Well, I guess the YMCA workouts are making a difference......

After 25+ years I am a member of the YMCA again. My YMCA is undergoing the construction of a rather large addition to it's facilities. Once finished it should be much nicer than it is now, which is pretty good. Hoever, it is not the YMCA I remembered from my youth. The exercise machine room is great because they have machines with individual monitors and headphone jack so that you can watch your choice of a few channels. My favorite happens to be TNT's Without a Trace, just happens to be on when I workout. I have been doing 30 min. on the Treadmill at a 6.4 pace, 30 min. on the bike, 10 min. on the rowing machine, and 20 min. on the elliptical trainer. It must be making a difference as I finally got out on the road again this weekend and had a higher ride average than I have had since getting back on the bike in July. Getting tired of the same old route around White Rock Lake, I decided to visit the Greater Dallas Bicyclists Website for a few Options to choose from and found a Route fairly close to my house. (If you want to join a group to meet other cyclists and have a lot of ride options, this is a good one along with Team Bikin', Plano Bicycling Association, and Ft. Worth Bicycling Association.) It starts from REI and heads toward Las Colinas. It's a good route as REI is the highest point ont he route making you climb back up at the end of the ride. A quick ride up Midway Road gets me to and from REI and allows a few rolling hills along the way. The route heads through Farmers Branch and turns South on Luna Road. South of LBJ Freeway the road actually resembles a country road and leads past a golf course and a park, California Crossing Park, neither of which I new were there. I then road through Las Colinas and headed north to Valley Ranch. A detour next to La Villita that was used during the construction of the President George Bush Turnpike, takes you under the freeway and up the hill to Valley Ranch Parkway. This road is unmarked. It is just under the PGBT. If you miss this turn, as I did, you have to climb a pretty good hill up to MacArthur Boulevard. If you want to ride this hill, you can turn right on MacArthur and head to the next stoplight, turn right and back down a steep hill and return to Valley Ranch Parkway. My ride, with the added mileage to and from REI, was 42.32 miles. My average pace was 16.9 which is up .4 mph from my highest average. Not quite where I want to be but I am working on that. And, I noticed that my pace heading uphill has increased. I am looking forward to doing this ride again as I was not able to take the "hill option" listed on the GDB cuesheet and I can add some hills through the University of Dallas Campus as well. Also, there are many places to add loops along the route to add distance to any ride. This ride follows mostly new roads that are in great condition, however, there are a lot of people out there that don't want you on there roads. So, be careful and keep a watchful eye. And, never forget you are an ambassador on the roads. You will recieve the same attitude that you produce, be considerate and please, obey the law.

An article I read in the Dallas Morning News......

I just had to post this. I read it in the Dallas Morning News and thought some other people might like it. Great story. I especially liked the quote "I guess you have to be a cyclist to understand the madness."Hell in uniform: Nothing was going to stop Don Lobmeyer from riding the HHH.Not the wind. Not the heat. Not the sand.And not the fact that he's currently stationed in Iraq.Spc. Lobmeyer, a 37-year-old Army mechanic with the Kansas National Guard, staged a Hotter 'N Hell Iraq to coincide with the anniversary. He rode the real ride in 2003.On Saturday, he rode 117 miles in six hours and 18 minutes around a secure area near Baghdad."I went through 12 liters of water, four liters of Gatorade, six bananas, two apples, four energy bars, 16 ounces of pickle juice and a couple of small packages of mixed nuts," he wrote in an e-mail.Training on a nearby route garnered some interesting stares as he cruised around on his borrowed Schwinn Sierra GS wearing a bright yellow Army jersey."People think Lance Armstrong is in Iraq," he wrote.Iraqi soldiers cheered him on and gave him a thumbs-up as he whizzed by, he wrote. He made friends with Iraqi children by fixing soldiers' discarded bikes and giving them to the kids.His fellow soldiers questioned why anyone would want to ride 100 miles, "let alone do it in these conditions," he said. "I guess you have to be a cyclist to understand the madness."Several obstacles stood in his way, starting with persuading Army officials to approve the ride. He had to eat balanced meals based on whatever the chow hall offered, and find time to train. And, of course, there was "limited riding space as we are in the middle of a war zone," he wrote.Sure, it was much different from riding in Wichita Falls with snacks galore and bike repair stands at the ready. But in some ways, it was quite authentic.In Baghdad on Saturday, it was nearly 120 degrees.

