Hot Cactus Valley

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) 7/1/13 We were still expecting a heat wave so we still had one of our shorter rides planned. So in effect we would have a recovery ride before we really needed a recovery ride. Well I learned later on at least one of our riders either needed or at least wanted a recovery ride. I picked a light colored kit, cool gear head cover and headed for Burger King to see how many wanted to ride in the heat. Digger and Dura Max were waiting for me and Highlander pulled up with Tax Man shortly after I arrived. I watched Quicksilver pull up followed by Daredevil. I was thinking we were about all of the riders for the day when MacGyver texted me that he was on his way. Once he got there we headed out to Gilmore and down towards Acacia.

In my opinion everyone seemed to be rolling along at a reasonable pace as we turned onto Acacia and headed over to Kirby. We caught the light red but were soon on our way south towards Cypress and into the housing tract heading to Johnston. We caught the light at Sanderson and once again were soon on our way as we turned south again towards Stetson and Wally World.

As we pulled up to the light on Domenigoni we had another rider pass us with a Aero TT helmet and pull to the front of the group. Two other riders rode by while we waited and I was worried that once we were out onto Domenigoni we would run into a case of hair and hound with some of our faster riders taking off like a puppy slipping their leash. That didn’t happen however because we all fell into a reasonable pace line with our two strongest riders at the back of the group.

As we moved east I realized I was supposed to practice zone heart rate training and try to keep my HR in the aerobic zone and refuel every three hours. To be honest up to the point where we past Searl I had been pulling and that wasn’t my plan. I turned the lead over to Highlander and fell back to recover any drop offs in the back of the group. For some reason Digger seemed to be struggling a bit and I didn’t learn why till we reached Cactus Valley. We watched the Highlander led group fade into the distance until Tax Man fell off of the back and we slowly closed on him by the Golf Course and I finally caught him at the hill by Sage. He decided to wait for us to come back from the regroup at the end of the road.

Once we were sitting at the regroup we discovered Diggers problem because he informed us of a broken spoke. Highlander and Daredevil re-tensioned some of the spokes next to the broken on so he could continue the ride and we headed back towards Sage. Highlander led us off of the hill and started the run to State Street. Daredevil took over the pull and set a hot pace leaving the rest of us just hanging on. Finally only MacGyver and I were on his wheel as he turned north on State giving me a chance to pull for a few yards before I had to sit up and catch my breath. After a brief regroup we were back on our way. Quicksilver was working on technique and at the same time staying with the group very well. We teased her about watching the TDF and developing a riding style like Mark Cavendish.

She was complaining about a headache that might have been heat related but seemed to subside with some vitamin “I”. I have to say for someone who only got a bike on Mother’s day this year she is becoming a very good rider in a very short time. Anyway we fell into a pace line on State and headed for Chambers and the turn towards the Golf Course. I managed to keep my HR in zone two or three most of the way, and if you don’t count the run on Cactus Valley. Our next move was to turn on Thornton and the Santa Fe to Stetson.

As we debated if we were going to turn on Columbia or go straight to Fairview I decided to stop and wolf down an energy bar. Once fueled we headed towards the High School and over the rise before Lake Street. The back half of the group had to stop when we discovered Quicksilver was out of water. We transferred our spare water to one of her bottles and continued on to Wilson Mesa and regrouped once again. We dropped off of Wilson Mesa and headed for Stetson with MacGyver leading the line. He pushed pretty well till Daredevil came around and picked up the pace. I grabbed his wheel and Highlander got mine. Somehow MacGyver fell off of the back and by Stetson Daredevil dropped the hammer. I kicked it up a gear but soon realized it was going to be a wasted effort and he was simply too strong to hold on to. Highlander fell off when I tried to close and I didn’t catch him till he backed down at the bridge. We stopped in at Casino to see if we could get Diggers spoke fixed but replace it for at least an hour so we rode down to Carl’s and took a break. MacGyver didn’t have time to stop and Daredevil left early. We rehydrated and cooled down a bit before heading west towards home ourselves.

We dropped Dura Max off at Park and followed Highlander around to Devonshire. We had a very good ride west and managed to catch all of the lights green till we got to Santa Fe. We dropped down to Latham and even made it through the light at State Street. I left at Palm but the events for the day weren’t over. It seems Quicksilver decided to try her hand at the Lyon to Pep boys sprint and made Highlander work hard to keep from getting “Chicked” on his favorite sprint. A few more days watching the TDF and working on technique and maybe she will ride like Cavendish. It looks like her dream of being a climber is closer than she thinks.