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At the starting line
Day 1 – The rain started to fall as I was carrying my bag to the luggage truck and continued until breakpoint 2. That made the cobblestones in front of the Alamo a little scary, but everyone was keeping their speed down, so nobody wiped out. (With the rain, everyone’s focus changed from “Can I make the Century Loop before they close the gate?” to “Can I make it to New Braunfels in one piece?” River Road in Greune was closed by 10:00 due to high water, so I don’t think anyone made it to the loop.)
At breakpoint 1
Riding through Fort Sam Houston was pretty cool. That was the first point on the route that I realized that I didn’t train on enough hills, but I managed to mash the pedals and keep my speed up.
Came upon a fairly big car accident early on the route. Apparently a driver trying to turn was so focused on not hitting a cyclist that he didn’t bother to check for oncoming cars once there was a break in bike traffic and T-boned a pickup. From what I heard no cyclists were hurt.
I realized early on that I wasn’t drinking enough en route. I finally started using the timer on the Garmin to take sips every 10 minutes. After lunchtime, I’d gotten my body into sync, but the last 3 miles to lunch were an eternity.
I ran into two ladies that I rode with to Corpus 2 years ago. They credited me with drafting them into Corpus Christi in the headwind, I credited them with keeping me sane back then. I slowed myself down to ride with them again (having come back from being dehydrated, I really wasn’t in the mood to push myself anyway) and especially once the heavy downpour began in the last 10 miles it was good to ride with friends.
However, I lost them on the last hill. The streets were pretty flooded in New Braunfels so I rode the brakes pretty hard coming into the last hill before Schlitterbahn. Of course, every descent has a matching ascent… but my brakes had accumulated enough crud from the road that they wouldn’t let go. And I was in the middle of the street to stay out of the flooding with cars behind me. Great. I got them opened up and made it up the hill to the finish, and was one of the last riders to make it in. Special thanks to the mechanic from Ride Away Bicycles who spent about an hour figuring out what went wrong and got my bike ready for the next day. He said it was no charge, but I tipped him well anyway. When you find a good mechanic, you’ve got to take care of him!
With the storm overhead and the extra time spent with the mechanic I missed dinner. A couple of guys from Rackspace saw me leaving the shower truck hauling my too-heavy bag (clothes get heavy when wet!) and offered me the leftover BBQ in their tent. It was much appreciated.
At the shuttle to T Bar M, I met up with a couple Houstonians from my team and it was off to the cabin for the night. I’m glad I cancelled my motel reservation and took a bunk with the team. We had a great time hanging out. Our cabin’s A/C wasn’t working, but I managed to get some sleep while I listened to the rain overhead.
Day 2 – From about 4:30 AM to 7:15 or so we had a pretty big thunderstorm overhead, and by 6:15 day 2 was called off. Even though it became a pretty nice day, I think the MS Society made the correct call. We saw a lot of flooding this morning from the freeway, which tells me the farm roads were probably under water.
Overall – Despite the second day being washed out, I think this is my favorite ride to date. It has some fun hills, and the logistics make it so easy… just drive to the Alamodome and get on your bike. I’m looking forward to doing the whole thing next year.
I do need to take the bike to the shop now that I’m back. Despite the Ride Away mechanic’s best efforts, Mother Nature did a number on my bike overnight in the compound, plus it just needs a tune-up after a weekend like this. The chain is well rusted now, and I’m sure there’s other spots where road grit has started to gum up the works.
Best thing I tossed into my bag at the last minute: 2 Ziploc bags, one for my phone and the other for my wallet. I would have been in a world of hurt otherwise. Unlike the iPod speaker and the Garmin, they weren’t designed to get rained on.
Best last minute find at HEB: Tide handwashing packets. $0.79 for three, in the trial size toiletries section.
Best line at breakfast from a teammate: “You never really remember the rides where everything goes well. It’s the rides like this that you’ll never forget.”
And now, cyclist porn:
Route map from the Garmin. The gap in the route is where I forgot to restart the timer after a rest stop.
Garmin Data
