What a beautiful day it turned out to be for a nice ride in the country.
Lots of hills - but the scenery was gorgeous!
Lining up at the start of the ride (I always seem to be the first one to the starting line), Brian Buckmaster took this picture of me relaxing in the Quest. Hmmm, for some reason the word ‘dork’ comes to mind. Not sure if it is the orange helmet, feet sticking out, or the big yellow velomobile. I guess it is what it is - I sure do enjoy relaxing riding around the country side in the quest.
Eventually everyone else started lining up also. Tour de Vineyard is a pretty small ride with maybe 200 to 300 riders. These women riders starting just behind the quest put the hurt on me for the first 15 miles until we started getting some long downhill stretches.
Lots of hills. I spent a significant amount of time in the granny gear. Usually this ride heads south from Florance towards Georgetown and Andice. However, this year due to road construction the route was north to Killeen, Stillhouse Hollow Lake and then Salado. I’ve ridden these roads quite a few times before and there are some pretty good climbs. Although I was thankful they did route around Eagle’s Nest Hill which is hill I have always had to walk up no matter what bike I was on.
Had lots of people pass me on the first big climb about mile 5. By mile 20 I only had two people in front of me. Around mile mile 41 on the last long climb there were about 10 people that passed me climbing up to the top. The last 3 mile downhill segment I passed everyone doing 46 mph (my top speed for the ride). I think I finished third, but I not really sure. My 15.9 mph average is a pretty slow average for the good upright riders even if there were a lot of steep hills.
At the finish. I rode straight through with no stops.
On the last climb I had one guy pass me saying “Man, I’ve passed you 10 times now.” Once we crested the top of the last hill and started the big downhill the quest coasted up to above 40 mph and I did not see him again until he arrived at the finish line.
Susan, Brian’s wife, said I was the talk of the rest stops. *“When he passed me he must have been doing at least 40 mph.”
Sitting in my camping chair having a drink afterwards a young very fit couple comes up with their son who wants to see “the rocket”. The man approaches and says loudly “What is your name?”. I reply Dan Hansen. “So you’re the one with all the Strava KOMs! We live in Georgetown and see you riding all the time. We try to catch you but it is impossible.”
Strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/296941825
Garmin:
