Shellene and I went down to Austin for the Tour das Hugel, which had never had a recumbent start before this year.  She was planning on riding a smart ride, finishing loop 1 and then deciding to continue at that point.  I was going out to hurt myself, and I did.
 
We rolled out with a pack of 400+ riders, including a third 'bent.  Tim from Austin was riding his Challenge Fujin low-racer.  The first loop includes a couple of nice high speed descending areas, if you are willing to take a lane from traffic (7:30ish on Saturday morning isn't that bad for doing that).  I was sitting in a pack rolling at about 38 MPH when Tim went outside in his own lane, doing at least 50 MPH.  I took the same lane on the next descent, but couldn't close to him, he was looking strong on the climbs as well.
 
On the first major climb I dropped my chain shifting into the small ring, and walked to the top.  Even at that point there weren't too many riders that passed me on the climb, and a few DFs were also walking.  Sadly for me, that was a sign of things to come.  After dropping the chain once, my bike decided (on it's own) to prevent that from happening again.  I wasn't able to shift into the small ring if I had any pressure on the pedals    This gave me three options, and I used all three during the rest of the ride.
 
1.  Shift without pedaling, hard to do on a climb.  This meant shifting early and losing power on the climb
2.  Try and power up the hills in my 42
3.  Go as far as I could without shifting, stop and walk to a flat spot.
 
I tended to go with option 2, since I didn't figure out the shifting issue/solution until mile 70 or so (never said I was the sharpest spoon in the drawer)
 
There were two stops in the first loop, but since I'm rando-hard I didn't bother stopping.  Reloaded my water and Spiz at the 40 mile point, and headed out for the evil hills.  Riding with and switching positions with a group of DF riders for most of it.  I made a short stop at the third rest stop, and then two long stops at the 4/5 stop.  These three stops are the best you'll find at any ride.  The third stop is at a house, with lots of cyclist eating chairs (the first year I rode this we lost a rider there), and 4/5 is the same stop, where riders can skip the dam hill section (and give up their right to buy a t-shirt).  That final stop has brownies, and fresh potatoes, as well as the "normal" rest stop supplies.  This year we also had Pickle Juice Sports http://www.goldenpicklejuice.com/ on ice.
 
When I was climbing up the dam hill, I spotted Tim heading down it, I had passed him while he was at one of the stops that I skipped.  After refueling, for the second time, at the 4/5 stop, I headed to the bottom of Big View.  The only reason we go down that road is to ride right back up it.  When I turned and saw the road I had just came down I knew it was going to hurt, and it did.
 
After surviving (and walking parts of) Big View, it's just a few more hills to Jester - the finial "real" climb of the ride.  I rolled up to Jester, shifted into the small ring and made it 1/3 of the way up before I unclipped.  My left knee was screaming, and it wasn't worth killing myself for.  When I got to the top I met a group at the unofficial rest stop, including a few who were still on the outbound leg (we climb the backside and descend Jester at mile 60).  One of those riders was doing her first Century, my guess is there group finished after 7 PM, but it looked like they were prepared for it (lights on the bikes).
 
From there, I rode in with a group of about 8 riders and finished at 3:35, for a total time of 8 hours 20 minutes, becoming the first 'bent to finish Tour das Hugel.  Shellene was waiting at the finish and pried me off the bike.  Tim rolled in 30 minutes later (we waited to see him finish).
 
This is the third time I've done this ride, and the first time I've beaten the beer truck in (it usually shows up about 4 PM).
 
Numbers, for those who care, and those who don't:
 
Total miles: 110.32
Elevation Gain:  10747 - 11231 (depending on who you ask)
Pain level:  1 (on a scale of 0 to 1)
Average Speed:  14.4
Average HR:  135
Big Macs:  14
 
Best quote:  "I'm just going to sit back here and let you pull"   A DF rider to me just before we started a mile plus descent, as I was shifting into my 55x11 combo  

Great job, Bryan!

Quote from johnnybent on Nov 15^th, 2009, 5:07pm:

 
Yup, the only way to get a t-shirt is to finish the ride.  
 
They aren't worried about making money, it's a donation only event.  You actually get two chances to donate; either to the Yellow Bike project http://www.austinyellowbike.org/home.shtml at the start, or a drop box for the organizers at the finish.  There is no entry fee.  When you add up what the organizers put into the event, you know that they are losing a fair amount.
 
The organizers expect over 1/2 the starts to not finish, and this year looks to be at least that.  Unofficially 450 riders started, and less than 300 made it to rest stop 3.