Ok, here's the short yet complete review of the day's ride yesterday:
6:30am: out the door here in Dallas, google maps told me it would be a 1hr, 30min drive so I figured I'd be there at 8am for the 9am start. Plenty of time to register, get ready, warm up a bit, etc.
7:35am: roll into Bonham a bit on the early side. Got a fantastic parking place right next to the starting line. The ride organizers had people out directing traffic into town right up to the parking places. Registration was held in doors, which was nice since the temps were still a tad cool for my shorts and Tshirt.
Took my time getting ready, watching the other cyclists come through to the registration area, etc. Finally decided about 15min to 9 that I'd warm up the legs a tad. On my way around the block found Doggus and his wife getting ready to head to the starting line with their tandem. Followed them over to the starting line where we met up with a few other PBA members for the start.
Just before 9 the racers took off. Weren't many of them, and we all got a laugh about the start of the race. "Ready, and... go!" went over the loud speaker, and that was it. The sherriff's car and motocycles were going to lead the racers out, but I don't think they were quite ready to go.
Then we were off. First things first, make the first turn which featured lovely loose sandy gravel, and a nice large bump. Suggestion for next year, don't start us off so close to a turn. The front of the pack that I was in missed the first turn in town and had to take a small detour before meeting back up with the middle of the pack. We all had fun with that too. A light hearted start to the morning.
Then the real 'fun' started. Right out of town the road surface changed to VERY fresh VERY rough chipseal. I was thankful I was riding steel with traditional wheels that took some of the harshness away. I could only imagine what a 80's cannondale would feel like on that stuff. And of course we also had the wind in our face. And of course this is when the first climbs of the day started. Probably 3 or 4 decent climbs shattered the pack. I kept my own pace, let Doggus and the faster pack go, while staying ahead of the next fastest pack through the first two hills. The second pack caught me on the downhill off the 2nd hill, but I passed them again on the uphill. Repeat for the 4th.
About 6mi in, the road turned south out of the wind, and for that, all were thankful. The road also smoothed out, and the major climbs were over will until Leonard. The middle section of the ride was very enjoyable. Weather was perfect, winds were never in our face for too long. I decided to go the 46mi route instead of the 62 knowing I had school work to get done when I got home in the afternoon.
I rolled into Leonard knowing what was coming. Hills. It has been over a year since I'd taken the Leonard hills after bypassing them last month at the Cotton Patch Classic. I downed a PowerGel at the rest stop and some CytoMax before taking off again. Right after the rest stop I was passed by a group of 3 racers whom I tried to stay with for a little while (ya right). Then the hills came, the first two weren't bad at all, spun up them with realtive ease. The third one got me out of the saddle half way to the top. And the fourth is just mean. Bottoms out, then slowly climbs for a short distance bleeding off any speed you had, then turns skyward through a turn in the road so you don't see the top till you're about half way up.
The last 12mi after Leonard was quite nice again. Some rollers, some gentle ups and downs, one small stretch into the wind again where I met up with a woman riding a fixed gear Masi. We traded off pulling down the road a 19-21mph till we turned north out of the wind again and I set back to enjoy the scenery again and take the camera out.
The last 3-4mi into town my stomach started feeling a tad upset and was happy when I rolled through the town square (after one last little uphill into the square) and back to the start/finish line. Doggus rolled in from the 62mi ride only about 5-8min after I finished. He and his wife had done the 66mi route non-stop and were happy to be done. We relaxed a bit in the shade before I finished packing up and headed back into town. Over all, a great ride on a great day to ride.
