Oh man is Winter here!!!
I woke up this morning hungry. I intentionally ate lite last night because I had intentions of making Dr. Robert Atkins proud at Cooper's Pit BBQ in Llano, TX today with a hearty meal-o-meat.
I put on my favorite ridin' jeans and grudgingly put on a light jacket because it was a chilly 60 in Austin Hill Country
and I knew it would be much colder by the time I got home.
My son rode on the back as we headed out Rt. 1431 W. through the twisty hills. We pretty much had the road to ourselves.
The sites vary from mountains, to valleys, to rivers, to rural towns, to lakes, to boating communities, and from twists and turns and ups and downs to wide open rode.
After 80 miles, we finally arrived. We smelled the grills long before we saw them.
Behind the restaurant, are two fire "silos" where they burn the wood. From there, the hot embers are taken and placed under one of the many outdoor BBQ pits. These pits are like large metal refrigerators on their side, so the lid/door is raised to tend the meat. When you get there, you wait in line outside. As you approach the door, there is one of these large pits with the final product. You can select from baby back ribs, giant beef ribs, brisket, T-bone, sirloin, prime rib, sausage, chicken and the largest most tasty chops in the world.
I tried something different this time and went for sausage, 2 beef ribs, and brisket. That alone was enough to feed a family (so was the price). My son did the same and substituted chicken for sausage. Didn't I tell you Atkins would be proud!
No, I'm not on the Atkins diet.Now before you go thinking I'm a pig, you have to know that I've been here before, and I came prepared with a collapsible cooler and some ice packs for the left-overs. But of course I ate everything... like a pig. I had to go back outside and get more, just so I didn't come home empty handed. That's a mistake you only make once! Another mistake you should only make once, but I seem to do more often than I care to admit, is eat the leftovers before they have a chance to become left over, especially before you have to get back on your bike.
On the way back, we stopped off at an overlook to look at Llano and Lake LBJ
and adjust our belts.
One thing to look out for on Rt. 1431 are cattle gates. They are bars stretching across the road that cattle will not cross because the can't walk on them. To a bike, the are a speed dip, rather than a speed bump. I noticed that we seemed to be taking them a lot harder than we used to, but oh well, probably needed air in the shocks.
We eventually arrived home and began unpacking. I placed the cooler on the ground so I could place my helmet back in my tour pack. My wife emerged wide eyed from the house and offered "hi-good trip?-where's the food?". I pointed to the ground, and quick snatch-and-go maneuver later she was gone.
I stayed out and checked over the bike. All's well... including the air pressure in the shocks. hmmm.
On a whim, I made may way to the bathroom scale. Well, lets just say Winter's here, and I could hibernate like a bear and be none the worse for wear come spring time. Time to exercise some control... yeah right. I have SEUC-OCD and BBQ-OCD, and a few other OCDs. I am already making plans to hit the Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood.
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Topic: The Winter Weight (Read 3105 times)