This was about a 50 mile loop.  We headed out at about 10:30 as we thought we would go out for lunch in Saratoga.  Temps of about 60 predicted. There was a tailwind on the way down there and we were booking!  We [...]]]> Saturday ride time!!  John planned out our route for the day.

This was about a 50 mile loop.  We headed out at about 10:30 as we thought we would go out for lunch in Saratoga.  Temps of about 60 predicted. There was a tailwind on the way down there and we were booking!  We took our first stop at mile 11, which is at the peak of some hills.

It was a nice day.  I was a bit chilly to start with.  I just had on my YMX Yellowman shirt and my jacket.

However, I was sweaty at this point.  

We headed back out and zoomed on down to Saratoga.  Hills are easy with a tailwind!

We got to Saratoga around mile 21 or so with an average speed of 14.3 mph!  We ate at Elizabeth’s Table, which is a reincarnation of the Cupcake Lab, which moved.

Not so much focus on cupcakes, though.  They do focus on local products, which is neat. I got an Irish Breakfast burrito, which had egg, potato, cheese and corned beef hash!

Yum!  I had a biking appetite for this.  Early on in miles, I get really hungry.  When  the mileage gets up there, I lose my appetite.

After lunch, we walked around Saratoga and saw a sign for a free Bonsai show.  It was a display of the local Bonsai groups (which is actually pronounced “bone-say”.  I have always said it wrong).  It was neat!

This one was cool:

We got to vote on our favorites.  I chose this one:

I also liked this one:

After we went through this exhibit, it was cuppicake time!  We hit up Bettie’s. I got a Cosmopolitan.  It is a cranberry cupcake with lime buttercream.

Intense!  I don’t think I would get this one again, but it certainly was flavorful.  And full of artificial color goodness    This is a regular size cupcake, which seemed kind of small to me.  I think they make them smaller now.  John got a jumbo German Chocolate and lopped off a hunk for me to eat.  We also had a visit from my sisters and the nieces, who live down here.

Niece noshing on cupcake:

We had to leave shortly thereafter as we had about 2.5 hours of riding ahead of us.  We took a longer route home than to get there.  About a mile and a half out, I noticed the the strap to John’s bike bag was dangling and we pulled over to fix that.  Then I though I would check and see if mine was doing that and I noted that my bike bag was not on the back of my bike!!  I realized that I left it on the bench next to where the bikes were parked when I was getting my helmet and gloves on.  Cue panic!!!  I tried to turn around fast and ended up toppling right over.  At least it was onto someone’s lawn and not asphalt.  John was still upright, so he took off back to where we had parked the bikes.  I got myself righted around and I hit every. single. red. light.  Ugh!    I was almost there and John was on his way back to me with my bag.  Thank goodness.  If we had been anywhere else, that bag would have been long gone.  It had my camera, wallet, phone, keys – all that good stuff in there.  I would have been very sad if it was missing.  Phew.

Of course, all of that meant adding over 2 miles onto our trip, which was already long enough LOL!  Did I mention we were now heading into a headwind?  If not, consider it mentioned.  My legs were feeling quite good, though.  We just kept churning out the miles.   We stopped at mile 36 for snacks:

I had 2 dates.  These are the big medjool dates that are about 65 calories each.

It is a very pretty view on this part of the ride.

I took the lead to let John draft.  He is always much faster at the start of our ride and I am much faster at the end of the ride.  It was brutal into the wind, though, I have to say.  When we hit the downhill portion where we normally hit 30+ miles per hour, we only managed 23!  That was how hard the wind was blowing.  You can see that downhill in the map above.  We reach the river level at the bottom of that downhill.

Phew!

At about mile 45, we came back up that climb and knew we were getting close to finishing up.  My thigh was aching a fair amount.  I have to say that is really so frustrating to have that issue.  There is no solution for it, either.  Booo to permanent injuries.

Here is the top of the hill:

This is the bike route, but it is a very busy road and I don’t like to ride on it, so we just cross over it (we are at an intersection) and take a left at that light.

It takes us out of the way, but we avoid a hill and the traffic – even though it adds several miles to the trip!  Finally home!

