Chain Ring Cowboy

I had a great ride in this morning with temps just under 60, cloudy. The humidity helps with building body heat once I get going. I welcomed that there was no wind. No wind. Doing my job today is what's making the time space shorter as I wait to ride to the apartment, go to the gym, then catch my other means of transportation, the big plane home to El Paso. I saw this set of panniers on campus yesterday. The look cool to me. I don't know anything about them, they just caught my eye. I've had these grocery bag type panniers for over two years now. They have been very serviceable, even went with me across the state. I like it that they are easy to reach into to put stuff in and take stuff out. The only draw back is they are real wind catchers. My bike is parked outside so that's why you see them blocking entrance to by cubicle.

Today at lunch I rode home, I mean the apartment at lunch. As I mentioned earlier, there was a strong wind in my face with huge gusts. Sometimes the wind would momentarily change direction which seemed like a tactic designed to knock me over. From the east for a second, then strait on, then from the west for a second. It's uphill for that 10 miles, gaining about 125 ft. in elevation. The ride was plenty tough, but I like the challenge. While trudging on into the teeth of this wind I was reminded of my one roughest ride ever in my life. When I took my trip across Texas there was one day that took me From Fort Stockton to Alpine some 75 or 80 miles. I don't want to sound like the older person who says that back in their day, they would walk to school in the snow and freezing wind back in the day, but YES, the wind was blowing very hard that fateful day on highway 67. And YES it was up hill too, gaining about 1366 ft of elevation. That day was extra rough because I had my panniers

William F Buckley Jr wished he would have lived to see the results of the upcoming election? At any rate, he was an iconical figure to me since he was a household name since I was a little kid. His physical look, demeanor, and style of talking was attractive to me. I liked to watch him on tv even though I didn't always agree with his conservative beliefs. I wondered how he felt when he had to ask Richard Nixon to quit being the president after he supported him in his candidacy? Farewell Splendid Ameerican. Riding yesterday was miserably cold on the trip in and awesomely nice on the way back. This morning though it was much nicer coming in to work. Aside from gusty winds this afternoon coming right into my face, the ride home should be very nice. Monday the weather was very warm like maybe summer was just around the corner. the it got cold and then it got warm again. This kind of weather always tricks the fruit bearing trees into budding early only to be frozen so that the bounty i

70 miles this week is all that I could get in on the bicycle. Rain and my second job are one reason/excuse, and having an opportunity to spend time with my daughter and grandson is another. Two very good reasons or excuses in my book, but I gotta tell you I've had such intense workouts in the gym this week, a restful layoff will give me a chance to rebuild. I haven't seen my daughter and grandson yet, that is supposed to happen today at lunch. I think we will have falafels. We like foods like that. I think I will get one to go to see if my sweetheart likes them. That is when my ride gets here. I am waiting for my ride. It gets here just before 5:00PM then takes off for El Paso. This as you know happens most Fridays. Flydays are Fridays. Don't click on the picture below because if you do you might see some naughty writing on the rear rim with the larger picture. I like the bike though and I like the message it sends to some of the other road users out there. I don't real

Today I saw the more than usual interesting things on my walkabout through the campus and the "drag". Or maybe it could be that my eye was more in tune with what was going on around me today. I missed one shot of a lady riding along on a touring bike loaded down as if she were traveling through this place. I had a memory of a minor incedent that took place a couple of years ago where I get near the end of the walk, say about three blocks. There was this street guy I had noticed around now and then. For awhile he and some partners seemed to call a certain little corner their home. That partucular day I was fast walking in his area and as I got with about ten feet of him, he went into a rage and through a largh big slush or some kind of fountain drink right at me, which hit me square in the zipper. He was looking down to the ground and his swift underarm pitch sent the drink right at me quicker than I could dodge it. He looked up just in time to see that he had hit a target and

Today is early voting the Texas Primary election. I had originally planned on going to the Bicycle Sports Shop to have my commuter inspected just in case something happens to where I ride in it afterall. But instead I decided to stick to my routine which is to take a pretty long walk around the UT Campus. Luckily I stumbled onto an early voting place and got that done. On my way back in the West Mall there was a lot of stuff going on, like fundraising for special interest student groups. When I came across this sign about race, I decided to ask a picture and ask them if they were pro or con. They didn't have a preference, but were doing a school project and wanted inverviews from people. So the next thing I know, I'm sitting where the students were sitting clipping a mic on my collar and getting ready to talk about my experiences with dating across racial lines. I wanted to start talking about bicycles and how the more of them we could use on the planet the better off everyone

The weekend in El Paso was wonderful once again. It's a joyous thing to have such a busy life even if we don't have the time to do all the things we want to. If labeling were required, "Visiting" would be the label for this last weekend. I would like to get in the habit of taking my camera with me everywhere when out and about in El Paso like I am here during the week in Austin. Spending time with mom and dad started the "visit tour" for Marcy and me, which was needed by me since I hadn't seen them in a couple of weeks or more. Thanks for the almond snacks, folks. Having lunch with a childhood friend and his darling wife was a highlight also. Richard and Catherine live in California and made a rare appearance in Sun City. After some great conversation and general catching up on each other over some good food, we scored a cool Blue Grass CD that Richard produced, and Catherine Sings on. What a beautiful voice she has. It's called Keep Your Heart Warm;

See the Flag blowing? The tip of it is pointing very close to Due South, which is a good sign for me because that's the direction I travel after work, Due South. Tuesday was a rare day for me as a commuter. When I traveled north to get to work, a breeze was coming from the south. Most times when the breeze is from the south early in the morning, it tends to get stronger by late in the day. But Tuesday a north front came through bringing some cold drizzle which only lasted about an hour. Clear skies and dry wind made for a delightfully cool ride back to the apartment. The MS150 from Houston to Austin is stirring some excitment around here at the agency. The team had a bake sale on the same day that I had the double helping wind communte. I brought sausage and biscuits. I baked them early in the morning, wrapped them well and they were still warm at the opening of the sale. Cool. Some of our esteemed riders telling tall bike tales while waiting for buyers This is my cousin in China.

I have become accustomed to sitting in seat 1D when I fly to El Paso each weekend.I have ridden on Southwest a lot of time in the past year and I've learned that if I can sit in the first row right side isle seat, I can be the first one off the plane, out the door and onto the pick-me-up drive pretty durn quick. It seems that no one really likes that seat anyway, so it's available most of the time. The times that it's not, then I just try to get someplace close to the front. Which brings up the pre-boards. Both the state school for the blind and the deaf which seems to have a few students from El Paso. A lot of them fly home each Friday night, then come back either Sunday evening or Monday morning. I has been somewhat enjoyable seeing some of the same faces, regulars as they say, each week. The Commuting has been great this week with fabulous weather. A bit cool in the mornings, but tolerable. Yesterday I was in a mandatory safe driving class. There is always plenty to lear