nice but nippy

38 degrees but sunny this morning - really nice ride in, although I got a slightly late start and had to deal with more traffic than usual. The riding season is getting started - I need to book some organised rides and kick it up a notch.

fog on the Brazos

Off to Katy for a ride this morning, as I expected the reservoir to be flooded after all the rain last week. I ran into thick fog almost as soon as I got on the freeway, and it lasted all the way to Katy High school where I start the ride. The forecast called for a nice, warm day, so I expected the fog to burn off pretty quickly, and started out in shorts and jersey only. This outfit made for an uncomfortable first few miles, but after a while I more-or-less got used to it. I set out at a fairly hot pace, hoping to warm up, and kept it up for most of the ride. The last few miles were tough, as I was really feeling the cold and getting tired, too. One long section dead into the wind was particularly painful, and I was glad to get back to the car and pull on a sweater and long pants. The fog had persisted throughout the ride, and was only now starting to lift. Back home and into the shower, where I could finally feel the soles of my feet again. Ah, the joys of early season training.

weather-related delays

Both James and I are victims of the weather lately. He's been trying to solo for about a week but it's either been too cold (ie, below 0 F!) or too windy. He tries again tomorrow, so everyone keep your fingers crossed.

I haven't been on the bike all week, due to weather (just plain nasty lately) and work. I may get out this weekend but I'm sure the reservoir will be flooded, so no point in riding Terry Hershey. I may head out to Katy instead. Watch this space...

I hate it when..

.. work interferes with life. No rides for the past few days (no blog posts either) because the well we've been drilling came in and I had to go in to the office at 2.00am on Friday, and then I pulled an all-nighter that evening. I had to bail on a planned ride with Pat and Dave (and potentially Dale) on Saturday morning - sorry guys. Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things this week, although tomorrow looks wet.

rollin' with the Homies part 2

Another BHP team ride this morning, but only Pat and Janet showed up. We hit Terry Hershey at about 7.45, temp in the low 40's, beautiful clear morning. We stuck together as far as the dam, where I stretched out a little. The group reformed (I had to make a pit stop!) and kept together all the way through George Bush park. Pat and Janet turned round but I headed north for Bear Creek. There was a good breeze out of the north which made Barker-Cypress challenging, but the run south down Eldridge was a blast.

This ride took my total since October 17th to 1,037 miles, 65% of them on the commuter trip.

cruisin' for coffee

A beautiful afternoon so M-C and I hit the trail for a coffee cruise down to "It's a Grind" on Eldridge. Lots of people out but we didn't care, just a spin-and-grin. The stretch along Eldridge was a bit soggy. I was fine on the commuter but poor MC got splashed with mud. A seven-layer cookie and an iced chocolate-peanut-butter-cup mocha saw her right again, though. We got home and washed down the bikes, then MC pulled out Susan's BB gun for a spot of target practice. I hooked up my Xmas-gift outdoor speakers and we were soon plugging away to the rocking sounds of Fall Out Boy. Squirrels beware, little Annie Oakley is coming for you!

All hail the mighty hunter!

Oscar Wilde described hunting as "The unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible". See if you can work out which is which in this picture that Dale dared me to post.

The inset picture (expertly PhotoShopped by MC) shows how Bambi got his revenge. Dale was using a borrowed rifle that had a bigger recoil than he was expecting. The first time he shot it, the scope came back and whacked him!

Friday morning fun

Didn't ride yesterday (I was in Dallas making a presentation) so after M-C headed off for school (muttering darkly about how good parents would drive their high school daughter to school when it was cold) I lubed up my chain, pumped up my tires and hit the trail. A bit chilly at first but it soon warmed up, and with relatively little foot traffic it was a nice ride. The trip took my mileage total to 984 since October 17th, so if I ride on Sunday (there's a team outing) I'll pass the 1,000 mark.

1 down, 2 to go

Got the road bike back on Saturday (looking fine!) but couldn't ride until Sunday noon, by which time the wind had picked up nicely, to what felt like half a gale. As my buddy Ian said, it looked like windsurfing weather, not cycling, but I went out anyway. Dale was golfing so I was a lone wolf. I rode the Bear Creek-Terry Hershey loop, starting out northbound on Eldridge with the wind at my back. The Barker-Cypress section was a bit ugly - traffic and dead into the wind - but George Bush was OK, especially the part along Barker-Clodine. The north side of the dam was a bit of a slog (it always is) and of course the east side was murder - straight into the wind, no buildings or trees for shelter. After that, Terry Hershey was a walk in the park - almost literally as there was a lot of foot traffic. The most memorable part of the ride was right at the end - coming up to cross Wilcrest I couldn't decide if there was a big enough gap in the traffic, and left it too late to get my shoe unclipped from the pedal. Down I went on the side of the road, scraping my knee and elbow and putting a big dent in my pride. When I got the clipless pedals, the man at REI told me that I would fall off like this three times before I learned how to use the pedals. Two more to go -

Happy New Year!

Today is officially the start of my MS-150 training, fund-raising and weight-loss campaign. Woo-hoo!

I started the year with a jolly nippy ride - 30 degrees according to Weather Underground, too damn cold according to my extremities. Still beautiful weather though, and very quiet roads too.