19 cattle guards, 2 bucks and a rusted tin roof.

The last long ride before the MJ was supposed to be short and hilly, it had long uphills, nothing too quad wrenching, which was nice but at the same time disappointing, I wanted to see how strong I was.

We went down 165 and looped around on loop 165 which meant we crossed at least 10 Cattle guards. My back water bottle was casualty to one of the crossings--think it was #4.

Really cool rock walls everywhere. I'm sure they have many stories to tell.



The only water stop is at Mt. Gainer Inn...they allowed us to use the hose attached to the outside wall. They had some of the coolest fossils. As we were leaving MGI, I hit 1500 miles for the year, goal accomplished...now to raise it to 2011 miles in 2011.



Since there weren't any restrooms for us to use, so the cedar trees helped us on the way back to the route. I can say that was the prettiest place I have taken a pit stop in 2011.

The next 15 miles the hills were long. On one long downhill, we had two 10+ point bucks running along the 10ft tall fence for about 1/4 a mile like they wanted to play with us. Too bad I couldn't get a pic.

We decided when we do the ride again, we need to drop off a cooler that is painted in camouflage.

My back light was a casualty at cattle guard #19. I did learn that the faster you go over them, the less bumpy they are.



Mile 40 we came across the coolest old house, we named it the "Love Shack" cuz of it's rusty tin roof. Once inside, we soon realized it could never contain a party. There was a cool fireplace, a very rusty bed frame, a shelf of artifacts and very thin & wobbly boards on the floor!







Overall an awesome ride & one that will be repeated, hopefully in the spring with wildflowers! Question of the day has to be: "how do you build a rock wall?"




************************************
Miles for this ride: 46
Miles for the week: 79
Total miles for the month: 384 (this one is hard to keep up with)
Total miles for 2011: 1527
Miles to go: -27 to hit 1500 484 to 2011
Odometer: 11336

Donuts, donkeys & downpours

As per most early, rise before the chickens, Saturday rides, this one started off with 2 breakfast tacos and a donut from Mi Victoria Bakery.

Then off to San Marcos to ride 68 miles. Nice to ride with another group that has put together the ride and maps and even provided SAG, but G&L still provide the best SAG. Pretty cool how up until this year I had never rode near San Marcos and Lockhart, but the majority of these summer rides have been out that way!

One must always stop at these types of photo ops!


Then further down the road on the way to Fentress (yet another 'town' I had never been to before these rides & now I've been there twice). We ran across a group of miniature donkeys.


Back at the outlet mall on mile 68, KPT & CJ want to do another 19 mile loop, I'll settle for 3.5 out & back. Yes folks, that is a rain cloud!

And yes, we road the last 2 miles in it! What a downpour! I thought it was wonderful, KPT on the other hand was not impressed.


***********************************************************
Miles for this ride: 74
Miles for the week: 110
Total miles for the month: 305 (ths one is hard to keep up with)
Total miles for 2011: 1443
Miles to go: 57 to hit 1500 (think I'll reset my goal to 2011 miles for 2011!)
Odometer: 11254

69 on Saturday Morning

In my continuing efforts to train for the Mamma Jamma ride, ABCx went to ride the Creedmoor Cruise. I've heard many bike groups riding to Creedmoor, so I was excited to finally get this one under my belt.

As with the all the early morning rides, it started with a fuel stop at Mi Victoria bakery...2 potato & egg tacos on corn tortillas and a donut each...MV really needs to raise their prices as all the above plus a coke was under $6 or maybe they need a gringo price list or a Hispanic discount.

Got to Williams elementary right at 7...had to laugh at KPT for putting on her arm warmers and another lady had on a jacket, but it was kinda cool--68 degrees. I'm going to have to get some cool weather gear since it looks like I will be training a lot this winter! So excited about Pedal Stroke, nervous, too. More on PS later.

As we rode towards Creedmoor, we went past the Texas Disposal's landfile & ranch. I started thinking about the last time I was out here and it was for the NARI party in 2007...then it dawned on me that was the night before I stroked. I kinda freaked out a bit, not anything big but had one of those moments where I questioned the whole stroke thing and that the last time I was on the road, I was 'normal.' Normal to me in terms of stroke means my left arm & hand didn't have to struggle. Then I started thinking what all I've accomplished since I stroked: walk again, run, ride bikes, new job, started ABCx after Luna folded, and the list could go on. So, quit thinking about your little problems typing and go on.

