Well, today was not my day. Throughly enjoyed the ride, but about mile 80 I started getting very weary and decided to shorten the ride to “just over 100 miles.
I knew that 300k (200 miles) was going to be quite a stretch for me so I easy peddled the first 50 miles all the way to Rockdale. Coast as much as possible, easy peddle up hills, try to never touch the brakes.
Here we are getting ready to ride again after stopping at the Rockdale control.
Lots of wild live leaving Rockdale.
First, a Bobcat. Big, but not very pretty being fresh road kill. Don’t usually see Bobcats on the side of the road.
Next was this huge hawk. Flying right next to me about 20 feet in the air and just pacing my speed - about 18 mph. Beautiful to see one close up flying along side the velo.
Then a little while later, at 20 mph a tarantula came flying up and into the opening of the velo and landed on my right shoulder.
It was huge. All I could see out of the corner of my eye was lots of legs and hair.
No matter how big my eyes widen, or how much I tried to tilt my head to the left to lengthen my neck, that big o’tarantula stayed right there on the front of my shoulder right next to my face.
As fast as I could I reached across my body with my left hand and flicked it off my right shoulder towards the rear. I never saw it again. It could still be in the back of the velo as far as I know.
Later, texting Robyn after the ride she texts: “We want to see the film!” (from the video camera I usually have on).
I respond, “The only film is a brown spot on the bottom of my shorts. Damn that thing was big.”.
It was a very fast group today. Even though I pushed it some between mile 50 to mile 80 (Rockdale to Bartlett) the group was always right on my tail. I stopped to take a picture of the country side and the group quickly caught me.
This rider, Julie, was in Austin for a convention and decided to rent a bike from Performance Sports Shop and ride the 300k with us. She is a member with the Davis rando club in CA and said they have thousands of members. Hill Country Rando have about 12 riders that usually show up.
I always like riding through downtown Bartlett. Very picturesque.
When getting back into the velo after the Bartlett rest stop I notice that my left foot is caddywonked and when peddling my left knee is slanted inwards quite a bit.
Of course I scrap up my ankle trying to straighten out shoe. I finally get it good enough to ride with but it is still an irritant.
After the ride, back at the minivan, I finally decide to take a look at my cleats. Hmmm, missing a screw, and definitely twisted to the side.
You know, the screw has been missing for awhile. A few days ago I found the rectangle shaped cleat washer on the garage floor next to the velo. Did not know what it was and just picked it up and set it aside. I’ll pay more attention next time to lose random parts. I’ll also start using medium lock-tight on the cleat screws.
Had a great time with a good group of people on the ride. The weather was great and the scenery was incredible.
I probably need to do a few more RUSA 200Ks and build up my endurance before trying a 300k again.
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/415300047
Garmin:
