COWABUNGA!

Hopkins was able to join me for a ride at Madrone Trail this morning for the first time in a month. We had an awesome ride that was challenging for both of us. We rode a little over 5 miles, but since we stayed on the first part of the trail, we tackled many climbs as well as some downhills.

Since I had someone with me to record the ride for posterity (as well as to scrape me off the trail if I endo'd), I decided to try some ledges that I was hesitant to ride before. Although the pictures don't do the trail justice, you can see that it's a long way down. You can't really tell the height of the ledges on the trail, so the pictures are kind of deceiving.

Suffice it to say, this trail continues to challenge us and provides and AWESOME workout for your legs and lungs. There aren't many riders who make the trip to Canyon Lake, which makes it even better for us because we have the trails to ourselves and don't have to worry about running over anyone.

The scenery is really pretty as you have views of the lake from almost any vantage point, since the trail is on one big hill for the most part. Both of us were spent from the two hour ride, so combine that with my ride yesterday, and I'm a happy camper!

Until next time....

RISE AND SHINE!

This week has been really stressful at work and last night I was so tired I went to bed at 9 PM. This morning about 4, I had a sneezing fit (mold is really high from the recent rains) and couldn't go back to sleep. I finally got up before 5 and made coffee, then read the paper.

Knowing I had to weigh in this morning, I decided to head out to Mc Allister park for a quick ride to try and drop some weight. I arrived at the park around 7 AM and there wasn't a car in sight. "Great", I thought. I would have the park to myself for a nice early ride.

WRONG. I stumbled across tons of joggers and a couple of bikers. WHO IN THE HELL WOULD COME OUT TO THE PARK AT 7 IN THE MORNING? Wait a minute....I would. In spite of heavy traffic, I was able to ride over 8 miles in an hour and fifteen minutes. I only stopped once for a couple of minutes to clean my shades.

After a quick shower, I was off to weigh in at Weight Watchers. I lost 2.6 lbs this week...YAY! I have lost a little over 11 lbs since we started. After my doctor chewed my ass, I need to stay on track.

Later gators.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As far as I'm concerned, the New Year is upon us. I am a native Texan, so that can only mean one thing.....FOOTBALL!!! I have waited seven LOOONG months for football season to start, so I am in hog heaven!

From the Dallas Cowboys, to the Texas Tech Red Raiders, to high school, and everything in -between, I AM READY!

Michael would argue that baseball season is tops, but to me it comes in a close second. I could never imagine watching a baseball game after stuffing my face with turkey and dressing at Thanksgiving. Everything is relative and everything has it's time and place.

AND NOW, IT'S TIME FOR FOOTBALL!!!!

HAMMER TIME!

After a couple of stressful days at work, I needed to let off some steam. After work, I went to McAllister park for a quick ride. As mentioned in previous posts, we've had a good bit of rain, so I was concerned about the trails being muddy.

As I expected, they were very soft. In areas that were not in direct sunlight, there were deep ruts where others had ridden before me. Not wanting to waste a beautiful late afternoon, I did my best to navigate the ruts and still get in a good workout.

I was able to ride further today in a shorter period of time than I did on Sunday. I rode 8.7 miles in about an hour and fifteen minutes; only stopping a couple of times to catch my breath. My top speed was 22 miles an hour on the levee downhill, but I only averaged about 7 mph on the trails.

I hope we don't get any more rain this week, so the trails will dry out more. It is very hard to get up to a good speed when you are worried about keeping the bike upright. I hope to get another ride in before my next WW weigh in Saturday morning, because I have to lose a significant amount of weight before my follow up doctors visit in December.

PAT, I'D LIKE TO BUY A VOWEL....

and some stamina please! Because it has been raining off and on all week, I wasn't able to ride during the week as I usually do. It must have affected my stamina, because I was only able to ride 6 miles of the 8.5 mile Madrone Trail.

Although I know being overweight doesn't help, I usually finish the entire trail before heading home; not today. I don't know if I didn't get enough rest, didn't have enough energy since I didn't eat breakfast, maybe the extreme humidity had something to do with it. My guess is all of the above.

