It's been awhile since I've done a 300k on Saturday and followed up with a 200k on Sunday. I took advantage of Gary Gottlieb's agenda this past weekend - first, on Saturday - Tin Top 307k; then on Sunday, Elm Mott Trot 207k.
 
Did the Tin Top 307k two or three times last year, and we had wind those times too. But, this time I struggled by mile 85 and wondered if I could even finish it. The massive headwind and steep hills certainly were part of the problem. In as much as we were maintaining a decent pace, and I hadn't done a decent pace this distance, this year, that was the rest of the problem. The good news is that while I got very slow on the uphills, the recumbent is very fast on downhills. All I need do is let it go from the top and don't touch the brakes! So I was always in contact with the others and after a nice downhill run, I would be in front for awhile. I had the rough patch between mile 85 and mile 120. Then I got a second wind just in time to do a bunch of climbing - that helped. We also had a pretty strong tailwind by then, too, which didn't hurt any. But, by the last 40 miles or so, I was back to plodding on the uphills, and most of the ride from that point was uphill. Fortunately, by that time, the tandem couple was slowing down as well. So I wasn't the only boat anchor out there by then. This is just what I needed - a wakeup to the state of my conditioning!
   
Our route took us from Willow Park (about 10 miles east of Weatherford on I-20), then through Granbury, Glen Rose, Walnut Springs, Iredell, Hico, Bluffdale, Lipan, Thorpe Springs, Tin Top, and then back to Willow Park. Our total mileage for Saturday was 191; avg speed 16.1; climbing 8038 ft; elapsed time was 14 hours even.
 
I was certainly in doubt about following through with the Sunday option, by the time we finished, Saturday. But, sometimes you just gotta say What the Heck! And boy am I glad I did - more headwind!
Elm Mott was another beating, going straight south into an even stronger wind than the day before. This isn't a high climbing ride, but the wind more than made up for that lack. Nonetheless, I still felt much better than the day before. We started off right into the wind and I had no leg pain or any discomfort in my legs for about half the way down to Elm Mott, which is just north of Waco.  
 
We started out from Venus, passing through Maypearl, Milford, and Malone on the way - those were the major towns, although their populations are all under 500. There was a group of 7 of us, all but three of us having done the previous day's 300k. While my legs weren't tired from the previous day's ride, they did get tired from plodding into the massive headwind on this ride! Those miles were just crawling by. Most of the time, I felt the pace could have been a little faster (13.1 mph going south, was the average for that leg) but didn't complain or push on ahead because I figured it would be nice to have a little energy to take advantage of the tailwind on the return trip.  We did finally reach Elm Mott, and turned it around about 25 min later.  
 
I hit the lap button as we started north, figuring we might have a decent average with the great tailwind. But, we were barely going faster, as a group, with the tailwind, than we were with the headwind. Could everyone else be that tired? I wasn't, but I stuck with the group for the next 11 miles. It was a total of 21 miles from Elm Mott to Malone. At Malone, we would all sit down for some (to die for) BBQ sandwiches. With 10 miles to go to Malone, I decided I really needed to burn off some pent-up energy. So I took off, speeding away from the group, hammering the uphills and trying to maintain at least 20 on all of them (did some of it that fast, but not all). On the downhill side, I just let the wind push - you go faster that way than trying to pedal it. So after 10 miles, I had a several minute advantage on the group. I went in and ordered my sandwich and the rest followed in after awhile.  
 
It was good that I had gotten the need to ride fast out of my system, as it was raining by the time we left Malone. The roads got very wet and the rain was coming down pretty good. In conditions like that, it doesn't pay to try and go fast. Conservative riding is the key to safety. It did finally dry up with about 20 miles left to go. I rode on in with the tandem, though, and one other rider. It wasn't the fastest I could have done it, but I was enjoying the company and the conversation. My average for the return trip was 18.3 - not bad, especially with the rain, and I was lucky not to flat as I was sticking to riding the roughest chip seal on the wet sections to improve traction.  
 
I've done this ride twice before already this year. What was new this time was the proliferation of blooming bluebonnets - about 3 weeks early, thanks to our warm, wet winter.
So Sunday was 128 miles, 15.3 overall average, 3209 ft of climbing, 9½ hours elapsed time. This was good training for the 400k out of Austin, this coming weekend.