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Club Ride Reviews: Below are member reviews of past charity rides we have done. Use these remarks in choosing a ride you may want to attend in the future. Real Ale Ride (5/31/08)
Bill - Whew. The LTC weekend was dominated by the Real Ale Ride. I think everyone will agree that this was a challenging ride and very well run. Tons of riders. Probably the best marked course I’ve ridden ever (flagmen at every corner and well-stocked feed zones). We had over 15 riders at this ride which made it all the more enjoyable. Cool air and a breeze in the AM gave way to a hot and sometimes windless afternoon. This course had relentless climbing (over 4000 feet total), only a few steep (80 mi. route had a 16 degree climb) and long ones (65 route had a 2-3 mi. climb), but just relentless…one after the other after another. Great festivities after the ride (beer and BBQ). Thanks to all who came out and made it such a great day. I think I saw everyone attending, plus a few more SWC guys. We also did some recruiting there as there were at least 6 LTC jerseys there. Ken & Bruce - Bill, after reading your email below, Bruce and I have decided to create ...The Vanway-McDonald Complaint Department, being that we are DUTCH and SCOTCH and love to complain: 1) We spent 30 minutes on Hwy 281 trying to be able to turn into the 1-lane road to the parking event as they kept letting the northbound cars go but not the southbound; very frustrating way to begin. 2) Although I preregistered, they ran out of shirts and gift bags; said I could either pick them up at the Bike Shop or they'd mail them to me; however, they didn't say whether I had to do something to choose between the 2 options; when asked how they could run out on pre-registereds, they just said they were a volunteer and had not other information. 3) Because of the disorganized crowds at the start, we missed our 65-mile start and had to go w/ the 50-milers. 4) We almost missed our route right after we turned off of Hwy 281 since there was a fork in the road w/ no markings. 5) Since the lines were so long at the START, we decided to wait until the 1st rest stop to go to the restroom; they had a whopping 2 toilets for 75 people in line; we must have waited another 20 minutes. 6) At one of our stops, they ran out of water ... and it was only 10:30. 7) The FINISH banner was down before we passed and there were lots behind us. 8) Why don't they ever put out some chairs or benches for someone besides the volunteers to sit on at the rest stops? POSITIVES: 1) At a couple of spots they held our bikes for us. 2) Beautiful countryside. 3) Iced cloths to cool off. Armadillo Hill Country Classic 5/10/08 ![]() Bill - Rode the Armadillo Hill Country Classic in Liberty Hill. Biggest local ride this year so far, it was HUGE, and awesome roads. I saw Bruce, Ken, Joe, Sue, Roy, Andrew and Brian. Did not see Dylan & his dad, Dayna or Ronnie. Doesn't mean they weren't there. I just didn't see them. I did 108, so did Andrew and Brian. Roy, Bruce and Ken did 63.5 Sue did 54 and Joe did the 82.4. Great start, 108's rolled out 1st. I was in the lead pack and pulled, (off and on) for about 6 miles. That pack broke up and I was in the 2nd bunch. Nice long 8-10 man paceline cruising along. Lost some at the second pit stop also quite a few of the lead group turned back at 44 miles (mostly AT&T). From that 44 mile stop about 5 of us went out. We went about 1.2 miles when we saw Cory (ATC) and a group of four looking at their maps. We all thought we were lost, but kept plugging. Looking for a direction sign, worried we were riding to Waco. Finally we saw a sign and everyone cheered. We were now about 18 (double paceline). We started reeling in some of the stragglers of the lead group that continued. At 62, Cory and another Tri guy went off the front and I went with him. Another guy bridged up and we were four. The tri guys did most of the pulling. At 70 they all stopped and I kept going, putting some time into them. At 80 I stopped to refill water bottels and saw Cory go by. I jumped on his wheel but he left me after about 2 miles. So I was solo for the last 33 miles. At 88 there was the one monster hill and it killed me. I pretty much bonked after that, Kept looking back and no one was in sight. 