Saturday, January 10, 2009

Some dirt, sorta

A late start coupled with a closure of I45 placed a spanner in today's plan. The planned 5-hours at Huntsville wasn't going to happen. I contemplated riding loops around Memorial Park for about 3-seconds. No. I ended up cobbeling together a route using mapmyride that had some dirt, a lot of distance, and not too much traffic.

The ride got off to a rough start. First, I bent the spring clip on my rear brake pad when I swapped out wheels. Ugg. Fixed that. I departed and quickly discvoered that arm warmers weren't going to be enough. I returned and grabbed my heavier riding jacket and lead out again. Too much! I returned yet again and left with the mid-weight jacket. I'm 36-years old and still can't dress myself sometimes!

The route took me past the overcrowded Memorial Park and under the 610-loop...



This is no way to keep a driveway a secret!



I meandered my way through Hedwig Village and Hunter's Creek in an effort to avoid traffic. Remember you can't ride on the roads in this area...

I made my way to the Beltway and jumped on the Terry Hershey Park trail. I rode the paved side to stay out of the wind...



I made my way all the way down to the Highway 6 spillway...



Then onto the top of the levee that lines George Bush Park. I followed the southward loop...



and then turned northbound across the middle of the park. Let me tell you riding northbound today absolutely sucked. Winds were 18-knots and gusting 24+. Nothing else to do but grind it out.

An inspirational sign!



By the time I picked up the eastbound Addicks Reservoir levee at Barker Cypress and I-10 it was dark. My light is a "be seen" light not a "seeing" light. Luckily, it was a full moon and the clouds were clearing.

It's neat how your primal instincts take over. As the darkness closed in I kept reducing volume on the iPod. I wasn't eskeerd of anything, but the sound grew increasingly annoying. This has never happend to me in well-lit areas. Neat. No loup garous were spotted.



The levee turns to the north before intersecting Clay Road. That northbound run was a total grind. I couldn't see. I was cold. And the wind was beating me up. A full on threshold attack yielded 9-mph into the wind. Ugg. I was veeery happy to see Clay Road to keep the wind off my nose. From there it was a simple ride back to White Oak Bayou trail and home. The wind was quartered just enough off my back to give a little boost to get me home.

Total for the ride, just over 5-hours. I'm cooked. Some 'overpass' repeats tomorrow, then an active recovery week...

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