Finally got a morning without any rain; although it was really, really hot. I left a little early just in case the weather guys were wrong again. Got in a good 51 miles. Had 30 miles with one riding buddy and 21 with another one. It felt good after only doing a rained out, 7 mile ride yesterday.

Picked up new bike from shop, rode it to the stationhttps://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...99a81f4cc5.jpg

28 miles on the sofa bike comfort hybrid Friday evening, after a miserable week. For some reason my shoulder injury (hit by a car in May) decided to hurt worse all week than it has in more than a month. Just aching constantly, not letting me sleep. Couldn't handle the road bike or any rigid bike, but the sofa bike has a springy suspension fork, long wheelbase, upright ride and big cushy tires. Good for what ails me.

I was supposed to attend the local Critical Mass ride but was so sluggish I was running late. Luckily I met a friend along the way, towing his little boy in a trailer, and a couple of his friends. Turned out we're all military veterans so we enjoyed a leisurely ride and chat for several hours while watching his kidlet play in the park, make a new friend, fight with said new friend which prompted a dad conference. Hands were shaken and hugs administered all around and the kidlets resumed being friends again.

Purty good evening.

Did a nice and easy, 13.65 miles from my house down to the James River, along Riverside Dr, here in Richmond, Virginia. Great day for it after the rain stopped yesterday and it cleared up. Sections of the road (especially down by the river) were still a bit wet, but otherwise it was excellent. 56:10 was my time and maybe a 14½ mph speed on avg.

Here's the route...
https://i.imgur.com/mQ3E7AW.jpg


...just came off the Huguenot Bridge, onto Riverside Dr.

https://i.imgur.com/XKqE8BZ.jpg


Lastly, as a joke, I made a comment asking, "Anyone need anything from Pleasant's Hardware while I'm here?" ha ha ha...
https://i.imgur.com/fL8b8zE.jpg

Hot! Hot! Hot! Worked on spinning intervals for 40 miles this morning. Park was still flooded and too crowded to do fast rides.

The Joys Of Aging: It feels like I have been on "medical leave" all week.

Last Sunday I got part 1 of 2 of the shingles vaccination. It was one of the most painful shots in the arm I have ever had, followed by a couple days of malaise and no energy.
However, I had a bout of shingles a decade or so ago, and this shot was not nearly as bad as that was.

About the time I felt like getting on a bike we had lots of rain, so no riding then either. Then Thursday I had to go to the optometrist to check on my cataract progression in the past six months. There wasn't very much progression, but dilating my eyes makes them very sensitive to light, and always give me a headache, so again no ride.

Then Friday it was a dermatologist appointment to check this spot that has showed up on my face in the past couple months. Luckily it's not cancerous, but not having it removed can lead to it being precancerous. I told her to get it off my face ASAP. So they sprayed the spot with liquid nitrogen to freeze it off. That left my face with some throbbing and soreness. Again no ride.

So today I finally felt like getting out for a bike ride, and enjoy these lower than normal temperatures we have been experiencing.
I got in a very nice 2 hour and 20 minute ride, and I feel great.

Cross post from the hybrid forum...

A friend and I took an early morning ride from Lewisville, TX up to Denton for nothing more than to ride and to enjoy a cold brew coffee, then really good breakfast tacos and a beer for breakfast at around 9am. Why not?? The Denton County Transit Authority (DCTA) and the local communities it serves were tasked with putting in a bike trail that follows the light rail system. It's a great little 30 mile round trip ride to and from my house.

My friend is riding a 2018 Fuji Absolute 2.3 (orange bike in the pics below) and I'm on my trusty 2013 Fuji Absolute 2.1 (the blue one). I've been spending a lot of time lately on a '74 Motobecane Grand Touring road bike I resurrected, but I love my hybrid for rides like this. My Camelback Mule was a necessity on this warm, muggy North Texas morning.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f89e309c55.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4a91206932.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9dcc9da88d.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...00149c57ae.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fa04ee29a0.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fdf736adb4.jpg

I did a 20+ mile ride this morning and rode really hard, climbing the "hills" and bridges at a much faster speed than usual. It felt good. After attending an 85 year old's birthday party, I decided to go out again and did another 10, this time on my commuter with a stop for supplies for my beach ride tomorrow.

After spending a couple of hours plus doing overdue maintenance stuff on our tandem, went out for an 11 mile ride on the ti long wheelbase 'bent. I needed that. One modest hill.

An extremely hot morning that pretty much wore me out. It wasn't as crowded as it was yesterday but there was more areas of flooding in the park. Still able to get in a 40 mile ride, despite the heat.

I got in a quickie 90 minute ride this morning. I can tell the humidity is building, even though we are experiencing normal temperatures again.
Rain, rain, rain is in the forecast for the next few days.

First time on the bike since I broke my leg June 1st. Nine miles between this morning and just now. Very nice and easy on the leg/ankle. I am happy. Very enjoyable other than the skunk that made me nervous on the other side of the ditch. He had his fanny turned towards me but I felt he was far enough away.... thankfully, he was. : )

Congrats on first ride post-fracture.
I never see live skunks, just dead ones on the road, sometimes in the middle and sometimes stinkin' to high heaven.

45 rural Screamer miles starting in Brownsburg, IN for the annual club picnic ride. Ride was great and picnic was great!

Thanks! We had a skunk family around our house for a while. They started cooping up with our chickens and would wait for my husband to go in the barn to feed them. They only came out at night... teeny little baby skunks with mom, they were kind of cute. I'm glad they are gone though. : )

Saturday - rode my new 'cross bike to accompany the missus on the maiden shake-down ride of her new custom all-road bike. I got 25 miles in; sadly, she got less than half that, as quite a few problems were revealed in the shake-down. :(
Sunday - ~40 mile group road ride, a spirited brisk sprint with 4 other Club members.
Today - commuted to work on the new 'cross bike...which is also (out of necessity/process-of-elimination) my new commuter bike: I sold the Bridgestone when I got this CAADX. If today's weather forecast is correct, I hit the trifecta: 0% chance of precipitation all day, and a tailwind in both directions! So far they're correct, will know for sure after tonight's return leg. Will wind up with the usual ~19 miles for the day.

26 miles outside after a 40 minute indoor trainer warmup Monday night. Shoulder is killing me, but it was a nice night, just warm, light breeze. My speed is still there, maybe a little faster since I've been using the indoor trainer a lot while recovering.

22 mile group ride with the usual Tuesday morning crew.

40 miles this morning. Last ride until Aug 20th, when we return from vacation. I hope the cruise ship has some nice spinning or stationary bikes in it's gym.