23-25 mph on slight downhils but 12 on climbs (about 16-17 on flats), no legs left and my thighs were cramping pretty bad (even after trying pickel juice). Passed the last feedstop w/ 6 to go. Thought I had it made. By this time it was beating sun and HOT. With 3, YES THREE to go my original paceline with the addition of LTC riders Andrew and Brian (5 or 6 in all), swept by me , I charged to stay on their wheel but they lost me on a short climb. After that I was pissed and in some kind of twilight zone altered state. Every mile felt like about 10. Finally I spotted the school and rolled in. Roy and Andrew and Brian were there to greet me and I stopped to talk, but was feeling like crap and my feet were on fire. Stripped in the car and put my shorts on and cranked the A/C full blast and just lay ed back in my seat for about 5 minutes. Stopped at the school for a cold tea and drove home. Ken and Bruce had already left when I got there. Great ride by Andrew and Brian (our Lago boys). And Roy looked like he could do anothet lap when I rolled up. Big ride for Joe as well, I don't think he's been 80 this year. Certainlty a sufferfest. We were averaging 19.4 thru 55 miles. But my soloing and bonking droopped it to 18 even. Top speed this ride was 41 mph. Weighed 162 after the ride, but back to 165 now. Ride gets 4 stars. Even though it was huge and wel protected. the organizers, left some holes in their route signage and there was no pomp and circumstance. You finished, and you drove away. Hardly anyone at the finish. Red Poppy Ride 4/26/09 ![]() Bill - Met Ken, Tim, Stacy and Joe at the bank at 6:20. Rolled to Gtown. Arrived in plenty of time to register. Ride rolleed out on time. I hung w/ Tim and Ken as we were going to run a paceline. On my pull I acccidently got away, looked back and didn't see anyone, so I hit it to chase the front group of about 8 (AT&T and Violet Crowns). Got in a 6 man chase. Took a pull on a fast downhill and ran right by a turn sign. Looked back about 300 yards later and saw everyone going a different way. Turned around and started chasing back to that group. Fairly flat 21 to 23 mile per hr. straights. Most rollers were taken at 18+. Was losing ground on the chase when a very fast tandem rolled up and by. I tagged on its heel and we were kicking it at 26 w/ a fantastic draft. I thanked them for the pull but didn't say much else because of the pace. The next downhill the guy in back squirted me w/ his water bottle and the stormed away. I stood up to try and stay on, but couldn't. By this time they had pulled me into some stragglers from the chase. Got w/ one and we paced, then another joined. The 1st was too slow on his pulls and the second stopped at a rest stop. That left me to go solo again and try and catch another guy I saw way ahead. Reeled him in as I was hitting stride between mile 35 and 50. Power was excellent and I was watching my speed and not dropping below 20 mph. Rollers 18.5. At about 5 to go I caught an AT&T guy (off the front group) and we rolled in the rest of the way. We traded pulls for a bit, but with 1 to go we rode in together.. Top speed was 34 mph. Just simply felt really strong today. Stacy was there when I rolled up. Tim and Ronnie came in together and Ken shortly thereafter. We ate hotdogs and chatted with all of the finishers and that was that. I was 12th or 13th finisher in the metric century. I got two different numbers from the RD's. The no. 1 finisher gets to wear no.1 number next year. Ken and Tim were in a couple of different pacelines and were moving at quite a clip. EVERYONE had a blast at this ride. Weather again was perfect. We have been so lucky thusfar this year. This ride, probably even over the Pedal Power, was the concensus favorite thusfar. Certainly for the start finish fanfare. Ride had a true finish line w/ quite charactor on the microphone. Lots of motorcycles and folks on the route warning about water on the road and rough road surfaces. At the finish there were hotdogs, a massage table and St. David's Hospital was taking free blood pressure readings. School showers were available, which you don't see often. LBJ 100 (4/19/08) ![]() Bill - Sue, Ken, Bruce and I represented LT Cycling at this rally. Got up at 5:30 am, showered, loaded up and met Ken at FNB at 6:00 am. Bruce arrived shortly after. Off we went in Ken's car. Arrived at LBJ park in plenty of time. Saw Sue and a friend at the start. Lucy Johnson bid us farewell and we were off at 8:00 am. The boys started off at a nice clip, we met up w/ Sue and her friend for a short while. From there I could see the lead pack of about 10 ahead. I got in a very well organized paceline of about 18 and drafted a bit. Sue, Ken and Bruce were in this paceline I believe. We were gaining on the front 10 and I took a pull and went off the front w/o knowing it. When I saw I was off, I stepped it up a bit and bridged to the lead group. "Z" from Harlingen and I attacked off the front of that group and got away until the lead group was out of sight. I drafted him in the flats and he followed me up the hills. After about 3 miles we saw the chase coming back and at the bottom of the next hill we were 8. At the 1st feed area 5 stopped. Z and a guy from Corpus (Charmichael Training Systems kit) and I kept going. We saw no one else the entire race. We passed the first 3 feedzones w/o stopping. About 45 miles in (on a hill) I dropped from my big ring