I usually try to do my long rides on Fridays, since I’m taking them off for the summer, but it was hot on Friday morning and we had family visiting so I decided I’d wait until it started raining and go for a 15-20 miler instead of the planned 53 mile ride.

It finally started around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, but it wasn’t just rain. I love riding in the rain. This was a downpour with thunder & lightning. We ended up getting 2.5 inches in about 2 hours.

I was all dressed for the ride but sat at my computer watching fullscreenweather.com waiting for a break in the storm. I saw my window approaching and ran out, jumped on my bike and tried to get a lap around the block in before the next patch of red hit us.

I made it almost all the way around before the wind really picked up and the rain was hitting me so hard it stung. I had been contemplating another lap but the thunder started back in and though I am invincible I thought I would just play it safe because I didn’t want everyone in the house to be able to say ‘I told you so’ to my corpse. (There had been some talk of the questionable intelligence of my going out for a ride already.)

So I did a little over 4 miles instead of 53. Oh well.

It's too hot!

My car was overdue for an inspection and I needed an oil change badly so I dropped my car off at a car repair chain in Newark and caught the bus (with my bike in tow) to get to work on Thursday. The plan was to get some miles in on my way home by riding from Perinton to Newark and then pick up my car and head home. I knew it was going to be hot. And it was.

I almost missed the early bus to Perinton. I was trying to get some last minute stuff done before I took off for my long weekend. I ran outside, got my bike unlocked, and rode like crazy to the park and ride with my handlebar bag hanging around my neck and my lock around my wrist. I had to go the long way around because they’ve closed the parking lot I usually cut through to get ready for Bills Camp.

The bus was sitting on the opposite side of the road waiting for an opening in traffic to get across to the stop. I had just enough time to dump all my stuff on the ground and get the pannier off the bike before the bus pulled in.

I got off in Perinton and coated myself in sunscreen. It was already hellishly hot (93ish I think) and I took off down the road.  It was hot when I got to Egypt. It was still hot when I got to Macedon. After I got through Macedon I decided to cross over to the canal path because at least there was the chance of some shade over there. It was still hot but it was so much better. That was a day to take the slow road for sure.

I refilled my camelback at the canal park in Palmyra. I had gone through a whole lot of water in just 12 miles. I tried to soak myself to cool off, but it’s surprisingly difficult to get cooled off with the pathetic little stream of water that comes out of a drinking fountain.

I almost wiped out when I got to the car place in Newark. I was riding up and I needed to turn in to the parking lot. I saw there was a little tiny lip between their parking lot and the road. I though to myself, I shouldn’t cross that at this angle but then I didn’t listen to myself and tried any way. The front tire just ricocheted off the lip without climbing up onto it. My bike started to go over but I was prepared in that I knew it was a bad idea in the first place. I managed to get my leg out and stay upright though it was VERY graceless. I am somewhat hopeful that the mechanics weren’t watching. They didn’t say anything about it, but making fun of your customers isn’t always a great idea.

This was 19 more miles for le tour challenge.

You know how they say you should always apply for scholarhips and jobs even if you think you might not qualify, just in case no one else applies. I think that might be the mechanism at work here.

I won a top female fundraiser jersey for le Tour Challenge stage 3!!!

Seriously?! Wow! Thanks everybody who donated so far. There was a big outpouring of donations yesterday which was (I think) like a sprint to the finish. Maybe all the other fundraisers got flat tires.

Stage 2 Ride

I rode my le Tour Challenge stage 2 on Monday. I decided to wait for the heat to fade a bit so I went out after dinner. Ended up doing just 2 laps around the block (a little over 8 miles). It was still pretty hot out and I was wanting to watch the real stage 2 of the tour (Stockeu-mageddon).

After my ride I came home and jumped in the pond. Man, that felt good.

Stage 3

I meant to get up early in the morning and ride. I should have. I also should have commuted but I was having trouble with the whole 90+ degrees factor. I didn’t do either. I slept in. I thought my post dinner ride would be hellish and hot.

But I felt great. I had a great time. I rode the whole way with a stupid grin and was flying fast. I had to pretend I wasn’t having fun when I crossed railroad tracks because when I feel too awesome, that’s when I’m likely to crash.

I made it home with plenty of energy to spare. I was dripping sweat but I didn’t feel uncomfortably hot. I jumped in the pond again which was awesome until I started to have the irrational fear that there was a swamp monster that was going to grab my legs and pull me under. I think I got out just before he got to me.

