Bike MS Training: March 29 – 30th, checking out Salado

One month to go! In just four weeks, at the beginning of May, I’ll be riding the Bike MS: Sam’s Club Round-Up Ride in north Texas. Please consider making a donation in support of my participation! The ride goes from Frisco to Fort Worth with an overnight at the Texas Motor Speedway.

This weekend I decided to try a “new-to-me” charity ride: The Salado Smokin’ Spokes, a ride that benefits the Salado Volunteer Fire Department. I headed up to Salado early on Saturday morning to ride 70 miles. It was clear, but cool, so I had to wear leg and arm warmers ( on top of a warm long sleeve base layer.)

A picture from the starting line:

There was a guy at the start that was riding a recumbent that had a yellow plastic shield with a cloth yellow covering. It was weird. It reminded me of the banana bike that I sometimes see in Austin.

The ride started and we crossed I-35 on an “under construction” portion. Somehow I managed to not start my Garmin on time. The course on the other side of the interstate was beautiful.

This ride was especially interesting in the way that the riders were all grouped for the majority of the ride. In many charity rides, I end up riding along for much of the ride, but I was basically never alone during this ride.

Bright red barn:

Random hill:

Can you see the lake in the distance? It’s called Stillhouse Hollow lake.

A retreat for patriots. Non-patriots need not apply.

Lake close-up:

For awhile we road along the recently repaved frontage road of 190. It wasn’t too bad actually, because there was very little traffic on it.

Bluebonnets!

The lake, again. I caught up with the group of cyclists in this photo and basically got a good draft off and on for the rest of the ride.

Lovely country road. I didn’t get a good picture, but there were tons of bluebonnets in the fields along this road.

A fence made out of bicycles:

The view from one of the rest stops – their was a very large special events and conference center spread out along this road. In front of the building in this photo is a stream with a little waterfall.

Horses:

We ended up a dirt road for a while towards the very end of the ride:

Church, waterfall, and picnic tables:

The view from the park where we started and ended the ride, it looked like special events / wedding venue across the stream:

I ended Saturday’s ride with a sandwich at a cafe in Salad0 and a chai latte. I think that chai latte was the best I’ve ever had. Of course, biking lots of miles does strange things to my taste buds. I rode 68 miles in all.

On Sunday it was very windy again and I headed south from my house for a ride through the neighborhoods.

A modern house that catches the eye on Shoal Creek blvd: