Born To Be Wild 200K

I rode the RUSA Born To Be Wild 200K permanent, north and west of Austin TX, on Friday.  I was in Austin for the week on business, so I brought my bike.  This ride is one of several permanents hosted by the Hill Country Randonneurs.  This ride passed through the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge.  See Online Map.

The route owner warned me 'it was hilly'.  He was right.  It was the hilliest ride I've ever done.

Another rider warned me about traffic on one road, and long stretches without services.  Excellent advice.  I was ready.

The cue sheet was perfect and easy to memorize.  I never got lost, and I never needed to power on my GPS.  No bonus miles.

Scenery was beautiful.  Weather was like springtime.  Most drivers were incredibly cordial.

The wind all day was tough.  I made the first checkpoint with only a few minutes to spare.  Luckily, my time buffer improved throughout the ride.

One of the clerks at the first checkpoint squealed happily when she saw my perm card.  "I haven't seen one of those in forever", as she grabbed it and signed it.

I forgot sunblock.  Not good.

The night before the ride, I bought six tacos from Taco Cabana with chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and salsa.  I froze four, chilled two, and they survived the day in my insulated bag.  Delicious.  Those, plus my usual powerade, powder, and candy bars were plenty.

I got a puncture in my front tire about 30 miles from the finish.  I found a thorn, dug out as much as possible, and lined the inside with an inch of rim tape.  It held air until the finish.  And, as a bonus, it felt great to sit and relax while fixing it.

Outside the CVS drugstore at the finish, a gaggle of girl scouts were selling cookies.  Much to their surprise, I bought two boxes.  Great post-rando food.

Here are a few photos of checkpoints and random shots along the ride:  Photos

And here is a short video (1:20) from my new helmet cam.  See me, my shadow, and a few descents.  Listen as I say "whee" at 0:50.  Video

The biggest difference from a ride in North Carolina?  It wasn't the endless hills.  Nor the springlike weather.  It was, drum roll please... no dogs!  I like Texas.

Another great day on the bike.

Many thanks to the route owner for answering my questions before the ride, and for processing my results.

Rando Recognition

Some randonneurs ride for the medals.  Others to get our names on the RUSA website.  I, however, have discovered a new reason...

Click on the thumbnail photo at left to see an actual unretouched photo of a receipt I received yesterday at the Burger King in Benson NC, at the finish of the RUSA Tar Heel 200K with Jayjay & Biker Bob.  It's great to be recognized.

Temps were well below freezing until after lunch.  We were cold most of the day.  Drinks bought at stores always felt lukewarm, because we were accustomed to the frozen slushy drinks on our bikes.  As the sun was setting, I got concerned that I had no more layers to add, since I had kept everything on throughout the day.  Alas, we finished fine.

Every time a dog charged us, Biker Bob gave us great demonstrations of his tiny air horn.  I was impressed.

Aside from one near miss with a car driver pulling out of their blind driveway, traffic was light, cordial, and incident free.  Very nice.

The best part of the day was meeting up with Randos Dean and Mick.  They were riding another perm today and had timed their arrival in Stedman with ours.  Very nice.

A great day on the bikes.

Impulsive Purchases

I bought a cow bell at my favorite store, Harbor Freight Tools.

But why?  I never watch bike races.

Maybe I'll carry it on a permanent someday...

Christmas Bike Lights 2012

Our local Target store was basically giving away their remaining Christmas lights last week, so I couldn't resist buying a string of these big LED lights to cut and chop.  After a little experimenting, I found most of the bulbs shine nicely with my spare bike battery pack (2.4v).  I think they look great during my dark morning commute (click small photo to enlarge).

On the other hand, I'm not so good at taking night photos:  photos

Watch for them on my next 200K, hopefully New Years Day.

Raleigh Santaconda 2012

Last night was the fifth annual Raleigh Santaconda, the bawdy bar crawl with hundreds of costumed Santas, elves, jokers, etc patronizing businesses on Glenwood Ave and downtown.  As usual, I arrived early to eat, and then left early, immediately following the snowball fun in Nash Park (thanks to whoever brought a load of shaved ice).  Saw old friends, made new ones.   Like a good rando, I went well-lit this year.

Here is a good set of photos on Facebook:  photos

The original "A Christmas Story"

The feature film "A Christmas Story" was based upon a story by author and radio personality Jean Shepherd.  He read the story every Christmas Eve on his late night radio show on WOR-AM in New York City.  I heard it live on the air several times

Enjoy this 40-minute mp3 of the Dec 24 1974 show:  http://goo.gl/n40Ku
Listen at 30:36 when Santa says "You'll shoot your eye out, kid".
And yes, in the end, he almost does shoot his eye out.

More Shep recordings:  http://shepcast.blogspot.com/ 
click the 'listen now' player

TARDIS has moved

I rode the RUSA Lookin' out my back door 200K on Saturday, Dec 1.  It was a beautiful day, just above freezing in the morning darkness, then really nice in the mid-afternoon.  Days are short, so it started getting cold quickly as soon as the sun dropped.  For this slow rando, that means dressing up warm again for the finish.

A house near the turnaround point of the route has had a blue TARDIS in their front yard for a while.  Today it was gone.  At first, I thought it had taken a journey through time, but then I spotted it in the back yard.  (click thumbnail photo to enlarge)

My spring-loaded bottom-bracket generator has performed flawlessly since I got it, even in rain.  But on this ride, my light went dark in the first half mile.  I stopped, jiggled wires, spun the pedals, and it lit back up, so I continued.   Then it went dark a second time.  Uh oh, this is not going to be fun.  But after my second jiggling, it worked flawlessly for the rest of the day.   I wonder what was the problem.

Best part of the ride:  A family was outside decorating their house north of Coats during my return trip.  As I approached, the father yelled out greetings and asked where I was riding today.  He acknowledged, then wished me well.  No disbelief, just encouragement.  Wow, wonder if he is a cyclist?  Maybe I could have recruited another rando.  Must print a batch of business cards.

Here are photos with a few more stories in captions.