What a beautiful day today, a great day for a road ride! Did I, nope! I go to family about a 45 minutes away and watch the Redskins and they played at 1 today and I needed to blow leaves yet again so I went and did 12 mils on the MTB on a local singletrack before I did anything else.. It was great to be honest. When I ride the mtb I start to think I am a kid again, different then when I am feeling like a kid on the roadie. Anyway it was all good except the Skins are horrible and lost. They are so bad I mean really bad.
Riding the mtb I start to get these feelings of N+1 for a full suspension....yikes!

It was a beautiful day here on the Outer Banks. Indian Summer at its best. Light southwest winds with temps around 70. The area also hosted a marathon today. The crowd was fantastic! Oh yeah, I rode around 20 at a very leisurely pace.

The weather was so beautiful here today, all the convertibles were out with the tops down, the birds were singing. The only thing that gave away the fact that it is November is that most of the leaves are on the ground.
My wife and I had a nice trail ride, and then went to see our grand daughter. It was a great day. Going to be nice tomorrow too, and my wife has an extra vacation day comming, so she is going to take off work tomorrow so we can go riding again.
It would be a sin to waste weather like this in November.

I agree! I had a lot of things to do today, and debated about taking a ride. Finally, this afternoon, I walked outdoors, and thought, "It would be wrong not to ride on a day like today." So I did. :thumb:

15 miles on a beautiful (70F) Fall day in November! It's all downhill from here, and I don't mean that in a good way! Hang in there until Spring!!
Resolution: I will ride a lot more this winter than last. wink, wink, nudge, nudge.......

Same here folks/put on my blaze orange jacket and rode the perimiter road with the wild turkeys clucking in protest as thay scurried away./Kenneth

///ha ha sure counts in my book./Kenneth

We did our first official 'utility' ride into town to pick up DH's new eyeglasses, stopped at Petsmart to let Pepper pick out some bully sticks and then we bought a few groceries before heading home. Total miles were 22.6 and it was a perfect day to run errands by bike!

Sunday 11/08/09 No...
Monday 11/08/09 Well the daughter got over to Altamonte to late to ride on Sunday so we just hung out together. Monday we got up and loaded the bikes on the car and drove to Astatula (yes I said Astatula) and parked at the post office (that is the only thing in Astatula), and started our ride to the north. The winds were out of the east @ 22 and gusting to 28 MPH so we headed north on county road 561 hoping to get a little break. We turned west at Lake Park road to county road 19 then turned south. Did I mention that the winds were out of the east @ 22 gusting to 28. We stayed on 19 and crossed Lake Harris a very narrow 2 lane bridge with 28 mile per hr. wind gusts and heavy traffic pushing us into the guard rail. When we got to state road 48 (Howey In The Hills) we turned west/north west toward Yalaha. Now the only thing in Yahala is a great German Bakery that has strudels to die for (and thank god they were open). We had two of them one apple and one berry, and coffee.

Have I mentioned yet that the winds were gusting at 28 MPH from the east. Our ride from the bakery was pretty good as we were going north to south again on some back roads back to HITH (Howey In the Hills) and the winds were out of the east at 22 to 28 MPH. Then we hit county road 455 and it was a due east ride and seemed like up hill all the way to 561. This was probably the hardest 5 mile ride I have ever done. The only thing that I could hear beside the wind in my face was my daughter screaming from behind me, how much she disliked me and never wanted to see me again.

Now for you folks that think Florida is flat you can think again. For those of you who are familiar with Sugar Loaf Mt. and Bunker Hill you know what I am saying. For those who are not familiar with the area just accept my word for it.

Did I mention the 22 to 28 MPH easterly winds. I kid you not we had to pedal to go down hill and were in our granny gear going up hill. I have a 39 on the front and a 28 on the back and I used them.

We did stop and pick some beautiful Tangerines from one of the groves that we passed.(probably lucky that we didn't get shot at).

Made it home about 2:30, all in all it was a good ride.

28.6 (s)miles today
138.4 (s)miles this month
5805.20 (s)miles this year
5 ride days this month (Nov.)
All is well in Slo Spoke Jim's world.

:cheers:

Yup. Burnham Greenway (both parts) south to north. Chicago Lakefront Trail south end to north end and back to the south end. With the connecting streets/roads and wandering on Northerly Island and Navy Pier, 61.4 miles. My metric century will happen another day.... < sigh > Ride report to follow in another thread.

Yes I did! Planning to extend my normal ride to shop at Wally World by adding another 7-10 miles using an alternate route I was dissappointed to see clouds thickening and feared that the rain we know is on the way thanks to Ida, she might be closer than we thought. I desided not to extend the ride after all. So I logged a very modest 5.73 miles and took 29 minutes, my loaded return trip was only about 15 lbs. Still feeling the effects of yesterday's ride I purposly rode in lower gear than normal trying to spin all that lactic acid out of my legs. It did not hurt, but I will be treating myself to a massage tonight.