I usually don't have to stop to catch my breath until 30 minutes into the ride; today I had to stop after 15 minutes. Although Madrone isn't classified as a lung-buster like Government Canyon, it is still uphill quite a bit of the way. Since the trail is on a peninsula jutting out into the lake, the peninsula itself is one big hill.

I ate a GU packet an hour into the ride and it helped give me a boost, but after two hours, I bonked; hitting my physical wall.

My bike performed like a champ; I just wasn't in the zone to put it through it's paces today. I need to ride a couple of times this week so I can build up my endurance again. I am really looking forward to the Fall and cooler temperatures. That should help quite a bit.

After resting for a while, Mel and I are going to check out the Cibolo Creek trail off I-35 in Schertz. I hear there are some cool trails and I need to add some more trails to my list so I have a variety to choose from. I get bored with McAllister and OP Schnabel, as they are not very technical at all. Don't get me wrong, you will get a good workout at either of the two, but you don't hone your riding skills much there.

Madrone is a cool trail with some technical spots and plenty of rocks, but the two hour round trip drive gets a little tiresome. Government Canyon is a trail I only want to tackle two or three times a year, so I need to find trails that are challenging, yet close to the house.

I'll keep you posted.....

RAINOUT :(

For the last week or so, San Antonio has received some much needed rain. We were in the midst of an extreme drought as recently as July, but with Hurricane Dolly and subsequent storms, we are recovering....from drought.

My problem is, I can't ride when it rains this much. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem getting wet or dirty; I've done so many times. Road bikers probably scoff at the thought of using the rain as an excuse not to ride, but when it rains like it has over the last week, the ground gets saturated and muddy.

Mud is not good for my bike's components, plus it's not good to ride muddy trails, as it causes them to deteriorate and form ruts. This makes it even more dangerous to ride when they dry out, because the ruts can cause serious accidents if you are not careful.

I'm hoping the rain subsides by tomorrow so I can ride Madrone Trail. Madrone doesn't have much dirt/mud, as it is very rocky. But then you have to watch out for wet rocks, as they are very slippery and make it hard to control your bike. I guess I could always go to the gym and ride a stationary bike, but it's not the same.

I guess if nothing else, the rain will force me to get some much needed rest and catch up on honey-dos in the house. Until next time, adios....

DIALED IN!

As I mentioned in last week's post, my maiden voyage on my new Marin was good, but less than spectacular. I attributed most of the issues to my lack of experience riding a full suspension bike and made the most of the ride last week at Madrone.

During the week, I researched the Marzocchi front fork and Fox rear suspension shock online to see if I was missing something. Indeed I did overlook a couple of tuning elements, so I played with the adjustments some more. I also bought a wireless bike computer at Performance Bikes, so I could see just how far and fast I ride.

After installing the computer, I found that I couldn't get it to work based on the manufacturer's instructions. My neighbor saw me fiddling with it and suggested that I move the receiver on the front fork closer than the manufacturer's instructions. He said he had had similar issues with his and that seemed to fix it.

Sure enough, I moved the receiver closer to the magnet on the spoke and VIOLA! It worked! Thank God for Daniel, as this was the second computer I had that I couldn't get to work. Now, I will try the same thing on my old one and install it on my Marin hardtail for a backup ride.

I took my new Marin out to McAllister Park Saturday morning to try and dial in the suspension. Man, what a difference! I modified my position on the bike during climbs, by moving even further up on the seat, towards the handlebar. It helped tremendously, as my front wheel did not lift off the trail as it had at Madrone last week. The rear suspension was like BUTTER - SMOOTH.

This morning, I went to OP Schnabel to put the bike though it's paces on a wider variety of trails. Although it was overcast, I decided to try my luck with the weather. I took my usual warm up ride through the front trails by Bandera Road, and the bike performed like a champ.

Then, I headed to the bottom of Leon Creek, to find some downhills, rock gardens, and the roller coaster hills north of the golf course. My Marin ate them all up and asked for more. Unfortunately, after two hours and 10 miles of riding, my legs were tired. Obviously I will need to lose more weight and improve my conditioning even more to really stretch the limits of this bike.

I received several complements about the fire red paint job, and the Quad Link suspension. I wound up getting it full of mud, riding through the Leon Creek bed. I was able to shake most of it off during my ride back to the truck, but I couldn't get all of it off. Later, I washed the bike because I was afraid of the clay mud sticking to the components and possibly damaging them.

