Spring bike races in Texas

I've been thinking about a coffee table photo book featuring Texas Fixer Uppers

Three weeks have come and gone since my short trip to New Orleans, and during that time I have driven about 2,000 miles on three different weekends to travel to two high school mountain bike races as well as a USAC road race. That's a lot of windshield time in the name of supporting TX racing as an official. Thankfully, the weather was splendid for all three race weekends and overall it was a lot of fun to get out of town and give back to my sport.

High school mountain bike racing at Warda

The two mountain bike races took place in Warda and Burnet, both between around 325 to almost 430 miles away in the central part of this huge state. In springs past these long drives were a type of "travel through the seasons" as the countryside would turn from brown to light greens to lush foliage once I made it into the Hill Country. But this year has been different: The entire state suffers from a draught, and in addition to that it seems to have been unseasonably cold for longer than usual. So, browns prevail—predictably—not just on the barren South Plains but well beyond Abilene and even Brownwood.

Traveling means exploring more beers!

It was just this past weekend on the way to the Reveille Peak Ranch mountain bike race that I saw the first bluebonnets of the season, scrawny little guys that were stunted in growth and just didn't have that power of suggestion that Easter is just around the corner. The mesquite—whose budding leaves indicate that winter is finally done—are still very shy to show green, knowing full well that the weather is anything but normal. You see, when you drive these long distances you get a chance to look around. For me that's part of the allure of these long road trips.

Bluebonnets at Reveille Peak Ranch close to Burnet

Speaking of weather: No, tornadoes are not a rarity in our parts, but over the past decade or so it has seemed as if they spawn more heavily just about 60 to 80 miles east of us in a general shifting of weather patterns. On my way to the Jesuit Ranger Roundup road race north of the Dallas / Ft. Worth metroplex in Celina, I rolled through the small town of Bridgeport just west of Decatur and saw firsthand the damage that a tornado had caused just a week earlier. The same storm system, which hit only a few days after my return from Louisiana, had killed at least one person and wreaked widespread devastation in and around New Orleans.

Debris a week after a small tornado had moved through Bridgeport

Heading toward ominous clouds just outside of Roscoe

While sun and pleasant temperatures prevailed at all three race locations we in Lubbock had to contend with an abnormal number of extremely windy days that brought blowing dust and miserable conditions to our area. When windspeeds hit 40 mph and more one simply stays indoors and looks through the windows at the brown skies. Lubbock is known to be a windy place, but these past three weeks were unusually nasty. As a result, my cycling mileage is much lower than usual. Oh well.

NICA high school race at Reveille Peak Ranch

In a few days I am going to fly North Carolina to stay for a week with Miles and Judy, whom I had visited last in 2019. It'll be nice to see green trees and I hope to go on a few nice rides. And when I get back, another three weekends of bike racing will round out the spring season for me.

Heading home ....

Jürgen