So this week's ride is the same starting place, and probably some of the same route as the Rolling Hills Challenge, coming up after the MS150. I did it last year so I know exactly where this is. Should be a nice ride. I hope the rain holds off.

This was probably my favorite ride last year. Also, the last time I rode my Specialized Allez. I enjoyed the ride so much, I'm going to ride it twice this time. Tomorrow and Saturday. Actually, my wife can't ride on Sat, so I'm taking her to ride tomorrow. Then I'll come back and ride with my daughter on Saturday with R2R. Good practice for the real deal in 2 weeks. If I can still walk :lol:

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Well, we got a late start this morning so we made it a short(er) ride. We basically rode from the start to just past the first rest stop before we looped back. About 36 miles. Wildflowers are going strong. As long as the rain holds off, should be a great ride tomorrow.

Awesome. y'all should post pics of your rides. I'm behind in updating my blog - still need to do bluebonnet and ground roll, and maybe even the week before. sigh!

We took a few pictures in Columbus (probably the same pictures several hundred other folks took of the field full of bluebonnets and longhorns). I can't access them here at work, but will post a few up when I get home. It was a fun ride. Seems like 3-4 years in a row that I have seen at least one turkey on the road before the 1st rest stop at the church. I rode with my wife until the long/short split about 27 miles in and then rode the rest of the long route alone from there. It was nice to have a tailwind for the 2nd half of a ride for once. I averaged 15.9 for the whole ride, but I think I averaged right around 20 from the last breakpoint to the finish.

Looks like this weekend may end up washed out if the forecast holds, which would be a real shame. That New Ulm ride is always one of my favorites and the folks up there with the VFD usually take good care of us after the ride. This is always that time of year when I start to wonder how I am going to get anything done at work for the next week or so, because I start getting excited for the ride and can hardly focus on anything else.

Haha I hear ya. How's that Emonda rockin' for ya? Blazin'?


Everyone don't forgot to pick up your packets tomorrow if you can - there's one more time to do it after.

Also, free bike inspection time is coming to an end, so make sure to bring your bike to almost any shop and get your free inspection!

Man, I love that bike! I know my weight loss has a lot to do with it as well, but it just feels so effortless to stand up and rocket up the hills now. My old bike was a nice ride, but it definitely had a lot of give and flex when it really came to hard efforts. I told my wife that when I attacked that hill in Chappell Hill to see how fast I could make it up it, I was actually popping little wheelies with each pedal stroke for about the first 15 pedal strokes. It is just the perfect blend of stiff and responsive, but smooth for me.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...image.jpg1.jpg

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haha awesome. Glad it's kicking ass.

You going to chop that extra stem?

Eventually. I want to ride it a few more months and make absolutely sure it is where I want it before I do.

Sweet bike!

what's in the XL saddle bag? Your laptop?:)

btw, who is taking a day off from work on the Monday after to "recover"?

Ha! I think it looks bigger than it really is from that angle. Let's see, it has two tubes, three CO2s, my combo pump/co2 chuck, tire levers, a multi tool, a bandanna, a small tube of sunscreen, a packet of chamois butter, and a few zip ties.

i used to take Monday off after the ride, but found I usually felt pretty good by late morning. Now I just let my boss know I will be in an hour or two later than normal. Just stretch your legs real well after the ride is over and keep moving when you get home to keep them loose and you will be fine.

Wife and I have kind of a running joke... every time we see someone with a (seemingly much larger than needed) backpack - I'm talking bigger than your standard run of the mill Camelbak - we usually will joke "where is he camping?" Invariably there are a handful of folks on these rides that carry backpacks that seem to be much larger than what I would deem "necessary" but who am I to judge. The joke is on us anyway, as they are usually passing us up! :cry:

Of course, then there's this girl:
http://randyramos.smugmug.com/Cyclin...IMG_0856-M.jpg
I think my wife aspires to be like her.

Call me crazy... I signed up for the GASP ride the next weekend. I plan on commuting to work at some point during the week between rides.

I remember seeing that girl on the Head For the Hills ride at the rest stop where they had the big covered wagon. Couldn't do that with either of my beast-sized dogs.

Maybe I'm weird though because when looking at that picture of her, my first thought is that she needs to clean her bar tape. Just saying.

You are crazy. Not really...makes sense to put the accumulated fitness to use for more than one weekend. On that line of thinking, I am seriously considering an idea my brother floated yesterday to go up to Boise in June and ride the bike leg of the half-ironman as part of a relay team with he and a friend. I am thinking it will be a good way to make sure I stay on the bike and keep working hard after the MS150 is over with.

You're an athlete! It's takes me about 3 days to recover.:)

I am not a weatherman but I played one on TV.

It is too early to look at the forecast? Do we start in Lagrange on Sunday if there is a washout on Saturday?

It's still a bit early to be checking the weather forecast, but I have to admit I've been doing it everyday since the first 14-day forecast began showing this weekend. I know it's meaningless to do so, but oh well. From what I've heard/read, weather forecasts get pretty accurate once you are 2-3 days out.

I didn't ride that year, but I know one of the days was cancelled 4 or 5 years ago. If I'm not mistaken it was Day 1 that was cancelled.

If it's just scattered showers, we'll be riding. If there is thunder/lightning associated with the storms, it'll be cancelled. Can't have the volunteers out at the rest stops if there's lightning in the area.


EDIT: Here is a link to a news story about Day 1 being cancelled a few years back ( http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/ka...ed-1722561.php ).

Well, late last week things were looking great - now it says 80% chance of thunderstorms on Saturday.

Where did you see that Forecast?

All the national weather forecasts (Weather Channel, Weather Underground, AccuWeather) are calling for thunderstorms throughout the weekend.

All the local news forecasts (KPRC, KHOU, KTRK) are saying 20ish% chance of rain on Saturday with nothing on Sunday.

From past experience, the local forecasts are correct way, way more often than the national forecasts.

Good. I like your outlook better.

And for hte record, yes I saw that forecast on the weather channel website.

I rode the year they cancelled day one. We just started from LaGrange on the town square and rode a one day ride. The main reason day one was cancelled that year wasn't so much because of the weather on Saturday, but because the wind and rain the day or two before had flooded out the fairgrounds and taken down about half or more of the team tents. The rain and storms on that Saturday just sealed the deal.

The forecasts I am seeing so far seem to be for a slight chance of rain and/or storms early in the day, then sunny afterwards. This far out, that is probably a reflection of model spread around when a low is going to come through. As we get closer, the models will probably tighten up around when it will happen and probably take away some of the rain chance. The models this time of year are always overly optimistic about fronts actually making it through the Houston area in the longer range modeling, but over time, the models usually show them stalling out before they get here or before they make it to the gulf. The main risk to us as riders will be if a system decides to stall right over the area, and cause tstorms that would put the volunteers in danger. That is what would cause them to cancel things. On the wind side of things, they are currently predicting a light tailwind for Saturday, but a headwind for sunday. Better plan to keep a little in the tank for Sunday if that forecast holds.

Funny you mention the campgrounds being flooded - that's something I was thinking about earlier today. Since we're a small team, we're bringing our own camping tents and we find a place in between all teh big tents. i'm worried with all the rain forecast for this week it'll be a big swamp come saturday.