and lost my chain. Z and Corpus werer pulling away. Got it back on and chased again (lucky it was a hill) and caught a rear tire in about a mile. They joked that they were ready for me to pull when I got back on. Everyone pulled really well, though not very organized. I was the only one who pulled over after a pull. The other two pulled until they slowed so much someone just passed. Charmichael TS was the strongest, then Z and me, I pulled the shortest pulls (but also the most), and pulled up all the hills. We stopped at the last feedzone just long enough for Z to pee and Carmichael and I to mash down 1/2 PBJ and a banana and were off again. Still no metric centurys in sight. We were now passing alot of the shorter distance riders. Not sure why, but Z put the hammer down the last couple of miles back to the ranch (along the river). We were hitting 24-26 (flat but slight tailwind) and my legs were beginning to cramp. We crossed the river and settled down and rode the last 1.5 miles pretty easy. I didn't want to finish first as I felt they had done more work, but we all three finished on the LBJ airport runway three abreast. What a great feeling, what a great ride, what a great day. Felt really strong, and even though it wasn't a race, finishing at the front really felt good. Ken came blasting in a bit later with a big smile on his face and Bruce soon thereafter. We all had a good time and stopped and ate at a greasy spoon on 290 in Johnson City (AC felt great)on the way home. I think everyone was suprised and happy with teir performances. Ken and Bruce had not gone 60+ before and really had no problems and rode pretty durn fast. I finished in 3:14:20 w/ an average speed of 18.96 mph. I will do this ride again. No free food at start or finish. No formal finish line or post-race activity. Everyone just left as they finished. Great race - but not a social race. Pedal Power Wildflower Ride (4/5/08)
James - I am glad that eveyone had a good time. I've done a number of rides in the Johnson City area, and the scenery never disappoints. I rolled past a couple of LT jerseys and tried to say hello to as many as I saw. I only did the 36 miler pulling the trailer. I should have done the 60 miler, but I was afraid my son would not want to be cooped up that long. It turned out that he had a blast. He especially liked the cheese at rest stop #3. My ride stats were 34.6 miles in 2 hours 9 minutes with a 15.8 average. Not a bad day for pulling 50 pounds of kid and trailer. Roy - Good ride for me. I saw only Tim and Bill. Although this ride was well marked, when I change to a new road I verify and look at the cues for the next change. I have a map holder on my handlebars to facilitate. I also plan the ride before I begin. Being a slow rider almost everyone passes me. But, one youngster in his 50s blasted past me, but dropped back. "How many miles to go," he asked. "About 25." "I must have made a wrong turn, my odometer is over 100." He dropped me in a few seconds. "Eternal vigilance is the price of safe navigation." The route was rolling with only one big hill being on the Willow City loop about five miles out. Some really strong riders with power to spare rode up it. Most walked the steepest part which is about 150 feet. A few had to walk most of the way up.I walked the 150 feet as the energy cost was just too high. There were at least 25 more miles to go. In Willow City at the rest stop there was no water. I had consumed almost two quarts since the last rest stop about 12 miles before. I made a serious mistake at that point. I know better. I needed at least a pint to re-hydrate before pulling out plus at least a quart in the heat to make it to the next rest stop eight miles distant. I had planned to pass that stop and go the the last one before the finish. But, plans are formulated to be modified. I made it to that next stop where there was abundant water, hydrated and filled up two quarts to make it to the finish about 13 miles ahead. The last 25 miles were miserable as I was badly dehydrated. I was weak and had to walk up a hill. Properly hydrated, even slow roy would have gone up at 6 mph. Dehydration makes me a weakling and a coward. I have surgery on Monday, so I could take no Ibuprofen to ease muscle complaints and inhibit cramping. Adequate hydration stops much of that. But, they were giving out pickle juice. I consumed the last half bottle at the rest stop where we entered the Willow City loop. I am glad that I did. No cramps, but I did have some complaints from my legs. I plan to buy that pickle juice and stop the "vitamin I". All in all great 65 mile ride. Stacy - I had a great time for my first organized ride. I only did the 23 and thought when I returned I probably could have done the 36 (only if it didn't have more big hills). The turn at the last mile or so there was a HUGE hill ahead and I was