April, 2008

South Texas

Although it's been a while since I've updated Dan's Corner, I hope all NJRC members survived the winter. I barely did, I couldn't take one more day of 70° highs, what a nightmare! It's all relative you know, even though South Texas winter is much warmer than Southern Arizona, you become a wimp really fast. My girlfriend, Lola, however, is even more of a wimp than me, Mr. 0% body fat meets Miss 0% body fat. The pic of the two of us shown was on a "cool" 77° day. Wearing my LS winter jersey, she felt comfy.

So, the first 4 months or so of training for me has focused on preparation for the Mt. Evans Bob Cook Memorial Hill Climb. I figured, with a little arm twisting from NJRC co-founder Peter Failla, I might as well complete the tri-fecta of the biggest and baddest hills in the US. (the others Washington and Haleakala). Mt. Evans, located west of Denver, Colorado, is known as the highest paved road in North America. Rising to more than 14,000ft, it's not so much the climb itself but the elevation gain that'll get you. The race, only 28 miles, rises up from about 7,000ft. It's not easy trying to figure how to train to race to nearly 3 miles up. I live at just under 1,000 feet with the highest local climb not even 2,000, so the bulk of my training up until know has been moderate to fast rolling endurance rides. Either way, no climb has stopped me in my tracks before, neither will this one. It'll be fun!

You have quite a varied choice of riding in this area. You can have your flat rides by going South, rolling to the West, and hilly to the North. Going East, you get into more civilization, but funny if you draw a straight line West of here, there are no towns until you get to the Pacific! My nephew Bill and I call the road that leads to my house "the road to nowhere." That's good for me, the less traffic the better. Most of the roads, even rural, have bike lanes and you can truly go all the way to the Mexican border unimpeded, if you feel so inclined.

I was trying to come up with some exciting tale from the road, but not a whole lot has happened. One funny story though happened recently on my Sunday ride heading West, I found myself caught up in a local race that did a circuit out through Hill Country. I got onto the route and ended up in the final half mile or so, a steep little hill leading up to the finish (I didn't know it at the time). Keeping my normal 25 mph pace, I caught up to two racers heading for the line just as the climb started. I passed the first guy and came up to the second. "What race is this?" I asked. In broken English he said "Castroville." "Oh" I said "well good luck!" I dropped it a few gears, then dropped the two of them like a bad habit. I was wearing the colors of course, and as I approached the line some spectators starting cheering, until they noticed I wasn't in the race. OOOPS! SORRY! Yet another positive representation, he he;-)

I promise I will keep my page updated as we move forward into riding season and closer to Mt. Evans. To all NJRC team members, good luck this year! Keep the rubber side down!