I had an excellent day, riding the 200k brevet. Steve, Peggy, and Ray are great company, and it was so nice to be doing the ride with a pack of recumbents who's uphill and downhill speed characteristics match my own. This ride starts in Italy, goes southeast to Groesbeck, then takes a more westerly loop back to Italy.
 
As I loaded my bike onto the rack this morning, I noticed how cool it was, and turned around and grabbed my arm and leg warmers, and tossed them into the truck. That was a good move. In Italy, the temperature was 57 degrees this morning, with a stiff south wind, and even after I put the arm and leg warmers on, I was still shivering. It's hard to believe it made it up to 91 degrees in the afternoon, and with a big time tail wind, it was downright hot the last bunch of miles.
 
Within a few miles from the start, the four of us settled into a group by ourselves. We passed Nelson. He was doing the 300k, and conserving energy with a modest pace at that point. The southwest wind, which had been blowing at 10 mph or so when we started, kept picking up, and shortly after we turned west on SH-31 at mile 24, it really started blowing. The eleven miles down SH-14, from Mexia to Groesbeck, mile 52 to 63, were just brutal, against a wind that was really howling by then. Everyone arrived at Groesbeck tired.
 
But most of the miles after that were with the wind, and we really started moving down the road. At the last control stop, mile 93 at Mount Calm, Ray decided to wait for his friend, Dennis, who had had a blowout and another flat, so Steve, Peggy, and I took off by ourselves from there. We had started the ride with intentions of keeping our pace moderate, since it was Steve and Peggy's first 200k, and I've tended to crater myself lately, when I try to hammer too many miles. For most of the ride we did a good job. We would get the pace a bit fast, then catch ourselves, and slow a little. At this point, however, we just kind of took off. There were a few miles west, against a quartering wind which really slowed us down, but once we turned north on FM-308 at mile 101, we really cranked it up.  
 
After we turned onto US-77 in Milford at mile 125, we made a quick stop at an outdoor pop machine, wanting a rejuvenating soft drink for the last few miles, but the machine was out of order, so we just rested a few minutes, and continued on. I can't believe how strong Steve and Peggy still were as we pulled into the finish! Congrats on your first 200k, you two, that was a great effort!
 
We finished with 132.2 miles, and a time of 9:30. Average speed was 16.6 mph, for an on the bike time of just under 8 hours. This ride was just too much fun; I look forward to more brevets with these bent riders!

Quote from Bud_Bent on Oct 20^th, 2007, 9:06pm:

 
 
Excellent re-cap,Bud. I can't add a lot ,except to say what a great group of people comprise RUSA/Lone Stone Randooneurs.  
They made the "newbies"(aka The Stradas) feel right at home. AND it was a HUGE turnout(I'm not sure how many riders-but I heard one of the LSR members say that this was the largest turnout for a brevet).
 
 
Thanks to Ray(who showed guts/heart riding with broken fingers),Nelson(who is a machine-a 300K,are you serious?),& especially Bud(all around good guy & darn strong rider). That was a lot of fun today with good friends,& beautiful Texas countryside. The wind sucked,but it sucked for all of us. Bud was awesome with the directions(The Stradas will be at REI tomorrow buying bar maps)&  conversation. You made the difference for Peggy & myself,a familiar face who likes to get after it. AND how I can I forget about racing to county line & city limit signs?!!! I finally caught on near the end. I, like Bud,really enjoy with these folks. I'll ride with them anywhere/anytime.  
 
There are some experiences you come away with on a ride like this. Bud,your description of an "accomplishment ride" fits perfectly.
But just all the sights,sounds,control stops with great food,friendly people,etc...words can't quite due the experience justice.
 
 
For anyone interested,brevets are really cool & a whole lotta fun! Get out & try one & see for yourself!!!
 

Congratulations to Peggy and Steve on their first Brevet!!  It was great seeing a pack of bents (all Bacchettas!) roll out with the pack.  The fellow I was riding with at the end (Bryan from Waco) was interested, and remarked that he saw several at his old group in Arizona as well.  The 300K was fairly hard, despite taking it easy for the 1st half, I arrived in Groesbeck a little low on energy.  I'm was trying not too pig out as I'm sometime want to do on these things, but I may have been a bit overzealous.  I ate some pop-tarts and felt a bit better, and the next section with well a non-headwind was better.  I was going to really hammer on the last 40 miles and see if I could make my orginal 15hr goal, but when I arrived at the closed control in Mt. Calm a pack of 3 riders, Sharon, Jeff, and I missed his name, but I think he's the RBA from Houston, were waiting to ride in as group with us.  A very nice thing to do.  We waited up for Bryan, and rode as a group for about half the distance in, and it was great getting to socialize, something that's normally hard for me on the corsa.  Bryan  dropped back a little with stomach issues and we chatted about Arizona/Texas differences, and bents vs. df's.  A very nice way to cruise in.  
 
 
With bonus mileage ( a couple of wrong turns!) I had 195.3 miles
Overall time was 16:15 or so
Bike time was 13:48
so I think I had 14.15mph rolling avg
and 12mph overall.  
 
 
 
Take Care,
Nelson.

Agreed, Ray. We do seem to be turning some heads. About 4 miles after we left the last control, we passed Dan and Pam's group, first Peggy, then Steve, then me. As I passed, I said, "So much for their being newbies; I can't seem to slow them down." Dan turned to Pam and said, "We're getting some real athletes joining up these days."
 
Like Steve pointed out, everyone gave Steve and Peggy a great welcome on the ride.

I would like to add my congratulations to Nelson for completing the 300K. What an accomplishment. And thanks again to Ray for inviting Peggy & myself. The three of us(Bud,Peggy & myself) waited at the last control for you,but then the hunger pains kicked in & took over so we went to get some food at Applebee's. Ray,glad to hear you finished strong.  
 
Memo to Bud & Ray-you'll be happy to know both Peggy & I now have bar maps!!!

Quote from bikerteam on Oct 22^nd, 2007, 10:27am:

 
 
A little "bling-bling",huh?! She does like jewelry. Peggy has the "fancy" bar map-the one that is a map wallet. I have a regular bar map holder. Good advice on the the plastic baggy. I could see how the ink could bleed onto the plastic cover of the bar map. Now we have a decent place to hold our cue sheets & brevet cards.  
 
 
See you next Sunday.