biking fredericksburg

I drove out to Fredericksburg this weekend to do the Easter Hill Country Tour - two days of riding.  I love organized rides because you don't have to plan a route, the turns are all marked, and there is food and water waiting for you at the rest stops.  I had never been out there before but had heard so many good things about the riding. People were right, it is great riding. It is green and the wildflowers are out, the roads are good, there is not much traffic, the hills are challenging but not impossible, the scenery is varied with fields, "mountains", hills, streams and rivers, trees, etc. It reminded me of biking in southern California or Hawaii. It also reminded me of biking the serene and hilly country roads at home in Wisconsin, and made me realize again how much I miss that.  The roads around Austin just aren't quiet and peaceful like that.

Saturday I got bit by a dog as I was riding up a moderate hill. Dogs are an ongoing issue with cycling back roads but this is a first for me. There happened to be a lot of chaos in front of the dog's yard and my leg was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A group of cyclists were passing me, there was an oncoming car and oncoming cyclists, and the dog didn't like all this commotion going on in her area. She was barking at the whole situation and then took my calf in her mouth and bit down. The skin broke a little but it didn't hurt too bad. It's mostly just a bruise now, a day later. The dog was large and heavy and could have bit me a lot harder. I'm thinking this was more of a "courtesy bite" as a way to tell us all to get the heck away from her yard. I do feel some sympathy for her, but I don't like it that people let their dogs run free when they aren't even home.

And with that, week 8 of training is complete! After some extra sleep and food, I am feeling a lot better than I did last week. This coming week is a rest week. I get two complete rest days and a massage :) Time for some serious recovery.


Friday:
Run 5.5 miles with 2x1 mile 
[2x1mi @6:54, 7:21, 45 min total time]

Swim 3400yd [1:02]
Main set:
4 rounds of
25 fast/75 easy,
50 fast/50 easy,
75 fast/25 easy,
100 fast/50 easy
This was an interesting progression, interesting in that it kept my mind busy the whole time and the recoveries were varied but all active. I liked this.

Saturday:
Bike 70 miles [4:42, hilly]
Kerrville north towards Fredericksburg, very sunny and hot... and wind. Lots and lots of hills.

Sunday:
Bike 36 miles [2:20, rolling]
South of Kerrville, rode in the rain.

Brick Run 1 mile [9 minutes]