thinking not another one the legs just can not do it. When I saw the group turn left I did a cheer that the couple right with me were enjoying my expression of pleasure in not taking on the next hill. Fun people to be with and I even did some business at the Cattleman's Pit Stop. I now know they owe me some mortgage loans or royalties on the builder I sent them a few years ago. Having 2nd thoughts for the San Antonio ride and maybe do the Liberty Hill Poppy ride??? It was great having so many from Lake Travis, even the ones John, Ken and I were trying to recruit. Bill - Great ride. Great LT Cycling turnout (TEN riders). We had myself (_thinair), Ronny, John (jmanicom), Stacy (ltsoccermom), Roy (reinarz), Sue (beecaveroadie), Joe (beecaver), Ken (sailorken), James (and son), & Tim (chichitao). Ride started out clear and chilly w/ NO WIND. After an hour into the ride the weather was absolutely perfect. You could not have asked for better. I think all our club members had a great time. Didn't get breakfast there but the spagetti lunch was excellent. Found out later I and the two I was riding w/ missed the 62 mile turnoff but kept seeing the 62 mile signs on the 38 mile ride. When we ended up back at the start/finish our odometers said 32 miles, so we thought the 62 was a loop, so we did it again. It wasn't until I got home that I got an email from the UT kid I was with that we missed the actual metric century. That's what we get for not taking the map out of the sign-up bag. The lead pack (Violet Crowns, Vellosimo and San Jose) was 100 yards in front of us and after a corner, they were gone. That must have been the turn we missed. What a drag. Route was well directed w/ signs. Just too much chatting and not paying attention. UT kid w/ us went down in the 2nd water crossing like he was on a slip & slide. He was unhurt but soaking wet. Definately a ride I'll do again and again. Very social w/ food and drink FREE before and after the ride. This was a social ride. Easter Hill Country Tour (3/22/08)
Bill - I'd give this ride a C- for organization and a A for pain. This ride is weird as there is no set start times for any of the races on any of the days. I arrived late (8:30 AM) as I didn't know it was 102 miles to Kerrville. So I started with about 5 people, none of which were opting for the 102 mile ride. I had a cue sheet wadded up in my left hand the whole ride. Way too many turns and too much navigation. Example: Main Street .09 miles to LEFT on A Street 75 yards to RIGHT on Hwy 27 1.3 miles to FM 1622 etc.. the whole way. Worst was hardly any signs. They had streamers tied to signs...what is that ? I rolled past several of them and they certainly didn't point any direction besides where the wind was blowing. Got lost twice and added 2.8 miles onto the ride. I rode 104.8. Nastiest part was the "wall" a huge, steep climb about 9 miles into the ride. Lots of people walking up. Many, like me, serpentining near the top. You make an unexpected left and stare up at this monster and go "uuugh"! It was very, very nasty, but there was a long gradual downhill after to recover. 104 was waaaay too long a ride for being off my bike for two weeks. Plus my rock hard carbon light-weight Specialized Toupe saddle wasn't great for that long a haul (could have used some padding). Lots of shifting around on the seat. Lots of folks did the 102. Many tri-athletes as there were alot of people running after the ride. I could barely stand. Got a real sunburn w/ almost 6 hours in the saddle and realized I'm in not too great shape aerobically. Rode OK, climbed poorly. Fastest speed this ride was my fastest ever - 44 mph. No one at the finish. Registration area was closed down when I got there and closed when I finished. People just rolled up to their cars and left. Not very social. I won't do this ride again (unless its all there is). Rich - I would have to dissagree with Thinair on this one. I thought it was awsome ride! Yes there were alot of hills, but no harder than riding a Austin Club ride for 50 miles in the west Travis county. Wednesday before the ride I rode Wimberley to Canyon Lake and back for 46 miles and I felt it was harder than Kerrville, but Kerrville was a lot longer. My brother in-law is the Vise president of the Fort Worth club so I was with groups of 10 to 20 from each rest stop, but most had major problems climbing, so I would come into the rest stops ahead of most. I guess the rolling hills from Round Rock up though Andice and back through Liberty hill and Cedar Park are better training than I expected. I would have to agree that is did not seem very social. They did have a dinner with a Live band and door prize drawings if you were present at the dinner, but I did not go to the dinner part. Being my first paid ride I had nothing to compare to except for Austin Club rides. I thought it was pretty well prepared, but yes if you were not with a group it would be very easy to get lost. I will go back every year to this ride. the ride rotates between the San Antonio Club, Houston Club, Fort Worth Club and one other I am not sure of. Oh by the way I hit over 45+ mph over a dozen times that day the fastest being 48.7. I stayed with two singles and a Tandem in a Draft at 27 mph for about 5 miles. That was awsome. There was some amazing hills and things to see. NovemberFest Metric Century (11/10/07)
