Make the best of it

The weather has been bad for outdoor activities for a while, I did ride 60 miles on the bicycle Saturday but I had on 4 layers. The forecast for Monday called for a one day respite with a high of 70 with sunshine and light winds, not enough wind to sail but I wanted to get out on the water.
A couple of weeks ago one of Michele's cycling friends Marla asked if she could store her Kayak at our house, since we have tons of storage and I had always wanted to try out a kayak, you bet. The removable ladder rack went back on the truck and the kayak fit like a glove, soon we were off on our maiden voyage at white rock lake.

After unloading the yak I climbed in, adjusted the foot rest and played with the rudder. This model of the Dagger has a rudder to help steer and move straight in a cross wind.

I chose White Rock Lake because of the many piers and protected coves where I could get in and out hopefully without getting wet. This was a lot of fun and a good upper body workout and I did not get wet. What a nice day to learn, now I plan on trying to fish out of it but will first need more time to develop balance and become more comfortable with the small low sitting craft.

Are you ready for Christmas?

Dennis

Enchanted Rock and Cross Moutain

The week of Thanksgiving was a busy one for me, I had another chance to go sailing with Bobby and David and we had a romping day with 20+ winds and large rolling waves. We exceeded hull speed a spent a lot of time dodging spray and trying to get each other wet.

After a great Thanksgiving Day of food and family at my brother Bart's, Michele and I headed for the Hill Country and Fredericksburg.We spent some time shopping in the Historic part of town and I got a nice gift for Michele for Christmas, It was busy as it was the weekend of the Lighting of the courthouse.

On Saturday we went to Enchanted rock and climbed to the top as well as hiked the perimeter loop trail. Enchanted Rock is a giant granite rock about 400 feet tall and was a sacred place for the American Indians.

A distant look at the granite monolith.

At the top Michele, Sprocket and me left a long shadow on the windy barren top.

We then went to a winery near comfort Texas and drove through open range land with loose cattle, herds of deer and beautiful fall color to sample a nice estate grown Merlot on the deck behind the Winery. I highly recommend the Singing Waters Winery, great people and good Texas wines.
On Sunday we found that the local walking club has a walk box at a local hotel where you can get maps for some local walks. We chose the Cross Mountain Walk and set off through a neighborhood for a mile or so and got this glimpse of the small mountain.

We continued our walk to the top of the mountain and the base of the cross, the story is a man purchased this land in the 1840's and while exploring the mountain he found an old cross probably left by early Spanish explorers. He put up another cross and had Easter Services there for many years and the cross was eventually replaced with this current one. We had a true moment of thanksgiving while here for how blessed we have been, and I finally realized that I can stop looking for the place where the grass is greener because I AM STANDING IN THE GREENEST GRASS THERE IS.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and holiday season.

Dennis

Fairfield/Palestine

On Wednesday the 11th Bobby and I went sailing again on a perfect day with 12 to 15 mph winds,we tied a reef in the main and off we went. While discussing sail trim with his new main we made a little adjustment to the jib trim by relocating the anchor point for the sheets allowing a 3 inch tighter trim angle and a much tighter leech. We were pleased with the results and were able to get the Mac 26S to sail 35 degrees to the true wind without giving up any speed.For a long weekend we once again went to Lake Fairfield State Park, we had wanted to go to the Hill Country but could find no campsites. Who could complain when Fairfield has roads like this one and a 14 mile mountain bike trail called the Dockery Trail.

I did make a tire change on the GT mountain bike, the 26x2.25 knobbys are great on the trail but are heavy and not the best for the road so I put on a set of Tom Slicks in the 26x1.4 size and what a difference. Now I just change back and forth depending on the circumstances, a 10 minute job and worth it.Of course I rode the mtb to my favorite fishing hole several times and pretty much wore the bass out, I took this angled photo with the timer and by wedging the camera in a small tree.
We also took a day trip to Palestine and shopped the historic downtown area and a nice art gallery, the art was a little out of my price range with pieces up to 30K, we also visited a new to us winery, the Texas Vineyard and Smokehaus. Michele raced me to the bar for the tasting and complimentary wine glass, a really nice couple owns this new venture and while it may not look like what you would expect after looking at their website the wines were in my opinion good.

On the way home we stopped and had lunch at the Collin Street Bakery that is famous for its fruitcake that it ships all over the world. After lunch we got back on I-45 and I was passed by a giant weenie flying down the highway.