Then I went in to watch the brutal cobble stage. I am bummed that Frank Schleck is out of it. I don’t know why exactly but I like the Schlecks. I’m still rooting for Andy and most of Saxobank. I’ll be pretty excited if Lance wins too.

Though, somehow I know I’ll be excited no matter who wins. It’s just an exciting race.

My stage one ride was hot. It was 90 out so, of course, I waited until the hottest part of the day to get out there. It was really hot. I initially planned on 20 miles but mid-ride decided that my goal should be avoiding heat exhaustion. When I got home mytracks said I had done 14.93 miles. I rode in a couple of circles around the driveway and when it still didn’t hit 15 miles I decided I didn’t care and went inside to cool off.

I’m still having some trouble logging my miles over at mapmyride for the diabetes fundraiser. I looked at a couple other people’s sites and they don’t show any miles there either. I think maybe the people in charge don’t realize how important this is and haven’t gotten around to updating things due to the holiday weekend.

Still.

The site also took my gpx file upload for my 45 mile ride and knocked it down to 35, even though the map showed 45+. The same thing happened with a shorter ride. It trimmed off some of the miles for some reason even though they were still clearly visible on the route. Also have been frustrated with the general usability of the site. The instructions are either poorly written or have little relationship to what you actually have to do. I just want to know that I’m doing it right. Jerks.

All right.

I admit I may be blowing this out of proportion. I just want the miles I’ve ridden in the hot hot heat and after loading hay all day to count for something. Not that I don’t need the exercise. I needed to take those rides anyway. I just want my gold star on the calendar.

bike eye shadow

I rode 12 miles for the prologue of le Tour Challenge diabetes fundraiser. That’s more than two times what the actual TDF competitors rode. That’s the last time that will be happening for this event.

My first 12 miles won’t count though because I misunderstood how to enter them for the challenge. I think I’ve got it down now, but know that I did go out and ride with the best of intentions. We’ll find out this afternoon anyway.

I went out after haying for 4 hours. I didn’t think I was going to be able to find any strength but I still managed to do almost 13.5mph for the whole ride. It was a good day to wait until the evening to ride. So hot.

So far I have raised $20 of $250, plus a pledge of 15 cents per mile. So that means I’ve raised… $21.80.

If you would like to help fight diabetes you can donate on my fundraising page.

This is another plug for my ‘le Tour Challenge’ efforts. It starts tomorrow. I’ll be riding my bike every day of the Tour de France and submitting my rides to mapmyride.com. It’s one of those fundraising gigs, raising money to benefit the American Diabetes Association. This one seems to be perfect for me since I’m just not into the idea of doing one of those massive group rides.

Diabetes is bad. It’s really bad. And a whole lot of people have it. In fact, I’m a little freaked out right now because I just got back from the doctor’s office and was warned that my blood sugar level was a little bit high. It may have just been a fluke, but I do not want diabetes. So I will be riding my bike to help myself by hopefully losing that weight & while I’m doing it, I’ll be thinking about the people I know that have to deal with that hassles and suffering that go along with this crappy disease.

I have committed to raise $250 for the American Diabetes Association. So far I have raised $20.  It appears I’m not a fundraiser. From now on I swear I will chip in to other people’s fund raising efforts. The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future have already come to show me the error of my ways.

If you want to donate online you can do it here: https://beta.mapmyride.com/tdf/fundraise/donate/698/.

If anyone wants to donate per mile, I believe I should pull off at least 200 miles. 400 would likely be the high end of what I could achieve in 20 days of riding, especially since I can only submit one ride per day. I mean, I’ll be aiming for the 400 but realistically, based on my performance over the last few months, I think that would be a fluke.

Or send a text to ADA246 to 50555 to donate $10.

I’m going to do the ‘le Tour Challenge’ to raise money for diabetes. I’m sure I’ll come up with lots of annoying ways to work my fundraising messages in to my various blog posts as time goes on, but if you want to get in on the ground floor with the donations my donation page can be found here: https://beta.mapmyride.com/tdf/fundraise/donate/698/

Basically I will ride every day of the tour and submit my ride to the site. I will do a minimum of 4 miles per day but more likely 10-20 with a longer ride each weekend. (They get rest days in the tour & I will probably take them too.)

I’m thinking of giving away some original ‘artwork’ to a few randomly selected donors. It will probably be bike related. I can’t promise it will be good.

That’s the challenge though. Now I’ll have to ride my bike AND clean off my drawing table.