Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Mar 8th, 2012, 9:20am:Oh, and the Lancaster Rally 63-mile and 42-mile routes are definitely not a piece of cake... but it's a VERY enjoyable ride, with good rest stops every 10 miles or so and good SAG support. There is one tough 8% grade hill that is 5 miles in, but it's short, and the "Sugar Ridge Road" section from Mile 15 to Mile 19 is definitely hilly, with one particularly tough climb that a LOT of people walk up -- but the bluebonnets along that stretch are so pretty, you don't mind it!!! After that, the hill climbing is minimal, except for a short section around the 45 mile point. It's NOTHING like riding Muenster or any East Texas ride where there's nothing BUT climbing and rollers...
However, the WIND will be your enemy, if it's from the north, because the last 20 miles are northbound... but last year we had a south wind, which made the first half tough, but the last half NIIIIIICE!!!! But we're on recumbents, who cares about headwinds??????
Don't let the climbing scare you -- just plan for a lengthy, but enjoyable ride, with the occasional challenging climb that will make you appreciate it!!!
The 23-mile route is pretty much just for newbies, or those who just go out for 5-10 miles whenever they ride, and has that one climb at Mile 5 -- but it's basically just riding to Ferris and back...
The Garmin showed 2,000 feet total climb on the 100k, it wasn't a bad ride although the south wind was a pain going west through Palmer. Here's my data from last year's ride
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78445761