Mike's Bike Blog

The Lake Travis Cycling Club (LTCC) has a Tuesday night club ride that I've been reading about on Training from a Barkalounger. For the past few months my Tuesdays have been occupied with soccer practice so I haven't been able to give it a shot. With soccer winding down I finally had a chance to give it a go.

When I left my house I thought I had given myself ample time to get the 14 miles to the start in Lakeway but an accident and evening traffic was going to cut it close. I pulled up to what I thought was the address but it was a car wash and not the 1st National Bank that the LTCC site says is the start location. So it appears google failed me when I looked up the bank. So with the start time looming I kept on looking. After a couple more premature turns off of 620 to look for bikes I finally found the bank. As I was pulling in the group was rolling out.

Luckily there was still 2 other LTCC riders in the parking lot and they waited for me to put my shoes on and to roll out. The route is affectionately called the Bee Cave Blitz as it is a quick 23 mile out and back that heads down 620 to Bee Caves Parkway over to Bee Caves Road and down Bee Caves Road to 360 and then back. We got caught at the Bee Caves Parkway light for a good 5 minutes waiting for the light to change so there really was no hope of regaining the group.

Shortly onto Bee Caves Road when we hit the hills I thought I was holding a steady pace but when I looked back my riding companions were no where in sight. So I soft pedaled at 10 mph up the other hills expecting them to catch me, but they were no where to be found. I decided to see buckle down and catch a rider that passed us on one of the hills before I inadvertently dropped them. On each of the hills I was slowly cutting down the lead the other rider had gained.

At the Bee Cave Road and Barton Springs Road the group passed me heading back to the start. I continued on trying to catch the rider as we approached 360 I was within reach of him and I missed the right turn. I guess the route is to turn on Knollwood and go through the neighborhood and come out at the light . With my sights firmly focused on catching the rider I missed the turn and next thing I know there's road construction and the entire shoulder is closed and we're riding in traffic. I ended up cutting through the business parking lots to come out at the light and catching the guy at the light.

On the return trip back to Lake Travis I had the wind at my back and set out to see if I could pick off any stragglers that might have been dropped. As it turns out I caught 3 or 4 LTCC riders before getting back to the start.

No ride report wouldn't be complete without some stats:

Avg. Speed: 18.9 mph (16.4 mph on the way out & 22.2 mph on the way back)
Max. Speed: 43.6
Avg. Power: 219 (NP: 268)
Max. Power: 802
Ride TIme: 01:16:02
Distance: 23.77

I was hoping to take away from this first one with the knowledge of where the primes for the sprints are so I'd be prepared for the next time I ride with them. After the ride the group stuck around talking and have cold ones. Everyone was nice, granted I only rode about 20 minutes with anybody, but talking with them afterwards was evidence to that. It's taken me over a year to make the short trip over to Lakeway to ride with this crew but I'll be adding their rides to my calendar when I can. One suggestion I'd make is to put the address on the ride notice on the Web site. This Saturday they are having a club ride down to San Marcos and back (105 miles). This looks like a great ride but we have our last soccer game of the season so I wont be able to make it.