Steam N Wheels

 Steam N Wheels

March 22, 2014

Abilene, Texas

Steam N Wheels is an annual ritual for a lot of us from San Angelo. Besides being a close-by good ride, if you come in 1,2, or 3 in your age group, you win a prize. If you don't place in the top three places...it is a well supported fun tour. You can't lose.

 The assembly point of the ride is the Abilene Zoo parking lot.

Winners!!

Getting ahead of myself, but caught Rick and Velma Ogan warming up before the race. And yes, once again they came in first place in the tandem category.  

Well, at least it is a fair shot of Loyd Evans and myself. Loyd rode the 32 mile ride so was not in the race. Yeah, I finished first in my age category. No exclamation points after the last sentence as all the others in my age category were smart enough to ride the 32 mile ride--or stayed at home. 

 Why smart enough to stay home? It was a cold and windy day. I bundled up like the couple on the right. Reading the mind of the guy on the left, "I wish I had a pair of long pants--or stayed at home."

 We lined up according to distance of the ride--48, 32, and on down. We lined up with the 48 milers. Directly in front of me were Rick and Velma. To their left with the red camel back was Eddie Trevino. Eddie must not have had a chip as I never saw his race results. On the right of Rick was Troy Hosmer.  Troy came in 3rd in his age category and #22 overall in the whole ride.

 

Not shown is Marlon Miller. I took a picture of him, but it wasn't there when I downloaded. I bet the shot of the pavement was supposed to be Marlon and I was just shivering too much to aim. Anyway, Marlon did quite well but was placed in the wrong age group--we will not mention which one, but it wasn't too far below me.

 

Also not shown is Gene Potter. I had asked Christine to catch him after he changed into riding clothes but it got too hectic and she missed him. Gene placed 2nd in his age group.

And off we go into the wind. This is about the only picture I took on the ride as I wore bulky, long-fingered gloves. It was too inconvenient to take pictures. Hopefully next year it will be warmer and greener so we can better show off the scenery.