Raindrops Falling on my Head

I was originally planning to do the Tour de Argyle bike ride yesterday, but Jarrod helpfully pointed out that many of the roads on its 100K route were the same as the Cross Timbers Classic - which I didn't hold in high regard (too narrow and too much traffic).

So Don and I met Jarrod at North Lakes Park to do our 28-mile loop in the Denton/Sanger area. Jarrod's friends, Jonathan (rode with him at the Goatneck) and Scott (did HHH and the Half-IronMan at the Texas Man Tri), were also there - so we had a small peloton with our five-some.

This was the third time I rode this route and each time it gets a little better because we keep making small tweaks to the route to either cut down traffic or find smoother roads. I finished a total of 58.6 miles in about 3 hours and 54 minutes with a few stops (15 mph overall). The riding time was 3 hours and 28 minutes (16.9 mph average riding speed). Not really fast, but there were some decent-sized hills in there (and I tried to do a few of them multiple times to work on my leg strength).

It started raining about 2/3 of the way through the second lap so I rode the last 12 miles in some drizzle and the pace was a little slower. I definitely got wet, but at least the roads weren't completely slippery, so I made it back to the parking lot without crashing (always a nice thing). Unfortunately, the rain put a damper on the end of the ride and nobody (myself included) wanted to do any running afterward. C'est la vie ... or c'est la Texas weather.