Dist: 54 mi / 86 km
Ascent: 8400 ft / 2500m
(Note: MapMyRide.com tends to underestimate ascent and steepness of climbs. The longer the ride, the more it underestimates. This is a fairly short route so the estimate is probably reasonably close.)

Pros:
- It’s in the Pyrenees on a roads that have many times been part of the route of the Tour de France.
- Good pavement.
- Good climbs.
- Beautiful rural scenery and picturesque French towns.
- French bicycling road signs which give regular statistics about the upcoming grade.

Cons:
- I can’t think of any negatives about this ride, but it is rural France, so depending on time of day, time of year, etc., it may be difficult to find replenishment on the route. Plan accordingly.

Prior to this my longest brevet was 300k. I’ve finished longer races; Tejas 500 (miles) and Hill Country 600k. The difference is that an ultracycling race includes race support staff and often each racer has a personal support crew. I had crew for both those events. A brevet, on the other hand, is an unsupported ride. Each rider is responsible for understanding where along the route they can resupply and for carrying what they’ll need. If you have a mechanical or physical problem you figure out how to fix it or hitch a ride back to your car … or phone a friend. But if you think it’s inconvenient to ask someone to drive 10 miles to come pick you up, how about 100 miles!? That would not be unusually far for a rider that has to DNF a brevet.

I haven’t been feeling particularly zippy for the past … oh, month maybe, so my plan was to manage my effort and just get through this last of six brevets in six weeks. I was surprised that the little group of riders started fairly conservatively, but I dropped off the back after 30 min or so, still warming up and not wanting to push it on the rollers. The sun was starting to come up as I left Brighton and the westerly ride was beautiful on the green spring morning. As I rolled into Lyons, the wind was just starting to show signs of the predicted ferocity.

It’s a nice, long, gradual climb to Wind River Pass from Lyons. It’s only 40 miles to Estes Park, and two water bottles will often get me twice that far. I hadn’t planned on the wind increasing my thirst, or calculated the extra time the 4000′ climb would add. All of which meant that 14 miles out of Lyons I was already very low on water. I went off-route at Allenspark hoping for a store, but instead found Crystal Springs! The refreshment was worth the extra half mile. I filled my bottles with ice-cold water and drank another half bottle while I was standing there.

I’d never been to Estes Park before and dropping down into the valley from the south is beautiful! I stopped at the KOA again for more water. Then headed across the valley for the ride down Devil’s Gulch Switchbacks. This entire stretch through Glen Haven, Drake and out Big Thompson Canyon is very scenic. There was A LOT of traffic, but I’m guessing it was a little heavier than usual because another road between Drake and Estes Park was closed.

I was surprised when the route took us by a little reservoir we passed during the Stove Prairie 200k. I had no idea it was nearby. I was starting to feel pretty warm and was looking forward to stopping in Masonville for some nice cold water and ice. Unfortunately all the water in Masonville was warm and there was no ice, but I refilled my bottles and soaked my shirt and headband for some extra cooling and headed on for Horsetooth Dam.

After another stop in Ft. Collins, for yet more water. I have to say the ride got a lot less fun for me after Ft. Collins. I began to question why I was out there and why I’d ever want to do another long ride again! For one thing the wind was stronger out on the plains. And the howling wind, whether from the front, side, or rear, was abrading my nerves. And, while the beauty of the green fields was not lost on me, passing stinky feedlot after stinky feedlot quickly gets tiring (and depressing) to this vegan.

I’d planned to make a quick turnaround after the 400k, but when I got back to my hotel room about 9:30pm, I was too exhausted and sleepy to do anything more than take a shower and go to bed. I thought about DNF’ing, but remembered all the times I’ve wondered why someone would DNF when they still have 10 hours (or, in this case, over 20 hours) to finish, and decided not to make any decision about the last 200k. After I’d been lying in bed (not much sleeping) for about 90 min, I felt refreshed and suddenly motivated to get out there and knock out the rest of the ride.

Back out on the road it was nice. There was little traffic and the wind was calm. I made some routing errors and rode a few extra miles; a combination of not being able to read the tiny print on the cue sheet well and not seeing some road signs in the dark. I’d underdressed and stopped in Miliken to get some coffee and get out of the cold for a few minutes. I put on every stitch of clothing I had with me, unsure if it would be enough; amused at myself because I’m usually so afraid of being cold that I carry enough extra clothing to keep myself and two other people warm. Once I got moving again the light jacket with hood seemed to be just right. By the time I got to Kersey at 4:30am the sky was already starting to lighten. More green fields, more stinky feedlots, a fun descent into Erie, up the rollers to South Boulder Road, across Via Appia and check “done” next to 600k brevet.