Yesterday I rode 7 miles at Mc Allister, having hit a top speed of 23 miles an hour on the levee downhill. Today I rode 10 miles, averaging about 5 miles per hour during my ride. (That includes taking a couple of breaks to rest and eat a Gu packet, so in reality, I probably averaged about 7 or 8 miles an hour on the trail.)

We have rain in the forecast all week, so I'm not sure what shape any of the local trails will be in next weekend. I am itching to try the Cibolo Creek trail along the creekbed, but Mel doesn't want me going there unless I get a GPS unit for the bike. Hopkins, my usual riding buddy, hasn't been able to ride for a couple of weeks, so I've been going solo.

Regardless of where I ride next week, I am sure my new Marin will be up to the task.

ASS CHEWING

Today was my appointment for my annual physical, which I had put off as long as I could because I knew what was coming; my annual ass chewing about my weight. My doctor is really cool and he didn't chew on me that much, but everything we talked about led back to my weight.

• I told him my toes felt like they had arthritis - he said lose 35 pounds and they won't hurt.
• I told him my shins tend to be sore long after riding wounds have healed - he said lose 35 pounds and they won't hurt.
• He took my blood pressure, which was a little high (probably cause I was dreading the ass chewing) - he said lose 35 pounds and my blood pressure will be normal.
• I told him my weekly rides were 2 to 3 hours long - he said lose 35 pounds and I will ride longer and harder.
• I told him my new bike tries to become a lowrider - he said lose 35 pounds and it will be the correct height it was designed to be.
• I told him my hair color doesn't last as long as it used to - he said lose 35 pounds and I won't care about my hair color.

Bottom line is, I have to lose 35 pounds. Mel and I already went back to Weight Watchers, so we took the first step, but he wants to see me again in 4 months! AND, 35 pounds is just my SHORT TERM GOAL. He wants me to get to 180 pounds eventually....I haven't been 180 pounds since I was a junior in high school!

Oh well, it's not like I wasn't expecting it.....

MIKE'S NEW BABY - FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I took my new bike out for it's maiden ride at Madrone Trail this morning and here are some of my observations, since I've never ridden a full suspension bike before today:

• I need to lose weight. The bottom bracket clearance is listed at 13 inches. When my 230lbs of voluptuous man flesh is sitting on it, the clearance is considerably less.


• The geometry of this bike is very different from my hard tail. The wheelbase is longer to begin with; when I sit on the bike, it stretches even more.


• Because the wheelbase is longer, my center of gravity is different, so my climbing ability was adversely affected because the front wheel kept lifting off the trail on climbs.


• After about an hour, I changed the front fork and rear shock settings to give me a firmer ride (less bouncy). Although I felt less like a low-rider, the front would still lift somewhat on climbs.


• If your technical riding skills are limited, this bike won't help you overnight. Maybe eventually, but not overnight. Although I am not an expert rider, if I was less experienced, I could have gotten into serious trouble because this bike is FAST on downhills. At one point, I was feathering the brakes on a downhill and the front wheel came up a bit, causing me to drift and slam by head and shoulder into a tree. My shoulder is a little sore, but it could have been much worse.

Overall, I think I'm going to LOVE this bike; I just need to get used to riding it and change my riding style to better utilize its strengths.

STILL HERE!

I haven't made time to post since last month, but I am still here and alive! I had a week off, during which, Hurricane Dolly hit; thank God our family in Brownsville is okay. I hear there is still water in low areas, but for the most part, everyone is okay.

We are having staff changes at work, as one of my employees accepted a promotion and is moving to Pittsburgh, PA, to become a SYSCO Credit Manager. The only thing constant is change...

I have still been riding at OP Schnabel, Madrone, and McAllister, my endurance seems to be improving as I have been trying to ride at least twice a week. I have my eye on a full suspension Marin East Peak, so hopefully Santa will come to visit me early this year.

Mel bought a 2007 Chevy Equinox and we sold her 1996 Cavalier. I am glad she got another vehicle even if it was used (it was new to her). She is happy and that is all that matters.

We are doing fine and are truly blessed!