21-Jan-24      SUN      South Loop Velomobile Solo

Now that I know I can do a ride on a cold day without too much discomfort in the velomobile, with the hood on, that opens up days I wouldn’t ordinarily ride. Today, being dry for most of the day, it was an opportunity to get a decent ride and I was hoping the route I had planned would end up being 50+. That worked great.  
 
I rode across the Rowlett Road causeway across Lake Ray Hubbard to reach a low traffic southbound route which took me through Garland, Sunnyvale, and Mesquite. I didn’t go south of Cartwright in Mesquite but rode east and west on that. Then I tried a new route by turning north off of Cartwright onto Mesquite Valley but continuing north rather than veering off to the NE. I knew I could get to Pioneer that way but was uncertain of the route. I used the map on the Garmin to help with that navigation.  With uncertainty about construction the usual way I would go, I planned on Pioneer because that would take me straight north back to US80 and continuing on Collins. Then at the roundabout, I took a right on Tripp and turned north up the school access road. That was so I could cross Collins at the light and ride through the adjacent neighborhood. That gets me to Stoney Creek and then west over to Jobson. Then I went south on Jobson, looped through the neighborhood just north of 80 and back north on Jobson to Hidden Lake. That was strictly a run for extra mileage. I do it sometimes because it’s easy. Then I took Hidden Lake over to New Hope and north to Town East. I stayed westbound on Town East to the 2nd light, hung a right and rode north to Barnes Bridge. After a turn west on BB I turned right on Palos Verdes and rode north to Northwest Drive and then east to Belt Line. I prefer that indirect route to riding straight north on Belt Line. There is more traffic on Belt Line which I don't care for. I turned right off of Belt Line at the last light before I-30. From there, I take my usual route home, which adds the last 10 miles to my ride.  
 
Despite the temperature being in the low 30s for the entire ride, I still managed to get too hot. To get relief, I partially unzipped the 3 LS jerseys I was wearing and opened the windscreen more to let some refreshing cool air in. The inside temperature of the velo at the end was 55° - outside, it was 33°. Part of that is me breathing on the Garmin. It probably wasn’t that warm inside the velo. It felt like upper 40s, but again no windchill – that really helps. I did see 2 road bike riders coming north on Rebecca as I was heading south on my outbound. We all waved!
 
bike: DFXL; start time: 11:57; end: 14:53; avg:18.9; max: 36.4; climb: 1450; miles: 51.56; mtd miles:461.61
CLOUDY; wind: SE 8; start temp: 32; end: 33

25-Jan-24      THU      Poteet Night Ride

It was just Eva and I tonight. We had considered riding with Melinda, but Eva was ready to go at 5:40. So I texted Melinda to let her know and we rolled at 5:42. Skies were light for about the first half hour of the ride. That allowed us to get onto the quieter roads by the time it got dark. There was practically no wind, and I expected the temperature to stay around 50. But I guess the clouds broke enough and the temperature dropped as low as 42.8 along Rebecca. My plan was to stay north of 80 and I planned a route that would give us 32.5 miles. That involved doing the eastern part of the route twice. That area was generally bounded by Jobson, Collins, East Fork, Polly, Barnes Bridge, and the 80 Service-road, north side.  I didn’t want to go south of 80 because a key road, Long Creek, was under construction, southbound, and the south side service road was likely to be heavy with overflow traffic from 80. That appeared to be the case. The first time on the 80-service road westbound, eastbound 80 was a parking lot. The second time around it was still heavy, although improved a little. But it was too late then. One area that I wished we had skipped was the access road through the high school. There was a lot of school related traffic and parked cars along that. I’m not sure I would do that again, at least not in the dark. We finished up back at Poteet, not having stopped anywhere. That is not unusual for me when I ride out there solo, but I was wondering how Eva would do without a stop. She seemed unfazed and that’s good. We were surprised that there was no sign of the ‘Eagles’ group – it was just our 2 cars at the finish just as it had been when we left.
 
bike: NEUVATION ROAD BIKE; start time: 17:42; end: 19:51; avg:15.6; max: 28.8; climb: 1020; miles: 32.86; mtd miles:494.47
PARTLY CLOUDY; wind: WSW 2-8; start temp: 55; avg: 45; end: 45; min: 42.8

