This is mainly a post to share a YouTube video of my overnighter. But it is also an example of why I love Texas winter.

You might be wondering (I told myself) what life beyond instagram is like. Well, it is real. It is real in all the ways. 

A swept-back handlebar mood overtook me. It's been a fairly long while since a had a bike with anything besides drop bars or flat bars with minimal sweep.

The alarm sounded at 5:30am. It was time to begin. I didn't sleep well and considered another hour of snoozing. This was to be a solo outing, so no one was waiting for me. No one, that is, except May 2026 me expecting some basic ability to pedal a loaded bike up mountains. For this moment, on a dark late December morning, it was time to begin...brewing coffee.

A red tailed hawk perching on a fencepost looks proud and confident, perhaps even regal. Surely, however, he has his embarrassing moments. He sometimes misses the field mouse, his powerful and fierce dive into the grass turns into an awkward crash with feathers flying and talons empty. But he doesn't pout. He regroups, lifts himself into the air, finds another perch, and he sits there as self-assured as ever.

Nothing new, really.

After yesterday's short MTB ride, I was able to head to the grasslands for an overnighter. The weather was perfect. This is the kind of thing I endure summer to enjoy.

I took the Chumba hardtail MTB out today. I rode MTB trails. But there where no mountains, and I'm not really a mountain biker.

...or how custom panniers elevated my experience.

It was especially quiet in the grasslands today. I hardly saw anyone. But that was as expected, or at least, as I hoped.

It was the day after thanksgiving, and gun toting pickup trucks blanketed green gates like a bee swarm.

Thanksgiving is the best holiday, and we all know that, right? There is nothing more encouraging than gratitude. The fact that it falls precisely during the best time of year is providential.