Mostly recaps of two wheeled rambles through the countryside, but sometimes thoughts on other things.

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Hot Fun In The Summertime

Yes, as Sly and The Family Stone sang it way back when, when it's Summer, the heat is up and the fun is too. Despite sales trips out of town and rainy days that have dampened my mileage for the year, I'm still close to 2,000 miles for the year and that's fine. When not riding in or being the admin for a RUSA ride on Saturdays, I still post the club C pace (13 - 15 mph avg. 40 - 50 miles long) outings. There don't seem to be too many riders in that group anymore. Some have moved up to B or A group and others don't ride these days. I feel like a school teacher as I graduate a new class each year from C to B and look for the next batch of riders taking up serious cycling. None on the horizon right now though.  It may not be long that I'll be just posting a note; "Going for a ride, company welcome." and pedal solo or with a few others. If the distance is short, I can go faster. I can't hold the pace though for 50 or 60 miles.

Today, we rode a pretty loop between a suburb of Prattville (Booth) and a small community in south Chilton County known as Enterprise. Jennifer suggested this ride some time back and so it is known as "Jenn's Enterprise". It was warmer and more humid than forecast, sunnier and the wind was opposite the prediction of the night before. Other than that the weather app was right on target. I didn't wear sunglasses due to the forecast and I should have. I'm glad I put on sun block anyway, or I would have burned.  6 of us set out and were soon met by the B group which started earlier on a metric century and planned to catch us on the way. They had 10 speedy spandex whippets but it was still good to exchange greetings as our groups merged for a hundred yards or so. Plenty of fluids today and rest stops as needed to manage sweating and core temp. The air was drier by 11:00 AM but it got very hot.

Some of our riders are on their way back from one thing or another. Jenn is still not fully back from a bout with C. Difficile that required 2 separate hospitalizations and had her "scratching" (to use her term) on death's door. Dawn has a cartilage-less knee which was giving her problems today. She really had to ease up over the hills. Stan has been off the bike tending to ill family members so he is still working on getting back to 100%.  I have no reasons to explain being slow like others do. I'm just slow :) Sarah and Tim were riding just fine. I'm proud of them all.  Still other friends not present today are mending from one thing or another. Stafford broke a bone in a crash with a dog in late June. Holly is getting back into shape after her bike was rear ended by a car. Tony was with family today, but had recent foot surgery. Jeff who wiped out on the last turn of Sunday's social ride and left some skin on the road was out looking good with the B riders today.  It all serves as a reminder to me to appreciate what we have including opportunities to enjoy our rides.

The first stop was the store at Posey's Crossroads. They have not let cyclists use their bathroom for one excuse or another since new ownership has come in. For years prior to that, we did and bought fluid and food refills there.  Today it was a "flooding" issue. That didn't stop a store employee from using it though. Now that Dollar General is open across the street, we'll have to move. Anyway, Sarah needed to GO, so Jenn tells her about a spot behind the office building just down the street. People are IN the office! Sarah is obviously experienced at this because she click clacks in her cleats in and out of the secret spot in back in just a moment or two. Two questions form in my mind. How does Jenn know where this spot is and how is Sarah so adept at utilizing it?  This is reinforced later at another location where Jenn points to a secluded spot for Sarah again.  At least guys use trees, in the woods,  you know? Or plumbing at the Enterprise Store Stop where they were more welcoming.

We ended up with a moving average in the C range and everyone said they really enjoyed the ride. Especially Sarah. ;)

My wife's cousin Becky who lives in LA asked me a little while back for some help in finding the right bike. She previously had a TREK race bike but doesn't want to go that way again. After some back and forth, I thought the perfect bike for her would be a Rivendell Betty Foy or Cheviot, but they are quite spendy. I hunted around and remembered a small boutique company out on the west coast that has bikes made in the same factory as many other brands, including Rivendell, but at a much lower price. Becky agreed and so I am working with Trey at Cycle Therapy in Rome GA (where I ride every other week) on building this bike. Trey also sells custom steel framed bikes (they make them locally) and rides steel often himself. He "gets" what I'm after here for Becky. I posted the picture on FaceBook and it got a lot of likes. In case you missed it:

It should be ready in a couple of weeks. It's a French style bike. The goal is that it feels just right and she never even knows the thinking that went into matching the parts together, I'm very excited to be part of the project. It should come in at about 1/3 the cost of the Rivendell. Or what you might have bought a Riv for back in 2000 or so. I have 2 Rivs and love the ride, the handling and the dependability. I am really looking forward to a pedal with Becky after she gets the bike.

I mentioned RUSA earlier. We have an intro ride, called a "populaire" coming up on 8/19 down on the coast at Orange Beach. It's 100KM (62 miles) and you get the BEACH after the ride. I can't believe more people haven't signed up, but so far it's me and about 4 others. In Sept, there is a more challenging 400K ride from Florala through the FL panhandle and back.  This is our first year at Alabama Randonneurs with rides in the south part of the state. If no riders from the area want in, we'll drop that idea next year. Most of our routes are in the Mid and north areas. As the admin (called an RBA) I hope to have routes all over the state. There is a tedious process to get them certified, and I have a local 200K to work on now that we will run next year.

I've committed to ride a century (100+ miles) with friends in Tallassee next month and in October I'll ride our club century (workers ride - I work the event itself), and I'm doing the rest of the RUSA events this year either pedaling or supporting. Plenty on my calendar bike-wise.

Tailwinds!



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