In Memoriam

On this wonderful May day, as we relax by the pool, reflection beckons. This is Memorial Day. A day to commemorate those that have given their all for this Country. Since it's safe to conclude that other more poignant authors have this subject covered, I propose to take Memorial Day in a different direction. Let's remember all those that have graced the peloton, only to fall victim to life's inevitable demands. Some had kids. A few got too fast for us. Others just burned out. Some ate so much they looked like they were about to have a kid. Whatever the circumstances, let's celebrate their memory. And why they are gone.

1. BunnyHopper Dan - As we rolled past the Walgreen's, Dan's tree looked well fertilized. Many remember Dan's signature move with the HCD. And I'm not talking about the bunny hop. Love.

2. Malo - Our best recruiter. Many HCD faithful connected to us through Malo. Not our best attender. Early start times.

3. Stevie Z - Once renowned as Stevie Big Ring, now Z has resorted to muddy buddy races for fitness. Kid's baseball.

4. Q - Too fast for our bunch. MTB racing.

5. Dustin - Once a celebrity attender, Dustin's cameos have faded to black. Parenthood.

6. Wulf - The dervish has not spooled with the HCD in nearly a year. Work.

7. Drain-O - His bike gathers dust as he tours the world on NI's nickel. Other pursuits.

8. Rey - while not actually a member of the HCD (just ask him!), Rey is included for his ardent participation in email chatter/assassination. Kim-chee.

9. Mike - This guy evolved to a higher plane of existence. Talent.

10. AT - Once a top 4 attender, AT is now as visible as Jimmy Hoffa. Nachos.

Sherpa Dreams

ME, Hoodie, Veej and Ullrich. Full Aussie. Hoodie wanted to swing by a friend's house on Mountain Villa. Which is off Cat Mountain. Two streets that connect, both having the word "Mountain" in their names. We passed. Sherpa Dreams are not on plan for today.

Pretty easy pace all the way around the loop. Except for some 3x8 intervals. Or 3x5, depending on your schedule. Gathered another rider on the back of two intervals, one guy on Spicewood, and another on Shoal Creek. We should charge bus fair.

Great weather today, albeit windy. Lost Veej in Rollingwood. 

Krause Loop

Memorial Day weekend started early for the HCD. We chose (thanks the the Badger!) a phenomenal track. Leaving from HP and 12, we rolled down Hamilton Pool, then a northern, counterclockwise loop. Mauricio joined us, an awesome surprise. Fresh off his trifecta at the Driveway, I think our 65 mile endurance pace proved to be a nice recovery pace for our cat3, HCD graduate.Whatever the circumstances, it's always awesome to roll with Mauricio.Along with ME and Panozz, we had the old faithfuls, Hoodie, Badger and Ullrich.We kept a nice, manageable pace throughout the ride, perfect endurance pace for ME. Everyone has a slightly different endurance pace, but the ride wasn't long enough to seriously blow any gaskets. Ullrich PR'd his climb out of Pedernales. Well done bro!

Top 7 Ride Highlights:

1. Saw this guy when we stopped for a bio break. So cute.

 Tarantula Season!!

2. Hill country views aplenty! This route is spectacular, if a little on the dry side. Make sure you bring three bottles. And stop at the C-Store on 71 bu Opies.

HCD at the Apex

3. Big, Fast, and (thanks Jesus!) Friendly Dog

On the way south we were greeted by a diesel-like lab. He sprung outta the bushes and acted as my wingman for about a minute of balls-out sprinting. If there was malice in his heart, I would have had teeth in my calf.

4. Caliche, or Texas Rube-Hay

Having just done this stretch on Shovel Mountain Road a few weeks back, I was looking forward to hitting it again. Caliche is always different. Really depends on the weather, and I guess the timeframe since it was last graded/augmented. Today it was a little soft. Hard work. Then I punctured. It was a pinch flat, caused by ME bouncing my flabby carcASS all over the caliche. Then, in my haste to change, I didn't fully align the bead. Hence, puncture #2. This one was more entertaining, as it sounded like a gun. Sorry fellas.

5. Green-dressed country girl

I will say no more. For details ask Ullrich.

6. Pedernales bridge crossing

We bombed to descent into the Pedernales, taking the turn a little wide. This surprised a middle-aged woman who was standing on the bridge. She SHRIEKED. This was entertaining.

7.  Good company

Needs no explanation. Except we saw Wayne Ziegler headed the other way on HP. We were in the home stretch. He was just getting rolling. Wayne, you need to ride with us!!

Georgetown Red Line

Have you ever ridden a train when you are eagerly anticipating reaching your destination? I have a few times: the Monorail at Disney World, the L in Chicago, and the T in Boston. Each time, either going to another theme park, sporting event, or music concert, the designated stops came too frequently and seemed to be conspiring against me the entire time. Once there, those agonizing moments waiting on the train seem to “go” away like a Kid-n-Play  haircut. Now, that's a fade, fellas.

