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That Fickle Wind

03.17.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

I always look forward to Spring Break. Often, I’m out of town, but this year I had plans to stay home and do a lot of riding. But we had to run up to Dallas Tuesday and Wednesday, which put a hole in those plans. This morning, I was ready to get out and put down some miles.

I haven’t had a lot of decent mileage rides yet this year. Time seems to get in the way, and I usually can’t find more than an hour and a half for the bike. That’s good for about 20-25 miles — a nice ride, but not what I’ve been looking for.

So today, I was ready. Pat would be at some business appointments around town, and I had the morning to myself. It was an almost perfect day: overcast, in the upper 60s, but with a brisk cool wind that forced me to put on my arm warmers for comfort.

I decided to head for a favorite destination of mine — the little town of Creedmoor, southeast of Austin. With the wind blowing from the southeast, I knew I would struggle heading out — but I would have a nice tailwind heading back.

Mostly, when I ride to Creedmoor, it’s on Sunday mornings when the traffic is almost nonexistent. Today, I had to contend with lots of trucks. Mostly, they were pretty good. They gave me room on the right, and often waited behind me if the road was narrow.

I didn’t break any speed records getting to Creedmoor, but I wasn’t trying to, and the wind wasn’t helping. We always stop at a gas station/convenience store to fill water bottles and take a break, and I did this time, too. The few people going into and out of the store were friendly, and almost every one of them had a pleasant, “Good mornin’.”

I finished a Clif Bar, and got back on the bike. The ride back was going to be a good one. Right off the bat, the farm-to-market road I was on pointed down, and with the wind at my back, I easily topped 30 mph, just coasting along. It happened again a few minutes later on another northbound road. And that would be the last time on this ride that the wind would be my friend.

Going west on a narrow country road, I felt a strong cross wind. If the wind was continuing from the southeast, it should have pushed me along, not hindered me. Clearly, it was now coming straight from  the south. I couldn’t depend on that helping tailwind.

I reached a built-up intersection, and saw from the flags flying from some buildings that my suspicions were correct. The wind had shifted. But it had shifted to more than south. Now, it was blowing from the southwest. It would be more or less in my face most of the way home.

As I pedaled, I shifted my left hand to near the center of my bar, and grabbed my water bottle with my right. I nearly fell over. A gust of wind got the bike, and pushed it toward the curb. I got it back under control, but knew I would have to pay attention from here on out.

So it was a bit of a slog. I still got in more miles than I’d done so far this year, so that was good. But it occurred to me that I can’t remember a ride where one leg was so much better because of a helping wind. I’m sure the wind god is saying, “Here comes the Bike Noob — let’s get ‘im.”

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Categories // Rides Tags // wind

Riding With My Wife

03.15.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

My wife wanted to go for a ride the other day. “But, can you pick a route around here that’s flat?” she asked. Pat has an arthritic hip, and it can cause her a lot of discomfort on rides, especially if she has to deal with hills. Apparently, she was experiencing a flare-up of her arthritis this day. But she truly likes to get out on her bike. It’s her main form of exercise.

“I think we can come up with something,” I answered, not fully convinced. We live in a suburban-style part of town, right on the edge of the Texas Hill Country. It’s not much of a stretch to find some grades just a short distance from the house, and I like to use some of these residential streets to do hill repeats for myself. An all-flat route? That would take some thinking.

We started out heading north. This four-lane divided road with its 40 mph speed limit gets traffic out of our residential part of town toward a more mixed-use area. But even here, there are some rises and dips. And today, Pat wanted flat. Less than a half-mile on the street, I turn off onto a side street. This more or less paralleled the original route, and the grade was much milder here. It was also a road Pat had never ridden on, since we never had any reason to.

We came to a good east-west connector, which I often travel on one of my more frequent weekend loops, but I opted to cross it this time, and continue on. More residential streets, more turning. By now, Pat was confused.

“Are you going to be able to get us out of here?” she asked.

