on from there with stops at one more elementary school, a public service admin office, a middle school (complete with a 3 song concert), a high school, a veteran's memorial, a park on the lake and finished with a second park that had a car show and speeches and declarations from local and state politicians. Everywhere we went everyone wanted to shake our hands and it seemed like every vehicle had a honk and a friendly wave for us. Our ride included 6 Tadpole trikes, one delta, my V3 and probably 20+ uprights. Chatting with the riders and getting to know them was fantastic. Our pace was slow enough and we all kept together as a group so I jumped from front to back to middle to anyone I had not gotten to meet until I had spent a bit of time with every rider. What a fantastic day it was.

The next morning our day began at 0900 and the plan was to ride 10 miles to Mepkin Abbey, a working monastery, and back. I was a sweeper and really had another fantastic day chatting with our veterans and encouraging them along with the occasional pull on the helper bars up a hill. Once at the Abbey the Abbot said he had always wanted to ride a tadpole so we put him on one and off we went for the grand tour. Just an FYI, if you are videoing the low angle shot of riders coming by may be undesirable if trikers are wearing robes.

Again a fantastic day and ride for every one who joined us. They will be coming to join us in the fall but on their web site you can join them for rides all spring and summer if they are nearby. I always leave these groups pumped up and very proud to be a veteran and Supporter of other veterans not as luck as I.

The Warrior Ride
https://www.facebook.com/TheWarriorRide
www.thewarriorride.org

jerry

 

That was a great write up Jerry, I am so glad that folks are supporting our Warriors! I know that I am very greatful for each one who has served our country!

 

First Real Rides

As usual, the trainer kept me strong enough, through the cold months...
but I've lost a lot of fitness.

Still, it's awful nice to feel the slipstream again.
No more sweat in the eyes!

With the wind behind me, I went 29.7MPH on the fast road,
which helps my morale this early in the riding season.

I met the pitbull beeyotch on my very first ride this year,
the dog that always chases me.
I had a talk, again, with the clueless-moronic-entitled-opinionated woman who owns her.
Nothing I said penetrated through to any sort of rational brain.
It's all my fault.
That road belongs to everyone else but me...
which is why I go out of my way to ride it.
Besides, it's a spectacular little piece of road-heaven.

Which reminds me: I need some new pepper spray!

 

Two words: Air Horn.

When the moron comes outside to see what it was, 'splain to her that if it happens again the next sound she'll hear is the report from a shell casing. Course dog is deaf by then & won't hear anything.

 

Dog

Dog problems are really people problems.

The owner/operator of the dog in question is, no question about it, a moron.
Someone must hold down the position of moron.
Not everyone can be a moron....

I am also part of the problem.
I allow the dog to continue living.
It is not my dog, but that does not mean that its life has no purpose.

Now, to answer your, "two words."
I am not you.
Your proposed solution is of limited value:
it tells me that you own a firearm.

What I have is a 'horn' mounted on my handlebars which,
when squeezed, emits a playful-sounding squeak.
Normal beings respond to the squeak with a grin.
The dog in question associates the sound of my horn/squeak toy with
a muzzleful of painfully concentrated capsaicin.

I need more pepper spray.
Failing that, any decent wasp-spray will work in a pinch.

Firearm?
Not for me... more power to ya.

 

AWESOME RIDE!!!!! The first one after the equinox.

13+ miles and Loke was a MACHINE!! I wasn't too bad myself. Our longest ride in... ages. I'd have to look on Bike Journal to know when we last went that far or farther.

Sunny skies with thin wisps of clouds only at the horizon. Remarkably little wind out where the fields stretch far and long with nothing to stop it. I actually had to turn my footwarmers down to 1 and opened my wind-breaker and mittens. Didn't need the mask at all.

Another great thing other than Loke being limp free and moving quick? I had all 27 gears!! I only had the front rings for the first 2 miles, but after that I guess it got warm enough the cables thawed and voila! Pretty good given that we started out at 28 F.

I'll babble about the outing in better detail on my blog in the next day or two. D*mn but I feel great!

Terii

 

Blog post made with a brief ride report of Thursday's ride and a longer description of Saturday's 13.13 miles with a couple pictures thrown in.

Now, I'm out the door for at least 8 miles of the River Loop!

Terii

 

It is SNOWING in Knoxville today.



No riding. And this is late March????

 

Trike with a 26" rear wheel and foot warmers! Wheeee!

As for me... I SO over-did it. Early this morning, I discovered that I needed 9 miles to top March 2012's total. Loke didn't really seem into the outing after the first couple of miles so we took it easy. The day was so pretty, I was in no hurry to finish the ride! 38 F, SUN in a blue sky with just a few fluffy clouds and very little wind again. I didn't need my gloves and while I had my toe warmers with me, plugged in and all, they weren't turned on. I even felt a little too warm with my heavy wool thermals!

