Been a while.

I think I’ve ridden three times without writing anything. I conquered the bridge at Wilcrest the very next weekend. We had decided to skip the organized training ride that weekend since it was cold (with a wind chill!). We waited until it warmed up and rode out to GBSP (I don’t like to say the name of the park – I love the park, don’t much like the person it’s named for!). It was just me and Stephen and Nathan since Erin had devoted most of her Saturday to volunteering and thus was stuck at home doing homework on Sunday. It was kind of a boring ride, really. Out and back. Wind (of course) on the northbound and westbound legs. The biggest challenge really was the bridge.

The next Thursday I rode out again and accomplished 28 miles. I have decided that I enjoy these Thursday morning rides so much that I plan to keep on doing them even after April – I imagine Stephen is giggling to himself as he reads this – he doesn’t think much of biking for about 3 or 4 months after the MS 150 each year. We’ll have to see. My late class meets on Thursday nights, so I can justify going in to work late – I may even agree to have a night class every semester to make this happen. Or…maybe not!

So, on Saturday, all four of us got to go out together. The ride started in New Waverly, TX – about an hour north of us. We loaded the kids up, they fell asleep and we drove up north. We had originally planned to “go long” – that means we would choose the long route (52 miles) vs. the short route (32 miles) – but a 25 mph wind from the south (we’d be heading right into it for the last 10 miles) made us change our minds. We rode uphill, downhill (18 miles an hour!!), uphill again, downhill again (21 miles an hour!!) uphill again, downhill again (24 miles an hour – yikes!) and just for good measure, uphill again and downhill again (OH MY GOSH!! 28 miles an hour!!!). Nathan’s new bike has turned him into a bit of a speed demon – he just flew up and down the hills like they were nothing!

Once we turned into the headwind, we filed in behind the Engineer (Stephen) as he dragged our wimpy butts up (7 miles an hour) and down a few more hills against the wind. Erin’s knees were really hurting by the end of the ride – but we did it! This weekend we have to choose between 42 miles up and down hills or 52 miles up and down hills. Doesn’t seem like much of a choice for me. I’ll let you know what we choose!