My Most Recent Ride 2011 (Part IV of the series)

A group of 5 of us went out and beat the rain this morning for a 31.8 mile loop.

 

Went out yesterday after the husband bullied me out the door. Went to the area where he's been fishing to continue 'filling in' the area.

It was actually fairly cool, more like spring than summer for a change which was nice. I'm sure Loke agrees. Rain threatened the entire time. First from broken clouds letting in beams of SUN here and there. Then just a leaden sheet o gray over the sky, but not a drop hit me.

Rolling hills. Loke was either walking as I crept up the hills or running down the other side. Probably less than 2 miles of anything resembling flat out of nearly 25 miles.

Somewhere between mile 24 and 25, I got a flat. Fortunately, it happened within yards of large open area. Granted, I was sitting next to someone's yard and in a field, but they didn't seem to mind. I saw someone giving me a long look, but once they saw me fighting with the wheel they left me be. I couldn't fix the tube because the adhesive in my repair kit had gone hard.

Then, of course, I found a broken spoke while I was putting the tire back on so the trike wouldn't be sitting on delicate steering parts while flouncing around back country roads in the car.

I HAD planned to get 50 miles this weekend to exceed my distance last year. Now, with a broken spoke, it's not happening.

Terii

 

Öland's May 2nd Ride published on my blog. Jens managed to fix Photoshop! YAY!

Blog link in my signature!

Terii

 

The forecast was 77 and partly cloudy, so wanting to get out early we hit the road at a bit before 7am. The temperature was just over 50, skies clear with a light wind. We scooted down a nice curvy hill and rode a few rollers to warm the legs before we hit the first climb. 250 feet of elevation gain in .8 miles, that will get you going. Its a gap road that goes under a stone bridge roadway which hugs the ridgetop. Then we were dropping right down into the valley on the other side

We entered the campground at FDR state park and rode around the lake through the campsites before hitting the climb out. This time 330 feet of elevation gain in .8 miles. Now I was hot and the long sleeve shirt came off. A quick drop down and we were hitting rollers in the valley south of Pine Mt.

In the first picture you can see Dowdle's Knob just above the trike's headrest and to the right. The sky was looking great, nice and clear and the temperature was easing up into the upper 60's. We traveled across the valley floor over roller after roller racking up about 400 feet of climbing in the next five miles. We then turned to again assault the mountain.

This climb was just a tad bit more laid back with 430 feet of climbing in 1.5 miles. I gained a lot of time on my friend so I stopped and waited for him at the top. My first thought was wow the wind has picked up, then I noticed the clouds moving in and I felt a bit of a chill. We took off towards Manchester where we would stop and eat breakfast at the McDonalds.

Five miles over to Warm Springs, Ga and we hit the climb back up to the ridge. 380 feet of climbing in 2 miles, it starts off with a short section of 3% than goes up to a steady 9% grind. The second picture shows Cary slowly making his way up as I wait for him. Cold now, I have the long sleeves back on and its starting to mist. Once he caught up we were down into the south valley again towards Shiloh enjoying the fast run with the wind behind us.

We chose yet another path up to the ridge. Hines gap is probably the hardest climb of all. The pavement is the worst and it starts out with a 2-3% grade that just saps your speed. 530 feet of climbing in just under 3 miles doesn't sound that bad but after the 2-3 % grade you hit 4-6% and there was no relief. It was along here that we saw where the Tornado's had come through. I tried to get some pictures but only one came out. Cary passes me while I am messing with the camera. You see a telephone pole in front of me but it is a new one as many of them had come down and there were dead wires still over the road in several places. Lots of trees gone and I added a picture of a motel that was hit on the ridge above Warm Springs.

Just past where I took the picture the road hits 9% until the last 20 or 30 yards to the Ridge road where it kicks up to 16%...BRUTAL! We took it out the the Knob but it was closed due to damage from the tornado's. With the rain beginning to come down harder we headed back toward the campground for one last climb before heading home.