Ride stats:

Miles:  51.8  (thank you Lori forgetting her bike bag… )

Average speed:  13.1 mph

Ride time:  3 hours 50 minutes

Calories burned:  1600

Immediately after we got inside, I made protein recovery drinks for us.  Almond milk, unflavored whey protein, chocolate syrup:

These were good!  John doesn’t do recovery drinks, but I had him drink one this time because of the length of the ride.

I also noted my leg:

Chain grease from when I fell over.  I look like a noob!  LOL

After long rides, we like to walk so as not to stiffen up, so we walked up the street for a couple slices of pizza and did a nice 1 mile recovery walk.  Check out my windburn!

I hope the spring winds settle down soon.  I mentioned to John about how much more I hated riding in wind more than doing hills and his answer was “Well, hills have to end, the wind doesn’t”  - so true!

Saturday was actually nice temperature wise, but windy.  We decided to go for an afternoon snack right after lunch, so I started to stockpile some calories before going.

Here is our out and [...]]]> I know you were all just waiting for the first cupcake ride of the year, right?  I know I was!  Let’s roll!

Saturday was actually nice temperature wise, but windy.  We decided to go for an afternoon snack right after lunch, so I started to stockpile some calories before going.

Here is our out and back route:

Some nice hills in there.  This was a long ride for early in the season and I didn’t get much in this week except 12 miles on Friday.  Not the ideal way to bump up mileage, but I was willing to pay the price.

We were ready to go!

This particular way we head down to Saratoga is not any of the bike paths, but just along the river and a nice quiet set of roads for 18 miles.  It’s farm land, too.

We live in a very historic area and there are a lot of markers all around.  Ready for a history lesson?

Here is the house of John Mcrae that stands from the 1700s:

His official signage:

John’s sister, Jane, plays an important part of history around here.  And that sign is incorrect (thank you 1938 Dept of Education). Jane was actually not killed by Indians, but by ‘friendly’ fire of Americans.  She was on her way to meet her fiance – a loyalist and being ‘escorted’ by Indians.  Her brother John and Jane’s fiance (David Jones) were friends, but then taking sides separated them between Patriots an Loyalists.  The sad thing is, David Jones never, ever married.  The whole story is quite fascinating.  My mother and I listened to a talk on Jane last fall.

Anyway, back to the ride.  There was quite a stiff wind on the way there.  It was a very tough ride.  Not to mention it is early spring and all the farms laid out the manure fertilizer. Pe-eww!  Plus, the wind was blowing stiff and practically jamming that smell up my nose.  Yuck.  We got through the toughest part of the hills and stopped at mile 11.5 for a break.

Plus some dried pineapple.  Good instant energy. Then it was continuing on. We slogged on through the wind.  Did I mention it was windy?  This spring has been so windy!  I was so ready to be off the bike at mile 23.5.  I actually was wondering how we were going to get all the way back!  With the wind, it took us exactly 2 hours to get there, which is much slower than usual.

I was also so ready for my cuppicake(s)!.  We made a food round up.  First stopped at Bettie’s to pick up the cupcakes.

It was bargain day. First we had $1 off coupon, and then we read Bettie’s facebook page, which states the phrase of the day, which if you are among the first 25 people to say it to them, you get a free mini cupcake.  They call it an ‘A’ cupcake, which I think stands for ‘appetizer’.

Chocolate peanut butter.  We wanted lattes to go with the cuppies, so we headed to Saratoga Coffee Traders and got drinks.  My spread:

It’s nice most places don’t seem to mind if you have other food with you.  I guess as long as you buy something there, it’s fine.  My other cupcake was fluffernutter!  It was a white cupcake with fluff filling and peanut butter icing.   OMG!  Yum!!!!!  You can almost see the edge of John’s cupcake, which was a coconut cream and super good.

After eating, we walked around to let the cupcakes settle and get the legs limbered up.  We walked through the park.

There are going to be baby ducklings soon and cuteness will abound.

Then it was time to start heading back.  It was a little stiff at first, but my legs loosened up some and we had a tailwind!  Yay!  That made riding much faster.  Plus, for whatever reason, I had my usual getting stronger as the ride goes on kind of thing. My sit bones were starting to hurt, though. A wee bit of chafing going on. 

I shed my outer jacket at mile 31 and took a picture of John.  He just wanted to be a goober for the picture.