By mile 11 we were on our second potty stop...not a good sign, but at least it wasn't the same person each time.


Uh oh...not another detour! This one wasn't too bad, but still laughing that KPT thought the ground would be muddy! Right, with all .04 inhes of rain since July 1!


Next stop was Lytton Springs, awesome little grocery store w/ a frisky owner. She was giving us a hard time about not having any of the guys w/ us. Every customer who came in commented about us riding. Then when they were talking to the owner, she was always laughing! What a life!

Now on to Lockhart, this was probably our strongest leg of the ride...nice empty road, not too many cracks or hills (ok, one sharp hill near the end) kinda cool to have made it to Lockhart via bike twice this summer!

Near Niederwald, mile 46, Crystal had mechanical issues, a sign of things to come? Water bottle readjusted, chain back on and we were soon off the bumpy road.

The drought has caused the asphalt to crack. Some cracks are tiny and others are given the nick name of the Grand Canyon. One Grand Canyon already caused one cyclist to get bucked off her bike, no serious injuries or issues to the bike.

Then there was the crack a bit bigger than the width of my tire that was in my line and appeared out of nowhere. Somehow I managed to steer the front tire away,I screamed but the back wheel went down, and boom went the tire! I went into the traffic lane, thank goodness no cars, stopped and looked at my wheel. Amazingly the rim wasn't bent, but there was a dime sized hole in my new tire. I remember Brad talking about using a coke can, then KPT mentioned a dollar bill...much easier.




Amazingly it held! for the last 12 miles!

Once in the parking lot, I was at 68.79 miles or close to that, time for laps...had to end at that 69!





***********************************************************
Miles for this ride: 69
Miles for the week: 81
Total miles for the month: 195 (ths one is hard to keep up with)
Total miles for 2011: 1333
Miles to go: 167to hit 1500!
Odometer: 11143

Ride w/ the Wind!

What do you do when there is a 20+ mph wind coming from the north and you need a bike ride...you do what all smart cyclists should do...you drive your car North 30 miles and head south with the wind to your back!
So after picking up tacos & donuts at Mi Victoria, we drove to my Uncle Elmer's place near Georgetown to park the cars. It was so very thoughtful of them to leave the garage door unlocked so we could access the restroom.
for the first 5 miles on FM 3405 we averaged 15 mph, took us 20 mins to get to Parmer (Ronald Reagan Blvd that far north)
OOnce on Parmer w th winds to our backs, we flew! First hill I went up it going 17 mph, in the big ring, second bigger hill went up it at 12 mph...I hope this pace can continue...tried to stay in the big ring the entire ride, but on the next few hills had to bail out of it (think the wind shifted ;-))

Kristen felt we could do the ride in 1.5 hours, so I had a goal to beat.
Total saddle time was 1 hr 28 mins, total time from place to place was 1:33 or so...we only hit 3 stop lights!

Averaged 18.9 mph for the entire ride, later that night I figured out the speed along Parmer to Alison's and it was 20 mph ! woo hoo!



***********************************************************
Miles for this ride: 27
Miles for the week: 27
Total miles for the month: 114
Total miles for 2011: 1252
Miles to go: 248 to hit 1500!
Odometer: 11061

San Marcos River Ride

Another ABCx bike ride in San Marcos complete w dove hunters,( when they would shoot it sounded like a tire blowing out), a flat, a wrong turn that lead us to a plethora of bail bonds businesses, the last 15 miles we had the pleasure of riding into a 15 mph wind coming from the north! But it was on a paved road. After the ride a quick jump into the San Marcos river (72 degrees ) to cool off!

Finally saw the sun rise!


One of about 8 Bail Bonds Places (wonder if they would sponsor us?)


cool pic on the wrong turn:



Best part of the ride was we didn't get yelled at for riding 3 abreast! (we never do...but they thought we did)
**********************************************
Miles for this ride: 57
Miles for the week: 87
Total miles for the month: 87
Total miles for 2011: 1225
Miles to go: 275 to hit 1500!
Odometer: 11034 close to 7734!