OK...here's my take on Foxy's ride....I'll have to edit/add more (later tonight) because I posted this in the NorCal subforum of BF..........
I really had plans to do the full ride, but even though I brought my saddle & pedals and Chris & I set his bike up to the measurements from my Ruby and Fuji (he rides a 54 and i ride a 52), I had some very serious butt pain. OMG. Even during and after my 200k in April and after AoMM, my butt never hurt as bad as it did during the ride up to the lunch rest stop. I felt great, my legs felt great, but my butt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMFG. Hurt like a mo'fo and the thoughts of riding 45-50 more miles was just too painful to endure. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't do it....Lesson learned from this - either ship your own bike or borrow teh correct size bike.
That being said....the ride was great!! The company was great!! It was so very nice to finally meet everyone. dauphin (John) - baybuh!! You are pretty quiet! Everyone was very strong and I was totally comfortable riding behind/with anyone in our group. The route was fairly flat with a few rollers (similar to riding in the Wendell/Zebulon area here). After the first water stop, we're going along and all of a sudden, I hear Chris coming up and saying that the next section of rollers was their favorite to ride...and, he started to blow by me!! Curtis jumped on and I was a tad slow to catch the Tandem Train. But, I didn't let that deter me. Down in the drops and I put out a really good sprint to catch up with them. It was an awesome ride up & down those rollers. Butt be damned!! I'm riding this train while I can!
But, unfortunately, my butt just continued to hurt more and at one point I asked Chris & Deb if we had already passed the point where we could decide on the metric or the century. Yes, we had. Damn. OK, well, I'll try to go on, but I'm not sure I can. Oh yea...the Flat Fairy only visited us once on the ride too. So, we finally reach the lunch stop and I have decided to SAG in. Very disappointed because I wanted to do the climbs. Oh well, maybe next year.
I bid farewell to my group, got the car keys from Chris and tried to find someone to tell me where to find SAG. I was initially told that it would be 3pm before anyone would be able to take me back to the start. Finally, a SAG wagon arrives, but the guy is unsure of whether he just takes our bikes back to the start/finish or does he take bikes and riders??? Yes, you take me and my bike!!! There is another guy wanting a ride back due to bad cramps, then one more with some serious back problems from a previous injury last week (plus his friend). We eventually get it all worked out, but we have to take the route back to the start/finish. OK, whatever, just take me back. Actually, that worked out pretty well because I was able to take a few pictures along the route and wouldn't have to come back for pictures.
We drove up Cardiac and I don't think I would have had any problems climbing it, would have been slow, but I could've done it had I not had the butt issues. Finally arrived back at the S/F, went and found some food (2 kinds of pasta, salad, bread, soda, and an ice cream sandwich) and sat outside waiting on Chris & Deb to arrive. They were about 30min behind me.
We sit outside, finish eating and lo 'n behold if bigbossman=bbm=John and bs=bikingshearer=Rich didn't show up. bbm is better looking in person than his posted pictures. I was sorta hoping to see that pretty red bike that he always takes pictures with - maybe another time. And, bs is such the BS'r. Had a great time sitting around listening to everyone tell their stories. All great guys!
In the end....I had a great ride at Foxy's, albeit shortened, and I've had a wonderful time out here in NorCal. I would really love to come back next year, bring my own bike and do the full ride. We'll see....you never know what ole wolfpack will be up to next year this time.....
Slideshow of the ride
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sacramento, CA: Day Three
Let's see....Friday was a busy day - getting a ride in and getting teh house cleaned up, food fixed in preparation of the Pre-Ride Par-tay!
Not really sure where we rode on Friday, but it was a very flat route through groves of walnut trees and open fields. Even though it was flat, the area around here is very pretty. I could see myself living out here if I ever decided to make a move to CA.
Riding through the walnut groves, we noticed LOTS of walnuts laying on the ground, but not many were close enough to the road for us to take. Being close to the road means they are on the DOT right-of-way and free for the taking. Or so one would think. So, we finally see some which are right next to the road and we stop to gather a few to take back with us, thinking we might offer them at the Par-tay. Well, guess who gets busted picking up walnuts off the edge of the road?? Yep - me. Some guy comes up in a pick-up and tells me to only take what I can eat. Well, duh. Does it look like I have a basket on my bike? No. And, you can only get so many into jersey pockets. And, you know what? They weren't all that good - they were still fairly green, so not too crunchy.
So, we left from there (picking up the walnuts) and headed on into Winters, CA for some lunch at Speedy Eddy's (think that was the name of the place). I wish I had taken some pictures of the town, but didn't think about it. Lunch was a Greek Chicken wrap, coleslaw & ice tea. This was very good and a large portion - so large, that I took half of the wrap back with us. I planned on eating it later that afternoon, but once we got back home, I was hungry - so that was gone pretty quickly.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent helping Deb & Chris around the house - cleaning up and making it presentable to the other guests we were expecting for the Par-tay. On the menu for the Par-tay was ribs, salad, rice, Pumpkin Chip cookies, some beer tasting.....
