Here are a series of posts from the GDB forum on last year's 500 mile racing, just for reference...
Paul
 
(I feel like a double agent, or something...    )
 
 
From Steve Flores, support crew guy:
 
These are not just races where you go around and around a 20 mile loop. You have to be able to climb steep grades, fight strong headwinds/crosswinds, night riding, food deprivation and the dreaded muscle cramps. All of this and more with minimal SLEEP!  
 
Brendas race was just awesome. She rode head to head with a lady from North Carolina for 300 or so miles finally wearing the lady down. The lady finally abandoned the race after pushing herself to a pain she probably never knew existed. Brenda kept on riding through the night. First hand experience provided me with visual ( I cannot share these in good faith) and verbal characteristics about Brenda that I never knew existed. I would imagine that a lack of sleep had something to do with this. Brenda would finally get some rest and continue her pursuit of 500 miles. Miles mostly done in the middle of the night by herself. It so hard to imagine being out there lap after lap after lap. What is that you do to keep yourself going and awake.- Please tell.  
It was so exciting to see Brenda cross the line with a new course record. I believe Brenda is a well known and highly respected individual in this community of distance riders. She deserves that respect because what she does is not easy. And if anyone knows Brendas friend Russel he did a great job of keeping her on track for the full 40 plus hours. Great job Brenda. We will see you again next year.  
 
Mens 500 Team.  
This was a good race. These guys battled all day and night. Making up time on the other teams was not an easy task. Just because this was a relay did not make this any easier. Brent said it best- "you have to go full speed for 20 miles for 1 hour and not disappoint your team. You never have the time to let up" Well that is exactly what the did. These guys were throwing down lap times that the other teams could only dream of. Greg- he did laps that just left me and others in awe. Time after time. When things would get close- boom- Greg throws out a 58 minute lap. The team needs another- boom- 54. Another-boom- 56. And if that was not enough- BOOM- 53 minutes. Only 22mph on the hardest course I have seen. Hey Greg please go get some rest.  
 
Brent was amazing. He was knocking laps off at 1:03, 1:01, 1:02. These numbers were awesome. Freezing cold this guy would just jump on the bike and ride off knowing that his Team needed him to keep putting up great numbers. It would be OK if you complained a little Brent. The race is over. I know it was cold, I know you were cramping, I know you were nervous but please let it out. Wait. If you did that it wouldn't be you. You are not just a good cyclist, you are a great person.  
 
Jay you ride so effortless. To battle lack of sleep the clock AND stay on a bike baffles me. But you did it. You posted numbers that had to even surprise you. You mentioned to me that you thought you might have been the weakest rider on the team. Not true. Your skills and experience were so needed. I am not sure if the other 3 riders could have completed 17 miles of riding in pitch black darkness. Recap: 9:53 pm 3 miles out Jays light stops working. Jay just keeps going. This was not the teams best lap but the alternative would have been worse. Wait on sag or turn around. Great decision. Laps from Jay- 1:04, 1:10, 1:10. Great job. And yes tell Anastasia she is my Hero. I would not have been able to stay awake without her.  
 
Bill please show some emotion. I know you were having fun because I would see you grin occasionally. I think you truly believed this was a job that had to get done and you were determined to make sure it did. The seriousness in which you approached this thing was so telling. You consistently put out great lap times over and over. 1:04, 1:11 and 1:10. You rode really strong. I had fun seeing you coming in from the darkness, your light bouncing up and down. It was so distinct. Most of the time I knew it was you when you topped the last hill.  
 
Great job by all and I can't wait to do it again next year. I will be posting tons of photos soon. I will provide information as soon as that is done.  
 
This event was neat. I was able to see good friends do amazing things. I saw these people when they were up and when they were down. I saw these same people push each other to the extreme max. In the end I saw friends leaning on friends. Great stuff.
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From Jay Easley, 500 participant  (Jay tends to exaggerate hills some, just for fun):
 
I’d like to dedicate this write up of the Texas Time Trials to Steve Flores and Anastasia Zaruba. Going in, I don’t think any of us realized how much we were going to need some outside support to survive the event. Steve took over from the beginning and became our DS (Director Sportif). He double checked lap times (every lap time) for our team and our competitors. He checked out equipment to make sure it still worked, he found us food when we needed it, and he provided us inspiration when all we wanted to do was go home. Thanks, Steve. I’m sorry I flooded your RV…just let me know what it cost to clean it up and I’ll cut you a check.  
 
