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.
http://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1684-1.JPG
http://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.
http://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.
http://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.
http://home.insightbb.com/~pad.bendt...HPIM1687-1.JPG
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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.
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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.
http://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.