OMG. Chris can seriously cook! These ribs are/were to die for!! The meat just fell off the bones. Wow....it was a TLO for the mouth! Everything was absolutely great. Diana (Overthere from BF), Curtis & Trisha (don't remember their BF names) were the only guests to make it - others either had something else come up or had to cancel at the last minute. That's ok...we had a great time! Curtis brought some beer and the beer tasting by the women - well, let's just say that was some of the nastiest beer I have ever had!! Yuck. The rest of the food/wine was exceptional.
So, that was pretty much Day Three - another fun and exciting time. Stayed up a bit too late and had one or two too many glasses of wine.
Slideshow of the ride with Chris & Deb Friday afternoon and a couple of pics from the party...
Slideshow
Beau & Ollie having dinner:
Good Beer (i.e. not hoppy!!):
Not really sure where we rode on Friday, but it was a very flat route through groves of walnut trees and open fields. Even though it was flat, the area around here is very pretty. I could see myself living out here if I ever decided to make a move to CA.
Riding through the walnut groves, we noticed LOTS of walnuts laying on the ground, but not many were close enough to the road for us to take. Being close to the road means they are on the DOT right-of-way and free for the taking. Or so one would think. So, we finally see some which are right next to the road and we stop to gather a few to take back with us, thinking we might offer them at the Par-tay. Well, guess who gets busted picking up walnuts off the edge of the road?? Yep - me. Some guy comes up in a pick-up and tells me to only take what I can eat. Well, duh. Does it look like I have a basket on my bike? No. And, you can only get so many into jersey pockets. And, you know what? They weren't all that good - they were still fairly green, so not too crunchy.
So, we left from there (picking up the walnuts) and headed on into Winters, CA for some lunch at Speedy Eddy's (think that was the name of the place). I wish I had taken some pictures of the town, but didn't think about it. Lunch was a Greek Chicken wrap, coleslaw & ice tea. This was very good and a large portion - so large, that I took half of the wrap back with us. I planned on eating it later that afternoon, but once we got back home, I was hungry - so that was gone pretty quickly.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent helping Deb & Chris around the house - cleaning up and making it presentable to the other guests we were expecting for the Par-tay. On the menu for the Par-tay was ribs, salad, rice, Pumpkin Chip cookies, some beer tasting.....
OMG. Chris can seriously cook! These ribs are/were to die for!! The meat just fell off the bones. Wow....it was a TLO for the mouth! Everything was absolutely great. Diana (Overthere from BF), Curtis & Trisha (don't remember their BF names) were the only guests to make it - others either had something else come up or had to cancel at the last minute. That's ok...we had a great time! Curtis brought some beer and the beer tasting by the women - well, let's just say that was some of the nastiest beer I have ever had!! Yuck. The rest of the food/wine was exceptional.
So, that was pretty much Day Three - another fun and exciting time. Stayed up a bit too late and had one or two too many glasses of wine.
Slideshow of the ride with Chris & Deb Friday afternoon and a couple of pics from the party...
Slideshow
Beau & Ollie having dinner:
Good Beer (i.e. not hoppy!!):
Appetizer:
Ribs:
And, nothing left:
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Sacramento, CA: Day's One & Two
I'm not really sure why I decided to fly out to Sacramento this fall - other than my friend Deb mentioned this very popular century the weekend of October 17th and just said "hey, why don't you come out and do the ride??". I procrastinated a while on registering for the century (Foxy's Fall Century), eventually registered and then it was....ok, I'm registered so I guess I had better see about getting a flight out there.
Tickets for the flight were purchased and I the rental car reserved...I packed Sunday evening, knowing that I always like to unpack and repack again...I'll usually decide to leave items or find out that I need something else when I do this. Tuesday evening was the unpack/repack night and I was also like a little kid waiting on that big vacation, meaning I wasn't very sleepy. I finally went to bed around 1:30am, but getting back up at 3:30am to shower and get ready to leave for the airport 4:20am.
Day One:
Yuck. It was raining Tuesday evening, rained all night, raining Wednesday morning as I drove to RDU to catch my flight. Arrived at the Park 'n Ride lot around 4:50am, caught the shuttle to the airport, checked my bag and then waited in line to go through security. It was now around 5:30-5:40am and my flight was to take off at 6am (sorta long line to wait in too). Once I finally made it through security, I did the fast walk to get to my gate and on the plane. Window seat on an exit row....I like that, more leg room.
