Weekend with pedals
Jul. 5th, 2010 08:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pbrayIt's been a hot weekend here, and we're headed for record breaking heat this week, while last week we set a record overnight low. Neither of which are ideal for training but I'm doing my best. With the cancer ride coming up, I managed a seventy minute ride Friday afternoon in between telecons, then a 2.5 hour ride on Saturday morning, and a 4 hour ride yesterday. I've given myself permission to take today off, and instead I'll try to get out one morning this week.
I do much better riding in the morning--if I try to start a ride in the afternoon I'm sluggish, and everything is just that little bit harder. For the same reason, if I'm planning an all day ride, I try not to take a long break at lunch time. I'd rather have a quick lunch and finish early for the day than a long break and have to get back on the bike after my muscles have cooled down. Fortunately my frequent riding partner Stacey feels the same way, yet another reason why we're well matched.
Saturday is a scheduled workday at MegaCorp, so for Saturday's ride I'll be getting up extra early to run database load programs, and then Stacey and I should be able to make an 8AM start, which means we'll finish up by noon.
Getting together will also give Stacey and I a chance to finalize plans for our annual bike trip. While chatting recently we were trying to remember when we started, so I dug out paperwork and picture folders and put together a timeline.
2010 Outer Banks North Carolina, Carolina Tailwinds*
2009 Black Hills South Dakota, Timberline
2008 Northern Shenandoah VA, Carolina Tailwinds
2007 Crater Lake Oregon, Bicycle Adventures
2006 Canadian Rockies Alpiner, Timberline
2005 Historic Quebec, Classic Adventures
2004 Bryce/Zion Alpiner, Timberline
2003 Finger Lakes, Classic Adventures
2002 Blue Ridge NC, Carolina Tailwinds
2001 Nova Scotia, VBT
2000 Mid-coast Maine (Camden, Castine), VBT
1999 Nantucket weekend, Easy Riders
1998 Middlebury VT weekend, VBT
1996 Kerry Ireland (9 day), Easy Riders
1995 Maryland Eastern Shore, VBT
jennifer_dunne and I did the first bike trip together, which was advertised as easy/flat. Neither of us had been on a bike in years. Jennifer's knee ceased functioning by day two as an old ski injury flared up, but I was hooked. When I got home I bought a hybrid bike.
The next year I did the Ireland trip on my own. It was a great time, although I laugh now at how unprepared I was--it was sheer grit that got me over the Kerry Mountains. While I had a good time, I knew it would be more fun to take these trips with a friend. In stepped Stacey who said that she'd be willing to try a weekend tour to see if she liked it, and thus we did the iconic 3-day Vermont weekend. Repeating a familiar pattern, Stacey returned home from that trip and bought her first adult bike, and we've been taking bike trips together ever since.
*The trip we'd originally planned was canceled by the tour company due to low enrollment.
I do much better riding in the morning--if I try to start a ride in the afternoon I'm sluggish, and everything is just that little bit harder. For the same reason, if I'm planning an all day ride, I try not to take a long break at lunch time. I'd rather have a quick lunch and finish early for the day than a long break and have to get back on the bike after my muscles have cooled down. Fortunately my frequent riding partner Stacey feels the same way, yet another reason why we're well matched.
Saturday is a scheduled workday at MegaCorp, so for Saturday's ride I'll be getting up extra early to run database load programs, and then Stacey and I should be able to make an 8AM start, which means we'll finish up by noon.
Getting together will also give Stacey and I a chance to finalize plans for our annual bike trip. While chatting recently we were trying to remember when we started, so I dug out paperwork and picture folders and put together a timeline.
2010 Outer Banks North Carolina, Carolina Tailwinds*
2009 Black Hills South Dakota, Timberline
2008 Northern Shenandoah VA, Carolina Tailwinds
2007 Crater Lake Oregon, Bicycle Adventures
2006 Canadian Rockies Alpiner, Timberline
2005 Historic Quebec, Classic Adventures
2004 Bryce/Zion Alpiner, Timberline
2003 Finger Lakes, Classic Adventures
2002 Blue Ridge NC, Carolina Tailwinds
2001 Nova Scotia, VBT
2000 Mid-coast Maine (Camden, Castine), VBT
1999 Nantucket weekend, Easy Riders
1998 Middlebury VT weekend, VBT
1996 Kerry Ireland (9 day), Easy Riders
1995 Maryland Eastern Shore, VBT
jennifer_dunne and I did the first bike trip together, which was advertised as easy/flat. Neither of us had been on a bike in years. Jennifer's knee ceased functioning by day two as an old ski injury flared up, but I was hooked. When I got home I bought a hybrid bike.
The next year I did the Ireland trip on my own. It was a great time, although I laugh now at how unprepared I was--it was sheer grit that got me over the Kerry Mountains. While I had a good time, I knew it would be more fun to take these trips with a friend. In stepped Stacey who said that she'd be willing to try a weekend tour to see if she liked it, and thus we did the iconic 3-day Vermont weekend. Repeating a familiar pattern, Stacey returned home from that trip and bought her first adult bike, and we've been taking bike trips together ever since.
*The trip we'd originally planned was canceled by the tour company due to low enrollment.