PURE AUSTIN Pace Bend Road Race

When I unloaded the bike for hill repeats on Thursday night,
I noticed that my front tire was a bit low. After hill repeats,
it was low again. I patched the tube and pulled the bit of
glass out of the tire on Friday, but the tire was low on
Saturday morning. So, I decided to go against popular
wisdom and change both my front tire and tube the night
before the race. I thought about changing the back tire
and tube, but decided to not tempt fate. This Quick Stick
that I won at Warda works great for both taking tires off
and putting them on. Even new tires, which usually give
me problems on these rims. No swears were heard.

My Cat 4/5 35+ race was scheduled to get underway at 9:55am,
so I thought that if I left my house by 8am, that would give me
plenty of time to get there, pick up my packet, and warm up.

I left my house at 8:20am, and didn't take into account that I'd
be riding behind a pack of cyclists on the race course to get
to the parking area, where I arrived at about 9:30am. At least
I got a chance to see the course, since I haven't ridden out
there before.

I parked near Richie, who was warming up on his trainer. My
warmup consisted of running up to registration and back. At
least there wasn't a line. After pinning on my numbers, and
getting ready, I had about 15 minutes before the start, so
decided to pull out the rollers and get about 5 minutes of
warmup in, for whatever that would be worth, but the grass
was too tall. Heh.

As I was about to head to the line, a woman came up and
asked me if I thought that "they" would have a compressor
so that she could air up her car tire, which had gone flat. I
have an electric pump in the truck, so I lent it to her, and
asked her to put it into the bed of the truck when she was
done. I was hoping that I'd get some good karma for that...

And that brings us to the start of the race. Finally...

Richie and I line up together, and I tell him that, just like
last time, my goal was to stay with him, since he finishes
well. I take a Cliff Shot and drink a half bottle of water.
There was no roll-call this time, just "Go!"

The first lap goes well, the course is really nice, and people
have a tendency to stay on the right side of the road even
though we have the entire roadway to use (no center-line
rule). There are two hard right turns on the course, and
a couple of guys near the front took the first one too hot,
and ended up going straight (from the inside of the turn!).
Luckily, no one crashed, they just ended up off the road
for a bit. I was surprised by the speed of the pack down
the finishing straight, which was slightly downhill, since
it was just the first lap. It's not like there were primes,
or anything...

Not much exciting happened on the second lap.

As we're starting on our third lap, I'm starting to wonder
if this racing stuff is really for me, as I'm starting to get
tired. Luckily, those thought quickly left my head. The
bit of rest that I was getting at that point helped, too. :)

Going up the second hill on the this lap, I'm in the pack,
on the right side. Suddenly, I hear a "Pisssshhhhhh-
pish-pish-pish-pish." I take a quick assessment and
realize that it's coming from the bike on my right. Whew!
The rider of that bike soon sounded like me at Rocky
Hill. :-)

At the top of this hill, Richie gets into a breakaway with
about 5 other guys, but it doesn't last too long, unfortunately.

Flashback to Thursday...

During hill repeats, my knee started to bother me, so I
decided to quit after my third repeat (I was going to stop
after 2, but Kirk talked me into another). I was going to
take it pretty easy, though. David James started his
fourth repeat a bit after Tom and I started our third, and
I told Tom that we'd be David's rabbit. David proved me
right as he came up on us just as we're beginning the
last step of the hill. He worked a lot harder to catch
me than I did to get to that point, so I had some energy
left, and was able to re-pass David before the top. (I
must've forgotten about my knee :-} ).

What's the point of all this, you may be asking. Well,
I thought that a good strategy for today's race would be
to go out a mile or so before the last hill, then rest on
the hill and let the pack catch up to me. I planned on
doing this for laps 3 and 4, if I could get away with it,
so that they would let me go on lap 5, assuming that
they would catch me on the hill again, but I would not
rest on the hill, and try to take it in a breakaway.

Best laid plans. Mice. Men.

However, I did do a version of this on the 4th lap,
though not necessarily on purpose. Leading up to
the hill, I was riding in 4th position. The guy on the
front decided to attack the hill, but I elected to let
those 3 go. Unfortunately, no one else did.

