Still Here.

I had a text message exchange with Chris Knott last night about how riding conditions were yesterday and whether he should bring a road bike or a fatbike when he came down. Thinking he was doing a business trip, I said road bike and mentioned that I hadn't seem much terrain that would require a fatbike in the area and that the cactus might be an issue. Eventually I realized he thought I was in Anchorage, where as far as I know there's still snow and ice on the ground.

Nope, I'm still lost in San Antonio.

I am starting to work out some decent road routes that only take 5 hours to get out of the downtown area and away from traffic (about a mile as the crow flies).

Last night I fought the wind one way, pushing hard and creeping along. I looked down I was a bit concerned that my power was a bit on the low side, but realized that since I had forgotten a heart rate meter my calibration was likely off due to the change in temperature. Yeah, that's it.

As I rode into the wind, a sporty-looking group of roadies blew by in the other direction, a couple riders off the front and the rest giving chase. With the serious tailwind, they were hauling, and I considered hooking up with the group. However, it would likely have seriously decreased my mileage for the day and I wasn't convinced I could have caught them. Instead, I churned my way through my intended route, wishing I was in a paceline like theirs, sheltered from the wind.

When I turned around, suddenly 25 MPH wasn't at all hard to maintain. With the sun rapidly dropping, this was a good thing. After a couple wrong turns on my return trip thanks to the advancing darkness and my superior navigation skills, I came upon another sporty looking peloton finshing up their own ride. Figuring there was safety in numbers on the dark streets, I latched on the back and had them drag me most of the way back to my hotel.

Despite my searches on the Google box, I couldn't find any mention of these group rides. Mostly what I saw were cruiser and hybrid rides from the ice cream shop to the brewery- not that there's anything wrong with that. However, it would have been nice to join in and have a group of strangers hand me my considerable ass while leading me on a efficient route out of the urban sprawl.

Maybe next time...

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 23, 2016 at 7:02 AM

    When you sent me that text I thought "cactus" was a auto correct issue. Auto correct drives me crazy. Who knew you were sewer?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alaska Fat CyclistMarch 23, 2016 at 9:37 AM

    I'm nothing if not sewer.

    ReplyDelete

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