The Armadillo is next Sat (May 7). It's one of, if not the best, pay ride in Central Texas.

I'm planning on riding the century (again). What route are y'all riding?

I'd be but I have to help my father move. It's really killing me. That is one of the best rides in central Texas. It's got enough hills to be called a hill country ride but it's not a killer. The scenery should be beautiful this year. If the weather is good, I highly recommend the drive to Austin to anyone in the state.

Does anyone know if the construction project at 183 near Cedar Park will strangle 183 that weekend? I think it is on hiatus for Mother's Day -- otherwise, it will be a difficult drive to get there from Austin.

Early Saturday a.m. ought not be too bad (6-7:00-ish) for 183 at 1431. Good alternative is to take 620 over to Parmer, left on Parmer to somewhere north of FM1431, then left back over to 183.

Riders who do 125 miles will get a special LAB Anniversary patch - might be worth the extra 25 on top of a century.

I am driving SAG for the event.

Tom

Two other alt. routes to avoid 183 @ 1431 construction:
1) if 183 is still your choice, just past 620, where freeway ends, turn left on Lakeline Blvd (2nd light, not the mall entrance). Follow Lakeline out to Crystal Falls (where it T's), then right back to 183, left to 29.....
or
2) take I-35 north to Georgetown, exit Hwy 29, west to Liberty Hill.

I'll be there - I'm doing the full 125. I'm hoping I didn't bite off more than I could chew. :D

Anyway, I'll be wearing a plain red giordana jersey and a solid plain black bike. I'll probably be looking for a group to ride with. Might just wait and see how things shake out and hopefully fall in with some folks going my pace.

I arrived in Liberty Hill at 730am only to find that the turn lane into the high school (the starting point) was backed up for what seemed a mile. It was a crawl just to get into the parking lot. It almost took as long to get parked (20 min) as it did to drive to Liberty Hill (30 min). Note to self: arrive before 7am next year.

As I checked in to get my ride number and t-shirt, I asked the registrar how many people signed up. She said she didn't know, but it was a lot more than last year. My guess is there were over easily over 1k participants. This ride has grown leaps and bounds over the last few years.

My goals for the ride were simple: Finish the century without cramping (I have a history of cramping on long rides). My bike, a new C-dale R1000, is equipped with a 50/36 crankset and a 12-25 cassette. With that combo I should easily spin up most hills. That will reduce the wear and tear on my legs and maybe I will make it to the finish w/o cramping.

The weather was cloudy, mild with some wind (out of the SSE, I think). All in all, a typical May day in Central Texas. It stayed cloudy most of the day, but the winds picked up (with some gusts ~ 25 mph).

Due my late arrival I was in the back of the pack at the start. I took it easy as I made my way through the group. There was no point pushing it. It's not a freakin' race.

The general direction for the first half of the ride usually places the wind at your back, which can give you a false sense of your abilities. You feel strong, but you forget just how much the wind is helping you and how much it's going to work against you after you turn into the wind. Been there, done that. Ravenmore and another guy (wearing a Michigan jersey) went past me on the road out of Burnet. Both were hammering away. I managed to bridge up to them. I suggested to Ravenmore that he slow down to save energy (as it was his plan to ride the 125 miler). He agreed, but really didn't slow down. I decided to drop off - there was no way I could hold that pace. I hope he finished the 125 miler w/o blowing up.

I need to mention that the rest stops were many and well stocked. Kudos to the kind volunteers!

At the turnaround point for the 105-mile route, reality set in. The wind, so kind for the first half of the ride, now became the enemy. But I felt good and tempered my riding to fit the conditions. That is until a pack of fast guys went past me. I recognized a few of them. They ride for Violet Crown. I ride with them infrequently and on those occasions I usually keep up with them. I latched on the back of the paceline. We hammered along at 20-22 mph into the wind. The stronger guys took long pulls at the front and that saved my legs. Yeah, I was getting tired, but I figured I could hang in there for at least a few miles. After we reached the Burnet rest stop, they continued on, but I stopped to refuel. That's the last I saw of those guys.

After I got back on the bike, I ended up riding solo for a while. On the SSE side of Burnet, there is this one serious, leg-breaker of a climb. Luckily it's short. I have no idea how steep it is, but at the steepest part, I was going 4.5 mph. My legs were burning and my heart felt like it was ready to jump out of my chest. It is an almost overwhelming effort. And then ... the climb is over.

