50 Ways to Help

This past week was Earth Week and many shows, websites, etc. were geared towards going green. Here is one that I found that offers 50 easy tips.

http://www.50waystohelp.com/



Happy Greeening

Chuy's Arbor Trail

Today we went to the new Chuy's Arbor Trail which opened yesterday. Here is my review...

Positives:

1. Very close to the house
2. Nice to have a new place to go for a cheap HH drink, even though Waterloo still remains our favorite
3. Nacho Car

Negatives:

1. Very slow service...waited about 10 minutes for a bottle of beer, while tables around us ordered after us and got their frozen drinks before us
2. Very small patio, huge outdoor space but only 8 patio tables, what a waste
3. Not the best waitresses, made several mistakes and brought us one bill and then after we paid brought a second bill that was higher, not good

So all in all on a general basis I am gonna stick with the Pit but I will be back to the Chuy's Arbor Trail in about a month or two when hopefully things have gotten under control.

Pedal Power Wildflower - Ride Report

Early Saturday morning I got up and headed to Stonewall, TX for the Pedal Power Wildflower Ride. I did this ride two years ago and really enjoyed it so I figured I would tackle it again this year. From what I remembered about the past ride this was a really nice ride with one really nice downhill section and one really nasty uphill section. My memory was pretty spot on.

After driving the hour out to Stonewall I had about 20 minutes to kill before the ride started. Just enough time for a quick restroom break, packet pickup and time to layer up as it was still pretty cold.

The first 20 miles of the ride are relatively flat with just a few constant rollers but nothing that exciting. At the 20 mile rest stop it was starting to warm up so I peeled off my sleeves, refueled and got ready for the next 20 which I knew were a mixture of joy and pain.

At roughly mile 26 there is a great downhill that seems to go and go and go. This is always my favorite part of the ride. I was looking to hit 42 mph on it but only came away with 41.3. Oh well. Of course what goes down must come up and after a few miles of rollers comes the big nasty hill. Not only is it steep but even after it flattens out a bit it still climbs and just kills the legs and it seems like it goes on forever.

After the killer hill the rest stop at mile 42 sure was a welcome sight. By this time it had warmed up even more so the base layer came off. The ride was tough with a bunch of rollers until about mile 50 where it starts to tilt downhill to the finish.

Of course this is where I was attacked by Mr. Glommer (AKA The Glom Monster, The No Pull Fool, The Draft Demon). Everyone knows/dislikes this guy who out of nowhere jumps on your wheel without saying a word and lets you do all the work. I did not even know he was there until I looked back to make sure the coast was clear before launching a snot rocket and bam there he was. He must be the brother of the sidler from Seinfeld. Well I let him hang there for a bit then waved him through to clear my sinuses again and what does he do? He passes and then slows considerably just waiting for me to come back around him and pull some more. Well I did because I could not stand the slow pace but after dragging him for several miles I just thought enough. This is a beautiful day and I am not gonna let this guy ruin it. So I once again waved him past, slowed considerably this time, took a few long drinks of water, and let him again ahead so I could once again just ride in peace.

After the ride they had spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, and cookies. Yumm. Here is my view as I sat and ate.



Final Ride Details:

Distance: Approximately 62 miles
Minimum Elevation: 1138.2 FT
Maximum Elevation: 1817.1 FT
Total Elevation Gain: 3650 FT
Maximum Grade: 24% (For those in Austin, Mesa has a max grade of 19%)

Post Ride Meal: Spaghetti, Garlic Bread, One Frosted Cookie, One Chocolate Chip Cookie, One Can of Coke, Two Bottles of Water

Blog Redesign

So before I went out for my recovery ride today I was gonna take a few minutes to look at my friend's blogs. Well that was over 3 hours ago, and I will blame it all on Wiley as his blog sent me on a downward spiral of adding elements and then completely redoing the look and feel of my blog. Dang you, Wiley, dang you. But overall I like the new look, and really like the ability to get a picture I took a few years back when I was exploring Hamilton Pool with my brother and his fiance up as the header photo.

What do you think?

Two Months In

Since the initial challenge was set out there I have officially purchased zero clothes. Once you remove the temptation it gets pretty easy not to even really look at clothes. We will see how things progress during the spring and summer.