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General Category >> Upcoming Rides >> Tour das Hugel - Austin - November 14th
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Message started by AustinSkater on Oct 1^st, 2009, 9:13am

Title: Tour das Hugel - Austin - November 14th
Post by AustinSkater on Oct 1^st, 2009, 9:13am

There might be only a few riders interested in this (or perhaps I should say crazy enough for this). http://www.tourdashugel.com/

105 miles, 14,000+ feet of climbing. Hills with 25%+ grades. The best rest stops money can't buy (part of the ride organizers evil plan is to make you not want to continue). The route has multiple returns to the starting point, making it easy to come to your senses and get off the bike. The attrition rate is about 50%.

This is a free ride, donations are accepted for the Austin Yellow Bike project.

I've done this ride twice on my Merckx, when I was living in Austin and riding most of the hills, it is a bear of a ride. Shellene did it last year (on her DF). While I can't speak for the first two years, I know that no recumbent has even started this ride, let alone finished it in the last three.

Anyone feel like joining me as I try to "Do the demo" in Austin?

Title: Re: Tour das Hugel - Austin - November 14th
Post by aikigreg on Oct 1^st, 2009, 9:53am

I could be talked into it. I'll likely be walking anything over 20 percent though we'll see.

Title: Re: Tour das Hugel - Austin - November 14th
Post by AustinSkater on Oct 1^st, 2009, 11:11am

Don't worry about walking some of the hills, a lot of the DF riders do (including me in the past). It really is a fun ride, if you are into pain.

Title: Re: Tour das Hugel - Austin - November 14th
Post by AustinSkater on Oct 18^th, 2009, 4:48pm

Besides riding the Hugel on the 14th, Shellene and I are planning to ride the Veloway in Austin on the 15th. The Veloway is a 3.1 mile, 20' wide loop open only to cyclists and skaters. We figure it would be a good 'bent handling exercise, since there are three hairpins on the course.

Title: Re: Tour das Hugel - Austin - November 14th
Post by goatstick on Oct 18^th, 2009, 6:43pm

How tight are the hairpins? We've had a private oval test track available once a year for a few years. It's 1.1 miles long near the infield with about 10' wide straights and I'm guessing about 200' wide infield. The surface is a bit rough which makes cornering at speed a little interesting when trying to dodge the dips, wheel-swallowing cracks and grass clumps everywhere but it's still pretty fun.

Title: Re: Tour das Hugel - Austin - November 14th
Post by AustinSkater on Oct 19^th, 2009, 8:30am

goatstick wrote:

How tight are the hairpins?

The two right hand turns are pretty tight, the second one being the tighter of the two. The left hand one that connects them isn't tight at all. It's really hard for me to judge how a bicycle would handle them, since 99% of the time I was at the Veloway I was on my skates. I do know that most cyclists slow down on the second right turn.