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General Category >> Ride Reports >> Spanish fort 207K
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Message started by aikigreg on Jul 20^th, 2008, 10:19pm

Title: Spanish fort 207K
Post by aikigreg on Jul 20^th, 2008, 10:19pm

Saturday I rode what is without a doubt one of the nastiest 200ks out there. Take the 60 mile Muenster ride and then double it, and make the hills taller to boot. Indeed the Muenster stretch from Forstburg to St. Jo is a aprt of the ride. Add to that a stretch with no service for 42 miles and the last 50 miles with the wind in your face. Let me just say it's one of the toughest rides Iv'e ever done.

Still, it was very much a worthwhile event. I feel it so important to challenge yourself when you ride, and I'm always looking to make myself a better climber, and this certainly helped in that regard.

I spent much of the ride by myself after the first control at mile 25. Stopped once to make an unscheduled pee stop and apparently was moving so fast on the x-stream coming back to the group that Pam yells "Motorcycle back!" ;D

I had an 18.2 mph average at the rest stop in Nocona - mile 83, and then had the rear tire explode - must have been some big glass, though I never found it. Put the spare on, and Dan and Pam pulled up just in time to help me with the tube. Which promptly flated within ten feet. Put the last tube on and we were good to go, but I rolled slow (13 mph pace) the 17 miles back to forestburg, which significantly slowed down my time. A nice cool rest there and a drumstick ice cream and pumped up the tire as much as icould and I was back and gone. Even against the wind I averaged 19 all the way back to the final control.

If you like hills, this is your ride. Not to mention the art ranch and the thousand of oil pumps and all the other scenery.

Final tale of the tape:
129.48 miles
6200' of climbing
16.7mph
Avg heart rate 137bpm, max of 169.

my speed went over 40mph more than 25 times - that tells you what the hills were like. The grade calc isn't working well on my garmin but in the first 25 miles only there were 8 hills over 5%, 2 of which were over 10. Pretty nifty!

Title: Re: Spanish fort 207K
Post by Kwijybow on Jul 21^st, 2008, 7:43am

Greg I'm sorry I couldn't make it to join you, Spanish Fort is one of my favorites! how was the parking at the Bolivar Grocery? I take it the Xstream climbs pretty darn well.

Take Care,
Nelson.

Title: Re: Spanish fort 207K
Post by FlyingLaZBoy on Jul 21^st, 2008, 8:51am

aikigreg wrote:

....my speed went over 40mph more than 25 times - that tells you what the hills were like. The grade calc isn't working well on my garmin but in the first 25 miles only there were 8 hills over 5%, 2 of which were over 10. Pretty nifty!

Daaaayyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm.......... :o

How's the stability on that bike above 40? Bet it's still pretty good, even on those 23mm tires...

Title: Re: Spanish fort 207K
Post by aikigreg on Jul 21^st, 2008, 9:19am

Kwijybow wrote:

Greg I'm sorry I couldn't make it to join you, Spanish Fort is one of my favorites! how was the parking at the Bolivar Grocery? I take it the Xstream climbs pretty darn well.

Take Care,
Nelson.

Didn't park there - we parked at the church up the hill, so we could get in extra climbing and distance :o

Title: Re: Spanish fort 207K
Post by aikigreg on Jul 21^st, 2008, 9:20am

FlyingLaZBoy wrote:

[quote author=aikigreg link=1216610364/0#0 date=1216610364]
....my speed went over 40mph more than 25 times - that tells you what the hills were like. The grade calc isn't working well on my garmin but in the first 25 miles only there were 8 hills over 5%, 2 of which were over 10. Pretty nifty!

Daaaayyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm.......... :o

How's the stability on that bike above 40? Bet it's still pretty good, even on those 23mm tires...
[/quote]

Seems to be fine - I was unused to handling the long bike at that speed, so it made me a bit nervous, but no big deal after a while.

Title: Re: Spanish fort 207K
Post by bikerteam on Jul 21^st, 2008, 10:04am

Kwijybow wrote:

Greg I'm sorry I couldn't make it to join you, Spanish Fort is one of my favorites! how was the parking at the Bolivar Grocery? I take it the Xstream climbs pretty darn well.

Take Care,
Nelson.

Nelson, take a look at the LSR post. There is a new Valero that opened (which I was unaware of). George and Geo said it had better hours, good bathrooms, and a great grill. Let's plan on riding it late this year. Also, I received e-mails from several of the riders, that requested a route that climbs that monster hill north of St. Jo instead of descending it, as it does on Spanish Fort.

Greg, being the owner of Spanish Fort, I know very well how tough it is. Even though Steve, Peggy and I rode hard on Saturday, we certainly didn't ride a 200k, and with all those hills such as you did. You rode very well yesterday on the Populaire, considering you just completed Spanish Fort the day before. Also, you are correct about the quantity of hills in excess of 8 percent, as well as how many descents that you can achieve speed greater than 40mph.