Adios Mexico

On Sunday, I drove from Mission, Texas to Houston. I've made the trip dozens of times, but I'm 99.999% sure that I will never be employed in the Rio Grande Valley again, and any trips back will be strictly for pleasure. I made some great friends while living there, especially my cycling pals, and I hope to make it back down to ride with them, but I will never again be employed in the maquiladora industry.

When I was employed in the maquiladora industry, there were days when my co-workers and I would commiserate about our mutual misery. It wasn't any different than any other jobs -- I had great days and terrible days. I think that overall it was a great experience, but I remember on one particularly bad day, I promised one of my buddies that when I left Reynosa for the last time, I would play "Adios Mexico" by the Texas Tornadoes as I drove through U.S. Customs. I didn't keep the promise back in October of 2008 when I left for my temporary position in Austin, and I have regretted it for months.

On Sunday, I made up for breaking the promise. After watching movers pack up our house, I drove the family back to Houston. I played the song, and then my daughter, not realizing why I played it but loving the accordion beat, asked me to play it again. A double shot of "Adios Mexico" was just what I needed to break me out of the funk of leaving behind a life in the Rio Grande Valley, and starting a new one in Houston.

Early Morning Solo

When you ride alone, you always self pay. No drafting, nobody to help change a flat, nobody there for conversation. It's just you and the bike. Lately, most of my rides have been self pay. I haven't found a local group that rivals my experience with Team McAllen, but I will continue searching. Until then, I'm on my own.

My last ride was solo, and through Bastrop and Buescher State Parks. I'm riding this route frequently, as it's near Victoria's cousin's house in Smithville, and we are frequent guests. I was on the road at sunrise. I paused at a utility right of way to absorb the beauty. To the east, I could see the sunbeams through the early morning mist.

To the west, the red dirt of the right of way made me wish I had a mountain bike. It won't happen. I'm converting my MTB to a commuter road rig, and I'll be picking it up this weekend. Having the bike should lead me to more time in the saddle, which I struggle to find right now.

While riding through the peaceful forest, I saw about a dozen deer. I stopped to take a photo of this doe. She seemed to be solo as well, but I think she had friends nearby in the forest. She let me take her photo, then ran into the forest and watched me from relative safety while I put my camera away and got back on the bike.

I'll be trying to squeeze in another self pay solo ride this week. This time, it will be on the streets of Houston. Maybe not as peaceful, but a ride is a ride.

Preparing the Urban Bike

The bike lanes of Houston, at least the few that I've seen, are full of potholes, glass, cracks, and debris. I don't want to ride my road bike if I start commuting. My buddy Speedo was reading my mind, and provided me the mechanical encouragement shown in the below photograph.



It might not be obvious to you, but Speedo replaced the stock no-name front suspension fork on my Marin Hawk Hill MTB with a rigid fork. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but hadn't made it a priority, primarily due to my out-of-work negative cash flow. Speedo decided to order the fork, go get the bike from my garage (he has the keys right now...long story), and install it. He also cleaned the bike up and waxed it. Now THAT was a surprise! Many thanks, Speedo.

Since the conversion to hybrid is basically mechanically complete, as I've replaced the tires and front fork with non-MTB versions, I now have to think about the final accoutrement that would make it a nice commuter ride. I'm thinking about:

• A set of fenders that are disc brake compatible. It rains quite a bit in Houston, and I don't want to get overly wet and muddy just because it starts drizzling. I'm thinking about Planet Bike Cascadia ATB Fenders.
• My handlebar grips kill my hands after a few miles. I want to replace them with some Ergon GP1 grips.
• I need to install a headlight and taillight. I have a Cat Eye HL-EL500 Opticube that I'll use, but I'll need to buy a taillight. I'm thinking about buying the Cat Eye TL-LD1100. You can't have too much taillight in Houston.
• I need an underseat bag, as I always used a Camelbak when I used the bike for offroad. I'll attach my RoadID Firefly Supernova to it to provide more visibility from behind.

I have a Performance Bike gift card, courtesy of my parents, and between the card, Craig's List, and eBay, I'll be trying to find some deals on this stuff. Even though I'm employed now, I don't want to go broke on this.

See you on the city streets of Houston!

A Strange Sensation in my Legs

Last Saturday I rode 30 miles through Bastop and Buescher State Parks. I've done this ride before, and was looking forward to the ride as it is one of the more scenic and enjoyable routes that I've ridden. Unfortunately, within a few minutes of rolling away from Victoria's cousin's house, I felt a strange, tingling sensation in my legs.

I can only describe it as feeling like thousands of tiny vibrations, and it increased with speed. It wasn't painful, so I didn't bother to stop and investigate. When I reached my turnaround point at Bastrop State Park, I finally stopped to try to find the root cause. That's when I noticed that my legs looked like a jungle.




I'm a roadie, and a leg shaver. I've also been a bit lazy over the last couple of weeks. The first week I was travelling and not riding, so when the weekend came and I went out for a ride, I thought "my leg hair is still short enough; no need to shave". Then another week went by without riding. When I planned my Saturday ride, I knew I needed to shave, but as the ride approached, I couldn't make time to shave. As a result, on Saturday my legs were the hairiest they've been since I started road cycling.

