Old Spicewood Again & April 2013 Stats

I think this past weekend was my 3rd time to ride Old Spicewood in 2013 and it was a great ride once again like the other 2 have been this year. Went with Joy who was a bit intimidated about my description of the Big Hill, but in true Joy fashion she rocked it. No North wind to contend with, slightly overcast but a perfect temperature--mid 70's. Sadly I didn't take any pics, we just rode & chatted. Next big ride will be 360, then time to ride the dam loop. It's been since 2009 since I last rode the dam loop, I was ok until I hit the 3 hills necessary to avoid going down tumbleweed hill, would be rewarding to be able to go up those this time.


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Miles for this ride: 32.6


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My birthday week I completed my first 40% commute week where I commuted 40% of the week. Road home on Monday, back on Tuesday, then road both ways on Friday. I'm trying to do this again this week. I wanted to do it every week in April, but the weather (it actually rained) got in the way.
 On my way home yesterday, there was a pretty rainbow to follow. I was hoping I could get a pic of it over Town Lake & downtown, but it was the wrong way.

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Total miles for the month of April:  250.46 (ahead of last year by 20 miles)
Total miles for 2013: 690.58  (ahead  by  58 miles when compared to 2012)
Miles to go to hit 2013: 1322.42

One way commutes in April:12 (I think this might be a record for me, now to break it with Bike & Stroke Month)
Miles commuted:about 96
Total one way commutes: 30
Trip2:
Road: 327.79
Cross:  351.55 (who knows what it really is)
Odometer
Road: 13507
Cross: 1844.43

Willow City Loop for my birthday

I was asked what I wanted to do on my birthday, my ideas were: bike Willow City Loop, go camping in Colorado Bend State Park with Jason, or have people over to decorate my back yard.
Marlyn said she would like to do WCL! I was thrilled!
Slept late & by 10:15 or so we were at MiV getting fuel for the ride.
For some reason it took us  forever to drive to Willow City, could it be the extra eclair stop in Dripping Springs followed by the coke stop in Johnson City?. I think we had wheels down at 12:30! Yikes!

Marilyn noticed this sign & was wondering what "western Pleasures" are, I'm afraid to google it!

Great time riding downhill. A nice man in a truck even warned us of it. Felt awesome to be outdoors in the sunshine with the wind blowing.

First cool sighting was the boot fence. I don't remember it being here in the past. We tried to see if there were any pairs of boots or if they  all belonged to someone with only 1 leg? Where did they get them? Some are still in good shape except for that cut down the back so it would slide down the fence & over the barbed wire.

Had to stop and take blue bonnet pics!

 Took a detour on Willow City Click road and we discovered these cacti blooming, after that we saw them everywhere.

I really wanted a shovel to dig one up, wonder how often they bloom?

Then there's the livestock on the road.  It's important to stop & look at them chewing.

This guy was an ass.

By then end of the ride the heat started to get to us, we were low on water & happy to be back in the car!

But what a fun day to be able to go on a country ride on your birthday with your best friend! Kudos to Marilyn for taking the risk! Hope she does some ride w ABCx this summer, she's a good cyclist.

On the way back, we spent some time at the Knot in the Loop, drinking a cold one & looking at the items on the wall. Once back in Austin we ate pizza and awesome cheese bread at  Austin Pizza Garden in Oak Hill with at least 3 little league teams & families. According to the historical marker Marilyn read, it used to be a brewery called Spoetzl or something like that she said, the one I read said it was a general store. You decide.

Commuted home on Monday & back on Tuesday, rear wheel still squeaks somehow... ugh, took it apart & back together Mon night. Great temp to ride in! With the fitbit, I did 48 flights of stairs home & 6o0 to work, plus about 3500 steps. At Willow City, it was 126 flights of stairs & 8000+ steps. fun with the FitBit.

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Miles for these rides: 21, 8.5, 10
Total miles for the month of April:111.94
Total miles for 2013: 538.69
Miles  til 2013:  1474.31  (got a long way to go, but it's getting smaller)
One way commutes in April so far: 6
Total one way commutes in 2013: 24
Odometer
Road: 13444
Cross: 1771
Trip2:
Road:264.86
Cross: 285.65

Spurs, Longhorns, Chix & Google

Since the last blog I've ridden the Spokes n Spurs ride, went on an ABCx ride & commuted to work.

Spokes n Spurs ride was great, a little cold since I was totally unprepared, should have worn the capri's or at least leg warmers! So, I had a pair of disposable arm warmers I put on my shins that helped a little!
I rode a bit w Maggie, it was great getting to know her more.

 The highlight of the ride besides the fun climbs had to be the longhorn laying by the fence.

too bad I didn't get the pic of Maggie jumping & screaming when the guy stood up as she was posing for a pic!