I had an amazing crew; mom, sister and friend Jen. None had experience as a follow crew, though all had crewed me either biking or running in the past. I was frequently impressed by what a fantastic job they did. I didn’t know that they planned each task for every leap frog stop. I just knew everything happened incredibly smoothly. My mother had spent many hours studying the rules and ensured we followed them. She also made Perpetuem and kept my other food ready and my clothing organized and within quick reach. My sister drove from the hotel to the start and back and every mile between. Her athleticism made her particularly well suited for leap frog support. I felt both awed and beaten when she sprinted from about 20 yards behind my bike to hand me a fresh bottle. I also thought we performed the ultimate bottle exchange when she caught my old bottle in one hand while passing off the new one with the other. Jen was in charge of navigation and I was always confident that we were on course and was informed of the approach of every turn. She also has great skill in passing Endurolytes from a moving car to a gloved cyclist’s hand. Somehow we never dropped one.

The route follows mostly lightly traveled roads, taking riders and crew past some beautiful countryside. After a long, easy climb to the first time station in Medina the course ramps up. What looked to me in the route book like four steep, but short climbs, felt like 30 miles of hard climbing. I’d brought my climbing bike just to practice bike exchanges with my crew, and I was elated to be riding it up the first climb which George Thomas, the race director, had described as a “gray wall”. When my crew took me off my climbing bike after passing through TS2 at Leaky I no longer felt elation. I was exhausted and a little dumbstruck at the thought of how much more difficult that section would have been with two fewer gears and the extra weight of aero bars.

I passed the 100 mile mark at Camp Wood a little slower than I’d planned, hoping to pick up some time on the downhill sections of the route that would surely come after all that climbing. As we left Rock Springs TS3, my crew said, “You’ve got fifty miles of descent with a few rollers.” Based on a quick look at the profile that seems accurate; from Point A, TS3 at Rock Springs, to Point B, TS4 at Junction there’s a 500 foot drop in elevation The difficulty lies between Point A and Point B. From the cyclist’s perspective this section seems like endless short, steep climbs interspersed by short, less steep descents.

On the road between Rock Springs & Junction

My crew stopped for gas at Junction TS4. A few miles later we put lights on my bike and I changed into warmer clothes, but not warm enough. I made a misjudgment and rode for a couple hours thankful for every climb that was long enough for me to warm up and stop shivering. This was probably the easiest section of the ride, but between the darkness, which for me seems to have the effect of flattening a course, and focusing on whether I should stop and change clothes again or could tough out the cold a little longer, I didn’t notice or take advantage of the easier terrain. I didn’t make it to TS5 at Llano before I gave up and changed to tights, and added a long undershirt and a fleece sweater.

I was a little confused by the pre-race description of the Llano TS5 to Fredricksburg TS6 section as compared to the profile in the route book. The route book shows it as a 30+ mile climb ending with a 10 mile descent. I think it was the descent George referred to when he said some riders were going 26-27mph on their way to Fredricksburg. I certainly wasn’t approaching that speed on the climb! I was hoping to get through the 2am-3am window without sleeping, but stopped for a 15 min nap around 2am when I felt like I was starting to nod off on the bike. The descent into Fredricksburg was nice! The road pavement was in terrible condition, but the shoulder was wide and smooth. I’d taken a trip with my mother and sister to Fredricksburg a few years ago and it was fun for all of us to recognize many of the places we’d visited that day. The main drag certainly seemed shorter at 4am, free of traffic.

Just after Fredricksburg we turned onto Old San Antonio Road. The first few miles were lots of fun, mostly downhill rollers, then it was back to the slog of steep climbs and short descents. The 4-person relay team from Colorado passed me here and were leap-frogging my crew and I for several miles as they swapped riders almost every climb. It wasn’t much of a problem for me, but my crew got a little frustrated with one of their vehicles passing so many times on the steep, narrow, windy road.

Sunrise outside Sisterdale

Just before Sisterdale the road became a pot-hole filled, gravel strewn, bump fest for two miles. It was the worst section of “pavement” I’ve ever ridden a bike on. Thankfully it was fairly flat, and Texas riders told me it wasn’t too bad for Texas. After the cute little town of Sisterdale we took a left towards Kendalia TS7. To look at the route book, the last 13 miles into Kendalia don’t seem to especially stand out, but for me this was one of the most difficult sections. I was ready to get the ride over with, and thinking 13 miles equals less than an hour, but instead the road turned into another string of tough little climbs.