This past weekend I got in over 100 miles on the road bike in really good weather for November and I have been invited to a ranch in Brady next weekend. We also have reservations at an RV park in Fredricksburg for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanks for stopping by

Dennis

Galveston Oh Galveston

With the shorter days and lots of rain this is what some of our bicycle rides look like and have taken place in the garage. On the bright side it's safer and no helmet required, it also stirs up more of our addiction to travel.

Galveston Island has always been a place I like to visit, sometimes a little seedy but you have to like a place with a newspaper named the Twisted Parrot. Michele and I loaded up the camping trailer and took off for three days to see how things are in the wake of last year's hurricane.

" Sippin" on the dock of the bay is where we spent Saturday after a morning bike ride along the bay and on the hard packed sand of the gulf beach. The event was a wine and food festival that was our first of this kind, we sampled some of over 60 wines and lots of cheese, pasta, cured meats, and a really good Blues band. The event was hosted by the South Shore Harbor and this is a really nice upscale Marina, I could see us living on a sailboat here (not gonna happen).

The State Park is where we stayed and we met a nice couple retiring in a few months to travel full time in their 5th wheel travel trailer. The park is still suffering from the damage inflicted by hurricane Ike and was not exactly what we were expecting, but the ocean is still the same. This was sprockets first trip to the beach and he loved it, he wore himself out chasing gulls and investigating all that the sea washed up.

The Island itself is recovering from a lot of damage and the beachfront homes look nice since most of them have been repaired and have fresh paint and roofs, of course a lot of them are missing too.

I had one of my best runs ever when I did 6 miles from our campsite to the beach and watched the sun rise over the Gulf as I ran along the waters edge and had the place to myself. The hard packed sand is a perfect surface to run on.

The rain and shorter days has limited our cycling somewhat but last night we started our night ride season with the bicycle club and had a nice hard ride, much nicer than riding the trainer.

Dennis

J22 North American championship/ Niagra falls

Last Wednesday Bobby, David and I went sailing, the plan was to install a new Boomkicker boom vang on the sailboat. Bobby had been wanting one of these popular boom supports that eliminates the topping lift line from the boom to the top of the mast. He found the kit locally for $239.00 plus tax and asked me to see what I could get one for, the manufacturer wanted $199.00 plus shipping but a little more research and P-Yacht delivered it to my door for $167.00. I told Bobby for an extra $20 I would tell his wife it only cost $100.00, it looks good and performs too.

When we left the Marina and hoisted sail I noticed a lot of sailboats on the South end of the lake and we sailed the Bobcat down to take a look, what a treat and nice surprise to find the North American J-22 Championship in progress. These sailors are pros, the fleet stayed in a very close group and the sail handling and spinnaker work was impressive. The picture is not the best but we stayed a respectful distance away and with a stiff breeze the boat was anything but still.
We also had a busy weekend in Buffalo New York attending Michele's Nieces Wedding, it was an extravagant event in a Beautiful Church from the 1820's and the reception was in a Private facility also from the early 1800's with frescoes on the ceiling and large Marble columns, the open bar was nice too.

While we were there we also bagged another Lighthouse, The Buffalo Lighthouse marks the entrance to the harbour and the Erie canal. On this stormy night we caught the light as it came on.

Of course we had to visit the Niagara Falls, no photo can do justice to the power, size and magnitude of these falls. For a little perspective the boat in the basin is the Maid of the mist and is maybe 80 feet or more long. Of course we took a trip on the Maid and got a good close look and also got wet, even with the poncho's they give you, to wet for a good pic.

I even had a chance to run with the Buffalo, well we stayed with Michele's friend Leisamarie who lives close to Delaware Park where I went for a 6 mile run, the trail just happens to pass by the Zoo and the bison enclosure, it was nice to have the fence between us.

Bagged a Lighthouse and one of the seven wonders, even saw a world class sailboat race, sweet.

