Roctober Rides

[marni]

Houston has been having a spell of perfect fall weather. Dry air, sun,and temps in the mid 60's raising to the high 80's by mid-afternoon a nd then cooling down.

I have been doing back to back rides but Saturday I did the Sealy (town name) Kiwanis Fall Classic also known as the "pie ride" since they serve pie at all the rest stops along with barbeque and St. Arnolds beer at the end. The terrain is flat to gently rolling and the traffic is pretty much non existent as it is farming country. A plenitude of press seal paving is about the only slight downer.

My riding buddy and I along with the SAG guy all started together a bit ahead of the start time. The Sag guy hasn't ridden for about 8 months as his current work schedule is 5:30 am to 7:00 pm and he spends the weekend trying to get caught up on energy and sleep. We rode slow and easy to the first rest stop, had a small slice of pie. I had the chocolate chip pecan pie which was sooo.. good. They had left the pecans a bit salty and used a semi sweet chocolate which cut the sweetness. SAG guy had the chocolate coconut cream which was also quite tasty since I had another slice at the turnaround. The apple pie that I had after lunch was also delicious.

At the first stop Sag Guy headed back and my riding buddy and I went on to ride another 46 miles for a total of 68 in 4:30 which is not too shabby for a couple of old ladies. The weather was picture perfect, mid 70's during the ride, full sun and little to now wind which is probably why our speed was relatively good.

The pie came from the Texas Star Cafe in New Ulm, Texas. I highly recommend it if you ever in the Houston vicinity around the last weekend in November. The added bonus was that it is a not very advertised local secret sort of ride and the total number of riders for Saturday was 350 riders.

Here's hoping thegood weather continues as I am actually clocking some great mileage on the bike.

[Crankin]

I rode 32 miles yesterday, nothing special, but a ride that reminds me just how wonderful it is to ride right in my own area. We started out really, really slow, and sped up a little near the end, so I actually finished with an average not so much below what I do when trying to go fast. I feel like I've been riding for so long that now I'm starting to sound like my grandfather, always saying, "Remember when...?" as I ride by different places where stuff has happened.
Today the weather was a little drizzly and blowing at 20 mph right when we wanted to go out and ride, so I went on a 4 mile hike instead. Of course, the rain stopped and the sun peeked out, but I'm good with that. The I went to the lBS and started the process for my new bike build.

[rebeccaC]

marni....i would have stopped at each rest stop

worked all weekend ....planning a ride in Joshua Tree NP with some friends for next weekend though and looking forward to it!!!!