Good morning and happy Monday! The Bike to the Beach is next weekend, so this was your last weekend to train if you are participating in this event. Your base conditioning is established, so this week you just need to get plenty of sleep, eat three solid meals a day (this is no time to diet), and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate (i.e., drink as much water as you can stand). I'll have a more detailed blog later in this week with all the last minute details you need to prepare for the ride, so for now, I'll keep it short and sweet with a just few pictures and embarrassing anecdotes about the weekend rides...
NOTE: There is one more packet pick-up scheduled for San Antonio. It will be Monday night from 5:30 to 8 pm at the new Arby's at 11043 Culebra on the West Side. (Arby's is our lunch sponsor again this year). And, if you didn't pick up your jersey or your Velo Valero goodie bag yet, you have two more chances - between 11:30 am and 1:00 pm on Wednesday, October 1st, at Valero HQ, and Friday night, October 3rd, between 5 and 8 pm at the Expo.
Saturday Ride
Our Saturday ride was a hard and hilly 65 miles, including the short but painful Hansel Rd. in Fair Oaks. The group that I rode with was an an all-male, Frat House version of Velo Valero and we had a fast, solid ride.
John and Luis pose with Model T enthusiasts at a C-Store in Bergheim
Rider has a wardrobe malfunction while an incredulous Jim looks on
The Frat House version of V2 pauses for a photo after the ride, just before heading off for the kegger
Sunday Ride
I had to leave for Fredericksburg Saturday afternoon to attend the birthday party for my father-in-law (and your teammate) Stan, who was celebrating his 70th. (Stan is not only riding the BTTB again this year, he'll be delivering the prayer to start us off Saturday morning!) As a result, I missed the Sunday ride. I did get a call from a very excited Andrea Shull Sunday afternoon who relayed to me the story of a a rider (who shall remain nameless) who was going too fast on River Road and ended up in the Guadalupe River. The good news is the rider did not suffer any major injuries to his body or his bike, and actually joined folks for lunch in Gruene afterwards. I'll have more stories about the Sunday ride and (hopefully) photos in the next blog.
...Sunday morning, I got up early and did a solo 20 mile out and back on Crabapple Road outside of Fredericksburg. The sun was just rising as I hit the road, and the air had a hint of Fall in it - so cool, in fact, I had to wear a jacket. And friends, it was wonderful! I've been visiting the Texas Hill Country for over a quarter century, ever since I met the wonderful woman who became my wife so many years ago, and we began celebrating holidays with her family there. We've spent so many Easters amid a sea of dazzling bluebonnets, so many Thanksgivings and Christmases enjoying the cool, crisp weather, and the wild turkeys, the deer, the goats, the sheep, and (most recently) one headstrong llama. The Hill Country is a special, spiritual place for me, and the ride Sunday was one of the most enjoyable I've ever done, complete with lots of deer, incredible hills and endless vistas, and a few hulking, angry bulls loitering next to the road that made me feel just a little bit uncomfortable as I passed 'em as quickly as I could. ...I was so pumped after doing the ride that I decided to do something I've always wanted to do, and to be quite honest, something I don't think is completely legal. As I returned to the city, I saw Cross Mountain in the distance, and I thought to myself, "Hmmm...I'm on my mountain bike, I've been training for months, I have 24 gears - hey, I think I can climb that thang!" Well, I pedaled into the park, paused for a second to study the winding gravel road that led to the top, tossed my bike over the fence and then passed through the narrow gate to join it, and then clipped in and started grinding away. I didn't set any world records for my speed, but I did get to the top. I used the self-timer on my camera to take a few celebratory photos, then descended at a rate that was fraction of what it took me to get to the top (duh!). It was absolutely exhilarating, and a great way to end an incredible training season for the Bike to the Beach....
Cattle seen along Crabapple road - the guy on the left obviously has a bad attitude...
One of the gnarly hills that takes you to the top of Cross Mountain
El Hefe at the top
Posing with the historical marker for Cross Mountain, in a photo that will NOT make the cover of GQ magazine
...See you on the road!!!!!!!!!!
- Peter