H2G &Hueco Springs

I got started late today because of me not taking my own advice of getting out of bed before checking anything on my phone. This left me in bed for about 10-15 more minutes instead of "GET UP! GET OUT OF THOSE BUNKS!" Ahhh, a quick bootcamp memory😏...
Petty Officer Lane & Chief Borgelt
I'm losing track here. In short my 0615 on the road turned into 0635 or so. I started out on my usual route and today was so nice. Everything felt a little easier. I'm not recommending pizza and wings the night before a ride but I'm just saying
Anyway, my initial climb out of my neighborhood felt fine and pretty much every climb was a little easier than I remember. Along my usual route out to Landa Park I was reminded why I like riding before 7am. Light traffic, cooler temp. I still need to find a better sweat band. After 5 miles in this humidity I'm worse than a drippy faucet. In other words you may not want to draft off me riding into the wind. I'll give you another reason for social distance. Riding through Landa Park at that time of day? Peaceful. Through downtown? Peaceful. Making my way out to Gruene? Peaceful. Making the drop out of Gruene onto river road? Always raises a hair on my he... well I don't have hair up there but it does make me grip the bars a little tighter. Not much traffic on my way to the Ice House for my real first break. I consumed half of my Quest bar, changed sweat bands, took a drink and got on my way up Hueco Springs. I noticed 3 ladies taking off ahead of me from the parking area across from the Ice House. They were well ahead of me although, a fantasy of passing them came to mind. Then? There they were on the side of the road. I did stop but I did ask if they're OK to the response of learning gears. I've said it before,  Hueco Springs will teach you about the small chainring and climbing gears. For me, today even that road wasn't as hard as I remember. I stopped again at the end (HWY 46) for a photo and a mental pat on the back to me from me then made my way through Newks. At the end of that road it was a left turn on FM 1863 to get back to 46. I saw a lady walking on the same side of the road but opposite me. FM 1863 has really nice WIDE shoulders during that section.  She still got well to the right as I passed but paying too much attention to me as she misplaced her foot and almost stumbled. I know I look good but I didn't think it was make women stare good🤷‍♂️... another pat on my back. Back on 46/Walnut I made my way back into town and stopped for a photo at the beginning of the descent after 337 loop as that's a really nice view. Another turn through Landa Park for a longover due but not my last time "Thing" I had to do. I stopped at the wading pool and dipped my feet in the water and it felt SOOO GOOOOD! What the heck have I been missing by not doing this. I'm telling you my feet felt like I had not even ridden after that. Cool refreshing spring fed clear water. Cyclist of New Braunfels, don't think about it, just do it. I could have stayed there for an hour easily but after a little over 5 minutes I put my cycling shoes back on and made my way to the farmers market to meet up with another realtor buddy of mine. We chatted briefly and he let me in on a little known location that I'll check out fully in the future. After riding by it for a peek I made my way home to stretch and relax until a house showing tonight and church. It's been a really good start to a great day. I hope everyone gets in a good ride today. Be blessed and RIDE ON!

 Near the pool in Landa Park 

The Landa Park Train

Wurstfest Hall

The view at the top of Walnut

Clear water at the wading pool

Dipping my feet in the wading pool water

Resting my horse near the wading pool

After the ride rest

H2G 071621

Uneventful is a good thing. A casual ride without falls, honking horns...(ok just one honking horn but it couldn't have been towards me. I was on the sidewalk at the time🤷‍♂️)
No close calls, no weather hazards and no dogs. Well? Believe it or not two dogs today. Two above my ankles below my knees small dogs gave a half hearted chase today just up the street from my house with less than a half mile to go. I say half hearted chase because I was going up hill , never felt I had to sprint and they never even got along side me. And? Just after that, I found 6 dollars. Yup! 6 one dollar bills laying in the street. I Slowed down, turned around, picked them up and rode home. I saw an older guy walking up the sidewalk opposite my direction and I asked if he dropped any money. He said nope, it's yours. So I guess it is. I'll give it away someplace. What else happened today? On my way out and about to cross the FSB (Faust Street Bridge) there they were lining up for photos. About 30 or so young ladies in Cheerleading uniforms from the New Braunfels Middle School. They parted the path for me. I said I would be quick so I sped across the bridge to get out of their shot. As I was clearing the bridge? Another rider entering the bridge opposite direction. I hope they got the shots they wanted.
Yeah,  uneventful🙄.
Cheerleaders, found money and a light dog chase. I'm thankful for my ride today. Sweaty, a light breeze, and I would say medium humidity. Good events make for a nice ride. A slight route alteration keeps it fresh. Friendly waves and good mornings makes me smile as I go. I hope everyone gets in a good ride today. Be blessed and RIDE ON! 🚲

 let's do this

The bike is ready

quick photo stop on Common St.

