Mike's Bike Blog

On Sunday morning I drove into Austin to Bicycle Sport Shop for the Austin Flyers Sunday ride. This wasn't your typical Sunday group ride, you know it has to be special for me to drive to a ride. This ride was sponsored by Chipotle. Which meant there was a free burrito for me at the end! There were 3 ride options 20, 35 and 50 mile routes. Since I already had a hard week I figured I'd go for the 35 mile route and take it easy. I hoped that Ray or Jared would show, but Ray was off on a Club Ride and I'm not sure what excuse Jared has for missing free food.

The entire parking lot was full, the lure of free food brought everybody out. There were probably 50 to 70 people at the ride. In the 35 mile route there were probably about 15 to 20 riders.

Once we shoved off I was content in the back. I kept telling myself that today was suppose to be an easy day, yet I wanted to get just a few more groups ahead as the group I was with was going slower than I wanted, or I was getting boxed in or following someone that would slow way down on the hills. So I kept moving forward. Finally on Old San Antonio Road I was at the front group, there was 1 other breakaway group of 4 riders a ways ahead. We were going along at 17 mph when I had a feeling one of the riders was going to make a move and try to catch the breakaway. He didn't disappoint, when he took off I was ready to go. He jumped into action and I caught his back tire. After a few minutes he started to tire on the hills and we were still a ways off from the breakaway. I thought I should attack on the hill but decided to bide my time a little and recover a bit myself (it was a "recovery" ride. Once we got over the climb I got out of his draft and got up to 25 mph reaching the breakaway guys. Once I got with them we strolled into Buda and waited for the main group to catch up.

From Buda we head under the interstate and onto some back roads. There seemed to be one section that was really rough, but me and 3 other riders found ourselves away from the main group again. Luckily we had a navigator with us (he had the map and could read it, plus he seemed to know the area), we made sure not to drop the navigator.  The highlight of the return was when I was chatting with Josh, he had on a Hotel San Jose jersey, but I'm not sure if he was a club rider or racer. As we were chatting one of our companions got out on his own breakaway. Josh turns to me and says he's going to try and catch the other guy and takes off. Well that's all the encouragement I needed and the race was on. I took off as well and I quickly shot past Josh and then then when I caught the lead guy I flew by him and coasted waiting for them to catch up. In this little sprint I got up to 32 mph and max power of 823 watts.

On our way back in when we got back on 1st street while we were stopped at a light who should come strolling in and turning in front of us onto 1st, but the main group. I later found out they got lost and didn't follow the route, they cut it short by 3 miles.

The burritos weren't suppose to be ready till 11a.m. but they had a few out when we returned at 10:30. I grabbed one that turned out to be a veggie (minus chicken). It was quite tasty so was the cold water and heed they had set up as well. Bicycle Sport Shop had set up tables and chairs outside for people to socialize and enjoy the fruits of their ride. From where I sat I could look inside through the window and watch the Tour on the big screen.

My compliments to Chipotle for sponsoring the ride, not only the Austin ride but the coordinated effort in other cities in the US as well. It was a great ride.

Ride Stats

Route Taken

Route Photos

Distance: 34.68

Time: 2:00:04

Average Speed: 17.25

Max Speed: 33.18

Average Power: 172 watts

Max Power: 859 watts

This morning I had the time to get a long ride in, so I headed out on Parmer again. The goal this time was to take it all the way to Andice Road and then catch CR 275 up to Florence. I got out on the road at 6:45am and I wasn't alone, once I hit Parmer there were riders going up and down Parmer. I passed several groups heading the same way as me. In fact on the North end past 1431 there were more cyclist than cars.

My suspicions that Parmer goes all the way to Andice Road was confirmed. Once I got to Andice Road I turn right and headed East. The shoulder is wide on this road as well, however it's bumpy, it's that hard conglomerate paving. Luckily my time on it was short as I turned left on CR 275 which goes all the way to Florence where I turned left on 195 into Florence proper.

Once I got into Florence I was expecting espresso, pasta, and Italian racing machines. I went down 195 to Main Street, but I didn't find any thing remotely similar, I didn't even see any disgraced tour dopers on the corners trying to sell their chamois. Instead of the Italian Florence, I stumbled upon the Texas version.

The grand plan was to head over to Andice from Florence and then back to Parmer. When I pulled my map out of my jersey pocket my water pack had leaked thus rendering the map unreadable. I could have used my iPhone to get the route, but it took me a little more time than I anticipated getting to Florence so I figured I'd better just make it an out and back. I was a bit worried about the wind heading back, but it wasn't too bad. There were a couple exposed spots where it kicked up and pushed me around, but all in all it wasn't a big factor.

I'm a little cooked after the ride, my goal was to keep my power between 50 - 70% of my FTP for the ride. My mileage for the week is 203.08 miles. Hopefully I can get through the Le Burrito ride tomorrow.

Ride Stats:

Route

More Photos

Distance: 75.04 miles (from my house)

Time: 4:39:04

Average Speed: 16.38

Max Speed: 32.59

Average Watts: 168

Max Watts: 892

 

 

 

 

Here's the rides that are happening this weekend, I'm not sure what I'll be doing this weekend yet. I can ride 75 miles on Saturday with the Cyclopaths of Texas training for the Hotter than Hell 100. On Sunday the Austin Flyers have the "Le Burrito" ride starting at 8 am. "Le Burrito" powered the Chipotle professional bicycling team while they trained for this year's Tour de France. Now you can have a free one after the Austin Flyers Cycling Club Sunday ride at Bicycle Sport Shop Central.