“No problem,” I said, as I turned left again. Now we were in an older, very pleasant neighborhood that reminds me more of the Houston suburbs than Austin. We turned onto a road heading south, and stopped at a light.

“Here’s a slight hill,” I told her. “We have to go up, around a bend, then down to a long flat stretch.” She was game for it.

About two miles farther, I discovered the flaw in my plan. If we turned right at a stoplight, Pat would have to contend with a hill that didn’t look particularly tough, but could be a challenge if you weren’t ready for it. I figured we’d stay on residential streets, and turned before we got to the light. Again, she was confused by the streets I took, but I knew they ran in roughly the same direction as the main road. We snaked through some more residential twists and turns, and found ourselves within a few blocks of our house.

“Do you want to keep going?” I asked. “We can do some more of this.”

“No, that’s good for today,” she replied. We pulled into our driveway and put the bikes away. She was pleased with the ride. Not too much exertion, and she felt like she had had some exercise.

In all, we did about nine miles. It doesn’t sound like much, but it was a good experience on a couple of levels. For me, I got in a ride, and I was forced to pedal easily. Not once did I jump ahead and get way out in front of her. It was a Zone 1 day, and I do too few of them anyway. I think it’s a good way for me to maintain balance in my riding.

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Categories // training Tags // easy rides

Skipping the T-Shirt Ride

03.13.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 12 Comments

I’ve been mulling over my riding plans for this year. You might recall that I mentioned in an earlier post that I hoped to do more organized rides than I did in previous years. But I’ve reassessed that idea.

Organized rides are a lot of fun. You get to see other bikers and look over their equipment, size up their riding abilities, and put down lots of miles in the company of people with whom you share at least one interest. You plunk down your $30, or $35, or $40, and in return you get a route that’s been scouted out, sag support during the ride, and rest stops manned by usually helpful volunteers. There’s also a goodie bag that might have a water bottle, an energy bar, a discount coupon or two for biking supplies, and other tchotschkes.

But the other evening, I was enjoying a ride with my friend David, and talk turned to those rides. “Yeah, you pay 35 bucks for a t-shirt,” he said.

David has done his share of those rides over the years, but is no longer interested in them. He noted that in most cases, the rides run over routes that can be ridden for free if the rider is willing to forgo the kind of support the organized rides provide.

Now, I know that most of these rides are sponsored by worthy charities. In fact, that used to be one of my criteria for taking part. But I’ve been rethinking that aspect, too. For the past several years, my wife and I have picked a small number of charities to support — only two to three — and that’s where we send our money. I’d like to think that I’m not entirely selfish.

In my area, the biggest riding group around, the Austin Cycling Association, does informal rides on Saturday and Sunday mornings. You show up, get a map, get some brief instruction from the ride starter, and then you’re pretty much on your own. Even if the rides don’t exactly mirror some of the better-known organized rides, they do cover a lot of the same ground.

Or, you could just sit down with a map and plan out an excursion on your own.

Last night, I started doing just that. Nothing definite yet, although I do have several ideas in mind. I think I’ll start riding places I haven’t been to yet, even if they look like a lot of places I have been to, just so I can break new ground. I had already made up my mind to skip the MS 150 this year (although that’s one I’ll probably do again in the future), and I think I’ll drop my plans to take part in some other rides.

The weird thing about this is, I’m surprised it’s taken me so long to come to this conclusion. I follow lots of biking blogs, and it seems that most of their authors just hop on their bikes and go. But I, on the other hand, have had a pretty well set repertoire of routes, and I need to expand on that.

So, one of these days I’ll put the bike on the car rack and head out to the Pedal Thru the Pines route. I’ve been meaning to do that ride for three years, and haven’t yet. But I’ve got the route map, and I’ll go without the crowds. Ditto the Real Ale Ride in Blanco, Texas. And the Wurst Ride in New Braunfels (which I’ve actually done once, but it’s been awhile, and I’d like to tackle it alone). I’m looking forward to the rest of this year, and all the new places to go and things to see.

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Categories // Rides Tags // organized ride

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