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Another day for a good ride. Windy with hills is not always the best combination but here in New Braunfels, the wind kicks up with cold fronts coming through the area. This equals? COOLER weather and knocks out the almost ever present humidity. So? No needs to stop today just to wring out my sweat band. I got started a little later than usual for a Sunday so no coffee stop for either. Gotta get to church on time.
I started off with the wind but most of my outward route was into the wind after a hard turn towards downtown. After downtown, towards the Faust St Bridge, I had a good cross wind at my back. The best part of that was knowing my main climb back to my home would be wind assisted. Towards the bridge and in the direction to Gruene I was totally into the wind. Not trying to break any records, I just got into a comfy gear, into my aerobars, tucked, and pushed on. After halfway through the Gruene 4 mile loop I was on my return and wind aided. My previous 12-14mph turned into a steady 19 or more with effort. Memories of my previous ride in Harlingen came to mind as it's windy 90% of the time and 100% flat so my mph average there were higher. With the hills here, maintaining a higher mph requires effort. There's a few climbs that'll drop me to below 10mph. I'll peek at my Wahoo head unit and see my average drop by the minute. My buddy John H made mention of my average just yesterday with the hills and he's right it was good but I did 4 loops around Gruene that are not so hilly with added intervals. Another thing here is because of the steepness of a few hills, when I ride up I really slow down. Going down doesn't equal it out because it's steep enough that I begin to feather my brakes on the way down to avoid that out of control about to lose it feeling. I never thought I would be one to do that, but I do. I'm not talking slowing from 20 to 10 but from 30 to 24 or so. Throw in a cross wind and that feeling is multiplied with my higher profile carbon rims.
This is possibly the only advantage of riding solo. There's no one to complain when they want to jackrabbit down a hill while I'm being sensible. Still, I love riding the New Braunfels area and hope to continue to do so for a long time. Challenging hills, GREAT views and the drivers aren't crazy. In reality I have more drivers waving me through intersections than cutting me off, and that's just plain nice. Dogs? I've had 2 dogs charge at me in the last 2 days and both were behind fences. I must say thank you to the local dog owners in this town. Well? It's been a long day. With a nice 20+ miles, church and spending time with my daughter. I'm blessed and I pray anyone reading this will realize their blessings. RIDE ON!
I started off with the wind but most of my outward route was into the wind after a hard turn towards downtown. After downtown, towards the Faust St Bridge, I had a good cross wind at my back. The best part of that was knowing my main climb back to my home would be wind assisted. Towards the bridge and in the direction to Gruene I was totally into the wind. Not trying to break any records, I just got into a comfy gear, into my aerobars, tucked, and pushed on. After halfway through the Gruene 4 mile loop I was on my return and wind aided. My previous 12-14mph turned into a steady 19 or more with effort. Memories of my previous ride in Harlingen came to mind as it's windy 90% of the time and 100% flat so my mph average there were higher. With the hills here, maintaining a higher mph requires effort. There's a few climbs that'll drop me to below 10mph. I'll peek at my Wahoo head unit and see my average drop by the minute. My buddy John H made mention of my average just yesterday with the hills and he's right it was good but I did 4 loops around Gruene that are not so hilly with added intervals. Another thing here is because of the steepness of a few hills, when I ride up I really slow down. Going down doesn't equal it out because it's steep enough that I begin to feather my brakes on the way down to avoid that out of control about to lose it feeling. I never thought I would be one to do that, but I do. I'm not talking slowing from 20 to 10 but from 30 to 24 or so. Throw in a cross wind and that feeling is multiplied with my higher profile carbon rims.
This is possibly the only advantage of riding solo. There's no one to complain when they want to jackrabbit down a hill while I'm being sensible. Still, I love riding the New Braunfels area and hope to continue to do so for a long time. Challenging hills, GREAT views and the drivers aren't crazy. In reality I have more drivers waving me through intersections than cutting me off, and that's just plain nice. Dogs? I've had 2 dogs charge at me in the last 2 days and both were behind fences. I must say thank you to the local dog owners in this town. Well? It's been a long day. With a nice 20+ miles, church and spending time with my daughter. I'm blessed and I pray anyone reading this will realize their blessings. RIDE ON!
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