Harold was nice enough to put together a little ride report about the Lion’s Pride, bike ride in Ennis this weekend.

If you have any ride reports or pictures let us know and we’ll post them too!

I left home at 6:30 AM heading for Ennis and the “Lion Pride Bike Ride” sponsored by the Ennis FFA, arrived at Ennis High School at 7:30 AM to a dark cool (42F) morning that promised to be a beautiful day. There were few cars in the parking lot and the registration table was working with the other early arrivals. The volunteers were courteous and ready to check off your name, hand you a number and a ditty bag along with the event T-shirt. Now do I get ready or sit in the car with the heater? Better get ready and adjust to the cold because I know the first 10 miles will be chilly since the sun is just coming up. The parking lot fills and it looks like a good crowd will be riding today.

Along the entry to the parking lot are green stripes and signs showing the starting locations. The “No long pants or gloves” folks line up at the 62 marker, the long pants, gloves and ear warmer folks line up at the 42 marker and the properly dressed folks line up at the 22 marker. It’s getting close to 8:45 better line up at the 42 marker, my ride of choice. A few minutes later the street is filled with riders. It’s 3 minutes before 9 and the police pick-up driver hollers over his PA, “Follow Me, we are turning left at the stop” and the ride is on, escorted by lights flashing and siren blaring, heading westerly over the Bardman Lake bridge to our first left turn.

The roads in general are standard Texas FM and county roads with chip seal in various stages of ageing. The roads are better than the last time I rode “Lion Pride”. The smoothest places can generally be found on the right side of the right lane. The shoulders on TX 34 are wide and smooth, a great way to start the first 6 miles and finish the last 10 miles. The toughest section, for me, was the newer chip seal from mile 22 to mile 31, boy did my arms and body ache, felt like a vibrator with the speed control broken on high. There are a few easy hills (5% largest I remember seeing), if you compare to Goatneck or Krazy Kicker these roads are flat.

The rest stops are placed about every 12 -15 miles and were stocked with the basics-bananas, cookies, pickles, Gatorade, water and a Porta-Potty. The FFAers manning the stops were helpful, even though they could have smiled more between the shivers.

The SAG support was the best I have seen this year, I have ridden 6 previous charity rides this year and 13 last year and none have had as much SAG on the course as “Lion Pride”. It was a good ride as I saw no flats or accidents, maybe lots of SAG is good for the “luck of the ride.”

Maybe the best part was the hamburgers at the end of the ride. The biggest, completely filled a large bun and nearly ½” thick with fresh tomatoes, lettuce and pickles along with catsup, mustard and a bottle of water. What a day, sun is bright, no clouds and 58 at high noon.

This was a great “Basic Essentials” ride.

Congrats to Michael Guerra, who will receive our 3rd and final Wheelbrother T-Shirt giveaway for submitting this write up about his first century ride at this year’s Hotter ‘n Hell 100.

Out on the road

At age 56, overweight and off the bike for 7 years, I decided to ride my first century, the 2011 Hotter ‘n Hell 100. How naive I was. It was January of 2011 and for some reason, having not ridden my bike for 7 years , I decided to start riding again. Finally I was at a point in life where I could afford my dream bike, a Colnago C-50. So I bought the frame and all the parts and set about building the bike. Somewhere in there I remembered the HHH 100, perused their website, and thought “What the hell, if I sign up it will force me to train all year.” My first thought was to not tell ANYONE so I could back out. But like a dumbass I slowly started telling a few people about it. Until finally everyone I knew, knew about it. Now I was really committed. Living in hilly Central Texas put me in a good place to train. So I went out a few times a  week throughout the year. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it was the hottest summer on record here in Kerrville and I purposely went out in the hottest part of the day to train. I only put in about 600 miles of training prior to the ride. And only rode one “long” ride all year, 60 miles the weekend before the HHH 100. As it turned out that was just barely adequate.

