Oh god.......that's about all I need to say.  How do I sum this one up without being a whiney little b****?
 
I knew I was going to be slower.  Am still on the v-rex and haven't ridden in 2 weeks.  Plus I've averaged about 3 hours of sleep a night for the last couple weeks with serious school stress, and prepping to sell my house.  So I took a lunesta last night and the whole darn ride I felt like it was still present in my system.  I guess the insomnia and 12 hour days caught up to me.  OH, and then I get pulled over by a cop.  I pulled into a convenience store and realized I was in the wrong place and pulled right back out.  Apparently that was enough for the employee to trip the alarm and the cop gives me the 5th degree.  Either that, or he was trying to annoy the funny bike guy    If I didn't HAVE to have this to keep my r-12 avlive, I'd have turned around there.
 
Anyway, this is an absolutely wonderul route except for the (you guessed it) horrible roads.  Out and back loop from Cleburne to nemo, Glen Rose, and Bluffdale.  Gorgeous scenery - absolutely gorgeous.  I really need to quit being a weenie and bring my camera.  Here's what I remember I saw:
a very large peacock, a light house, the "creation evidence" museum that my wife tells me supposedly they have a dinosaur footprint with a human footprint next to it, Dinosaur valley, and gassing up in Bluffdale, were a lamborghini murcielago, a brand new ferrari and one of those ultra rare porsches and a mercedes convertible.  Very weird.
 
The road was smoth for the 5 miles of Nolan River road, and the nice pavement in Glen Rose.  Otherwise it was pretty nasty much of the time.  Some of the hills were SO LONG and SO STEEP that I could only see sky beyond.  My stupid GPS stopped tracking slope after the first glen rose visit, but it recorded one very short hill as 21% which I fully believe.  I lost count of how long I spent in the granny gear and at 5-10 mph., The elevation profile work though and some of those hills looked as nasty as it felt.   They made goatneck hill and that big hill on park road 200 easy little climbs.    
 
About 90 miles in I noticed my power side idler wasn't turning.  I dunno if that added to my difficulties or not.  Had to take several foot rest breaks.  Even stopped at the church for the TT course (I did about 60% of the tt course in both directions) and the bumpus hounds came howling at me.  One snarled and tried to snap at me - the only dog I saw all dang day!  I maced him right in the eyeball, and got a couple of the others just case.  For each dog I maced  I yelled "THS one is for Steve!  THIS one is for Peggy!  And *THIS* one's for me!"  
 
Even so, it was a good ride in many ways, and it's over and I'm good, so we'll call it  a great ride.  In a nod to Nelson and Ray I did some extra bonus miles when I was spacing out and didn't pay attention to the map, and got some intentional distance to go the the glen rose tiger mart bakery.  Got a pumpkin roll filled with cream and apricot stuff cookies that were YUMMY.  
 
Missed having y'all around!

I know, right?     I know I'm better prepared for the endurance of the TTTT no matter what, although my top end speed is lower, I think.   But I won't be trying to make 47 minute laps.  I'd like to see all but one right at 55-56, and the last can be anything under an hour.  That would really help put some time in the bank towards the record.
 
Anyway, it's not so bad, after a good night's (12 hours) sleep.  It was good "suffering training" which was necesary.  Mostly all the stress of standing up all day means my feet hurt before I step on the bike, so I'm just less physically able to deal with the bumpy roads.

Great job Greg, I absolutely agree.  Like Nelson, Cleburne was my first Randonneuring event, and my fastest.  At that time, I was racing a Pinarello Prince SL.  While very fast and light, it sure hurt my but after 130 miles.  
 
Keep up your R12 progress.  I received my 2nd R12 medal in the mail this weekend.  I'll try to remember to bring it to TTTT as it's a very nice medal.  As you look at it, you'll think back over the past 12 months, and all the sacrafices and hard work you went through.

Quote from aikigreg on Sep 20^th, 2008, 10:26pm:

 
 
I laughed so hard when I read this!  I remember those pooches.  They live accross the street from New Hope Church.  And have a lame gate they can squeeze through.  I hope they forgot what Greg smells like.  
 
I dont know the story.  What are Steve and Peggy Dogs stories?