The Miles Begin to Mount Up Now

Today we finished our first ride of more than 30 miles to train for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS. The spring has been rainy and cold until recently, so we're running behind schedule on our training. This year I am learning to care about more than my own conditioning, because I'm a training ride leader. That leading is the service that I hoped the HCRA would let me deliver when I joined the ride two years ago.

Today's ride out to the Mansfield Dam on Lake Travis and back was challenging, as well as affirming. The last time I did this ride I was two years younger, riding a heavier bike. Today both the bike and rider were lighter, and I had the juice to help people with flats and ride alongside those who were mounting the hills to the dam for the first time.

There's a managing component for this year's ride, too. Saturday I "convened" the ride around the loops on South Mopac, a close-in ride leaving from a local elementary school.

That's me in the picture, third from the left, looking at my watch to give the intermediate riders a five-minute head start. Pushing off on time is important to respect everyone's time they donate on their weekends.

All that rain means the wildflowers are already popping up alongside the highways, including our famous Texas bluebonnets. There were plenty today on our 36-mile Mansfield Dam route, with more high hills than I wanted in the last six miles. While crossing the peak of the Crystal Mountain ridge, I was hoping it was the last hill of the afternoon. There were several more waiting. As a ride leader I had already stopped to help fix a flat and rode alongside newer riders to encourage them to finish out the day.

Abby mounted her bike today too, and finished 18 miles all the way to the dam, including lots of hills! It's her first year, a daunting one since she's never ridden more than 30 miles in a day. She takes to the road with cheery hope.

Here she's saddled up for a turn around our neighborhood, which has plenty of steep hills if you take the right turns. I'm so proud of her. First year training rides can be as scary as the 120 miles we'll do on the ride April 30-May 1.

This coming Saturday is the Dripping Springs ride, our longest of the training schedule. Today was a great warm up. This was my first week of more than 60 training miles this year. Next week I'll top 70.