We finished with 55.9 miles and 5045 feet of elevation gain. Average moving speed was 12.7, which I will take on the trike anyday with that ride.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/34434960/

 

Nice RIde Ward..its good to get some miles in before rain

We beat the rain today and just made it back before the skies opened. About 10 of us hit the raod at 1230 and was planning on doing 40- 50 miles but the forecast was rain all day long. We seemed to be keeping ahead of the clouds and about 21 miles into it we decided to cut it short. We ended up with 24.4 miles and the decision to cut it short was well worth it. I Just got back home when the thunderstorms hit and a torrential downpour started. At least we got a few miles in.

Next Weekend I am doing the Rich Rau Memorial Ride in Berryville, VA. I plan on seeing how fast i can do the 50 mile route. They are only offering rides of 35 and 50. I think Sunday were hitting the W& OD trail and riding from Purciville, VA to Wash DC and back. IT should be around 85 miles.

 

I headed out with my camera to shoot as many pictures of the flooded areas of Memphis.The river has come up to riverside drive and Beal st.,never thought i would ever see this.Memphis has a down town mini airport,"Dewit Span".Thats all under water,only the roof top[s are showing.I saw a lot of homes with water up to the door knobs.With pictures taking and riding i logged in 40 miles and got a good history lesson on what the Miss, river can really do.

 

Gerry let us see some of those pictures. Tragic but compelling I bet.

Brian, sounds like a good weekend of riding coming up. I have walked a short section of that W $ OD a couple of years ago when I was in the DC area...NICE. I hope you have great weather. I'll be pounding out some more hills next weekend trying to keep ramping up for BikeVa.

 

Okay guys,i am going to try and post these pictures of the flooded areas.I need help,i cannot seem to move these pictures from my folder to this page.Can some one walk me through this,Gerry

 

Got a spoke fixed yesterday. The guy did it right away and didn't even charge me for it! Hopefully it's not over tensioned or something. So, I'll probably go for a local ride today.

Next vacation ride is up on my blog. LOTS of pictures.

Terii

P.S. Hmm. Not sure why the signature isn't working, so here!

http://terii.wordpress.com/

 

Gerry, start with regular Post Reply, not the quick one or quote. The header above where you type there is a small paper clip symbol click that and it should take you to the attachment page where you just follow the instructions. If that doesn't get it A.D. should be able to help.

 

Looks like it is working to me Terii!!!

 

For some reason it didn't show up (to me) on the original post. When I edited it for the P.S. with the link, it appeared. Not sure why.

 

the Ride of Silence

 

FINALLY got to ride today after lousy weather. 23 miles at lunch!!! LOVED IT!!!

 

I rode in the Rich Rau Memorial Ride today in Berryville, VA. My goal was to go as fast as I could for as long as I could to see if I could keep up with the Speed Demons and finish the ride in around 3 hours.

There were about 250 People that attended and a lot from our Local Club the Winchester Wheelmen. Like normal I was the only one riding a recumbent.

I started off mid pack trying to catch the Wheelmen Paceline. I made it almost to them but was stopped by a traffic light and that's all she wrote they were gone. (they average 21-22 mph). So plan #2 keep up with the pack I was with. I did a pretty good job of that, playing yo-yo with about 5-6 Peddlers from a West Virginia Club http://members.panhandlepedalers.com/. I think they were faster than me but I didn't stop. They stopped at the rest areas and I kept on trucking. After a while I would see them in my rear view mirror again. I carried 2 water bottles and 2 bottles of Hammer Perpetuem and that's all i needed.

At the last break area they again stopped and I kept going but I must have missed a turn. I ended up getting lost and adding 3+ miles to my total. The funny thing is the group I was chasing all day finished the exact same time as I did. What made my day was the being told that they didn't think Recumbent were that fast (Which I am still not..lol)

Total Miles:53.20 (3.20 bonus miles)
Average Speed: 16.00 (new record for me)
Time stopped 00:2:30-Just when i got lost
Moving time 3:16:00
Total Elevation:1,357-not many hills!

I was rather happy with the results. This was my fastest overall average ever. My GPS took a dump somewhere half way. I am wondering if I am hitting bumps and the batteries are getting disconnected.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/254688

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/254687

Very quick Video of the start- I did not have time to do the camera thing just trying to ride.