Saturday, March 21, 2009

Spokes and Spurs Ride

They postponed the Spokes and Spurs ride last weekend since the weather was awful, cold, rainy, and windy. It was beautiful today. I would say this was my first "long" (43 miles) road ride since Longhorn. This ride was also really hilly.
Hills just before the last rest stop
I dropped Jeff off at the shop on my way to the ride, he and Nic were doing bike repairs at the last rest stop. I got out to the Spirit Reins Ranch and got registered with no problem, I ran into Coach Gina and talked with her for a few minutes. Just before we started I also ran into Maggie. Jeff put a different stem on my bike last night, so I spent the first few miles just getting used to the slightly different way my bike was handling (and climbing hills). The signs on this ride were great, there was never any question about exactly where to go. There were rest stops about every 10 miles and I had decided that I would stop at all of them since this was my first long ride and I didn't need to try to go fast or anything.
The first rest stop had Girl Scout cookies- yum! The second had homemade oatmeal cookies- yum again! The hills were tough but not too bad. Some of the downhills were really steep, I'm probably the only person in the world who hates going downhill fast. It freaks me out. One was so steep that I actually got off and walked down it. The last rest stop was sponsored by Performance Bike and Team Roadkill. When I got there I got to see Jeff, and I hung out for a few minutes. For the last few miles the wind picked up and I had a headwind back to the ranch. I didn't even mind, it was such a beautiful day and at that point I only had a few more miles to ride anyway.

They had a transition area and a 5k run course set up, so I decided I would do a very short run, about 15 minutes. I saw Maggie finishing her ride while I was running.

After the ride they had fajitas for lunch, a live band, and pony rides. This was great ride, I couldn't believe how well organized it was and it was a beautiful day.

After the ride, Jeff and I went out to Flat Creek Estate Winery to pick up our wine club case of wine. We had lunch on their patio. It was the perfect day to be outside.

3 comments:

md said...

it was really good to see you this morning! you looked so good on your run.
I loved that road kill rest stop, it was my favorite. I didn't know Jeff was there.
I did 63, and made sure to stop for cookies.
did you stay for lunch? I didn't see you after my run.
glad you had a good ride and run.

Heather and Jeff said...

It was great to see you yesterday too Maggie!
I assumed you were running after your ride, and I did stay for lunch and I looked for you after I ate, but I never saw you...I was there until almost 2:00, so we must have just missed eachother.

Richard said...

I love the cookie stop, then again I've been known to do trail runs because of the great food they put out.