Yay! The Forum is back up. Thanks Bud.
 
Thursday 1/4/24 WRL Clown Ride:
 
Participants: Larry K, E Bob, Kenny J, Lynn M, Butch Y, and me.
 
Larry, E Bob, and Kenny each rode solo. Ride leader, Bob M, is out with the flu, so I led Lynn and Butch on two lake laps and SoPac Trail up-and-backs. Lynn, Butch, and I rode to the Green Spot to join Kenny, E Bob, Johnnybent, and Craig B for lunch and to celebrate Craig's birthday. Johnnybent, an accomplished artist, presented Craig with a framed watercolor rendering of a Dodge automobile. Craig used to own a hemi-powered Dodge Challenger drag racing car. Following lunch, Lynn rode the short route back to Sunset Bay, while Butch and I completed a fast counterclockwise lake lap. Got in 51.9 miles at a 17.3 mph average. Max speed was 27.3 mph, sprinting with a south wind at our backs in the SoPac bottoms. Average heart rate was 92 bpm, which means I got a good workout for someone who takes a heart rate lowering beta blocker.
 
The trails were sparsely populated which led to us achieving a decent average.  
 
 

Saturday 1/6/23 WRL Ride:
 
Just Lynn M and I showed up for today's ride. I was on my Catrike Speed, and she was on her Catrike 700. I led her clockwise out of Sunset Bay around 10:00 am under cloudy skies with the temperature at 42 degrees and wind blowing from the north. We rode to the north end of the SoPac Trail where we did a 180 and headed back down the trail to the Ridgewood Trail entrance, which we took and did a round trip to Glencoe Park. The Ridgewood Trail is supposed to be closed to traffic at the Matilda bridge from Jan 4 to the 19, but the construction company has created a pathway for cycle and pedestrian traffic through the construction area. The only work taking place right now is removal of the fencing between the trail and the Dart train tracks. When we re-entered the SoPac, we rode to the north end again, did a 180, rode back to the lake, then to the Trinity Forest Spine Trail. After riding both branches of the Spine Trail, we rode counterclockwise back to Sunset Bay. After a break, we did a lake lap, then rode to the Green Spot for lunch. Following lunch, we completed a counterclockwise lake lap. My aged Garmin shut off twice during our ride, so I don't have any accurate ride data, but I know from previous rides that we got in a little over 53 miles,
 
Not a lot of cycle and pedestrian traffic on the trails, due to the chilly weather. The north wind made the temperature feel lower.
 
Before lunch, my legs were operating at 50 to 75 % usual power output. After lunch, they were around 90%.

6-Jan-24      SAT      North Loop Velomobile ride with Doug

With a start from the shop, we did our usual ride over to Richardson, north through Plano and Frisco, east on Virginia Pkwy to Lake Forest, south through part of McKinney to Stacy and then east to our lunch stop at Rosa's Cafe. After lunch, we continued east on Stacy to Angel Pkwy, south to Parker, east to Murphy Rd and south to Betsy. On Betsy we headed west to the shop. It was cold. I put the race cap on my velo and that protected me from the cold wind making it a very pleasant ride overall. The avg temperature shown, 55°, is the temperature inside the velo in the warmer air. Outside the velo was about 10 degrees cooler with a wind chill.
 BIKE: DFXL; start time: 12:29; end: 16:20; avg: 21.8; max: 38.9; climb: 1188; miles: 51.14  
CLOUDY; wind: WNW 4; start temp: 46; avg: 47; end: 49

Thursday 1/11/23 WRL Clown Ride:
 
Participants: Larry K, Kenny J, Bob M, Lynn M, Butch Y, Don C, and me.
 
Larry and Kenny rode solo. Bob M, back from a battle with a virus, led Lynn, Butch, Don, and me on two lake laps and SoPac Trail up-and-backs. After 41 miles, Bob called it quits. The rest of us rode to the Green Spot for lunch. Johnnybent was cruising around in his Toyota sports car and happened to stop at the Spot. He joined us as we ate and conversed on a wide range of subjects. Following lunch, Lynn and Kenny took the short route back to Sunset Bay, while I led Butch and Don on a fast (19.1 mph ave.) counterclockwise lake lap. Got in 52.2 miles at a 15.2 mph average.

13-Jan-24      SAT      North Loop Velomobile ride with Doug

Today I wanted to make the best of a decent day. Combining the North Loop with a ride from the house guarantees me an 80-mile day. Started off using the Race Cap which ensures warm conditions inside the velo as the opening for the rider is closed off. I started with a LS jersey over a SS jersey and wicking t-shirt. I used my camp pants because even though I had closed off the outside air circulation from the boom, I didn't know if I'd be warm enough. Turns out I didn't need the camp pants - it was plenty warm. That was certainly helped by a sunny day. On a cold day with cloud cover, the pants might still be necessary. The temperature had warmed up to 38° by the time I got started and I arrived at the shop about 10:40, later than desired. Sometimes the traffic lights don't cooperate.  
 
It had warmed to the mid-40s, and I was overheated. Off came the LS jersey for the rest of the ride after only 15 miles. As it continued to get warmer, I left the wind screen open more and more. That is like opening the vent in the car - cool air comes in and it helps me regulate the inside temperature. By the time we left the shop, the SW wind had picked up considerably. We had partial headwind heading west, mainly tailwind heading north and east and partial headwind heading south. But after we finished lunch at Rosa's Mexican in Allen, there seemed to be practically no wind. That meant to me that the cold front was nearly on top of us.  
 