I hardly remember Kendalia, except that I was confused about the turn and my crew was planning to put a little more gas in the tank and take a short break, but there was no gas station. I changed out of my tights and into shorts and leg warmers and turned on my iPod after Kendalia. The day was warming up fast and I soon stripped off my leg and arm warmers. This was another easier section, but less idyllic riding after we turned onto FM 3351, a busy four-lane road. I especially appreciated having my crew vehicle behind me in the increasingly heavy traffic as we headed to Leon Springs TS8.

Edge Falls Road, past Kendalia

We turned north at the final TS in Leon Springs. My crew pointed out the mixed tandem ahead and wanted me to catch it. I wasn’t sure I could, but they’d asked so I tried. I really can’t imagine riding a tandem on this route with so much climbing and I was very impressed. I passed them as the grade steepened again. I can’t be sure, because honestly it is hard to give an objective comparison of a climb at mile 50 and a climb at mile 365, but it seemed like the steepest grades on the course came within 10 miles of the finish. They were short climbs and soon behind me. I pushed as hard as I could on the last few miles of downhill where I thought the tandem would probably catch me.

I crossed the line at 10:14am. As happy as I was to be the first woman both for myself and my crew, I think I was most happy just to have finished!

George Thomas and Terri Gooch have added a wonderful event to their schedule. Like Ring of Fire Time Trial it has excellent organization, a super friendly atmosphere and great course.

Twitter Photos by George Thomas

Tubeless, fenders, rack 

[If you are a lover of old Vitus frames stop reading now! ]

DiNotte 400L taillight

Sleep is a powerful motivator
I don’t have a good plan for events that start a few hours before my bed time and I was feeling sleepy by the time the 6pm start rolled around. I learned that sleep is a good motivator for me. I promised myself three hours of sleep and a shower at the hotel if I finished the first 300 miles in less than 24 hours. It probably wasn’t good strategy for a 500 mile race, but my first objective was the 300 and the promise of sleep kept me focused for most of the first 24 hours.

I stopped for two more 45 min naps; one early Saturday morning and one early Sunday morning. Those were essential, I’m-unsafe-to-ride naps.

If you’re going to the trouble of bringing a second bike, it should really be ready to ride
When I returned from my four hour shower-nap break on Saturday night, I decided to check my tire pressure. I mentioned in my ROF report that I’ve started using tubeless road tires and for the most part I love them. However, I do not love having my valve cores unthread at 10pm on the second night of a 500 mile race…especially when I’m my own mechanic. When the valve core came loose on my back tire, it lost so much pressure that the sidewall unsealed from the rim. No amount of hand pumping was going to reseat the tire. I got the tire reseated with a CO2 cartridge, but then wasn’t confident of it holding air so I decided to take my old Vitus that I’d brought with fenders installed in case of rain. I took off the fenders and started moving lights over. As I was about finished I saw my “rain saddle” and cringed. By this time the tire on my RS had been holding air for close to 30 minutes so I moved everything back and just went out on it with a few extra CO2 cartridges in my jersey pockets. I’d been swinging my leg over my saddle saying, “see ya in a while,” when I decided to check the air pressure…45 minutes later I actually left for Lap 13.

Amazing volunteers
The Texas Time Trials had an amazing number of supportive, enthusiastic, cheering volunteers out on the course. Before the first lap was finished I was dumbfounded by the contribution these cyclists and cycling supporters were making to the event. At every major intersection there were volunteers pointing the way, checking traffic, and warning riders about road hazards. The volunteers’ enthusiasm was matched by the Race Director, Dan Driscoll. He made all the riders feel like their race was successful and their efforts appreciated.

The course was well marked. No route sheets or maps needed. There were reflective arrows painted on the road at turns, road hazards and large potholes were marked, there were also lots of blinking lights at all intersections. Comparing the road at the end of the race to the road on Thursday and Friday it appeared that a lot of time had been spent clearing road kill and gravel from the road fairly close to the Thursday, 6pm start time.

Besides the volunteers manning the intersections and timing table, there were also a number of people in vehicles and on motorcycles constantly sweeping the course. Though riders weren’t allowed crew on the course, a rider shouldn’t have had to wait more than 15-20 minutes if they had a problem. It was reassuring when I went out on my questionable tire to know that there were people checking the course regularly.

Finally finished

I completed several of my goals for the year. Two big ones were 1) riding 300 or more miles in 24 hours, I did 318 in 23:24 with a 45 min nap; and 2) completing 400+ mile road ride. There were three women in the 500. I was second at 43:31. First place was Lynn Lashley, 42:07; Third Heidi von Teitenberg, 47:05.

Finishing up Lap 7 about 7:45AM Friday

 
Race report to be continued…