Is anyone else riding Shiner Bash (www.shinerbash.com) on Saturday? I'm in.

Is anyone else riding Shiner Bash (www.shinerbash.com) on Saturday? I'm in.

Yep i'm in. Rain is forecasted so plan on playing in the rain, hope it's a warm shower. Just like the ms150 last year. Do you know where this country church in Santa Clara is located?

Do you know where this country church in Santa Clara is located?

Good question -- the directions appear to place it near 78 @ CR 315, which is west of Marion and about 4 miles north of IH-10, while I thought Santa Clara was just south of IH-10 near CR-315.

I'm taking the Austin route, and I hope the wind is not bad.

Shiner Bash from Austin was a great ride. The morning storm front was about 35 miles wide, moving at 20 mph and about 30 miles ahead of us at the start, so initially the course was wet, but then things turned quite sunny. I rolled out at 7:19, about six minutes behind the main pack. Initially, it was flat city -- I think a lot of riders inflated their tires in the cool weather prior to the start, then attempted to ride in the area that looked like smooth road, but, given the wet conditions, was actually the debris channel of the roadway. After more than an hour of slow and careful riding in wet conditions, the weather cleared, the pace quickened, and I made good time to the 34 mile point, then decided to make a pit stop at the third official rest stop. I had a six-minute turnaround and got back on my bike, but could not lock into my left pedal. Initially, I thought it was just dirt on my cleat, but, upon closer examination, it turned out that I broke my pedal. (I have Keywin CRM road pedals -- www.keywin.com.) I went back to the rest stop, purchased super glue and duct tape at a proximate convenience store, and rigged my pedal. Twenty minutes later, and after a small mishap that resulted in a super glue drip and a scratch on my frame, I was back on the road. The rest of the day I was careful not to sprint, stand, or use a heavy gear, as I did not want to put too much pressure on the pedal (this slowed me down a bit). The prolonged stop left me well behind other riders of my pace, so I wound up either solo or leading a slow pace line until I dropped it. Additionally, my contortions to fix the pedal and consumption of too much liquid at the rest stop during the ordeal necessitated another pit stop at the next rest stop, which was the 47 mile point. Unfortunately, I could not get either foot out of the pedals (at the time, I could not determine if it was dirt or a super glue drip on the right cleat), and had to have people both catch and launch me (I left my shoes attached to my bike). About four miles later, I found a nice pace line, but it stopped at rest stop five, and I did not want to bother, given my pedal problem. The course then turned south on US 95, and faced a headwind for most of the next 32 miles. I was solo for a while, then rode with a young kid (probably college age) in good shape. We picked up a few other riders on our way to Flatonia. Our pace was not rapid, but we took turns out front blocking for the others, and it helped. The group stopped at rest stop 6 at Flatonia, where the Austin route merged with the San Antonio route, but I forged ahead another eight miles to rest stop 7 at Moulton. I stopped at Moulton to ensure that I had enough water for the final 17 miles. Back on the course, the headwind and gradual hills were getting to me. A couple of guys from Austin passed me about a mile past Moulton, and were kind enough not to complain while I sucked their draft for about eight miles (initially, they were riding casually, side-by-side, and we were all hurting a bit, and I was a total slacker -- sorry guys). I was then rested, and offered to pull my duty, so I pulled most of the way to the Brewery. We did not stop at the Brewery, but slowed our pace for a leisurely tour of Shiner as we rode a few more miles to the finish at the municipal park grounds. I rolled across the finish line at 1:04, my odometer indicated I had been on the bike 5:05:35 (out the the 5:45 the ride took me), and my average was 17.4 mph. If it had not been for the pedal problem, I probably would have cut 12 minutes of rest stops (I would have saved 20 minutes of fix time plus about three minutes of shoe time at my other stops, but would have stopped at the Brewery and probably made a quick stop elsewhere), hammered some more, and probably would have been in a few more fast pace lines, but, overall, I was satisfied with my ride.

