My Most Recent Ride 2012 (Part V in a series)

Boring.... you sure have a way of putting people to sleep.

 

I know, they fall asleep on me all the time at work too.

 

That's what I mean.

We're riding the Creeper in the morning. How
dumb is that? It's 102 degrees (F) on my back porch shaded. Wish
us luck. Another 34 miles for those going on up the mountain, that
would be close to 70 miles. I'll settle for the 35, if I make that.

Be careful in this heat. I'm taking extra water.

 

You don't push it too much yourself. Start early!

 

Whitetop will be in 60s Sat morn & forecasted upper 90s for lower sections of trail won't happen until late afternoon. Drink lotsa water but weather sounds doable. Have fun.

 

Oh, THAT is the difference between here and there. 90's by 10 am here if we are lucky.

 

Mickey arrived at 7a. We were in Abingdon at 8:20a. Mickey took off on the Rocket
leaving me to enjoy my cool solo ride to Alvarado. It was nice. The newly built RANS
Cruz shakedown ride was fantastic. The new Marathons with 100psi coasted it with
ease down to the river. Long story short, best machine I've enjoyed on the Creeper.

Met and chatted with Jim riding a Lightfoot Ranger, his favorite trail bike of the 8 bents
he owns such as TiRush and Goldrush. He did Bike Virginia. A rider was killed when
his bike apparently blew a tire and he died of a crushed neck. He may have seen
Brian. He said he saw a rider on a yellow Corsa leading the hammerheads.

Anyway, had a great day. We pre-planned to meet at the Subway in Damascus. We
did. They now make a fantastic avocado vege and that's what we had. Mickey has
turned mostly vegan and has turned into a lean riding machine. He leads the group
regardless of bike he rides.

Hot on the way back to Abingdon, but 95%+ was in dense shade. I broke out into
the SUN mostly at trestles and where the storm took out the shade trees. I rode my ride,
which worked out well. Mickey had his bike packed and had the van in the shade of
a big tree all nice and cooled down when I rolled in. Then off to a Cracker Barrel in
Bristol.

The temperature on the van indicator was 99 when we left Abingdon and as we
approached Greene County, it was reading 105.

The Greeneville Hiking and Cycling Club (new name) is riding Bridgburners 8a
in the morning. Skip church and let's ride.

Buddy

 

It's the Heat

I got a late start, picking blackberries before the Sun climbed too high in the sky...

88 degrees F., by the time the bike and I were ready to roll....

And a bicyclist passed my driveway, just as I was about to throw my leg
over the seat!
What, in this heat?
He's nutz, right? (Gotta be: I'm nutsz!)
:

I reeled him in, quickly, and we had a nice chat
about problem dogs, after he spotted the pepper-spray I carry hooked on my collar.

He spots the little can of pepper-spray but apparently failed to notice
my garish helmet?
Heee-heeee!


Saw more mad bicyclists, but no more going my way, so
I actually ended up kindof-sortof following my plan to spin
the pedals and take it easy.

Twenty miles or so at an easy average of 15mph.

And the mercury was pushing 100 degrees F. when I returned home....

---

Oh yeah, there was the little incident with a badly-driven
maroon Ford Excursion.
The driver swung wide through the turn,
speeding and drifting into my lane; headed right at me.
Tires squealing loudly.
The driver saw me, yanked the steering wheel
and missed me by six feet...
meanwhile, it looked like the truck was about to overturn
and/or end up in the ditch.

I expect this sort of stuff.
I watched the unskilled driver enter the turn wide and at speed,
so I was prepared.

-And wagged my finger at the fool: "no-no-no!"

*Idiot.*

It's the heat.

 

On the road pretty early, already hot
Finished 9am with the temp 88
25 miles 2000 feet of climbing

http://app.strava.com/rides/12185278

Nobody to mess with, I did come to the conclusion that
I need lower gearing on the Cheetah my low 30t chainring
With 27t on the cassette isn't going to cut it on greater
than 12% grades.

 

Muggy warmth when Loke and I went out at 8:30 am. Rather rare for Sweden and unpleasant. At least it was cloudy so Loke wasn't going to keel over.

