Viento Fuerte means “strong wind” (or at least that’s what Altavista’s Babel Fish english to spanish translator thinks!)
…and a strong wind there was today on our weekly “mid-week” bicycle ride along the popular Helotes “211″ Loop. The wind was just plain vicious at times (there were a few moments on Highway 211 between hills where the wind was seriously challenging my balance on the bike!).
This was a special ride for a couple of really great reasons. Reason # 1 – we had SIX cyclists on this ride, a record. Bill (“Team Trek”), Jennifer, Marco plus a friend, Joel and yours truly. It was awesome to have a good-sized group! Reason #2 – this was Jennifer’s first road bike ride with the group on her spanking new Felt F80.
To say Jennifer rocked would be an understatement. Everyone commented on how impressed they were with her ability to tackle all that this route was throwing at her. Including….get this…THE WALL…that ornery hill on Bandera road just south of the intersection with Highway 211. Jennifer powered through THE WALL without stopping. I guess all I can say is…WOW!
At the conclusion of the ride, I made a lame attempt to take a group photo. Two lessons learned. Lesson #1 – cheap point-and-shoot digital camera in low-light situation equals noisy, grainy photo. Lesson #2 – don’t try to beat the 10 second self-timer on the camera while wearing bicycle shoes with cleats. I almost fell and busted my **beep**.
Here are the detailed GPS specs from this ride. Looks like another great cardiovascular ride with nearly an hour and forty-five minutes in the target heart rate zone between 70-90% of max heart rate. This was my first ride with a brief moment of my heart rate in the infamous “Zone 5″ – which is 90-100% of my maximum heart rate – up to 182 beats per minute!!
As Joel often says on many occasions, “A good time was had by all.” Our ride today definitely qualifies!
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