School's out. Lets Ride!

I took a selfie. Get over it.

With the fall semester coming to a close I am very happy to say that I made it through another semester as an engineering student. My grades were a bit below what I wanted amongst all my classes. I was able to keep everything at a 3.00 gpa. I had a great star to the semester which gave me a false sense of security in my grades. I ended up not doing so hot the second part of the semester and my grades slowly went from all As to Bs. Well live and learn. Next semester I will not let any sort of security trick my mind and study habits.

My first weekend on Winter break I decided to retreat up to Austin to get a few days of riding in, as well as see my friends and have some fun.

It was starting to flood.

That Saturday morning I woke up and checked the weather, it said it was going to rain. As I looked at the radar I could see that there would be a good chance that I will miss any sort of moisture. I start texting the guys (super squadra) on the team iMessage where every single person did not want to ride with me. I felt the love similar to being left on the side of the road as an ugly pet. I decided to be defiant and head out solo to get my riding in. I went eastward towards Manor Texas. In my mind I wanted to ride to Manor, and once I get out there do several laps around the old Manor Road race course before heading home and going on with the rest of my Saturday. As I made it to Manor I could start to feel a little bit of moisture falling on my face. I kept pedaling towards the old road race course. As I got within site of the old Ghost Town I hard a clap of thunder and the rain really started to come down. I made a quick decision and started to off road towards the old Ghost Town for shelter. I quickly make it to shelter in the old Saloon that they have set up. As I sit there I take notice on how wet I got and start to look at my phone to see how long till the rain will clear. It was looking bleak. I start to go through my contacts to decide who I may call to rescue me from the position that I have gotten myself into. As I started to shiver I decided to call I long time bff Patrick Davis. He says he will be on his way to rescue me soon. That is all I can hope for. As I hang up my phone I look across the open plaza and I see movement in the building across from mine. I quickly google the Manor Ghost Town’s Number and dial it. I could see a women pick up the phone from across the yard.

“Hey! I am the cyclist in red waving at you from across the yard! Do you have anything warm I could drink?” I said over the phone.

“ya sure, come on over!” She said.

The heat lamp was clutch

I walked over and found myself with the owners of the Manor Ghost Town. I told them about the situation that I have gotten myself into. They poured me some hot cocoa and turn on the heat lamp. For the next hour I sat down and talked to the owners about many things ranging from World war II, D-Day invasion, Lance Armstrong, School, all the way to how a cycling team would work for a team leader on a multi week stage race. Both of them were very nice and happy to give me some sort of warmth as I waited for Patrick to save my wet cold ass.

Eventually Patrick came and took me back into Austin. It was a bad day to be on bikes in Austin, but luckily I got through it relatively dry and safe.

The Next day would end up being a different story. I was able to get a hold of Gavin and we ended up having a big day in the saddle. This would end up being the first time Gavin and I rode with each other in Austin since I tagged a long on a Bontrager team ride in 2012. I wish I could have gotten some pictures of the route Gavin took me on. It is probably one of my favorite rides I do in Austin. The two of us mostly caught up with how our lives have been since October. As well as just talk about nonsense for hours on end.

In the final 10 miles of my ride Gavin took a different route home leaving me on my own to try to find where I was staying. I got a rough Idea with how to get back to Austin but my phone was dead and the sun was setting. At this point I knew I was going to need some help. I started flagging down drivers at stop signs getting directions to streets and landmarks. To me, a ride is just a ride until you find yourself in a new city asking locals for directions. When that happens, the ride becomes an adventure.

I eventually found my way to familiar roads where stopped by Phil and David’s houses to wish them a marry Christmas. I even gave some holiday cheer to some strangers on the side of the road as I passed out my last granola bars to beggars on the feeder roads of I-35. My Sunday ride ended up being almost a 6 hour day with over a 100 miles in the books. It definably made up for my lack of riding yesterday as well as set the tone for what I would like to get out of my off season heading into the 2014 season.