Afterwards, the road rolled gently up and down (for the most part). A rather heavyset gal on a tri-bike blew by me. No offense, but I hate being passed by a girl. So I bridged up to her and we shared the pace for a while. Then another gal on a tri-bike went past both of us. And so I caught up to her. This caused the first tri-gal to be dropped once and for all. Unbelievably yet another tri-gal caught me and tri-gal #2. We three settled in and shared the pace for quite a while. We hit a spot on the route that was shielded from the wind and we were going 25 mph easy. After what would be the last rest stop for me, we continued with our little group. I ended up dropping them (they weren't that fast on the inclines), but I dropped a chain and they shot past me. I tried to bridge up to them, but the legs were really tired at that point. All I wanted to do was finish the ride without cramping.

The road we were on t's into FM 1869. The directions say turn right, but I know the area well and I turned left. This road goes directly into Liberty Hill and the bonus is it's mainly downhill. It was an easy spin back into town. Yeah, it cuts off a couple of miles off the total, but so what. I ended up with 103 miles on the computer. And I didn't cramp. All in all, it was a tough, but fun ride and most likely I'll be back for the 2006 edition.

Hey Crankee - nice meeting ya if only for a sec. :D Wish I'd had a chance to snap a pic for the 'ol blog. I was torn between going slower and wanting to get the darn thing over in a decent time. I did manage to finish in 7hours 45 minutes. That wind really slowed things down on the way back. Almost wrecked twice so the adrenaline gave me a nice boost. I remember two really good hills on the way back. One that I hit at the 95 mile mark was a killer. I had a really hard time recovering after it. Took me a mile and a half to realize I was bonking. I stopped and had a cliff bar and a long pull on my powerade bottle and felt much better immediately.

I think one of the tri-girls you talked about passed me too. She didn't look like she was in the kind of shape to be moving like that, but she was. I kicked it up a notch and sat behind her for a bit and waited for a hill. Tri-bikes handle like pigs for climbing, and I was able to get ahead of her on the next one. I had to stop at a rest stop though as I was in danger of bonking again, so I lost her at that point. Have to give her credit, she was moving.

The volunteers were awesome, like you said. I've never seen such great support for an event with such a low entry fee. I forgot my map in the car but didn't need it at all because the route was so well marked. It was really well organized - hats off to whoever put it together.

I love being passed by tri-gals. I find it so inspirational in the middle of a long ride when you're starting to fade.

I love being passed by tri-gals. I find it so inspirational in the middle of a long ride when you're starting to fade.

Tri-gals #2 and #3 were both very fit and had strong, beautiful legs. I probably spent
an inordinate amount to time on their wheels! Oh well, it made the second half of the ride less painful.

I arrived about 7:50 and registered on-site. My number was 1038 -- the numbers were sequential, and I passed numbers 1, 3 and 4 during my ride, so there were just over a thousand riders.

I approached the starting line about 8:16, but the traffic coordinator held the group a couple of minutes. It was close to 8:19 when I wheeled out of the grounds.

I was riding my Trek Madone with an Andromeda (Project One) paint scheme, and wearing a yellow and blue jersey with yellow and blue socks (and red and yellow Time shoes). I designated a metric century when I signed up, but thought I might go a little further if the weather remained overcast.

The first 44 miles to Burnet were quite easy. I passed a lot of the crowd between the ten and thirty mile points, and then had a bit of a solo stretch. Another rider joined me, then we caught a rider in an A&M jersey. Two other riders, one in an old-style Bontrager jersey, and another that looked around 50 but had calves of steel joined us. At the first low water crossing, the A&M jersey slipped and stayed back afterwards. The other four of us rode in a casual 2+2 formation. At each low water crossing, I slowed considerably, then caught back up. I was the slacker in the group until just outside of Burnet. Then I took the lead on CR340 and pulled to rest stop 6. We picked up a rider or two right around the turn onto 281. At that point, I consulted the map, and decide that I would do at least 105 miles.

