Day 193 - Jumpin' Fun

Here's Nico flying two feet in the air off the 'Magic Mountain' jump on the hills east of the Wetback. Along with Tweezer and I, we put in a fun three hour ride fooling around on the hills and other area on the land south of the Hike and Bike, jumping everything in site, and doing some other crazy stuff such as riding a maze of ski-like models, and dropping descents into the 'halfpipe' canal that the City of Mission is putting in on the land. It was welcomed departure from our normal riding the trails routine and we had a ton of fun. We talked about doing another "Jumping Madness #3" video as a group ride. I'm down for some more jumpin' fun.

Day 192 - Black Friday Ride

Black Friday. The busiest shopping day of the year. People getting up early to fight for parking spots, wait in lines, and the braze the crowds to get those limited specials. I'm glad I wasn't out there and part of it. I gave that up several years ago. Instead I was on my bike. I woke up early morning, put on my riding clothes and gear, and headed out to Mission Trails. The weather was great. It was in the 70s and overcast and cool. Did two laps fast laps. I had a lot of energy. Even got out of the saddle on a few climbs. I think it was all the food that I pigged out on Thanksgiving. Saw a snake on the entrance to Poo's Forest. Finished my two laps and headed home. Twenty-two miles, one hour and 30 minutes. Good training ride.

Day 191 - Bengay Smell

My legs were sore all over when I woke up this morning. My calves, hamstrings, and quads hurt. I shouldn't have pushed it by running two days in a row. It was painful when I walked. It got so bad that I had to break out the Bengay. I rubbed it all over my legs. The cream kicked in and I felt better. But my wife hates the smell. The smell reminds her of when she was a little girl and her mom would rub Vicks on her when she was sick. She woke up and said "What's that smell?" and quickly ordered me out of room. I limped my way around the rest of the day.

Day 190 - Slow as a Turtle

My hip felt so good after I went running yesterday that I decided to skip my cycling workout and go running. So during lunch I hit the track again. I ended up doing two miles in 20 minutes, which is a 10 minute a mile pace. I know that pace is slow as a turtle. I used to be able to do a 8 minute mile when I was running a few years ago. But then I was five years younger. I like running. There is something pure about it. It doesn't require a lot of equipment or gear. Just shoes and shorts. I'm going to try to run at least two times a week if my body will hold up.

Day 189 - Run Forest Run!

Today, I ran for the first time in a long time. I used to run two or three years ago. I enjoyed it. I would run with my wife at least three times a week. We would run around the high school and do two to three miles at around an 9 minute pace. I even did a 10K in Edinburg. I had to quit running after I injured a muscle in my knee while running on the Hike and Bike in Mission. I chalk it up to fate. I discovered the trails while running on the Hike and Bike. If I hadn't had injured myself I probably would have kept running. Since I couldn't run I took up biking four years ago and never looked back. Anyway, back to my story. I went for a run today during lunch at work. It was sprinkling and overcast. I started out slow with a kinda of limping gait. To my surprise after about three laps, my hip and leg felt better. I picked up that pace and was running with normal stride. I ended up running 6 laps or 1.5 miles. It felt good to be able to run again. Run Forest Run!

Day 187 - Sunday Ride

Went for a ride on Sunday morning. Have been training for the mountain bike series in Brownsville. For the past two weeks I have been riding a stationary bicycle at work during lunch three times a week. I get in a 30 minute workout, pedaling 4 miles, doing interval workouts. I'm also doing a 1 hour ride on Saturday or Sunday for endurance. I did 19 miles on Sunday on the Hike and Bike. I had a slow leak and had to keep stopping to pump air into it which kinda of ruined my workout. Anyway, it was refreshing to be back on my mountain bike, which I hadn't ridden since my last ride at Sullivan City a week ago. On the ride home from the trails I snapped a picture of the mural of Tom Landry, who was born in Mission, and coached the Dallas Cowboys to several Superbowl championships.

Day 179 - Sullivan City

Rode Sullivan City yesterday morning with Nico, Grape, and Tweezer. That's Nico in the pic. I was a little hestitant to go since Sullivan is an advanced-level trail. Lots of hard climbing and decents on loose, gravely rocks. The rocks make everything sketchy. We got there about 7 a.m. and started riding. We rode around for an hour trying to figure out where the lap was. The trail is not marked well and has lots of intersecting roads which makes it easy to get lost. Finally we came across several Team McAllen Racing riders - Dirk, Sean, Santiago, and Worm - and caught in with them to ride the lap. I slotted in mid-pack in the group and tried to keep up with them; they are strong riders. It was a tough lap, especially the lungbusting, granny-gear climbs. At the end of the lap we (Grape, Nico, Tweezer, and I) were spent. We thanked them and said our goodbyes and were happy to survive Sullivan for another day of riding.

Day 173 - Welcome to the Mudfest

Today was suppose to be my return to mountain biking racing. Ridehard and I drove down to Brownsville to race. As we got closer to Brownsville we noticed water puddles on the road. We began to worry. When we pulled into the dirt parking lot in Brownsville and it was muddy. It had rained in the early morning and it looked like a mess. We decided to race since we had gotten up so early and made the one hour drive.

The race started out ok for the first mile as we rode the perimeter loop. It was slippery and tough sledding, but rideable. I was nearly at my max heart rate trying to plod through the mud in 2nd gear. The turns were treacherous. I nearly went down on one turn and lost two places. I made it into the switchback section and that's where the race turned into a mudfest. I got 20 yards into the section when my bike came to a dead stop. Mud stuck in the front tire and fork, rear deraileur, front deraileur, rear tire and chain stay. I tried to poke the mud out with a stick, but it was impossible. We had done less than a mile and had another five to go. I thought about continuing, but the situation didn't look good. My Michelin Dry 2's sucked at shedding mud. My Anthem's small rear tire clearance also didn't help. It was hopeless. I threw in the towel and sloshed my way through the mud back to the start/finish line. My race was over, before it really began.

I stuck around and drowned my disappointment with a couple of frosties. Because of the mud the race directors decided to shorten the race to 1 lap. To my surprise, quite a few riders, including beginners, women, and kids finished the race! My helmet goes off to them because the only way to complete a lap was to port your bicycle for a good part of the 6-mile lap. It was inspiring. It was easy to give up, but they didn't. Congratulations to them. They all deserved medals for finishing in such harsh conditions. For me, my return will have to wait another month until December.