August 27th came and there I was for the early 6 AM start, jacked up and nervous as a cat. We got rolling and once we started  thinning out I put the hammer down. I had a big bowl of oatmeal with about half a pound of brown sugar earlier and felt like I had wings. But I made a real rookie mistake and did not fuel adequately throughout the day. I only ate; about 600 calories during the ride. BIG mistake! And the 109 degree heat didn’t help either. I made Hell’s Gate in just under 4 hours and then took 6 hours to ride the last 40 miles!!! The heat was brutal, indescribable. I spent the best part of those 6 hours at the rest stops cooling off enough to just get to the next rest stop to cool off. The last 20 miles I was barely moving. But son of a b…. I made it!!! Where some 20 year olds were being hauled in by ambulance or sag wagon, my 56 year old fat ass rode across the finish line. And I wasn’t last.

Crossing the finish line

It’s nearly a month later as I write this and I’m still high as a kite. About mile 80 I thought I was going to die and swore I would never, ever go back. Now I can’t wait to lose weight, train more, eat more during the ride and go back and beat my time!

Michael Guerra,M.D.
Kerrville, Texas

While most of the Wheelbrothers ride only local races, our resident ‘racer’ Ron rides all over the United States.  While the Wheelbrothers participated in the Hotter ‘n Hell 100 bike ride in Wichita Falls, his latest adventure was the ‘Assault on Pikes Peak’ which is a 24.5 mile bike ride in Colorado.

Don’t quite get it but apparently he really enjoys the pain and suffering going up mountains.  According to him though, it’s one of THE best bike rides you can participate in the United States.

Read his ride report and watch the videos below to find out why!

Ron assaulting Pikes Peak, Colorado violently…

Assault on Pikes Peak

On August 28^th, I got a rare opportunity to climb to the top of America’s Mountain – Pikes Peak.  What makes this opportunity so rare is that this road is closed to bikes except for this one day of year where the road is closed to all traffic and the cyclist own the road.

The climb to the top of Pikes Peak starts in Manitou Spring, Colorado, which is about 5 miles outside Colorado Springs.   From Manitou Springs, with a starting elevation of 6,200 feet, you ride 24.5 miles to the top of Pikes Peak where you top out at 14,110.   When you factor in a couple of descents, your total elevation gain is 8,000+ feet.  Based on these figures, the average grade of the climb is 7%, which includes a challenging 1.5-mile section of dirt and gravel around mile 15.

Statistically, this climb is only second to Mount Washington in New Hampshire as the toughest climb in the United States and maybe on earth.  What makes this climb tougher than the European climbs is the altitude.  The major climbs used in the grand tours range from 6,000 to 9,000 feet with the Cime de la Bonette, sometimes used in the Tour de France, topping out at almost 9,200 feet.  Pikes Peak is nearly a mile higher or 4,900 feet, which makes oxygen a premium.  As you try to breathe you feel like your gasping for air like a fish out of water.

Ok, enough of the statistics, let’s get the actual ride.  The temperature before we started was around 75 degrees with winds of 5-10 mph.  Overall a very nice day but we knew it was going to be a lot different at the top of Pikes Peak as the forecast called for highs around the mid-40’s.  Of course at that altitude the weather plays a bigger role than most events.  Rain and high winds are a daily occurrence in the afternoon which is why you want to get to the top as fast as possible.

The ride started at 8:00 am on the dot.  And although this event isn’t an official USAC race, it was a timed event, which means everyone was going to treat it as a race.  No words could be truer as we started out of Manitou Springs like a bat out of hell.   Unlike most rides in Texas that start out fast, but on relatively flat grades, we started hitting 6% to 8% grades in the first mile.  This slowed down a lot of riders but the elite few, which I could see from the second group, who took these climbs like they were flats and quickly started to separate themselves from the rest of the peloton.

Along the first 5.5 miles of the route, which were along route 24 heading west out of Manitou Springs, the pace was very fast.  We were consistently going 14-16 mph over varying grades.  This pace started to split up the group that I was in of 20+ riders as the speed was just a little too rich for a lot of the riders.  Overall, I felt like I survived the fast start and started to get into a nice pace but the headwind presented a challenge that made hanging on a little tougher than I would’ve liked.  As the pace picked up, I did my best to hang on.  As a few people passed me, I was wondering where the rest of the group was.  Since I was sitting in the middle of the pack around the first few miles, I felt I could just back off a little bit and draft off some of the people behind.   This strategy, which sounded like a good idea, quickly fell apart when I looked behind me and noticed that roughly 10 riders where no longer in site and I was the last rider in the group and quickly falling off the back.