I was pretty tired/sleepy at this point (only 2hr of sleep) and all I remember about the flight is taking off and landing in Atlanta. It was raining in Atlanta too.
I had to find some food before I did anything else - I was pretty hungry. My next flight was scheduled to take off at 8:25am, we arrived at 7:35am - so I didn't have a lot of time to search out food. Ended up eating a spicy chicken sandwich, fries & diet Coke for breakfast.
Another fast walk to catch the next flight, Exit Row/window seat again. 4:48hr flight...slept for about 2-2.5hr, probably somewhere in the middle of the flight and was awake for the last part of the flight. Interesting fact during the flight....Captain told us that we were passing over Winslow, Arizona....a particular song came to mind...
Landed in Sacramento around 10:45am (1:45 NC time), picked up my luggage, got a ride to the rental car agency, picked up the car and headed towards Vacaville, CA. Finally made it to Deb's house around 12pm (had to stop for a drink & some food and a restroom break - I never use the restroom on these long flights...).
After meetin' 'n greetin' both Deb & Chris, getting my stuff to my room, meeting the doggies, they made a grocery list for the next few days and we all went to the store for food. Pizza was on the menu for Wednesday night...OMG...Chris can cook!!! This pizza was great!! Sausage, stir-fried Italian veggies, fresh mozzarella, basil, parmesean...delicious!!! Rounded out the meal with a few glasses of wine. I'm not much of a wine drinker, but so far, I've really enjoyed what I've had.
Deb also made some very good Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies. I'm coming home with that recipe. :) We had a few of those for dessert. That's about it for Day One...I think I finally went to bed around midnight (CA time) and didn't hear a thing all night long.
Day Two:
Well, I slept great last night! Finally went to bed around 12-12:30am (CA time) and slept till 7 or 8am. Felt pretty good when I woke up. Looked out the window after a bit to discover there were wet roads, slight rain/overcast conditions. Uh oh. We had a 30-something mile ride planned for today and we weren't going to let a little bit of rain stop us!!! The plan was to meet Scotty in downtown Vacaville and then head out on the ride.
It's about a 2-2.5mi ride from Deb's house to the meeting place - this would provide a nice little warm-up...I think I brought the Rain Fairy and the Flat Fairy with me from NC! About 10min into the ride, I had a rear flat. No biggie, Chris fixed it in no time. Met Scotty and we head out - into a bit more than a drizzle. Oh well. I didn't fly all the way out here to not ride and a little water, hopefully, wouldn't cause me to melt too much (you know, since I'm all sugar & spice).
Very nice route we took this morning, mostly flat but with a few rollers thrown in - pretty much like riding in the Clayton/Wendell/Zebulon area. It's very pretty out here, a big contrast to the San Diego area where I visited last year. We saw lots of wild turkeys, walnut trees, peaches & apricot trees (farms really), pomegranate & olive trees.
I didn't take too many pictures after meeting Scotty because it started to rain a bit more heavily, didn't want to get the camera all wet, and I was trying to keep out of the spray from the tandem. Not really a safe time for picture taking. I did go back later in the afternoon and drive the route so I could have a few pictures from the route. I also drove up Mix Canyon Rd, which is a narrow route to the top of Mix Canyon. Wow. I think I could make it up to, maybe, just maybe 3 miles, but after that?? I'm not too sure I could go further than that. It is VERY steep after that point. Took a few pictures as I drove up to the top....
Well, after about an hour or so into the ride, the Rain Fairy left us, but the Flat Fairy was in no way done with us. After the first flat at the start of the ride, I had 3 more rear flats with the last one coming as we were HAULING it down the service road of the 505. I have no idea how fast we were going, but I was tucked in behind Deb & Chris (on the tandem) and we were really rolling. Next thing I know, I hear the "whomp-whomp" of the rear tire going flat AGAIN. Damnit. Oh well, Chris get's this one fixed, but is out of CO2 and gets it pumped up enough with the pump well enough to get us back to the house.
Finally back home, we're standing around in the driveway chatting and I hear the sound of air being released...damn. I look at the bike and it's the front tire that has now gone flat! That makes 5 flats for the day. I sure do hope the Flat Fairy feels like her work has been done for this trip! No more flats please!!!
Pics from the ride:
The neighborhood where Deb & Chris live:
Chris & Deb
OK....up next will be Day Three, which will include another bike ride and a little Pre-ride par-tay at Deb & Chris's.....
Tickets for the flight were purchased and I the rental car reserved...I packed Sunday evening, knowing that I always like to unpack and repack again...I'll usually decide to leave items or find out that I need something else when I do this. Tuesday evening was the unpack/repack night and I was also like a little kid waiting on that big vacation, meaning I wasn't very sleepy. I finally went to bed around 1:30am, but getting back up at 3:30am to shower and get ready to leave for the airport 4:20am.