Oops.

By the top of the hill, I heard the chase motorcycle
on my wheel. I looked back and saw no one else.
I am able to hang onto the back of the pack, though.

We finally start the fifth and final lap, and I'm able
to get some rest here. I also use my small chain
ring for just about the whole lap, but am still able
to stay in the pack. I work my back up to the front
of the pack, and find Richie. We're near the
front when we hit the last hill, and some guy in
front of me swerves, making me touch my brakes.
When this happened in Bryan a couple years ago,
I lost momentum and got spit out the back. Today,
however, I picked a wheel that wasn't swerving, and
hung onto it, making it to the top of the hill in pretty
good position. Richie and I were in the top ten. All
that's left is a hard right turn and a slight downhill
finish.

Going into the turn, I'm on Richie's right hip, but I
have to scrub off speed since I'm trying to take it
too sharp. I should have faded out to the left as
Richie and the rest of the group did. I picked it
back up and sprinted as hard as I could for the
finish, even though there were others passing me.
I was able to nip one guy at the finish, and ended
up in 19th place, which I was quite happy with.
Richie ended up 9th.


What I was even happier with was that I had a
few opportunities to let negative thoughts rule me,
which has been a problem in the past. I worked
hard up to the very end.

Now if I could just work on setting up my turns
better....

Epilogue: As I was getting ready to leave, I saw a
note under my windshield. It was from the woman
to whom I had lent my pump. She thanked me for
it and said she hoped I had a good race. She
signed it, "A Single Mother with children on a
camping trip."

But no phone number. :-( Harrumph!

Talon Trails Excruciation Exam

This is a report of a race I did in January:

The Talon Trails Excruciation Exam was a race which utilized the trails at Bluff Creek Ranch in Warda, the trails at Rocky Hill Ranch in Smithville, and the paved and dirt roads in between. We traveled 30 miles on trails and 50 miles on roads.

The Excruciation Exam was, in a word, excruciating.

Other than giving birth, this has got to have been the hardest thing I can remember doing.

Oh. Wait...

Ok, this was the hardest thing I can remember doing, making the Tour das Hugel ("100 miles of Austin's most painful hills") look like a ride around my living room.

I knew things were going to be rough when, during the pre-race riders' meeting, I look down and saw that I was already bleeding. The sharp part of my rear quick release skewer had grazed the dry skin of my leg and pierced it.

*sigh*

John and I had decided that we'd ride together, he'd lead on the trails, and I'd lead on the road. The race started with a Lemans-style start, where we ran to a tree and back before mounting our bikes. The most difficult part of this was dodging the cow patties, which we managed to do quite admirably.

The first 6-mile lap through the Bluff Creek Ranch trails went smoothly. John and I were pacing ourselves (my whole goal of this thing was to finish, not necessarily finish well), and we got to the road about 40 minutes later. The weather was cool and misty, with a little bit of wind in our face. We managed to paceline with 1-3 other folks on the 28-mile ride to Rocky Hill Ranch. I learned to not breathe through my mouth when drafting someone on dirt roads, however, or I'd end up with a mouth full of, well, dirt. However, I later found that the extra minerals may have done me some good.

As we rolled into the RHR checkpoint, I hit the "Lap" button on my GPS, so that I could keep separate tracks of the road and trail portions, but the GPS hung on me. It must've been the moisture. Just a minor annoyance, as I wouldn't know how far I had to go on the future legs.

As we started out for the RHR trails, I noticed that my front tire was a bit low. I thought that would probably be helpful for the trail, and I would put more air in it before hitting the road again. Just before we get into the trail, I see Bob (whom I know from the Brazos Valley Mtb Assoc.) taking photos. Hi, Bob! Not too much farther along, I see Joel (also from the BVMBA), also taking pictures. I chat with Joel for a bit while John takes care of some mechanical issue on his bike.

