Quote from AustinSkater on Aug 15^th, 2009, 4:25pm:

This from the guy that smoked my a$$...two weeks in a row.  
 
Great ride guys, it was a blast!  
 
Steve

31 riders turned out for this 200k brevet. We left out of Lynn Creek Marina at Joe Pool Lake at 6:30 am. The first 51 miles of this ride is mostly elevation gain to Rio Vista, and against the kind of south wind we had today, is really tough. I rode out with the intention of trying to stay with a group of riders for a little help in the wind as much as I could, but was dropped pretty quickly by every group, so was on my own for most of this stretch. You have to be able to hang onto a group on the hills, and I have a tough time doing that. Once I was out in the wind, there's no way I was going to catch anyone.
 
I did manage to ride some with Steve, Peggy, Mark M, and a few others from before Venus to most of the way to Alvarado, but on the first hills of CR 401 after Alvarado, I was dropped and riding straight into the wind.  
 
I was even more discouraged when I turned onto FM 916 at mile 37, and found it was new boulderseal all the way to Rio Vista. I slowed down on this stretch. Between fighting the wind and boulderseal, and thinking I had probably put out too much effort early in the ride trying to stay with other riders, easing up seemed like a good idea on this stretch. It's really hard to ride an easy pace against the wind on boulderseal, though. You seem to be getting nowhere. I really felt slow, like I had no strength at all, and couldn't keep up with anyone. Looking back, I think it was just the wind, and the fact that there were a bunch of strong riders on this brevet.
 
I didn't make a stop until the first control at Blum, at mile 57. I left this control with a group again, but again was soon off the back. At Covington, mile 69, the route turns south on SH 171, and it's a tough 4 miles to Osceola straight against the wind. It was on this stretch that I had started to crater the last time I rode this route, from too much effort with a low tire against the wind. Today, I paced myself on this stretch.
 
At mile 73, as I got ready to turn east on FM 934, I saw Steve, Peggy, and Greg coming from the opposite direction and also turning onto FM 934. I pulled up along side Steve and told him that if he would just miss enough turns, I thought I might could keep up with him. After Itasca at mile 78, it's on to Orphan Hill. I took my time spinning up this hill. Rio Vista Rumble isn't a route with a brutal amount of climbing, but the toughest hills are all after mile 80, and it was starting to get very hot. Managing my effort seemed like a good idea for these hills.
 
I pulled into the Maypearl control at mile 93 at 12:47 pm. In spite of my inability to keep up with anyone, and not feeling very strong, 93 miles in 6:17 isn't all that bad, and the idea that I might be able to complete this 200k in less than 9 hours started to creep into my head. I had not managed a 200k in less than 9 hours since having my lung sliced and diced on, and this seemed like a worthy goal and accomplishment for the day if I could do it. But, there were tough climbs up Old Buena Vista Road and Singleton Road waiting, and I knew I'd need to not blow up on these hills to have a chance.
 
I needed a good cool off break at Maypearl, and some time with my shoes off, and it was 1:08 pm when I left the control. Still, if I didn't completely crater on the last part of the ride, under 9 looked possible. Old Buena Vista Road is always tough for me, and when I got a hint of a leg cramp on the hill, in spite of how slowly I was climbing, I started to have my doubts about how much I had left. But after an also slow trip up the Singleton Road hill, I felt good, and I started making calculations about how much time it would take me to finish as I rode toward Midlothian.
 
On the downhill stretch toward Midlothian (I made it past that circle driveway without stopping this time, Nelson), I felt great, so I started to push a little more as I rode through Midlothian, still trying to ride within myself well enough to finish strong. As I approached the turnaround at Mt Lebanon Road, under SH 67 at mile 114, with only a short stretch against the wind remaining before an easy downhill then flat finish, I was thinking that I was going to get this done. As I rode under the underpass on the turnaround, I was surprised to find Steve, Peggy, Greg, and Mark stopped here.  
 
I stopped for just a few seconds, then continued on to try and complete my quest. The rest of the group started up again just after I did. I really pushed hard against the wind on the short stretch before the turn onto Lake Ridge Parkway (Steve easily caught me, anyway), knowing that it was all big downhills and flats after that.
 
But if I thought this was going to be an easy finish, I was seriously mistaken. At 30 mph going downhill on Lake Ridge at about mile 116, when I hit a bump, my seat reclined more. When I hit another bump, it reclined even more. I could hardly reach either the pedals or the handlebar. Steve and I stopped at the bottom of the hill, and I saw that my seat clamp had moved, but didn't really find the problem until a stop a half mile further along.
 
My seat recline system on the rear seat stays had collapsed, and there was nothing keeping the seat from reclining onto the tire. I had always wondered if the little pneumatic cyclinders I had used for this were strong enough. This wasn't exactly their intended application. They lasted for thousands of miles, but on this day, they were done. I didn't see a ready fix, so I got back on the bike to try and finish the ride. The only way I could ride was by pulling myself forward enough with the handlebar to keep my back off the seat. I sat on the very front edge of the seat to help rock the seat forward, and thus take less effort to keep myself pulled forward. This is not an easy way to ride a Corsa.
 
Another mile or so down the road, Steve pointed out to me that my Fastback bag was rubbing the rear wheel. I instinctively reached down to feel the bag over the wheel. Let me take a moment here to recommend against doing that. I decided that it hadn't been a good idea right after my left ring finger hit the spokes, which promptly lopped a small chunk off the tip of my finger.  
 
Now, I'm hanging on for all I'm worth, trying to keep my back off the seat, while bleeding all over the handlebar. Yes, just another easy finish to a randonneuring ride. And finish I did. I ended up with 124.8 miles, and finished in 8:44.
 
