'08 Bluebonnet Express

After laying around a couple weeks like so much dirty laundry I went on another trip. Rafael and I drove up to Waller and camped overnight at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park...no kidding. I should have known by the name that it would be crawling with kids. It was probably a great park for kids but it was too cramped and over crowded for me. Seven years of being a Park Ranger gives me a different perspective on campgrounds. Personally, I leave the city to get away from noise, tv's, phones and traffic all of which were abundant at Jellystone. I was still a bit under the weather and being tired bagged out around 2100hrs. Unfortunately, the campground didn't care. The movie was in full blare until after 2300hrs and there were kids zooming around tripping over tent pegs 'til after zero hour their parents hollering at them from the other side of the park. I think I must have gotten about 4 or 5 hours sleep when my alarm went off at 0545hrs.

We got up, packed up, drank down a mt. dew, ate an oatmeal bar, choked down a handfull of pills with another mt. dew and headed over to Prairieview A&M for the ride start. I began to think I'd made a grievous error in judgement when the first 15 miles headed right into the wind on chip-seal pavement chocked full of pot holes and patches. The couch sure sounded good for a while. It was just then that the route swung north heading with the wind and onto a nice, smooth blacktop road. We immediately went from pushing hard just to make 12mph to flying along like there wasn't even a chain on the bike at 25mph. Oh, it was good. Then Raf' peeled off and headed for the 80-mile route. I rode the last 35 miles chatting with those around me and taking turns pulling on lines I came across along the way. The last 10 miles were like some fricken narrative out of the old testament. The route swung back around into the wind, which had picked up quite a bit and carried with it storm clouds and scattered showers. Adding insult to injury I managed to flat three times in the last 8 miles. Having only two CO2 cartridges I put what I had left in the front tire, which amounted to about 24psi, and shifted my weight to the rivets in an effort to keep from tearing up my rim. The Fulcrum Race 1's are about two grand a set and the last thing I wanted to do was chew up a rim. I managed it thus way for the last 6 miles to the start/finish line where I borrowed a pump.

The post-ride festivities included FOOD, music and conversation with other riders while waiting for Raf'. It wasn't long before he showed up as I had wasted about 45 minutes fooling around with flat tires. Funny, the whole Soldier Ride clean across Central Texas and no flats. At any rate, it was a good ride and I enjoyed myself.


by TXPeddler