Bummer, rained all day today, and that's after it rained on and off yesterday. i thought about going out anyway, but that's all it was, a thought.

I brewed a new batch of beer instead.

Thank You Bill! So far they are only reporting three houses around town that have significant damage. I saw quarter size hail during the storm but the truck and the garden still look as good as ever. From the reports, I guess we dodged one in terms of how dangerous the weather bureau thought the storm could be. When I left for the ride this morning they already knew that we were right in the middle of an area that was primed for the development of super-cells. You folks in Florida have your hurricanes and we have our tornadoes. I can't think of a place I would want to live that doesn't have any natural dangers. Floods, tornadoes, forest fires, earthquakes, volcanoes or hurricanes, you have to put up with something.

Actually, I was joking about the ambiguity in your sentence
I wasn't sure whether the shoes or the feet were 71 y/o.

It's Sunday night the 19th. I missed your post and the ride. Sorry.

I did 70 miles Friday and took Bailey to Independence Park Saturday. Normally I take a couple days off in between rides. (Arthritis and bad back, etc.etc.) So I stayed off today. Someone posted that you were just getting out again??? How much riding have you been doing?

Have you been over the new bike path on the new replacement for the Brightman St bridge to Fall River?
Have you seen the bike path part of the replacement Sakonett river bridge? By car I went to the Portsmouth side of bridge and to the
Tiverton side to just look. The bike path will be like the new bridge to Fall River, it will be great. It is supposed to be done in 2014. Now if they just will get those concrete barriers off the Mount Hope bridge. I'm looking forward to better access to Portsmouth and south, and Tiverton and south. Lots of good riding starting in Bristol and my house in Riverside.

Too much caffeine tonight !!! :)

I did a training ride before my tour de cure ride. It was the Tour de Cure topsfield ma 64.1 miles Perfect day.

MoM is next week. Doing that too :)

Since I'm here, I'll report on yesterday's Storming of Thunder Ridge ride.

It was raining for at least 80% of the ride, an was at least misting for almost all of it. I got just at 100 miles, and they claim it's 10K of climbing. My Garmin goes nuts in the rain, so its calculations are way off. The key feature of the ride is the 13 mile, 3.3K climb on the Blue Ridge Parkway up over Thunder Ridge. It started raining hard on the way down, and the descent to Peaks of Otter an off of the parkway on Rt 43 were miserable and dangerous.

After that it was just miserable :)

I had a low-speed fall while trying to get restarted going UPHILL (duh) on the BRP and really munged up my elbow. The other mishap was that the battery on my electronic shifting got low and I lost the use of my front derailleur for the last 20 miles. Luckily it was stuck in the small chainring. That made for a LOT of coasting on the downhills since I could only pedal up to about 20MPH.

So, I ended up wet and sore and beat up, but still it was a good ride and good prep for next week at Mountains of Misery.

66 @ 15.6 ave on the club ride Saturday, and 36.5 @ 18.1 ave solo yesterday.

2manybikes, I did the Bike Works ride, riding my bike from home to the start point in Swansea. Total miles for the day was 47 and I felt strong the entire time. I've been consuming more carbs during rides which seems to keep me going stronger and longer. I've also tweeked the saddle and lowered the bars a bit and I'm seeing more speed.

I'm seeing more speed and feeling fit but I will never be 20 y.o. again. The Bike Works sponsored team did the 50 mile ride in 2 hours and 5 or 6 minutes or at almost exactly 25 mph. But hey, who's keeping track.

The new bike lane over the Sakonnet is nearly completed except for the exit ramp on the Tiverton side. I'm guessing it will open shortly and the summer for certain.

25 is way beyond me. oh well - I'm 62.

Nice 33 mile ride at the MUP today with starting temps in the upper 80's. Humidity wasn't as bad today as it was yesterday and there was a nice breeze to make the ride very comfortable.

Wet roads and I had to many things to do later so I did an hour on the trainer.

102.7 miles with 10,000+ feet of climbing--Assault on Mt Mitchell. Everyone needs to do it at least once.

After undergoing hernia repair surgery on the 8th, I got back on my bike yesterday. Started with a casual 14 mile ride at a moderate pace to ease back into it. It felt good to be back in the saddle!:thumb:

Woke up late this morning...0600!!!! Checked to see if any sub jobs were available and found a ½ day AM and took it. Ate lunch, got gas, got home, checked weather on the computer, got dressed and did 40 miles--eventually.

But, ever have one of those days that it seemed to take forever for you to get going? I'm all suited up and I take the bike off the trainer(all the rain the last few days) and bring it down to the garage. I change out the wheel I use for trainer and put the Mavic Wheel on for riding on the road. After pulling it off the stand, I lean it against the washer and dryer to check and fill the tires. "Where's the floor pump? D***, it's in the house!" I get the pump and finish that. I start to roll the bike and realize, the helmet is in the house. So, back into the house to get the helmet. I get out the door. Lock the door and notice I don't have my water bottles(going to be 81º and humid) and thus march back in to get the water bottles. At least I have my sungalsses. So I start off and no more than 2 miles I realize I don't have my Road Morph pump and back to the house(fortunately the route was taking right near the house at this point). I get the pump and put it on and now triple check to make sure there's nothing else needed and finally, FINALLY, get going.

Did 40 miles.

Eleven tandem miles this evening.

Plus 10 miles back and forth to the house.

45 miles this AM. This time I was efficient and ready when I went out the door.

41 miles and 1800 ft of climbing with my Tuesday/Thursday group. There was no pity or relief from them for my tired legs........rode like we always do. I was fine except I had little power on the hills.

Rain last night made for a very nice and cool 33 mile ride today. Temps started off in the mid 70's and ended up in the low 80's with not too much humidity. Barely broke out a sweat.

9 miles today indoors, due to the deluge. Then, I pulled out all the thistle in the yard, about a bushel. or two. (Hey, bike riding's the priority here, not a park-like lawn) 112 mo.

Rained this morning - drove to work. Poured down after work. But, lo and behold, the rains passed over and the skies cleared. Got out for a ten mile ride before dark.

A very hot and humid 35 miles for today's ride. Went to the doctor's after my ride, for my weekly blood work, and noticed that the red cell and hemoglobin counts are starting to rise. Nowhere near within the normal limits, but much better than what they have been the past couple of weeks. I'm hoping that he won't change the dosage again when I see him for an office visit next week.

A nice 41.5 miles with my riding buddy, Frank. Almost all of the ride was spent talking about one thing or another, so it wasn't a very fast paced ride today. We planned for a longer ride for this coming Sunday.

60 minutes on the trainer using my new clipless MTB shoes and SPD pedals. Last evening, I spent 30 minutes practicing clipping in and unclipping.

Twenty miles today riding to and from Work. Cool - 40's - this morning but very very nice coming home.