October Weekend

The weather in central Texas is always perfect in October and November: lows around 55 - 60 degrees F, highs around 80 - 85 degrees F. Sunny, few clouds, light breezes... Great weather if you are into outdoorsy type stuff, or even if you just like to sit on your front porch, bored, nothing better to do but take random photos with your phone while your child plays.







While Faris was busy playing, I got the time trial bike down off the wall of the garage to dust'R off, make sure the tires are still glued onto the rims, wipe off the dried spit + snot + sports drink residue still encrusted on it from the 40K state time trial championship in August, when I last rode the bike and hung it up dirty afterward.

Cyclists like to talk about there being "no chain" on the bike. It is bike geek slang which means that you're really strong and fast and when you go fast it feels like it requires little or no effort, as if the bike is pedaling itself. Lance Armstrong used to boast that there was "no chain" on his bike on any given day in the Tour de France when he'd administer beatings to his competitors. I've always thought it was a presumptuous and stupid thing to say, though.

Nevertheless, as hypocritical as it seems, I one-upped the great Lance Armstrong when, yesterday in my driveway, on a day made for outdoor cycling, under abundant warm-but-not-hot October sunshine, there was "no cassette" on my bike. That's right, no 10-speed gear cluster for the chain to grab hold of as it revolves around the crank and rear wheel. Lighter than Lance's no chain bike and most certainly faster.



Other than that, I did a little mountain biking on a small trail near my house on Sunday morning, then Sunday night had dinner at Home Slice with my old friend Dean Buzbee, who came in town from Santa Fe, NM for a few days after competing in a 50K trail running race in Palo Duro Canyon. I'd never seen him eat so much, in one sitting, in the 18 years I've known him.