Meeting Oscar

On my way to the Lost Maples State Natural Area I met a ton of triathletes just out riding the hills for fun. One such cyclist was Oscar Lainez who was later one of my hosts in Austin. I recall that it was nice being around people who shared an interest in cycling... but overall touring cyclist and racing cyclists have about as much in common has runners and through-hikers.

Originally Posted ​March 10, 2007

Lost Maples State Natural Area - 20.21 miles

I woke late today because I'd been up late uploading pictures. But it needed to be done. I ate my leftover pizza and rolled on down RR337. It wasn't long before I saw cyclists. Then there were more. One, Oscar, stopped to tell me that they were all from Austin and staying at Lost Maples. One motorcyclist flipped his visor sheild open to tell me that I was cheating. It was good humored, but sometimes motorcyclists need to shut up. I was walking my bike up the hillls. They call it hill country for a reason and it is extremely beautiful. Course the only pictures I took today were of a cave like formation on the edge of the road. I made it to Lost Maples and they were booked up. But I asked anyway and then lingered. Something opened up and by four I was hitting the showers. The humidity has increased. Then I napped. I was tired. THe twenty miles really took it out of me. At 7 I rose to see if I could find the group of 30 cyclists... how could they hide really? There they were, all skinny, making fun of the skinny guy. They were primarily triathletes. They do Iron Mans and things like that. One also liked to throw beers. The one that bounced off me as I noted I was heading off to bed, burst into a fizzy mess. I was amused. He was Candadian.

​8.0 ave - 44.3 max - 1463.7 odo - 2:30:56 time