Clear Drizzly Foggy H2G

Today had promise but let's really admit it. EVERY DAY HAS PROMISE.
So what do I mean?  By far in south Texas my favorite times of the year to ride are spring,  fall and select days in the winter. This is because the humidity is either gone or minimal. Today stated out with that feel of very light humidity but very soon into my ride Texas corrected itself. Less than half way I began to notice what seemed like a rise in humidity, then? A very light drizzle then drizzle mixed with fog and a very present humidity in the air. That early morning 73degrees? Gone. The worst part was the visibility dropped to about 1/4 of a mile and I began to notice how many cars had no headlights and just seemed to appear out of the midst ahead of me. ME? I'm running a bright flashing headlight and 2 rear flashing red lights and as always being careful of everything. For the first time since being up here, today I saw a loose dog. It looked to be a terrier of some kind. Small and white but gave no chase other than to watch me pass on by.
One thing I must mention. My friend Mr John Hitchcock got it right. There's a really good feeling of just feeling good once you're into a ride and for sure after the ride. 3rd day in a row getting out early to ride and make up for the rainy week last week and what was expected to be sluggishness, feels like blood flowing energy. There's an initial climb out of my neighborhood and a climb to get back into my neighborhood both felt pretty good today. No breaking records but for sure a better recovery than my recent past.
From me, a word of advice. If you have your phone at your bedside as your alarm, don't check Facebook,  weather and text messages while lying in bed. It's so easy to talk yourself out of getting up,  or taking more time to get up than you would if you did those things out of the bed. Remember no one's coming to shake you out of bed. If it's gonna be, it's up to me.
Well, this day needs to get going and no one's coming to start it. I hope everyone can get a good ride in today and be safe. Be blessed and RIDE ON!

Today's JERSEY, Me the Real Estate Agent 

Quick stop asking the bridge at Faust St 

The visibility by the end of my ride, about a quarter of a mile

What it looked like then my face shield

Remember the 5th

Yes remember the 5th. Whenever the 4th of July falls on a weekend the 5th turns into the 3rd day of the three day weekend. Today I celebrated with a nice 30+ miles. Home to Gruene and back via my usual to extended route to include three laps around Gruene that I've made as a segment on Strava as 4 mile loop (3.75). This ride was a take it easy and chill kind of ride and I enjoyed it as I intended. I will say that I was very much less than motivated to go out today but as always I feel mucho better after. One benefit of going for an early ride after a holiday while Our Country observes the holiday is very little to no traffic. The roads were pretty much mine today. I stopped to take a few photos and a video crossing the Faust St Bridge but other than that I took a pretty gentle pace and enjoyed the ride. I saw one other cyclist riding hard as I stopped for a drink in Gruene. Other than that just 2 other folks on bikes and a few runners and people walking their dogs or themselves. I have to say thanks to a couple of drivers that noticed me and took a safer path around me or waved me through. There were puddles around so I'm not sure if it was from rain over night or the downpour we had yesterday. I'm thinking it was overnight only because of how clean the roads were of blown fireworks trash that just wasn't there. I also have to hand it to the guy on Comal in his front yard with two dogs not on a leash that paid zero attention to me as I rode by. I'm finding New Braunfels mostly to be a pretty friendly town. I'm enjoying the Texas friendly they speak here and looking forward to it staying that way.
I hope everyone gets in a good ride today. Be blessed and RIDE ON!

