Post by jbrown on Mar 26, 2012 7:02:51 GMT -6
Where to start....
I was told about this ride months back by Shanna and Pat Durr. They do it every year and they typically make a weekend of it. They told me about the ride and a little about the beast and well pain and a bike in the same sentence, I was very interested. I told Derek Dalzell about it and he is training for IMKY so it fit in to what he was trying to do so we said why not. We loaded up Saturday morning about 545 and headed west(ish) towards Tyler. All the way, like usual it was nothing but tri and training talk. Great road trip again!
When we got there we went inside to register. Ride was $35 but WELL worth the money! Heard people saying that the attendance of the ride was anywhere from 600-1000. Needless to say there were LOTS of people. They offered distances from 12 miles to 67 miles and all of them would encounter this "hill" they call the Beast. We elected to ride the 67 but had both agreed to "cruise" at about 17-18 mph for the whole ride. Wanted more of an endurance type of ride than a "race" ride.
National anthem and then off we go. As we ride out 3 WWII planes buzz us overheard to mark the start. Already excited and that made it even more so. My heart rate just sitting still was up around 90 bpm. So yeah I was excited. Our game plan of "cruising" was forgotten after the first 100 meters. For the first 20 miles we were moving at a pretty good pace and passing people like we were out of our minds, and quite frankly probably were. After the first 20 we decided to only push on the uphill, which lucky for us was ever 10 seconds or so. Rolling hills is a great description. We settled in after about 25 or 30 and we were still moving at a faster pace than most but we carried on.
The last half of the ride is def the hilliest. We continued to take turns pulling each other and we jumped into a couple of pace lines, but we seem to be pacing faster than them so we would lose interest and move on about our business. About 55 miles in there was a pretty good hill and foolishly I told Derek well that has to be it. Halfway up the hill there was a sign on the right side that said "Nope, this ain't it" Crap. Bad call. We continued on trying to guestimate when we would encounter this monster. Finally after a long slow climb the road turned left and as we turned I looked up a high line on the right side of the roan and saw what I envisioned the perfect place for a ski lift. As we cleared the trees we saw it. Man from .5 miles away she looked nasty! For the most part the people were scattered throughout the distance ove the last 60 miles but here, it looked like a war zone on this hill. "Bodies" everywhere (Not literally) but all you could see were various colors of peoples jerseys ALL over this hill. A couple were sitting a bunch were walking and the rest were moving just fast enough on their bikes to not fall over. We looked at each other and said good luck and see you at the top! Off we go. Now this whole ride my pride kept me in my big chain ring and after about 62 miles my pride was gone. little chain ring it was for me. In the second to easiest I own, I headed up this Beast! This hil is something like a 14% grade. INSANE for this area! As I was riding up you could see the broken looks on the people who were walking and/or sitting. I passed one guy who was walking and just seeing his calves cramp at every step made me cringe but I kept hammering. People had written in chalk on the road some words of encouragement and some not so encouraging words. At the top there were about 5 people cheering you as you climbed and even had a taunt thrown at me that went something like "C'mon triathlete get your butt up that hill" I'm guessing because I was one of few that was on a TT bike It was a dead giveaway. Thanks for the motivation random guy in the purple jersey! Derek reached the top before me but I wasn't too far again. After ascending the hill, we grabbed some water and a snack at the aid station and headed back the 4 miles to the start.
I must say a big thanks to Shanna and Pat for mentioning this ride and big props to Derek for rocking this one out with me and keeping me from killing myself by going way too hard.
If you ever get the chance to ride this event it is a bucket list one In my opinion. Very well run and beautiful scenery with a very Beastly finish. It def deserves the names given!
I was told about this ride months back by Shanna and Pat Durr. They do it every year and they typically make a weekend of it. They told me about the ride and a little about the beast and well pain and a bike in the same sentence, I was very interested. I told Derek Dalzell about it and he is training for IMKY so it fit in to what he was trying to do so we said why not. We loaded up Saturday morning about 545 and headed west(ish) towards Tyler. All the way, like usual it was nothing but tri and training talk. Great road trip again!
When we got there we went inside to register. Ride was $35 but WELL worth the money! Heard people saying that the attendance of the ride was anywhere from 600-1000. Needless to say there were LOTS of people. They offered distances from 12 miles to 67 miles and all of them would encounter this "hill" they call the Beast. We elected to ride the 67 but had both agreed to "cruise" at about 17-18 mph for the whole ride. Wanted more of an endurance type of ride than a "race" ride.
National anthem and then off we go. As we ride out 3 WWII planes buzz us overheard to mark the start. Already excited and that made it even more so. My heart rate just sitting still was up around 90 bpm. So yeah I was excited. Our game plan of "cruising" was forgotten after the first 100 meters. For the first 20 miles we were moving at a pretty good pace and passing people like we were out of our minds, and quite frankly probably were. After the first 20 we decided to only push on the uphill, which lucky for us was ever 10 seconds or so. Rolling hills is a great description. We settled in after about 25 or 30 and we were still moving at a faster pace than most but we carried on.
The last half of the ride is def the hilliest. We continued to take turns pulling each other and we jumped into a couple of pace lines, but we seem to be pacing faster than them so we would lose interest and move on about our business. About 55 miles in there was a pretty good hill and foolishly I told Derek well that has to be it. Halfway up the hill there was a sign on the right side that said "Nope, this ain't it" Crap. Bad call. We continued on trying to guestimate when we would encounter this monster. Finally after a long slow climb the road turned left and as we turned I looked up a high line on the right side of the roan and saw what I envisioned the perfect place for a ski lift. As we cleared the trees we saw it. Man from .5 miles away she looked nasty! For the most part the people were scattered throughout the distance ove the last 60 miles but here, it looked like a war zone on this hill. "Bodies" everywhere (Not literally) but all you could see were various colors of peoples jerseys ALL over this hill. A couple were sitting a bunch were walking and the rest were moving just fast enough on their bikes to not fall over. We looked at each other and said good luck and see you at the top! Off we go. Now this whole ride my pride kept me in my big chain ring and after about 62 miles my pride was gone. little chain ring it was for me. In the second to easiest I own, I headed up this Beast! This hil is something like a 14% grade. INSANE for this area! As I was riding up you could see the broken looks on the people who were walking and/or sitting. I passed one guy who was walking and just seeing his calves cramp at every step made me cringe but I kept hammering. People had written in chalk on the road some words of encouragement and some not so encouraging words. At the top there were about 5 people cheering you as you climbed and even had a taunt thrown at me that went something like "C'mon triathlete get your butt up that hill" I'm guessing because I was one of few that was on a TT bike It was a dead giveaway. Thanks for the motivation random guy in the purple jersey! Derek reached the top before me but I wasn't too far again. After ascending the hill, we grabbed some water and a snack at the aid station and headed back the 4 miles to the start.
I must say a big thanks to Shanna and Pat for mentioning this ride and big props to Derek for rocking this one out with me and keeping me from killing myself by going way too hard.
If you ever get the chance to ride this event it is a bucket list one In my opinion. Very well run and beautiful scenery with a very Beastly finish. It def deserves the names given!
