I got in about 33 miles this morning. The ride was pretty uneventful. Other than the donkeys early on the route, I don’t think I saw much wildlife beyond geese until right at the very end when I saw a bunny.
I started the ride strong, and was averaging 17 mph after the first 10 miles or so, but then I hit the hills and the headwind and there went the average. At the end I think I only averaged about 16.2 mph. Still, it was a nice morning out. The humidity is fairly high, but the temperature is mild.
I’m sleepy now. I’ve got some coffee, but we’ll see if I remain awake or if I go ahead and conk out for an hour.
I managed a good ride this morning, although I’m pretty beat now. I got back a few minutes ago, and managed 45 miles. I haven’t looked at the rest of the stats yet, but I know the 45 is right. The last 10 miles were tough though. I didn’t have anything left in the tank and just had to set my mind to simply turn the pedals at whatever pace I could, so I know my average speed is probably pretty low. I think I probably need to eat a little better before I go out for a ride of that length.
Somewhere around the 25 mile mark I also had to stop and tighten a spoke on my rear wheel. I’ve been having to tighten spokes after pretty much every ride recently, which tells me something is wrong. Probably time to take the wheel into the shop. I can do a simple home truing, but I don’t trust myself to do a really good job, nor do I have a truing stand. I’m wondering if one of the spokes is partially stripped where it threads into the nipple at the rim.
Not much to report from the road today. Plenty of farm animals I guess: donkeys, goats, horses and cows, and lots of dogs, but none really bothered me. No real wildlife however, except some cranes and herons wading in the lake as I rode past.
There was a stiff headwind coming from the West it felt like, which is also when, and probably a big reason why, I had such a tough time in the last part of the ride—because I was riding right into it.
The Tour to Tanglewood is coming up again pretty soon and I really need to start fundraising, as well as getting into shape for it, so here’s the first mention of it here. If you would like to contribute to the fight against MS, and support me in the Tour to Tanglewood bike ride please click this link and make a donation. Any amount is appreciated, and know that it is for a really good cause. I’ll be making a more focused plea for donations that should be appearing on the blog pretty soon that tells more about the ride and the cause, but I plan to ride at least 50 miles, and am considering options for more. Thanks!
I’m glad I got up and got out for a ride this morning. The weather reports last night were calling for potential rain this morning, but I managed to get in a ride on a lovely Sunday morning, and I haven’t seen any rain yet.
From a statistical standpoint I managed just short of 35 miles at an average of 16.2 mph. I was out for a little over 2 hours. The fastest speed I hit was 32.7 mph. Also, I saw three bunnies in the first half hour.
Now I’m stretching out a little bit and drinking some coffee and watching Stage 9 of the Tour de France. I hope I don’t fall asleep before I can see the end of the stage. I’m feeling a little drowsy, but it’s good.
How many weeks has it been since I’ve gotten in a good ride? I’m not sure, but I finally got a decent ride in again this morning, and I got to explore a little bit; connect some roads that I never tried before and basically combine pieces of different rides.
I headed out a little before 8 A.M. The weather was fairly comfortable, maybe even just slightly on the cool side, but I didn’t wear any extra gear. I knew it would warm up soon enough. Basically I headed south out of Greensboro into the surrounding County roads, and a little bit into Randolph County.
The new portion of the ride is where I branched off onto River Mill Road and then Hockett Dairy Road (yes there was actually a dairy farm). I used this to connect through, with a brief patch on Randleman Road, to Davis Mill Road which took me to Steeple Chase and then on into the Pleasant Garden Community. The riding is pretty nice over there. I think the name fits.
There was one patch of surprising traffic as I looped back home on Ritters Lake Road between Pleasant Garden Road and South Elm. I think people are using that segment to connect through to an interstate exchange nearby on Elm, but I didn’t remember there being so much traffic before at that hour of the morning on a Sunday.
Anyway, all total I managed 36.7 miles with an average speed of 16 mph. It’s not earthshaking, but at least I got the miles in my legs, and it made me happy.
November 16th, 2008
Brian
I’m back from my Sunday morning bicycle ride. I did 24 miles this morning, with an average speed not worth mentioning. But that’s what happens, I guess, when you haven’t been on the bike for 3 weeks.
Also, it was really quite windy, and I find that usually, even though I have a tailwind for part of the ride, I can’t make up the speed during the tailwind portion that I lose during the headwind.
Still, it was a pretty morning; crisp and clear, chilly but not icy. There was no frost on the ground, but I was definitely glad for my gloves and jacket.
I can’t think of anything of particular note from this ride, other than the amusement I always feel when riding past a field of cows or horses and they stop eating and watch me ride past. Yes, that does happen. I usually try to to greet them when they do this, “Morning, Cow! Morning, Horse!” And then I just keep going.
