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Birthday Ride 62+

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Birthday Ride 62+

Old 10-01-06, 09:25 PM
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Birthday Ride 62+

I have had my share of troubles writing this post. First, my HP photo editor will not take some of my photos below 100K. So next I tried to insert the images in the text, that worked except the images were too large for the screen. So I tried some HTML ...which I am lucky to even spell ...no luck. Now Bike Forums appears to be down. I am going back to URL's for simplicity, if you are interested in the pictures, just click on them.

I will be 62 years old tomorrow and did my birthday ride yesterday (09/30). I ended up doing a 69.5 mile trip ( 111.9 K sound so much better) on my old MTB. Speed too slow, time too long. It was a great ride but the wind was head-on in both directions . Have pictures of the same flag at about 8:24 am and 12:24 pm flying in opposition direction.
https://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1684-1.JPG
https://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1698-2.JPG

I started the ride at 6: 20 am ... 48 F and no wind. Beautiful morning with a nice clear sun rise. Stop at about 20 miles for cup of coffee and pastry ... Sorry no pie but a cherry filled pastry seem the best alternative.
https://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1685-1.JPG

I did get a picture of pumpkin pie in the makings ...this is field of pumpkins that have been machine picked and waiting to be hauled to the cannery. The pumpkins are not your Halloween JackOLanterns.
https://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1693-1.JPG

I suffered the headwind for about 10 miles. For you roodies that does not mean much but I saw my average speed on my GPS drop about 2-3 mph. I don't have a bike computer but I tied on my hand held GPS. The GPS was great because it gave me speed, direction, trip odometer, straight line distance to home, and elevation.

Had a short run-in with a pit bull, I crossed the rode and he stayed on his side! You may wonder why I ride MTB ...this is what I share the road with in the fall. I had some company, these are buzzards, the road I was on is called North Buzzville Rd ... I think they were waiting for the old man to drop at about 30 miles.
https://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1687-1.JPG
https://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1690-1.JPG


I stopped for lunch at the Chautauqua Refuge on the Illinois River. I decided to take a shortcut to avoid climbing some long ridges ... Well at first the shortcut was crushed rock and then sugar sand. However, the scenery was good, but no real fall colors yet.
https://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1694-1.JPG
https://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1696-1.JPG

I finally got back to the main road and it was all downhill from there, even with the wind in my face. I could practically see home, even if it was 12.5 miles away.
https://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1699-1.JPG

I decided that on my 80th birthday, I am going to just ride with the wind at my back and let them pick me up where ever it ends!


Last edited by never_be_rich; 10-02-06 at 09:55 AM.
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Old 10-02-06, 06:03 PM
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I'm happy to hear about your ride. Really enjoyed the pictures. Any and all who accomplish the birthday ride are an inspiration to me. It looks like you had a wide variety of road conditions that worked against you. Whew!
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Old 10-02-06, 06:13 PM
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I too enjoyed your photos and post. Thanks for going through the effort of making them available. Your photos of the flag flying in both directions is priceless. I keep telling folks that I get headwinds both ways, but they never believe it. You've got proof! Your photo of the pumpkin fields tells me France and the sunflower fields seen on the TdF don't have anything on Il. And, your photo of the Chautauqua river is a great composition! Oh, yeah, and congrats. on the ride, too.
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Old 10-02-06, 07:40 PM
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Great ride report and beautiful pics!!
Congrats on a terrific ride!]
I am always impressed with just how much of the U.S. is so beautiful. I think we have a great area here in the Carolina's then I see photos like yours or some pics posted by Dnvrfx and think wow! that looks great too!
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Old 10-03-06, 09:49 AM
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Great ride and report, but you rode it a day early so you'll have to go out and do it again! You beat my birthday ride by a few miles, but all of your miles had to have been tougher than mine just from riding a MTB, let alone a consistent headwind. You're right though: a better plan is to do a one-way ride with the wind at your back all the way.
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Old 10-03-06, 10:16 AM
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Congrats on the ride. And thanks for sharing the photos.
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Old 10-03-06, 12:05 PM
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Very nice report! That's a really long ride on that setup!!

Where are all the hills that you can coast down???
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Old 10-04-06, 05:14 AM
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I'm looking for the hills I can coast UP. Anyone know where they are?
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Old 10-04-06, 06:33 AM
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Originally Posted by ticwanos
I'm looking for the hills I can coast UP. Anyone know where they are?
Camelot?
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Old 10-04-06, 10:20 AM
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Originally Posted by ticwanos
I'm looking for the hills I can coast UP. Anyone know where they are?
Australia and New Zealand. But you have to pedal hard downhill.
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Old 10-04-06, 09:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Digital Gee
Australia and New Zealand. But you have to pedal hard downhill.
I'm slow. It took me a while.
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