After only a few months of cycling (haven’t touched a bike since grade school), I decided to do the Blanco Real Ale 80 mile ride at the urging of a good friend, Everett Gerrald. The city of  Blanco is about 40 miles north of San Antonio, deep into the Hill Country.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/690451

Not knowing what I was doing or what to expect, I started riding with Everett and a relatively large group of riders. We rode for more than 25 miles averaging 16.5 mph and climbed over 1600 ft of hills. We passed the first rest stop and stopped at the second stop where we rested for a few minutes. I grabbed a small bottle of what I thought was Gatorade and quickly downed it, which turned out to be pickle juice. Yuk! I never heard of drinking pickle juice, but later learned it was good for cramps. It didn’t matter, wasn’t for me.

Everett and I rode on and I kept hearing from other riders about a tough climb ahead. As we turned off Highway 471 and headed north on Old San Antonio road, we began a steady climb for the next eight miles. Then we came around a bend where we saw the big climb — a half mile climb with a 7% average grade (13% max). Many people had to get off their bikes and walk the hill. I kept peddling, even though the temptation to walk it weighed heavily on my mind; I finally made it to the top, exhausted. Fortunately, there was a rest stop at the top of that hill. We rested for more than 20 minutes. Interesting to note, as I improved my cycling abilities over the years, this hill became relatively easy.

For the next 10 miles, riding was mostly down hill and fun. Then we came to another series of hills covering more than four miles with some points going up an 8% incline; that climb made the last rest stop a necessity, exhaustion had set in. Then for the next 15 miles, it was all down hill again. That should have been fun, but after 60 miles of riding, the distance wore on me. As I entered the city of Blanco I thought I’d reached the end, so I passed the last rest stop. Big mistake! Ahead, I found seven more miles of a slight incline all ridden against a strong headwind. Tough, but I gave it everything I had.

When I crossed the finish line, I had nothing left. It took more than a half hour to put my bike back in the car and get ready to eat lunch. As I sat down with Everett, I could barely eat due to exhaustion. I went home, showered and immediately hit the bed for a long nap. Then leg cramps hit. Not a fun evening.

The Blanco Real Ale was my first ever ride event. I rode exactly 77.6 miles, climbed 4,195 ft and it took me a total of 5:50:00 minutes (4:51:00 total moving time), averaging 16 mph for the entire ride. Up to that time, the longest I had ridden was 40 miles. So 77 miles was a stretch for me and with over 4000 ft of elevation climb, this became the biggest hurdle I’d ever tried. But, I threw my leg over the saddle and pushed forward, loving the challenge and the whole idea of riding with large groups across the beautiful Hill Country. I’m definitely going to be doing more of these!