Biking Breakaways 2022

  Another 8 a.m start and we were feeling so pleased with our Saturday ride and so happy we'd have a quick 37 miles on our second day. This day was even more beautiful than the day before. Nice routes, lots of ups and downs, smooth pavement, very little traffic. Healthy lunch afterwards of wrapped sandwiches, fresh salads, cookies, chips and lemonade. The campus of Georgetown College made a great start and finish for our events. In the photo above, I'm wearing my hot pink HH 2021 jersey, Cindy is decked out in her cool blue HH 2022 model. The peonies are in glorious bloom up here. Many had such big blossoms that they'd drooped over from the weight and laid their colors on the ground. But this bush was so special I had to stop and get a photo. So strong of stem it was, beautifying the corner of a country graveyard.  Loved the stacked stone fences. And, of course, the black wooden fences. Strong woman, post ride. Ready for a week of vacay. (No biking vacay.)

  Fred and I made friends with Glen, in center, out in Utah earlier this year at the Skinny Tire Ride. And here he is, in Kentucky, ready to roll again! Fred, Cindy and I got a crisp 8 a.m start on day one of the Horsey Hundred. Cindy and I had originally signed up for the metric century, but we were so cheerful and strong at mile 30, we breezily decided we would join Fred in doing the 75 mile ride. The decision was a solid one, but it was a good bit of effort, especially since as soon as we took the left turn that took us out for the extra miles––guess what––the hills got a lot steeper. After the ride, I overheard another biker answer the "how do you feel" question with a single word: spent . So, yes, me too . I'll add that I was happy and felt accomplished because I had only ridden up to maybe 69 miles before on the mostly-flat Silver Comet Trail, so this was a welcomed PR for me. With 4,700 something feet elevation. On our ride, I loved it coming up over a rise in the ...

  For the second year, Fred and I will ride two days of the Horsey Hundred in and around Georgetown, Ky. during Memorial Day weekend. (Also, our Atlanta friend Cindy is joining us this year.) As we prepared to head up to north-central Kentucky, an area so famous for breeding, raising and racing steeds that it is referred to as "horse country," I started wondering why Kentucky? I found this in a 2010 Slate  article.  They claim that because Kentucky’s hills are filled with limestone, the bluegrass that grows there is rich in calcium. This supposedly builds unusually strong bones in horses. (Spring water with a heavy limestone component is allegedly also what makes Kentucky bourbon so good.)  Other reasons––less mystical and more historical––are:  Wealthy Virginian horse families began to settle in the state in 1770, and while other states were beginning to outlaw horse racing, Kentucky embraced the sport and began to build race tracks in the 1880s.ettled in the ...