Dennis

Lake Murray State Park

We have returned from our annual Lake Murray trip, I had a good but very difficult ride to Turner Falls and back for about 74 miles which included climbing the "mountain" to the top of the Arbuckle Mountains. Our local Dallas club met up with the Ardmore Oklahoma Cycling Club and the testing began, well I did not do so good but I did finish the ride and was not alone at the finish. The Ardmore folks were great, they took us on a nice route with back roads and little traffic, some even stopped for a break in Gene Autry Oklahoma at the Gene Autry museum and got pictures taken with Ellie May Clampitt who was there for a festival.
Sunday morning I woke up in the old CCC bunkhouse and walked down to the lake, had my coffee and watched the sunrise, (photo above) I also fished for a little while but caught nothing on a very beautiful morning. We had reserved the 2 bunkhouses at the State Park and they were nice and rustic, built with thick stone walls and indoor/outdoor fireplaces. These cabins are from the 30's, built by the CCC and do show their age, however they are comfortable and handle large groups well and are very private and far removed from any other cabins. We will use these cabins again next year

Below is my Mountain bike with the new fishing rod holder I made for it, I use it to ride to my secret fishing hole about 3 miles from home. I found this spot while looking for a shortcut home after finishing a Saturday group ride. It should also be nice on our Camping trips and a planned trip to Galveston State Park.
Last week I was working in the garage and took a break for lunch, I came back out to find this little box turtle checking out the bicycles. When I was finished in the garage I left the door up for another couple of hours and he disappeared.

Proud people don't litter

Dennis

HHH 2009

Before we headed to Wichita Falls Bobby and I got in our usual weekday sail, this time we went on Wednesday night and became the spectator fleet for the Night races. You can see the fishing rod in the picture and when the drag started screaming my hands were full trimming sails and steering while reeling in a nice Hybrid Striper about 19 inches long, it worked out well as Bobby came up from a project he was working on in the cabin and took control of the boat.

Michele and I had another good ride at this years HHH, thanks to Paul on his bent for taking this picture of us as he caught and passed us, we of course were reunited at the 98 mile outlaw beer stop. The rally set an attendance record with over 14,000 riders and the Tandems had to start with the mass start, which got us off to a slow start. The temperature was 64 at the start and all went well until just after the 80 mile mark when the front tire developed a blister and would thump on every revolution. I had to reduce the pressure down to about 35 lbs to smooth it out and nor wear a hole in the blistered spot on the tire. We also slowed down and limped the last 20 miles and still averaged 18.8 for 103.51 miles. With a failing tire there were no more 35 mph descents.

We took our camping trailer and camped with a group of friends at the rv lot close to all the activities and had a great time there, kind of a rally the wagons atmosphere.

We watched a lot of races and my friend Aaron took 2nd place in the cat 2 mountain bike race, he then took me out Sunday and we rode the very technical course along the river and greenbelt. This is a nice mountain bike trail and also has a multipurpose trail, I think we might go back and camp and ride this again.

The grass is indeed greener on the other side of the fence but I think I am finally halfway up the fence and closer to crossing over. Hey Gary enjoy New Mexico!!!

Dennis

TGIF

The last 2 Fridays have been really nice for me thanks to my friend Bobby and his nice sailboat the Bobcat. We have met at Lake Ray Hubbard in the mornings and prepared the boat while taking short breaks to fish the docks and I caught bass each time. Gentle breezes, dead down wind wing on wing, notice the rod and holder

This was an unusual sight, from a distance it looked like a man walking on the water, jibe to starboard tack and sheet the sails and on closer inspection it looks like a paddle board of some sort.

This Friday we sailed into a giant school of surfacing sand (white) bass and I was catching a fish every cast for a while. When I had no fish for 3 consecutive casts we moved on and left them biting.

On the cycling front I have been getting in my basic 100 miles a week, consisting of 2 club rides and usually a ride with just Michele and Me. Other than The Tuesday evening ride which has been really hot we roll out at about 7:30 am to beat the heat. We have got to get at least one long ride of at around 70 miles soon because the Hotter Than Hell Hundred is just around the corner and we are not well prepared.

Team off the back

Dennis

Lake Mineral Wells Trailway

With the news of cooler weather over the weekend Michele and I loaded up the camping trailer and headed off to Mineral Wells State Park for the weekend. While there we off course rode the 20 mile (one way) trailway which is the bed of the old railroad that served Mineral Wells in its days as a big player in the mineral water business. Riding from our campsite to the trail head and both ends of the Trail and back was about 45 miles for us, also all of the roads in the park were new ashpalt, none of that chip seal stuff, very nice.This trailway is in good conditioning and is a great ride, no steep hills or descents, just slight grades and smooth crushed and screened limestone. It does cross several small country roads and there is a trail bridge over highway 180 near Mineral Wells. At the Weatherford end there is only a parking lot, around halfway in the Town of Garner is a country store, but it is closed on Sunday.

