20 miles in 100# degrees, mid-afternoon. Too hot to ride, too much humidity. Good lesson to start at first light here on out! Getting stronger on the hills, though. My friend Winston went to Iowa, riding in a pace line and his tire got trapped in a ridge, broke two ribs, god-awful road rash, huge hematoma. Be careful out there guys!
Hot, hot, hot. 51 miles completed. Drove up to Dalton at 5:30 AM Saturday. A pleasant fun ride for the first thirty, got to draft three guys then lost them and so it was a brutal finish in ungodly heat and the hills, hills, hills should make me strong for the next Conyer’s ride.
Commuted today. Round trip was 25.7. I tried a more direct route home and used a route with a big hill. I usually avoid the hill because of traffic and probably because I have had trouble climbing it in the past. This time the traffic wasn’t bad and it wasn’t a hard climb, just slow.
I rode in the Metroparks. I started on the Mill Creek Parkway and rode to almost the north end of the main parkway near Lake Erie. Total mileage was 38 in about 2:30 including three stops.
Dist: 67.82 Av: 13.5 Riding Time: 5 hr. Max: 30.2
Arrived at the Hampton Motor Speedway 7:30 with plenty of time to spare for an 8:15 group ride start. Forecast called for light rain then thunderstorms but I chanced it anyway and when I got out of the car, one look up said different. The skies were fair and so after a leisurely prep, I took off at 8:20; apparently I was the only cyclist to show. Pretty much remembered the route, and I felt remarkably strong. Got lost a couple of times, not to worry, knew the general direction of the lunch stop, Concord. At mile 25 I needed replenishing, come to find out I’d left my purse at home, oh well, the grouchy service station owner pointed me to an outside spigot. While reapplying sunscreen, I spied Winston and daughter, Tammy. We rode together the next ten miles to the cafe in Concord. I borrowed 35 cents and had a juicy homegrown tomato. Delicious. Winston had a full plate from the buffet, and was eating slowly–I was getting cold in the air-conditioning, so I took off, they’d started from Brooks anyway, a closer distance, and I needed to get back to Conyers to walk the new rescue dog, Woods. Stopped at Brook’s fire station to rest. Beautiful rolling roads and I felt strong on the hills. Had to retrace my steps after another wrong turn. By mile 60 my pace had slowed but seeing another cyclist zoom by spurred me on to the end. Turned out it was one hundred degrees but dousing myself with water helped and I had plenty of Perpetum and toward the end of the ride I spotted two creatures scuttling back and forth on the grass, two small muddy Armadillos! Videoed them and will post the footage if possible. All in all it was a great steady day.
Saturday I have various ride choices.
- Mike’s group is doing a 75 miler from Berea to Perrysville, stay overnight, and drive back Sunday.
- ABC is doing their Westside Market ride. There are several different starts. I have two options to consider, about 35 or 60 round trip.
I really need the miles but the weather Saturday is calling for scattered thunderstorms. Watching the weather on TV this morning I got the impression that they really don’t know what its going to do. The weather may determine which I will do.
Today’s challenge—-to follow the S arrow I’ve been seeing around town the last few rides. Turned out it’s Old Town Conyer’s South ride, a 42 plus route called South Rockdale that meanders through rolling farmland and then into the Arabia Mountain Trail’s steep short hills. I stopped at a swift creek and coolled off beneath a waterfall! Saw lots of butterflies, rabbits and deer, almost ran into a doe! Sipped Perpetum on the quarter hour, so I had energy to spare, even kept up a dance on the pedals! All in all it was a great day and I improved my pedal stroke.
