A GOLDEN WEEK-END

Individual and Team Time Trials

     My "thing" is cycling vacations.  Occasionally I dabble in bike racing, although from the percentage of blog posts, you would think it was the other way around.  This week-end I had the opportunity to partake in a few days of racing: Texas Individual and Team Time Trial Finals.  But man does not race on tires alone, he also has to eat.
     I am probably able to forage for myself without starving.  However, like anyone with good sense, if you have an expert, get out of their way and let them do their thing.  I let Marilane find food sources.  The races were in Hempstead, but we found lodging in Brenham, home of Blue Bell Ice Cream (not on my diet).  As regular readers know, I follow a plant-based diet (like Bill Clinton), but refer to it as Vegan because that is what most of the population sorta understands.
     Finding a vegan meal is not all that difficult; most Italian or Indian or Asian restaurants offer something that with minor modifications fit the requirements.  Because I'm not a philosophical vegan, but a medical one, I let a few things slide occasionally.  Brenham was a challenge.  Our first dinner was (Italian) Volare's, quite acceptable.
     But I have to give special kudos to Kay's Cuisine for the Soul.  Marilane called the restaurant about 4pm (they open for dinner at 5pm on Saturday) to inquire if they could accommodate my diet.  When Kay said they had just the thing, we said we'd see you at 5.  Attention to detail; I can't emphasize that enough, no matter what the subject.  Our salad came, grated cheese on Marilane's, none on mine.  The entree came minus the steak and egg, but with additional vegetables.  Both Kay and the waitress took the time to explain the hot sauce and how to slowly integrate it into the mix.  Everyone was solicitous without being over-bearing; in other words, they were available to fix anything that was wrong, but nothing was wrong.  Great taste.  Great ambiance.  Marilane told me they were the top-rated restaurant on Trip Advisor.  After our experience, that is not a surprise.  So when you are in Brenham taking the Blue Bell tour, stop by Kay's Cuisine for the Soul and treat yourself to a super meal.
     Time trials are so boring to watch.  Actually, they are not so exciting to ride either.  You just go as hard as you can until the end.  In the case of the Individual Time Trial, someone sabotaged the turn-around spot, a cycling debacle, so we had more of a cycling adventure rather than a race.  But I went hard for a really long time.  I'll skip the gory details, there was one faster rider than me; the race officials called for a re-race and the faster rider didn't participate (I believe no one advised him, but can't be sure).  I ended up in first place in the re-race.  Rather than being finished at 8:30am, I finally got back to the hotel about 3:30pm.  Then we got cleaned up and went to Kay's.
     The next morning was the Team Time Trials.  Dean (who came in second) and I teamed up with Jaime, who doesn't usually do time trials, and we came in first.  This time, I had collected my medal and award and was back in Brenham by 10:15am, and on the way home to Austin before 11am.
     So, in going to Brenham we found a great place to eat in addition to coming home with two gold medals and bragging rights (but I'll be subdued in those since I really wasn't the fastest person).  Not a bad week-end.