I think these ruts were made by wagon wheels, many moons ago...


On Tuesday, we had our first ABCx Tuesday ride of 2013. Sadly a lot of people bailed at the last minute, but those of us who rode had a blast!  Love what Grenita posted on fb after the ride.

"Wooohooo now that's what I'm talking about! Great first ride of the season with Austin Bike Chix!!! I needed that after today's poop landslide at work. Riding is so fulfilling and I can go farther. Lol!!"

I decided last week to change out my cassette & chain, then went on to change out the brakes. Ran into several problems & finally got the cassette & brakes working, only took 3 nights & the proper tool--a cable puller (I have no strength in my hands). Then the cassette was still squeaking,  a lot of forums said it could be a bad bearing in the rear axel, so the next thing you know I've taken it apart & started to put it back together when I noticed I was missing an O-ring on one cone & the other was badly worn, so I had to wait. Went to Breed's the next day & found 2 O-rings that I hope are working. Put everything back together & the derailleur wouldn't shift into the low gear--the one I need to get up those hills past the river! I ended up riding & tutoring , so I wouldn't be riding the cross bike home on Weds, took the road bike home & set a 2013 PR of 37 mins to fly home! I watched a bunch of derailleur videos at work & based on them I figured out the low adjustment was off, backed it out & it shifted! So happy!

On the ride to work Thursday morning, I stopped at MiV, got to eat an eclair since it was below 50! Once back  on the bike, I realized I left my water bottle at home, so I stopped at the Corner Store & bought a small bottle. At Windsor & Winsted as I was going thru the light, I noticed an oddly painted car at the light, I looked closer & it was the Google Street View car! Cool, I might be on streetview! then the water bottle fell & I had to lay down the bike ( Ialways forget I have a kickstand, doh!) and go walk to pick up my waterbottle! I will laugh even harder if I'm on streetview picking up my water bottle, but it will still be cool! Of course I dropped the water bottle one more time!

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Miles for these rides: 27, 10.5, 8.4, 10
Total miles for the month of April: 72.07
Total miles for 2013: 498.82
Miles  til 2013:  1501.18  (got a long way to go, but it's getting smaller)
One way commutes in April so far:4
Total one way commutes in 2013: 22
Odometer
Road: 13423
Cross: 1752
Trip2:
Road:243.99
Cross: 266.62

Where there's a will...

I so wanted to ride 2 complete commutes to work this week, but no..
First started out with the plan to ride both ways on Monday, or at least home then back on Tuesday. Well, that plan was derailed when I broke my $5 academy chain tool trying to put a new chain on the cross bike. I went to my bike mechanic Mr. Chang(e) and he informed me of the powerlink which is a link you can put on your chain so that you don't have to use a tool to remove it.  So I decided to wait & went and bought a powerlink on Monday. In hindsight, I prob could have put the chain on & then added the powerlink on Tuesday, but better safe then sorry. I also should go buy 2 more as back ups in case I need one while on the road, guess I'll go back on Friday.
So now the bike is ready to go, new cassette & new chain. More teeth in the cassette so it should make the hills easier. I could not tell a difference today, maybe next week, it better be better next week, cuz when I took the bike off the car, I realized I rode the past 2 rides in the BIG RING up front!! No wonder it want easier today!
Tuesday I pack stuff up to ride home on Tuesday, I can still get in another Th/F turnaround for 2 this week.  Tuesday, I also started Dr. Oz's 3 day detox....yeah well, talk about starving & no energy, my detox plan  lasted until Tuesday night when I broke down & had breakfast for dinner! Guess I'll do a 10 day eating clean & prob get the same effect, I'll sub his drinks for meals & snacks, so far they are amazingly good. And of course the office manager bought a lot of 1/2 price Easter chocolate, I will resist!(or stockpile it).
So, Tuesday afternoon I go to get my hair cut, on my way back to work, I get stuck in MoPac traffic,  I  decided after several (20) minutes (why it took so long I'll never know) to text Jes & go home, he was completely cool w it & traffic was horrible. And by the time I got home it was raining, lots, I mean lots!
Thus, no ride on Tuesday.
Weds I took the bike & all my stuff I had packed to ride home on Monday & Tuesday...shorts, short sleeve jersey, shoes, socks, helmet, etc. And then it started to rain, so I ran down to the car & put the bike in the back of it, didn't get too wet, thankfully, but it was cold! I'm watching the weather all day, 58 degrees, but no rain, then Marilyn calls to tell me how cold it was & that riding home probably wasn't a good idea. So I'm thinking, I would play soccer in the 50's in shorts, I should be able to ride my bike. I'll at least change, then go outside & see, but then I realized, that only my legs would be freezing, how can I cover them up? Then I looked down & had an "ah-ha" moment...silly Kim, you can just ride home in your jeans! Better yet you can put your bike shorts on under your jeans so you don't have to deal with that huge seam that is like a knot right at your privates. Luckily I had on my baggy jeans & I had somehow lost 3 pounds w the Dr. Oz drinks for 2/3 of a day, so the shorts under the jeans weren't a problem.

