I may do Goatneck on my Bacchetta. I haven't signed up for it and haven't made a final decision, but if I do, it will be the longest option. Phantom Rider, are you planning on it? If you are, I can give you a heads up if I commit to it.

Barring getting sick between now and then, I'm going to do the ride. I'm also not dependent on you joining me, although I would welcome the company. I'm not going to sign up right now because it is the ACTIVE organization. I hsve used them before and I don't want to be on the hook for all the emails they send out. I will sign up morning of and that's a guarantee! Joe, I know you are much faster than I am so it isn't even necessary for us to ride together but that part is up to you!

Doug, hope to see both you and Joe there, in Cleburne. Doug, you may be slower after 2.5 weeks but I expect you won't be slow!

I'm assuming you've decided against, so I won't look for you in the morning, Joe.

Quote from Phantom Rider on Jul 29^th, 2016, 6:09pm:

 
Joe, I lived with knee problems for years, until I installed 150 mm cranks, which enabled me to adjust the booms on my recumbents so the angles of my knees were not less than 90 degrees at the beginning of the power strokes. Also, I use Eggbeater pedals, which provide more float than SPD pedals (My knees wouldn't tolerate SPD pedals). No more knee problems, so far. My X-seam is 41.5". Maybe short cranks would work for you.

No problem at all that neither of you could make it (Doug and Joe). I had a blast doing the ride. Only saw one other bent rider on the 70 mile option. He was on a CA2 and it wasn't a good time to chat when I saw him. I finished the ride about 40 minutes ahead of the other CA2 rider and I was sitting at the Easy Street Kiosk having a slice of honeydew and chatting with the owner of Easy Street when I saw the other CA2 come in. That wasn't a good time to talk to him, either. In any case, I loved the ride. It's a great course for a recumbent if you love hills and I do. Had loads of fun passing almost every road bike on climbs as well as descents. Had a full 100 oz camelbak in the seat bag and that was all I needed - no cramping, no hunger, and no stops other than to address hot foot issues after Glen Rose. Had about half a bottle worth of cold water remaining in the camelbak, at the end. Final avg was 19.1 and top speed was 40. There was 2700 ft of climbing on this one.

There was pretty rough chip seal in places. The part of the route that encompasses the Texas Time Trial course had some of the roughest chipseal. Fortunately, it was interspersed with smoother sections. If I were doing a time trial out there this September, I wouldn't be happy with the road surface! But I will be in Ireland so maybe it will be smoothed out a little by 2017.

I remember that all too well ..   I would love to do that TT course if it was smooth, or at least not a reminder of some roads in Beirut ..  but I think I'm going to pass this year.
 
Quote from square_corners on Jul 30^th, 2016, 7:42pm:

The ride was great. I surprised myself posting an avg that high. I never look at averages until the end of a ride so the result came as a surprise to me. But I will say that there were a lot of shocked road bike riders out there as i zoomed up hills at double their speed or more, in the biggest gear or at least still on the big ring. I was passing road bikes on the climbs and on the descents. Passed quite a few pacelines as well. A few miles before Glen Rose, I passed a tandem couple I know from my membership in the LSC club, quite easily. They are a very strong tandem team. I had lunch with them after the ride and they said that was the first time anyone had passed them on a climb on this ride, let alone a recumbent. They were impressed. But you and I both know that recumbent riders who are strong riders can do amazing things on the right recumbent. Given the amount of climbing and using tactics to make best use of momentum, the hills were not a big deal and I made short work of most of them. Best of all, had no heat issues or even hints of cramping and an avg that rivals anything I get at White Rock Lake with way more feet per mile. I highly recommend this ride if you have a chance to do it next year. I might very well do it again next year, especially if I'm in shape!

I am in shape this year; no guarantee I will be, next year - no sandbagging predicted.