This thread should read the "Corsa" 200k. There were a total of approx. 30 riders that left the Executive  Inn in Mineral Wells this morning riding the 200,300 & 600K routes. There were RUSA riders from Oklahoma, Washington, & Mississippi(and of course Texas) that rode this morning.
 
All the recumbents were Bacchetta models(3 Corsa's & 3 Corsa SS's). Michelle from Mississippi rode her Corsa on the 200k. Um, Mr Baker, your absence was  noted, had you been their on your Corsa ,that would have made 7 Corsa's!
 
Anyway, Shellene, Bryan(Bryan is riding a very tough 600K route) , Nelson,Greg,& myself(I already mentioned Michelle from Mississippi),& the rest of the LSR group left the motel parking lot shorty after 7:00am/ Upon arriving in Mineral Wells, a rain shower had moved through the area ,making the roads surfaces wet.
 
The 200k route is an out & back(out to Glen Rose & back to Mineral Wells). The way out was uneventful. Shelleen, Greg & myself rode together thru Lone Camp, then descended Cherry Pie Hill  cautiously(due to the damp road surface),passing Santo(& my salute to the convenient store that had both bathrooms out of order during our 400k Cleburne route in March).  
 
Our next stop was Lipan. Not a "chop-chop" stop. Bryan & Shellene head out first. Nelson ,Greg & I are about 5 minutes behind. We pass thru Tolar onto a secret & information control in Glen Rose(manned by the ride hosts Mother), who happened to have all kinds of food goodies in her pick-up. Prior to the secret control, we see Shellene heading back the opposite direction to Tolar(looking strong). We spend a few minutes at this secret control,good wishes to the 600k group for a safe ride & we head back.
 
I had a 17.1 mph avg at the half way mark. Not pushing the pace, knowing the toughest part of this route was the return trip(most of the climbing is the 2nd half of this route). We make an unscheduled stop in Tolar to refuel. As we're leaving Tolar, a sudden rain shower greets us, no big deal. It lasts for 2 minutes. Piece of cake. Um,this clouds follows us for the next 30 miles(just outside of Santo). At times the rain was a lot more than a shower,sometimes it was a downpour, mostly a steady rain. We stop at our control in Lipan & meet some other LSR riders seeking shelter from the rain. We refuel & head out.
 
As we head toward Santo(about 12 miles down the road),the rain is steady, & intensifies, then lightens ,the cycle starts all over again.Greg & I lose Nelson due to the poor visibility. Greg & I keeping a brisk pace-20 mph in the rain. We can see the sky start  to lighten in color. But this rain clouds keeps following us. Now the Sunscreen that we needed earlier int he day in running down my face into my eyes. And the rain was falling hard enough that regular eyeglasses/sunglasses were useless. Greg starts to sing...that makes me pedal faster(sorry Greg).  
 
Prior to arriving in Santo,we see 3 LSR riders changing a tire in the rain on the side of the road. We offered our help,but the flat is repaired(or so they think).Greg & I pull off to wait for Nelson at an unscheduled stop in Santo(the one that saluted for non working bathroom). Nelson is right behind us. A quick stop to clean the glasses, off we go, Lone Camp (where we see the LSR rider again changing his 2nd flat of the day. We later found out he had a 1.5" nail in his tires from the first flat) & climbing Cherry Pie Hill. It's a tough climb ,but not brutal by any stretch of the imagination. At the top of the hill, I stop to shed my rain vest because now the sun has decided to stay out & really warm things up now.
 
Nelson catches us & we ride into Palo Pinto together. Onto to the finish, 7 miles. I can smell the barn(or was that me) & I sprint to the finish. The finishing hill(just after to the Brazos River bridge)got my attention more than Cherry Pie Hill). Into the the Executive Inn(finish). Bike time, 7 hrs,24 mins, 49 secs. Ride time 8 hrs,45 mins-Bike computer avg.16.5 mph. 124.60 miles.  
 
This is great route(beautiful scenery ,low traffic roads, & good road conditions). If it weren't 2 hours from my home,I would ride this route a lot more often.
 
As always, Nelson & Greg were great riding partners. The post ride meal at Nancy's in the motel parking lot was excellent. Italian food, YUM!
 