Day One:
Yuck. It was raining Tuesday evening, rained all night, raining Wednesday morning as I drove to RDU to catch my flight. Arrived at the Park 'n Ride lot around 4:50am, caught the shuttle to the airport, checked my bag and then waited in line to go through security. It was now around 5:30-5:40am and my flight was to take off at 6am (sorta long line to wait in too). Once I finally made it through security, I did the fast walk to get to my gate and on the plane. Window seat on an exit row....I like that, more leg room.
I was pretty tired/sleepy at this point (only 2hr of sleep) and all I remember about the flight is taking off and landing in Atlanta. It was raining in Atlanta too.I had to find some food before I did anything else - I was pretty hungry. My next flight was scheduled to take off at 8:25am, we arrived at 7:35am - so I didn't have a lot of time to search out food. Ended up eating a spicy chicken sandwich, fries & diet Coke for breakfast.
Another fast walk to catch the next flight, Exit Row/window seat again. 4:48hr flight...slept for about 2-2.5hr, probably somewhere in the middle of the flight and was awake for the last part of the flight. Interesting fact during the flight....Captain told us that we were passing over Winslow, Arizona....a particular song came to mind...Landed in Sacramento around 10:45am (1:45 NC time), picked up my luggage, got a ride to the rental car agency, picked up the car and headed towards Vacaville, CA. Finally made it to Deb's house around 12pm (had to stop for a drink & some food and a restroom break - I never use the restroom on these long flights...).
After meetin' 'n greetin' both Deb & Chris, getting my stuff to my room, meeting the doggies, they made a grocery list for the next few days and we all went to the store for food. Pizza was on the menu for Wednesday night...OMG...Chris can cook!!! This pizza was great!! Sausage, stir-fried Italian veggies, fresh mozzarella, basil, parmesean...delicious!!! Rounded out the meal with a few glasses of wine. I'm not much of a wine drinker, but so far, I've really enjoyed what I've had.
Deb also made some very good Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies. I'm coming home with that recipe. :) We had a few of those for dessert. That's about it for Day One...I think I finally went to bed around midnight (CA time) and didn't hear a thing all night long.
Day Two:
Well, I slept great last night! Finally went to bed around 12-12:30am (CA time) and slept till 7 or 8am. Felt pretty good when I woke up. Looked out the window after a bit to discover there were wet roads, slight rain/overcast conditions. Uh oh. We had a 30-something mile ride planned for today and we weren't going to let a little bit of rain stop us!!! The plan was to meet Scotty in downtown Vacaville and then head out on the ride.
It's about a 2-2.5mi ride from Deb's house to the meeting place - this would provide a nice little warm-up...I think I brought the Rain Fairy and the Flat Fairy with me from NC! About 10min into the ride, I had a rear flat. No biggie, Chris fixed it in no time. Met Scotty and we head out - into a bit more than a drizzle. Oh well. I didn't fly all the way out here to not ride and a little water, hopefully, wouldn't cause me to melt too much (you know, since I'm all sugar & spice
). Very nice route we took this morning, mostly flat but with a few rollers thrown in - pretty much like riding in the Clayton/Wendell/Zebulon area. It's very pretty out here, a big contrast to the San Diego area where I visited last year. We saw lots of wild turkeys, walnut trees, peaches & apricot trees (farms really), pomegranate & olive trees.
I didn't take too many pictures after meeting Scotty because it started to rain a bit more heavily, didn't want to get the camera all wet, and I was trying to keep out of the spray from the tandem. Not really a safe time for picture taking. I did go back later in the afternoon and drive the route so I could have a few pictures from the route. I also drove up Mix Canyon Rd, which is a narrow route to the top of Mix Canyon. Wow. I think I could make it up to, maybe, just maybe 3 miles, but after that?? I'm not too sure I could go further than that. It is VERY steep after that point. Took a few pictures as I drove up to the top....
Well, after about an hour or so into the ride, the Rain Fairy left us, but the Flat Fairy was in no way done with us. After the first flat at the start of the ride, I had 3 more rear flats with the last one coming as we were HAULING it down the service road of the 505. I have no idea how fast we were going, but I was tucked in behind Deb & Chris (on the tandem) and we were really rolling. Next thing I know, I hear the "whomp-whomp" of the rear tire going flat AGAIN. Damnit. Oh well, Chris get's this one fixed, but is out of CO2 and gets it pumped up enough with the pump well enough to get us back to the house.
Finally back home, we're standing around in the driveway chatting and I hear the sound of air being released...damn. I look at the bike and it's the front tire that has now gone flat! That makes 5 flats for the day. I sure do hope the Flat Fairy feels like her work has been done for this trip! No more flats please!!!