 

City Cruiser's Sunday Surprise

My wife would always tell me concerning The Valley "It's a different kind of hot down there".
After today's ride with City Cruiser's out of Brownsville, I'm a believer. A year away and getting used to New Braunfels weather will do it. Still south Texas in New Braunfels, but not 12 inches from the sun, convection oven breeze weather like Deep South Texas in the valley.  How Deep you ask? Well, after Brownsville, you're in Mexico.  As I write this, weather shows Brownsville at 90 degrees with a heat index of 99. At 0650 when we started riding I think it was 78 or 79 with high humidity. A good group showed today for what I thought would have been the usual Empanada Ride but today was different. We did an advertised 45 mile ride that was actually 47 miles. I could feel heat leaving my body every time we stopped along the way and found some shade. I kept up with the lead group for about the first 7 miles or so then started falling back. Eventually Rosana was there tailing me getting my draft,  then she took the lead into the first rest stop. Leaving there,  I jumped back in with the lead group for a short while then rode with Rox and others to the Starbucks stop. Every regrouping stop was good to catch a breath and some liquid and chomp on a snack bar and of course socialize. The next stop we had was at a large beach store with a dinosaur theme as you entered the parking lot. I really wanted to take photos but my body wouldn't allow me to get off my butt to do it. More liquids and snacks then the final 9 miles back to the event center.
"Sweat and motion creates a cooler me".   As I move creating a faster evaporation from my jersey, it made a real pleasant cooling effect. Add that there was not the typical valley 25Kts of wind with guest, and this was actually a nice ride. Traffic did pick up but the road shoulders were wide and out sag vehicle was typically near by. Only one person had a fall but not serious (the bike is ok) and no other real mishaps except Dan's bike at some point, but it got taken care of and he continued the ride. I gotta say thank you to Eliseo for hanging back with me towards the end as I limped into the event center. Thank you to Ben for organizing all the the City Cruiser's  do in rides, runs,  and giving to the charity he has each year. I hope everyone gets in a good ride today. John H, Rick S, Nancy, I hope you had a good 115 miles
Be blessed and RIDE ON! 🚲 🚵‍♀️ 

Saturday Wheels Down Surprise

I didn't mention to anyone that I would be in H town (Harlingen the jewel of the 956) for the weekend except to talk to John H. My intention was and I did ride with the Wheels Down Group knowing the Pacesetters were gonna be too fast for me. After checking Facebook for the meeting time, I got a night's sleep and just showed up ready to ride. Fist bumps and hug greetings were had as I pulled up into the Planet Fitness parking lot. I had already forgot to bring a water bottle from home knowing I was going to ride so I got one from Walmart that really doesn't fit my holder but I made it work. Less than a mile headed to the meeting spot, I realized I also forgot to pull up my bib short shoulder straps. So? Before we rode out as a group I took off my jersey and corrected my error. We rode at a leisurely pace on familiar roads with familiar friends. I didn't know every one personally but I got to chat with everyone along the ride. Meeting Sonia outside of Facebook was nice and we got to chat about riding, vacation spots and more. Although I've been by the fire station on Grimes many times in the past, this was the first time I stopped at the station and took photos with one of the trucks with Sonia climbing on the truck reminding me of my youth wanting to climb on the fire truck 🚒. Just before the fire station we made the turn onto Grimes Road only to see two nice sized Dobermans loose in their fenceless yard. It were pointed out but they seemed to be less than interested in us so I just proceeded slowly and they never gave chase... Good Dogs 🐕.  One thing I forgot to say was the tarantula we saw on the side of the road. Sonia. Gave a little scream then later showed a photo of her holding a tarantula...🤷‍♂️. I stopped to take a photo so you can see it but picking it up or holding a spider? Not on my list. We took photos at the donut stop and the "White Bridge" , proceeded on said our goodbyes at PF, then Officer Joe, Sonia and I went to breakfast at El Norteño. Migas Plate and 2 sweet teas later it was all about the conversation of future rides we could think of, Real Estate, kids and stuff. (Hmmm? I tell my kids to never say And Stuff)
This was a good start to my Saturday but now it's all about the shower and getting some work done.
I hope everyone gets in a good ride today. Be blessed and RIDE ON!