 
I did miss my wife & riding partner of this ride. Get well Peggy!
 
 
 
 

I had a great time today.  Steve and Greg were great companions!   All their training is paying off and they were super fast all day, occasionally having pity on my slow but steady self and waiting up.  The rain kept the heat, and my usual bad patch in the late middle part of the ride at bay.  Like Steve and Greg mentioned it did rain very hard at times and I was thankful for my one piece of rain gear, a thin ball cap we received a couple of years ago at the TTTT. It really helped.  I forget how good of a route this is, I don't think I had a dog chase me, the traffic was low, and the drivers we did have were very courteous. I did manage a PR by @18minutes with 8:50 for the ride, and 7:37 bike time.  Despite the long drive (Thanks Steve!) I'm definitely planning to go back for these next year!
 
Take Care,
Nelson.

As the guys have already stated, this is a great route!  At the start of the ride, I was pretty nervous about all the climbing there was to be done during the day, but I figured I could at least stay with the guys until the halfway point.   It was a blast on the first 37 miles hanging with all the bents!
 
Sorry guys, for not hanging out longer at the first control.  I've never been very good at hanging around while my muscles are getting cold, and I figured the guys would catch Bryan and I in short notice.  When I was finally able to see how close they were to me at the turn around, I thought certainly they would catch up in the first 15 miles of the return journey.  Sadly, I spent the rest of the day thinking "they'll pass me in the next 5 miles."  I knew when I finished changing a flat just before Cherry Pie hill without seeing anyone, that the guys' ride was encountering difficulties that mine had not.  Now I know that they suffered in the rain while I was slightly ahead of all that mess.  
 
I did get one serious shower for about 15 minutes, but it wasn't bad enough to make me consider pausing my ride.  That was the shower that caused my flat, and it was quite fortuitous that the flat occurred only 1 mile from Cherry Pie hill.  I took my time fixing the flat (I'm not fast on a normal day), and was well rested for the ascent.  By the top, the clouds were clearing and I had bright skies for the short trip back to Mineral Wells.  
 
Now, the really sad thing is that by the time I was back in the Hotel room, I was completely wiped out.  Every muscle in my legs was exhausted, and all I did was grab a quick bite to eat and immediately go to sleep.   Someday soon I'll be able to ride a 200k without suffering.  
well, the 600k gang just finishe, so I gotta run.  
thanks again to Steve, Greg, and Nelson for letting me tag along on the first few miles!
 
Shellene

Quote from aikigreg on May 24^th, 2009, 7:46pm:

 
Which time?
 
I started my 600k ride with the group, feeling like I was pedaling through molasses (when I told Shellene that, she laughed telling me that Greg had stated the same thing).  Dan D passed me early on (he had a nature call to deal with) and told me to just keep riding, my legs would come in sooner or later.  After slow rolling down Cherry Pie hill and seeing the 600 group in front of me I pushed a little to catch them, that helped.  Then I spotted the "herd of 'bents" off in the distance and ramped it up a little more, that also helped.  Caught on just about in Santo, and rolled from there to Lipan, changing tempo/power to see if anything was going to work.  If not, I was considering getting an ice cream in Lipan and then heading back to MW.  Hit the control and left in under 5 minutes, no time to think, Shellene's wheel to catch.  We motored to the secret control and my legs started to really get into it.  At the control Shellene told me to just keep my cadence up, take short breaks and they'd never catch me.  Off I went, into the wild all alone!
 
From there to Glen Rose it was just clocking miles, I know I went up Dinosaur hill, but don't really remember it.  In and out of the control in under 5 again, heading towards Walnut Springs on 144 with some good climbs.  It was here that the rains hit.  First a light drizzle, didn't even bother with the jacket, then some "jacket quality" rain.  During the light stuff a lady pulls up next to me in a big ol' Caddy, asking me if I'm going to be ok.  I gave her a big thumbs-up, and as she drove off I laughed to myself "I'm just starting to have fun".  After a bit I wasn't having fun at all, it was getting heavy enough that I couldn't see well, and painful.  I spotted "The Barnyard", a garden center, off to the left, with a carport filled with bags of mulch/fertilizer and made a bee-line for it.  I almost made it before the sky really opened up.  I spent about 15 minutes there trying to keep warm, and hoping that the rest of the 600 crew wasn't on the road.  They were, but didn't get soaked as bad, the storm passed them by.  Once it let up I didn't see rain again until after Cranfills Gap.  That rain was a nice gentle rain, that only took up the right half of the lane I was riding in.
 