During the ride I was feeling sensations in my legs that I haven't felt in over 3 years. It felt like sea grass moving with the rhythmic motion of the waves and currents. Or wheat blowing in the wind. It didn't feel good. As I passed other cyclists on Park Road 1C, I knew that they were staring at my legs, mortified by my rebellious, anti-cycling hygiene. I was embarrassed, and wouldn't look them in their Oakley-shaded eyes.





When I made it home, I shaved. Or rather, I clipped. Afterwards the shower floor looked like a small poodle had been groomed there. Luckily, the plumbing was able to handle the hair, and didn't clog. My legs were back to normal.



I know many will debate about the culture of leg shaving in cycling, and I won't be surprised with comments that follow that thread. Having ridden both clean and hairy, I'm going to continue to try to stick with clean. That is, unless I get too lazy again.


P.S. I changed my blog subtitle, my location, and the 'about me' section. I decided against a rename, and the changes that were made are very minor. Thanks for all of your suggestions!

Dog Tired

It's unusual for me to feel tired. I don't mean physically fatigued. Of course I feel fatigued after physical exertion, but today I feel tired. How I got to this point is obvious when I look back at the events of the week.

• Monday through Friday, I got up at 5:30a every day and ran my normal 3 mile loop. I took Wednesday off, but still got up early to go into work to meet with an employee. 5:30a isn't that early, except...
• Lately I've been crawling into bed around 11p. Then I read for a few minutes. I'm probably asleep by 11:30p. 6 hours sleep is not enough for me. I need about 7 hours. A little more or a little less is okay, but I notice the deficit if I'm only getting 6 hours. The late hours are a function of living with family. They stay up later, we stay up later. I think I'll need to break the cycle.
  
• This week was my first week "on my own" at the office. My trainer left to go back to his normal assignment, and the facility is now mine to manage. It has added significant stress, although I don't find myself during the day thinking "wow, this is stressful". It's just a constant buzz, and I know from experience it will subside as time goes on and improvements are made.
• On Saturday, I woke up early and went for a 3o mile ride through Buescher and Bastrop State Parks. I didn't feel tired or even that fatigued, but I'm sure it contributed.
• Saturday night was the Longhorns' home opener. We went to the game, then got back to the home base in Smithville around 10:30p. I set an alarm for 7:00a, with intentions of riding in Bastrop State Park again. I laid my head on the pillow thinking I would be getting up with a full 7 hours of sleep, and would have another great ride. I felt sleepy...

My daughter woke us up around 8:00a. My alarm hadn't gone off as planned. Apparently I set it for "weekdays only". I wasn't frustrated; instead, I was happy to be resting. My head felt fuzzy, my eyes puffy, and my body seemed glad to be resting. Only then did I realize I had been truly tired.

I'm taking Sunday off for a much needed day of rest. As I type, I already feel better. I'll ride Monday morning, and I know I won't be tired as I start.

Renaming my Blog

I think it is time to rename my blog. I created the blog when I moved from Austin to Mission, Texas, and the title is based on the distance between the two locations. The subtitle refers to "living and cycling in South Texas", and the "About Me" section mentions that I am trying to get back to Austin, or maybe Houston. It's all wrong. It doesn't align with what is happening in my life.

I already live in Houston. I'm 331 miles from lots of places, but that doesn't matter since I have no plans to move to or from any of them. I like the history of the "331 miles" name and it has deep meaning to me, as it is associated with a very trying section of my life, during which I found cycling, perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not. What I'm dancing around is that I really want to stay with the "331 miles" name, but it just doesn't make much sense in the context of my current life.

The result is that I've been mentally batting around a few name ideas. I'll probably subtitle the blog with "formerly 331 miles", even if it's an afterthought. Here are a few ideas.

Urban Cycling Cowboy

I'm not really a cowboy, although I wear jeans and sometimes boots. I know how to two-step, and can talk redneck. I live in an urban environment, which happens to border Pasadena, where the movie was filmed.

Houston...We Have a Cyclist

SUPERCHEEZE. I know. But it's so cheezy....it's almost good.

I Want to Run Over Bud Adams with My Road Bike

You have to be an good ol' days Oilers fan to understand. Not sure if he lives here anymore, but you never know.

Hammering in Houston

The blog is mainly about cycling, right? And cycling means the occasional hammerfest. Not my fave...

Living and Cycling in the 4th Largest City in the USA, which if You Don't Know is Very, Very, Very Car-Centric

Houston has a little tiny sprawl problem. Just so ya know. Not too many bike commuters, but there are more than I thought there would be. Might subtitle this one with something that contains the word Houston, just for search purposes.

Some of these are jokes, and some are not. Regardless, please hit me with your best critical shot in the comments. I'm not in love with any of them, so don't worry about hurting my fragile feelings.

NOTE: I love Larry Gatlin's "Houston (Means I'm One Day Closer to You)" song. But I couldn't figure out how to plagiarize it and twist it into a decent blog title.