Well, it sprinkled some, enough to get the pavement wet for a little while, but we got three laps in on the TTTT course today. The five riders were myself, Greg, Terry, DJ, and our special celebrity guest upright rider, Kalleen Whitford.
The second lap, we went for time, with DJ, Greg, and I all finishing within a few feet of each other. Acording to my gps, my time for the lap was 1:00:47 for a 19.7 mph average. That’s a lot closer to the less-than-an-hour time that was my goal, than I expected. I’m not sure if it was the course, or just me today, but I really seemed to struggle climbing anything. Either the hills are tougher than they look, or I was just not that strong today. It wasn’t for lack of effort; my average heart rate for the lap was 173. I’m not sure how much more than that I can sustain for 20 miles.
The roads aren’t that rough at all, as long as you avoid a few serious chuck holes in the middle of the lanes. Traffic wasn’t bad, either, although I did have to report one road rage infested driver to the authorities.
I enjoyed riding with everyone. It was nice to meet you, DJ. If DJ ever gets around to buying clipless pedals, I’ll never be able to keep him in sight. And if Terry ever figures out how to get himself up hills, I’ll have the same problem with him; he really moves on the flats and downhills. With all the rain, I hadn’t been on a bike since Tuesday. This ride did a great job of curing my cabin fever.
I had intended to visit the Cleburne State Park after the ride, but forgot. Since there seems to be quite a bit of interest in TTTT among rbenters, I went ahead and reserved a campsite for that weekend, anyway. State Park campsites typically get booked up months ahead, and it just cost $18 to reserve a site (the $15 first night fee, and a $3 internet booking fee). If I cancel before then, it will all be refunded except $5 plus the $3 internet fee, losses I think I can handle.
I figure if we participate in TTTT, a campsite there would provide us with three nice things:
(1) A place to recharge headlight and gps batteries, without competing for a probable limited number of outlets at the New Hope Church.
(2) A more quiet place to nap between laps, for those competing on a team, and for support people who need some sleep.
(3) Showers.
I reserved for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, figuring we would want shower access after the normal checkout time, Saturday. All rbenters are welcome to share in this site, but campsites are supposed to be limited to two vehicles, so if quite a few of us are going to participate in TTTT, another of us might want to consider reserving a second campsite.
In addition to campsite fees, there is also a daily park entrance fee per vehicle, another incentive for us to shuttle back and forth to the church with a limited number of vehicles. I have an annual park entrance pass for my truck.