Ouch !!

This ride was on Tuesday the 21st and was my last ride for a week. I am the rider on the left and we are pushing into a hard wind at over 20 mph, this was a great ride. Even before I did this ride I have been suffering from sciatic nerve pain for the first time ever, (sciatica) and let me tell you, it does hurt. At least the weather has been raining every day since then so I couldn't have ridden anyway.

With my limited mobility Michele and I have worked in the garden and have had some tomato's to pick. Our rain barrels have been kept full and we finally have had way too much rain. After the last two years of drought I can't believe I'm saying that.
We did make it to the lake between showers and when we got there the water was like glass so no sailing. While hanging out on the boat and listening to some music I kept hearing a fish make large splashes so I hobbled over and caught this bass on the first cast. I must say this fish sounded much bigger than he was, but on the bright side I released it to grow up enough to make a meal.

Live slowly, life is much too short to rush through.

Dennis

Garden of Eden

This was a good week for me with 3 good bicycle rides with three different groups, all were in the 30 mile range and had averages in the high 19's to 20 mph. The Saturday ride was memorable because I was able to hang in with a bunch of riders who were boasting about what great racers they were and an old non racer like me was able to put it on most of them. I hope that does not make me a racer.

Saturday Michele and I went sailing, when we checked the weather the wind was at 10, but as the photo shows when we arrived there was no wind. Well we had sandwiches and waited, but not for too long.
A nice breeze filled in and we had a great sail and we found out our dog Sprocket can swim. This dog runs all over the boat and he fell off as we returned to the dock and I had to pull him back on the dock.

Now for the Garden of Eden part, My dad and I went for an overnight to the farm for his first time in years. In January the pond was bone dry and everything was brown and dying. What a difference a few months makes, the wild plum trees are full of fruit and the wild blackberry bushes are loaded with not yet ripe fruit. Everything is so green it is truly amazing.

The dry pond is now overflowing with crystal clear water and I took this early morning shot of the sky's reflection on the still water. After the two year drought I will have to restock the pond, but it was nice to see it full and it was great to spend the time with my dad on the land he farmed as a child and young man.

Time is worth more than money

Dennis Starkey

Mothers Day

I have no pictures to post today, and it was a quiet week for cycling and sailing. I had a busy work schedule and we were hosting lunch on Mothers Day for about 20 people so I had a list of must do's before Sunday. Michele made her great pasta sauce and we all had a great time with 4 generations of our family here with 3 generations of Mothers, we love you all moms.

We did ride 45 miles early Saturday morning and it was nice with no traffic and a cool 68 degrees to start off. Sunday morning my parents surprised us by visiting our church. Our Church is very small and usually has about 30 people, this is a change of pace for the Folks whose Church has maybe 500 members.

The Leukemia Cup Regatta

This week the bicycle rides took a back seat to my chance to crew on a boat in the regatta. I did do the usual TEBR, (Tuesday evening bike ride) with my club, and even got a few miles in Saturday evening after a full day on the water.



The regatta was great and raised a lot of money for the Leukemia Society, we had a great time with every sailing condition from perfect winds for our boat to high winds and rain. The Erickson 28+ did a great job and we finished in the middle of our fleet of about a dozen boats, we raced hard against a Cal 28 and a Benateau 311. Our goal was never to win but to have a good time and get in 2 full days of sailing. We did that with a total of 6 races with conditions calling for full main and jib all the way down to a small jib and a double reefed main. We had 6 good starts and two good finishes, I got very few pictures due to the rain, and when good action shots happened I was to busy to do anything else.



Dennis

German Fest

Saturday we went to Muenster Texas and rode a nice bike rally with a group of friends from our bike club. It was a beautiful day and the German festival after the ride was nice. This is not a good picture but shows several of us at the festival after the ride , Dean the guy in the yellow cap is the USC Senior time trial champ and I am fortunate enough to get to ride with this caliber of rider. Our group started close to the front in a mass start of about 2000 bicycles. The traffic was heavy and it was hard for us to all stay close, but we did and hit the 10 mile rest stop with a 24 mph average. At the end of my 60 miles my average had ddropped to just under 18 and I was spent, I was told we did 3000' of climbing on this route and several times I broke 40 mph on the downhills.

On Sunday we went sailing and Michele in this picture is trying to blast me with her mustard package and our fine dog Sprocket could care less. We had a great time and visited with some friends on the Sailing Vessel Willow an Erickson 28+. I have been invited to crew on Willow in the Volvo Leukemia Cup Regatta on Lake Lewisville on May 5 and 6, Dave is a good skipper and provides good provisions for the crew.

I want to go where the pace of life is slow, beam me somewhere Mr. Scott.

Dennis

Pirates of the Peloton

At our club rally a group of guys wearing jerseys with this logo were there and I asked about the Jersey. They are a fun group of riders and like J.B. (Jimmy Buffet), they gave me this card so maybe I can get a cool jersey like this.

I went on a ride Wednesday night with another club in the area and it was a spirited ride of 27 miles with a 19.7 average which is moving when you factor in wind, hills, and traffic signals, top speed of 36.8.

Have more than you show
Speak less than you know

Dennis

Edgewood 80 Bicycle Rally

A group of us from our bicycle club ( www.gdbclub.com ) went to Edgewood and rode in the Edgewood 80 Rally. The picture shows Michele, Lugay and Jane at the start line getting a good spot. It was a beautiful day but a little windy. Everyone was smiling , later that afternoon the smiles were not as obvious after a hard ride.
Over a dozen club riders showed up, Michele and Lugay rode an impressive 50 miles and a group of nine of us all dressed in club jerseys set out for the 100 mile route and had a nice pace line going, we had dozens of other riders draft off of us and never do a pull on the front in the wind. Nine started and only four of us finished the 100, the wind and hills caused the other to have to sag ( support vehicle ride) in, I was proud to finish it myself with 102.88 miles at 17.5 average. I took this shot from the peloton.
I did manage to get to the boat one time this week and messed around for a couple of hours and caught this nice bass and a smaller one, and messed around in the boat. I took off the winter cover over the cabin and now that the water is back on at the dock I rinsed it off in preparation for an overnighter this weekend.