Random Ride Thoughts and Observations

Wind and flags

Many Texans fly both the Texas state flag and the American flag in their yards, as do many businesses. No matter how light the breeze, the Texas flag is almost always flying extended. Does this mean that the Texas state flag responds to hot air more easily than the US flag?


There is wine and then there is Wine

One small mom and pop store we stopped in had a product called “Flash Wine” neatly bottled in convenient hip flask sized shapes and sizes. The contents were universally listed as red table wine with “other fruit like ingredients”. The product labels sproted a variety of interesting names such as; “Midnight Rhapsody”, a black label with hot pink lettering on a dark purple bottle of blackberry flavored wine”, Diamonds and Lace,” a white glittery label with black lettering on a fuschia colored bottle of raspberry flavored wine, “Tropical Cabana” with a screaming orange label with fluorescent lettering on a turquoise bottle of banana coconut flavored wine. In total there were 17 flavors, each at $1.99 a bottle. I guess the locals buy Flash Wine when they want to buy the good stuff.

Painted fire hydrants and man hole covers

I wish I could figure out the color code of the fire hydrant pixies. Everywhere I have ridden this month, it is apparent that the fire hydrant pixies have been out giving the fire hydrants a fresh coat of paint. Although the body of the hydrants are universally either silver or white, the caps are red, yellow, blue, green, white, silver, black and turquoise blue. At first I thought it might be a local or neighborhood designation, sort of like a local dialect, but I have seen one of each color along a street within a neighborhood in no particular order. The associated man hole covers are not color coordinated so obviously the man hole trolls march to a different drummer. It makes one wonder.

Cadence Line/Team Manners

I understand the philosophy behind team rides and cadence lines, I really do. When I am out on the road riding, I do my best to stay out of their way and let them do their thing. I even admire the beauty of a line of well trained, well built male athletes, all riding in a beautifully flowing and energy efficient unison. It is when they stop at the local gas station /quick mart that I take exception to them. What is it about the mentality that says if your jersey, shorts, socks, gloves, bike and helmet match, then you don’t have to worry about throwing away your empty Gatorade bottles and power bar wrappers? Does having a racing bike light enough that you can pick it up with two fingers mean that you automatically get to park it in front of the door and any other convenient access to the inside of the store? And just because you ride in a tightly packed group, does that mean that you cannot break apart that group a bit, to allow other riders and customers to slip past your bikes and bodies to get into and out of the store? Because you are pouring sweat and buy water to pour over yourself to cool down or rinse your mouth and spit it out, does that mean that you should pour it or spit it in the middle of the main sidewalk or bike rack space immediately in front of the store where my bike is parked and the rest of the world passes?

This behavior bothers me because I seem to hit the local spots just after such a group has passed through and invariably end up wading through a plethora of wrappers, empty bottles and suspiciously slippery wet spots. It reeks of a lack of basic good manners and consideration for the rest of the world, nor does such boorish behavior help the reputation of road biking or team biking in general.

But I guess if you’re a 20 or 30 something Texas lad who can afford an expensive equipage, and can afford to be taking time during the week to ride the rules don’t apply to you. Of course it could also just be delusions of adequacy.

Monday Mole Vision

We have all had it at least once in our lives, that Monday morning when you wake up with a specific objective or goal in mind and go into it full tilt only to be smacked along the side of the head when reality and the fact that is Monday intrudes. That’s what happened to me last Monday.

It takes me about 45 minutes, from getting out of bed to setting foot to pedal, to get ready for a ride. During that time I feed the cats, let the dog out, clean the cat box, eat breakfast, let the dog in to clean up the scraps, clean up the kitchen assemble and put on my biking clothes, goop with sunscreen and chamois butter, fill water bottles, camel bak, put the dog out, double check that I have my ride watch, road id, key, cell phone, nutrition and repair kit in the bike bag, check the tires, headset, and brakes, put on my helmet, reset my odometer and open the garage door.

On Monday, I worked my way through the list, mentally locked into my own little world of reviewing routes in my head and generally wrapping my mind around the concept of how many miles I wanted to do. The animals all fed and settled, all geared up, I reset my odometer and opened the garage door. As the door went up, the skies opened, the thunder and lightning roared and flashed and the rain poured down. So much for the Monday ride.

From now on, I guess first and last on the list should be check the weather!