Anastasia was invaluable because she thinks of every single contingency and plans for it “just in case”. At an event like this, tons of unforseen things happen so having someone like that along is a must. Need duct tape? She packed it. Need wire snipers? Got it. Need two little flashlights to make sure Steve can see? Got those, too. She also had the foresight to pack way too much food…which turned out to be excellent because we all needed way more food than we thought just to keep going. Go take a look at the pictures and you’ll be amazed at how much she was able to pack into that Volvo.  
 
I’d also like to echo everyone’s thanks to Tommy. He was out there every lap doing timing, gophering, whatever needed doing and I clearly remember him cheering for me as I finished some of my laps. Thanks, Tommy!  
 
There was a downside to actually participating in the event and that was that I could not pay as much attention as I would have liked to Brenda’s event. I’d heard how difficult this course was (more on this later) but I’d never ridden it before myself so I didn’t have a full understanding of how tough it was and how truly awesome Brenda’s accomplishments were.  
 
Now I understand.  
 
Imagine our beloved 10 mile White Rock Lake Loop. Add the Loving Hills that we do during the winter night rides. Add Flagpole Hill, too. Now, add another set of hills similar to the Loving Hills on the east side of the Lake just to even the whole thing out. Now add a 10-20 mph headwind/crosswind no matter which way you turn on the bike.  
 
That’s a pretty tough loop, right?  
 
Imagine doing that loop…50 times in a row.  
 
Fifty.Times.  
 
That’s what Brenda did.  
 
There are only two women, ever, to have completed the Tejas 500 and they are both named Brenda Barnell. That pretty much says it all right there.  
 
 
The Course  
 
The course is a 19.8 mile loop, 19.4 of which is uphill. I’m not kidding. You are almost always climbing. Making things worse is the fact that the wind is sort of…supernatural out there. It seems to always be in your face or from the side no matter what direction you’re going. You never have a tailwind. It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. You also don’t get much of a break when you are descending since you’re trying to make up time on the descents which means that you put the drivetrain in 53x11 and you hammer those. This is the most difficult course I’ve ever done. It was tougher than the Tyler road race and it was tougher than Pace Bend. Coldspring is a piece of cake compared to this course. This is the toughest ride I have ever done. Period. I think you all should go out and do it this weekend to spread the misery  
 
The Event  
 
My actual memories of the event are somewhat confused and there’s no way I could detail everything properly. I’ll just try to hit the high points as best I can.  
 
The Tejas 500 is not just a “bike race”, it’s more like a War of Attrition. A normal bike race is anywhere from 2-4 hours, then you go home. Our total race time was 26 hours and 30 minutes during which we all experienced the following:  
 
extreme cold (temperature for the first lap was in the mid-upper 30’s), wind, exhaustion, severe sleep deprivation (I was awake for 42 straight hours myself), dehydration, cramping, severe fatigue. And there’s never any break, at all, from any of this. Each of us would finish our lap and throw ourselves in a chair in the EZ-up to wait for an hour until it was our turn to go back out again.  
 
One of the high points early on for me was getting to hand off to Greg on his first lap around the course. He’d been chomping at the bit for days to get at this thing. The amount of work he’d put into it was incredible. On my final lap of the first session, the wind kicked up really hard. I was completely blown as I handed off to Greg but I knew how motivated he was.  
 
He responded by breaking the course record and posting a time of 53 minutes and change. And then Brent posted a 56 and change in the same wind. Incredible stuff, those guys.  
 
During the day Friday, it was not so bad as the temperature warmed into the 70’s but by the evening session, it had cooled dramatically and Bill and I were facing another 6 hours of cold, windy, wet riding. Greg and Brent were facing the worst of it since their sessions didn’t start until 11:30pm.  
 
In its own way, sitting in the tent waiting for your turn was actually worse than riding. Self doubt, second guessing and over-analysis start to creep in when you have too much time to think about your performance. But in the end, you just go out and do your job.  
 
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I remember reading that. It probably gives a good indication of what you are in for, if you decide to tackle the 500 miles. And the one guy is right about the whole thing being uphill. You climb on the whole loop, then give the elevation back in two downhills so steep you spin out rather than being able to get the speed you should be able to, to make up for all the uphill riding. Where's my 70 tooth chainring?

I can't wait until our next run at this sucker.  I'm gonna hit 22.5!