Pics from the ride:
The neighborhood where Deb & Chris live:
Chris & Deb
Mr RR, me, & Scotty (why didn't anyone tell me my glasses were all cock-eyed?):
I think this was the 2nd AND 3rd flat. Repaired the first flat, put the wheel back on and immediately had another flat (patch failed)
The next pictures are from my drive in the afternoon:
From very near the top of Mix Canyon:
A sampling of the very abundant wild turkeys in the area:
After my drive, I arrived back at Deb's home around 5:30-6pm, we hung out for a little bit, then Chris fixed Teriyaki Scallops with fresh veggies and a wild rice blend. OMG...yummy.
So, that was pretty much the day....a little bit of Foo surfin, writing up the days events and then off to bed around 11pm (I think)....
OK....up next will be Day Three, which will include another bike ride and a little Pre-ride par-tay at Deb & Chris's.....
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Year-To-Date Numbers
Just a note about how much/little I've ridden up to now....
Jan - 4 rides, 70mi, 5:08hr (broken thumb)
Feb - 17, 393.5, 23:33
Mar - 18, 501.8, 33:42
Apr - 16, 631.5, 39:16
May - 15, 598.3, 37:54
Jun - 13, 432, 24:18
Jul - 8, 290, 16:30 (bronchitis)
Aug - 7, 387, 22:00 (bronchitis)
Sept - (so far) 7, 319.5, 17:32
Total: 105, 3623.6, 219:53:20
I'm hoping to get 4500 miles for the year, but, we'll just wait 'n see.....
Jan - 4 rides, 70mi, 5:08hr (broken thumb)
Feb - 17, 393.5, 23:33
Mar - 18, 501.8, 33:42
Apr - 16, 631.5, 39:16
May - 15, 598.3, 37:54
Jun - 13, 432, 24:18
Jul - 8, 290, 16:30 (bronchitis)
Aug - 7, 387, 22:00 (bronchitis)
Sept - (so far) 7, 319.5, 17:32
Total: 105, 3623.6, 219:53:20
I'm hoping to get 4500 miles for the year, but, we'll just wait 'n see.....
August - September
Yea, go ahead, call me a slacker...haven't written anything here since the Covered Bridge Metric. But, really, there's not been much to write about. The bronchitis I got in the middle of July pretty much wiped out my riding for that month (8 rides for only 290mi). August had a little more mileage but still a slack month (7 rides, 387mi).
Here we are in September and it looks like I might get something like 450mi for this month. Yay!!! I had a ride planned for today up in WNC (Tour de Tuck), but since I've not ridden there since May and have some kind of allergic bronchitis, I opted to not ride. It was also forecast to be a cool wet day - had no desire to suffer through all that climbing and be wet too. I wish that I could have ridden more in WNC, but circumstances just didn't allow for that.
I've usually just been riding with some of the Hammer guys (Dallas, Cliff, Randall, Russell) on Tuesday/Thursday and Saturday. We usually get in anywhere from 27-35mi during the week and longer rides on the weekend. Today, Dallas and I rode with another friend, Ken, and a friend of Ken's, Amanda. Was to be a 67mi ride and Ken advertised as 20+ pace!! Initially, I wasn't going to ride because of the pace, but talked with Dallas and decided to ride since he was too. Met at Dallas's house and he & I rode from there to the Grocery Bag where the ride started. Very good route and in general, the pace wasn't too bad - 19.7 by the time we rode into Pine Level at 40mi.
Dallas and I ended up with 73.5mi/3:57hr. Not a bad pace - Dallas and I slowed it down a bit with about 8-10mi left and let Ken & Amanda dial it up. Neither of us have ridden that far in a while and when one member of the group attacks EVERY friggin hill, it just makes it hard for the rest of the group. A nice easy spin up the hills works better and keeps everyone together instead of splitting us up.....so - very tired legs and sore ass. I think I'll probably get out for an easy 25-30mi tomorrow morning.....
Oh yea - Dallas, Cliff and I rode our fixed gear bikes last Saturday - Archers Lodge/Wendell/Zebulon/Middlesex/Archers Lodge for only 45mi. That dang 45mi kicked my butt! Pretty hilly. I also had a couple other fg solo rides, a 70mi ride down to the Bentonville area and a 64mi solo ride to Kenly. Good rides.
Here we are in September and it looks like I might get something like 450mi for this month. Yay!!! I had a ride planned for today up in WNC (Tour de Tuck), but since I've not ridden there since May and have some kind of allergic bronchitis, I opted to not ride. It was also forecast to be a cool wet day - had no desire to suffer through all that climbing and be wet too. I wish that I could have ridden more in WNC, but circumstances just didn't allow for that.