Normally, especially for an even as challenging as this, I would just back off a little bit and try to find my rhythm but I felt good and decided to put in a hard push to bridge the gap back to the group.  After a 30 second effort with my heart rate getting to 175, I caught up to the group and even passed a few riders so I wasn’t the last guy getting whipsawed by the guys in the front.  Once my heart rate settled down I started feeling pretty good and was happy that I was able to hang on to the second group for the first 5 miles where we climbed roughly 1,100 feet.  Little did I know, but this was going to be easiest part of the climb.

Once we made the turn onto Pikes Peak Highway.  About ¼ mile down the road, we saw a beautiful wood sign over the road that said something like, “This way to Pikes Peak”.  As it turned out, no sign was required since the road told the story.  As we approach this sign, we immediately went straight up and hit a grade of 12%.  Of course, I don’t have to tell you what this did to our nicely organized group.

As we all got out of the saddle and started going through our gears as quickly as possible to find that gear that would make the pain bearable, the group literally fell apart.  I did my best to hang on with the top climbers of this group but to no avail.  Instead I just found a gear that worked for me and started to climb at a hard but manageable pace as I knew this grade couldn’t last forever.  The good news is that I was right, the grade didn’t stay at 12%.  The bad news is that it settled in at 9% – 11% for the next few miles.

After making up this tough climb to the Pikes Peak toll gate, I found a couple of guys who climbed at a hard pace but one that I could hold on to.  From miles 9 to 14, the average grade was around 5% with a couple of rollers to give us a little break.  Once we hit mile 14, I looked at my computer and noticed we were at an elevation of 9,500 feet.  The quick math in my head told me that we had 10+ miles to go with 4,600 feet of climbing ahead of us with an average grade of 9% the rest of the way.

Once my computer started registering a 10% grade, I dropped in to my second easiest gear and tried to spin my way up to the top.  This brought my heart rate down to the low 160’s as I held 75-80 rpm’s and a blazing speed of 6 mph.  All was going well until mile 15 or so when we hit the dirt section.  Although the dirt was rideable, you still had to negotiate gravel and rocks not to mention a couple of steep switchbacks.  My speed quickly dropped to 5 mph and getting out of the saddle to push through the dirt only made me and the bike feel a little unstable.  With that said, I just got back in the saddle and hammered my way the rest of the way through the dirt section.  After getting back on the pavement again, I felt like I was riding on glass which gave me a little more energy as I rode though the Glen Cove checkpoint at 11,400 feet.  Only 6 miles and 2,700 feet to go.

I have to say that these last 6 miles where by far the best.  Although the trees and beautiful lakes were enjoyable to see on the way up, this last section was epic.  Once I got above the tree line at around 12,000 feet, there was nothing to block my view of what was ahead.  In plain terms, it was pavement and steep roads with multiple switchbacks surrounded by dirt and rocks all the way up to the top of the mountain.  Although this may not sound like an awesome sight, let me tell you it was one I will never forget

At this point in the ride, my bike found the easiest gear I had and I only went up a gear when I got out of the saddle to push through a switchback or chase down someone in front of me.  Through these last few miles, I was so tired and sore that every pedal stroke was a challenge.  I could’ve stopped for a rest but that word just isn’t in my vocabulary.  The way I see it, you can stop once the job is done and that means crossing the finish line.

In order to take my mind off the pain, I rode my bike over to the edge of the road a couple of times to see the view from below.  Since there are no guardrails, except for the switchbacks, I was very careful not to get too close as I was tired and didn’t want to swerve over the edge.  The two or three times I did this really gave me the inspiration to keeping pushing as hard as I could since the view from below was my vindication that this was not just any climb but one to remember.  With that said, I felt that I needed to give everything I had so as to honor such a climb.  Anything else would be disrespectful to a mountain as beautiful and challenging as Pikes Peak.