I can now add the G’town Red Line to that short list of train rides. My oldest daughter’s basketball tourney at Georgetown High School gym had me missing out on the HCD’s weekend cycling adventures. Knowing I’d have a chance to hit the road after the last game on Sunday afternoon, I quickly charted my route from the high school parking lot to my house, packed my gear and bike into the truck, and headed up to watch Sophie’s Westlake Hoops get decimated by AT Elite, 13-43. I swear: Britney Griner's little sister plays for the Elite team.

Two websites figured dominantly in my ride planning. First, Strava (of course!) came in handy to identify the route, distance, elevation, and any segments. The eventual route selected included a couple of segments I’d either never ridden or had previously but poorly. Like this one: Andice Meltdown & SAG Wagon Bitch. Going solo on this route could spell disaster for the Big Fella. Forty miles into a head wind wouldn’t be fun. Immediately, I consulted WeatherUnderground.com. Hmm … not too bad. No rain forecasted, cooler temps, and (wait for it …) a slight tailwind. "Uh Oh!" I hastily clicked the browser’s back button to check out the “My Results” pages on several segments. Times (and a few names) noted.

I won’t regale you with a blow by blow of the ride. Those are best left to oneself to relive … time and time again! But for those of you that have ridden with me know the following: fresh legs + 40 miles of relatively flat / descending roads + a slight tailwind = Train Starts A Comin'. Each stop light that I missed gave me just enough time to catch my breath, Scratch myself, and then quickly clip back in. I couldn’t wait to get started again because I knew what lay ahead. I had some unfinished business from last weekend’s ride up the 360 Hills.

End of story: seven PRs with three coming on the 360 Hills. Nice way to end the weekend and start the week. Giddy Up!

Loop Around The Lake

Sparse crowds and cool weather greeted de Oro Dedo (dOD)and ME this morning. For the ignorant, the Jester King (where we met at 6am this morning) holds court and cranks out some incredible farmhouse brew on Fitzhugh, near Crumley Ranch road. dOD decided to ride to the start. Why not? It was only a 120 mile ride. What's another 20 miles for the arch villain? The inaugural ride, which benefitted the Walnut Creek Academy, felt a lot like a slimmed down version of the Marble Falls GF. For those that rolled the MFGF, a more intimate peloton may not seem possible. However, we had an exclusive 21 entrants today. Weather scared away some, travel others, mileage the rest. HTFU, people.

Guess what? the weather was frakkin' perfect! Starting temps in the 60s. Most of the ride in the 70's. Slight header to Liberty Hill, resultant tailwind the the back half of the ride. 

The pelo was an eclectic mix. Some docs (one that rides an Isaac and works for Hoodie), some weekend warriors, and King Jimmy, who rolled with the HCD on day 2 of the MS150. 

dOD forgot his water bottles.Scrounging one from the SAG, he sucked down one of my bottles at the start of the ride. Hydration was a potential issue from pedal stroke #1. Not to be redundant, but the weather rocked. Spun a sweet warmup down Crumley Ranch, Hamilton Pool and 620. At Panozzo Point, dOD punctured, leaving us #20 and #21 in the group. Ever the scrupulous Ortho, dOD's attention to puncture reparum was fastidious, all encompassing, and pretty slow. SAG refilled our bottles as we waited, allowing us to skip Rest Stop 1. Still, we were WAY back. This proved to be a good thing.

Without the pressure from the Jimmy KIng, we found a rhythm, spinning Steady State up 620. reeled in some of the arriere' on 620, but no sign of the Jimminator and the main group. Wheeled up on the ride founder (Bryce Hendrix) who proved to be a pleasant source of conversation, a good guide and a willing worker at the front. We weaved our way through Round Rock/Cedar Park on Lake Line and Bagdad, finally finding some country roads, truly in the sticks. 

INTERESTING NOTE - 3 separate bugs got lodged in my helmet today. This is a disturbing sensation. It gets in there, and you just wait for it to either sting you, or insert some brain eating larvae. good times.

Rest stop 2 was fortifying. We crammed stuff down our gullets, and discovered that Jimminy Crack-it was about 5-10 minutes ahead of us, having passed rest stop 2. Back on the road, we resumed our even pace, making some good time without hitting the red zone. Until the SAG pulled up. Two lovely ladies asked us if we wanted them to motor-pace us to the lead group. UH YEAH!  (mistake) A BMW driven by two ladies can crack two Dough in about 13 minutes.

Mission accomplished, we reached the lead group 3:45 into the ride.

From that point forward the ride got a little more painful. We somehow got in front of the group after Jimmy tried to confirm directions with a well-intentioned, but NON-helpful PO-PO. Since I had the route in my Garmin, dOD and ME trusted the machine, and rolled on.