I've usually just been riding with some of the Hammer guys (Dallas, Cliff, Randall, Russell) on Tuesday/Thursday and Saturday. We usually get in anywhere from 27-35mi during the week and longer rides on the weekend. Today, Dallas and I rode with another friend, Ken, and a friend of Ken's, Amanda. Was to be a 67mi ride and Ken advertised as 20+ pace!! Initially, I wasn't going to ride because of the pace, but talked with Dallas and decided to ride since he was too. Met at Dallas's house and he & I rode from there to the Grocery Bag where the ride started. Very good route and in general, the pace wasn't too bad - 19.7 by the time we rode into Pine Level at 40mi.
Dallas and I ended up with 73.5mi/3:57hr. Not a bad pace - Dallas and I slowed it down a bit with about 8-10mi left and let Ken & Amanda dial it up. Neither of us have ridden that far in a while and when one member of the group attacks EVERY friggin hill, it just makes it hard for the rest of the group. A nice easy spin up the hills works better and keeps everyone together instead of splitting us up.....so - very tired legs and sore ass. I think I'll probably get out for an easy 25-30mi tomorrow morning.....
Oh yea - Dallas, Cliff and I rode our fixed gear bikes last Saturday - Archers Lodge/Wendell/Zebulon/Middlesex/Archers Lodge for only 45mi. That dang 45mi kicked my butt! Pretty hilly. I also had a couple other fg solo rides, a 70mi ride down to the Bentonville area and a 64mi solo ride to Kenly. Good rides.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Covered Bridge Metric
I had been registered for this ride for quite a while and planned on making a weekend of it...the plan was to get up to Lancaster, PA around 3pm, check-in to the hotel then meet up with some BF folks for an easy social ride of around 18mi. Well, I left the house around 8am, but I had "other" things on my mind and I headed out on I-40W. Where the hell I thought I was going I have no idea (yes I do - I was headed back to G'ville). When I realized my mistake (Jones Sausage Rd) I turned around and headed the right way. For a short time. I get to I-95 and which way do you think I went?? That's right. I went SOUTH instead of NORTH. Sheesh...I should've taken the hint and just went on back to G'ville, but I turned around and finally got headed in the right direction by 9am!!!
One would think that traffic on the weekends around DC wouldn't be too bad. Wrong. From Fredricksburg to past DC, the traffic was awful. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. This was absolutely killing my time and I didn't arrive to my hotel until right at 4pm. Quick check-in, change clothes and hurry over to the Hampton Inn to meet everyone. I brought my fixie for this ride, figuring that 18-20mi would be good on the fixie. I meet 5 or 6 guys from BikeForums, but for the life of me, cannot remember everyone's name....sorry guys.
The Saturday afternoon social ride was very nice...rolling countryside, horses & buggies, cows, corn & tobacco. Big gardens too. I /love/ big gardens & fresh veggies - those reminded me of my grandmother's gardens. No trouble riding the fg either, except one little hill that was a bit steep, had to stand to climb it - otherwise, no troubles.
I was hoping to meet up with one of my good friends (& his wife) from BF on Saturday but it just didn't work out. They were late getting to Lancaster and missed the ride, but left a msg on my voicemail that they made it and hoped to get together that evening. Didn't happen. By the time I got back from the ride, showered, changed, it was after 6pm, long lines everywhere I went to find food, except the Pizza Hut next to the motel. /rolleyes/ Ended up there with some pasta & salad, back to the room and made it an early night.
Next morning I met Phil & Jen in the lobby and we headed on over to the ride start. OMG. I haven't been on a ride where there were so many people!!! StupidlyBrave (Jim) was in the same lot as Phil and I, and we met up with the BF members from Saturday's ride around 7:30am. It was a rolling start from 7:30 on, so we headed out shortly after the meet-up and getting a few pictures taken.
Here are the photos I ended up taking. Not too many because I was riding Steve's wheel and we were rolling! No time to take pictures of the countryside. These pictures are from when we stopped..
ok, a few at the ride start and the first rest stop..Phil & Jen in the orange & yellow jerseys
Steve and another BF guy (can't remember name)
Foo Jersey:
Phil (pgoat) and StupidlyBrave (Jim) to Phil's left
at the lunch break today on the Covered Bridge Metric
a few pictures by other riders:
the first covered bridge
and, Jim brought me a present:
wow....i almost forgot this picture....SB brought something special for me...
Overall, it was a great ride, tons of riders (something like 4100). Lunch stop was great - had Subway sandwiches with the fixins for us. Bad thing though....I sat under the shade tree with the guys at lunch and sat too long. When I went to stand up, both legs cramped something terribly. The outer quad on my left leg and the inner/middle quad on the right. So much pain. I managed to finally get them under control and head out with the guys, but was unable to maintain the pace set by Steve due to my legs.
