Day 1 of the Ride Cancelled..I've had to pull out...

Today would have been Day 1 of the MS150 from Houston to La Grange - A distance of 100 miles. The organizers decided to cancel Day 1 last night 12 hours before 13000 riders were due to roll into the start line. It was raining heavily last night when I got home from work to prep for the ride (4 pm) but it continued to rain all day today. By sheer bad luck - a huge storm system dumped 2-4 inches of rain on La Grange yesterday and there were thunderstorms, tornado watches in force and lots of lightning for most of the day along the route.




You can see why they cancelled the use of the fairgrounds - A lot of teams and the general riders just use sleeping bags on the ground and it would have been a total mess with all the riders walking around, even if the rain had stopped. Parking would also have been a problem as there are not a lot of sealed surfaces. Another 2- 4 inches of rain expected today and the forecast for La Grange is rain most of the day. Also with the rain bands over the bulk of the ride route today it was definitely the right decision to cancel the ride.

The weather tomorrow looks fine as of 6 pm but there is still a NW head wind which will pick up to 10 mph by about 11 am and runs through the afternoon, so the earlier into Austin, the better for those riding the 80 miles tomorrow...After much deliberation, I have decided to pull out. The ride start time from La Grange has been moved to 8 am - 9.30 am and I have a work commitment requiring me to be back in Houston by 4 pm in the afternoon. Starting this late will not give me enough time to complete the ride - even if I didn't have breaks - as the journey back to Houston is just under a 3 hr trip.

I am very disappointed to miss out on the ride, given the number of good folks who have sponsored me. All that training and a shame to miss out on the ride itself - Although in the middle of day 2 one always has to dig deep to finish, it is such a blast to get to the end and the finish line in Austin. Over the course of the last 3 training rides in March/April (Tour De Houston, Space Race and The Great Escape Ride) I have covered the 180 miles but I intend to log additional miles in May to make up for missing out......

About 100 of the 130 riders we have will finish Day 2. The society has managed to raise $12M of the $17M target and will prob finish close but a lot of people are disappointed at how things have turned out for the 25th Anniversary ride. C'est la vie.......At least everyone is safe - those storms would have been dangerous and heavy going...

Weather Forecast!

The weather looks bad esp on Saturday with lots of rain, and on Sunday with a 12- 20 mph headwind..Yikes. According to the local weather guy - "The good news is that Sunday consistently looks sunny and dry. An upper-level disturbance will pass to the north of the route on Friday, perhaps spawning a line of showers/storms that could affect parts of the route on Friday. This disturbance moves off to the northeast by Friday evening, and the rain temporarily ends. On Saturday, another passing disturbance will cause another round of storms to form along the frontal boundary. The front will begin moving southeast and east and off the Texas coast by Sunday morning. Very bad - 3-4 inches of rain (or more), lightning, maybe some hail. Stuff you won't want to be out on a bike in." Rain or Shine the MS150 rolls this weekend.....!

The 2009 Jersey

Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport.........Here tis.....

Space Race 2009!

The Space Race on Sunday April 5th near Nasa. Ride Website is at
http://www.spacerace.org/

We actually took off from the Gulf Greyhound RaceWay and cycled past all the dogs in their kennels.

It was a warm, muggy day and we were not far from the coast. Unpacked the bikes and its amazing what one an fit into a small car......
I'm riding a Cannondale six 13 which has a compact crank and am still getting used to the feel of this bike. We were out of luck with the weather half way through. Went for the 80 mile ride but the wind picked up as it got later in the day and it was rough......The rest stops were few and far between. Almost 16 miles between two on the far end of the loop and the first one had run out of water so they were filling up bottles with
ice which was all they had......
I was emptying bottles at the rate of 3 every hour toward the end of the ride and started to struggle. We looped back to Restop 6 - The Wee Mart whch was part of a gas stations seen here in the picture and it sure was crowded...

Lots of wildflowers out and the weather was pleasant though. We got back in time for some cold hamburgers - The ride was sponsored by McDonals and they provided participants with free hamburgers at the end of it. Ronald McDonald was at the starting line to wave us on...
This was Restop 3 on the way out which became Restop 6 on the way back in (see last picture)


The ride organizers were overwhelmed by the number of riders and the volunteers did a good job trying to keep up with the crowds. It took us over 30 mins trying to get off the Freeway even though we left in plenty of time the first riders had already left when we finally rolled in to park the car. They were directing over 6 lanes of traffic into the parking lot at the Greyhound Race track. Turned out to be a good place to start from because of this.



Here we are at about Mile 58 toughing out the wind though it
doesn't look like it. I ran out of water on the last 3 miles in and
could really have used another drink. It was that hot and I was drinking a lot more than I had on previous rides to make up for it. Ended up feeling reasnably sore that night and a bit creaky the next day but all back to normal.......

