Ready to Roll

Last weekend, more precisely, from Friday until the day before yesterday [Monday] we were in Fredericksburg, Texas Hill Country , on the occasion of the 5th Annual LBJ 100 Bicycle Tour . And that here is what it looks like when 4 people want to travel, including bicycles for a long weekend: pretty much stuff to take with you.

The Escape, and the Trailer with Bicycles and Luggage, Ready to Roll

Usually when it’s only the two of us, Mary and me, who travel we have the bicycles inside the car, but with four people that’s not possible of course.

For the weekend itself we stayed, as we did last year, at Green’s Guest House . This is a beautiful and large bungalow in the middle of Fredericksburg, but in a very quiet residential area, with plenty of space for 6 people in three bedrooms, with a large living-room, a kitchen with adjoining dining-room and two bathrooms: large very well maintained. For Friday afternoon I had planned – “to set the mood” so to speak and also because I had not planned to take part in the tour myself but to help [as a support vehicle, “sagging” as it’s called by cyclists here] – a short bike ride [“Twilight Twenty” ] of about 20 miles. But [probably because I had taken only a relatively small breakfast, and that even very early that morning and nothing after that] after we arrived, I felt a little “weak on me pins” and tired, too, and thus I lay down and slept through the afternoon. And then, during the night my heart just “screwed up” again – as it sometimes does – and so the next morning, unfortunatelyI was not fit to drive the car and accompany the cyclists and support them if necessary. So I stayed home, while Mary and her cousin Jo Ann went to the bike tour. Mary helped out [at an intersection/turn-off to ensure that everyone would take the right route] and Jo Ann participated in the 30-mile tour. For both of them it was really a nice experience.

In the late afternoon I slowly felt better again and we [including our friend and relative Craig, who, on Saturday morning, had to go back to Karnes City , and so had not been able to participate in the tour] went out for dinner together, at “El Maguey”, a Mexican restaurant that Mary and I had found two years ago and then had liked very much. Unfortunately, however, the quality had now fallen sharply. Only my fajitas came to the table hot. For the other three the food was barely lukewarm. Too bad.

On Sunday I finally really wanted to ride myself, the tour that I had actually been planned for Friday, “Twilight Twenty”. But pretty early on I realized that I was not in the shape to even do that short ride: my heart rate was unusually high quite soon and my legs were already burning on the first short climbs. And so it happened that after about 6.5 miles, not even half way through the ride, I decided to turn back as I didn’t believe I could manage the whole distance. Back at Green’s Guest House, I then lay down and slept through the entire rest of the day – unfortunately. Not quite the bicycling weekend I had intended it to be.    😦

And then, on Sunday night, some back pain started and got worse and quite unpleasant during the early morning hours, so that all movements, especially bending, were difficult to nearly impossible. The return journey [Mary did the driving] was anything but pleasant, and I was glad when we were home again.

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