I finally found some time to fix the broken seat post on the bike. The coupling under the seat had snapped leading to a squeak every time the bike flexed. I ended up having to get a new seat post and bracket as the old one had an angular shape. $60 bucks and 2 days later (after a special order) I was riding again - squeak free at last!

Wild Wild West Ride - Sunday Feb 17th, 8 am.

Much of the ride was through fields like this with cattle or horses.

Total ride was 53.4 miles with the longest stretch of nearly 20 miles without a break. (I skipped the 4th rest stop on the way back, mainly because it was on the wrong side of the road.)
There was a bad head wind for part of the ride - Winds were gusting up to 15 mph and my speed dropped down to 9 miles an hour. On the way back though I was peddling at 18 to 19 mph with no problems. So it evened out, though I was glad to have the headwind at the start, rather than towards the end of the ride - harder as ones gets tired.

Averaged 16.4 mph, with a total ride time of 3.43 mins. I got back to the car park at 12.20 pm so elapsed time was 4 hours 20 mins. Stops were quick - no more than 10 mins apart - towards the end it was just nice to get off the bike.

The car park of Forster High School on Hwy 723 north of Rosenberg, Texas. Day started cold 52 degrees but it warmed up nicely to 70. It had rained all day on the Saturday, so I was not sure if we were going to get a clear day - but it worked out nicely (apart from the wind...) The view from the car park early in the morning as folks were unloading their bicycles.


All in all a pretty good ride - I was tired when I got back in though. Phyiscally and mentally from the concentration - Lots of road kill to dodge on the ground.....!

Week 2 Practice

Managed to get on the static bike 3 times during the week, averaging 40 mins a time in the morning. Covered approximately 26 kms (got distracted by the kids one morning and didn't make the full distance of 10 miles a day). The bike is set to record the ride in kms, and I can't find the ole user manual to change it...Still the setup works well for training.......
Just need to increase the distance covered each time I get on it!

West U Warm Up - Do you WuWu !

I finally started serious riding for this years MS150. My plan at the moment is to cover 100 miles a week between the static bike and on road riding through the rest of February. Had an early start this morning to get to the first training ride I've attended this year at Tom Bass Park on Hwy 288. The annual West U Warm Up or WuWu as the organisers call it! It was much warmer than usual for this time of the year, although still a coolish 62 degrees when I left the house at 6.40 am for an 8 am start. The event organisers had some great music blaring out as the sun rose and it started to warm up. "I want to ride my bicycle" stayed in my head as we set off against the wind. Completed a 30 mile ride averaging 15 miles per hour in mild conditions. 3 rest stops and it started to warm up on the last 12 miles back. The wind from the early morning part of the ride disappeared. It was a good chance to get into traning mode, get organised with the logistics of getting the bike ready for a ride each weekend and packing gear, as well as seeing how creaky the ole body was....I have a lot of training to get through to get close to the form I need to be in for April 12th and 13th!
Finished the ride at 10.30 am and headed home happy with the effort!
(On my way back I noticed cricketers in the park! something I haven't seen in Houston very much. Turns out the Houston Cricket Association play at Tom Bass, and there are 5 cricket fields.......)