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Archives for February 2014

Biking Buddy

02.23.2014 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

I posted a message on the club’s Yahoo group last night that, given our terrific forecast for the day, it was time for the B riders to start showing up for club rides.

It didn’t work. Besides me, only two others came out (Meanwhile, the A group had 25 riders!). But that didn’t dampen my spirits any, because one of them was Maggie, who has become my favorite riding buddy.

About two years ago, our club president told me a new rider had come out for a ride I had missed. He said she made a noble effort to keep up with the A’s, but she was really looking forward to riding with the B’s. Maggie showed up the next week, and we clicked instantly. We ride at about the same pace. We have a lot of the same interests.

Bike Noob and Maggie at a rest stop in Buda. (Click pix to embiggen.)
Bike Noob and Maggie at a rest stop in Buda. (Click pix to embiggen.)

She’s really good at spotting birds and other critters on our rides. Often, she’ll start waving an arm, and I worry that she might be in trouble. It turns out that she was trying to call my attention to a red-tailed hawk, or a scissor-tailed flycatcher, or some other interesting bit of fauna that I might have missed.

On Sunday’s ride, the A’s dropped us about 10 miles in. Maggie and I conferred with Jim, the other B rider, about distance. We decided to go beyond Buda, but not as far as Kyle. That would give us about 38 miles for the day.

Our average speed was already high, because of the peloton effect with the A’s on the way out. On the way back, a three-mile stretch of a slight downhill kept our speeds high. When we pulled into Buda, we were averaging 16 mph. Unheard of!

Buda is still pretty sleepy at 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning.
Buda is still pretty sleepy at 10 o’clock on a Sunday morning.
At the Buda rest stop, Maggie and Jim talk about their gym workouts .
At the Buda rest stop, Maggie and Jim talk about their gym workouts .

The return leg took us past a large church that’s always crowded. Black-suited ushers in white shirts and red ties direct cars to parking places. I recalled one ride, where Maggie told me that she wanted me to turn “to go by the Mexican church.”

“Why?” I asked, making the turn to comply with her wishes. We passed a couple of the ushers, and one waved at Maggie, and called out, “God bless you.”

“That’s why,” she said.

By this time, the temperature was in the low 70s (22C), and it seemed that the only wind we had to contend with was the one we caused as we cut the air with our front wheels. Jim peeled off to take an alternate route home. Maggie and I decided to skip fast and dangerous Slaughter Lane, and instead took a detour through a residential neighborhood to get back to the start, where we sat at an outdoor table at Starbucks, sipped cold drinks, and chatted.

I enjoy being part of group rides. I also like to ride alone. But a good buddy who shares many of your interests, rides at your pace, and can keep up an entertaining line of patter…well, that’s a riding buddy who beats groups and solo rides.

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Categories // People Tags // people

Fun or No Fun

02.21.2014 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

Once again, several of my biking friends from the club were sitting around after a ride comparing their Strava scores, KOMs, segment times, whatever those things show. I let it blow by me, because I have no interest. Time, distance, avg. speed are really the only figures I need.

One of our veteran riders, George, watched the conversation with bemusement, as well. George is well into his 60s, used to race motorcycles, and loves to pull away on steep hills. But on the ride that morning, I noticed he didn’t have a computer on his handlebars.

“I don’t use one,” he said. “Don’t need one.”

“I’m surprised to hear that, since you’re pretty fast,” I said. “You keep up with the A riders just fine.”

“You know how I record my rides?” he asked. “Fun or no fun.”

“Huh?” I said.

“Yeah. Am I having fun? That’s a good ride,” he said. “If I’m having no fun, that’s not such a good ride. Fun – no fun.”

I’m working from home today. When I finish, I’ll head out for a ride. It’s a nice, sunny day. Fun. But it’s quite windy. No fun. Hm. How will I judge it at the end of the ride?

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Categories // Odds 'n ends Tags // ride

Happy Noobaversary To Me!

02.18.2014 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

This one caught me by surprise. It’s the sixth anniversary of Bike Noob. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I’ve been writing this blog for six years, until the folks at WordPress sent me a congratulatory message.

How’s the past year been? A mixed bag, I think. I’ve noticed that my posts have not kept to the rigid three-a-week schedule I used to observe, and that I’ve been posting a little less often recently. I think that has to do with a colder-than-usual winter this year, and a marked reduction in miles ridden as a result. It’s hard to keep interested when you find yourself preferring to stay indoors. Now that the weather is getting back to what Texas bikers expect (a high of 80 degrees — 26C — is expected today), I’m sure I’ll be out there more often, and get my writing back on a regular schedule.

Some highlights of note over the past year: I hit my all-time high in daily page views back on July 11, with 1,482 views that day. That’s when I realized that my 2008 Specialized Allez Elite really isn’t an entry-level bike. Or maybe it was when I took a bad fall after sliding on an oil slick in the road on a really hot day. The most-viewed post for the past year was an old one: an item about an online Bike Comparison Tool from 2011.

It’s also clear that I’ll have to start paying more attention to social media than I have been. My Bike Noob Facebook page and Twitter feed attract a lot of people to the blog.

Thanks for all of you who keep coming back to read the ramblings of this over-the-hill cyclist. But once you’re over the hill, it’s all downhill, right? And we cyclists love downhills!

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Categories // Blogging Tags // blog

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