Fall is Here - It's Getting Cold

What a beautiful day today! The sky was blue, the sun was shining, the leaves are a beautiful array of bright colors. The temperatures reached into the low 60s today. Unfortunately, the day's ride started before the day warmed up. We rode while the temps were still in the 30s. Brrr!!!

Just to add the coldness (and if you know me, you know how much I detest the cold), I lost my winter gear. I spent the morning ripping the house apart in search of my thermal tights and shoe covers. To no avail. I had to leave for the ride in shorts, with a messy house. To my surprise, the cold wasn't so bad - not until five miles into the ride when it suddenly occurred to me where I had put my winter gear. Then I wanted to ride back and get it. But the group would have no part of turning back, so on we rode. My legs were only really chilly for the first hour or so. Then the weather warmed up enough that I was quite comfortable.


We (Slingshot, Ragla, Dawn and I) rode out to Saratoga Springs. It's a beautiful ride with much of the ride overlooking Utah Lake. The lake was calm and glassy today. On the way back to Orem we heard Ragla shout something out to us. What we heard her say was "Car back," but what she actually said was "I've got a flat." She had hit a pothole and flatted. Probably the same shady pothole that caused my flat the last time I rode out there. Not realizing what had happened, the group kept riding, and we had gone a way before we realized she wasn't with us anymore. Unfortunately, flatting made her late for her son's hockey game. I always feel bad when I lead a ride and someone misses a deadline. I hope she wasn't in too much trouble with her hubby. I'm hoping he'll help me with my Italian.




Since Dawn was recovering from a bad chest cold, we rode pretty easy today. Other than some crit practice through a twisty neighborhood and a challenge from Ragla, the only place my HR came up was when we came up 400 South. Ragla had wanted to go practice the climb since she'll be doing the Telos Turkey Tri here in a couple of weeks. The 400 South climb is part of the tri route. It's a steep 11 percent grade, but it's pretty short. I've seen plenty of people walk their bikes up that climb during the race, so it's a good idea to practice it.

I was so glad Dawn came and rode with us! I hadn't seen her since the Bear Lake race in May. I hope she'll come and ride with me again.

One of the next big rides I've got planned is the 2nd annual Thanksgiving Day ride. I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner at my house this year, so I'll really need to get out for a ride to get some stress relief. Sometimes my family can drive me batty, and Thanksgiving is definitely one of those times.