I rode the 65 mile route of the Burleson Honey Tour this morning. The route had changed a lot this year. It had a new start location, the new Centennial High School off Rendon Road east of I35W in Burleson. The route was considerably different, too, though it still heads south to Alvarado first.

The 65 mile route then makes a loop to the east and back before continuing on south, then turning west through Grandview, then takes the same route as previous years back. There were some short gravel stretches on one of the southbound Johnson County roads, but the rest of the roads were in good shape. Traffic control was better this year, with most intersections covered.

There was a south wind again this year, but it wasn’t nearly as windy as last year. Scattered clouds kept it from getting nearly as hot as last year, too. I saw Greg, Dianna, Dan, and Kenny before the start of the ride. Greg, Dan, and I lined up side by side for the start.

I rode the entire 65 mile route without stopping. I didn’t get to draft much this year. Groups that passed me were too fast for me to hang on with long, and groups that I reeled in were slower than I wanted to ride. But, it was a fun ride and I’m very likely to be back next year. I ended up with 65.7 miles and finished the ride in 3:41, not a bad time for me.

The Burleson Honey Tour 65 mile route.

I joined rando friend Vickie Tyer this morning and rode the Goatneck 200k permanent which starts in Cleburne. It’s 128 miles of mostly rolling hills, a tough route that I like to tackle at least once every year, just to make sure I can still pedal all those hills.

The route is an out and back route that goes from Cleburne to Glen Rose, then on to Bluff Dale, then back. There are hills the entire route, but the biggest climbing is between Glen Rose and Bluff Dale. What I didn’t know was that Vickie had done long rides two days in a row before this ride. Her only speed after all that riding was slow, so I rode an easy pace and stayed with her.

It’s easy to forget how much easier a tough route is if you ride it at an easy pace. I stayed in the middle chainring while climbing both County Line Hill at mile 101 and Goatneck Hill at mile 110. There’s no way I can do that when I’ve been hammering on the rest of the ride.

The winds stayed light and it was cloudy on and off, a beautiful day to ride, even if it did get a little hot this afternoon. I finished with 128.5 miles in 10:38.

Goatneck 200k elevation chart from a previous ride.

Goatneck 200K route.

I took off this morning to ride the 66 mile route of the FWBA Ride Across Johnson County club ride. It started in Burleson, so it was close to home for me. From Burleson, the route went pretty much south to west of Grandview, with a stop at the Sand Flats convenience store at mile 20. Then it turned east for its next stop in Grandview at mile 37. From there, it went mostly north back to the start.

It was cloudy and cool with a strong north wind at the start of the ride. That made for a great ride to Grandview. In spite of the small county roads, curving and rough in places, and lots of turns, I still had an 18 mph average and was with the lead group as we made the Grandview stop. With the rolling hills and strong headwind as we headed back north though, I fell back pretty quickly and was on my own.

A light rain was starting as I reached the next stop at mile 54. There were bicycles parked in front of the store which I assumed to be the lead group (although they could have been riders from the shorter routes, too). With the dark sky threatening, I decided not to stop.

I was pushing myself to try and get home before the weather got wetter and was assuming the route took the shortest way back from there. That caused me to miss a turn at mile 55, and only end up with a total of 63.5 miles at the end. The rain had stopped, though, shortly after it started, and it was truly a nice day for a bike ride.

FWBA Ride Across Johnson County 66 mile route.