Mike's Bike Blog

Lucky for the Austin area Hurricane Ike didn't bring much wind and no rain. It did get the Tour de Florence cancelled, so I was left to my own devices for coming up with my own ride. It was overcast in the morning, I waited till 8 am to hit the road. Since it was overcast I swapped out the lenses on my sunglasses to the yellow tinted lenses. The yellow lenses made the world of difference, it really cut through the overcast day, I didn't notice how dark it was with the yellow tint shades.

I didn't want to venture to far from home in case the weather turned for the worse. That meant I would ride down and back to Volente on Limecreek. A down and back is 20 miles. I did 3 of them for 60 miles and then threw another 10 miles in for good measures. I ended with 2 climbs up the hill behind Twin Creek Golf Course.

One observation I made when climbing up the Hill on Limecreek... I've heard the hill called the 3 sisters, the 3 witches and the 3 b!tches. I came to the conclusion the first time up it's the 3 sisters because it's not too bad up it. The second time up is the 3 witches, it puts you in more trouble. Finally the 3rd time it's the 3 b!tches, by the 3rd time it's all you can do to stay vertical. Not sure what to come up with on the 4th time up it.

Ike did bring a bit of wind, today was not the windiest conditions I've ridden to Volente, but I'd rate it as the 2nd windiest time I've ridden the route. One thing I like about Volente the exposure to the wind is limited. Due to the curves in the road and the tree line on the lake side and the hills on the other keep you isolated from the majority of the wind. There were a few spots along the route where the wind was whipping, more so on the way back in from Volente. I noted a particular section where I was into the brunt of the wind going downhill pushing 300 watts and only going 10 - 11 mph.

Ride Stats

Distance	70.02
Duration	4:14:37
Speed	16.5
Power	177 watts
Ascent	4013 feet