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!