There were riders from all over on the course today, including Dexter and company from Del Rio, and an Austin rider. LSR upright rider Todd M also rode.  
 
I did two laps, starting shortly after 8:00, with a nice break between laps. It had come an early morning downpour at Glen Rose, and a lot of the course was still wet, even with puddles in places. When the sun got high, the water on the ground made the humidity high, and it was a much hotter day than I was expecting.  
 
I had planned on riding three laps, but between the heat and the hills on this loop, I was done after two. Randonneurs Steve, Peggy, Paul, Bryan, and Shellene were there, as were riders I see less often, Thomas, Robert, and Brian. Great seeing y'all! It was also nice meeting Frank, who rode on his P-38.  
 
Some came early and did extra laps and some settled for one lap. Those of us who were still there at noon headed to the Pasta Fina in Granbury for an excellent lunch. I ended up with 53.0 miles at a slower pace than I'm going to post here. I had a great time; thanks for putting this together, Paul!

Thanks all for coming out, especially the ones who braved something new!!!  Riding this course is definitely a mental adjustment after the familiarity of the old one -- not only is it 30% longer, it's also got significantly more rollers and longer climbs out of the rollers.  There's a fairly long climb after only three miles, and at least three other climbs along the way that brought me down to 8 mph... but also some fairly nice (albeit too short) 40mph downhills!
 
Special thanks go to Rodney, who agreed to let me borrow his Xstream for the weekend's fun.  I just got this itch to try to make some comparisons to last year's course on a similar bike to last year...
 
On my first lap, after starting with the main group, I hung back with Thomas and Frank for a while, using some caution on the still-wet road surface.  Then confirming that they were going to stay together, I caught up with Robert and Bryan and rode the middle third with them, then did my own pace for the last third, fnishing the first lap in 1:45 overall.
 
As Bud said, we took a long break, and waited for Robert, Brian, Frank, and Thomas to roll in, figuring that they might not be up for a second lap.  Thanks to Steve for driving a few miles back out the course to make sure Thomas and Frank were making their way in all right!!!!  And thanks to you four for coming out, and good to meet you, Frank!!
 
Bud, Steve, Peggy, and I went out for a second lap, and it was already getting kinda toasty.  I decided to try a "relay race" lap pace calibration, and the others were going to take it at a slower pace, so right off the start, I was off on my own.  
 
On last year's course, my approximate average lap speed was 22.5 mph for the 20 miles, typically finishing in 53 minutes and change.  On this course, with the caveat of being a few pounds heavier and not having ridden an Xstream for 6 months, I averaged 19.5 mph, finishing in 1:22.  I took some "benchmark" time readings at various landmarks, which I'll compile and list later, for anyone who's interested.
 
I've also got lots of photos to compile, showing some of the great downhills and nasty climb sections, that I'll probably have up tomorrow.
 
This course is definitely tougher than the old one, and not just because of the distance.  I really missed that wonderful (comparatively speaking) last 5 miles of the old course, that was mostly a downhill ending with Goatneck Hill.   None of that silliness, here, although the three miles going in to Glen Rose is pretty sweet -- I was typically rolling at ~35 through this section.
 

 
More to come...
PB

OK, I mentioned making some time references along the course, for a "relay sprint" (YMMV)...  Here are some relative markers to use, if you like, based upon my one hour 22 minute lap time:
 
Location and Distance                           Time
 
Nemo  (6 milies)                                   20 min
 
Johnson Cty Line and nasty climb           30 min
 

 
 
Brazos Crossing Bridge (11.6 mi)           37 min
 

 
 
Halfway Point onto Hwy 56  (13.4 mi)     42 min
 

 
 
Nice Hwy 56 downhill             51 min
 

 
 
Somervell County Line ( 19.25 mi)   60 min
 

 
 
Glen Rose City Limit (24.25 mi)        75 min
 

 
 
The Finish (26.4 mi)         82 min
 

Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Aug 23^rd, 2009, 7:54am:

Thanks for the pics and notes. Is this climb representative of the harder climbs? From the picture, it looks like you could hit around 40 on the downhill and power about 2/3rds the way up to that last little flair so that shouldn't be a big problem, but of course photographs tend to distort reality.... How many more climbs like this one are there?

Quote from goatstick on Aug 23^rd, 2009, 10:03am:

 
Kent, County line hill is probably the steepest climb on the course.There are 3 or 4 climbs on the back side of the course, at mile 15 which is around 8-9%, then a smaller roller short after at mile 15.3 at 5% ,then some more rollers. Mile 21-22(?) has a longer slow grade 1-2% for 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile ,then down hill to the finish.  Sometimes, it's not the biggest hill the kicks your butt, but some of the smaller ones depending on where they are on the course.
 
The wind always seems to play a factor at TT's. Hwy 56 was pretty much into the wind  yesterday(or so it seemed).

Quote:

 
 
Nelson, I didn't ride down Grace Street, but I definitely think having riders going through downtown Glen Rose at that intersection of Barnard is going to be a problem.  Not only is the four-way stop relatively blind as to what is approaching from the left, but your descending a hill approaching the intersection, which makes you want to blow through it.  But you've also got a bunch of parked cars along Barnard directly after turning right at that intersection, and somebody could get doored.
 
If Grace Street is in good shape, I think it'll be safer, but they will also have to be careful re-entering Barnard at the end of Grace -- they may need a spotter there full time.

Quote from goatstick on Aug 23^rd, 2009, 10:03am:

 
 
To a certain extent, yes.  There were three or four climbs, this one included, that I wound up powering up while I could, but eventually settling in at an ~8.5mph pace at to finish them, despite going into them at 30+.

Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Aug 23^rd, 2009, 12:51pm:

 
I disagree. Ray, Peggy, Nelson & myself have already Grace street. We all favor Barnard street. To begin with, Grace is easy to miss as you're quickly descending on 144 into town, & there's not much room to make that turn. #2-Grace street has several speed bumps with reflective tape(which can become slippery in the evening/morning dew/rain), #3, Grace St dead-ends into Barnard. That intersection involves looking left to Barnard for on coming traffic. It's essential a blind corner.  
 
In addition, you have several drive-ways on Grace street. You would essential be restricting vehicle traffic on Grace street from Thursday to late Saturday evening. Glen Rose is not going to want to do that ,& if I lived on Grace street, I would want to dodge cyclists for 3 days as I pulled in/out of my driveway. So you have to stop at the flashing light. All participants would have to stop there too. So no one would have an advantage.