Greater Dallas Bicyclists presents the Lancaster Rally
 
Saturday, April 14, 2012
 
Make plans to enjoy a fabulous day of Texas springtime cycling in the luscious and calm countryside south of Dallas! For the 14th consecutive year, the Greater Dallas Bicyclists, together with the City of Lancaster, is staging the Lancaster Country Ride on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 9 am. Lancaster is a mere 15 minutes from downtown Dallas.
 
Join us as we cycle through the scenic countryside of Lancaster and surrounding areas. The routes traverse a variety of terrain, from flats to rolling hills, with a few challenging climbs. Rest stops every 10 or 12 miles with water, sports drink and fruit. The wildflowers are in full bloom in April and our routes feature picturesque meadows with dense concentrations of Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush, and other colorful spring flowers.
 
Lancaster GDB socks for the first 1,200 registered riders!
 
Start/Finish: On-site registration and breakfast begins at 7 am. Ride starts at 9 am from the gazebo near the historic Lancaster town square off Main Street and Dallas Avenue. After the ride, stick around with other cyclists to enjoy the festivities on the square.
 
Mileage options: 23, 42 and 63 miles staggered start for safety. We have scouted and ridden the routes to ensure smooth roads and scenic countryside for all bicyclists to enjoy. The 42 and 63 mile options take you directly through the Bluebonnet Trial on beautiful and hilly Sugar Ridge Road. Note that GDB requires helmets to be worn during the ride.
 
Price/Registration: There are 4 ways to register/pay for this event:
1. You can register via active.com ($25 if paid on or before March 28th; $30 if paid from March 29th until April 13th).
2. You can register via US Mail ($25 if postmarked by March 28th; $30 if postmarked from March 29th until April 4th). NOTE: forms mailed after April 4th will probably not get to us in time and are therefore not guaranteed to be valid.  You can also pick up a rally flyer (including registration form) at most area bicycle shops.
3. You can register at the Packet Pickup events listed below ($30 cash/check only).
4. You can register at the Lancaster Gazebo near the start line on the day of the rally ($30 cash/check only).
 
Packet Pick-Up: To ease rally day on-site registration, we’ll have packet pickup at six locations, before the day itself. You can go to these events to pick up your packet if you've already registered via active.com or US mail. You can also go to these events and fill out a registration, pay the fee there and get your packet. Ride participants must sign their own liability release waiver (either electronically when registering via active.com or by signature on the paper registration form).
 
     Saturday April 7th from noon-3pm at Richardson Bike Mart (Campbell and Coit Road in Richardson)
       Tuesday April 10th from 4pm–7pm at the Dallas Performance Bicycle (North Central Expressway at Walnut Hill)
          Wednesday April 11th from 4pm–7pm at the Dallas REI (LBJ Freeway at Welch)
             Wednesday April 11th from 4pm–7pm at B&B Bicycles (229 East FM1382 in Cedar Hill)
                 Thursday April 12th from 4pm-7pm at Plano Cycling & Fitness (North Central Expressway at 18th Street)
                      Friday April 13th from 4pm-7pm at Mad Duck Cyclery (721 E. NW Hwy, Grapevine)
 
Breakfast: Come early to purchase ($6) pancakes, sausage, coffee and juice from the Boy Scouts. They will be at the First United Methodist Church, 201 South Dallas Avenue, across the street from the town square starting at 7am.
 
Directions to Ride: To get to the start from I-20, take exit #470 and go south on Lancaster Rd (Hwy 342). Lancaster Rd becomes Dallas Ave. Continue 4.5 miles to the Gazebo area near the town square. For GPS users, the Gazebo is in the 200 block of North Dallas Avenue.

http://www.greaterdallasbicyclists.com/lancaster/index.html

Sweet, I'm in!!

Quote from jayg on Mar 7^th, 2012, 11:32am:

 
 
Hey, I did 62 miles in Aledo last year and 160 (in 2 days) in San Antonio with just a double, I hope I can make it in south Dallas!  Don't make me eat my words.  LOL

Quote from jayg on Mar 7^th, 2012, 1:45pm:

 
Ok, I'm sufficiently frightened.  Lynn told me last weekend that you were instrumental in getting her 3 ring installed on her Musashi.  Might I enlist your services to do the same for mine?  I will PM you with details...

