Last night the forecast was for 15-20 mph north winds today. I was hoping we’d get lucky but I woke at 2AM with the tent flapping and things blowing off the neighbors picnic table. It was also blowing a little rain in through the vent so I had to close it. The wind didn’t calm down much until late in the afternoon.
30 people showed up to do the 200k brevet. We headed south for the first part of the ride so we flew with the wind. A tandem and a couple other guys went off the front. I debated whether or not to chase. I sat for a bit and then decided to chase. I got the lead guys and soon after the tandem dropped off. That left Nick, the Hell Week organizer, and Paul, and me. Both Nick and Paul have done the Furnace Creek 508 faster than me. In the case of Nick, a lot faster. Nick and his wife also finished RAAM on a tandem in 1993. They were really good to ride with and I talked to Nick a little about doing RAAM. We ended up riding together all day.
Today was the prettiest route so far. We were along the Guadalupe River for a while.
There were some big trees and cliffs along the river. There was also a replica of Stonehenge. It seemed like there were less short rollers and longer climbs. At both checkpoints, as we were leaving a group of other riders was arriving. We also saw a few really big and ornate gates to ranches. Unfortunately I would have had to stop to safely get pictures so I didn’t get any.
There are a couple things I’ve noticed the last couple days. The first one is that road kill gets a lot riper here than in Colorado. The 2nd is that they must think that every inch of pavement must be chip sealed. Today we had several miles with particularly big rocks that didn’t feel so good. We did find a 4 mile section that somehow they missed. I had almost forgotten how smooth pavement can be.
The hight today was only 71 degrees which made me feel better. The official distance for today was 126.3 miles. We did a couple mile side trip plus my ride back and forth from camp gave me 135.2. The climbing was 4393 feet. We averaged 17 mph which was slightly faster than yesterday’s average.
Update: Texas Hell Week photos and posts for each day.
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Tags: cycling, Hell Week, ultra cycling
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Hey Rob
looks like your having fun at Hell Week- I was there in 2004 and head to Pac Tour Chick week in just a few weeks – Yep you need to bone up on some country music – throw a copy of Lucenbach Texas on the MP3 player – also good songs that my friend Linda just recommended that have been getting my through some gym workouts – Barenaked Ladies – Who Needs Sleep and Dead Skunk.
Enjoy the rest of your vaca – oh and put Randonneuring as an interest instead of just cycling and more of us can follow your adventures.
Hey Rob, some fellow bloggers are here too. Sascha and I are both here but mostly doing B rides. Good time, eh?