A lot of communication is lost in text.  Sarcasm and jokes are hard to read sometimes, especially when people communicating in this forum don't know each other personally.  At any rate, I like HOT updates.    I also agree that the Texas weather in Feb is a bit of a crap shoot, but it's also very difficult to find a weekend in the spring with no other organized ride conflicts or other event conflicts in Austin specifically.  You can't make all the people happy all the time!  If people want more event not in Austin, we shouldn't rely on Jane alone to plan them all over god's green earth, and by that I mean Texas.  

A little trip down memory lame:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVRQznYAr7U
 
This is the video from the first Heart of Texas CATRIKE Rally back in 2010. It was held in mid April. We had rain. Still a blast though.  
 
March is out of the equation.   Just no way to do it in March. Patti explains it all perfectly.
 
We had the first HOT Rally that was for EVERYONE on a recumbent in 2012 - in conflict with the Catrike Rally and Factory Tour the first weekend in March. Bryan Ball BEGGED us to have future HOTs the last weekend in February. I said too early. He brought out a point that made a LOT of sense: What difference is 7 days going to make?  
 
The 2011 Rally was held in April. It was pretty miserable. Pollen so bad, I could not even ride. Had to stay on a steady diet of Zyrtek to get through the weekend (to this day, I still am grateful to Shelley Stracener for having some on hand!). April is an extremely busy time at Easy Street, and Mike cannot participate in the HOT if we have it then. And since he writes the checks, he deserves to participate in it. April and May are extremely busy times for most everybody. Graduations, awards, other school conflicts, kid's sports leagues, people broke from taxes   .  
 
So we will just say prayers and do whatever else is known to man to try and have good weather the last weekend in February. I am always trying to think of a Plan B for it we have bad weather that weekend! It's a gamble if you attend the HOT just to pedal. If you attend the HOT to hang out in a recumbent culture and have a blast with other Bent people, it's a given it is going to be fun!  

Quote from jayg on Apr 14^th, 2014, 1:27pm:

 
Very true, but Mike's old "Bent Event" was always just a one day affair, with everything centered on the shop. He'd pick an open weekend a few weeks in advance and set it up for that date.  Many folks just drove down for the day. In fact  that first year, as a Catrike Rally, it was only officially a one day event with Mike's Bent Event scheduled the next day. That first year also overlapped the MS150 and there were complaints because folks wanted to do both. The last couple of years, as the Rally has become a full all-weekend event with all the associated activities (and complications) added, the choice of dates has become that much more difficult. Late April would be really nice but if Mike says he is too busy with the shop to host the Rally at that time, what do you do?

I never said the hot want worthwhile.  I'd attend if it didn't always fall on an inconvenient weekend.  Rallies can be fun.  That's why I always try to host a mini one here every so often.

Quote from jayg on Apr 14^th, 2014, 5:58pm:

 
Dude, you are TOO funny