Brrrr....

Anyway, got out to -H early this morning for our pre-ride.

Lovely day for a pre-ride. Temps in the upper 30s - low 40s, which really isn't that bad.

Now the north wind... that was a different story.

Wind Speed	17 mph
Max Wind Speed	33 mph
Max Gust Speed	43 mph

The start run, which is downhill and last week I easily coasted at 20mph, became a struggle to peddle down. Fun.

The wind is supposed to die down overnight and 8-10mph winds really won't be an issue. Now the forecasted temperature of 29deg for 9am is not something to look forward to!

Sitting in the hotel room in Gainesville. No, I'm not a Cat 1 mountain bike racer, but I did spend the night at Holiday Inn Express last night!


Send warm thoughts!

Scenes from the backseat and more.

The past couple days it seemed like I spent more time in the back seat of the car than (then?) anywhere else (yea! for being the shortest of the 3). Maybe it seemed that way because I was there for 7 hours on Thursday, 2+ on Friday and 9 on Sunday... or maybe it is just all in my head.

I can't read in the car without getting sick, so there isn't much else to do besides play cell phone Tetris, doze fitfully or take pictures. The trip out wasn't too bad as there was enough talking to keep everyone entertained for most of the trip.

The trip home - different story.

So... my boredom becomes a blog.

As always, on the trip to Terlingua, the camera comes out once we leave Alpine and the desert mountains make themselves known.

WooHoo - Elevation!!!




I'm also fascinated by sun/cloud/mountain combinations.










Almost there








Once we made it to Terlingua it was time for a little pre-ride to stretch the legs and see what the trail was like.

Trail scenery




The local flora does not invite wandering off the trail



and yes, the trail is the faint line along the edge of the pictures.

Saturday was race day, this is a desert race with a 33 mile loop. The start line is in the same place they hold the infamous Terlingua World Chili cook off. There are two dry river beds that are deep sand and gravel that you have to ride through for about 100 yards or more. Sometimes you find yourself turned sideways and going no where. Time to get off, push to a "firm" area, get on and try again. Miles of fast open desert with mucho cactus and pointy things about (see above pics). This makes passing a bit challenging. Short steep climbs that always seem to be loose and sandy for some reason.

At the 27 mile mark is Tres Cuevas. This is a mountain you get to go over to finish your lap. There is a long jeep road that takes you to the base of the mountain. This jeep road is a false flat and like a wash board for a long, long time before you reach the actual start of the climb. The climb itself covers 1000ft in under 3 miles.This year the climb was washed out, rutted and covered in rock, gravel and baby heads. The climb is a series of switch backs that make you think you are at the top. Oh no... you make the turn and up you go again. You do this about 6 times or so. At the top of the climb (or when you think you finally made it) they put a finish sign up so you think its done. NO... now you have a series of short ups and downs for the next mile or so before you finally get to the best part... the down hill. This is a wide open mostly jeep road, as fast as you feel safe to pedal down hill for another 15-20 minutes. Add in some deep, loose gravel in most of the turns for some added fun. Eventually you get dumped onto the desert floor and with a final loop of the camp ground and you cross the finish line. (Thanks to Alan for the race course description.) Just think, over 155 racers did the loop twice!

Not too much to report there, I participated more than raced and just set a pace that would leave me feeling fairly strong at the end. Physically I had energy for the final climb, just not enough technical skill to get me over sections. So at times I was more of a walker than a rider. Good thing is that my time was a little faster than last year's and I wasn't the slowest one out there!

Sunday morning and time to load up the car and head for the rolling plains of Texas... aka home.

Terlingua morning






Can't leave without checking in


A whole lotta nuttin'


Lovely Midland-Odessa




Oh yeah - had a meeting of the shin and desert rocky sand on my pre-ride

can you tell how bored I am?

Meeting of old & new power technology


Taylor and Nolan counties are home to the states' largest wind farms. These things go on for miles from west of Sweetwater almost to Abilene.


Oooo - another shot of my leg!


Comment from the driver "it's starting to look like Texas"






Home


traffic and all


round trip mileage

btw - that's 1,271.2 miles.
My poor car, over 63k.
I've only had it for 3 years and my daily commute is about 8 miles round trip.

Fort Stockton

We were planning on going all the way to Terlingua today, but when I called the hotel to get our room a night early they said they didn't have any double rooms available.

Hmm - out in the middle of no-where Texas and all booked up on a Thursday night.

So, after a scrumptious dinner at the K-Bob Steakhouse we're hanging at the La Quinta and watching a UFO show on TV. Are you jealous yet? You should be!

Tomorrow we finish the drive to Terlingua, get in a little ride and check out some of the trail before racing on Saturday.

New York?

How odd.

I have a regular visitor from New York city.

Been coming by on a regular basis since November.

I don't know anyone in New York... do I?

Interesting.

this-n-that, but really nothing much

Well, it's official - our son is no longer a "teen-ager" as he has reached and passed the 20th anniversary of his birth. It was also the first time we did not spent his birthday with him. We offered to meet him and a friend half-way and buy dinner as we did last year; or, he could go out with a group of friends and I would pick up the tab. He opted to stay local and go out and his friends ended up paying for his dinner. (Wow - they're all growing up!)

This past weekend was a whirlwind of activity which started with Kyle coming into town for a school project and staying though the weekend. A nice bonus for Kyle being in town was that he was able to join us Saturday morning as we were among the witnesses of the marriage of one of his "adopted" brothers. It was a nice wedding, small and not over-the-top, held at The Little Chapel-in-the-Woods on the TWU campus. Although the ceremony was a bit non-traditional, I think it fit the bride & groom well.

Saturday was completed with a nice 3 hour mountain bike ride at a trail close to where the wedding reception was held. During the ride I met up with Inna and we had a good time chasing each other around the trail.

Sunday was another busy day. We were up early and drove down to Waco to ride the trails at Cameron Park. After a couple hours of riding we grabbed lunch, then every one headed home with Kyle continuing south down 35, while we headed back to the north.

We got home in time to clean up and I grabbed a quick power nap because next on our agenda was a hockey game. Friends of ours have season tickets to the Stars and the couple that sits next to them had scored a free upgrade in seats for that game, so they offered their tickets to our friends, which in turn invited us to join them at the game. We haven't been to a Stars game in quite a while so it was a nice night out. To top it off, the Stars won!

This coming weekend is the start of the TMBRA Spring Championship race series with the first race being held in Terlingua.

The "best" part of this race is the climb up Tres Cuevas:

As a final note, we are in the middle of a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and a Tornado Watch, so sounds like it's going to be a wet & wild evening tonight.