Steve, Mark M, and I joined Peggy for this easy pace 200K yesterday. Peggy is recovering from a stress fracture in her knee, but bound and determined to keep her R12 alive, so rode today. We left Lynn Creek Marina at 7:00 am, and the wind was already blowing hard, so we knew already that we were in for a tough wind day. Sure enough, the further south we got, the harder the wind blew. A lot of the county roads this route uses have lots of trees to block the wind, but it was still a lot of southbound riding the first 70 miles, and the open stretches from Maypearl to Italy were brutal. We were all glad to see the Italy control.

The route turns northeast out of Italy down SH 34, so there was a quartering tail wind, then it turns mostly straight north, so it was a great tail wind most of the rest of the way.

One of the nicest things about an easy pace 200k is that you get to converse more, and we took advantage of that, laughing and cutting up most of the ride.

In retrospect, a route that didn’t finish on Lake Ridge Parkway might have been a better choice. The traffic at almost dark thirty on a holiday weekend Saturday evening was a bit much for me.

But we all finished safe and sound, with the main worry being about how Peggy’s leg would feel today. The Oasis had great food, as usual, although we saw a cockroach there that was so big, I thought it was going to carry Peggy off.

Thanks for inviting me along, y’all, I had a great time! Take care of that leg, Peggy. The easy pace ride was great fun, but I won’t gripe at all when you drop me like a bad habit next time. In fact, I’ll have a big smile on my face, knowing you’re back to yourself.

Magical Mystery Tour 200K