After 24+ miles I could see the top.  I crossed the finish line with an out of the saddle burst up the last 10% section of the climb at 11:00 sharp for a total time of 3 hours.  Since my goal was to finish the climb in 3 hours or less, I was pleased with effort.  Of course, this won’t be the last time Pike’s Peak will see me on her challenging mountain.  I plan to see her again with the hopes of a better finishing time.  Until I see you again, thanks for the memories of a lifetime.

–

Ron, you are absolutely amazing and we thank you for sharing your adventure with us.

Looks like I have something else for my ‘bucket list’!

Incidentally, Ron’s next ‘big ride’ will be his participation in the California/Nevada State climbing championships
Let’s wish him luck!

In order to appreciate the incline, watch this video by a guy DESCENDING after successfully finishing the ‘Assault on the Peak’ bike ride:

For a visual idea, of what it is like to participate in this ride, take a listen to this interview with former Tour de France rider Norm Alvis featuring some spectacular footage:

A ‘Assault on the Peak’ video from last year:

Last but not least, here is a team of guys riding up the same road Ron went up with bikes that have motors in them…. ‘wtf?’

We have our second T-Shirt winner!!!  It’s Susie Cameron Lane and the following story was written by Kari Lynn Collins of the Iowa Park Leader Newspaper.

Enjoy!

Tougher ‘N Hell in the Hotter ‘N Hell

Kari Lynn Collins

Susie Cameron Lane is my new hero, and I¹m gonna tell you why.

I spent the better part of Saturday fulfilling my annual fitness goal, which is laying on the couch while thousands of cyclists pedaled their way through the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred in record breaking heat.

It was tough, but it suited me nicely.

Susie spent Saturday in spandex and a helmet, riding a bicycle, while I checked her progress through friends on Facebook.

I should have felt like a lazy ogre, but that didn¹t come until much later in the day.

I had a few friends riding in the race this year: Debi Walters, former IPHS choir director; Amber Inglish, IPHS graduate and senior at Midwestern State Univ.; and Susie, a good friend and classmate from the IPHS Class of 1983, along with her husband, Patrick, and brother, John Cameron.

Susie and Patrick live near Atlanta, Ga., and drove all the way to Texas to participate in their first HHH race, with their sights set on the 100-miles course.

Susie has always been an incredibly beautiful person, inside and out. She has the fortunate combination of the toughness of a  Texas girl mixed with the sweetness of a Georgia Peach.

In addition, she is  in amazing physical  (and I’m certain, mental) health, which is why she was able to even conceive riding a bike for several hours in 100+ degree heat.

Following the race, Susie and Patrick had invited me and a few others  to her Dad’s house to visit and celebrate. Which was good, because after resting all day I was in a celebratory mood.

When  I arrived, Susie had bandages randomly covering places on her left leg, hip and arm. And where there were no bandages, there were bruises.

Then she told me a story that has motivated me to begin thinking about how I¹m going to get in shape.

I couldn’t ride my little bike a block to the mailbox without having a heat stroke on the way back.

The fact that any man or woman would consider, then follow through, on riding 100 miles on a bicycle in scalding heat elevates them to ‘He-Man’ and ‘She-Ra’ status in my book.

But what really impressed me was what happened at mile 92 – ­and beyond ­ – of the race.

Apparently, cyclists have a unique ability to ride together in large groups, and in doing so sometimes bump into another bicycle.  This is what happened to Susie with just eight miles left until she reached the finish line

When Susie was bumped she fell hard on the asphalt, and another rider behind her ran over her leg. Then another, and another.

Yes, she was run over by three bicycles after receiving the mother of all road rash, which is what I call an ultimate case of adding insult to injury. Then, she said, as she lay on the ground bruised and bleeding, a couple of cyclists coming up behind them yelled at her to get her bike off the road.

Did I mention she had been run over? She had.