I think that Joel put some bad Ju-Ju on me, because once John and I got started again, my rear derailleur went out of tune. I just couldn't get it to shift right, no matter how much I fiddled with the barrel adjuster. I could only use 2-3 of my rear cogs, so I ended up using my front derailleur as much as, if not more ,than, my rear. Needless to say, this put me in a bit of a foul mood.

But wait! That's not all! Tell them what else we have in store, Johnny!

That's right! We've also got cramps! Cramps in muscles that we didn't even know existed! Off the bike? Voluntarily or not? Have another cramp! One cramp's not enough? If you call now, you'll get a special bonus of cramps in both right quad and right hamstring at the same time! Operators are standing by!

Man, oh, man, that was pain that I haven't experienced before, not even when I broke my arm. With cramps on both sides of my leg, I couldn't move my leg at all. Swear words were not enough. It was primal scream time. After standing there for several minutes, the cramps finally went away. John came back to check up on me, and gave me a couple of Tums that he carries for just such occasions.

The Tums helped.

For about 10 minutes.

Then muscles that hadn't yet cramped decided to take their turn. I finally convinced John to go ahead, and told him that I was planning on bailing if I ever got out of the woods. I then just granny-geared it out of there.

Going up? Granny gear.

Level? Granny gear.

Down? Coast.

I just walked over anything that looked the least bit technical, and went up, as well as extended climbs.

When I got to the ditch called The Grind, I saw roots on the left side of the entry, and leaves on the right. Not knowing what was under the leaves, I decided to just send my bike down ahead of me. It didn't pick a very good line, because I slipped and fell down, myself, when I followed it on foot.

About the only good thing that happened for me at RHR was that John suggested that I fill my water bottle at one of the water stops, as my camelbak ran out before I got out of the woods.

When I finally exited the woods (queue angelic music here) John was sitting in a chair, waiting for me. I told him that I was done, and that he should go ahead and finish the race. So he left.

I had an hour before the "gate" at RHR shut, so I sat and ate and drank while Susan and Maureen gave me words of encouragement. After about 25 minutes, I decided that it was mostly tailwind on the roads back to Warda, and then it was only 3 miles of trails once I got there, and I didn't want John to be the last person in the race, since he had waited for me, so I pumped up my tires for the road and rolled out.

The road to Warda was pretty uneventful, except that there was more side wind and less tailwind than I expected. My rear derailleur starts working properly again, so things are starting to look up.

I finally get to Warda, and now all I have left is the short trail! I let some of the air out of my back tire, but the front has lost some air on it's own. No worry, as I only have 3 more miles. I'm taking it easy, and things are going pretty well.

Oh, ye of little faith...

About halfway through the trail, my front tire gets very low. I take out my pump and put more air in it. I continue on. After about another 100 yards, the tire is completely flat. I have a tube, but neither the energy nor the patience to put it in, so I decide to just walk it out, and that's what I do.

As I walk to the finish line, John, Maureen, Ryan, Susan, Duane, Ted, and a few others are there, applauding. I think that they're just glad that they can finally go home, as I was the last finisher.

I was just glad to be done with it all.

I guess DFL is better than DNF. 9:21:02. That gives me a time to beat next year.

Next year?

Hmmmm....

Hopefully, next year I won't leave the NUUN tablets in the truck.

Chappell Hill Report

Today's race captain, David James, did Velocity proud, finishing towards the front of his first Cat 4 road race after 62 sweltering miles. As for me, I showed up, was dropped a quarter through the race and switched roles to feed zone support. There were at least 70 at the start. (I'm told that 80 started the 45+ race and the Cat 5 hit its ruled limit of 50 riders over a week ago, which is why I cat'd up.)

David got miscued and thought there would be neutral water at the feed zone and showed up to the start with only one bottle. It was easy going before we reached the circuit and the most challenging part was staying alert and ready to hit the brakes. Every few minutes a strong puller would swing off the front and drop the speed of the pack by several mph, making everybody behind the leaders hit the brakes. As I was starting to drag early on in the race I swapped with David my larger bottle for his smaller one. I'm satisfied I was max'd out as I was being dropped. It's a slow fade of only 1-2 mph, they seem so close ahead, drawing away ever so slowly, but drawing away nonetheless.

