Photogenic Fall Riding Begins

OK, so today would have been perfect for SUP ing ...
crisp, cool, dry and calm. Even the seagulls were chillin'.

 SUP ing was not an option. I ripe dup my shoulder the other week and it needed time to heal. Good enough to ride a bike though, it was, so that was the Rx.

This was supposed to be an easy, mellow ride, and for most series cyclists, my 12.5 mph average would be just that. If it were flat. but it ain't, especially if you hit the good bits—all the side hills off Middleneck road. 

Part of the joy of riding around the Sand's point area is the time-sucking cogset grinding panoply of hills of exquisite steepness. I suck at hills, and therein lies the challenge. The more you do them, the better you get, and the less daunting they become.

And to finish off my longest ride of the season (back
from injury) I get a 14.3 % grade in the last 1/4 mile.

They start out innocently enough and then drop suddenly like cliffs, daring you to take the plunge and see if you have the legs to ride 'em back up. Others are more roller-coastery...offering a just enough momentum to make the upsides more doable without the low-mph slog.

A few extra wicked ascents and decents in there. The unfortunate part is that some of the decents are "un-bombable" because of 90-degree corners strewn with various combinations of road debris, sand in critical turns. But there were a few ripping skeins all the same. Eyes peeled for twigs, squirrels, uncovered gas and water main holes, ruts, acorns, more squirrels and cars exiting driveways. 

Of course I always wind up taking a photo of the same spot ... The Sound and Manhattan as seen from Lighthouse Road — it's too alluring, too stop you in your tracks-ing, not to stop and pluck a cell-phone camera (wrapped in arm-warmers today, just in case it got cool again). from the pocket.

The other week it even maintained it's mystique in the heat
and humidity.

Yep, shouldn't keep a glass screened phone in a cycling back pocket; too vulnerable in a crash and it could turn into a shape object in all the wrong circumstances. But this was supposed to be a mellow ride ... and, like I said, it was wrapped in an arm-warmer.

But ... I was not able to keep it altogether mellow. On a couple of sections my Strava-infection reared its orange pointed tin-foil head, as personal records were in sight. Forget about the segment leads, although there are one or two where I'm modestly competitive ... i.e. not in the bottom 10-15, but more like a 1/3 to a 1/2 the way up the depth chart.

A week or so ago you could cut the air ... 

So I huffed and puffed my way up a few monster steeps, and up the leaving the point hill sprint, but the legs did not have it.

Did it accomplish the objective -- de-stress at least temporarily? Yes, for sure. I left the house a ball of ragged nerves, thanks to a high intensity dose of teenage son aggravation. When he bugs M., well you know what they say, "happy wife, happy life." He needs to make that connection...it also works in the sideways direction: "Happy mom, happy son!"