I was warm & I was on my bike!!! Finally! But I did realize when I stopped to take a pic of the flowers that it was differently getting back on my bike, not sure exactly how, but it was different, maybe stiff?

I decided to take the Johnson Creek trail to see if after all this rain 2.5-3" if there was water in the creek. And there was! The first time in 4 years I finally saw running water in the creek. And of course the next morning it was empty. :-(

By the time I was about 2 miles from home,I was beginning to feel like the Princess in the "Princess & the Pea." Maybe I just have a sensitive woo ha, but I was starting to feel that huge seam (knot) thru the pad in my shorts. I really don't see how people ride in jeans, or other shorts, khaki's, maybe, but anything with that huge seam just hurts. Maybe I sit wrong? I've been trying to sit on my butt bones more, but that made the huge seam worse yesterday.  Seriously, how do the hipsters do it?


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Miles for this ride:8.2 hm 8.44 to work
Total miles for the month ofApril: 16.64
Total miles for 2013: 443.39
Miles  til 2013:  1556.61  (got a long way to go, but it's getting smaller)
One way commutes in April so far: 2
Total one way commutes in 2013:20
Odometer
Road: 13327 
Cross: 1740
Trip2:
Road: 148.07
Cross: 256

longest ride in 2013, so far

I had planned to ride in the EHCT (Easter Hill Country Tour) again this year until I looked at the calendar & every weekend in March had a major commitment, so I decided I needed to uncommit the EHCT on that weekend and ride the Salado Smokin Spokes ride up in Salado. Thankfully Kristen agreed to ride it, also! MiV for breakfast and they didn't receive an eclairs, so I had to 'settle' for a  chocolate glazed instead.
We found the park, went to go pick up our goody bag & number. There wasn't a number, instead we received a plastic band with the Salado Fire Dept info on it. The lady said we had to wear it to get food at the rest stops & so SAG would know we are on the  ride. Personally, I think I prefer the numbers, why? 1. less plastic; 2. nice memento 3. now there won't be a SSS number to line my coffin...even if it was a RoadID number. so instead I have a white w red plastic band on my gear shift in the car...wonder how long til it rots? The rest of the goody bag was interesting---jar grips w 911 on them, pens w 911 on them, flyers for other ride & other advertising literature. It looked like if we had arrived earlier we could have received a smoke detector.

All smiles before the ride...wonder what will happen at those hills?

At the start, 2 riders went down, I knew there was something different about this crowd. Then at one reststop we saw this? A folding stick that can be used for a kickstand? Makes me wonder how organized his house is, and yes it was a he.

At the first major turn I saw this sign, I don't think there was an arrow under it or a dash between the 57 & 70, but I'm probably wrong. I couldn't figure out what the sequence of numbers was for...it wasn't a phone number or an address, Kristen started laughing cuz I was commenting out loud and didn't know what it was. Can you figure it out?

In the end there were only 2 bad hills, the worst one being within the last 5 miles, uphill & against the wind. But it was nice to be able to do a 50 mile ride not having been on a "long" ride in a while.

fun fence in Salado

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Miles for this ride: 50.03
Total miles for the month of March:157.83
Total miles for 2013: 426.75
Miles  til 2013:  1586.25  (got a long way to go)
One way commutes in March so far:6
Total one way commutes in 2013: 18
Odometer
Road: 13327 
Cross: 1703
Trip2:
Road: 148.07
Cross: 221.32
why are my trips not adding up to 357, where is the error? ugh, if only I had not reset trip 2!!!

March 2013 Stats

Much better stats compared to last year in March. Even with missing a week for Adventures in Arizona, I still managed to commute 6 times,and log a long ride of 50 miles, longest ride for the year to date.




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Total miles for the month of March:  157.83 (ahead of last year by 18)
Total miles for 2013: 426.75 (ahead  by 50 miles when compared to 2012 I keep finding errors in 2012's data, trying to be more careful with 2013's and I don't think its working!)
Miles to go to hit 2013: 1586.25

One way commutes in March: 6
Miles commuted:61.4
Total one way commutes:18
Trip2:
Road: 198.23
Cross:  242.06 (who knows what it really is)
but when you add the road & cross you get 440.29, which is 14miles off of the miles for the year, I'll have to look at it on a computer later...
Odometer
Road: 13377
Cross: 11723.5