Tour de Goatneck – 2013

My cycling season has not quite gone as planned. I skipped the ride I was scheduled to do in May as it was the week after my vacation & frankly I was exhausted and didn’t want to go do it. The ride I had planned on doing in June clashed with my Mum visiting from England, so obviously I didn’t do that. Unfortunately when I don’t have the commitment of a big ride coming up, my recreational / training rides tend to become less frequent also. So a couple of weeks ago I went ahead & signed up for the 2 big north Texas rides to get me going. I’ll be doing the Hotter Than Hell 1200 on August 24^th, but before that came the 2013 riding of the Goatneck in Cleburne, TX.

I had ridden the Goatneck in 2010 & 2011, doing the 40 mile route each time, I signed up for the 40 again this time but immediately regretted that & changed my mind to the more challenging 70 mile route. Irritatingly they sell it as a 100 Km route, which is stupid, because 100 Km is 62 miles, not 70. I decided to do the 70 for 2 reasons, 1 because if I’m going to ride 100 miles at the end of August then 70 is pretty good training, but more so, I can ride 40 miles with hardly any preparation, 70 on the other hand, that is a challenge.

Unfortunately I only had 2 weeks to prepare & being in Texas cycling after work in July is demanding, if you can even talk yourself into doing it. I think I only got about 45 training miles done, but I also did 4 10k efforts on my rowing machine plus a couple of days at the gym. I’d have liked to have cycled more but I felt pretty confident about my conditioning going into the ride.

The ride itself, is probably the best there is in north Texas. The routes are really well marked out, there are police at EVERY intersection holding traffic for the riders. The rest stops are very frequent & well stocked with the usual Gatorade, water, fruit & other snacks. Everyone helping out is super friendly which translates to the riders too. If you are a cyclist within range of DFW & you have not ridden the Goatneck, make plans for next July!

The route was nice, there were a lot of hills though, you might think of north Texas as being as flat as a pancake, believe me, it is not, especially on a bike. Apparently we had some downhills too, but I only remember 2 sections which just lead into more big climbs. Usually I enjoy the climbs, but for whatever reason, on that day my legs had no uphill power. I started the day riding with a friend, but after probably 10 minutes I just let him go & concentrated on taking care of my legs. It was extremely frustrating to be passing people on the flats only to have them fly by me uphill. To make things worse after 30 miles or so the side my left quad started to cramp if I stood up on the pedals. I fought through it for about the next 10 miles but then the pain was worrying, it felt like something was going to snap, so I stayed sat down at all times on the hills, even slower – ugh. On the bright side, the weather was amazing for riding, it stayed overcast until around 11:15 & the temp didn’t get past the mid 80s.

Still, I made it about 39 miles before my first rest stop, not by design, I missed the one 8 miles earlier. My bottles were completely empty by that point & I needed to stretch. I  stopped very briefly at the next stop also, because the line for the facilities was so bad at the previous stop. Then I made my 2^nd and final refueling / stretch stop at 55 miles in. I like that rest stop, although it was smaller this year than in years past, I remember it well, knowing that you are on the home stretch from there (14 miles to go) is comforting. Unfortunately the next 7 of those miles is another painful uphill slog, about 60 miles in I was questioning the decision to go over 40 miles. I am very happy I did though, after all I wanted a challenge & that is what I got. I met the challenge well, even if my legs did not fully cooperate & the last 10 miles were mostly fueled by stubbornness. It felt great to finish. Now to get ready for the HHH 🙂

Distance: 69.52 mi
Time: 4:35:39
Moving Time: 4:14:50
Avg Moving Speed: 16.4 mph
Max Speed: 41.0 mph
Avg Speed: 15.1 mph

Calories: 2,420 C
Avg HR: 153 bpm
Max HR: 175 bpm

Elevation Gain: 3,663 ft
Elevation Loss: 3,663 ft
Min Elevation: 540 ft
Max Elevation: 954 ft

Avg Temperature: 73.8 °F
Min Temperature: 66.2 °F
Max Temperature: 84.2 °F