The Goatneck

Well, I don't have any pictures to post with this posting, but I thought I'd speak of it anyway. Yesterday I completed what I have named my Annual Birthmonth Ride. The goal of my ABR is to ride my bike (affectionately dubbed "Popcycle") one mile for each year of life I am celebrating that year. So, this year my goal was to accomplish a 58 mile bike ride. Well, the Tour de Goatneck is one of the few rides in this region in July. It has several distances to choose from and one of them is the 100 kilometer (62 mile) ride. But they point out on their web page and announce at the beginning of the ride that it is actually 70 miles long - not just the 62 miles that would equal 100 kilometers. This is the second year I've ridden the Goatneck and both years, Popcycle's computer has registered 72 miles. The bottom line is that the Goatneck can be my ride of choice for my ABR for a long time to come.

This year, having moved to College Station, David Park was not able to ride with me. I did recruit Brian Read to go. He rode Marilyn's recumbent Rans Tailwind. Brian is 6'3", 225# and pretty fit. As I rode my pace and Brain would get further and further ahead of me. Then, he'd stop and wait a while for me to catch up. We finished the ride together but that was because he chose to have us do so. I'd have been well behind him had he just kept up his pace. We rode for 4 hours and 36 minutes, averaging 15.4 mph. There is one giant decent about 25 miles into the ride that gave me my highest recorded speed on my bike, last year - 40.0 mph. This year, after that decent, as I looked down at my computer to see what it had registered as the max I saw 40.0, again. Brian, being 50 pounds heavier said he reached 42 mph. It was quite a thrill.

Of course the Goatneck comes right after the Tour de France, so everyone is out there fantasizing a bit. There were about 2,000 riders this year. The Goatneck is ranked as one of the top 100 rides in America. It is a pretty challenging ride. Some of the climbs have been given names - "Eulogy Hill" and "The Goatneck Climb." The signs at the foot of such ascents lists how long the climb last and how much you ascend. They also tell you how far it is to the next Reststop.

Another friend of mine, Don Ferrell, who owns a recumbent but hasn't had much opportunity to ride committed to riding in the 10 mile tour. He did that and then he and his wife, Denice, positioned themselves out on the 100K route and waited for us to ride by. It was a real encouragement to have our own fans on the side of the road. It did wonders for our Lance Fantasies. Unlike Lance, though, we stopped and chatted with our fans.

Other than Brian and me, I estimate there may have been 5 other recumbents in the tour. I do not detect much growth in the presence of recumbents. I wish they were a growing fad because I think I could sell them and make a little extra money.

I guess the reasons I like touring on my bike is it provides the opportunity to completely escape from other thoughts and yet be able to spend some time with the Lord asking Him to get me up the next hill. Also, I am able to do something that I know, without reservation, is good for me. I come away with tired, sore muscles. I've long believed tired, sore muscles are a good thing because they indicate that you have gone beyond the ordinary walk in your life.

The weather was good. The ride was challenging. The companionship was encouraging. And, we finished. That's my report on the 18th Annual Tour de Goatneck out of Cleburne, Texas. Oh, here's a picture I can post. This is Marilyn's bike that Brian rode. It's a Rans Tailwind. My Rans V-Rex is pictured in an earlier posting on the Blog.