Awareness Test

Our team captain sent us this link to a youtube video. It makes a good point and its also pretty funny. Enjoy!

Youtube awareness video!

Bluebonnet Bike Ride!

Today I went out for a casual 30 miler. I say casual because I wasn't going to push myself on speed. I really wanted to just enjoy the beautiful day. And it was a beautiful day. 75 degrees, blue sky and bluebonnets were abundant. I did the usual "head-out-to-hwy-47" ride. It was excellent. With it being Easter weekend, not very many students are in town, therefore the traffic is practically non-existent. The ride probably took me about 2 and a half hours. I probably came in just shy of a full 30 miles, but oh well, I got some "butt time" in. Part of training for these long rides, is getting your bum ready for the long amount of time on the saddle. I think I'm getting close to being ready in all respects. My leg muscles feel strong, my butt seems to be getting used to the long rides, and my arms are in pretty solid shape too (in some way I'm sure that's helpful). I've even acquired a bit of a cyclists' tan. So, let the countdown begin: 21 days to go!

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White Rock On!

Since it's spring break I've been home in Dallas for a few days. With the miles and miles of highways and busy streets in DFW, it's difficult to find a safe area to ride for a long distance. So I did what most serious cyclists in Dallas do and that is to go down to White Rock and ride around the lake. The lake is 9.3 miles and this past weekend I was trying to go for a 40 miler. So, it took 4 laps and then a little bit to complete the full forty. I did it and it was outstanding. But, before the ride even started I had to deal with a not so fun reality. When I got down to White Rock I parallel parked down by West Lawther. Well I get out of the car and then go to pull out my pump to get my tires reloaded with air. Right as I come around to the passenger side of my jeep I hear this pretty loud whistling, and I look down at my front right tire and sure enough its losing air. I just sat there and watched it go completely flat. I had to laugh. The number of flats I've had lately, between my bike and jeep, probably outnumbers my limbs. Or atleast it feels like it. Well the whole family was busy with this or that, so I called mom and said, how about I go ahead and ride then when y'all have a chance to come down here we'll deal with it. The ride took about 3 hours. Then mom, my Aunt Leila (who is in town right now) and my brother came down. Kyle fixed the flat, and taught me how so next I could do it myself! So, it turned out to be an okay day with an outstanding ride around the lake...four times.

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Not so fast, hot shot.

So today was tough. I went out with the intention of putting in a 40 miler. Last week was 30 miles, what's another 10, right? Well it was windy today. Very windy. I was going into the wind dead-on for about 80 percent of the ride. At one point I was in my lowest gear and was struggling to actually move because the wind was so strong. This picture I posted is basically of my view through much of the ride. I was cranking hard on the pedals and keeping my head down in the process, just trying to make head-way against the wind. The ride took about 2 and a half hours. I went out to highway 47 via University today then swung back through Villa Maria. I took a little detour through Traditions golf course to see what that was all about. It's nice out there, but not as great as it is hyped up to be. On the way back in I took a little water break at starbucks on northgate. Today was an overall good ride. It's nice to enjoy the weather, the day and collect my thoughts, but man, 2 and a half hours is a long ride by yourself. Andrea needs to hurry home from her americorps trip so we can get back to riding together.

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Sunny Sunday

All week I had planned to go for a 30 miler on the weekend. Well when Sunday rolled around it could not have been a better day for a ride. Not a cloud in the sky and about 65 degrees. I hit the road at about 9:20AM. I left the apartment and headed out to the George Bush Library then swung back around to Agronomy Road. I weaved my way to Wellborn then Villa Maria. Finally I got out to 47 and did a couple miles out there before doubling back and heading through campus again then out to highway 6. From 6 I went out to Harvey Mitchell then headed home. Outstanding ride. I saw so much of Brazos county! So you think...30 miles. Ya I'll just bust that out. Reality check! It took me 2 hours and 20 minutes. So, doing about 90 miles each day for the MS150 is going to be a serious feat! I'm excited though.

Luckily this ride I managed to be flat free too. Last week I took my bike into Aggieland Cycling because I kept getting flats and I couldn't find anything in my tire that might be causing them. After a little investigation one of the guys found a tiny piece of glass embedded in the tire. You couldn't see it until you stretched the tire a little bit. Anyways, we got that solved and they installed a kevlar strip in my front tire, which gives the tube greater protection. It certainly helped. I wish all rides could be as wonderful as today's!

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Clip in, Clip out! (and try not to fall)

So last week I upgraded my pedals to "clipless" pedals. I had mentioned earlier how I had ordered them (thanks mom & dad for the sweet valentine's gift!). The guys at Aggieland Cycling were real helpful; they installed them for me and let me practice clipping-in on the indoor trainer. I'm still not sure why they call them clipless, as you actually clip into them with cycling cleats. Basically when you clip in you are completely connected with the bikes mechanics. I have used them on about five rides at this point and they are wonderful. You can really feel a difference. More of your energy is properly used with these pedals. Only thing is you ARE clipped in, so you have to make sure you clip out in time for stopping. Which is actually easier than being strapped in, but you do have to make sure you clip out while you still have enough momentum. If you wait too long to clip out you won't be able to twist out and you'll end up on the ground still connected to the bike.

They say everyone falls atleast once when they start. I haven't fallen yet, knock on wood, but my time will come I'm sure. I'm ready though. I already fell in my strapped pedals a couple weeks ago. It was quite embarassing. Picture this, I'm at a red light waiting to for the light to change. When the light turns green I go to crunch on the right pedal to get going, but then my foot slips. Well, my left foot was already strapped in. So I couldn't get my left foot out to break the slip. I ended up falling from a standing start. I'm sure it made everyone's day at the intersection. I would have been laughing at me too if I weren't so busy wondering how the hell that happened. I'm sure there will be more great stories to come!

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Beers & Bikes

So we had a little shindig in Austin this past weekend to help raise money for our MS150 ride. We had some rock star fajitas and lots of fat tire and lone star beer. Everyone got a kick out of my little photoshopped beer-biker-man. We had little cards printed of him to hand out to everyone, so that later, when they sobered-up they'd remember to donate! haha. Anyways it was a good time. I'll probably throw one here in College Station soon to accomodate the non-Austinites; lots of people got on my case for doing it in Austin and not College Station. So don't worry...Beers & Bikes: Round II will be coming soon.

Visit Ashley's Fundraising Page: My E-Donate page
Visit Andrea's Fundraising Page: Andrea's E-Donate Page