Fifty Plus (50+) - Hypnotic

I went for a nice 20 miler this evening. I rode the farm roads east of Springfield. The farm roads run straight east/west and north south, on one or two mile centers. They are asphalt and for the most part in pretty good shape and light traffic. I hit the bricks just about 5:30 and headed a mile south before turning east. When I turned east, I started riding with my shadow directly in front of me, stretching out maybe 30 or 35 feet. And when I say my shadow was directly in front of me, I mean my view of the shadow of the front wheel was largely obscured by said front wheel. The sun was as close to precisely 180 degrees behind me as you can get. I rode nearly 9 miles straight east, chasing my shadow all the way. It was absolutely fascinating and hypnotic to watch myself ride, in monochrome gray and with legs too long, just pumping up and down, over and over, seemingly with no end. I was so zoned out (or in?) that when some lady on a CF roadie with aero bars said "on your left" I was so startled I nearly hit the ditch. It was a very pleasant zone to ride in. One thing I noticed is I can use to pay attention on keeping my knees in line vertical with the pedals a bit more. When I do that, I seem to get along maybe a bit better.

On the way back in, the roadies were out in force. They still pass me, but now I watch them for a lot longer time in the mirror before the inevitable. And now sometimes they have a red face and are sweating heavily when they go by. Used to be it happened so fast I couldn't tell that sort of thing. There was a nice couple on a tandem leading a group of three others on regular road bikes, they hung with for a few minutes and we had a nice chat on what a great night to ride that it was. Another young turk who caught me was also in a chatty mood and we had a few minutes to exchange names and so on.

Nothing exceptional to report here, other than damn, it was a good night to get out. Finally under 100, the high today was only 92. Hope you all got out too, if you wanted to.

We had a big cold wave down here as well; low 90's; thought I was gonna need the leg warmers:D.

It would have been a little better had the wind not been 13 sustained with gusts to 25:(.

I rode about the same distance on my after-work route.

Congrats on finding the zone.

Sounds incredible, T'man. Almost zenlike.

That sounds like a very nice ride. It must be nice to have those long stretches of road with light traffic.

I rode for an hour tonight and got a good workout. We saw a young guy hammering up a hill pulling an adorable hot pink trailer w/kids. It sounded like the kids were saying "Faster, Daddy!"

Pretty soon, you'll be jumping on passing pacelines. It really gets fun when the guy in front of you cracks and gets gapped, and you have enough to go around him and bridge back on to the paceline.

What a great ride. I love riding the country roads around here, too.

Unfortunately we had thunderstorms and high winds last night and the regular club ride was cancelled. It isn't looking good for tonight either:(

I often get into that hypnotic state on the back of the Tandem. Stuart rides with a camelback and it has a couple of Loose ends of the webbing straps on it. They get annoying but on those long drawn out climbs- a rhythmic sway gets into them and it mesmorises me. They also give me warning that The T is suddenly going to do something different as Stuart flexes his body to get ready for the extra effort he is going to put in- Or The big hole he is about to hit- Or that he is going to duck to get below the overhanging bush that he will not be telling me about. Don't get much warning but as soon as those straps change direction-I prepare for the worst.

Someday the T-man is going to pull a Forrest Gump. He going to head east or west, get into his hypnotic state, and just go, go, go. Until he looks up and finds an ocean in front of him and he notices that he is hungry and needs a shave.

Someday the T-man is going to pull a Forrest Gump. He going to head east or west, get into his hypnotic state, and just go, go, go. Until he looks up and finds an ocean in front of him and he notices that he is hungry and needs a shave.

Done that- 2004 on a long ride that finished up 6 miles from home. Woke up 12 hours later and found that it hurt.

I did that tonight. I went for a very short ride in the neighborhood after dark with the bike lights on and flashing, and I was wearing my white jersey. The streets were quiet except for an occasional walker. As I approached a corner near our house, I suddenly became lost in the glow of the flashing light reflecting on the street ahead of me, and thinking about how sometimes cars cut that corner close. We don't live on a busy street, and very few cars are around here at this time, especially tonight. Until this one moment, when I was lost in the light, and suddenly I heard the sound of a hotrod approaching from around the corner. He seemed to slow down -- as if he saw my flashing light -- and..... sure enough...... had planned to cut the corner close. I'm glad he wasn't going faster and that his muffler could be heard from way around the corner, giving me time to slow a bit and awaken from my hypnotic state.

Sounds to me like some of our 50+'ers still have some good stash.