One last thing: why is it that the guys using gps's to navigate usually seem to get more bonus miles than anyone else on these rides?

Quote:

 
Here is my 2 cents.
 
1. Most of the riders download the route from a web site. the only way to check the route is to ride it.
2.  The Edge 605/705 comes set to recalculate the route as you ride.  Soooo if there is a gravel road that is 100 feet shorter it will tell you to take the gravel road, even though the route does not.  In the 605/705 there is an option for settings - routing - change recalculate  to PROMPTED.
3. In my humble (?) opinion the solution is to buy the DVD from Garmin. the software allows you to see and GPX file downloaded and check it for accuracy.  You can also use the software to draw the route from the cue sheet or map.

Well for Greg & I ,we missed 934 outside of Ostwega because we were too busy talking & enjoying each others' company. We only went about .3 of a mile then turned around. No biggie.
 
Now for the ride. It was an excellent 'bent turnout. Steve has adapted amazingly well in <1 week. Way to go Steve.
 
I rode up with the lead group for a while,then fell back to ride with Peggy & Bud. The goal today(for me) was to get Peggy's 200k in for the month & to ride with Bud, Mark Metcalfe & have fun.
 
Success on all counts. I learned so much form last week's 216k(Cleburne Goatneck ride)form Nelson & Bud. The lesson was "manage your ride."(aka be smart). That's exactly what we did. Peggy rode strong all day. Suffered a little form the heat ,but fought through it.  
 
We were taking a shade break ,when we saw Bud come flying around the underpass of Hwy 67 in Midlothian. "I've got a shot at a sub 9 hour 200k. First one since my lung operation." We all yelled "Go!"
as we hopped on our bikes.
 
Bud & I rode together on Lake Ridge Parkway & about half way down he yells "I think my seat mount is broken." We stopped & checked it out, deemed it worthy of riding for the next 5 miles. As I was riding behind Bud, the seatbag was facing the opposite direction of the bike. I ride next to Bud to tell him that something was up, then I hear his fastback rubbing on his tire.
 
We stopped & see the seat stay has broken. We travel on ,with Mark Metcale riding behind Bud & me to the side. Poor Bud was having to sit on the edge of the seat(without leaning back on the seat),trying to finish the ride(let alone get his some 9 hour 200k).
 
To his credit & my amazement ,he did it. Congratulations to Steve Barlow9you beast-already), Peggy(1 more to get her R-12), & Bud(not quit in this guy).
 
Thanks to Mark Metcalfe for riding along & great post ride meat at Veracruz Cafe. Excellent Margaritas & equally good food(Linda M & Rose joined us.Nice . Greg was in rare jovial form, keeping us laughing all day. A slimmed down version of Greg. And he rode strong all day(as did Bryan).  
 
 
Job well done 'bents.

Quote from AustinSkater on Aug 15^th, 2009, 4:25pm:

 
 
Bah, if you felt obligation, you could have stayed with me instead of dumping me like a girlfriend when we caught up to the pack!    (kidding - I know you were trying for a top time - how'd you end up?)
 
Steve, doing a 7 hour loop was phenomenal!  You da man!
 
My problems started long before the ride began.  I set my alarm for 5:30 instead of 5 and arrived at the start with very little time, dehydrated, and without having had a bit to eat.  Chasing Bryan down didn't help that much!  I was fine until that chipseal mentioned and I kept thinking my fork was coming loose.  Checked it at blum and my front wheel skewer hadn't been tightened enough and the wheel was bouncing in the fork.  oops!  That probably ate up some serious energy.  I have a few issues after a lot of carbent miles that need to be worked on by a mechanic.  I need to find a REALLY good wrench I can trust.  
 
After pushing it hard to Blum I decide to hang with the group and was glad I did.  I've really missed riding with Steve and Peggy and everyone, and everything was great.  I intentionally pushed hard up Orphan hill and really felt as though I'd conquered the thing.  I just planned on easing it into the end anyway, but I didn't take into account the dehydration and chipseal and the heat.  Not my brightest moment.  It meant I needed a 5 minute break only a few minutes from the easiest section of the course, but so be it.  I had a great time anyway.
 
I was VERY pleased to note that where I NORMALLY have to stop just ebfore orphan hill and massage my feet and whine a while, I was able to go all the way to Maypearl without needing to get off the bike at all.  Even with the massive amounts of new chipseal.  That's a BIG WIN for me.  Thanks Kent for the new cleat position!  
 
Steve made the ride looks easy, bouncing back and forth between me and Peggy at will.  She rode steady and there were times it was hard to keep up with her, and I know she wasn't going "balls out" as it were.  And what's more, I bet she could have turned around and done it again right then.  Bud rode through stuff that I think would have made any of us just sag in.  He's just made of solid steel.  
 
The best part was the VERY authentic mexican, not tex-mex place we went to with Rose and Mark and Linda along.  Constant laughs.  The stories and BS flying just make any amount of miles worthwhile.  Those RBENTers considering randonneuring are going to love it once they get to know al these people.
 
Thanks for the company, everyone!

Oh yeah, I got a birds-eye view of the "limp" seat stay on Lake Ridge Parkway yesterday.  Did you officially "count them out  yet?"  Time for the original seat stays now, huh.  
 
Looking at that picture, it's funny , but 5 miles of gingerly riding were not, I'm sure.

Wow.  I'd love to have a nice low heartrate when pumping that hard.  To make that time over that terrain would have had me at 155 to 160 at least the whole way.  That's some nice work, son!