I was waiting ready at the feed zone at the end of the second lap of the circuit, and David heard me yelling "Velocity" but he wasn't expecting me and was on the far side of the pack. I hadn't seen him that loop but I caught him the next time around, he grateful to get his full bottle back. (I had already rehydrated with a kind cold offering from the Sugar Cycles team support.) At that end of the last circuit a breakaway of about a half-dozen riders had a two-minute gap on the main pack, which had no hope of closing it in the remaining 13 miles. By David's report, approaching the finish, another breakaway of another half-dozen or so riders split off and finished off the top 10. David led the remaining pack across the finish line.

I ambled back, passing tired, dehydrated racers and as I passed them I felt obligated to let them know that I was actually 24 miles behind them (having rested two laps in the feed zone).

All in all, a fine race day. I'm much happier to have raced than to not have raced.

13 Hours on a Barstool: AT&T Crit Report

On Saturday 6/16 instead of any form of exercise all I did was sit on a bar stool, and watch bike racing. The next morning my calves felt like they were on the verge of cramping. It was strange having that sensation since the closest I came to my bike in the preceding 3 days was passing it in the garage.

Here's how the day unfolded.

Raining Again

The original plan was for Michael to come to my house at 0730 AM, and we were going to ride down to the 2nd St District and watch Daniel race with the Cat 5's, and then hang around until 0930 and watch Gerry ride with the Masters 45+, 55+, and 65+. Gerry was the only 65+ racer, so it would be basically a 50 minute victory lap.

Alas, all of this was not to be on account of the sound of thunder that awakened me from my pre-AT&T crit slumber at 0430. When I awoke for real, at 0630 it was coming down steadily and the roads were very wet. Michael showed at my place at 0715, and he and I drove downtown for coffee and bike racing. I let him borrow a pair of my citizen shorts, and I put on my Velocity jersey, and wore a pair of citizen shorts as well. Even though I wasn't going to be riding, I thought it was important to show some "club love" for the home team.

We arrived at the Start/Finish line at 0730, and got some coffee and breakfast tacos. We pulled up some bar stools and got ready to spectate. We found out then the that the two Cat 5 races has been combined for "safety reasons" on account of the rain. As a result instead of 20 racing in each race, there were now 40 Cat 5's racing.

Enter the Guppy Hunter

Frank showed up at 0800. He had been threatening to ride from So. Dallas to the race, but the rain put him in the Dodge truck. He found a bar stool, and we all got ready to watch some Velocity smack down. In reality, Michael and I went to the turn #1 to watch what we thought would be the inevitable crash of the Cat 5 race. Daniel was in the peleton respledent in his Velocity kit. Here's a photo of him negotiating turn #1 at some point in the race:

Daniel looked good, and reported later that on account of the wet road conditions the peleton never really got its rhythm together. Daniel looked good as he finished. He didn't crash, and he lived to race another day.

Where's Gerry?

At 0900 there was no sign of Gerry King our Velocity 65+ representative. I got on the phone, and reached him at Casa de King wherein he informed me "I've broken too many bones to risk racing on wet streets." Fair enough. I asked him if he was planning to come on down to spectate, and he demurred. Since I really didn't have a whole lot else to do, I got some more coffee from Jo's and settled in to my bar stool for some Master's racing action. Here's photo of Michael and Frank enjoying the downtown spectacle:



Working the magic of my cell phone, I reached John Howell at Casa de Howell, and harrassed him and his lovely wife to come down and join the rest of us non-racers. Luckily they obliged. The Master's race was quite exciting. Greg Hall from Violet Crown and 3 other Master's racers got into a break and stayed away. Greg's team did a great job neutralizing any attempt to bring the break back. Meanwhile John and Maureen ordered breakfast. Watching and cheering all that racing made me really hungry, so I helped myself as Frank "the Guppy Hunter" Irwin offered a distraction. Who is that man in the shades? Crusty, is that you?



