beeballman

one week from tomorrow is the ride. Weather looks like it will be nice (unlike Portland). Here is to hoping that I am prepaired for the 90. I have been working my butt off riding 50-60 mile rides in the hills we have around here on the weekends with smaller rides a couple times a week. I feel ready. I can see the vast improvement since I started training. To everyone on the forum that is riding the event, lets hope to have a safe and fun ride. Maybe we will even meet up along the route somewhere. ( might be the one passed out on the big climb!) I will be easy to recognize..I am wearing a bright blue Ratatouille Jersey and Bib Shorts. (from the Disney Movie) on my bright red Trek 1500. If you see me along the route say hello. See everyone in Austin!

monza

Forecast says low 64, high 87...should be a good day for riding...bring sunscreen...ride safe, have fun!

CardiacKid

For you that are coming from more northern climates, this means stay hydrated. Start on Thursday. Try and drink at least 2 liters of water on Saturday. Drink at least 1 bottle between each rest stop. For people in Austin, this is cool weather. However, if you are from Chicago, you might disagree. Hopefully the heat up there this week will get you acclimated.
Make sure you go to the bathroom before you get in line. Lance is always late and the bathrooms at the first rest stop always have long lines. Luckily there are more trees along the right of way than last year.

Grasschopper

LOL I am from PA...it was 86° here yesterday...should be a smooth transition. Man when is fall going to get here?

beeballman

Coming from Florida..88 is a cool spell!

Grasschopper

Well I have been in town for a couple of days now...doing some riding in the West Lake Hills area. The weather seems nice so far.

Grasschopper

Well we did it..."90" mile loop...well it was only 87.5 but it was a mile from the parking lot to the start and then that back...so maybe they could that and round up.

We were slow...I was waiting a lot for my ride buddy...but MAN do those roads suck. What was there like a grand total of 1 mile of smooth pavement? Maybe? TX chip seal blows ass...PA chip seal is SOOOO much smoother and I don't think you could connect 86 miles of chip seal. All this and I was riding on a nice steel bike...wow was that constant buz a PITA (litterally) and in the feet, hands, shoulders, lower back.

Quick dip in the hot tub and I am feeling better though...time to head out to the County Line for dinner. WOOHOO.

So what did everyone else think? Anyone see the fat guy on the red bike with the BF Texas jersey? That was me. LOL

monza

Good job! I did the 60 but my flight deck said 68 miles. Yes the pavement sucked but the scenic course more than made up for it...plus cloud cover for the bulk of my day.

rule

I was really hoping that there would have been more cattle guards.

monza

I saw a couple of water bottles rattle out going over those guards...

Grasschopper

Pfft that's nothing. I saw a bottle cage on the ground after a cattle crossing.

tourist

No doubt the cattle guards were the worst, but the ride was over all better in Drippin' Sprangs.

regomatic

This was my 4th LAF ride, 1st on tandem. There was plenty of chip seal and rough road on the old route so I was expecting it and willing to trade for virtually no traffic. The weather was perfect for us, the last couple of years were much cooler before the start and then very hot and windy only a couple of hours later. The overcast skys kept the heat under control until later in the AM. The hills were a bit of a challenge on the big bike, we were very glad that we'd made to trips to TN in May and August in preparation.

The staff, volunteers and spectators along the way did a great job. Overall we had a great time!

monza

It sure was nice turning on 290 and heading back to the high school...nice fresh, smooth asphault. What relief. But it was short lived...the rough stuff came back for a bit, but then there was the school, and food, and beer...

regomatic

mmmmmm......beer.

dan.lavelle

No joke, I came back from Austin with 11 LiveStrong water bottles that I collected at the cattle gaurds that no one came back from.

I hope everyone had a great time in Austin, I was out on the course most of the day in the support vehicle as Course Marshall Coordinator. For the first hour I was the very first cattle gaurd on the course with the megaphone, so I'm sure alot of you heard me yelling "LEFT TURN, CATTLE GAURD". Later in the afternoon I was at the bottom of the big hill with the 110* left turn back across the low water crossing (about 6miles away from the finish) and got to see at least 10 people ignore my yelling and go straight into the water bike n' all.

