Mike's Bike Blog

I rode yesterday, Saturday, braving the 25 mph wind from the North. I rode up North to Liberty Hill via Lakeline and Baghdad, it took me an hour to ride the 15 miles! From Liberty Hill I trudged on in the wind all the way to Andice. If you ever wondered what it's like to climb a steady grade, but are geographically challenged to find such topography like we are in Central Texas then yesterday was your chance. The pounding wind from the North made the ride feel like my ride up to Estes Park. The wind was so bad on downhills if I stopped pedaling I would come to a stop. My average speed to Andice (33 miles) was 15.1 mph

 

The plan was to go up to Florence and then back down to Parmer, but it took so long to get to Andice that I just caught Andice Road to Parmer. I was expecting a good tailwind on Parmer, but as luck would have it it was more of a crosswind until somewhere between 3405 and Hwy 29. The second part of the ride from Andice I averaged 21 mph in the 27 mph. The stretch down Parmer I dropped the hammer and without the wind in my face I was able to average 24 mph. That includes the climbs on the hills. I was happy with this effort as I really wanted to see how I could hold the pace after putting a hard effort over 2 hours to get there.

The total distance was only 57 miles which took me 3'19". 2'10" to get out and 1'08" back. Noramlized Power was 240 Watts, IF 8.38, TSS: 231.4  Yes it was cold and windy, but man I had a good time, I'm really glad I put in the effort.