Bill - Started at 9:00 AM. For about 3-5 miles there was a road with small (cable) ditches dug in it about every 10 meters. It was beating up bikes right and left. I felt sorry for the carbon guys. Despite the conditions I rode pretty well. Two packs went out early, only to be stopped by a train which brought all the leaders back together. The same train approached a track crossing again, but a few (15-18) of us beat it to the crossing, the rest had to wait on it again. The power groups stopped at a couple of feed zones, I didn't stop all ride, so I would pass them when they fed and they would catch and pass me after that. Several times I'd latch onto their wheels and draft, but usually I couldn't keep up the watts for very long. I sure like drafting, but rode 85% of this ride solo. Rode mostly with two guys who were pacing about like I was, both were younger and stronger. One finally we dropped and the other dropped me. The last 15K were miserable. Butt sore, legs ached, etc... It was basicall survival mode. I was tunnel vision and just trying to maintain a 15 mph pace. My Cateye said 58 mi., when the finish line showed up, so I was dreading 4 more miles when I got a great suprise. Riding this area is much different that the Hill Country. Pretty flat, but with some long rollers. Left pretty quickly after the race as I had 130 mi. drive home. Think I came in about 16th, certainly Top 20. There were TONS of people on this ride. We were passing alot of the 40 milers from about 16 miles out. Top speed on this ride was 30.9 mph. There was a big festival at the finish w/ great free food for the riders. Just too far from home. Tour de Gruene (11/3/07)
Bill - Got up at 6:00 am after sleeping about 5 hours. Worried I wouldn't make it to Gruene in time. Got there about 20 min. before start and registered. LOTS of riders. Real slick start. I was way back in the start and the girl in front of me crashed as we were one footing out, I fell into her and down. Felt really good in the ride. Made my way up fairly quickly to about the top 20 riders. There were two breakaway riders, then a tight group of about 6 and the a scattering of about 12-15 riders. I was amongst (near the back) of those. This group seperated itself from the rest by quite some distance. I passed some and was repassed again and again. My real weakness is topping out on a climb. I can pass in the early part of the climb, but have a hard time gearing back up as the grade eases near the top. Thats where I was consistently being passed. Road was pretty hilly and rough, but I'm used to that w/ Fitzhugh ride I do regularly. Finished w/ a young guy from AZ who could burn on the flats, but I'd recatch on the climbs (he was a big guy). Lucked out at the finish. The finish into Gruene Hall is a very short but very steep killer right after crossing the bridge. A car was going up that hill about 3 mph, worring about a rider going very slowly up on the right. Several riders slowed or stopped believing the car was blocking the way. I hit the bottom of the steep section at speed, geared down just right and stood, squeezing by the car on the right and passing the slow climber. I gained about 5 spots withing 50 feet of the finish. I think I finished about 15 or 16 and am pretty sure I was 1st in my age bracket (50+) as everyone in front of me looked pretty young. Max speed on ths ride was 36.1 mph. This was one of my favorite venues at it started right in front of Gruene Hall. Very festive and lots of riders. Atlas Ride (6/2/07)
Bill - Woke up at 6:00 AM for the ATLAS Ride. Chose the 80 mi. Best ride I have attended. About 300 riders led out the 1st leg of the Atlas Ride from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska. About 44 UT students will try to make the whole trip. We rode with them on their 1st leg. Liberty Hill to Lampasas. Ride started at 8:00 AM. Felt really good. Course was much flatter than I am used to training on. What rolling hills there were, were much smaller and shorter than where I train. Worked my way up to two riders just behind the break of about 15 riders. Drafted behind them for about 17 mi. They both stopped at the 1st food station so I went on and worked my way up to the lead group which had splintered by then. There were about 12 riders in that group and I locked onto the rear of that group. As that group began splitting up, I couldn't