Jim fell back and rode with me at times, waiting on me at turns and various other spots. I told him he didn't have to do that, but he said it was fine. :) We eventually make it back to the start and despite my difficulties on the last 30mi, I still ended up with a decent average - 63mi/3:45hr/16.8avg. Changed clothes and proceeded to go find the rest of the crowd and have some ice cream!
Later that evening, went out for supper with Phil & Jen to a local brew pub. Great greasy cheeseburger and about half of some kind of beer. Don't remember what it was, but everything tasted great!
Packed up the next morning and headed home around 10am. I initially thought I would try to take a different route home because of all the traffic encountered coming up, but changed my mind. I-95 straight home and in 5.5hr. Very glad to get back home. I think my next vacation/trip will not involve an automobile.....thinking that I'm going to do any traveling on my bike.
So....overall, I had a great weekend but, I doubt I travel 400+mi to do a 63mi ride anytime soon....
One would think that traffic on the weekends around DC wouldn't be too bad. Wrong. From Fredricksburg to past DC, the traffic was awful. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. This was absolutely killing my time and I didn't arrive to my hotel until right at 4pm. Quick check-in, change clothes and hurry over to the Hampton Inn to meet everyone. I brought my fixie for this ride, figuring that 18-20mi would be good on the fixie. I meet 5 or 6 guys from BikeForums, but for the life of me, cannot remember everyone's name....sorry guys.
The Saturday afternoon social ride was very nice...rolling countryside, horses & buggies, cows, corn & tobacco. Big gardens too. I /love/ big gardens & fresh veggies - those reminded me of my grandmother's gardens. No trouble riding the fg either, except one little hill that was a bit steep, had to stand to climb it - otherwise, no troubles.
I was hoping to meet up with one of my good friends (& his wife) from BF on Saturday but it just didn't work out. They were late getting to Lancaster and missed the ride, but left a msg on my voicemail that they made it and hoped to get together that evening. Didn't happen. By the time I got back from the ride, showered, changed, it was after 6pm, long lines everywhere I went to find food, except the Pizza Hut next to the motel. /rolleyes/ Ended up there with some pasta & salad, back to the room and made it an early night.
Next morning I met Phil & Jen in the lobby and we headed on over to the ride start. OMG. I haven't been on a ride where there were so many people!!! StupidlyBrave (Jim) was in the same lot as Phil and I, and we met up with the BF members from Saturday's ride around 7:30am. It was a rolling start from 7:30 on, so we headed out shortly after the meet-up and getting a few pictures taken.
Here are the photos I ended up taking. Not too many because I was riding Steve's wheel and we were rolling! No time to take pictures of the countryside. These pictures are from when we stopped..
ok, a few at the ride start and the first rest stop..Phil & Jen in the orange & yellow jerseys
Steve and another BF guy (can't remember name)
Foo Jersey:
Phil (pgoat) and StupidlyBrave (Jim) to Phil's left
at the lunch break today on the Covered Bridge Metric
a few pictures by other riders:
the first covered bridge
and, Jim brought me a present:
wow....i almost forgot this picture....SB brought something special for me...
Overall, it was a great ride, tons of riders (something like 4100). Lunch stop was great - had Subway sandwiches with the fixins for us. Bad thing though....I sat under the shade tree with the guys at lunch and sat too long. When I went to stand up, both legs cramped something terribly. The outer quad on my left leg and the inner/middle quad on the right. So much pain. I managed to finally get them under control and head out with the guys, but was unable to maintain the pace set by Steve due to my legs.
Jim fell back and rode with me at times, waiting on me at turns and various other spots. I told him he didn't have to do that, but he said it was fine. :) We eventually make it back to the start and despite my difficulties on the last 30mi, I still ended up with a decent average - 63mi/3:45hr/16.8avg. Changed clothes and proceeded to go find the rest of the crowd and have some ice cream!
Later that evening, went out for supper with Phil & Jen to a local brew pub. Great greasy cheeseburger and about half of some kind of beer. Don't remember what it was, but everything tasted great!
Packed up the next morning and headed home around 10am. I initially thought I would try to take a different route home because of all the traffic encountered coming up, but changed my mind. I-95 straight home and in 5.5hr. Very glad to get back home. I think my next vacation/trip will not involve an automobile.....thinking that I'm going to do any traveling on my bike.
So....overall, I had a great weekend but, I doubt I travel 400+mi to do a 63mi ride anytime soon....
Centuries
I've been pretty lax about keeping this updated. Pretty much all of July, since around the 15th, I was sick, but still tried to get a ride in with the guys on Tuesday evenings. I did the HP&A ride, rode maybe, 1x the following week then jumped right onto a century with the guys for August 1.
