Ride Report: 06.17.13

Another beautiful evening for a ride.  After I got done with some work around the house and let the traffic clear out a bit, the LHT and I ventured out to Messiah College.

But before leaving, I pulled out the laptop and the Garmin to try out the direct 500 point track upload feature that they have added.  Unfortunately, it was a bust almost from the start where it failed to follow the mapped route and tried to route me via shortcuts.  I’m not sure if I had the settings incorrect, or if its just the way they distribute the track points.  But you know me…I’ll be tweaking it for the next several rides to see if it can’t get working properly.

For the first time this year I felt like my legs were stronger than the last ride, so I hope that means I’m starting to get into a little better aerobic shape.  I stopped on campus to snap a pic of the new High Performing Arts and Worship Center.  It’s a nice, and big, building from the exterior that they have been working on for the past two years.

I didn’t feel quite as entitled as I rode around the place, probably because this is the first time in several years that I haven’t been writing them large checks for tuition payments.  I’m no longer a stock holder, although I wouldn’t be surprised if they found some long lost unpaid parking tickets for my daughter.

A park bench by the Yellow Breeches provided a nice spot to meditate and watch the fly fisherman.  There were also several groups of kids involved in some sort of team building exercises across the way.  Messiah’s summer courses are all on-line, so I don’t know exactly what was up.

So many pictures of the campus include the covered bridge that most don’t realize that there is a second one – the “swinging bridge”, which is a bit down stream.  It’s quite the structure.

After leaving the campus, I followed the stream down McCormick.  Feeling great as the temps started to fall, I switched on the lights and headed for Pinetown.  Deer were out in abundance.

The whole ride felt great, but as soon as I lied down for the night I could tell that I was going to pay.  Sure enough, around two I had to get up and take a few ibuprofen.  A little quad discomfort, but well worth the pain.

Distance: 24.3 miles  2013:  361.6

Ride Report: 06.15.13

For some time now I’ve been thinking about making this trip out to Lake Meade.  It’s a “private” community located to our west, and I kept noticing it when I would pull out the maps for my rides to Lattimore, York Springs, and my planned trek to Gettysburg.  Years ago we had some neighbors who ended up moving there – so I was curious.

The night before I mapped the route out on the computer and discovered that Ride With GPS has a new feature that reduces the track to 500 points.  I still ended up going through my typical conversion since everything is already set up on the laptop, but I need to try this and see how the Garmin responds.  The feature could make loading trips a lot easier.

The route itself follows the way to the Lattimore Racetrack almost 80% of the way, but then turns south for a short bit.  It’s mostly level, except around Pichot and then a climb to get to the entrance to Lake Meade.

It was sunny and perfect temperatures for a ride.  About half way in I started seeing roadies, and once again realized that I was in the middle of some sort of race/charity ride.  By the time I came through, nobody appeared to be moving very fast, and most were downright friendly. 

This guy, however, seemed a little frustrated when I pulled a Pee Wee Herman and kept up with him for a couple of miles.  I wanted to tell him that his saddle was about 3″ too low, but I figured that would just piss him off even more.  Eventually he downshifted, came out of the saddle, and dropped me on a small but steep hill.

Not long after this I made the turn south and another short climb up to the lake entrance.  The Garmin route was pretty accurate, with one directional issue at a weird intersection.  But, as long as you “follow the magenta line”, you’re OK.

As you go in the entrance road, one encounters a manned guard/gate house.  The gates are big enough to keep out cars, but I opted to quietly ride behind the guard house, rest my legs for a moment on a picnic table, and then proceed through the parking area like I belonged there – no problem.

It’s a really nice community, especially lakefront.  There are “normal” sized homes and a few McMansions, and then some where it just seems like the house is the perfect scale to the property and aligned for the view.  I’d be interested to know what the associate fees are per year.

Lake Meade Drive does a 5 mile loop around the lake.  I noticed first that there were a fair amount of homes for sale, a fair amount of contractors doing work on houses and landscaping, and at one point I passed three homes where women were out mowing the lawns on what looked like very new and large John Deere tractors.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that…it was just one of those things I noticed.

The dam that holds the lake…

I could learn to enjoy a view like this…

There were no black vans following me as I exited, and once I got back on the main route home I found that the charity race/ride was still going on, except now I was headed against the light bike traffic.

I stopped for a rest at this same pavilion in Wellsboro, and then made the final push for home.  Another great morning for a ride.

Misc. Miles – 1.5

Distance: 38.1 miles  2013: 337.3

Ride Report: 06.12.13

Took the day off so we could travel to the Wilmington area to see my nephew’s family who had flown in from Oklahoma.  Since I had the morning free, I took a nice ride out to the Yellow Breeches, read for a little bit, and then came back home.

Distance: 17.6 miles  2013: 297.7

Ride Report: 06.08.13

‘just a short ride around the area before dark.  Traffic was pretty heavy on the main roads, so I took to the back lanes.

Distance: 12. 2 miles  2013: 280.1

Ride Report: 06.04.13

Took a short ride around the Lewisberry area at dusk to stretch my legs and get a little exercise.

Distance: 10.2 miles  2013: 267.9

Ride Report: 06.03.13

Finished up mowing the grass and took the X bike out for a fitness ride at dusk.  The route took me out Lisburn Road into a headwind, back in McCormick, but then I turned off to Andersontown and over to Pinetown. 

Pinetown Road from Andersontown to Rt. 177 is just the perfect road for riding at speed.  It gave me the chance to adjust the Cyo beam just right, and get into a groove with pushing it a bit.  They should just ban cars from it.   Then the ride finishes with blasting down the hill on 177 to the blinking light and cruise down Space Highway for a mile.

I noticed that it was still warm when I started, and my legs felt a little heavy from Saturday’s ride.  As the sun went down and the air cooled into the 60′s, it got refreshing and my energy level picked up.  Great ride – I’m glad this bike now has dyno lights for night time rides.

Distance: 20.1 miles  2013: 257.7

Ride Report: 06.01.13

A hot summer morning and nothing on the schedule but a bike ride.  Does life get any better?

I was looking at three options for a route, but didn’t make up my mind until I got to the fork in the road and turned west.  Lattimore Raceway: not too many hills, great scenery, and a manageable distance given my low mileage so far this season.

Wellsville sits a little under halfway, and this pavilion provided a good spot to rest the legs for a few minutes in the shade.  I’ve always admired the architecture of this house.  Wellsville has several older, well-maintained structures.I seem to be finding “yard bikes” lately, and stopped to take a pic of this tandem.  It wasn’t until I was pulling my long sleeve shirt out of the bag that I realized that something wasn’t quite right… A closer look revealed that this is a home grown double built up by welding two frames together.  The captain’s crank is on the curb side, and the front chain must have meshed with the inner gear of the stoker’s crank.  “Crude, but effective.”Things were quiet out at the raceway and campground, so I ambled onto the track and checked things out.  I’ve still got it into my head to stealth camp out here sometime.By the time I headed for home, things were getting hot.  So pacing myself and stopping for some shade now and then made for a nice ride.  Didn’t see too many cyclists out, although the Harley crowd was well represented.

Got home for lunch and enjoyed a relaxing day.

Misc. Miles: 2

Distance: 37.5  2013: 237.6