Tri County Hill Hopper

OUCH!!!!

I did not ride last week, and Saturday I worked on the house. Not quite done, but I did not let that stop me from riding Sunday. The Tri-County Hill Hopper started from the Big Red Barn out in Round Top, TX on 2/25/07. This is a nice challenging route with lots of nice hills to climb. Check out their web page for more info. www.hillhopper.org

It was about 40 degrees when we got to the ride. It warmed up pretty quickly once the sun came up. By the time I got to the first rest stop, I decided to take off my jacket. It was a little cool standing around, but once on the bike, I was nice and warm.

Vanessa decided she was going to skip the loop and turn the 76 mile route into the 60 mile route. I worked this ride as a ride marshal also, so I stopped to help 2 people on this ride. The first was a flat tire between two nice hills. It was about 6-7 miles into the ride. I caught Vanessa at the first rest stop.

We left the rest stop and I was talking to another ride marshal when we noticed a guy that seemed to be hurting a little. We pulled over and helped him raise his seat a little. It must have worked because he took off and it took a few minutes to catch him. Making that one change seemed to make a huge difference for him.

So off I went again to catch Vanessa since she kept riding. Turns out she followed Sheldon and realized she missed her turn to skip the loop after she got back to the first rest stop. Needless to say I made the turn. I waited for a few minutes at the 3rd rest stop, then decided I can wait at the car for her. Sheldon's friend, Pat, was at the rest stop and was ready to leave. I decided I would ride with him for the rest of the route.

Off we headed. Down about a mile or two from the rest stop, there were two calves out of the fence. They were standing in the ditch minding their own business, then one of them started to walk towards me. I moo'd loudly and the second calf started to run. First he turned to the fence, then he turned around and headed into the road. Right in Pat's path. We both got a good laugh about that.

We finished up the route. I like this ride, it is a nice challenging route with nice roads and nice hills. Great training for the MS150.

Bulldog Ride and other Training

This week I got one ride in on the trainer. I got an hour in and boy did it feel good to get back on the trainer. Unfortunately that was the only weekday I got to ride. So much for my training plan.
I worked my first training ride as a ride marshal. Saturday 2/17/02, Vanessa and I did the Bulldog Ride. This ride is put on by the Waller Jr High School. It was a good route. Vanessa was able to keep up with me on several of the hills. The morning started out in the mid 40s but warmed up to the upper 50s. We fought the wind for the first half of the ride. But as we headed back down 362 into Waller, we flew. At one point I was holding 27-30 mph. What a rush.

Sunday morning we rode with Gary, JC, and Mike on 2978 and did the 30 mile loop. It was pretty uneventful. I realized it has been a while since we rode on 2978. It was a good riding weekend. Not a lot of miles, but at least they were good.

Just simple rides

After doing two organized rides the last two weekends, we decided to join our team on Saturday 2/10. Team BTX met at Charm & Charlies at I-45 and SH 242. We rode up to Conroe and back. It was good to ride with the team again. Since the last time we rode with them was before Christmas. This route was about 40 miles. The temps were in the mid 40s and did not warm up much before we were done. I did attack one hill and decided to not give up until I had no more to give. I saw a new personal high HR. I hit 199.

On Sunday we met Sheldon in Katy again. He was riding a route with another Team Spoken member. It was a nice route out through Fulshear, Brookshire, and back to Katy. Over all it was just over 40 miles. Not bad.

After skipping my training plan the last few weeks. I need to get back on it. Not likely to happen soon because I have to do some repairs on the house. Maybe I can sneak in a few weekday rides.

Big Chill Bike Ride

We headed to Katy on 2/4/07 to ride in the big chill bike ride. This was the first year Vanessa and I did this ride. It was fun. Pretty well organized and supported. It was also a very nice route. For the second week in a row the weather was cold and windy. The wind was out of the south this week and the ride started around 42 degrees. Luckily as the day wore on it warmed up to the upper 50s.

We rode with our friend Sheldon and some of his friends from Team Spoken. This ride was a lot smaller than the Frost Bike 50 so it did not take nearly as long for everyone to be out on the course. We ended up doing the 45 mile route which took us from Katy, TX to Monaville, TX and back. After making good time heading out, we turned around and found out the return trip was a little more difficult. It was a good ride. Just what I needed after not riding for the last week.