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Springtime in Texas Part II |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Mark Logrbrinck
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Wednesday, 28 March 2007 |
Springtime in Texas Part II
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On Tuesday the 13th I set out for a long one. It was stormy, lightning and rain. Mostly rain, just a few claps of thunder. After sending everyone off for the day, around noon, I took off. I borrowed my buddies Garmin GPS to clock my mileage. I had all day to complete the ride from Tarpley to Utopia; it is 40 miles there and back. These places are blips on a map, if you blink when driving through….well you know the rest. I am literally in the middle of nowhere.
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I ride on down the road and it starts to rain. Kinda of hard then really hard. I wait out the worst under a tree. I do not which is worse, riding a steel lighting rod or hanging out under a tree. The storm lightens up and I take off again. Soaked. Now the hills here are not long or very steep, but I have never ridden this far on a single speed, my trusty old Surly 1x1. It goes on and on. I finally get to an overlook into Utopia with 5 miles to go and think about turning around. I decide to ride on. I get to Utopia and buy a soda and Snickers (the big one).  | | click to enlarge |
On the way out of town my rear tire goes flat. Man I hope I got my wrench for my rear tire. Thankfully I do. Now it never seems like it takes as long to get back, well this time it did. I told Vikki where I would be, at least what road I would be on. At mile 35 she showed up with my old friends from Minnesota, who now winter in Texas. Chuck got out and put down the tailgate, I said I have gone this far I was not going to quit now. Well about 4 miles left and the clouds unzipped. Pouring rain and thunder. I was expecting to see them come back and pick me up. No dice. They let me suffer. Vikki was waiting on the front porch with a camera though. I had a blast.
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Wednesday and Thursday we spend in Bandera. Bandera claims to be the “Cowboy Capital of the World”. They have had several world champions who come from here. Bandera has a population of around 1000. It is a popular destination for all. I get up early and ride, the rest of the day is spent driving around. I volunteer to drive since Chuck can’t see so well and I do not want to be saying “turn here, turn there, blah, blah, blah.” We drive around in his big ass Dodge. Diesel, no less. We go to Kerrville, Hunt, Ingram for some shopping. Ingram has a cool little artist district. We find a neat shop. I like them, they have dogs, five I think. We peruse the wares. Vikki likes a lot in here. Noooooo…..
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Just kidding. They do have some cool things. But I say “how ya going to get the stuff home?”. Until……Vikki finds the painted skulls. Coool. We can buy a painted skull. I think it is a goat, forgot to ask. We go to lunch at a little BBQ stand called “Bills BBQ”. How can you go wrong? We have lunch here, it is not bad, or I have not had enough good BBQ these days. We drive down to the farm where I grew up. We make it over to Quihi where the wedding reception will be. Well Quihi is hardly on the map, they have one bar and that is it. The reception is being held at the “Quihi Gun and Dance Club” it is an old dance hall. It is one oldest in Texas. I think it was established in the 1890’s. It is essentially a barn with a nice dance floor. It is really nice to drive the old back roads around my old stomping grounds. It all seemed so much bigger to me back then.
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Friday we start the day off with some excellent Mexican food. Vikki wants to go on a hike. I reply in a whiny voice “a hike, if we gotta...” How can I complain, I rode this morning and we are going to the Hill Country Natural Area. We hike around then head off to Stony Ridge Ranch. A nice bed and breakfast even farther off the beaten path. We take a nap and then head to the rehearsal dinner. We think we are showing up late at 8:00 pm. They did not serve dinner until around 10:00 pm. It was worth the wait. Steak, fried catfish and BBQ shrimp. It is another late night.
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Saturday, our last day, and we are going to the wedding today. So we spend the day relaxing. We head off to the wedding. My godchild’s sister is getting married. They were in our wedding 16 years ago. Man they grow up fast. After the wedding we were driving with my nephew, age 5, to the reception I asked what he thought about it. He replied “It was a little too long.” I had to agree. Could have been shorter. The reception was nice and all. Saw people I had not seen in years. We had fun. It all ended too quickly.
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Well I am back home in LA. What a contrast. I go from worrying about running over deer or some other wildlife to freeways packed with cars. The trip was a blast. We ate, Vikki shopped, we visited friends, I rode all but one day, it rained hard, we went to a wedding, we hiked and I drove a lot, all over the Hill Country. I gotta say it is pretty. We are home for a few days then off to see Vikki’s dad for his 75th birthday. It is near Auburn, CA. Home to some really sweet single track. Gotta go.
Tex
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