Longest Day Ride

Although the longest day of the year hasn't technically happened yet, we celebrated it this evening by participating in the annual Ten Speed Spokes ride, and importantly, have the free t-shirt to prove it! I really like the graphic on the shirt!

Jeff and I were a lot stronger on this ride last year and you can see the details on my other blog, but we are OK with our effort today, considering where we are at the moment as far as our fitness. Here's the route we did:

And a graph of the elevation and speed. The graph includes a little at the beginning and end that was just getting from the parking lot to the shop and back. The ride itself was 31.15 miles and we did it at 16.5 mph average.

It was like last year with motorcycle cops guiding us and stopping traffic in Newport. That really makes it feel like a special event! I'd like to have done a bit better, but it's not really worth the 'what ifs'. At least we got out there and had a great time!

In general, we are getting out more. This week we've already done 5 days of riding and 112.28 miles. Plus, we are meeting a friend for a 20 mile ride tomorrow! I'm pleased to be seeing an upward trend in my ride stats, or downward, in the case of heart rate :)

Muggy

I've been a neglectful blogger lately, but I'm still here! I had a nice solo ride today despite the heat and humidity. I took a little break by these cows before riding up the last hill to home.

Hopefully it will be a little cooler for the group ride tomorrow. It feels more like August than June weather!

Group Ride

And it was a perfect evening for it!

Lots of people (and animals) were out enjoying the sun and fresh air. These polo ponies were getting exercise, 3 a breast.

Blooms are bursting open. This one was at our group ride meet up place.

Our pace line, 5 of us turned up for the ride.

Riding past 'Hanging Rock'.

Getting Serious Again

Yesterday was Jeff's first day out on his road bike this year. I've been on my road bike for a few rides now. I guess we'll clean up the cx bikes for now, though we might take them out for some gravel crunching this summer. It would be a novel experience to ride them in warm weather since I associate them with freezing rides!

We paused out at the Point to watch some deer foraging. There was this main group...

and some more here and there by themselves.

Tonight, we had a group ride after work, but were running a little late and didn't make it to the start point in time. We did run into the others part way out which was nice. I'm looking forward to getting back into the habit of 1 or 2 group rides a week.

Best Weather So Far

Along the beaches, it was somehow sunny and foggy at the same time, but really warm.

I saw one surfer in the waves.

And waved to three other cyclists.

I really enjoyed seeing lots of birds today from a large white heron flapping overhead to pairs of chubby ducks splashing in the overflowing ditches. Animals are so spunky and funny in springtime. As I passed one farm, a fuzzy brown and white cow was knee deep in the pond, mooing it's head off! The horses in this stable clearly wanted to be outside. The far one kept doing great big horsey yawns and hanging its tongue out. If you look really closely, you can see it's yawning in this picture, but it's a little hard to see in the shade.

Recovery...

...but not from some fab ride. Recovery from the Flu From Hell. Today was my first day back on a bike since getting sick! I loved being out there, though I felt weak and feeble and had fits of coughing. I took it easy riding just shy of 16 miles and averaging 14mph overall. It was my first road bike ride since last fall as I spent the winter using the 'cross bike.

A few days ago, Jeff and I signed up for The Flattest Century in the East, so we have an event in September to look forward to. It was fun last year! Sign up for non-NBW members opens May 1st.

After Work Quickie

Well, it's definitely not Copenhagen Cycle Chic, but here's proof that biking is not always hardcore and spandex for me!

It was light late enough for Jeff and I to hop on the bikes for a little ride after work. It's cloudy and rain is on the way along with lower temps, so it may be a while before we do this again.