WildRide! 2013

I participated again this year in the WildRide! rally supporting a local cancer treatment hospital. This is a 65 mile ride through Richardson and the country towns east of Lake Lavon. The ride is broken up into three segments of about 20 miles each.

In the first segment I start out with several buddies from TI: Will, Ken, Umar, TC, Andrew, and Kang. We weave in and out of the bike traffic maintaining a healthy pace.  This leg is the most fun because there is always a wheel to latch on to and interesting riders to watch and converse with. The leg culminates at the end of the Lavon Dam where we can break to refill our supplies.


The second leg runs East past the Lake Lavon dam into the city of Nevada and Josephine.  My TI companions are planning to ride a bit farther up before turning around so for the next 5 miles I ride with Kang (the one shoe wonder).  My group hangs a U-turn and I keep going.  The country side is calm and beautiful and the ride quite nice.  There are some nice rolling hills on this leg to keep things interesting.  The path loops around and ends up back at the Lavon Dam.


At this point I have logged 45 miles and my legs feel OK, but everything else starts to hurt: keister, knees, elbows.  When there is just 15 miles to go my pace slows considerably; of course, the 20 mph headwind may have something to do with that.  I trudge through those last miles and through the finish line.  I welcome the opportunity to sit in the shade, eat a slice of pizza and hang out with the group for a bit.  I completed the 65 mile course with a moving average of 15.2 mph.  It was a good ride.