And you see what looks like a brand new section of blacktop in front of you, slow down.  It's actually deep gravel.
 
Rode with the Tuneros for the weekly ride/race for the first time this year.  There were only about 12 due to the serious wind yesterday.  I rode the vk2 hoping to cheat the wind a bit down low, and hoping I could climb the steep hill in Benbrook lake park into the wind with only a double.
 
Along the warm-up, one guy asked me about the new carbon fiber Bacchetta.  Given that he was a racer, I was surprised but told him what a great bike it was and that he should check it out.  Made it up the big hill fine and then screamed down, having to soft pedal to let the others catch up at the park's exit gate.  After the 377 crossing, I got ahead of the pack but half caught up to me topping the first hill.  Had a nice surprise to find the 2nd hill on Mcdaniel was clear of gravel and rocks.
 
Then a not so nice surprise on the downhill after that.  What looked like blacktop was in fact the boulders about to become boulderseal.  I slowed down a bit before hitting it, and managed to slow enough to only skid about 5 feet when the wheels went down.  Thankfully I was wearing my lowracer chaps and don't even have a scratch on me.  I had to walk for a bit and rode the rest of Mcdaniel slowly and had to walk again over another set of what will be chipseal.
 
By then the pack was long gone.  I had a long hill to climb and then a big downhill and rollers until the uphill section and the flat stretch to the regroup point.  And it was all with the wind and I FLEW.  By the time we regrouped, I was back to solidly halfway through the pack.  
 
The lead group took off and I stayed on their heels, but it was a long uphill and I was quite behind.  After that a section of rollers with an overall elevation loss pushed me to between 26-30+ for several miles.  I only caught the lead pack right before the turn.  These guys can fly.  The rest of the ride is recovery all the way home.
 
It was a good ride.  the wind is a non-factor on the vk-2, even with the deep dish hed front wheel.  I had to take it easy on the big downhill and a firmer grip than I usually use, but otherwise it was a fun ride.  48 miles roundtrip from home.

Quote from aikigreg on Apr 30^th, 2010, 9:51am:

 
At least they came out!  NONE of the Mesquite Ride DF riders came out, so Dan Schaaf and I went out by ourselves and had a great time!!!  We were holding ~20mph into the headwinds pretty consistently...
 
Glad you (and the bike) weren't hurt on the slide....