Shiner Bash from Austin was a great ride. The morning storm front was about 35 miles wide, moving at 20 mph and about 30 miles ahead of us at the start, so initially the course was wet, but then things turned quite sunny. I rolled out at 7:19, about six minutes behind the main pack. Initially, it was flat city -- I think a lot of riders inflated their tires in the cool weather prior to the start, then attempted to ride in the area that looked like smooth road, but, given the wet conditions, was actually the debris channel of the roadway. After more than an hour of slow and careful riding in wet conditions, the weather cleared, the pace quickened, and I made good time to the 34 mile point, then decided to make a pit stop at the third official rest stop. I had a six-minute turnaround and got back on my bike, but could not lock into my left pedal. Initially, I thought it was just dirt on my cleat, but, upon closer examination, it turned out that I broke my pedal. (I have Keywin CRM road pedals -- www.keywin.com.) I went back to the rest stop, purchased super glue and duct tape at a proximate convenience store, and rigged my pedal. Twenty minutes later, and after a small mishap that resulted in a super glue drip and a scratch on my frame, I was back on the road. The rest of the day I was careful not to sprint, stand, or use a heavy gear, as I did not want to put too much pressure on the pedal (this slowed me down a bit). The prolonged stop left me well behind other riders of my pace, so I wound up either solo or leading a slow pace line until I dropped it. Additionally, my contortions to fix the pedal and consumption of too much liquid at the rest stop during the ordeal necessitated another pit stop at the next rest stop, which was the 47 mile point. Unfortunately, I could not get either foot out of the pedals (at the time, I could not determine if it was dirt or a super glue drip on the right cleat), and had to have people both catch and launch me (I left my shoes attached to my bike). About four miles later, I found a nice pace line, but it stopped at rest stop five, and I did not want to bother, given my pedal problem. The course then turned south on US 95, and faced a headwind for most of the next 32 miles. I was solo for a while, then rode with a young kid (probably college age) in good shape. We picked up a few other riders on our way to Flatonia. Our pace was not rapid, but we took turns out front blocking for the others, and it helped. The group stopped at rest stop 6 at Flatonia, where the Austin route merged with the San Antonio route, but I forged ahead another eight miles to rest stop 7 at Moulton. I stopped at Moulton to ensure that I had enough water for the final 17 miles. Back on the course, the headwind and gradual hills were getting to me. A couple of guys from Austin passed me about a mile past Moulton, and were kind enough not to complain while I sucked their draft for about eight miles (initially, they were riding casually, side-by-side, and we were all hurting a bit, and I was a total slacker -- sorry guys). I was then rested, and offered to pull my duty, so I pulled most of the way to the Brewery. We did not stop at the Brewery, but slowed our pace for a leisurely tour of Shiner as we rode a few more miles to the finish at the municipal park grounds. I rolled across the finish line at 1:04, my odometer indicated I had been on the bike 5:05:35 (out the the 5:45 the ride took me), and my average was 17.4 mph. If it had not been for the pedal problem, I probably would have cut 12 minutes of rest stops (I would have saved 20 minutes of fix time plus about three minutes of shoe time at my other stops, but would have stopped at the Brewery and probably made a quick stop elsewhere), hammered some more, and probably would have been in a few more fast pace lines, but, overall, I was satisfied with my ride.

From San Antonio it was wet and we were puddle hopping until we arrived in Lulling (34 miles) from there on the skies were partly cloudy and sun warmed up the road. I was wheel sucking for most of the route averaging about 16.5mph until Flatonia (67 miles)which by this time didn't seem quite flat. highway over passes take on a new dimension after 65 miles. i rode solo for the rest of the route mainly because didn't have the speed to hang on to any particular group. By this time i had thought every muscle in my legs had spasmed but i was wrong, resting helped but not by much. when the group i was with came by the brewery we appauded, but then realised our destination was still a mile or 2 away and up the hill. my ride took 6hr 21minutes at an average of 14.2mph. not to bad for guy that had only ridden twice in the last last month. what was amasing was how good shiner bock and a jerk brisket taco can taste after a 90 mile ride. on sunday i was saying i'll never doing it again, but today it has become a maybe.

Houston was nice and flat. Except for outside Sublime and all the way into Shiner. Marion is the shiznitz, that's my home town! :D