Probably the Last Ride of the Year

Tuesday looked to be the last great day (partly cloudy, no rain) of the year, so James Doggett and I rode the Hound Dog 124K to Aurora. It was a little chilly, and we had to bundle up. James rode his new Lynskey bicycle. It is a beautiful green color. We had a light headwind outbound which unfortunately faded shortly after we turned around. James just joined RUSA this year, and this ride was his first randonneuring event. This sub-200K ride makes 3 months in a row for me in pursuit of the new RUSA P-12 award.

James outbound














James' Lynskey














Lynskey detail



















Train in Marionville

2011 Southwest Missouri Brevets

The Southwest Missouri brevets will again be run through the St. Louis region for 2011. The 200K brevet is on Sunday, March 20, 2011, and the 300K on Saturday, April 16, 2011. Both brevets will start in Springfield and follow the same routes as 2010 with a small modification to the 300K that makes it shorter by 0.7 mile. Both events are sanctioned by Audax Club Parisien (ACP). More info on the web page.

Hound Dog 124K & Cooky's

I have been a little slack blogging. Tamara Mitchell, David Nelson and I rode the Hound Dog 124K permanent on November 27. This was the inaugural ride for this permanent populaire. It was a little chilly at the start, but sunny and little wind.

Good thing it was too cold for bugs to be out














Ozark riding lawn mower in Marionville (Photo by David Nelson)














Former service station in Billings














Everyone enjoying a ride














Back in Springfield (Photo by David Nelson's camera)














Dan Pfaff and I played hooky from work on Friday, December 10, to get in our 200K for the month. We were concerned about the cold weather moving in and when it would warm up again. On Saturday, winds were up to 29 mph with gusts to 44 mph. It snowed over night. Current temperature on Sunday morning is 16.9 degrees.

Tamara rode her 200K on Thursday. R-12 tally:
Tamara-10 months
Dan-6 months
Ralph-6 months

'Tis the season



















Sunset outside Springfield














First snow Saturday night