The ride was memorable right from the start. About half way out to Fulshear it occurred to me that I hadn't loaded the Flevo seat pads in the truck. On further reflection I remembered that the last time I had seen the seat pads (last night) they were sitting on the seats. Although I've had the seat pads covered, I've never gotten around to getting some velcro and sticking them to the seat. I could see in my rear view mirror that the seat pads were no longer on the bike. I suddenly realized that I had driven off with the seats just sitting on the bike and that they had undoubtedly been blown off the trailered bike and onto the freeway. After calling Z to tell him what happened and that, at best, we'd be late for the ride, we turned the truck around and headed back to the house to retrace our route and look for the seat pads. To my immense relief I found one of them in our neighborhood. The second one was lying on the Southwest Freeway at the Chimney Rock exit. With a little coaxing I got Liz to dash out and grab the seat cushion. It's wasn't as dangerous as it sounds as there was no traffic at all (remember, this is early New years Day). The ride itself was uneventful compared to our freeway search. There were literally no cars and no bikes anywhere on the roads around Fulshear. I guess their drivers were all in bed with hangovers. All of us had suited up for the cold weather and Liz had a chance to try out her new earmuffs. We rode the "Neighborhood" route. I felt so good after we completed the route that I asked Liz if she felt up to doing Polo Fields as well (another 15 miles or so). She has a sore back from working on the new bathroom, however, and declined. So, we reluctantly ended the first of what I hope will be many fun rides this year.
