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Two Out of Three

02.09.2014 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

One of my biking buddies has a saying: “Wind, rain, cold. Whenever two out of those three conditions are met, I don’t ride.”

Seems like we’ve been putting up with those conditions a lot lately — mainly cold and wind. My riding for February has tanked. The rest of the country is putting up with a brutal winter, and even here in Central Texas, it’s been colder than usual for longer than usual.

They crazy thing is, I’ve just come into some new biking duds — a couple of thermal jerseys. I’ve worn them twice. They work great, and I’ve been comfortable in temperatures in the 40s (4-6C), but those have been our milder temps for the last few weeks. When we’ve gotten a brief respite, I’ve been at work.

Then, the weather lightened up this weekend. Saturday saw the sun come out, and temperatures in the 60s. “Are you up for a ride?” asked my wife, pulling on a long-sleeved jersey.

I wasn’t. I was sick. First decent biking weekend we’ve had in two weeks, and I came down with a stomach virus. It was much safer for me to stick close to home.

Got lucky Sunday, though. The bug passed, the day warmed up to 72 (22C), and I not only rode with my wife, but I struck out on my own after we got home, and did a nice 21 miles. Felt good to wear short sleeves and shorts again.

But I’m not sure how long that will last. The forecast for Monday calls for a high around 47 (8C), with a brisk wind from the north and rain showers.

Three out of three. No matter, I’ll be working. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that by Friday, things will be bikable again.

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Categories // Cold weather Tags // weather

Finally — Fall!

09.09.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 1 Comment

It’s been a tough summer around here. Maybe not as bad as last year, when we hit 100 degrees (38C) for 90 days. This year, states in the Midwest farther north of here got clobbered with really hot weather.

So I was looking forward to today’s club ride out on the Fitzhugh route. A cold front was due to pass through our area overnight, and lower temperatures to the bearable range. Now, bear in mind that this is a Texas cold front. While we pride ourselves on doing everything bigger and better in Texas, our cold fronts leave a lot to be desired. When I stuck my head outside to get the paper, it was 70 degrees (21C). For much of the country, 70 is often the high temperature on a fall day. Here, it’s the overnight low after a cold front.

Still, it meant we’d be riding in conditions we haven’t seen since April. I had planned to go the full route, for a 46-mile round trip, but Mrs. Noob was leaving at noon on a business trip out of town, and wanted me back home by then. So I decided to cut my route to the usual “B” rider turnaround, at Ranch Road 12.

A good turnout today, probably because the weather was so benign. In addition to temps we haven’t seen for awhile, there was almost no wind. Yesterday, a stiff wind blew from the north all day, and predictions were for it to continue today as well.

The weather must also have put some zip in the legs of the peloton. I was hard pressed to keep up with them as we pedaled through the neighborhood, on our way out to the country. A couple of B riders fell back right off the bat. I expected they’d catch up later.

On Circle Drive, I saw Buddy and Jan as two dots in the distance. I was pedaling easy, waiting for Brian to catch back on. He had been held up by two stop lights the rest of the group had missed. But when I looked over my shoulder a couple of miles later, I saw nothing. I rode with Rob and a young German exchange student, who I thought would be a fast rider, but who seemed content to hang back with us.

It was on this stretch, about six or eight miles into the ride, that I realized something — I was strong today. I caught Buddy and Jan on Fitzhugh, and when the road started to dip and curve in a nice series of mild downhills, I turned on the juice. The German was the only one who kept up with me. I took the hairpin curve at the low point of the route faster than I ever have before, but the student was unimpressed, and sailed by. Okay, so I wasn’t as strong today as I was trying to convince myself I was. But I got to the turnaround about 16 miles out well ahead of the others.

Jan was the first to catch up. “I’m going to keep going,” she said.

“Do that — the route is even more scenic from here on out,” I replied, feeling a little pang of envy since I had hoped to make that same extended trip as she was doing.

Buddy caught up, and told me Rob had turned around, along with Brian. I had already seen New York John heading back — he went even shorter than we were today.

So it was just me and Buddy on the return trip. I still had lots of energy, and covered lots of ground at 26-28 mph, terrain assisted of course. We got to the Starbucks where the ride had started, and grabbed two seats under an umbrella to stay in the shade. Even by this time, the temperature had only risen to 80 degrees (26C).

Eventually, the first of the A riders came in. As they joined us at the outdoor tables, most of the talk concerned the weather — and just how great it was to ride in conditions like today. I said my goodbyes and headed home, noticing that I wasn’t awash in sweat the way I have been for the last several months.

It was a nice ride in the country, under clear, sunny skies — but moderate conditions. Couldn’t be better. It’s for days like this that I took up cycling.

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Categories // Rides Tags // Rides, weather

Gettin’ tough

02.28.2009 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

Weather has been weird around Central Texas lately. While much of the rest of the country is dealing with late winter snow, it’s been extremely dry around here, and extremely windy. I got out for a ride yesterday after work, and it was 88F! The heat gave me a headache before the 15 mile ride was over.

Quite a change from last weekend, when I went out for a group ride with some folks who are training for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS. It was cool, but not bad, and the forecast called for a cold front later in the day. Plenty of time to get in a ride before the bad weather hit. I got to the bike shop starting point in plenty of time, but it seemed that the weather was worsening by the minute. Near the appointed start time, the cold front hit — hours earlier than forecast — and brought rain.

bss

Dismal prospects.

I was about ready to call it quits before the ride started. But the rain eased up, and the wind picked up. We decided to go ahead.

The group got less than two miles from the bike shop. The north wind was howling. The leaders stopped under a bridge for a confab.

groupThe leaders confer. Would we bail on the ride, or toughen up and go on?

We decided to go on. The wind was tough. But once we put a couple of miles behind us, we were warmed up, and suddenly, the weather wasn’t an issue anymore. It was a good ride through the city, with some decent hills to climb.

So I was looking forward to this morning’s ride. It would be with a different group — a Bike MS training ride — and would start just a mile from my house. But after the high temps of Friday — actually setting a record of 91F (32.7C) — the forecast resembled last week’s. But colder. And windier. But it was a route I wanted to ride, and I figured it would be a good opportunity for me to learn more about our upcoming Houston-to-Austin extravaganza.

This time, the forecast was right. Again, it was very tempting to forget the whole thing when I saw the conditions. But I rode over to the starting point, and riders starting dribbling in, many sharing tales of fighting the wind during their rides to the start.

However, the ride leader told us all we would abandon the planned route. The strong wind would simply make it too dangerous, because of the exposed roads we’d be riding. Instead, we would ride through the neighborhood, which iteself offers some decent hills.

The route, though on familiar streets, was one I hadn’t ridden before. Amazing how streets that seem flat in a car become a challenge on the bike. Once again, after a couple of miles, we were warmed up. The route turned onto my old standby, Mopac. On the eastbound leg, I hit a wind-assisted 35.2 mph, without much effort on my part. But turning north, the wind hit us in the face again.

Several times, I nearly lost control fighting the strong gusts (Oh, by the way, your helpful tips from a couple of weeks ago really came in handy today). I was in the small chainring, on a large cog, much of the way. Going downhill at 8, 7, even 6 mph and fighting to stay upright isn’t a lot of fun.

But we got through it without a mishap. I rode a shorter route today than I’d planned, but it felt like double the distance. If nothing else, I’ve learned over the past two weekends that skipping rides because of perceived tough conditions isn’t necessary. We’ve already got our ride planned for tomorrow. The forecast? Cold and windy. Again.

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Categories // Rides, training Tags // Rides, training, weather

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