Went out and did 50 around Brookshire yesterday. Was able to stay at the fairgrounds last night. Place was obviously a ghost town.

Started from fairgrounds at 7:30 and there were already a ton of people out on the ride. Great weather today. Had 2 stops and made it in at 12:30. Almost back to Lagrange now to grab my truck and head home.

Good ride, but missing day one really sucked. I've missed the challenge ride both of my years. Last year it was closed from an accident, this year due to the crap weather. Will have to try it again in a year!

Got in about 2 after getting cramps at the 2nd to last rest stop. I trained for this better than last year, but can't prepare for the hills without going a couple of hours out of town.

I have to say that my favorite part of this ride is seeing the hipsters on their fixies fly by you like they're king **** when you get into Austin. You just can't compete with them in their natural habitat.

quote:

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I trained for this better than last year, but can't prepare for the hills without going a couple of hours out of town..

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Do sprints on your bike. Pedal hard into the wind. Get your heart rate up.

8.5 hours for me. About 5 of that riding.

We started about 4 miles back from the official start. At rest stop 1 one of our guys had to stop for a mechanical issue on the f/d. At rest stop 2 I stopped to wait on another guy who got dropped a bit, couldn't find them, and burned 30 minutes waiting only to realize they left already and I had to catch up. Flew to Bastrop for lunch, took a good 45 minutes off...getting hot by then. 5 miles after lunch one of our guys had to flag EMS for dehydration, and we waited with him to see if he was okay to continue...he wasn't. That took another 75 minutes. By now the sun is out, no cloud cover, and people are we notice a lot of riders struggling with the heat and pulling off the routs on the side of the road. Me and my other buddy are the only two left. Did the last 25-30 miles pretty fast but had to use each rest area to refill fluids. I think the heat caught a lot of riders off guard this year.