Waco Wild West Century

Days like this you begin to wonder just what you see in this sport! Yet, at he end of the day you look back at the hardships as well as the tests of strengtth, determination, and emotional fortitude and realize that you have done something that many others will either look at you with everything ranging from awe to bewilderment, though never with indifference. Today I rode my first century of the season! Not a small task in any measure but this century was compounded by the matter of only hving been back on the bike since July 22nd after a two year absence. A daunting task.We drove down Friday after work and arrived in Waco to register at the Hampton Inn about 7:20 and headed next to the Waco Wild West registration before meeting with friends (Mike, Bill, Nancy, Kathy, Donna, and a couple of others) for dinner at Ninfa's. Not what I would have preffered for a pre-ride evening meal, but hey, I ride so that I CAN eat, right? Anyway, after good conversation and good company paired with mediocre food, Eva and I went back to the hotel for the nights rest.The alarm came early at 5:15 as we fumbled around for our things and prepared for the day. It always helps to get in a great breakfast before a long ride as the dinner fuels the morning, but the breakfast fuels the afternoon, so we headed across the parking lot to the Cracker Barrel for a good home-style offering of eggs, bacon, pancakes, and of course coffee. I know a lot of riders will tell you that you have to carefully measure your vitamins, powders, pre-race drinks and the like for optimum performance, but I am a believer in the goodness of mother nature and all that she can provide. There is a running joke these days that man is living longer, but new studies are showing that the bodies of Americans decompose slower than those of the Europeans because of all the preservatives and synthetic materials that we ingest. I don't know if that is true, but I sure felt healthier after two months over there than I ever do here......even off of the bike.Anyway, we later lined up with our "grouppo" on the starting line with the rest of the hundred milers. However, as it turned out only Mike and I were doing the 100 mile route. I kinda talked him in to heading out with me for the company with the caveat that Eva would meet us along the route if he needed a ride in since he had not planned on riding that many miles and wanted to get back home for a dinner group. So after trading the front for the first 20 miles, I took the lions share on the front the rest of the way for draggin' him out there. So, I grit my teeth and settled into a rythym that would allow him to follow along and try not to burn myself up too early in the ride and against a 15-18 mph head and cross wind for the first 60 miles or so. Ever turn into the wind elicited a groan from all the riders within earshot of us. Knowing that I was not alone with this attitude only increased my determination and I began to remember that it was going to be a long, long day. However, with each passing mile and each rest stop to regain strength and raise the metal spirits, I began to feel stronger as the ride progressed. This ride I had convinced myself early that eating more than I normally do and drinking every chance I got was the key to my success and the longer the ride wore on the more I knew that the proof was in the Cliff Bar. When Mike climbed in to the car at the 68 mile rest stop, I was ready to get back on the bike for more punishment.A little before this though, while still riding into the wind, we headed down the long fast decent into Mother Neff State Park and I heard "this doesn't look good" from my shadow behind as he was thinking "physics tells us that what goes down must come back up" and he knew that we would be heading toward a long climb back out of the park. I also can't tell you the relief we felt upon cresting that hill and cranking the speed up to a comfortable 25 mph as we crused on toward that next stop where Eva and the car waited.Once Mike was in the car I thanked him for the company and got back on the bike and picked back up where we had left off and cruised on at 24-25 mph trying to catch a couple of friends that had passed us when I was checking a message from Eva saying that she was there waiting for us, after a brief moment where she didn't know how to get there, she found her way.Anyway, I finally caught up to Blazzing Saddles after cresting a hill a few miles before the Skittles rest stop. However, we lost each other after that and I headed for home. After another brief stint into the wind and two flat tires, I cruised in to the company of a rider named Tom from Ft. Worth (Ft. Worth Bicycling Assoc.)who picked up his pace to join me across the finish line hot, tired and thankful that the Coca-Cola truck was still at the finish line for an ice-cold refreshment and I did give it a smile.I am most proud of the effort that I put forth in finishing a difficult century with a large portion of it into the wind and having ridden almost entirely without drafting another. The time spent riding with Mike kept me from going all out early with legs that have had less than optimal training conditions and amounts (only 724 miles this season). I even got some surprised looks as I sped past thouse who had burned out early and had trouble keeping up the pace near the end. And, I was impressed and proud of my self for completing the ride. I had an overall average of 15.5 mph which only leaves me room for improvement for next years group of centuries that I plan to prepare for. Hopefully I will be in much better shape and 10-15 pounds lighter as well. We'll see. I hope others got to go and ride this ride, though the support was not as stellar as many of us would like (see White Rock Rabbit's Post), overall it was a good ride with good scenery and usually good roads. The people were very friendly and helpful at every stop, just not as well stocked as other rides. And the finish line was near non-existant. The should realize that the riders who come in late might need the assistance, cheering, and post rides sustinance just like those who finish early or only ride the shorter routes. I feel bad for all of those who finished after me as I know there were a few. However, I enjoyed the weekend and hope everybody else that got to ride around Waco did too.