Good thing I love him so much.  My leg was starting to bother me a bit at this  point.  It’s weird that numbness will return to my calf a bit where I used to have it. My knee has always remained a bit numb, but the calf got better.  On long rides, it comes back.  My back was actually doing pretty good.

Mile 35 and another pit stop for dates and pineapple.

We just came from the left there.  As we got closer to home, the wind started to shift a bit and was coming more from the side.  Booo.  At about mile 42, I was really wanting to be home.  Then about 2.5 miles from home, we got stopped by a train!

Not an Amtrak either, but a freight train.  One of those times where I kind of wanted to rest, but was a little unsure about actually stopping because I was afraid it would hurt to get started again.  Not much choice here, though. 

Made it home. Even up the last 1/2 mile climb, which is a bear after 46.5 miles.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it, but using my granny gear I did.

Phew!

Ride stats:

Total miles:  47.25

Average speed 12.6 mph

Top speed 33.2 mph

Calories burned: 1400 (probably closer to 1600, but that is the general computer tally).

Interesting note, it took us 2 hours to get down there and 1 hour and 45 minutes to get back. That’s the difference wind makes.

I got inside and fueled up right away with a protein drink of almond milk, unsweetened whey protein, strawberries and cinnamon.

Not hungry, but I needed the calories.  I really could not get myself to eat much after the ride, but then we decided to walk up the street for a cone in the evening.  The walk was good active recovery to help work on the legs and keep them from being too stiff.

My cone? Cake batter with sprinkles!  I couldn’t quite finish all of it, but I did some serious damage to it 

I slept 8.5 hours Saturday night, too.  I was zonked!

** I know some of you read the blog with a comment RSS.  There seems to be something with the server my blog is on, so you are getting some old feed.  I can’t do anything about that, so my advice would be to unsubscribe from the feed and either just [...]]]> Welcome to the weekend!

** I know some of you read the blog with a comment RSS.  There seems to be something with the server my blog is on, so you are getting some old feed.  I can’t do anything about that, so my advice would be to unsubscribe from the feed and either just add the blog feed or add it back in later (but don’t forget about me!).  I am hoping it will settle down shortly.  **

Anyway, we are starting to cool down weather wise.  Summer was short lived 

I made up pumpkin oats for breakfast.

After working for a while and because it is Friday, John and I took a break to go out riding this morning!  Yay! Bright sun this morning – makes my dimples look like ravines.

We decided to do a little hill work.  This is not *the* hill I will be working on, but it is a good one nonetheless.

It has 2 parts – the first downhill here, then it flattens a little before going down again around the corner.  It’s maybe a half mile hill.  We went down the hill and then rode it back up.  It wasn’t too bad.  I made it up without stopping, but I could certainly do with repeating this hill in my rotation as well.  Of course, it was only a few miles into the ride, so that helped.

Oh, and way off the distance? That’s Vermont. The Green Mountains.

We both feel in pretty decent bike shape, although now cold weather is coming back in again!  We did 11.5 miles today.

I had a protein drink and some clementines when we got back.  Not pictured because you all know what that looks like.

Of course, this all meant I have to work some tonight to make up, but it was totally worth it!  We may not be able to ride this weekend if the rain moves in.

Lunch = protein!

Turkey burger.

Typical Fridayitis around here.  I had a hard time sitting in my chair and doing work today.  I was productive during the time I did work, but still…

I was glad for the latte break:

John wanted pizza for dinner, but decided to save a meal out for this weekend and made up clam strips and brussel sprouts.

I am not sure what it is about brussel sprouts, but they make me very full, which is why I didn’t have fruit with dinner.  Broccoli doesn’t do that, so not sure what that is all about.

I have fruit and nuts planned for my evening snack tonight and more of Downton Abbey season 2!  Nothing too exciting tonight.  Have a great weekend!

Question: Any good plans this weekend?

For St. Patty’s Day, John made up some Irish Soda Bread.  Last minute decision was to soak the raisins in bourbon and it was [...]]]> It was the weekend of biking! What a great winter weather weekend.  The calender says winter, but the temps say spring!  I pulled a 3 fer with the rides this weekend.

For St. Patty’s Day, John made up some Irish Soda Bread.  Last minute decision was to soak the raisins in bourbon and it was a very good idea indeed.  This was a beautiful loaf!