Got to shake hands with "Big Tex" as they called Lance on the radios all day, so that was cool....ya'll should've seen his group flying by people on the road: they did a double-take, shifted up 8 gears, and then sprinted as fast as they could to get close to him before they got dropped again. Very admirable.

See everyone next year!
-Dan

beeballman

Man O Man the Hills. Glad I put in some training on the little bitty hills here in Clermont! It was a Challenge but I am happy to say I finished! Had to stop a few times towards the end and walk/stretch out some bad cramps in my left calf muscle, but did not get sag'ed! I made it, yeah for me. The scenery was just wonderful, all the volunteers were incredible! Well worth the trip across the country and for a great cause! Rough roads to say the least! After the fourth time of my Garmin shutting off due to the bumps I stowed it in my back pocket! Only got the first 18 miles mapped so that was kind of a bummer. If you know anyone who got the whole course tracked please send me the link so I can download it.

Did anyone else see the bad crash at the water crossing? I got there right after it happened, and wow those cattle gaurds! The last two were nasty ones with the concrete all jacked up in front of them. My bike made it through the day, I did see several broken chains, and flats.

I can not wait till next year!!! Seeing Chris Carmichael at the convention center was Great!

pwherman512

Hey all,
Glad to hear everyone made it ok. I swear those roads were 100 times worse on Sunday than they were in training. My buddy lost his seat mounted bottle cage- just snapped in half! His front fork also cracked early on which made us slow down a lot! My back was gone by the end with those bumps.

My father came down from Chicago (he is a survivor) and I had a jersey made for him that I wore and then gave it to him at the end- he loved it. To be honest, last year I forgot what this ride is REALLY all about- cancer and the people it effects. As a very competitive person I looked at it as a ride to kick ass on, but having my dad here really made me think about it all. It was awesome to see everyone at the 5K and then the ride. My folks and friends were blown away by how special the whole weekend was.

See "y'all" next year.

beeballman

So that was your friend water bottle cage on the ground! Rough I would say so, but I was so reved up and emotional as I crossed the line. They wanted to Sag me, and I said no! Let me walk it out (cramp) and I finished the last 6 miles! I was too close!

pwherman512

That is awesome that you finished without SAG!!! When I rode in the Shiner Bash this year I rode up on a guy sitting on the side of the road about 15 miles out. He was done. I told him he would never forgive himself if he stopped so close. He drafted behind me till about 2 miles out when I hit the wall (the wind was Biblical). So I stopped and said that was it and enjoy the finish line. He refused to let me quit and we rode on (after a lot of inner fighting with myself). Anyways, as I crossed that finish line I honestly teared up. I had just pushed myself harder than ever and I won. I love hearing stories from other riders that pushed on despite the pain and elements and did it. Congrats to you for saying no to SAG!

regomatic

Here's a screen shot of the elevation profile from my Garmin. Try to find a flat spot.

beeballman

Did you have trouble keeping your unit to stay on? Mine kept shutting down because of the bumps? Where abouts in Orlando are you from? I am from Winter Garden.

regomatic

No problems with my "unit" or my GPS either. I have an Edge 305HR, stoker has an eTrex Legend.

We live in Waterford Lakes, south of UCF. We ride with the Freewheelers, Lakemont group or Seminole Cyclists depending on our schedule or desired effort level.

Grasschopper

Hmm...I didn't think the hills were that bad...and I didn't hardly train at all this year. I hadn't ridden longer than 35 miles other than the CBM which is 63 miles. I was glad the hills while some of them long were mostly gradual...and the steep ones were pretty short.

If the pavement had been smooth it would have been a pretty enjoyable ride.

beeballman

I read somewhere that some of the 205 units have problems with shutting off, maybe I got one of those units. I have contacted Garmin to see.