Mike's Bike Blog

For my Sunday ride I drove over to Dripping Springs to throw me wheels into the Austin Cycling Association's (ACA) Perdernales Pedal. I opted for the 63 mile route. I was hoping for a fast group ride that would push me 20+ mph. Historically, whenever I've done an ACA ride there have been some guys there who bring the hurt. Being the last to sign the sign-in sheet I was disappointed to see that all that had signed up for the 63 mile route had put there anticipated speed at 15 mph.

I wasn't going to let the speed issue get me down so I decided to be a workhorse and moved to the front to do my share of the pulling. The problem is Dripping Springs is the gateway to the hill country and my comrades just didn't have the juice to get up the rollers. I was finding it difficult to get up the hills at their pace, so I'd go around and soft pedal at the top. There was one other fellow on a Tri Bike that was able to put up some decent speed, he started to lay down a 20 mph pace so I quickly went with him. After a minute or two I asked him if he knew the route because we had just dropped everyone. He laughed and said no so we slowed down to regroup. I had grabbed a map from the ride starter which would be somewhat valuable to me later in the ride, but I had wished I'd downloaded the route to my Garmin.

The first 1/2 of the ride to Johnson City was more of the same, the Tri guy and me off the front. This gave me a chance to work on a few tactics, I would let a gap form between him and me, about 2 bike lengths and then I would power up and sprint by  him up the hills dancing ever so poetically on the pedals. Once we turned on the last stretch to Johnson City I formed a sizeable gap of about 4 minutes on the Tri guy.

In Johnson City we filled up the bottles and regrouped and headed out. I was in the back of our paceline as we rode single file on 281 heading out of Johnson City. Tri guy got a good lead on all of us. At the first opportunity I bridged up to him.  We had gotten away from the main group, which was pretty easy as I don't really think they were concerned about chasing us down. We rode the rural country rode 301 at about 20 mph. Unbeknownst to my breakaway partner I was going to try to get away on a solo breakaway. I would push the pace up the hills but the small rollers weren't enough to shake him and I wasn't willing to burn any matches in an attempt to separate from him. I knew if I was patient slowly grinding away would be a better way to go.

Let me take a second to set the scene, CR 301 is a rural country road. I didn't count the total number of cattle guards, but I'd have to guess about 10-15 on the stretch from 281 to 962. It is comprised of several small rollers, nothing too steep and I didn't shift out of the big ring for any of the climbs. They were quite fun in fact just to stand and power up them.

About 5 miles into CR 301 I was starting to get a gap. As I shot down one of the hills at 25 mph there's cattle on the road and on both sides. I squeeze the breaks and slow down. They don't budge. The 2 cows in the road, one on the left side shoulder and one taking up the entire right lane. Just as I go through the narrow opening between the 2 obstacles the cow on my right gets spooked and decides to run. Instead of making a break for it and running in the direction he's facing, he decides it will be better to do a complete 180 and run right in the direction I'm going. I'm committed to the narrow gap and if I slow down I'll run smack into the steak so I gunned it and shot the gap.

My History with cows
I'm not sure what it is, I might have a cow curse. Growing up we had chickens, turkeys, pigs and cow(s). My mom was afraid of the cows and when my dad was away on work she had to milk the cow and feed it. On one particular occassion when my dad was away my Mom and sister brought me along as they tended to the cow. They sat me on a stump and did their thing. They then proceeded to leave me there. I still have memories of being left alone with the cow, they have since told me I was not alone very long, but in my little 4 year old mind it seemed like forever, but that put in motion the cow curse. Years later as my dad and uncle were out our pasture my friend and me went down to play in my tree fort. As we were walking out of nowhere the cow starts chasing us as we made a mad dash for the fort. My Uncle stepped in and showed the cow away, earning him the name Uncle DeWayne the Bull Fighter. Which I still refer to him as to this day. I've been chased by cows countless times crossing fields to go fishing on the Little Spokane River. Mountain biking in Vedauwoo whenever I'd ride through the open ranges a cow would give chase. Some people have to worry about being chased by dogs when biking, for me cows are my sworn enemy. I should have known better than trying to slice through the cows, but in a brief moment I had forgotten my history with cows as it had been more than 10 years since I'd come face to face with a bovine.

Back to the story
The tri guy seeing what transpired in front of him slowed down and took the necessary precautions. This was the last I saw of the tri guy as I took advantage of the decents and hammered up the hills till he was no longer in site and I rode the rest of the way by myself. I'd pull out the paper map every once and awhile to chart my course but it was starting to fade from my sweat and some of the turn cues were bleeding off the paper. There was one section on the route that really made the ride for me. On 3238 right after the Perdernales River (I think it was the river, not sure it could have been Roy Creek). The road winds around with a few switchbacks, nothing too steep, but it was a fun climb.

As the ride wore on my map wore down too, I missed a couple turns the most notable on Fitzhugh Road. I missed the left turn on Bell Springs that would take me back to the start. I went to map mode on the Garmin and it showed me moving away from the start/finish so I had to back track to catch the road I missed.

With my little diversions and looping back to regroup with the group I put in an extra 5 miles so I ended the day with 68 miles. Besides the cow incident there was one other noteworthy episode. I was wearing my favorite and most expensive bibs for the ride. When I put my saddle bag on the velcro strap that goes around the seat post was sticking up a little and on every pedal stroke was rubbing on the back of my leg. For whatever reason I didn't notice it until the friction burned or tore through them and then was chaffing my skin. Yes my saddle bag put a whole in my favorite bibs the size of a dime!

Avg: 18.5 mph
Max: 59.2 mph
Avg Watts: 203
Max Watts: 849
Avg RPM: 78
kJ/Calories: 2698
Distance: 68.26
Ascent: 5602