OK, so it is March 18th and my trusty riding pal Gil Jones and I are all psyched for a ride out mostly in Gillespie County. We have invited our friend Eric’s TriAthlete Daughter and her Testosterone crazed “young man”, Bill, to come join us so that Bill can become one with the force of The Hills. And lord help us, they took us up on it! Gil had ridden a loop a couple of weeks earlier which started at Castell (where they sell Lone Star Long Necks!) and proceeded west on RR152 to US87 then north a mile or so and back to the southwest on RR978 to the little town of Doss then across Langes Mill Road to RR684 to Doss-Cherry Springs Road to the northeast to US87 then north on 87 to 152 and back to Castell. This had been a 60 mile ride and Gil and I wanted a shorter course so we laid on out along that loop but starting in Doss, at the Doss Country Store, and not going through Castell. This shortened the route to a bit under 41 miles, which was to our liking. See the route map and profile below.
Inner Doss/Cherry Spring Loop (40.6 miles) shown in black with the added segments for the outer loop (49 miles)...
You may be wondering why I have an outer loop if that is what Gil and I planned to ride. Well, we did ride the inner loop. So did Tanya. Bill (her testosterone crazed young man) rode the outer loop… twice! Hence my comfort with the assertion that he is testosterone crazed.
The elevation profile on the inner loop is much less daunting than that of the outer loop and, happily, I don’t have the data for the outer loop, so just take my word for it. It had some climbs. The inner loop was brutal on the last 15 miles as shown below…. OH yes, Bill got that also.
Inner loop elevation profile... note the last 15 miles. It was not only up a cliff, it was into a stiff south wind.
So Gil Tanya and I rode the 40.6 mile inner loop. Tanya pulled away and eventually dropped Gil and me. About 5 miles from the end I suggested to Gil that the projected closing time for the grill at the Doss Country Store was getting near and one of us needed to punch it up and get there and order for both of us. The alternative was to call EMS to bring a glucose drip. Ever the king fellow, Gil volunteered and kicked hard up those steep climbs into the wind and got there in time to order for us. I rolled in right at the 2pm deadline.
We were joined at Doss by Eric, his wife Cheri, and his mom, Irene. Then Peggy and my mother showed up. And we all waited and watched for Bill. He made it. Tired, acknowledging that the Hills presented a slightly greater challenge than those in the Houston area.
In the course of the ride I had ridden 40.69 miles in 3hrs and 28 min. My average speed as 11.7mph with a max speed of 39.7mph. Bill averaged 18mph for two full loops on the outer loop! 98 freaking miles! I had burned 2056 calories while running an average heart rate of only 127BPM and a max of 149BMP. The garmin says that total climbing added up to 1,743 feet.
As for Bill; I think he will sleep well tonight and be a little sore tomorrow.
Life is really good!
