Armadillo Classic - Liberty Hill Tx - Ride Report - 105 miles
 
This ride kicked my butt. 4,649 feet of climbing with an overweight bike (and an overweight bike engine) was really hard with the first 57 miles being mainly uphill and definitely into a stiff 15 mph head wind gusting to 20 mph.
 
On the other hand, the day was gorgeous with the wild flowers blooming everywhere. Purples, reds, yellows, whites - colors everywhere. This year is a big disappointment for bluebonnets, but every other kind of flower is blooming like mad.
 
At mile marker 50 after battling the hills and wind for 3 hours and 45 minutes I finally decided enough was enough and just sat back and easy peddled to try and enjoy the rest of the 105 mile ride as much as possible.
 
104.7 miles, 7 hours and 56 minutes elapsed time for an average speed of 13.7 mph finishing at almost 4pm in the afternoon.
 
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311271129
 
Only saw two other recumbents on this ride - Ron Swift and his wife Jackie. Talked with Ron sitting at the start of the ride for a little bit, and got to talk with Jackie for a few miles at the beginning of the ride. Jackie has been volunteering with helping folks in West Tx and what a heartbreaker that situation is. Of course Ron immediately left me at the start of the ride and after a few miles Jackie also took off. Hmmm, I was chicked by Jackie  - http://www.chicked.com/about/.
 
After the start everybody was passing me like mad because of climbing all the hills until mile marker 36, two and a half hours into the ride. At mile 36 the route took a right hand turn and started a 10 mile slog north climbing uphill for the next 10 miles directly into the 15 mph head wind (gusting to 20 mph). I managed to keep my pitiful 14.5 mph average going but the upright bikes seemed to stop in their tracks - probably averaging less than 10 mph. I passed a lot of bikes in the next 6 miles as the ride headed into Burnet. Almost everyone turned around at Burnet because only the 105 milers continued on past Burnet to ride a 30 mile extended loop north through Lake Victor and back before rejoining the other rides on their way back from Burnet to Liberty Hill.
 
Once past Burnet, heading north, the ride was beautiful. Flowers everywhere, long horn cattle, big open fields, puffy afternoon clouds - life was good. I pretty much stopped at every rest stop on the north of Burnet loop just to enjoyed the scenery.
 
Because of the long duration (8 hours) of the ride I had some minor issues staying hydrated towards the end of the ride. On the way home from the ride I drank a lot - a 12 oz can of V8 juice and a 32 oz container of gatorade. Weighting myself once home I still lost 4 and a half pounds of fluids on the ride. I need to be more diligent on hydrating during the second and third hours of a ride.
 
--- by the numbers ---
104.7 miles
7:56 elapsed time
13.7 mph
4,649 feet climbing
3,258 calories
heart rate monitor - not reliable
79 rpm average cadence
77.7 degrees average temperature - with the last 2 hours being in the high 80s
 
Next ride - 18 May
Real Ale Ride Blanco Tx   (65 miles) - or -
Tour de Norway Clifton Tx (80 miles)