Zwift is a _____

Good morning peeps. First,  anyone thinking about adding a smart trainer to your cycling training arsenal? Do it for these reasons.
IT'S FOR REAL! This is only speaking for my Wahoo Kickr Core with Zwift
When you see a hill? Prepare, YOU WILL FEEL IT. The hard part is, sometimes they're hard to see by just watching the on screen terrain but if you look to the top right of the screen, that percentage is referring to the hill profile. The larger the number the steeper the hill. If it has a negative symbol, you're going downhill. Outdoor riding you can coast downhill. On your trainer you'll need to continue pedaling but it gets easier. You can choose to take it easy or go to a harder gear and sprint the downhill. Doing races you'll want to test your sprint that you may not be able to do outside for fear of falling, cars, curves, other riders to close and so on.
You'll be riding with other riders from around the world and you're able to chat if you want or keep it private. I've ridden alone. I've had a guy encourage me to get behind him and draft (yes, you can draft off other riders), I've had riders draft off me and riders zip pass me. The fitness and competition aspect is there. The screen has a display of riders by name ahead and behind you by how many seconds or minutes and the Zwift program will kind of nudge you to catch another rider by displaying "CLOSE THE GAP" as you catch up or if a rider passes you. Catching someone is nice as you see the gap in seconds get smaller and smaller then they're in sight,  you close the gap, draft for a little while then choose to pass on or not. With my Kickr Core, I have a power meter built in and on my bike I have a cadence sensor. I wear the Wahoo Tickr Heart Rate monitor and all of this is on constant display. Many of the races have Sprint challenges placed on the race course and many are made up of actual roads from actial places. Lapping around the course you'll see places where there's a sprint challenge and you'll see how you compare to others. BUT! Let's say the race course has 5 laps. You'll see the first sprint and now, you'll know there'll be 4 more. You can attempt to beat your own time on each lap. You can ride the course on another day and set new PR's or PB's (personal record or personal best) because Zwift will remember what you've done. The best part for me is the simple not having to stop for traffic.
All that said,  don't do it for these reasons. First and most important and I'm guilty at times. If you think it'll become another dust catching clothes rack? Don't do it. My initial investment was around $1000. It uses your bike so no further investment there than what you already have but the smart trainer, HR monitor,  and cadence sensor around 1000. I started off using my phone as my screen, everything is really tiny but it does work. Eventually I learned to mirror my phone screen to a TV for a larger display and it works. It does lag and drain your phone so do it while your phone is plugged in and turn off other apps on your phone. Now? I run the app through Apple TV but my bike and other data are connected via bluetooth through the companion app on my phone and this setup I like. But we're talking about why to not do it. Second? You're not outside. A lot has to be said for fresh air and wind blowing through your hair (or over my scalp) when riding outside. There's also the social aspect of talking face to face with people that's not there while in your workout room or messy garage. Yeah you can chat but that involves typing. If you're racing and take your eyes from the screen to chat you'll miss a sprint, or the group your riding with pulling away. You won't crash but you won't have your head in the game. Without that social aspect, there's no coffee stop or breaks. Ride ride ride then you're done. Collapse on the floor or get on with your day. Bike damage. I've heard you can ruin a carbon frame using a smart trainer but I think that happens if you do not properly connect your bike to the trainer. If it feels crooked or not quite right? Get off. Check it and make sure it's connected correctly. If you have a carbon frame bike, that you've graduated up to from an aluminum framed bike, use your old bike for a permanent setup or get a cheap used aluminum frame bike for a permanent setup. That's what I have now. Just match the frame dimensions and seat and you've got it. The only extra I have is another cadence sensor. One on my nice carbon road bike and now one on my trainer setup. I mentioned the apple TV? Yeah that's connected to a 32" cheap Walmart TV and it works great. The apple TV Zwift display ain't the greatest but it works great.
If you've been thinking about this, I hope this helps. If it's raining or anytime I just feel too lazy to ride outside, it's there and I love mine.
The biggest positive I can say is this. If you think it's not real resistance like riding a hill outside, go to a LBS (Local Bike Shop) that has a setup and try it. Your legs will tell you otherwise. My day has begun with a nice ride in my garage. I hope everyone gets in a good ride today. It's already a great day. Be blessed and RIDE ON! 👍🚵‍♀️👍

Yeah I'm in my house. The shirt comes off. You'll want a good fan for air flow. 

See the resemblance? That my Zwift Avatar