(as in ran through my weekend, the weekend before IMFL).
Jon and I went to New Braunfels/Gruene/San Antonio the weekend before IMFL for Tour de Gruene and Halloween at my sister's house. It was an awesome weekend - action packed and tiring, but awesome.
I did the "recreational tour" ride Saturday morning and it was the prettiest ride I have ever done. It was only 30 miles too, which made it that much more awesome! We rode from Gruene Hall out to River Road which runs along the Guadalupe river. We did an out-and-back along the river, with about 20 miles being right on the shoreline. We crossed all four river crossings twice which just added to the gloriousness of the ride. I wish I would have taken pictures, but I was by myself and just not motivated to do so. There were places along River Rd where I thought to myself that someone has had to have ridden into the river at some point during Tour de Gruene's history. The banks of the river came right up to the road in some points and if you weren't careful in controlling your speed/bike, you could have easily gone for a dip in the river, taking your bike with you. The morning started off suuuuuuper cold, in the low 40s, and I started off bitter and cold. As soon as we hit the first river crossing, I had a feeling of "ahhh, its going to be alllllll okay." It was beautiful. There was steam/fog rolling down the river at one point too and it was breathtaking.
As soon as I got back to the hotel room I told Jon he had really missed out. He didn't do the morning ride, saving himself for the individual time trial in the afternoon, but he could have ridden slow with me and taken in the beauty while also scoping out his race course. Oh well, we learned for next year. The time trial started on River Rd just before the first river crossing - not a bad place at all to have to spend the afternoon!! Several Houston-area friends were there watching and racing so it was a fun afternoon. Jon did great, but was maybe a bit too nervous at the start (as in his heart rate was 170 at the start...ya...that's high). As soon as he finished we raced to San Antonio to partake in my sister's family's Halloween activities. We had two Pebbles' and a Harry Potter kid to follow around. Bennett fell asleep on me after she went trick-or-treating and I loved every minute of it. She is every bit of a two year old and normally wants nothing to do with me.
We woke up Sunday morning and headed back to Gruene for Jon's team time trial and my last (short) long run before IMFL. I met up with Monica and Nikki and we ran from Gruene Hall to the circle in downtown New Braunfels and back. It was just shy of 7 miles and one of the prettiest runs I have done. We crossed both rivers in town twice, ran by Schlitterbahn, and the tube shoot where Kelly's life flashed before her eyes when she was about 6. We had one issue on the way to New Braunfels though...we noticed we had not really run up any hills but down several...meaning the way back was going to be fun. There was one huge hill on the way back that we were all convinced we were going to walk, but somehow we all ended up running it and were glad we did. The weather was crisp and beautiful, which helped us keep up a rather brisk pace. I'm glad we ran there - it was a new place to run with new scenery, but having familiar faces to experience the new terrain with always helps too.
We got back just in time to see Jon off on his race. I sat in the warm sun waiting for familiar races to come back towards the finish line and just soaked up the rays...ahhhh. It was so nice. Jon said day 2 of his adventure went much better and that he thoroughly enjoyed it. The course was longer (27 miles as compared to 16 the day before) and had one very hard climb in it, but with a team mate you can take turns pulling and drafting and it seemed to generally have a more relaxed atmosphere about it. After the obligatory burger at the Gristmill (one of the best I've had in a while) we headed back to Houston and I spent a good 3-4 hours starting my IMFL packing. Gees there is a lot that goes into one of those things!
So, even if you are a new rider, I highly highly recommend doing the Tour de Gruene next year. It was awesome.
Jon and I went to New Braunfels/Gruene/San Antonio the weekend before IMFL for Tour de Gruene and Halloween at my sister's house. It was an awesome weekend - action packed and tiring, but awesome.
I did the "recreational tour" ride Saturday morning and it was the prettiest ride I have ever done. It was only 30 miles too, which made it that much more awesome! We rode from Gruene Hall out to River Road which runs along the Guadalupe river. We did an out-and-back along the river, with about 20 miles being right on the shoreline. We crossed all four river crossings twice which just added to the gloriousness of the ride. I wish I would have taken pictures, but I was by myself and just not motivated to do so. There were places along River Rd where I thought to myself that someone has had to have ridden into the river at some point during Tour de Gruene's history. The banks of the river came right up to the road in some points and if you weren't careful in controlling your speed/bike, you could have easily gone for a dip in the river, taking your bike with you. The morning started off suuuuuuper cold, in the low 40s, and I started off bitter and cold. As soon as we hit the first river crossing, I had a feeling of "ahhh, its going to be alllllll okay." It was beautiful. There was steam/fog rolling down the river at one point too and it was breathtaking.
As soon as I got back to the hotel room I told Jon he had really missed out. He didn't do the morning ride, saving himself for the individual time trial in the afternoon, but he could have ridden slow with me and taken in the beauty while also scoping out his race course. Oh well, we learned for next year. The time trial started on River Rd just before the first river crossing - not a bad place at all to have to spend the afternoon!! Several Houston-area friends were there watching and racing so it was a fun afternoon. Jon did great, but was maybe a bit too nervous at the start (as in his heart rate was 170 at the start...ya...that's high). As soon as he finished we raced to San Antonio to partake in my sister's family's Halloween activities. We had two Pebbles' and a Harry Potter kid to follow around. Bennett fell asleep on me after she went trick-or-treating and I loved every minute of it. She is every bit of a two year old and normally wants nothing to do with me.
We woke up Sunday morning and headed back to Gruene for Jon's team time trial and my last (short) long run before IMFL. I met up with Monica and Nikki and we ran from Gruene Hall to the circle in downtown New Braunfels and back. It was just shy of 7 miles and one of the prettiest runs I have done. We crossed both rivers in town twice, ran by Schlitterbahn, and the tube shoot where Kelly's life flashed before her eyes when she was about 6. We had one issue on the way to New Braunfels though...we noticed we had not really run up any hills but down several...meaning the way back was going to be fun. There was one huge hill on the way back that we were all convinced we were going to walk, but somehow we all ended up running it and were glad we did. The weather was crisp and beautiful, which helped us keep up a rather brisk pace. I'm glad we ran there - it was a new place to run with new scenery, but having familiar faces to experience the new terrain with always helps too.
We got back just in time to see Jon off on his race. I sat in the warm sun waiting for familiar races to come back towards the finish line and just soaked up the rays...ahhhh. It was so nice. Jon said day 2 of his adventure went much better and that he thoroughly enjoyed it. The course was longer (27 miles as compared to 16 the day before) and had one very hard climb in it, but with a team mate you can take turns pulling and drafting and it seemed to generally have a more relaxed atmosphere about it. After the obligatory burger at the Gristmill (one of the best I've had in a while) we headed back to Houston and I spent a good 3-4 hours starting my IMFL packing. Gees there is a lot that goes into one of those things!
So, even if you are a new rider, I highly highly recommend doing the Tour de Gruene next year. It was awesome.
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