gigemags1155

Anyone on the boards coming to Cleburne for the Goatneck tomorrow?? I will be there as I live here! Hope to see some of you guys out on the road in the morning.

StephenH

I'm planning to give it a shot. First time for me. I expect to be way in the back of it all.

gigemags1155

There are some good climbs on the route. I will be on the 42 miler probably toward the back as well. I haven't ridden since the Peach Pedal as I got sick after the ride and orders were to stay off the bike. We will see what I have in the tank though

StephenH

Well, I made it out there and rode the 69-mile route, and it worked out okay for me. There were hills, but most of them weren't terribly steep, so I did all right. I finished about 1:18, so a little under 6 hours. I'll try to post some pictures later.

truman

Good ride. I've always done shorter routes wth my kid and tandem, so this was my 1st look at the 70 mile course. My lighter bike is getting painted so I took the 30 lb. touring pig and finished a bit before noon. I was glad for the 28mm tires on the chipseal anyway.

Halfast

My first time doing this ride. It was a good ride with great support, but not near as hilly as I was lead to believe. Did the 70 miler, was done at exactly noon. A great prep ride for me for Hotter n' Hell!!

StephenH

The lineup in front of me:


The mascot on the middle bike above. I can identify!


Looking behind me at the start:


And riding:





The man from www.bicycle-stuff.com was out there, so check that site in a day or two, and he's liable to have a bunch of pictures posted.

aikigreg

Stephen, I was on a bent just ahead of my buds there and on the left side, with my pal on a lowracer. We had a 22.5 average into the first rest stop after Glen Rose until my derailleur hanger came loose and I had to sag. He ended with a 21.5 average r just under. It was a blast.

gigemags1155

Hey Stephen I saw you out on the course just didn't know that was your mascot!!! I love the turtle! I am glad everyone enjoyed the ride. I too thought it was a great ride and enjoyed the support that was provided stopping traffic etc.!

StephenH

I'm slow, but the turtle bike is not mine- the lady on that bike was sitting on the curb to the right when I took the picture. I just happened to be behind them, I don't know them. I was on the bike in my avatar picture.

Greg, sorry about the mechanical, but sounds like you had some good workout before you got to that point, too. Dan passed me just a mile or two into the ride, don't know if he caught up with the front people or not.

Riding through Glen Rose was interesting. I'm thinking I need to go back and ride through more slowly with my camera sometime.

One thing that was nice about the ride for me was that I did it, but also felt good when I got done- no death-march type feeling or anything. And made good time, comparitively, at least.

I was expecting bad hills, but they really weren't that bad. Most of them, I was able to just ride on over, albeit with some heavy breathing and reduced speed. I think I stopped twice on uphills, once on the "Goatneck Climb" section, once on a climb on that outer loop. On the Goatneck Climb, there was a shorter steeper part that i stopped halfway up, then a longer less steep part that I just rode on up. Several of the hills were fairly gradual slopes that worked great for me. Going out of Cleburne was all downhill for a couple of miles, and I dreaded the ride back in, so it was neat to find out it was not uphill back into town.

Griffin2020

I rode the 41, but left with the 69 milers. It was a bit of a clusterf out on the roads at first, but once things spread out a bit it was better.

I did not stop at any of the rest stops, or on any of the climbs, and finished in just about 2 1/2 hours.

StephenH

At the start, I couldn't really tell if there was any order or not. So I just got in the pack where I could, and took it easy until we were all spread out- typical charity ride. Sometimes, they try to get the longer-distance people in front, which is pointless because they're not always the fastest.
I stopped at each and every rest stop.
Stopping on the climbs is a single-speed thing. Or an overweight-guy-on-single-speed-cruiser thing, depending on how you look at it. I also passed a few people on climbs- another single-speed thing. There was this one lady that I passed about 6 times on the climbs, then she'd catch me on the level or downhill, riding on her aerobars.

Griffin2020

Yeah...Goathead climb was a hill that I would have had to stop on previously, but I am getting stronger and lighter.
I really did not think that the chipseal was horrible on this ride. I have seen MUCH, MUCH worse recently.

I normally stop, but once I had made it halfway without stopping, I figured, what the hey...may as well go on.

spaceballs

Does anyone know how many riders were out there?

StephenH

Somewhere, I saw mention of a 2,500 number, based on previous years. Possibly email the organizers and ask.

www.bicycle-stuff.com has ride pictures up. I caught up with John along the way. I think what he did was go the 40 mile route, taking pictures as he went, then stopped halfway up Goatneck hill and took pictures. But I don't think he waited there for the 69-mile riders. So if you were on the 40-mile route and slower than him, look for your picture. If you were faster than him or on the 69-mile route, check the first 100 or so pictures and peruse the rest when you run out of anything to do.

slowpace

John does a very good job with his website. He provides pictures for quite a few rides and allows riders to submit reviews for area rides. It seems that his favorite spot on the Goatneck is at the top of that hill.He likes to get people suffering I guess.

Slo

jaws

Anybody know the details on the Goatneck Mountain climb? Elevation at bottom & top, distance, grade percentage. I know there was a sign at the bottom but didn't see it until passing it. Thanks,

slowpace

https://www.mapmyride.com/view_route?...1&rs=undefined

gdalivestock

I was expecting bad hills, but they really weren't that bad. Most of them, I was able to just ride on over, albeit with some heavy breathing and reduced speed. I think I stopped twice on uphills, once on the "Goatneck Climb" section, once on a climb on that outer loop. On the Goatneck Climb, there was a shorter steeper part that i stopped halfway up, then a longer less steep part that I just rode on up. Several of the hills were fairly gradual slopes that worked great for me. Going out of Cleburne was all downhill for a couple of miles, and I dreaded the ride back in, so it was neat to find out it was not uphill back into town.

Where is the "Goatneck Climb" section? Just curious!

StephenH

"Where is the "Goatneck Climb" section? Just curious!"

If you look on the map of the 69 mile route, you have the route for the 40-mile distance, then there is a separate loop that takes off to make the 69 mile route. The "Goatneck Hill" was right past that cutoff. So if you rode the 69 mile route, you rejoined the shorter route (and there was a rest stop there), then a couple of miles up the road was the hill. I wouldn't have known which hill it was, except there was a little sign that said "Goatneck Hill" or something of the sort at the bottom of it.

And, gda, I'm wondering if that was y'all I saw on the 69 mile route? I was riding the yellow bike in my avatar picture, and making slow time on the route. I saw a man and woman there, with the man older, then later, heard the woman call him "dad". If that was y'all, you sure don't look 69- keep on cycling!

aikigreg

the goatneck is done. They just repaved most of the route with enourmous boulder-chipseal.

spaceballs

This is since the race? There was a bit of rough chipseal at around mile 30 that shook my speedo off, but that was just for a mile or two.

If this is true, this would be a tragedy.

aikigreg

Yes, it was done after the race, and I'd say covers half the course now.