We took off heading east on Stacy, over to Angel Pkwy. We had a very strong west wind at that point. We took Angel south to the Malone split and took that all the way south to Chaparral Rd, hung a right and later a left and worked our way through the new development south of Chaparral, to Parker. Then it was east on Parker and south on Murphy. Doug turned off at Betsy and I continued south. By this time, the wind screen was open 100% of the time. It felt pretty warm. Inside the velo, it was 66°. Usually that means it is about 10° cooler outside. I went a different way home than the way I started, to avoid traffic near the Bush Tollway and ended up on Rowlett Rd, still heading south. Finally, I neared Chaha Rd traffic light and there was a nice break in traffic. I got over to the left lane and made the left turn lane just as I got a green arrow - win-win! I took my left on Chaha, another left on Liberty Grove, and reached the Bush Tollway right of way. This part has much lighter traffic and I got onto the Service Road, which is one way south, U-turns at Lake Ray Hubbard and becomes one way north. I turned off of that into my neighborhood and went straight home. Back at home, the day was lovely and warm, and the wind was dead calm! I got the velo unloaded, parked it in the garage and went out to get my mail half an hour later. What a change! The wind was now strong from the north and noticeably chilly.  Wow - lucky to get home before the front arrived! Good ride, no issues, and a nice ride before this winter blast set in, in earnest!
 
 BIKE: DFXL; START TIME: 9:38; END TIME: 15:32; AVG SPEED: 21.5; MAX SPEED: 39.9; CLIM: 1926; MILES: 80.55; MTD MILES: 295.37  
SUNNY; WIND: S 5; SW 16-25; W 9-13; START TEMP: 38; AVG: 49; END TEMP: 61

Saturday 1/13/24 WRL Ride:
 
Lynn M, Don C, and I waited in the Sunset Bay parking lot until 10:00 AM for other riders to show up, but none did, so I led Lynn and Don out counterclockwise on the lake trail, headed for the north end of the SoPac Trail. Once there we did a 180 and headed south for the Ridgewood Trail exit. Lynn and I stopped at Ridgewood Park to wait for Don. While we were waiting, Lynn took a call from Don who informed her he was still at the north end of the SoPac with a dead motor on his Sprint e-trike. I installed the Bafang drive on his trike but couldn't offer any suggestions as to what could be wrong. He said he would limp back to Sunset Bay in a 58T/36T gear combination, and for Lynn and I to continue on on our usual route. Subsequently, we did a round trip to Glenco Park through the construction area at the Matilda bridge, again rode to the north end of the SoPac, and did a 180, and headed south for the lake. When we reached the Mockingbird Lane overpass, we ran across Don, who was headed north. He turned around and joined us. He informed us that the reason his trike's motor was not operating was because a motor kill switch had been activated by a partially locked brake handle (each of the two brake handles have kill switches mounted on them). We continued south to the Trinity Forest Spine Trail, rode both branches, then rode counterclockwise back to Sunset Bay. After a break, we did a clockwise lake lap, then rode to the Green Spot where we met Craig B for a birthday lunch for Don, whose birthday is today. Following lunch, we noticed the wind had shifted to the north, and it was cooler, as we prepared to ride back to Sunset Bay. Lynn took the short route back, while Don and I completed a counterclockwise lake lap. When we reached Big Thicket, we ran across Butch Y, who had gotten a late start. He rode back to Sunset with Don and I where we all called it quits with the temperature significantly lower than when we entered the Green Spot. Got in 52.8 miles at a 16.6 mph average. My legs were burning. The cold weather and headwinds probably contributed to that. I can't wait for summer to return.
 
We encountered several road bike pelotons on the trails, but not a whole lot of bike riders overall. Don ran across Clown Ride leader, Bob M, when he was riding on the SoPac by himself, but Lynn and I never saw him.
 
We ran across some big groups of pedestrians partially blocking the trails and a lot of walkers with dogs on long leashes.

18-Jan-24      THU      Velo Vets special day

I had to run an errand over off of 75, after 9AM, and by coincidence Herb had a special Velo Vets ride scheduled for noon. Since I couldn't start at the same time as the Clowns, I opted to bring my road bike and join the Velo Vets. I arrived a bit early and rode a little more than 8 miles before the ride start. At first I rode with Lynn and Di. They lagged the main group though and I had planned to ride with Cindy. So when we approached the Flagpole Trail I let Lynn know that I needed to catch up with Cindy as we had planned to ride together. I sped up to catch the group which I found on West Lawther a little south of Mockingbird and Cindy was there. We rode 2 laps, chatting and chatted some with Debra, also. The others were up ahead a little and we made it over to the Green Spot. Four of the five who showed up for the Clown Ride were inside. Jay knocked on the window to get my attention. I went inside and visited with the 4 of them for a few minutes. The only one missing was Bob. I was pretty sure he had led the group as I thought I saw him the one time our little road bike group passed the trike group going opposite directions. Then I went back outside to visit with the rest of the Velo Vets who were there. It seemed we were at the Green Spot much longer than usual. Turns out it was 51 min, nearly double the time we usually spend there. We left but it was already 2:30 PM and I was still in hopes I’d make the evening ride, but it would be tight. I told Cindy I had decided not to do another lap as I needed to get home. I’d parked at the Big Thicket today as that location made the most sense. That was my first time to park where the Velo Vets park. All in all, it was a pleasant ride. The temperature had gotten relatively nice and it was good to visit with Cindy and some others at the Green Spot. Unfortunately, it turned out to be too late to make the evening ride.
 
 NEUVATION ROAD BIKE; START TIME: 11:14; END TIME: 14:45; AVG SPEED: 13.4; MAX SPEED: 22.8; CLIMB: 728 FT; MILES: 32.26; MTD MILES: 327.63  
SUNNY; WIND: NW 9-15; START TEMP: 51; AVG: 54; END TEMP: 57