Jimmy caught us on the south side of Marble Falls, rolling up with a smile on his face, and menace in his legs. We had a great conversation util we hit the Roubaix section. Caliche and gravel must be a bike-rodesiac for Jimmy, as he busted ass in front of us with absolutely no sign that you shouldn't go 20mph uphill on gravel. ME and Dykes just watched him go, thinking we could cut back into the bulge once we got the downhill pavement. When we crested, the distance Jimmy put on us was ABSURD!! He was a tiny dot, moving rapidly out of view and into legend. 

Rest of the ride was WORK.  ME and Dykes finished on the podium, with Jimmy #1. If there was a podium, or anyone that really cared.

Jester King Brewery was awesome. The place was jam packed with an Austin sub-culture that I don't typically rub elbows with. We got six beers. and all were frakkin awesome. We need to start rides there sometime. Great location for riding, and prime location for post-ride carbo-sustenance.

In Summary - - If you missed this ride, melancholy is your friend. Sadness your wingman. If Ullrich would have done it, his conclusion would have been "Best Ride Ever!"

HCD SHINER RECAP

Sitting in with Veej-

Dykes, Charlie and I joined up with Dr. Goldfinger's friends from Castle Hill Fitness for the Shiner Ride.  Of course the hardest part of this ride is getting a ride back to Austin from Shiner.  Thanks to the Castle Hill team not only did we have a ride back on some spacious vans but also a personal SAG vehicle all along the route.  The Castle Hill team is mostly the staff there and from what I could tell, they rode for their founder Paolo, who tragically passed away last year.  We heard a lot of great stories about Paolo and his contributions to Austin and the biking community.  A neat guy from all accounts that gave back in many ways.

The ride started well enough, overcast with a little wind.  The plan was to hammer it out of the starting gate and skip the first stop to create some gap between us and the crowd.  Well that broke up the group pretty quickly and my bladder issue forced me to stop at the first rest area.  As I pulled in, Carlson was directing traffic and Kim was there feeding the crowd.  It was great to see both of them; thanks for the support guys.  I left the stop and hammered it to catch the group and caught them by the time they pulled into the second stop.  The group stayed together for a while, then Dr. Goldfinger sped up the pace.  I stayed with the lead group for a while then had to pull back when I realized it was only 35 mile and I was burning way too many matches.  I stayed with the rest of the Castle Hill team for most of the rest of the ride and did not see the Dr. until the end.  After the 50-mile lunch stop, the temperature and the humidity started to rise and along with the constant headwind, it made for a difficult ride the rest of the way.  I don't think I ever remember seeing so many people using the SAG; a lot of people getting hit by heat exhaustion.   Well we finished the ride and enjoyed a few brews and braust wurst and headed back.  Along the way, Charlie picked up a few tips on women from Celeste and we convinced the driver to stop in Lockhart and picked up some bbq.  That really hit the spot.  Nice ride and Castle Hill is a great group to ride with. 

/s/ Veej

Off the front with Goldfinger-
Heck yea!  Very good write up.  Vijay and Celeste were hammering out of the second rest stop and started a reaction in Shannon and myself.  The rest of the morning we traded pulls and gave a ride to the occasional passenger.  By mile 70 we were both pretty cooked and Shannon was waving me on so he could spin easy the last 25.  As the winds were increasing exponentially, I resorted to motivational barking so we could finish together.  Shannon dug deep and stayed on while we evened out the efforts and survived the final miles.  The last 10 from Moulton on in to Shiner were right into the screaming headwind and it felt like a blowdryer.  Each rest stop progressively looked more and more like one giant Med tent with very little conversation audible by the last one.  Highlight suppor food for the day was pizza at mile 50!  The Brats and sausage at the end were decent but by that time I think a fried grasshopper would have been just as tasty.  The Shiner Ruby Red Bird is beer of the day IMO.  The ride back was supremely comfortable thanks to the Castle Hill gang and that BBQ at City Market was a complete treat after a great day of biking.  The Dough came, saw and conquered some Shiner!

/s/ Goldfinger

Scheibs' Ride North

Quick recap on our ride. I rode from the W to meet Steve and Sam (last name escapes me) at the Arboretum. We rode up to Parmer, then north to RT 29. On the way back we had an ugly head wind. However the 3 of us ran a disciplined pace line, rotating every minute. This was my first ride with my new power meter and I felt like an "OnStar" operator with Steve asking me countless times....what are "our" watts now. On the way back into the headwind we got passed by a guy on a time trial bike. He must have been on the red line trying to catch us and Steve sensed the guy was about to blow. Steve let out an animalistic grunt, moved to the front and dragged our pace line single handily (which was now up to 5 with the addition of 2 strangers) to catch and blow past the person who disrespected the Doughboy colors.

My low light was while I was sitting at a light and a hearing a somewhat feminine voice say..."hey you don't look so doughy to me." Turning around, expecting to see someone reasonably hot, I was greeted by a rider who looked like the twin of the landlord in the movie King Pin. What a bummer. Don't remember her....here is a short clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zIDgPVg9HM