This ride left out of the Alsbury Park and Ride in Burleson just after 8:00 am this morning. DJ showed up to ride with me, but got a call and had to leave before the start, so I was the only recumbent. This was probably the smallest turnout I’ve seen at an FWBA club ride. I guess most Fort Worth riders were at the Peach Pedal. I started out with intentions of doing the 100 mile route, but there were only three bikes doing this distance, and I was unable to hold their pace after a few miles. Rather than ride the entire 100 mile route alone, I joined Jerry and Larry, a couple of riders doing the 70 mile route, at a pace that better suited me.

This route goes from Burleson out to Venus, where the first stop is. Then it heads out to the rolling hills southeast of Venus, then loops around and goes west to Alvarado for the second stop, then makes a long run down Renfro Road from there back to Burleson. It was a really tough head wind going out. I didn’t really try to stay in constant contact with Jerry and Larry, choosing a more comfortable pace of my own that saw them drop me on the hills, then me catch up on the downhills.

At around mile 30, south of Venus, turning off Hwy 157, Jerry went down hard on his left side when he hit a patch of gravel. The way he landed, I was afraid he had hurt his hip, but all he had was scrapes and gouges on his arm, knee, and hand. We stopped there a few minutes so he could wash his wounds and recover a few minutes, then rode on. The wind was southwest enough that, even when we turned west toward Alvarado, it still felt like a head wind.

When we pulled into the last stop at Alvarado, the 40 mile group, which was doing a smaller loop, was already there, as were a couple of faster riders doing the 70 mile route. They all left a few minutes before us, but with a wind finally at our back, we passed all of the 40 mile riders on the trip down Renfro Road. The last several miles of it before I-35W is a mostly downhill stretch, so I opened it up and rode alone the last few miles.

At the finish, in ride leader Stan Ford’s vehicle, homemade peach sorbet was waiting for us. Of all the treats I’ve had at the end of a ride, this had to be number one on the list. I was searching online for a recipe when I got home. A bunch of us ended up standing around eating peach sorbet, and swapping medical horror stories. Of course, I have no trouble trumping everyone else’s medical horror stories, these days. I ended up with 69.8 miles, and a 15.7 mph average.