Her husband and brother helped Susie up, and got her to the medical tent, and en route, Patrick began getting sick from heat exhaustion.

They stayed in the tent for several minutes while Patrick laid down to cool off and Susie had her wounds cleaned up.

At some point, it was announced that anyone not on the road, specifically riding a bicycle, would not be allowed to finish and a sag wagon would have to take them back.

Apparently in the bicycling world ‘sag  wagon’ is a dirty word, much like ’exercise’ is a dirty word to me.

Susie and Patrick managed to get back on their bikes to finish the race.

Two miles later, Susie and her brother, John, both got flat tires on what I’m now calling their “vehicles of certain injury.”

But she didn¹t give up. She got her tire changed and got back on to finish up six of the longest miles in the history of the HHH.

She emerged victorious. Bloody and bruised, but victorious.

The first thing she said she did after crossing the finish line was look for a shade tree so she could collapse.

She found one and she did. While laying there, she started crying and a couple of men near her patted her and said,  ’I know, it¹s emotional. ‘

I don¹t know Susie¹s exact words, but she somehow explained to them that it wasn¹t so much emotional as painful, as she rolled over to show them her war wounds.

Another man in the tent had just gotten himself a 32 oz. beer to celebrate his finish, when he saw Susie laying on the ground crying. “Here,” he said, giving her the beer, “Drink it all, you need it more than I do.”

Susie is back home in Georgia now, braving Epsom Salt baths and hospital grade numbing spray  in a brave attempt to move normally.

To everyone who even attempted to ride in the Hotter ‘N Hell, my  hat is off to you.

To Susie Cameron Lane, “You go, She-Ra!”

Congrats to Dick Nowell, who will receive one of our Wheelbrother T-Shirts, for submitting this write up about his first Hotter ‘n Hell Experience back in 1994!

A Rookie Bicyclist Attempting the Hotter ‘n Hell 100 in 1994

By Dick Nowell

In the spring of 1994 I decided that I would attempt the 100mi. ride at the HH100.  I had been a runner for quite a few years but my left knee had taken a beating and it was time to stop the pounding. I had read some stories about a 100mi. bike ride in Wichita Falls. Sounded like a challenge to me so I bought a used Trek from one of my friends younger brother ($350). I’ve forgotten the model # but it was a good frame and shifters but it was old, still shifted on the down tube.

I didn’t really know much, if anything, about long distance riding but I was going to give it a go anyway. It would have been a lot easier if I had asked someone for a little advice, but you know how we can be sometimes. I was 43 at this time and still in fairly good shape from running all those years so it was time to start riding.

I bought some cycling shoes and some clipless pedals and took off. I live outside of town so I’ve got plenty of places to ride where the traffic is not so bad. I did some short rides 15 to 30 mi. without too much problems, but I wasn’t going very fast either. My first long ride was 50mi. I was riding out and back to the house 25mi each way.  I made it out to the 25mi. turn around spot started to stop and promptly fell over still trying to get my feet unclipped. I don’t think anyone saw me, if they did they got a good laugh. I guess everyone has done that.

As the summer moved along I continued to ride further and further, I would not recommend doing this alone as I did, it would have been much more pleasant if I had been riding with someone and safer too.  I didn’t ride any other tours or organized rides that summer, just riding by myself. I made several 75 to 80mi. rides just to convince myself that I would be able to make a 100mi.

Now it’s time to ride at the HH100. Lots of people and I’m not used to riding around anyone at all. This made me pretty nervous but I was very careful.  Everything goes OK; I stopped at the 20mi rest stop and probably most of the rest of them too. I was riding too fast for the first half of the ride and I paid for it the last 15 or 20mi. If the riders that were following me at times had known how little I knew what I was doing I’m sure they wouldn’t have been drafting me or let me draft them, but it all worked like I knew what I was doing.

Finished the ride, but was pretty well beat, I had parked in the downtown area and almost had to walk the bike up the hill (small hill) to get back to my truck. Sat in the shade of a building for about 1hr and half before I had the energy to load up and drive home.

This was a great experience and a feeling of accomplishment.