6.1 miles of the river loop. Exercise!

Terii

 

Just wrapped up 137 miles on the Erie Canal in the last three days. Will post story and pictures when I get back.

One cool story, stayed in a castle last night. How cool is that!!!!

 

You must be trying to make it hard for me to catch you this year Jon. I rode 22 this morning on the MTB and Betty and I rode the trikes this evening for 11.
Lots of questions about where we got the trikes and where to get them. Maybe some business heading toward you Serenity.

 

Yesterday I did 52 miles. The rest of the group was going slow enough that between their road speed and their planned brunch stop I anticipated heat issues by the end. So, after the first 8 miles, I took off; or as they like to say, they dropped me off the front.

It was definitely getting warm by the time I hit the turnaround point - a golf course. I got a Snickers and Gatorade at the pro shop, then continued on. By the time I finished, the temp was starting to get stifling, heading for a high of 101F; and although I managed to stay hydrated fairly well, I was sucking the last dregs of energy from the legs. My average speed was 19.4 mph. I haven't been riding hard so far this year, and I think that's my fastest ride of the year, as well as being fairly long. I stopped for lunch on the way home or else I would have 'crashed' for sure.

My legs still hurt a bit today; but, it's good training, right???

 

Jens decided to go fishing up at Gysinge (aka 'The Streams) today. He encouraged me to plot a route around there and try out the new GoPro camera. It sounded like a good idea, so I went with it.

It was surprisingly miserable. It was warm and it was HUMID. I mean, Mississippi Gulf Coast humid. And as a final touch of h*ll, horsefiles. These suckers were nearly an inch long and it didn't help they were patterned like wasps. Trying to get the trike set up and there were dozens of them mixed with smaller flies, a few wasps, and bees. Mosquitoes were there too, but nearly unnoticeable amidst the bigger, more painful critters.

As I started to leave the parking lot, a flat. Fortunately, it was just a wonky valve that I managed to fix without dismantling the wheel.

The GoPro works great! The problems with the videos I took with it are all down to me. I think I mounted it on the helmet wrong. The sound is crap, but with the microphone stuffed in the water proof case, what can one expect? About all to be heard is a strange 'tick-tick-tick' which I think is a strap hitting the housing. Most annoying it is the side to side bob of my head as a pedal. Nauseating really. If it stays on my helmet, I need to reposition it to put less of me in frame. Not really that interested in watching myself from hips to toes pedal along. Seeing Loke lope and jog along on the far left of the view was neat though.

I could stick on Loke's running bar... maybe, but I think it's too far back and my leg and Loke's side would dominate the view. Not to mention, if I see something to the side, the camera would miss it. I'll have to think on it.

Any way, as for the ride itself, of the 28 miles I plotted, I did... wait for it... 7. Yep. 7 measly miles. I do that much on an extended River Loop! The flies just began to drive me insane. There was no outrunning the blood sucking buggers. One stayed right in front of my face for 300 yards at 15 mph! Insect repellent didn't even slow them down. I even blasted one directly with the spray and it kept coming!

Around mile 5.5, I saw a sign for a cafe and cultural site. I made the turn and found a lovely little farming village museum. Best of all? NO FLIES. A man from the cafe wandered over with a dog dish full of water for Loke when I sat in the shade after exploring the buildings.

After that, I moved the trike under a nice tree and lounged around. I just couldn't face the flies again.

About 2 hours later, Loke starting being a PITA, letting me know he'd had enough of idleness. Reluctantly I decided to make for the church just a little way down the road. Starting out didn't go so smoothly as the furball managed to lose two of his socks in the first 200 yards. I had to turn back to find them and then put 'em back on. Fun.

Just as I finished refastening the last sock, Jens called to say he was done with fishing. I told him I'd meet him at the church.

It surprised me that I beat him there, but Loke ran like a dog possessed by the spirit of the Road Runner.

I've got pictures of course. Though I do have videos, I think I'm going to pass on sharing them simply because there's just too much of the overweight woman in spandex in them. *shudder*

Terii

 

That would be nice this heat is killing us right now...no one wants to be outdoors. I can't say I blame them, but some rentals or sales sure would be nice.