That century was really good...four of us riding (me, Dallas, Cliff, & Randall), the route had a little bit of hills/rollers from Dallas's house to Middlesex & Elm City, but we kept the pace reasonable - 18+/- average and I felt good despite my lack of riding. Once we left Elm City, we headed out towards Wilson - made a route around Wilson and headed towards Fremont. Very good roads to ride on, traffic minimal, and what traffic we did have, was courteous.
Weather was good to us as well - overcast for the majority of the day and the temps weren't too high. I hit the wall big time around 87-90 miles into the ride. Yes, I had eaten and drank enough, but I suppose asking my legs to churn out 100+ miles with not much mileage in them was a bit much. Dallas & Randall waited on me and paced me back in until we got on Thanksgiving Rd. They left me then, but I was ok with that - I knew where I was going. Finished up the ride about 10min later than those guys.
Stats (best I can remember): 101mi/4hr40min...
I didn't ride any the following week....too hot, not feeling great. Another century for the weekend was planned though. Same route but we added 2 more people and Randall was out. This ride didn't start out as planned - too fast to Middlesex/Elm City. The 2 new guys kicked the pace up to 20mph average for that 40 miles and it was just too much for me. I felt bad at Elm City, but didn't mention anything to the guys. Somewhere along 50miles or so, I started feeling those familiar twinges in my right quad. Yep, cramps coming on. They were bad.
I made it to Fremont and then finally to Kenly, where I had planned on waiting and having Dallas come back to get me. But, after scarfing down 2 cheeseburgers from McDonald's, I felt slightly better and thought I'd try to make it on back - it was only about 20-25 more miles back to Dallas's house. But, no, my legs were done. I made it to the little church at Old 222 and told Dallas I just couldn't go any further. He caught up with the guys (who had left us - he was riding with me now), but blew himself up in doing so.
I lay on the porch of that church in the shade (very hot on this ride) and cramped like I haven't cramped in a long time. So bad were the cramps they brought tears to my eyes. When Dallas finally made it back to me, he said he cramped up when he got home - rode his ass off to catch the guys...anyways, only made it 85miles in 4:40hr. Once home, had lots to drink and some food, plopped my butt on the couch, legs up, trying not to move much because if I did, my legs cramped.
These cramps were so bad, that on Monday I could hardly walk - the muscles were SO sore. Tuesday was a little better and of course, I didn't do any riding the remainder of this week.....
That century was really good...four of us riding (me, Dallas, Cliff, & Randall), the route had a little bit of hills/rollers from Dallas's house to Middlesex & Elm City, but we kept the pace reasonable - 18+/- average and I felt good despite my lack of riding. Once we left Elm City, we headed out towards Wilson - made a route around Wilson and headed towards Fremont. Very good roads to ride on, traffic minimal, and what traffic we did have, was courteous.
Weather was good to us as well - overcast for the majority of the day and the temps weren't too high. I hit the wall big time around 87-90 miles into the ride. Yes, I had eaten and drank enough, but I suppose asking my legs to churn out 100+ miles with not much mileage in them was a bit much. Dallas & Randall waited on me and paced me back in until we got on Thanksgiving Rd. They left me then, but I was ok with that - I knew where I was going. Finished up the ride about 10min later than those guys.
Stats (best I can remember): 101mi/4hr40min...
I didn't ride any the following week....too hot, not feeling great. Another century for the weekend was planned though. Same route but we added 2 more people and Randall was out. This ride didn't start out as planned - too fast to Middlesex/Elm City. The 2 new guys kicked the pace up to 20mph average for that 40 miles and it was just too much for me. I felt bad at Elm City, but didn't mention anything to the guys. Somewhere along 50miles or so, I started feeling those familiar twinges in my right quad. Yep, cramps coming on. They were bad.
I made it to Fremont and then finally to Kenly, where I had planned on waiting and having Dallas come back to get me. But, after scarfing down 2 cheeseburgers from McDonald's, I felt slightly better and thought I'd try to make it on back - it was only about 20-25 more miles back to Dallas's house. But, no, my legs were done. I made it to the little church at Old 222 and told Dallas I just couldn't go any further. He caught up with the guys (who had left us - he was riding with me now), but blew himself up in doing so.
I lay on the porch of that church in the shade (very hot on this ride) and cramped like I haven't cramped in a long time. So bad were the cramps they brought tears to my eyes. When Dallas finally made it back to me, he said he cramped up when he got home - rode his ass off to catch the guys...anyways, only made it 85miles in 4:40hr. Once home, had lots to drink and some food, plopped my butt on the couch, legs up, trying not to move much because if I did, my legs cramped.
These cramps were so bad, that on Monday I could hardly walk - the muscles were SO sore. Tuesday was a little better and of course, I didn't do any riding the remainder of this week.....
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