8am - Ride with the Austin Flyers and special guests, the Super Squadra road race team (the mountain bike group will ride the greenbelt at 9am)
11am - Free lunch catered by Chipotle featuring the Le Burrito and beer provided by Real Ale
11am - Watch the 15th stage of the Tour de France with Bicycle Sport Shop Central

Please RSVP to ensure we have enough food for everyone. See you there!

Austing Cycling Association Rides:

July 19 -- Dripping Springs Favorites -- 8:00 am
A new revision of an old route. Meet at Dripping Springs ISD Administration building, on the north side of Hwy 290, about 3/10 of a mile west of the traffic light at Hwy 12. (The admin building is on Loop 64). The 17-, 30-, 45- and 58-mile rides follow Onion Creek and then climb across the Great Divide into the Blanco River Basin, offering one of the most spectacular cycling views anywhere. Plenty of hills, open vistas and fire-ant mounds. Ira 512/402-0492

July 19 -- Cedar Park Fever -- 8:00 am
Meet at CC Mason Elementary on the NORTH side of the school in Cedar Park. From Hwy 183 north, turn left on FM 1431. Take FM 1431 to the third light (Lakeline Blvd) and turn right. The school is 0.5 a mile north of the FM 1431/Lakeline intersection, on the left. These are easy to intermediate rides of 13, 28, 48 and 63 miles in the Hill Country. There are some moderate hills on the longer routes. Mark 512/260-9989

July 20 -- Liberty Hill Loops -- 8:00 am
Meet at the Liberty Hill Elementary School on Loop 332, just west of downtown Liberty Hill. These 25- and 50-mile intermediate level rides follow quiet back roads over the picturesque Jollyville Plateau with a few moderate hills. Pedal through places like Joppa, Andice, Oatmeal and Mahomet, but don't blink or you'll miss them. Bertram is the water stop on this ride. Frank 512/246-7482

July 20 -- Sprinkle Sprint -- 8:00 am
NEW START LOCATION: Meet near the intersection of Centre Park and Centre Creek in NE Austin. Take Cameron Rd. north off Hwy 183, and turn right on Rutherford Ln. The second left is Centre Park. Park on Centre Park. Riders meeting near the intersection of Centre Park and Centre Creek. The 29- and 43-mile routes cover rolling farmland. These rides leave from very close in and put you and your bike in rural countryside before you know it. Kevin 512/989-9457

Since I just did the Liberty Hill Loops not too long ago that ones out. The Dripping Springs route would be fun, but I'm not a big fan of driving that far to ride this weekend. I guess for me on Saturday it's a toss up between riding with the Cyclopaths and the Cedar Park Fever. On Sunday it would be fun to ride with the Austin Flyers again and eat a free burrito, I better RSVP ASAP if I plan on doing that one.

Anybody have other suggestions or want to join in?

Times must be tough for Astana since not being invited to the bike race in France as Astana team member Chris Horner is seen offering his pedicab services to other racers in the Cascade Cycling Classic. I wonder what kind of tip he got?

 

Next year the team bikes will be outfitted with rear pegs. Photo by the way of VeloNews.

Friday morning when I woke up and went out to the garage I found I had a flat. Which was odd because my workout from Thursday was an hour on the trainer. I couldn't find a puncture so I just changed it. Then that nights ride out on Parmer I had a flat.

Today's workout called for another set of intervals and a 2 1/2 hour ride. I wanted to see how far Parmer went as my ride the other day piqued my curiosity. I headed out again on Parmer, which I get on at Brushy Creek Road. Just like on my Parmer ride on Friday there was a strong wind out of the South. There's some nice long hills out past 2243, which was where the extension road construction was previously, thus I never ventured past it till Friday's ride. I past Hwy 29 and kept pushing on. Right after the intersection of 3405 on the other side there was a lot of rock debris, I tried to navigate through it all and then there was the sound... psssst... Another flat!

I need a support wagon with wheels and I guy to run out, change my flat and then to give me a push to get back up to speed. In today's stage (8) of the Tour they were commenting on the rain and grit and how many flats were going on. They showed George Hincapie getting a change and a push. With a support vehicle they can change a tire in less than a minute. It takes me about 10 to 15 minutes or more like what happened during the Armadillo Hill Country Classic.

Once I got the tube changed I kept on going. At CR 289 I gauged that I needed to turn around so I could get back home before it got dark, plus I was only scheduled for a 2 1/2 hour ride. Parmer seems to keep going, I couldn't see any sign of it stopping. It will have to be conquered another day. CR 289 where I turned around was 16.6 miles from Brushy Creek. Looking at the map I suspect it connects with CR 247 and ends at 2238 (Andice Rd). If that's the case then once on 2238 I could head over to Andice and take the back roads back to Liberty Hill and back home on CR 239. Looks like there could be some other good routes by heading east on CR 285 to Lake Georgetown.

Turning back and heading South on Parmer the wind didn't disappoint and let me know I wasn't going to get a free pass on the way home. I ran out of water right at 1431 so I pulled into the gas station to refuel. I filled up both bottles just in case.

I went over by 10 minutes on my riding time, due mainly to the wind coming back. I had a set power level as a ceiling so I tried to maintain that level and not push too much over the hills. In the end it took 2:40:09 and a total of 45.63 miles. Average speed was 17.09; Max speed 41.62. Cadence average 77, Max: 128.