After the bridge is a memorial park with several exhibits and this helicopter, it seems that a lot of the State Park land was used to train helicopter pilots for the military, before it was a park.

We saw few riders on our ride, maybe 5 bikes, 5 hikers and 1 horse along with a few deer and a good number of birds. I got this deer picture from the bicycle.

The camping at the State Park is also nice and there is a nice sized lake I caught a few bass out of. The mountain bike trails in the park are very hard since they are mostly shared with horses that turn the soil into soft sand.

Dennis

Peach Pedal Bicycle Rally

Ive wanted to do the Peach Pedal Rally for a while, last year I was going and then my back went out so I couldn't ride. This year the temperature was predicted to be 104 or 105, but we decided to go anyway since the start time is 7:30 am. We loaded up the tandem and headed for Weatherford and the Outback Building at the new high school.

The tandem in the mini van

Michele and I rode our Treck Tandem 64 miles in about 3.5 hours with 2 quick rest stops, this was a nice rally with back roads and decent rest stops and they had a good turnout I would guess was several thousand riders.

Since it is the peach festival I had homemade peach ice cream and cobbler made with Parker County peaches. Michele passed on the cobbler and had other festival food but she did not pass up the homemade ice cream.

I was washing the Tandem after the ride and noticed a blister forming on the rear tire and that spot was worn very thin, it's unsafe to ride now so I will get a new tire, we were very lucky we didn't have a blowout on a high speed downhill. Our top speed was 38 miles an hour and we averaged over 18 mph for the ride.

No sailing due to the extreme heat we have had, I have a chance to go on a 9 day coastal sailing trip on the 17th, but with work that's not going to happen and it would be hot sleeping on the boat on the south Texas coast.

Dennis

MS 150 and other stuff

I have been lax in posting as I just haven't felt creative or like writing and then the heat set in. There have been lots of rides and some sailing since the last post.

I was lucky enough to be given a pre-paid spot to ride in the MS 150 and was riding for a large team called The Feisty Devils. I got as close to the start as I could get and rode the 80 or so miles from Frisco to the Texas Motor Speedway. this shows my spot in the mass start

I rode my but off with one very short stop for the rr, when I arrived at the bike lot to walk to the team tents not many people had arrived.

The Feisty Devils had a nice tent with all the food and drink you could ask for. I was looking forward to riding a lap around the Speedway on Sunday but Saturday night they cancelled the Sunday ride due to severe weather. It was a good call as severe weather did come in and the area suffered a lot of damage.

The near empty parking lot with my steed #121







We have also been camping at Bastrop State Park and rode the hilly Park Road One route several times and went on a nice 8.5 mile hike with the dog Sprocket.



Michele and Sprocket ride through the Lost Pines At Bastrop State Park
(sorry for the blurred picture and no brain bucket on Michele)




I have still been doing two club rides a week and felt like I was in a rut so this Saturday Michele and I went to Ray Roberts State Park and rode the Dorba trail and the 20 mile greenbelt trail for a nice change of pace and 40 miles on another 100+ day.

Today we went to the Summer Bash our bike club puts on (http://www.gdbclub.com/ ) and rode our tandem a little over 30 miles and had a great lunch catered by Freebird's.

My friend Bobby took me sailing again and I hooked another nice fish but this one got off as I attempted to lift it over the transom while sailing at 5 knots. This picture was supposed to be a short video but I guess I need to do some work to get that to happen.

Michele and I have also been going to Lambert's Fitness Boot Camp for a six week course and we are both down over 5 pounds and this really concentrates on the body core. Heath is a good friend and the Coach, they can be found on Face book

It appears we are in for a really hot summer as it was over 100 all this week. This will limit the rides and eliminate the camping for now, but we are planning more adventures.

Next time will come sooner

Dennis

Copper Breaks rides

The bicycle rally our local bike club puts on was a success. The Lancaster Country Ride had great weather and about 1200 or so riders, always nice to pull that off.

After we both worked at parking and registration we then rode the rally route on our Tandem and visited the rest stops. We also acted as unofficial sweeps asking any stopped riders if they needed help and encouraging those that were struggling. Some of the porto's were overwhelmed, but you do the best you can, if the weather had been bad like 2 years ago only a few hundred riderw would have showed up

No sailing to report on but planning to correct that little problem soon.