I caught the 300k riders (Debbie and Cheri) in Hico, and Danny was rolling in just as I rolled out.  Keeping Shellene's words in mind, I was still making 5 minute controls - knowing that a pack of 8 riders would be losing time at the controls, even if they were riding faster than I was (they weren't).  I pulled into Dublin at 5:30, and gave myself 30 minutes to eat, stretch and just relax.  From Dublin to MW I figured it would take about 4 hours, but I wasn't counting on issues with my glasses (new glasses, had to figure out how to change lenses), my light (I wasn't happy with where it was shining, three times) and the weather (just a little rain on me, but a lot of water on the roads - and a fantastic light show, mostly cloud strikes thank God).  I rolled into MW at 10:30, and was clean, fed and asleep by 11.  Shellene took care of everything for me, so I would be ready to go the next morning (5 AM wake up, out by 5:30, well rested).
 
As I rolled out of MW, it was just a little moist, and I had no idea where the rest of the 600k riders were.  I was guessing they were either 30 minutes ahead or behind me.  A short stop in Palo Pinto to remove rain jacket, and off I went.  Heading towards Strawn Dottie (Vickie's Mom, Sag angel) passed me, so I knew the main pack was behind me again.  I got into the control and decided to wait and ride with the group.  We rolled out an hour later.  During the ride we saw a herd of 8 horses that wanted to play with us, they were running their fence and wheeling as a group, it was beautiful.  During one stretch Dan D had multiple (3) flats, and the new tire developed a bubble that slowed us down from Palo Pinto to the finish.  When we rolled out of Gordon for the return trip, we got hit by the outside edge of a nasty storm, but that was it for us getting rained on all day.
 
We rolled in at 4:55, giving us a 34:55 600k.
 
Day 1:  Total time 15:22:39 14.7 MPH, riding time 13:33:37 16.7 MPH (I had 17 MPH up to Gordon), stopped time 1:48:41
Cadence 86, Average HR 107, Max HR 165, 9,938' climbed, 13,825 calories burned (19.75 Big Macs)
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8300566
 
Off the bike overnight, 7 hours
 
Day 2:  Total time 12:29:40 11.8 MPH, riding time 9:40:50 15.2MPH, stopped time 2:48:50
Cadence 79, Average HR 92, Max HR 156, 5,644'' climbed, 8,477 calories burned (12.1 Big Macs)
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8300567
 
Chery Pie Hill:  9'10", 1.23 miles, 341' climbed, 8MPH, Cadence 84, Average HR 136, Max HR 147 (.2 Big Macs)
 
All in all, a fun ride.  I enjoyed the short time I rode with the rest of the 'bents; glad y'all made it in safely (if not dry).  It was nice having Shellene take care of me, but I would have preferred having her riding with me.

Quote from aikigreg on May 24^th, 2009, 7:46pm:

 
Really sorry that your feet were an issue.  I know how painful that can be!  As for the molasses feeling, we all have had plenty of days like that.  Today was my day for riding through molasses  .  I had hoped the legs would be well rested since I didn't ride on Sunday, but after my 10 mile warmup, no improvement was showing in how I felt.  I just decided that today could be a fat burning base mileage day.  At this point in my training, I should be overjoyed for every mile I get, and I think I am quite happy with today's ride even though it wasn't what I had originally planned.  
 
Y'all have a great week, hope to see some of you on Tuesday night  
Shellene

Quote from Killer Bee on May 25^th, 2009, 3:00pm:

 
I thought that was kind of neat, seeing all the Corsas rolling out and was wondering during my ride (when you spend all that time alone, you do think of some odd things), how many Corsas can we get at a single brevet, and could we get enough 'bents to outnumber the DFs at a 200k?