During the race Phil Sladek had the tell-tale sign of a crash, torn shorts. Unfortunately, that would not be the only pair of torn shorts we'd see. There was a crash in every single race. Quite a few were in turn #1.

Sun-up to Sun Down

I wish I could say the rest of the day was more interesting. What the day consisted of was Frank, Michael, and I sitting on bar stools, ogling women, eating, and taking pictures.

It was a great day.

Probably the most exciting race was the Women's Cat 3/4 race, naturally.

At the finish, a rider from Violet Crown offered up an intense sprint for the line with Violet Crown taking the victory and Lori Barnet from Velossimo taking a close 2nd.

Throughout the day as I coughed down homemade potato chips and coffee, I never had a regret about not racing. This was especially true when I watched the Cat 4 race, and a rider from Wooly Mammoth limped across the line.

Michael had said that the Wooly rider had run into a barrier on one of the straights.

The other dramatic crash was in Turn #4 right before the finishing straight in the Cat 3 race. There was a literal pile-up of bikes and bodies sliding into the hay bales.

Pro Time

The pro race started at 7 15. Toyota United, AEG Toshiba, Health Net A& F Development Squad, and some other pro teams were represented along with usual pro suspects: Team Hotel San Jose, Team AT&T, and Bike Barn. The race had about 100 riders, and they literally tore up the course. Their bike handling was superb, and they made it all look really easy. Here's a photo of Frank Pip from Health Net on one of the circuits. He eventually got 2nd:





Another notable rider was Kristian House who rides for the Navigators. He apparently spent his formative cycling years in Austin, and then went to England and became a pro. He was quite impressive as well. I heard somewhere that the pros averaged about 27 mph around the .5 mile circuit. Very impressive.

There was a 3 man break during the latter half of the race containing a rider whose name escapes me, Sean Sullivan from Toyota United, and local yokel Phil Wikoff. With one lap to go, Sean had a 7 second gap on the field, but the escapees were caught in the final turn when Cuban Frank Treviaso took the sprint. It was a really awesome race, and if you missed it be sure to get out there next year.

Season Finale

The cycling season has another four months remaining, so it's just Spring that ends on Thursday and it will be the first Thursday in a while that I won't be racing. Rehearsals for A Skull in Connemara begin tomorrow.

My AT&T Crit performance was a little disappointing, but I am not discouraged. There were originally two Cat 5 races scheduled. The 30-minute race scheduled for 7:30 am was combined with my race at 8:15 am. The rain had stopped, but the course remained wet. The saving grace was that the more water that ended up on me meant less on the road. From the start it was a half block to (left) turn #1 and we all approached the turn gingerly and, to my surprise, no one fell. After the turn, we sprinted up the slight incline two blocks, then slowed for (left) turn #2. At least one person took it too wide and managed to stop before the curb. Keeping in mind, with Cat 5s it could be somebody's first race, so I'm particular leery of riders I don't know or who aren't clearly in control. Turn # 3 is the easiest, allowing for a wide approach and a wide exit. The main pack doesn't seem to understand this, takes it narrow, slows down, then sprints back out. Right before turn #4, two steel plates cover the ideal turn line, so we avoid that, but then it's impossible to avoid the two manhole covers in the approach and another manhole cover 12 inches from the inside of the corner. You either take the closest line, or if that's obstructed by other riders, you have to take it wide, but the turn is from a four-line road into a two lane road and curbs abound. Then it's a sprint again.

So the race consisted of the series Sprint, Slow, Turn, Sprint, Slow, Turn, Sprint, Slow, Turn &c &c. I'm strong enough now to stay within the draft of a pack ( i.e. "suck wheel"), but I can't keep up with the leaders, so after about 15 minutes of this, I fall out. At least two people have taken spills (one got right back in) and the refs are pulling people getting lapped. I wasn't pulled, but probably only because they knew me and perhaps they knew that I am very experienced in getting lapped and equally experienced at staying out of the way. So I finished, I think about two laps behind the lead pack and 1-1/2 laps behind the second pack. Later that day I was asked if it was fun. It was fun, but more in a "satisfying" way than an "enjoying the experience" way. Happily for subsequent racers, the course remained dry the rest of the day.