I rode the 100mi. a few more times with some friends over the next few years. They all made the ride OK but I haven’t been able to get them back since.

I’ve ridden different distances since the last 100mi. in 97.  Turned 60 this year and rode the 100K and had a great time but it was hotter than hell…ha-ha.

When we talk about the best bicycle rides in Texas, no conversation would be complete without mentioning “The Goatneck”.  It is a must do for any cyclist in the North Texas area and has become legendary for the riders of the Wheelbrothers.

For this years Wheelbrother experience see below:

The Goatneck is a fascinating tour through the Texas country side with lots of scenery, good rolling hills (especially on the 70 mile route) and great ride support.  The ride got its name from an area about 25 miles south west of Cleburne and we interrupt this cycling report for a quick history lesson:

 ”Clem Pierce (C.A. Pierce), one of the early settlers of this Texas area, was asked to describe the piece of land for one of the legal documents necessary to the transfer.  According to legend, he said “It’s just a little ole goats neck out in the cedar brakes along the river.”  The name stuck, and goat’s neck eventually became the Goat Neck.” – Steve Bell, Johnson County History Book (Click here: http://www.ldpierce.com/goatnecktx.html for more fascinating reading)

Continue ride report:

2011 was the 24th year of the Goatneck bicycle ride and we had about 8 Wheelbrothers partake in this year’s fun.  Like the years before it was well supported and lots of great volunteers came out  and made sure riders stayed hydrated, fed and most importantly ‘safe’.

When we arrived in Cleburne, lots of volunteers made sure you got in quickly and are parking in the designated areas.  If you got there late you had to park a little further out, so I’m definitely missing the field right across the street from the Baseball field that we were able to park on in years past (Yes, I would be one of those ‘late’ folks).

Registration was a breeze but we’ve heard some folks commented, that they wished for a bag to carry the shirt and bottle in. I suggest putting the shirt inside of the bottle but that’s just me !  Another comment I heard, was that this year there were no Small or Medium T-shirts available, which was a bummer since not all folks are built like big Ken, Dieter or Eugene.

The race itself is genius and has lots of great volunteers making sure you don’t miss a turn (yes, we can’t say enough about the folks who came out and suffered STANDING in that heat, making sure we would not lose our way) and the Cleburne Police Department was out in force waving us through intersections and re-routing traffic.  As said before, all of the MANY rest stops were well organized and well stocked with cookies, fruit, fluids and lots of shade tents.  Medical support was also widely available.

The good folks from Richardson Bike Mart and Spokes Bicycles Shop (Those are the ones I took notice of, there might have been more) were out there giving ride support, fixing flats, derailleurs and whatever needed fixing (Check for Eugene’s experience in the video).

What we love about this ride is that it has something for everyone.  If you are a CAT1 racer and want to use this as a training ride, you can do that.  Once you are through the initial right turn, folks are flying and the race is on!  However, if you are a recreational rider trying to see if you are ready for Hotter than hell, you can do that as well.  Actually, consensus is that this ride might be tougher then Hotter than Hell due to the hills.

After the ride we were able to chat with Brad Mead one of the Ride Directors for the Goatneck Bicycle Ride:

Like every year, this years ride was in the TOP 3 must do bicycle rides in Texas and we are looking forward to the 25th annual Goatneck Bicycle ride in Cleburne, Texas in 2012!!!

Please make sure to comment below on your experience this year and send us your pictures and videos from this years ride so we can add them at the bottom.

Author: Matt Leuck
Website: http://euclidsbridge.wordpress.com
Ride: Trek 100 in Waterloo Wisconsin

It’s a bit late but I don’t think I ever completely documented this experience, which has been one of my favorite bike weekends ever. In a way this might be more of a bike weekend report, but there are bikes all the same.

Last winter a friend called me and asked if I wanted to do a bike ride with him and some friends. “Sure, sounds great… what’s the catch?”
“Well, it’s in Wisconsin (where his sister lives) and its 100 miles…  but it’s put on by Trek and there’s always free goodies.”
“Well, I’ve been wanting to do my first century for a while now. What the hell, I’m in.”
“Ok, it starts at the Trek headquarters in Waterloo and heads out and back across the rolling Wisconsin countryside. Oh and bring your appetite, because the aid stations are out of this world and there’s free beer!”