I stopped again at rest stop 7 -- I did not really need to stop, but did not realize I would have to make the 105 v. 125 decision at the 51.7 mile point. Jennifer (wearing sandals) and a few others provided positive enouragement. I set out on the 125 course. By that time, the 125 loop was pretty vacant. I was joined by a rider wearing a blue jersey named Cid, and we rode to rest stop 8 together. At that point, I decided I was going to take it rest stop to rest stop. At rest stop 8 I saw one of the "tri girls" -- the one that did not look like she was in as good of shape as she was -- she had gone down at one of the low water crossings, and was an Aussie that teaches spin classes at a 24-hour fitness location. I considered switching to the 105, but stayed on the 125 route. At that point (~65.8 mi), my odometer showed I had averaged 18.4 mph, but that number kept dropping after that.

In retrospect, I saw Ravenmore somewhere between rest stop 8 and the return to RS6. Unfortunately, I did not say hello (as I did not know that was you in the red Giordana jersey until now). After rest stop 6, I took prolonged stops everywhere -- I was ok physically except for some minor knee pain, but it became a series of short rides, rest stop to rest stop. I arrived back at rest stop 4 near closing time (3:30) for the rest stop, and I was a few minutes late for the last couple of stops, but they were still open. I commented that I was probably one of the last people on the course, but one of the rest stop workers commented that there were at least a dozen people still out.

I finished with a 16.3 mph average, but, with the prolonged rest stops, it was around 5 pm. Fortunately, the overcast skies kept it cool, and the rest stop workers made it quite nice. It was slow, it was an ugly performance, but it was a double metric century.

Sorry about the parking delays. I worked as a parking lot guide (got there at 5:30 AM) and we tried to get everyone parked as efficiently as possible. With a record 1145 turnout, we nearly ran out of spaces! Actually, some people told us they had never gotten parked as quickly on past Armadillos as they did this year.
I didn't do a double metric century like you other overachievers, but I had a good time going
the 52 mile distance. The person I was riding with was not strong, so we avoided the nasty hills on CR 323 / CR 288 by taking FM243, FM1174 and FM2869 back to Rest Stop #2 and got back onto the return route there. By doing this, we got to go through the legendary town of Oatmeal. Yes, it exists.
Best thing about the ride is I got to see and speak with all the many friends and riding buddies I've made over the past 5 years of cycling in central Texas.

I didn't think parking was too bad. I got there pretty early. All in all, I thought all the volunteers did a bang up job. I've never seen an event of that scale go so smoothely.

I agree that the volunteers did a fantastic job. The turn into the parking lot was a problem, but traffic control improved the situation, and it was really just a matter of the sheer number of cars flowing into a single entry -- no fault of the ride organizers. Considering my late arrival and on-site registration, I was on the route in good time. Additionally, all the volunteers at rest stops were very nice, and the rest stops were well stocked.

I knew I spotted Ravenmore, and I appear in his blog photos (on the left of the canopy in the sixth picture of the second column -- thanks for the pics).

Sorry about the parking delays. I worked as a parking lot guide (got there at 5:30 AM) and we tried to get everyone parked as efficiently as possible. With a record 1145 turnout, we nearly ran out of spaces! Actually, some people told us they had never gotten parked as quickly on past Armadillos as they did this year.
I didn't do a double metric century like you other overachievers, but I had a good time going
the 52 mile distance. The person I was riding with was not strong, so we avoided the nasty hills on CR 323 / CR 288 by taking FM243, FM1174 and FM2869 back to Rest Stop #2 and got back onto the return route there. By doing this, we got to go through the legendary town of Oatmeal. Yes, it exists.
Best thing about the ride is I got to see and speak with all the many friends and riding buddies I've made over the past 5 years of cycling in central Texas.

Hey, I understand the parking situation was beyond your control. Y'all did what y'all had to do and in hindsight, you did it well. It was a matter of funneling a lot of cars through a single entrance. I just forgot how popular this ride has become and with popularity comes additional traffic. I think the main reasons for the growing attendance is the ride route, the wonderful volunteers and the plentiful and well-stocked rest stops. All that is a credit to the folks who are involved with the event. You did good.

You mentioned Oatmeal. Did you happen to catch the aroma of BBQ chicken while passing through? We did (the tri-gals and I). Hmmm...chicken!

I was in the BRT (Big Red Truck) or what most call Fire Truck stopping traffic. This has been the 2nd ride I have watched over. This year I even cleaned all the intersections in Williamson county for you all :) I hope to ride next year as I now have the racing bug again. I hung up my bike about 10 years ago as a Cat 3 racer from Seattle but now I am getting a new bike and will be on the road soon again.

Brian