hang with the fastest 8 and was dropped, and on my own. Passed about 3 or 4 riders who had fallen off the breakaway and at the feedzone I stopped at (Feedzone 2, Burnet High School), where they had delicious smoothies, I was told there were 8 riders ahead of me. I stayed at the feedzone for about 5 minutes and no one rode up or bye. Course flattened out, so my average speed increased even more. At the next feed zone there were three riders stopped so I skipped it knowing that I was in 6th place. Still couldn't see anyone ahead. Finally I saw a rider who had bonked from that break and reeled him in and passed him quite easily. Rode most of the rest of the route solo. As we got closer to Lampasas the route got even flatter to maybe even a slight downhill. It was so nice. About a mile later a sign directed me to cross the highway and enter a BBQ Restaurant. That was the finish. There were four riders there before me, so I actually was the 5th finisher. No one rode up for 15 minutes after I finished, so my worry at being caught toward the end was unfounded. Very exciting and very satisfying. Part of the race package was a BBQ plate so I had some ribs and a big Coke (actually wasn't that hungry at the time). We all finished so early we actually had to wait almost 2 hours at the BBQ stand for the van ride back to Liberty Hill (bikes arrived soon after). When we left Lampasas I would estimate only about 30 riders had finished. Great day and best ride I have done to date. My fastest speed on the route was 33.4 mph. Armadillo Hill Country Classic (5/12/07)
Bill - Rode the Armadill Hill Country Classic in Liberty Hill, TX. Didn't get to sleep until very late last night. Had my alarm set at 5:30 to get to the race. When it went off I thought no way can I race on 2 1/2 hours sleep. Woke up again at 6:30 and said I "need" to do this ride. Crammed everything in the car and took off. Made it with time to spare, but in the rush getting dressed in the car, realized at the start line I left my Camelback at home and my Gummy GU's in the car. So I was fuelless. Knowing the ride has fueling stations (4 of them) I decided to start. I chose the 50 mile ride (there were 15, 25, 40, 50, 80 and 100 mi. choices) as I wanted to see how the new bike performed and how I would handle a road bike. Much more fun, stayed in the peloton with the big guys for the 1st 15 mi. Then the 80 and 100 miler's road diverted and only one guy was ahead of me in the 50 mi race. He was about 100 yards ahead. Caught him and rode with him along ways. Very nice young guy, competitive racer (not sure why he was doing the 50 mi. option). My Cervelo aero'd better on the downhills so I'd draft him, but as soon as an uphill would start he'd drop me like I was standing still. He'd wait for me to catch up on the straights, and we'd repeat the procedure. Learned he could turn over more rpms than I. I had to crank a higher gear to keep up with him on the hills (and still lost ground with every wheelspin). He was just being nice staying with me and we started passing alot of the 25 milers on the stretch home. About 3 miles from the finish, he hit the pedals and motored away from me big-time. He had lots to spare and I was plenty spent. As far a refueling, I only made one stop at 27.3 miles drank a ton of gatorade and ate two PBJ's. That was it. Great ride, huge turnout, not much wind, beautiful rolling hill country, wildflowers, not much traffic at all. Not much fanfare at the finish. I did find the food and drink tables though. Red Poppy Ride (4/28/07)
Bill - Rode the Georgetown Red Poppy Ride. Chose the 80 KM. ride. Got up at 5:00 AM. Left the house at 6:00 AM. Arrived at Georgetown ISD 9th grade campus 7:00 AM. Race started at 8:00. I think I was the only Mountain Bike in the 80K race. None in the 100K race. Needless to say, I got whalloped pretty bad. 1st 3 miles I had hopes of hanging with the main peloton. No way. Every downhill I got dropped, the skinny tires of the road bikes carried up the uphills at speed, while I decelerated very quickly. Road bikes passed me like I was standing still (while I was at 20 mph) and just drove away. Pretty frustrating and somewhat humiliating. Butt got really sore at about 27 mi., but went away thereafter. Very tired after the ride. Noticed I was climbing in much higher gears than the roadies. If I shifted down to spin faster, I lost alot of speed. Great learning experience. 1) I need a road bike. 2) I need to work on conditioning, I'm not in the shape I thought I was. Fun day though. Great people running the ride. Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, hot dogs, bananas, oranges, water etc... unlimited and free after the ride. Membership: Simply fill our our on-line registration form and we will begin notifying you via email of our rides and events.
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