May | 2008 | Rambling Roads

Last weekend Kem and I rode the tandem down to Austin Java to grab a late morning breakfast. The weather was warm but ideal to get out and enjoy it. The week before we’d had some pretty bad storms in Austin and the bike route we took required that we not once but twice pick the tandem up and lift it over fallen tree limbs. What a mess! But quite the adventure.

The storm made a mess of west Austin. Lots of hail damage and wind damage that was surprisingly extensive. Tree limbs down everywhere. The hail had sheered off a lot of leaves as well and for a week there it seemed like all you could hear were the sound of leaf blowers.

Anyway, we managed the trip down to Barton Springs Rd and Austin Java despite the obstacles. They had a great little jazz band playing and we managed to snag a table out on the patio. Breakfast Quesadillas. Mmmm.

On the way back, we pulled in to Central Market to pick up some food for later. They had a band playing as well so we stopped to listen for a short while. One of the nice things about Austin is you can find interesting live music like this all the time.

Saturday was the annual Armadillo ride out in Liberty Hill. We ride out there all the time, but this ride is always well attended and fun to go to. This year, the weather was just plain sultry. Thankfully the sun stayed behind the clouds till we were nearly done with the ride. Even so, it was downright hot. But we enjoyed the ride a lot. Neither of us has been out riding much recently so it was nice to get out to LH again.

Things are still pretty spring like and green around here. We didn’t have a great crop of wild flowers this year but occasionally there are some nice ones to be found. I saw this field of pink flowers just as we were nearing the end of the ride and it seemed to be a perfect spot to get a shot of Kem and her pink Serotta, with it’s pink bike bag and water bottles.

The shot of me was at the first rest stop we stopped at. I don’t think this is actually a working general store, but it made for a nice back drop.

Meanwhile, a few days ago we managed to get an early sneak peak at Mellow Johnny’s, the big new bike store in town. One of Kem’s friends works there. It’s gotten a lot of press locally because it’s co-owned by Lance Armstrong. It’s a bit of a museum almost. It has several of Lance’s old bikes and some of his own art hanging up on the walls.

The name of the place seemed odd at first but as it turns out, it’s a play on words that makes a lot of sense. In French, the yellow jersey is known as the “maillot jaune“. If you don’t speak french and try to sound it out in English… well, you get it. Likewise the name of the coffee shop that’s within the store is also a play on words – of a sort. The coffee shop is named Juan Pelota’s. I would have never gotten it without someone sharing the play on words but then I don’t speak Spanish. Pelota is ball. So in other words, “one ball”. Read on if you’re still scratching your head…