As promised, I’ve been working on hills over the past two weeks. Not as rigorous as some team members, but the last two I’ve ridden would give some cars a run for their money. Here’s a list of hills in Austin courtesy of Craig Rowland.

Last Friday, I met with the team at 7am to tackle Far West Blvd before my 8:30am IT lab meeting. I had never seen it before and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I wished I had brought my camera when we came upon a blinking yellow light above a large sign that read, “cars please downshift, large hills next mile.” I was nervous, shouldn’t we be taking caution lights more seriously? We went down the hill first and then turned around at the bottom. Then we charged the hill just before switching to a granny gear and grinding our way up.

Today was much the same, but the hill was steeper and longer…at least it felt longer. Redbud is a 6 on Craig’s scale, but I’m not sure he’s measuring the whole hill. Once we made it to the top, the view was worth it, the Austin skyline. The vegetation is much different West of the city than East…rather, there is vegetation West of the city.

My friends have been pointing out the changes in the way I speak about rides. The fact that I don’t feel a 20 mile ride is much of a workout is a huge change from my mindset two short months ago. I didn’t even realize it. I’ve been making car trips into bike trips and traveling with people that love it as much as I do. I feel comfortable learning about cancer, its causes, and treatments, and communicating these to the communities I meet, but confidence regarding my physical ability to make the trip is new.

The weatherpeople are predicting rain this weekend. Traveling down curving hills with my slick tires makes me nervous…so it’s probably the gym for me. But, I’ve just signed up for the Easter Hill Country Tour next Friday and Saturday. And I found out my bike will be ready when I get back!

I’m still trying to write my way through last week’s academic deliverables, but I’ve found it much easier since my 3 day bike trek to the Texas coast via route 183. I left with seven of my teammates Monday and rode 80 miles to Gonzales, stopping only for a barbeque lunch at Black’s in Lockhart (hang a right just after the train tracks). It was then that it was decided that brisket was “energizing and refreshing”.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have the key to unlock our bikes outside of Black’s Barbeque, so we split up to look for someone with the tools (ultimately “tin snips”) to break the cable. Without these extra minutes, I would not have come upon the town square where Waiting for Guffman was filmed.

The rest of the day was rough, 80 miles is the farthest I’ve ridden and the barbeque wasn’t sitting so well with me. I wanted to be sure I could remember exactly how it felt to be riding through the Texas countryside and so I took this short movie about 65 miles into the ride. Although it does not capture the pain I felt then or the pain I would come to know over the next two days for you, the viewer, hearing the wind and watching the road brings it all back to me.

Mike West’s (“Zeph’s”) mom and sister were kind enough to accompany us on our journey, carrying our supplies, meeting us at campsites, cooking dinner and breakfast, and lifting our spirits.

Tuesday morning we rose stiff, stetched out a bit, picked up camp, and said goodbye to two teammates who were headed back to Austin. The remaining six continued 75 miles to Goliad, making a pit stop at the Barbeque Station (next to the train tracks) in Cuero.

That night we were thankful for toliets with doors and showers with curtains. After throwing the frisbee around a bit, the boys gathered kindling for the fire and we had smores after dinner.

Carly, my lone female teammate on the beach trip, and I had been talking about the topography of the ride and on the third day, it was all downhill. I had been looking forward to the third day for days before the trip. I neglected to consider the wind in this excitement. I’ve learned, from both my teammates and experience, that hills are fair – you climb them and then you freeride down them, wind on the other hand is cruel – especially headwinds coming off the coast. I had also picked up the start of a cold and a touch of poison ivy on the top of my thighs…needless to say, I was thrilled when we had 69 miles behind us and a mile ahead of us on the ferry to Port Aransas.

I feel good today, although I didn’t have to ride the 110 miles Zeph, Paul, and Brett did… This is a small step in the right direction. I need to know what consecutive long days feel like after sleeping on the ground the night before and what it feels like to get on the bike after eating lunch. The past three days are a start, but I’ll take as many of these opportunities as I can get, June 1 is getting awfully close. There are more trips in the works, it seems we’re using Texas Monthly’s 50 best bbq joints as a map.

I think I’ll hit the gym tomorrow, but this weekend I need to acquaint myself with some of the hills around Austin…

The powers that be schedule Spring Break for a reason, I’ve never felt the need for it more than this year… I need to find a wrinkle in time over the next few days to complete all the assignments I have due this week. It’ll happen, but there’s going to be a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make it so.

Luckily, I have my rides to look forward to, I’ve been making regular trips out East. It takes about a half hour to get out of the metropolitan areas, but then it’s rolling hills and ranches. A couple of hours to admire the view and let my mind wander. No worrying about papers, creativity, and deadlines. I feel like a Mastercard commercial…three hours free from commitment…priceless.

I did have a run-in with a few country dogs Wednesday. A blue heeler took off right when it saw me, ducked under the barbed wire fence and I reached for my water bottle, but it stopped at what I assume to be the property line. Yesterday I took a 37 mile ride and added a few local commutes to reach 50 miles for the day. Today I rode with the team for 58 miles. I’ve logged 403 training miles to date. Since I purchased my cyclocomputer last friday, I’ve almost hit 200 miles.

Even after several applications of sun block, I’m beginning to realize that the tan lines I’ll wear this summer will rival those from my softball tournament days in high school. As Patrick says, I’ll be wearing two swimsuits this summer. Here are a couple of pics from today’s ride.

I just finished a 35 mile ride, it was the most difficult to date. I bought a cyclocomputer and rear bag for my mobile phone this morning as I had big plans for heading east to Manor (hard “a”, I believe it’s related to King of the Hill’s Mc Manorbury sp?). It’s a beautiful day in Austin, 65 degrees and sunny with a 9mph wind. I made it in just under two hours. While I was riding I made a list of things I was thankful for…

Semi drivers that honk and wave
Country roads lined with trees
Large shoulders on the side of the road
Noticing the fire ants before they noticed me when I broke for Gatorade
Gatorade
Nicely paved roads
The other side of the hill
Street signs (they are few and far between here)

Unfortunately, I won’t have much time to train this weekend as I’m attending the ASIST IA summit. Tomorrow we’re throwing a Leap Year party and Sunday I get sized for my bike. I’ll be sure to report bike developments as they occur. For now I’m off to Central Market to pick up grillables for tomorrow’s soire. Back on the bike…

Many thanks to Mo Pair for scoring the Church of the Friendly Ghost ( a BYOB venue) for a May 15 benefit show. All proceeds go toward helping me reach my $3000 mark for donation to the American Cancer Society. Mo is the brains behind the Syd Barrett hoot night, chosen for his song “Bike”, and he’s also got his finger on the pulse of the art community in town…we’re hoping to have an art auction that night as well. I’ll have more information and pics as the date draws closer.

In the meantime, check this out…our first day of riding. What did I get myself into?