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

Sooner or later everyone will have to admit to doing this. I started carrying a second pair of shoes in the car's trunk just in case. I doubt my legs would survive very long without cleats on the Corsa's hi-BB.

 

Rode 20+ miles today. Absolutely gorgeous day!!! Didn't ride much last week or beginning of this week as we helped by daughter move to Mississippi. Riding is a lot more fun than moving!!!

 

Dave, I try and carry an extra pair of shoes since then. Good advice.

Road Tuesday night with some friends who arn't real fast. My plan was to ride the hardest hills twice. Worked out very well except I had to be home before they did. So, after about twenty miles I left them to take it back to the house.
32 miles with 2359 feet of elevation gain at a 15mph average.

http://app.strava.com/activities/74509843

 

Nah, BS, or is it RN, MS---Bull, Real or Much. GPS on a motor sickle.

 

Must be PHD...Buddy
Piled high and deep

Real high, did you look at those hills?

 

Ya I did, even East Tn mortals are not into such. I've resorted to help on
hills to just keep the fun in the ride and still get the required activity. My hat's off to you my friend.

 

10.2 miles today.

Loke's been having some issues which has kept me fairly close to home. With Jens home for the weekend, I took advantage of that. I gave him a choice of me taking the car but leaving the dog or taking the dog and he drives us so he could rescue the fur ball.

He didn't want to worry about taking Loke for a long walk, so he drove us.

It was misty drizzle for a large part of the time around Long Lake. Quite windy. The wind combined with very rough gravel roads wore me down more than I thought and made one of my knees ache. So, when I made it back to church I started from and called Jens to get Loke, I came home in the car rather than pedaling for home.

The miles would have been good toward my tentative August goal, but not at the expense of wrecking me for days.

Terii

 

14.05 miles today!

Since Loke had some miles yesterday, I decreed this would be a rest day for him to be sure he didn't start limping again. Me, on the other hand decided I was going to go for another ride, solo, since my knee felt okay, I had the best night of sleep in a week and my legs seemed to have recovered from yesterday just fine.

It shows how much of a rut I'm in that, I was resigned to riding in the 'home area', though maybe doing the 14 mile Ulva/Gamla Uppsala Loop or 18 miles of Börje/Gamla Uppsala.

Then Jens reminded me that I did have access to the car so I should plan to ride elsewhere.

It was a bit on the cool side when I left for the church I planned to start the loop from, puffy clouds taking up about 50% of the sky... In short a lovely day for a ride.

Got to the church and... UGH!! Wind was raging all around, whipping the trees. I'll admit, I thought about just going straight back home. Then decided I'd get as many miles as I could against the wind which would at least have me pushed back when my legs crapped out.

I made most of the plotted miles! There was just a 6 mile out and back that I skipped because while I'd have had a tail-wind going in, I'd have been pushing up hills into a headwind to get back out.

Though the wind was vicious around 18-20 mph with gusts maybe pushing 30, I managed to keep pushing on without being completely miserable. The last 5 miles went FAST. They were mostly on downgrades with just a few shorter climbs and all that wind just shoving me along. On one flat stretch, I was clipping along at 16-17 mph which with my lower gearing is pretty good. I missed Loke, but it was still fun!

So, a few more miles toward my goal. Not to mention a ride with photos worth blogging about!

Terii

 

A blog post with some photos. My usual rambling reports through 3 rides, the last being the most detailed with the most photos taken through the day. Churches, a single lonely runestone and of course scenery.

http://terii.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/jumped-outta-the-rut/

Terii

 

I rode today despite billowing clouds and 40% chance of rain. If I waited for a sunny day with 0% chance of rain, I wouldn't be riding at all this year.

So off I went on my usually loop. There is a guy who I normally see ride the same loop and he is there EVERY DAY. We ride at about the same speed so we pass opposite each other at the same spots.

In my first loop I saw him and he rang is bell. When we passed again I rang mine. Next time he saw me coming he cut across and starting riding the same way I was riding in front of me.

A Challenge I thought so I speeded up. He speeded up also. He was on the left side of the road, I on the right and no one was gaining on the other. This was going uphill and I thought to myself, as soon as we peak the hill I will have him. Well as we were topping the hill he started talking to me. Oh, I thought to myself, he wants to chat. So I pulled my earbuds out and slowed down and he asked me if I read the article in Adventure Cycling magazine. I asked him what article. He said the one about Bacchetta recumbents. I was surprised, he knew my recumbent brand. So we started talking.

I met a new friend and his name is Gary. He is a retired engineer at Y-12 and used to commute to work by bicycle. I asked him how many miles he rides a year. He didn't know but with a quick calculation figured about 6,000 miles per year. :yikes:

Anyway, Gary always rides old DF bikes. He was on a Raliegh he converted to a single speed. Yes, that is right. I am huffing and puffing using all my 27 speeds to stay up with him and he has O N E gear. Geesh!!!

Gary doesn't wear spandex. He has a cloth hat, tee shirt, shorts and white sock with tennis shoes. (I think he clips in. Not sure.)

Gary says he has been interested in recumbents since 1980. So I am going to work on him. The only problem being, if I convert him to a bent I will never be able to keep up with him again.

We rode 10+ miles together then he stopped because he started riding before me. Next time I see him, I am going to give him an RRI card.

 

Went out for a 'ride' today. Technically, the trike was carrying me, but the rest of it was utterly lazy. I'm going to guess my cadence never broke 40 and I had the least resistance against the pedals I could manage.

I decided yesterday that today would be a rest day. I had the hard 10 miles on Saturday. The 14 miles against the berserk winds on Sunday. Then yesterday my husband dragged me out for a 2.2 mile walk which is hard on me even when I'm fresh let alone worn down from 2 days bucking winds.

So, today's outing was all for Loke's sake. I let him loaf along on the River Loop as slow as he wanted and just toodled beside him.

5.25 miles.

Terii

 

I saw something strange in the sky today. Oh yah, it was the SUN!!!!!

20 miles with mid 70 degree weather. Delightful!!!

 

Jon, you and Terii are really out there racking up miles almost every day. I have been lucky if I get in two a week. Rode Sunday. Real slow. A friend of a friend has started riding a DF and he is 76 years old. Very interesting fellow, we rode over 30 miles just taking our time. There were some hills and he had to do the paper boy. I talked to him about bents and about switching to easier gears for the hills. Sent him to my LBS to get a touring crankset which will be much better for him.

It was a good ride.

 

Yes I ride often but not very far. That is what happens when you ride on your lunch hour (or hour and a half).

I couldn't do this if I worked for a real company or worked for someone else. I did that for 8 years and decided it wasn't for me.

Now I have the best boss every... ME!!!

 

I'm not sure where I've found the recent 'oomph' to get out so often. I'm not going to complain though. At this rate I'll easily break 803+ miles by the end of August, officially make 2013 the new 2nd highest mileage year, exceeded only by 2008 with nearly 1300 miles.

And today was a big kick toward that end of August goal! I went out with Loke for 5.22 miles of River Loop. We took it nice and slow since he had a few moments of walking oddly in his hind again. I see a potential vet visit in Loke's near future.

Then, I got a burr under my saddle that chased me out the door again. I decided to head for the city forest. Not sure why the forest keeps drawing me. I do just 3 miles in the forest, so the rest of the 10 or so miles is either bits of River Loop or urban riding. I could be toodling through the countryside instead. Maybe it's just the fact that I've only been to the forest via trike 3 times and the country loops dozens of times.

So, I finished up my solo ride with 13.94 miles. Total mileage for the day - 19.16 miles. That means I need less than 35 miles to make that August/Year Goal.

Terii