What was fun in an "enjoying the experience" way was watching races while volunteering as a corner marshal. Most fun was when I was at turn #1 during the pro race last night. Fans were crowded around and I had to keep people from crossing on the far side of a blind corner. When the racers came by, it wasn't a puff of wind, it was a breeze that lasted several seconds after they passed. They were flying! I could hear the prime announcement and watch them pick up the pace. I had my stopwatch with me and I could track the speed of each lap and the gap between the break away and the main pack. When the pack wasn't passing, I was letting people cross and pouncing on anyone who attempted right before the pack arrived. It was all very thrilling to watch.

I showed up this morning at The Driveway to volunteer and the day was a washout. The pro race had less than 20, and I think half of them were still hungover from a night of partying. The combination of following the Downtown Crit, Father's Day and a risky weather forecast contributed to the problem and my race was canceled. David James showed up, so we took the opportunity to just ride the course. I probably wasn't ready to race, anyway, having spent the entire previous day either racing or on my feet, so I was happier just to be able to go on a ride with a teammate.

Last week I stripped my carbon/steel frame and "added lightness" to it with a brand-new group I bought on eBay, and transfered the old group to another steel frame of identical geometry (another eBay purchase). So my racing bike was sweeter than ever for these races. I'll be sporting the new cherry-red Lemond for training rides and living-room-trainer rides. I plan on spending the rest of this evening completing its assembly. I'll have four bikes (the others are a fixie and a touring/commuting bike), so I'll be shipping my son's bike to him in Upstate NY to free up some room.

I'll see what training I can get in. Saturdays from 10am - 2 pm I'll be in rehearsals, so my big weekly ride will likely be Sunday mornings. I plan on a "bumper crop" racing season in September/October.

Thursday Night Crits

They're like clockwork, every week, but each week's crit has its own unique characteristics and flavor. Last night three Velocity teammates raced in the 35+ 4/5 race along with two other categories that totaled over 50 riders. Robert Pillmore helped officiate all the races.

Being such a short race of only 25 mins, I'm told it has a faster pace than the earlier 3/4 race that lasts 45 minutes. After signing up for my race I saw David James replacing his front wheel. He showed me that its hub had broken earlier during the 3/4 race (which was still ongoing). It was an Ultegra hub and without cross lacing, and it's not designed or warranted for that. (I think they've relaxed that on some newer hubs).

He flatted during last week's race, so was particularly frustrated. But he was ready in plenty of time for our race. I mentioned a few posts back about 13-y/o (14?) Avery Visser and last night at the start I joked that I would be staying on her wheel. I knew from previous races that she'd stay with the main pack throughout.

In fact, I had it as my goal to stay with the main pack myself, so I was really only half joking. A Cat 3 buddy from work, Bob McGhee, offered some tips and unwittingly asked me to make it my goal stay with the pack last night. The back-and-forth turns tend to stretch out the pack, but it seemed like a faster start last night, and my power meter reported that we were fastest in the second 0.8-mile lap, averaging 26 mph. It was never "easy" but I never felt like I was going to completely collapse. I wasn't looking back and was trying to allow no more than about 10 riders in front of me, but it felt a lot more stretched out that usual, it started to bunch up and slow down around the 4th lap, but a couple of laps later at the last turn before the straightaway a woman went down, she sliding across the asphalt left, her bike sliding right and me somehow slipping in between.

I later learned it was Avery, ahead of me, of course, possibly going down from complications of a lapped rider. There's a left-right switch right before then and it's a particularly problematic spot for passing a lapped rider. I understand that Avery was not seriously injured, but did suffer some road rash and bruises. I had nightmares after seeing my own son go down when he was 15 and he barely had a scrape, so I'm particularly thinking about Avery and her folks today. I imagine she's experiencing a lot of delayed-onset pain.

The 5-lap card comes out and I'm still strong -- I'm actually going to make it!