Must have portion control on this for sure.

It was such a nice day, definitely raring to go biking.  John was still recovering from a cold (it seems he has been sick since we got back from Disney), so I went out on my own and met him out for a snack.  I biked along the path.  Still looks like winter:

Lots of people on the path today.  I hit my turnaround point (this is an overpass, hence the fence).

Then biked downtown.  It was really, really crowded!  Not only was it St. Patty’s Day, so the bars were open and busy, but the state high school basketballs finals (or whatever) were in town.  Lots and lots of traffic and people.  I met John at Coffee Planet and they had shamrock sugar cookies!

The iced sugar cookie has to be one of my favorite cookies.  Simple and perfect.  I decided I couldn’t handle the people and traffic on the way home, so I decided to chance the bike path being really soggy.  I was surprised that it was quite ride-able, though!

Not spring yet, though.  It was so nice to get outside and riding again!

That was a nice 17 mile ride.  I had also done my lifting workout in the morning, so my thigh was pretty achy last night.

We were thinking it was going to be in the  40s when we got up and could bike to bagels, so we got all bundled up and then happened to check the weather and it was 32 degrees.  Ooops, a bit too cold, even for me.  But, with temps rising fast for the day, we decided on a morning ride after breakfast and grocery shopping.  John was feeling well enough to ride, too. We headed south in the morning into a fair headwind.  One of those times when you really notice the effects of drafting.  We swapped the lead every couple of miles.  After 8 miles, we hit our turn around point.  It was a beautiful day and getting a little warmer all the time.

My buddy for the day.

We cruised on home with a good tailwind.  We took a big steep hill at the end, which I have decided is my mission to work on this summer.  I will bike 5 miles out of my way to avoid this hill, so it is something I am challenging myself with to do hill repeats on by the end of summer (eek).

That was a 16.5 mile morning ride.

Ready for another one?  We went back out in the afternoon for…. wait for it….

The frozen yogurt is back at our ice cream place!  Yay!  I had a pistachio flavor.  It was in the upper 60s and so sunny.  I was pretty sweaty, actually. It felt really nice to sit outside and everyone else had that idea, too.

The line goes all the way back past the bush.  You know what I love?  When the line is that long and then the person gets up to the window and *still* doesn’t know what they want 

We headed back home into the wind, but it seemed less than this morning.  I do have some wind chap on my cheeks and lips, though.  Total miles for the day?

Pretty darn close to 29.  I have the distance legs for sure, but not quite the hill legs, yet.   46 miles on the weekend.  For halfway through March – that is really fantastic!

Pixie can’t go outside, but she is enjoying all the sun:

I need to be doing that tomorrow.  Definitely a rest day!  I am roasting up some parsnips and sweet potatoes and we will be grilling out tonight in the gorgeous weather.

Question:  How the weather in your neck of the woods?

It was nice enough for a ride today, too!  When we can sneak in an outdoor ride at this time of year, it always feels like such a treat.  Temp was close to 50, so we bundled up and headed out.

After lunch, we decided to head on down to Saratoga and partake in a cuppicake!

I was excited for a long ride:

John is all pumped up as [...]]]> The weather this weekend was absolutely fabulous!  We knew that meant a bike  ride on Saturday – aka the Stuff part of Stuff and Cram weekend.

After lunch, we decided to head on down to Saratoga and partake in a cuppicake!

I was excited for a long ride:

John is all pumped up as well:

Grrrrrr…..

Temps were supposed to get into the mid 70s during the day. It was a little cooler to start, but we stopped around mile 8 to shed jackets just before the hill portion.

Hills are just around the bend.  We passed by the alpacas again. Say cheese!

I wasn’t feeling the hills today.  Not tired, per se, but no speed on the hills, which is pretty unusual.

We took a break around mile 15:

All the rain this year has made for late color.  Trees are just starting to turn.

We brought along the perfect ride fuel -

It’s baaa-aack!   My favorite candy!  And the Brach’s brand please – the best candy corn out there.

We arrived to the Bread Basket at mile 23.

It was so nice out the we got our cupcakes to go and went across the street to Congress Park.

John had a coconut cream cupcake.  I had a pumpkin spice.  His was bigger  - boooo!

Someone noticed us eating.

