To Mineral Wells and Back

I'm trying to get myself in good enough shape that the MS150 won't kill me. That ride will be a 2-day, 150 mile ride taking place the first weekend in May. The Ride for Heroes a few weeks back told me that I need to jack up the training regimen. With that in mind, I did a nice long ride yesterday afternoon. I parked my truck at a store off of I30 just outside Loop 820. I rode to the far side of Mineral Wells and back from there.

From where I parked, there are good access roads for the interstate all the way to Weatherford. Highway 180 goes from Weatherford to Mineral Wells and has nice, wide shoulders the whole way. The whole ride is about 80 miles round trip. The whole route is rolling hills with a few either very long or moderately steep hills along the way. As I've noted before, hills are not my friends. That being said, the outbound leg went pretty well and I averaged about 19 miles per hour. There was effectively no wind and I was fresh.

Just about the time I turned around, the wind kicked up to maybe 10 miles per hour. It wasn't much, but it was something else to contend with. The ride back just about killed me. By the time I was halfay back, I started wishing I had opted for a shorter route. I went so slow that my average speed had dropped to 17 miles per hour by the time I got back to my truck. While that ride may not have been one of my shing moments as a cyclist, I did at least get the miles under my belt.

Next weekend, we are going to West Texas for my niece's first birthday. I will take the bike along and get a good ride or two in while we are out there. The following weekend, I will be ride in the Muenster German Fest ride. It is about 60 miles through some fairly tough, hilly country. The weekend after that, I ride in the MS150. I think that I will have trained well enough to complete the ride without too much trouble.