We took a trip to Copper Breaks State Park for a long weekend, we drove through a lot of rain and arrived to find the park only got a little rain so the mountain bike trails and especially the roads were fine.

This park is nice, clean and has a limited number of campsites, it only

has 24 sites for R V hookups. This weekend was quiet and we hiked and biked a lot. The rain had brought this arid country to life although the lakes are very low, they need rain.

In this case I made it a point to stop and let the traffic slither on by, this rattlesnake was only about a foot long but thats enough to make for a really bad day.

The trails range from nice easy doubletrack to the rocky ledges trail which I didn't even try to ride we hiked it and either climbed or slid down the ledges.

We plan on riding the Germanfest Metric Century in Muenster next Saturday on the tandem.

Finally sailing

My good friend Bobby and I finally got to get out on his boat. We had a great day with clear sky and good wind, Bobby and I have sailed together for years cruising and racing.Bobby
We even dusted off the spinnaker and took off on a couple of long reaches, perfect.

I almost always carry a fishing pole when near the water and in my ditty bag I carry a piece of PVC pipe and a couple of short lines to set up a rod holder for trolling, it was a good day to fish too.

Leading the peloton

The bicycle rides have been hard to get in but we had a good 67 mile ride with the club last Saturday, we broke out the tandem and had a fast hard ride. We rode part of the Bluebonnet trail and the flowers were starting to look good. This is part of the ride our bicycle club puts on each year called The Lancaster Country Ride.

Tonight is the clubs fast ride, last week it was 34 miles at a 20.7 true average, I haven't been on the bike since then and I hope I can still hang in towards the front. It gets harder to stay in decent shape every year.

I just returned yesterday from an overnight backpacking trip on the Cross Timbers Trail where I camped at the 5 mile trail campsite, great time but my legs are pretty sore.

Dennis

Its been all about the bike

I have not had a chance to go sailing for a while now but since our trip to Palo Duro Canyon I have been on some great bicycle rides. On Thursday I met Heath and Jeannie for an afternoon ride on a sunny and very windy day. We rode 55 miles with about a 17.5 average, which was really hard with wind gusts up to 30 mph and sustained winds over 20. The picture below is after the ride, I'm on the right.

On Saturday I rode the GDB Airport ride and got in 59 miles on another windy day, I rode the entire ride with the fast group but I did get dropped on the last few miles around the airport. The 20 mile loop around the airport is where it is a free for all and you usually catch all the lights green so it is fast and hard. This day we formed a rotating pace line at about 26 and I stayed in it as long as I could. our group of 20 + slowly got smaller and there were maybe 6 or 7 left when I went off the back.

Tuesday was the First ride of the year at REI and I once again went with the renegade group, this group rides fast but safe and I managed to stay with the group the entire way with a second and third place in the city limit sign sprints that I was in position to go for. We got in 25 miles with a 19.9 mph average and it rained on us , this was a very fast average for wet roads as we had to really slow for the turns.

It has been raining for 24 hours as I write this and shows no sign of stopping, when this finally blows over I am going to try and go sailing, but it may be next week before that can happen.

MAKE THE BEST OF WHAT YOU HAVE

Dennis

Cycling Palo Duro Canyon

We have been getting a few more miles on the road bikes but when we get a chance to ride the wind and cold has been a killer. Last Saturday Michele and I rode the Tandem to the meeting place for a club ride and all but 2 of the group did not ride but went to breakfast, to cold and windy. We did about 40 miles with wind gusts to 30mph.

Michele thought for a minute she had lost her driver as I dreamed of a warm breakfast.

We decided to take off Friday and go camp at Palo Duro Canyon this weekend, since it was going to be cold and windy we would ride mountain bikes down in the Canyons. This worked out nice and we hiked and biked roads and trails and were covered up with wildlife. The mtb trails are great and you can find rides for any level of rider from easy to very technical or you can ride the road out of the canyon(several miles of 10% grade). Due to the high winds on this road I did not do the climb out of the canyon but I will return and do it. My favorite trail was the Lighthouse Trail.

This was our first time here and it was a pleasant surprise, nice campsites out of the wind and clear sunny cool days to hike and bike. In the picture below I took an over the shoulder shot of a herd of deer, we saw hundreds of deer and wild turkey as well as a coyote And I will depart with another over the shoulder shot of another small group of weekday riders.


Palo Duro Rocks

Dennis