At two laps to go, I fall back from the lead group of about a dozen riders when they ramp up for the finish, but fortunately both teammates are still in it. I finished about 75 yards behind them and while not exactly with the lead pack, it was a stretched out race, there are 35 or so behind me, so I'm feeling pretty good about my best finish ever and my fastest 25 minutes on flat ground. Being lapped is a distant memory.

Right now I'm still debating getting up early for the June 16th downtown crit and racing in one of the 30-minute Cat 5 races, else sleeping in and racing the 50-minute 4/5 race in the early afternoon. I'm leaning towards the shorter race that I'm more accustomed to. It just occurred to me that I could try both! :-)

May 26th Velocity Ride:Rain Will Not Slow Us

Morning Regrets

I awoke hoping it was raining. Daniel and I made a back-up plan to ride trainers while watching the Giro.

I made it over to CDT (Casa De Truxillo:Stanton's House) at 0710 and hooked up with James. I was hoping Jen M. and Richie Howell would be there; alas, we were solo.

Spill(s)

When we got to Bannister and Ben White, I called Daniel who informed me that we were a half hour early. Up until then, the ride was largely uneventful. When James and I were on the off-camber turn before St. Elmo a thought occurred to me that the roads were slick and one of us could fall. Was it intuition? Or was it PTSD from my spill at the Thursday Night Crit?

As soon as the thoughts of spillage crossed my synapses into the oblivion where thoughts go, James took a spill and skinned up his right knee real good.

Here Comes Richie

At Slaughter and So. 1st, I was happy to see Richie Howell pulling up on Slaughter. We rode down So. 1st together and watched as Daniel sped by in his vehicle. We arrived at the school at 0800-ish. David Van Newkirk showed resplendent in his Cicle C jersey.

We kicked around the school parking lot for a few minutes. We rolled down So. 1st a bit hoping to see more Circle C-ers. We saw only Danskiners. As we rolled back toward the school, I saw the bruise-colored skies spewing pockets of liquid in the distance.

It didn't look good.

When we rolled through the school parking lot, Bob Pillmore greeted us with a report of his first of 3 anticipated flats.

Where Do We Go From Here?

It seemed like a good idea...at the time. We were going to ride south to San Marcos, so if it rained, we could turn around and have the wind at our backs.

The rain started to fall as we got on San Antonio Rd. Bob said something about how it was breaking up.

It was.

The clouds were breaking up into little pieces of rain.

Paging Noah...

By the time we were halfway down Old San Antone Rd it was full on deluge time. Mrs. Noah, line up the animals!

Slop. Grit. Slop. Rooster tails. It wasn't pretty. And to top it all off, we were HAULING ASS! We were averaging 20 mph on OST (Old San Antone) Rd. As all of my faithful readers and riders know, averaging 20 mph on OST is barely remarkable. But it is when the Lord is unzipping his pants and taking a nature break on your face.

We're Breaking Up

By the time we got to Buda David and Bob Pillmore turned off. Bob said something about the wisdom of riding into the rain. I was heading for Bill Miller’s BBQ for shelter and maybe some ribs.

We stood under the awning about 5 minutes thinking about our options. Richie voiced a desire to keep on keeping on. What was the worst that would happen: we would get wet.

I hope you only had one flat for the day, Bob.

The Adventure Begins

James appealed to the angels of our slower nature stating that going 20 mph in the rain was not really a good idea. We agreed. Then James hauled ass down the road into Buda and the rain.

We eschewed 2770 and the cement trucks for the more scenic Cole Spgs Rd and 1626. We were having fun, spraying each other with road spray. Then as we ventured on to 1626, Daniel got his flat. We stood around in the rain and lost every BTU that was inside of us. At that point wisdom said to turn it around. We listened.

Now we hauled ass back through Buda and up OST. It was awesome, dramatic. We were the hard men of the South, and we were the only knuckleheaded cyclists we saw.

When we made it back to the school, the rain had let up. Daniel headed out in his car, and Richie road with James and me to Dittmar on So. 1st. The humidity grew thicker, and by the time we got to my house, the streets were largely dry.

It was an awesome ride!