About that time I finished up my new bike build (Masi 3VC Carbon, SRAM Rival, etc).  Fast forward to June and it’s time to head out.

Broken down and ready to ship:

I packed up my gear and sent it up to Revolution Cycles in Madison, WI. Great shop, great people and they held on to all of my stuff for me until I got in town. By the way, would you believe that on American Airlines, when a flight attendant asks you to take the bike helmet that’s attached to your backpack via carabiner and put it in the overhead bin they will NOT allow you to just put it on your head. Apparently in this context the helmet is just too unsafe. Anyway, here’s a cool shot of Revolution:

To read the rest of the report click here

We had 5 or 6 people meet up from around the country for this so we used the day before the ride as a prep. Madison is a big on cycling. Bike lanes on all the streets, big wide bike paths, bike racks everywhere, including bars. It’s great. One friend was just getting back from clavicle / scapula breaks thanks to a car turning in front of him while on a training ride in Pittsburgh. As a little shake-down for him we did 20 miles around the lake in Madison then popped into some local joints for a cold beer. The dinner of choice on the night before the monumental journey was pizza and more beer. Yup, this was shaping up to be a great weekend.

Oh, and we also took this opportunity to make a slight upgrade to my bike. I was planning to wear a Lone Star Beer jersey for the ride. Gotta represent the Republic of Texas, right? Well, We couldn’t find Lone Star cans in Madison so I went with the next best thing:

Fast forward to Saturday morning, pre-sunrise. The smell of bacon fills the air. Yeah, we like to really clean up the diet leading up to long rides. Bike prep, gear prep and a little drive out of the way, we finally get to the starting line for the ride. We were next to the stage where a band would be playing after the ride, but for now there were the usual ceremonies going on. National Anthem, thank yous to the sponsors, and the calling out of the one guy in the group wearing a Lone Star Beer jersey.

*On the PA system*
“Lone Star?! Where are you from”
“From the great state of Texas, sir.”
“Texas, huh… $5 says you traveled the farthest of everyone here. That means you lead us out. Make way for the Texan! Get up to the front… we’re leaving when you do!”
And with that my first century was underway.

The ride was farily uneventful when you exclude my brief moments of idiocy. Like the time around mile 20 when we thought it would be a good idea to latch onto a 30mph pace line. Or the time around mile 40 when I thought it would be a good idea to jump out front of our group and catch “the breakaway” (aka. The next pack of riders up, about 1/8 mile ahead on a slight uphill run). I paid for both of those later in the ride, as evidenced by the bruised quad that we noticed at a rest stop. Slight strain, I’d say. You can see some bruising in this pic.

And these guys weren’t kidding about the rest stops! Subway sandwiches early on. No big deal.

But then, what is that… is that a snowcone stand?! Yup. Moving on… no… can’t be… hot wings! SCORE!

It was at this time that one friend who has done this ride many times before told me, “Matt, we’re at mile 65. This stand was in the same place last year and I took down 14 wings. I’m goin’ for broke here buddy, keep an eye on me.” 16 wings later, pride fully intact (if not boosted), we were back on the road.

Trucking on through the countryside, the rolling hills were becoming annoying, but every now and then we’d get a nice long fast one to make it feel a little better

Thanks to the long night before I was starting to feel it in my legs, but thankfully I had two doses of the best pain reliever to ever be poured out of Dublin. Mile 70 and mile 85 both got a Guinness chug while on the road and I have to say, it was perfect. Slightly irresponsible, maybe. Great story and the most satisfying beer ever, definitely.

Anyway, we continued on to the finish in a not-very-respectable 5:30. In this case though a slow time was completely worth hitting every stop and having an incredibly fun time doing it.

Here’s a shot of Hot-wing Steve, myself and Dave.