He came right over to our feet.  We did not feed him, but he obviously has been fed before.

The carousel was quite busy today.

Check out the beautiful sky.  It was soooooo nice today.

We then headed back home.  Days are shorter now, which means no dallying in the afternoon.

Around mile 30, my back was starting to bother me and flaring up my sciatica.  Luckily John had some ibuprofen.  We stopped by this horse farm so I could take a couple.

Saratoga is horse country.

We ended up taking some extra breaks today for pictures and for my back.  It took 4 miles for the ibuprofen to kick in and I felt much better.  We stopped for a bit of refreshment at mile 35.

This was slushy and cold because it had been in the freezer.  Icy cold coconut water is the best!  I enjoy this route so much.  It has so many beautiful views and I think by next weekend the colors will be beautiful.

You never know what farm animals will be out and about, and these guys were new:

There were 2 and they looked like twins   This was around mile 43?

John and I were both started to get a little tired at this point.  We haven’t been able to bike as much with the rainy weather and the shorter days.  We pressed on and finished out 51 miles today!

Running doesn’t make me smile like this.  Even wiped out I was having a great time!

Ride stats:

Total miles: 51.2 miles

Ride time:  3 hours 45 minutes

Top speed: 31.6 mph

Average speed: 13.6 mph

Calories burned: 1586

I was surprised at the average speed with how many stops we took and just feeling slower in general.  It felt so good to get out in the sun today.  I love fall rides so much!

Pink picture of the day! Roses at the Bread Basket.

Come back tomorrow for a Fright Fest recap!

This was the flax muffle topped with apple/cranberry topping.  Yum!

John went to play a poker tournament Saturday and he placed 6 out of 23. Not in the money, but I think he did [...]]]> What a gorgeous fall weekend! Saturday started rainy and cloudy, but it did stop.  I made a fall inspired breakfast:

This was the flax muffle topped with apple/cranberry topping.  Yum!

John went to play a poker tournament Saturday and he placed 6 out of 23. Not in the money, but I think he did pretty well.  He doesn’t like tournaments and just prefers the cash games.

I did a lot of errands and checked out a craft show.

I bought a bowl from a woman who totally underpriced her handmade ceramics.

New bowl? $5!  Like I really need another bowl…

Sunday turned out the best weather wise and we did a double dip ride.  First was to Panera Bread and bagels! We have a My Panera card, which is the PB rewards card, and had a free bagel on it. Score!

It was humid this morning and I was pretty sweaty.

Over breakfast, we talked about where we wanted to bike to.  We thought cupcakes, but that would have been a 42+ mile ride on top of a 16 mile breakfast ride – and we weren’t sure about 60 miles on the day.  Instead, we decided to keep it more local and hit one of the ice cream shops.

After lunch, it was time to ride again.

We headed out the long way on the roads and then hit the path.

I love this part of the path. This is the beginning of the hill stretch for a couple of miles.

With all this rain and warm weather, the mosquitoes were swarming. I started getting bitten as soon as I stopped. Ick.

We actually did not go on the hill today. This was the turn around spot on our way to Martha’s!

In the background is Great Escape. It’s right across the street from Martha’s. Still open until the end of October.

Martha’s only does soft serve ice cream, but they do it well.

I decided on a sundae. It is called the Scholarship sundae for some weird reason.  It is your flavor of ice cream topped with raspberry sauce, hot fudge and cookie crumbs.  I had raspberry creme twist as my flavor.

This is the small  It looks smaller in this picture, too.  Oh – and I *never* eat cherries.  The one fruit I really don’t ever eat.

We enjoyed listening to the screams as we ate our ice cream 

I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish this sundae, but then I forget how much I actually can eat without getting full  LOL.  Not to mention it was really, really good. I am not afraid of food!  I was totally carbed up for the ride home.

Daily total:

Total miles: 40.5

Ride time: 3 hours 30 seconds

Average speed: 13.5 mph

Top speed: 23.2 mph

Calories burned: 1264

I could have done 60 miles today, but I think I would have been a bit tired. Plus, there was football to watch!

I picked against the Broncos (which breaks my heart), but I still supported them by wearing my jersey.  Guess it paid off because I won the football picks for the week.  Go Team Lori!!  Woo Hoo!