Another organized ride in the Hill Country is coming up. The Real Ale Ride offers routes of 15, 30, 50, 65 and 85 miles. Pat and I are both signed up for the 50, but after yesterday evening’s short jaunt, she’s decided that 30 will be plenty for her. Work demands have kept her off the bike most weekdays recently. Based on the elevation views of the route maps, her 30 might be more challenging than my 50. We’ll see. Full ride report Saturday evening.
Random musings about biking
Ever notice how stoplights are always at the base of a hill, so you’re hard pressed to build up any speed once you hit the slope?
And on the subject of stoplights, ever notice that when you grab your water bottle for a drink at a red light, the light invariably turns green?
I continue to be passed on hills by other cyclists. It seems that most of them have thighs the size of my spare tire. Not the tire in my seat bag — the spare tire around my waist. I bet if I lose 15 pounds, I’d start passing some of them.
Biking is a great way to see a variety of wildlife that you would miss in a car because you’re driving too fast, or miss while walking, because you don’t cover enough ground. On this afternoon’s 18-mile ride, I saw a Roadrunner, a Blotched Water Snake (non-venomous, but about four feet long, crossing the bike path–I almost ran it over), a blue jay (not all that common in this part of Texas), and a tarantula as it crossed the bike path. Cool.
Practiced upshifting before downshifting to the small chainring — making progress.
Also working on clicking into the pedals without looking. Dana is right — it’s more effective that way.
Got passed by four cyclists during my ride this afternoon — and not one of them was an old guy!
Tough times for Fat Cyclist
One of the earliest cycling blogs I read was Fat Cyclist. He and his wife got some terrible news over the weekend. My thoughts are with them.