28-Jan-24      SUN      Rockwall-Forney Ride

It was pretty darned chilly at our start time of 9 AM. It was 34° when I arrived at Eva’s, but that was 20 min before 9 AM. Strava shows it was 37° at our start. In any case, we were blessed with sunshine, a NW wind (tailwind on first half), and expectation that it would warm up quickly. I think it did – by the time we reached Forney, it was 45° and when we left, my Garmin was showing a shade temp of 50°. But the return trip felt shockingly cold – that headwind was frigid. I had taken my ski gloves off and my windbreaker and I intensely regretted that during the start back to Rockwall. It was quite uncomfortable on the way back although it became less so as we neared Rockwall. I would say, in the last 5 miles, I was reasonably comfortable. I pulled part of the time; Eva did at other times. It was a balanced ride, I thought. It was nice to get this ride and I felt good for all of it. Not riding on Saturday helped, I would say!
 
bike: NEUVATION ROAD BIKE; start time: 9:01; end: 12:49; avg:14.6; max: 28.8; climb: 1732; miles:43.23; mtd miles:537.7
SUNNY; wind: NW 6; start temp: 37; avg: 45; end: 55

I found Butch, Jay, and Kenny at Sunset Bay when I pulled in this morning.  Larry arrived after me and E-Bob and John and Heidi were there when we finished the first lap.  Kenny started before us, and Jay found he couldn't et his battery to work, and went home to deal with that.  Butch and I did a SPT up and back and lake lap, with Larry near us most of the way until he pulled away on the last five miles.  Jay was back when we rolled in.  He had had to fix a cable from his battery, but made a mistake and lit it up trying to connect it up there in the parking lot.  He didn't ride with us.  Butch, Larry, and I took another long lap.  Handcycle Bob joined us coming back down the SPT.  I kept up a pretty good pace on both laps to average 16.2 mph for 41 miles.  Larry's average was a bit higher.

31-Jan-24      WED      Velo Vets Cut Short

I have no public comments.
 
BIKE: NEUVATION ROAD BIKE; START TIME 8: 54; END TIME 10:24; AVG: 15.3; MAX 26.1; CLIMB: 404; MILES: 18.29; MTD MILES: 603.48
SUNNY; WIND: CALM; START TEMP: 45; AVG TEMP: 49; MAX TEMP: 54

1-Feb-24      THU      POTEET RIDE

Ed was not enthralled with his experience on Tuesday. He'd had to walk his bike a significant distance on the south side frontage road along Hwy 80 due to bumper-to-bumper traffic. He wanted to do what Eva and I had done last Thursday. So, we started out doing that, but I knew I would have to add miles to make up for not going through the high school area off of Tripp. The adjustments I made to the route ended up adding a couple miles to what Eva and I got last Thursday. The east loop including the side trip to Barnes Bridge was done twice. Ed was fine with the mileage. His words, "it was a good workout!"
 
bike: NEUVATION ROAD BIKE; start time: 17:24; end time: 19:47; avg speed: 16.4; max speed: 28.1; climb: 1047; miles: 35.23; ytd miles: 638.71
CLEAR; wind: S 12-26; start temp: 68; avg: 61; end temp: 59

Short South Loop
 
Had planned to get out and ride much earlier, but despite the rainless forecast, it looked like it would rain. I didn't get to ride with Doug, either. He had gotten out early and encountered sporadic rain in his area. 2 hours after I decided not to ride because it looked like it would rain, the sun was out, and I decided then and there I would ride. I didn't plan on anything long. My recent habit of staying north of Hwy 80 was working out well and that is what I decided to do. I did ride south through the high school along the access road and there was a boat show going on there - all the parking areas were filled with outboard motorboats on trailers hooked up to pickup trucks. I can't say I've ever seen anything like that before. The temperature was pleasant and there was wind although it wasn't strong enough to feel on the velomobile.  
 
bike: DFXL; start time: 14:51; end: 17:11; avg: 20.7; max: 38.1; climb: 1299; miles:46.8; mtd miles: 82.0; ytd miles: 685.5
PARTLY CLOUDY; wind: S 10; start temp: 63; avg: 65; end: 64

4-Feb-24      SUN      Rockwall /Forney /rtn

Cold ride to Forney; windy cold ride back. Saw some sun near the end.
 
bike: NEUVATION ROAD BIKE; start time: 9:08; end: 12:43; avg: 15.0; max: 30.3; climb: 1670; miles: 43.71 mtd miles: 125.74; ytd miles: 729.22
CLOUDY, becoming PARTLY CLOUDY; wind: NNE 11; NW 14; start temp: 50 min: 46 avg: 48; max: 55; end: 55