Quote from jayg on Mar 7^th, 2012, 8:18pm:

 
Or, to put it in layman's terms -- a "24 gear inch" value means that with every pedal stroke of ONE of your legs, it moves you forward one foot (12 inches), and with every complete rotation of the crank (i.e., both legs), you move forward 24 inches.  When hill climbing, it's a fine line between at what speed you are going up the hill (how many crank rotations moving you X feet forward each time) vs. keeping your balance... And the effort to go up a hill at a certain speed on a bike is essentially like the difference between walking up a hill and trying to jog up it.
 
And to slightly modify what Jay said, the lower the gear-inch value, the slower you can climb while still keeping a decent pedal RPM going -- it's not really climbing "power" as such, it's the ability to keep pedaling at slow speed (as long as you can balance!)...

Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Mar 8^th, 2012, 9:20am:

 
Well, Jay's post up there seems complicated and expensive, so maybe I will just deal with what I've got for now, and if I have to walk then so be it!  I will definitely learn my gearing and see if my Musashi can be improved though.  I definitely have used the lowest gear I have on several occasions, but only in San Antonio was it really challenging enough to have me going <6mph up hills and my knees started to hurt.  

Bob, how do you have the time to post on the Forum, when you're leaving for Spain today? I know, your wife must be packing the bags.  

[quote author=jayg link=1331047845/0#9 date=1331173128]Quote from shellbear on Mar 7^th, 2012, 1:49pm:

 
How much are we talking $$$$$$

Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Mar 8^th, 2012, 9:05am:

No, it means that you have the equivalent of a penny-farthing with a 24" wheel connected to the pedals, you are confusing "gear-inches" with the European cycling term "development". When I was running the 11-34 cassette on my Stratus with the tiny triple, my low-low gear was 19" (rounded up to the nearest whole inch).

Neeeeeeeeeeerds!

Thanks for that garmin file.  Now I have an idea what the route might be.  It really does sound like a nice ride.  I will have to see how I do next weekend on the 50mi Ataxia route to know if I want to try the Lancaster ride.

Quote from TonyWard on Mar 15^th, 2012, 6:46pm:

Garmins do a decent job when the barometric pressure is steady, but when it starts changing very quickly, all bets are off. Here's an elevation graph from a day I was doing hill repeats on Gifco Hill.
 

There is a link on Garmin Connect that allows you to select using Geomapping survey data for elevation.  I suspect that will be more accurate.

...buncha thread hijackers...      

Just did one yesterday, matter of fact...  that south wind was getting nasty after noon... There were 19 of us, with 5 splitting off for the 42 miler after the RS2 point on Sugar Ridge Rd.  We were rolling at 18-20 most of the day, even into the wind (with regrouping, of course), and I wound up with a 16 average.
 
One doesn't have to be a GDB club member to participate in ANY of the club's rides -- they just figure that if you're enjoying yourself with the group on a regular basis, you'll find the membership fee worth it - and the fee gives you access to the discussion board.
 
The prerides, however, are typically advertised to be a certain expected rolling speed (as this one was on the forum) if one is going to join in.  They will probably do another one in 2 weeks, I'll post the info about it here...  It's worth at least going out for the 42!
 
My pics from yesterday are here:  http://www.greaterdallasbicyclists.com/gallery/rpr317

Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Mar 18^th, 2012, 8:27pm:

 
Paul, some questions:
 
  Photo 13 of 47. Is there not a long climb on a main road preceeding the side road climb shown in the photo? This is the first of the two tough climbs, isn't it?  
 
  Photo 40 of 47. Is the new road surface shown in the photo smooth asphalt or chipseal?

Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Mar 22^nd, 2012, 4:13pm:

 
Thanks, Paul.  
 
Looking forward to riding that new asphalt. My Carbent loves smooth asphalt. Zoom!

See y'all at Lancaster in the morning. Don't forget to bring your granny gears (or walking shoes) with you.  

I may have worn out my granny but I mad it - 62 miles.

Quote from jayg on Apr 14^th, 2012, 6:21pm:

 
And they got passed by a couple of old guys ...... On recumbents no less!

Headwinds and tailwinds were no problem but those crosswinds, especially on those rough country roads were murder.
As for old guys . . Be nice....

Enjoyed seeing everyone out at Lancaster yesterday. Only saw Shelly at the start but enjoyed riding with John and Jay for a while. I wasn't sure how well I'd do on the hills but I never had to walk so I consider that a plus, although I was painfully s-l-o-w on a particularly nasty little grade near the exotic animals. Next year, I vote for a rest stop at the winery...