My favorite part of all of it though is the post-ride beer. A few in our group had a rough start and bailed early to do the 100k route. This means that they were waiting for us at the finish. Have you ever had a beer handup? No? Give it a shot sometime. It beats the hell out of Gatorade!

As a post-ride celebration we went back and had yet another night of fun. A couple growlers of some local microbrew and more food (more bacon!) and it would soon be time to head back to TX, but not without some incredible memories and experiences from my first century.

We know, you all have been waiting to see the Wheelbrothers in action again.  This time, a group of us participated in the Germanfest bicycle ride in Muenster, Texas.

As always, we rode to the starting line together but split up fairly quickly since Ron our racing member, went straight up to the front of the starting line (Racing has it’s privileges apparently!).

Oh Mr. Belgium a.k.a. Chris… if you see this – please contact me through the contact form on this site

To view the event details of the 2011 Germanfest Muenster,  Texas Bicycle Ride – Click Here

By Ron Hawks:

The Germanfest Muenster, Texas bicycle ride, held on April 30^th, turned out to be a spectacular day.  As I was riding up the morning of the ride, I was concerned about the wind as the day before Muenster had wind gusts of up to 40+ mph.  Although the wind was blowing in the morning, it was forecasted to slow down a bit in the afternoon which is very unusual for Texas.  With this being my fourth year in a row doing this ride, I prepared myself for a challenging day in the saddle with a hilly terrain and a strong southern wind in my face for the last 15 miles.

My wife and I arrived at 10:00, about an hour before the rally, and proceeded to register for the ride.  As always, registration was very smooth as we were in and out within 5 minutes.  After getting our bikes ready, filling up our bottles and stuffing some gu’s in our jersey’s we were ready to head over to Eugene’s RV and see the rest of the Wheelbrothers.  The team had a great turnout with Eugene, Dieter, Matt, Jed, Wally, Chris Powers and Chris Suggs.

WheelBrothers at the Muenster, Texas Germanfest bicycle ride starting line

The ride started at 11:00 sharp with a 15+ mph headwind for the first 10 miles or so.  Surprisingly enough, the main group of 40+ riders held together through most of this section.  This is very unusual, as what normally happens, is a handful of strong riders try to go out as hard as possible, so that the main group can get whittled down to 10-15 riders at the most.  It wasn’t until roughly 20 miles in, that this attrition happened once we started to hit some of the steeper sections, where a couple of guys started to hammer up a 7% grade which split the group wide open.

Once the group shrunk to a manageable size, we started to hit a long stretch of rollers with a nice tail wind to help us over the next 20+ miles.  On one descent, I remember thinking to myself that we were going pretty fast.  As I quickly looked down at my computer, I saw 53 mph which caused me to start tapping my breaks before I started to go too fast.  Although I’ve hit 50+ on numerous descents in California, I was very surprised to hit speeds like that in Texas.

At mile 45 or so, you make a right turn to head back to Muenster.  This is normally the time that you are greeted with a strong headwind, along with some of the tougher climbs on this route.  Surprisingly enough, the headwind wasn’t anymore than 5-10 mph which was good news for me.  As we hit some of the steep climbs, including my favorite one which is the last real climb around mile 50 where you top out at 12%, a few more people got dropped as the pace picked up a little bit.  Once we got over the last climb, we had a good group which worked together pretty well all the way back into town.

Although I didn’t stop at any of the rest stops, the volunteers at each stop where along the side of the road trying to give the riders water and bananas.  It reminded me of a feed zone when your racing.  After talking to my wife after the ride, she said the rest stops were well stocked and the volunteers were very friendly as they held your bike when you went to get some food or they would just fill up your bottles if you pulled over for a quick refill.

As always the Wheelbrothers were more than happy to pick-up some people along the way including my wife who had a chance to ride with these guys and enjoy their company.   We will definitely be back for the 2012 ride and look forward to great time.

-Ron

Everyone should know how modest Ron is,  he placed 4th overall in this race and is a wonderful representative for the sport.  His passion and dedication to the sport, is a inspiration to all of us..

To view the event details of the 2011 Germanfest Muenster,  Texas Bicycle Ride – Click Here