I got my roadie back from the shop today with a new tune-up and new bar tape, cables etc.  I had class today from 12 to 3 so I rode the fixed gear to school and back and then came home and stretched and fueled up before going to ride.  So I took my usual route from home to Memorial Park where I ride the "Picnic Loop" for a few laps for some good training.  It is 1.15 miles per lap with plenty of curves.  The only thing it lacks is a hill.  I think the road does elevate about 3 or four inches in a couple of places but that's the extent of the hill country in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.  However as I was stopped at one of the stop signs on the bike trail just before the park a nice H.P.D. sergeant pulled up and said his hellos and asked about my bike and the sponsor stickers on it etc. before laying on me that the park was closed for xxxxxxx and I would not be able to ride on that side of the park.  For those of you unaware, Memorial Park is the Houston version of Central Park.  There are great mountain biking and jogging trails, picnic areas, and the paved loop for skating and cycling (they also do the local Memorial Park Crit series there) a pool, a golf course etc.  It is over 1,400 acres.  Okay sorry about the rant there.  So I decide to go ride on the non cycling side with traffic and as I am coming around to go back on Memorial Drive a fake cop starts whistling at me, stepping out of his car which he has the entrance to the other side of the park blocked with.  I am sure he is trying to employ his new found duty to keep all the cyclists out of the park.  But, I already know that and just watch the light, and the traffic and wait for my opening to get onto Memorial.  I continue to wait and he continues to whistle and yell "Hey You..." and I just look in his direction without answering.  I'm not going to the park so I don't need to play his stupid game where he gets to tell me I can't go in the park.  He yells at me just before I take off  "I know you hear me.  You will respect my authority and pay attention to me this second.  You are not coming into the park so you can just forget it and I will stop you from coming in so don't think just because you ignore me I am going to ignore you.  I just continued to watch traffic and chuckle to myself because he has yet to say "Excuse me, Sir".  As I start to make my turn he yells "I told you you ain't comin' in this here park so don't try nothin'."  I said "Oh boy, here we go.  First of all, I'm not coming in the park.  I wasn't planning on coming in the park, nor do I answer to whistles like a some kind of dog."  His response "Who you callin' boy?  Who you callin' boy?  Oh hell naw.  Who's you callin boy?"  Then his partner who is obviously no stranger to a dinner table jumps (okay rolls) out of the car and says "Who's a boy.  You's is the boy and you AIN'T comin' in the park".  So I just kept riding and giggled to myself.  It is really insulting to me to have assumptions like that made.  I won't rant on that but it's ridiculous and there won't be change until that attitude disappears.  Come on people, it is 2008!

So that was interesting.  THEN when trying to find a safe route back to my destination after my ride on the other side of the park a few laps, I had to take the MTB trail because the paved route was all one way in directions I did not need to be going.  So in doing so there were a couple of spots where I had to get off and trod through a bit of mud.  No biggie, right?  As I come to the intersection where I would have to travel with the vehicular traffic I came to a stop and did a track stand for a few seconds before realizing the light was going to be a few.  As I tried to unclip...well you know the drill when you have muddy Speedplays right?  Yeah!  I did it.  I did the slow-mo side dive.  As is my routine I stood up, dusted myself off and did bows in the direction of all the observing stopped cars, getting a couple of honks and a couple of applauds.  I get my shoes off, disengage them from the pedals, wash them as best I can with my water bottle and tire tool and go on my merry way home.  As I was almost home, at the last intersection before my complex, I had dejavu except this time it was on pavement.  So apparently I had not removed all of the mud from my speedplay cleats.  To wit, I have nice raspberries on both my knees (AGAIN!).  It's okay though, my new white tape is still all white.  The crap thing is though that the cleats were basically glued to the pedals and I had to force them off.  When I did so, the whole damn cleat stayed on the pedal and the adapter broke off from my shoe.  Luckily the shoe is still intact so I just have to replace the cleats (which were way overdue anyway).  So today's lessons are:  don't use the term "boy" in any form in any conversation even if it isn't racist in nature when talking to overweight rental cops.  The other lesson is one that should be common sense:  make sure ALL debris is cleared out of your cleats before reingaging them into your clipless pedals.  Mud is basically glue for those things unless they are cleats that are designed for MTB or CycloX riding.

Nontetheless, I had a great ride!  I hit 35 again on a flat (okay that is all we have here is flats) which is something I don't often do yet.  It is still awesome considering the first time I rode a roadie I was excited when I broke 20.  I also need to go back to the LBS though because my derailleurs are WAY off.  I rode the whole trip dialed out on the big ring.

Ride safely.  Ride clean!

P.S.  I LOVE MY WIFE!