FREAKIN' COLD!

The shining sun and cloudless sky were deceiving when I went outside to get the paper this morning. In fact, it was quite nippy. I drank my coffee and read the paper before I started getting my gear ready for my ride.

I decided to check the weather website and saw that the windchill was 33 degrees! Shit! Now I know Juanita and her bunch probably think 33 degrees is short sleeve, shorts, and chancla weather, but not those of us in South Texas!

I layered on three riding shirts to brace for the cold, starting with my thermal undershirt, a long sleeve wicking shirt, then topped it off with my Marin jersey. As I opened the garage door, a blast of wind hit me and almost made me change my mind and climb back in bed with Mel. As tempting as that sounded, I knew I had to ride - missed opportunities, you know.

I had already decided to ride the Salado Creek Greenbelt trail, having ridden Madrone last week and not wanting to ride OP Schnabel because they were having some sort of race or event and I knew it would be crawling with riders. So, Salado Creek it was.

As I was unloading my gear at the trail head, another biker drove up and we struck up a conversation. Turns out he was supposed to meet some buddies for a ride, but it appeared they stood him up, so I asked him if he wanted to ride with me.

He said he moved here from Austin, which I soon found out meant he could ride! I had flashbacks of riding with Bert when he used to leave me in his dust on the trails. It was almost as bad today. Although this guy hadn't ridden much the last 8 years because of back problems, it was very apparent that he was in great shape.

I did my best to keep up without passing out and embarrassing myself. Considering he appeared to be in his mid 30s (maybe), I held my own as best I could. After riding about an hour, he started heading back to the trail head. We stopped and I told him I was going to ride some more, so we exchanged thanks for the ride and went our separate ways.

All in all, I rode 13 miles in a little over 2.5 hours. Because he showed me trails I hadn't ridden before, which were more technical in nature than the main trails, I am BEAT! By the time I reached my truck, my quads were cramping during climbs and I was spent.

I got home, showered, ate, then hit the recliner for a quick nap. In fact, it felt so good, I think I'm headed back to the recliner now for a repeat performance! Hope you all have a great week! Until next time, Big Dog out...