Though Loke was slow, I still planned to find some way to add a little distance to the full River Loop to push past that total. Then Loke gave an 'owie' hop and started limping. Though he quit within 200 yards, I decided to take him right home.

The day was still so pretty and I needed _maybe_ 2 miles for that goal dangling just in reach. I decided to go get it. Even if it was just an 'out and back' somewhere. I did look for alternative bike paths which took me over spots I've never ridden and the familiar ones though from different angles. I pedaled too hard and fast I think so now, my knees hate me. I got those miles and a few to spare though. I've ridden over 13 miles today, through 5 inch deep puddles of melt, slush and slick ice. A hot bath, anti-inflammatory gel and a heating pad are all in order.

Though my knees are bugging me, I'm still savoring that glow of accomplishment.

Terii

 

Thank you, Jon!

I am feeling quite pleased about my riding this year on several levels.

1) I busted through last March's total with miles and days to spare.

2) I am 65 miles ahead of 2012's total for the same day of the month in spite of no miles in February or first week of March this year.

3) So many more miles with fewer rides!

Yesterday's outings have been blogged in rambling detail. No photos though. I've photographed the pretty parts of the River Loop in just about every condition imaginable it feels silly to clutter my Wordpress limit with more of them, at least until the seasons change. As for the new paths/roads I went on the 2nd ride, there WERE no nice places except those I've heavily photographed already. Just eye-sores of apartment blocks, piles of dirty snow and slush and the like. The area of the 4H is pretty, but the sun was a bad angle so everything came out with blue skies and dark blobs.

Still, if anyone's interested to read in depth about the ride, it's there.

Terii

 

Another pretty day at 39 F or even over 40 F today. Blue skies, a light breeze. 8.7 miles.

Loke didn't limp at all. He only slipped once on some ice which I can't really blame his missing toe for. Most of out outings he has done an 'owie' hop on his 'bad' foot, gone on 3 legs for a 20-50 yards, limped for another hundred. I'd say about 2/3rds of them.

He's also been fairly sluggish and I miss the Loke who was around up until January. High energy, quick and seemingly unstoppable with boundless enthusiasm.

Amazing how my mood about cycling can go from upbeat and pleased with accomplishments to low and moody.

Terii

 

Congrats Terii, sounds like Loke is enjoying getting back out as much as you.

Hard ride yesterday evening on the Venom. Held a 17 mph average for the first half but had two flats right after turning back. Didn't have any more spares so I took it a bit slower on the way back.

http://app.strava.com/activities/45987824

 

Gosh. It wasn't SNOWING, or BELOW 40 degrees or RAINING yesterday. So I went for a ride.

20 miles on my loop. My loop is a 3.33 mile loop on the Cherokee Blvd. It is great because 6 laps equals 20 miles almost exactly. And that is the length of ride I like to do at lunch. This is a True boulevard with grass median with trees and a jogging path.

I saw one other cyclist but we were going about the same speed. So it was like a velodrome. Each cyclists going in circles but going the opposite way. So we passed each other twice each loop going in opposite directions.

Finally got out. Today and tomorrow look good too. So out I go riding!!! About time!!!! (BTW - my daughter's car parked outside was covered with FROST this morning. Temp 29 degrees!)

 

Went out again today!

Jens was home and offered to drive me somewhere. Had him drop me off at a church a bit north of Uppsala called Björklinge. From there, I did a loop around a small, close-by lake.

As Loke and I were doing that, Jens discovered that a gallon of wiper fluid had spilled in the back of the car. He put it in his parents garage with a heater and a fan to dry it out and borrowed their car incase he needed to fetch Loke. Since we weren't sure the Sprint would fit in their trunk, he asked if I could get home on my own.

I was fairly sure I could, but had Jens come for Loke. At Loke's current speed, I wouldn't have made it before sunset. If I could push a little faster, I thought I stood a good chance to get home.

For his part of the outing, Loke did quite well. It makes me think that his sluggishness the past few rides has been due to profound boredom. His speed is still slower than it used to be, even as recent as January, but he was happy to be out, wanted to lope at about 12-15 mph quite frequently. His portion of the outing was over 12.7 miles.

I powered it on once Loke was secured in my in-laws' car, infusing his wet and mud into the seats since he managed to clump the towels into one corner.

It felt nice to zip along. The Sprint is a bit slower than my Trice because of the smaller gear inches, but easier on my knees I think. I still cruised along at 12 mph or so on the flats, slower on the hills of course or where gravel lay thick on the road/paths. 11+ miles in 74 minutes and that was with stops for photos and to circle around an 1700's stone smithy.

I rolled up to the apartment door at 6:18 pm. Good thing a cop didn't spot me since I think it was technically after sunset. I'd left my lights at home and cops take that fairly seriously here in Sweden.

23.9 miles for me total. Pretty good! Just need another 2.5 miles to break 200 for the year. I'll probably get that before the end of this month.

I'll be posting the ride on my blog, naturally. I'll even have photos! Won't that be a nice change?

Terii