Texas to Toronto
One week ago I was in Terlingua, Texas completing a final check of my van before hitting the road for Toronto, Canada. That day I would drive the nine hours to Austin, Texas; a pretty cool town that just keeps getting bigger. Over the next two days, I hung out with a few Austinites I know from riding in the desert.
Thursday late morning, Wiley(aka “The Overload” from Team $uper Awesome) took me for a one hour ride on Ken’s Trails. Just one hour, you ask? Man, it kicked my pampered little butt! I’m used to riding wide open trails that meander across the desert or over high mountain passes with the occasional technical feature to keep you honest. Ken’s Trails are all rocky, all technical, all humbling. Coupled with a humid 85deg, the non-stop technical riding had me sweating like I haven’t done in a very long time. It was great; I don’t know how y’all do it.
Showered and changed, Wiley and I made our way to Hopfields for a couple of hoppy beverages and some chow; the ratatouille was excellent. Joining us on his lunch break from local bike shop Ozone, was Kong, of Bike Fest table-surfing lore and another T$A elder. We drank, we laughed, we talked about bikes and mocked the bartender’s meagre beard.
Eventually, Wiley and I made our way to Austin Beer Works, where Kong and Melinda eventually joined us. It was a packed house, the beer was flowing, good conversations were had and a couple of divas from the opera company next door took to song which earned huge applause and cheering from the common-folk. Requisite pizza on the way home made this one heckuva grand day.
Friday I kinda took it easy; chatting with Melinda(at whose house I parked while in town; thank you!) before she went off to work at AustinBikes, tinkering with my bikes and drafting my application letter to Team $uper Awesome. That night I had the pleasure of hanging out after hours at AustinBikes with Melinda and Satoshi; local bike mechanic extraordinaire and crazed metal-head. Good times. Saturday morning, however, it was time for me to hit the road.
Saturday I drove from Austin to Benton, just west of Little Rock, Arkansas where I parked for the night in a Walmart parking lot. Sunday, another uneventful day of driving took me to just beyond Indianapolis, Indiana and a McDonald’s/gas station parking lot for the night. Monday, I learned that if I dropped the cruise control from 65mph to 63mph, my fuel economy would jump from 23.25mpg to well over 27mpg. Big win! Around lunch time, I crossed the border at Detroit/Windsor and returned home to Canada, eh. “Anything to declare?” “Just an 18-pack of Lone Star beer” as requested by Shawn Benvie.
Starting work at Sweet Pete’s bike shop(come visit!) on Wednesday, I knew that I had to get in a ride on Tuesday to set the tone for the season. There was just one person to call; Peter Murk. He was game and took me out for a 100+km ride over the Oak Ridges Moraine. Blue skies, head-winds up hills, coffee and pastries. Yup, sure is nice to be home.
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