A tale of two rides

Saturday morning found Kevin and I on the road out to Zube, just for a change.  As we often do, we chatted about music on the way and once again I was amazed by the depth of his knowledge.  The conditions reminded me of a particularly foggy ride a few years back that I'd blogged as "Fog on the Brazos", a sideways version of "Fog on the Tyne", a 1975 single release from Newcastle folk-rockers Lindisfarne.  When I asked Kevin if he knew the band, of course he did and noted that founder member Ray Jackson had gone on to play the mandolin solo on "Maggie May", in my opinion quite possibly the worst piece of music ever released (the song, not the solo).

This jolly banter got us to Zube where the Mules were already set up - Paddy, Gene and two newbies.  They were actually waiting for Crawford (who didn't show) and Patty, who pulled up in her mini wearing her helmet and shoes!

Paddy was looking for an express ride as he had the Mules party at his place that evening and needed to get home.  I would have preferred a longer, more sedate run but it didn't work out that way.  We headed out on Betka and then hit Mathis, a new-ish route for me that kept us off Business 290 but sadly exposed us to a canine threat.  A particularly stupid black mutt squeezed under a barbed-wire fence and onto a relatively busy road just to take a closer look at Kevin, who shouted himself hoarse trying to shake the damn thing off.
The express route had us turning left instead of right on FM362 and Kevin and I should have split from the group right there, but we didn't and found ourselves screaming downwind on a pretty busy road for several miles - fun but a little hair-raising.  We got split up and regrouped at the Shell station in Waller (home of the County Line BBQ, yum!), but while I was inside answering a call of nature Paddy, Patty and Gene took off leaving Kevin and I to fend for ourselves.

We talked about options to add some miles but they weren't that appealing, especially with the wind picking up and veering north, so we decided to head back to Zube and add bonus miles if we felt like it at the end.

At the last turn before the park Kevin suggested we go straight instead and see where it took us - but we could see a largish dog standing in the middle of the road, so with Kevin still hoarse from hist last canine encounter we turned due north.

Poor choice - it took all I had in the tank to keep the speedometer in two digits!  Kevin pulled ahead but it was tough on him too.  We got to a natural break two miles down and turned for home, pulling at 20 mph all the way.

I didn't go to the party but met up with the Mules again on Sunday at the Jingle Bell Ride, a fun cruise around River Oaks after dark, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the impressive holiday lights.  You're encouraged to dress up your bike and yourself too, so this year I went as Willie Robertson, the impressively hirsute CEO of Duck Commander and main cast member on "Duck Dynasty".  MC helped me put camo duct tape on the bike and I mounted a duck decoy somewhat precariously on my handlebars.  A gang of the Mules wore reindeer suits to escort Steve who was in a full Santa outfit.  We were all looking sharp.  A bit chilly but lots of fun.