Tour de Goatneck (a little long)

The alarm went off at 4:00 a.m. Forecast was for Intermittent Thunderstorms in Cleburne, TX. I was hopeful that the weather would cooperate and we would have a dry ride. Picked up a friend at 5:00 am and off we went.

We arrived at the high school at 6:30. It was a long walk from the parking lot to the registration area. I hadn't preregistered but I filled out my form and walk straight to a registration person. Took about 3 minutes. Lines did develop shortly after that but I had a good experience.

We got our bikes and I worked my way over to one of the vendor's trucks and had my rear dérailleur worked on. The guy knew his stuff and had my drive-chain singing like new!

Off to the start line. We got there about two minutes before the start at 7:30. The 100K was started first. There were a ton of people on this ride! Wish I knew how many. They had volunteers at every intersection...there was NO WAY you could have taken a wrong turn. They were fantastic.
We skipped the first two rest stops but hit the third one. The rest stops were awesome. I never had to wait in line for anything. The Gatorade wasn't watered down and everything tasted great...not that I'm a big eater on the bike. But I was introduced to something new - pickle juice. That stuff is the bomb! No cramping at all and I think it's because of the pickle juice.

Here's what I ate over the course of the ride. One Power Bar gel, three oatmeal cookies, one small chunk of chocolate, a tsp of peanut butter, one banana, about 8 orange wedges, half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and four small bottles of pickle juice...plus some Gatorade and water I carried on the bike. I think I ate OK.

I felt really good at the last rest stop with 7 miles to go. I was thinking I would be able to do the extra 30 miles needed to do a full century. But, with about 3 miles to go I felt really fatigued. I was glad to get off the bike at the end. I was pleased that we were still riding pretty strong at the end though.

This course was a lot of rolling hills with about 2 good sized hills thrown in. Ride time was 4:22:38, distance 71.11 and an average speed of 16.2 mph. I reached a new max speed of 40.7 mph going down one of the hills...and that was just coasting...wasn't even trying to go fast. That was way cool!!! We never got any rain and the clouds kept it cool. We had great weather.

This was a great ride!!! Thanks to all the volunteers that made this ride happen!

Anyone else do this ride? What did you think?

I didn't do this ride but congrats! We camped up in Cleburne for a collegiate mountain bike race, isn't it hilly? 16.2 is a good average. :D

Aggie_Ama, yes it was pretty hilly...compared to what we have around here. I was told by some friends in advance that it was hilly so I wasn't take totally by surprise. But it was just hill after hill. I really liked it though.

The hills were fairly short so I was able to use my speed on the downhills to help get me to the top of the next hill. I'll likely do this ride again next year. If you haven't done it and you live within driving distance I'd recommend this ride to you.

I did the Goatneck too! Every year it is a fantastic ride...but this year was even better because the weather was so cool (for Texas) and mostly cloudy. I did not do the 100K (~70 miles) quite as fast as li10up...I did it in 5 hours...but I blame that on my brother. I had to wait for him the last 15 miles because he did not pace himself early on, and got talked into doing a hill repeat on Big Bend by a friend of ours...for the fun of it :confused:

It was funny because my brother was talking smack at the beginning of the ride and said that either he crosses the finish line before me, or we cross together...but that he would not let me cross first. At mile 55 when he hit the wall and I lost him...I slowed down and waited for him to catch up with me. I told him that I could easily put the nail in the coffin and beat him in because I felt great and had my second wind...but that I would not do that because he is my little brother and I love him. He did not appreciate being patronized like that :D

I was at the Goatneck last Saturday too. This was my second year to ride it, and it's one of my favorite rides in the DFW area. I did the 40 mile course with an average speed of 16.4 mph. I considered trying the 100K but was concerned about the hills around Glen Rose. It sounds like Antenna Hill and Goathead Hill (both on the course I rode) are actually the hardest hills on the course, so I may try the 100K next year.

Susan in Carrollton, TX

Congratulations on your ride.
WOW you Texas girls sure are speedy.:)

If you enjoyed hills you might like the Hill Hopper. It just rolls up and down hills. No major climbs, it just is never flat either!