Restop 6 on the way back in! The Wee Mart. The ride stop was out of food, so I nicked in and bought a packet of trail mix, 2 peanut bars and a packet of salted cashews. Shared these with my fellow riders and felt a lot better afterwards as I had cycled about 30 miles with only some munchies that I had brought with me to keep me going. A huge sag truck was taking about 30 riders and their bikes home. Looked a bit like a border crossing deportation.... :-) We sailed off into the wind and almost felt like joining them. Still it was a good day out......when we finally got in....

Schlumberger Education Expedition 2009

After having missed a relatively warm week while I was travelling with work, Saturday morning dawned cold and windy. We had 15 mph NW winds and the temperature at 5 am was 46 F. No incentive to get out of bed for this ride. I had organised to hit the trail with a bunch of friends with a departure time of 6 am, to get to Hightower High School in Fort bend, for the 7.15 am push off, which was around the time when it was going to get light

Above shot is taken about 9 am at Rest stop 2. We ended up doing the 53 miler due to the wind being blusteringly strong. It was so cold, that we were all wearing extra layers to stop the wind cutting through. Fingers didn't warm up till the sun was out for at least an hour.

The rest of the day turned out to be sunny, but windy and the wind was cold. Turnout for this ride was not as big as last years when the weather was better. We saw the odd bit of road kill along the road, and quite a few black caterpillars trying to cross the road. Horses, Cows and several fields along with the odd small town as we cycled through Manvel and Rosharon. Manvel is Manvel is a city in Brazoria County, Texas. The current population is approximately 7,160 as of April 2008, and it is about a 40 min drive SW of downtown Houston.

The ride raises money for the local school district, so the schools had volunteers out to help with the rest stops. They ran a competition for the best rest stop and we all picked number 6. Apart from cheering the cyclists on till they were hoarse, they also kept the bikers who stopped, entertained while they played games like twister, next to the food and drink stop.

The wind took its toll. We made it back by 12pm for a meal of fajitas (beef or chicken) or a choice of subway sandwiches. We burnt plenty of calories and it was good to get something to eat after that. All in, a good ride and good to get some windy riding practice in!

Tour De Houston 2009

A clear and relatively warm morning - It was dark before we started and the sun started to rise as we set off down the Elysian Way...on the 2009 Tour De Houston. This years route was changed - we didn't do the Hardy Toll Road, instead headed out from Elysian to the Houston Heights - an older neighbourhood where time just seemed to slow down - both the older style houses, and the people too. I did 40 miles on a loop ride and on the way back people were out exercising, but no ipods here - more like Sony Walkmans...several of the churches were filled and the congregation singing added to the serenity of the neighbourhoods we were riding through. Rest stop 1 was at Regan High School at the 10 mile mark.

The KJSB Christian Van was playing music, and loading up supplies - Though it wasn't hot, I was drinking a lot of water! The sun was already out and I wanted to try to go at a decent pace. Volunteers were hard at work as the first riders rolled in. There was a 70 mile loop which the Mayor was doing, he had kicked the ride off in the morning and was enroute but we shortly after split off from the main group into 3 directions depending on distance cycled. Weather was supberb.

Not to hot until about 10 really and even then there was a cool breeze blowing which provided some headwind on the way back into the downtown area. After the second stop at the 20 mile mark, I skipped the 3rd and rode the last 20 back to the finish line getting in about 10.15 am. I had a pleasant surprise halfway when I met up with my family who had come out to meet me with some extra breakfast. A good excuse to pull up and rest for a few minutes as well as I spotted them on the side of the road. Discovery Green was pumping away with the riders who had made it back to the finish line.

All in a great ride - about 3,300 cyclists - a little crowed at the start but okay once we were off...Discovery Green making a great location for it. There was a band playing the old Men at Work song "Who can it be now"...and for a minute I thought I was back in Melbourne!

Morning training update

Its been warm this week and its been easy to get up and pedal in the mornings
I've been averaging 50-70 miles a week indoors on most mornings. Looking to try to increase the time in the saddle on several sessions a week, but have to getup by 5.00 am to fit this in...

I also train Cardio on a rowing machine - A concept 2 - which is good for balancing the workout with the legs from the bike.

Trying to log 80 miles each week on the static bike

Have been doing 10 miles each morning this week on the static bike. It takes me about 40 mins to warm up hit the target at mid resistance and coold down. If I drop the resistance back I can pedal at speeds up to 19 mph on the bike but it doesn't feel as realistic. Still its a good training aid while the weather is cold, and easy to do with time constraints.....

Time to Ride Again......

Dusted off old faithful and pumped up the tires.........Did the same with the other bike which I sometimes use for training.
Weather has been unpredictable - cold this week - but planning to get riding again before the end of the month. And looking forward the the 2009 season!

The 2009 Story........

Time to Ride again...