Bud and I braved the weather this past Saturday to ride a route he's turning into a permanent. It crisscrosses several of the routes on others, but takes us into totally virgin territory as well.
Due to my alarm not waking me up, I arrived a little alte and we didn't get going until 8am. Tights, jersey, skullcap, full gloves, and arm warmers were needed. Traffic was pretty light and the roads out of crowley were good. LOTS of hills to keep you busy. This continued as we moved farther out of town. I was again amazed at how much easier it was to climb when you're 15 pounds lighter. I got in some good hill training for sure, trying to spin quickly up them in some bigger gears.
We met up with the FWBA on their shorter birthday ride and Bud did the demo on 'em
. Apparently they didn't see that there were no bents at the start because when we turned off one dude was shouting at us to go RIGHT when we wanted LEFT. This was when we encountered nearly the only chipseal of the day. Maybe a mile and a half?
Through Grandview and past the Burgundy, a grass-fed/organic butcher that sells beef, pork, chicken, lamb, eggs, and makes some of the best burgers I've ever had. At this point it seems like it was getting COLDER. When we stopped I put on my vest.
On to Blum doing a reverse Rio Vista Rumble. I was freezing and wanted something hot to eat. The only thing that had unfried (I'm not Mark Metcalf) was bbq. C'est la vie. The section to Cleburne and beyond hit a little Peachy Keene and this was an enjoyable mostly flat section.
I was tired at Cleburne, having bitten off more than I can chew on the hills and cold. We were chased by the roughest, toughest, snarliest, sharp-toothiest pack of sweater-wearing dogs this world has ever seen.
This last section back was the most enjoyable - brand new roads, with trees overarching and making a green corridor over the no-traffic roads.
All in all we had - low traffic, almost no chipseal, pretty scenery, great company, and 106 miles in the bag.