Observation of the ride
While waiting to cross a busy lane of traffic I observed another "grey beard" coming toward me at a quick pace. His bike was fully chromed and very elegent looking. As he got closer I realized that he was riding a Fixie! During my commutes to work I had seen a few of them chained to light posts as well as on the road at a distance. So impressed, I shouted "go Fixie" as he passed, he waved to acknowledged the recognition.

Bumper sticker of the ride
On the way home, I pulled up behind a small SUV stopped at the traffic light. The back window was festuned with liberal leaning stickers. The one I found most interesting was "Fox News, Makes you Dumb and Mean". No further comment is needed.

So how many of you got to ride into Paris today?

http://i36.tinypic.com/fozwva.jpg

Alright, so it was Paris Ontario, but no matter, it was another nice day, and my better half was able to get the day off work, so we went to one of our favorite trails and did a 23km ride, stopping for lunch in Paris at our favorite riverside cafe.


http://i38.tinypic.com/2uzfl38.jpg


http://i36.tinypic.com/34ik6rm.jpg

The streets of Paris have already been decked out for Christmas.

http://i38.tinypic.com/2ly1q4n.jpg

When we got back to the car, my wife was ready to pack it in, but I was ready for more, so I left her to have a nap in the car while I carried on up the trail and put on another 5 km. I stopped at the old mill ruins, and there was someone else there checking them out, so I got him to snap a picture.

http://i36.tinypic.com/af9emv.jpg

Another 50-miler with the club today. It was the first time I had ridden for a week. My legs felt very fresh at the beginning, but felt tired about 30 miles in. The following picture shows most of the 22 riders who started out on the same route, but broke into 3 separate groups soon after this photo.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k8...hreeGroups.jpg

As I entered the garage this morning, pulling on my cycling gloves, considering which of my bikes to ride today, there was my recumbent hanging on the wall saying, "pick me,pick me". So I did.
I live just a couple of km from the waterfront, so that's where most of my rides that start from home take me. Did a bit over 20km along the lake, and stopped by the store on the way home to pick something up for supper.
Back on the road tomorrow for another week.

http://i35.tinypic.com/2lnftwj.jpg

Tuesday 11/10/09 Short ride today looked like rain. As the daughter and I were returning I got a call from and old friend that I worked with before I retired. He was in town for a meeting and wanted to meet for lunch so we rode over to meet with him (had coffee and Pie). It was good to see him and get all of the info from the company that I retired from.

20.47 (s)miles today
158.87 (s)miles this month
5825.67 (s)miles this year
6 ride days this month (Nov.)
All is well in Slo Spoke Jim's world.

:cheers:

High 30's/Low 40's, mostly sunny, so I'd try to get a ride in. Had to wear ear covers and full fingered gloves but didn't put on the windbreaker. It was a good ride, over several rail trail path's and using back streets as connectors. Just felt good to out on 2-wheel's so I put in a ride north, then south then west and back east towards home, 20 miles or so, figured out I'm gona have to get warmer gear if the temps fall below 35 degrees:( Still it was a nice day for November in Southern Colorado!

11-10-09
6 riders 63 miles
Pics with the story.
http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/h...view=slideshow

14.34 miles paved and dirt. Horizon Ridge to the East entrance of Sloan Canyon. Got passed by a smokin Giant Carbon Fiber and youngster half my age and weight. Kids, no respect!

Steady rain all day today from that tropical system. But my wheels came today so I spent a few hours tearing down, cleaning up and assembling the pieces for my Casseroll conversion.

Easy 23 miles on the tandem. Flats front and rear at the same time. I think a road crew must have churned some goat heads onto the shoulder. Pulled 8-10 out of the rear tire. Used up both my spare tubes and limped home. The rear is flat on the bike stand as I write this:cry:

That's a pretty laid back bunch.

After 16.9 miles, ride cut short with a flat.

I got a bonus day off today. Was supposed to be working, but my truck didn't make it home, so here I am.
So, I just had to do a birthday ride. 56 candles today, and STILL no idea what I want to be when I grow up.
No, I did not do a ride my age birthday ride, even in metric. I settled for a quick 10km. Felt good.

The Baroness has kept me so busy picking up remnant hardwood/firewood piles and clearing the beloved snowshoe trials and all sorts of other picky jobs I barely had time to breath or steal a peek at the bike;and eveytime I paused she would scowl and tell me how quick this work would get done if ID quit my slackin and keep working////The thing about Baronesses is thay dont pay for anything and there always right./Im praying for snow to end all this fun!/Kenneth

My BFF has the day off; she called and my solo ride was not to be. We rode 42 miles and had great fun. Hanging out with her on our bikes made my day.