What do you do when the brother of a long-time member of our cycling group comes for a visit from the Netherlands? Answer: Take him to Leakey to ride some of Texas’ most challenging hills.

Wim Heijmans is a super nice guy and an excellent cyclist. He gets this from his older brother, Hans and their European heritage. He is a member of a large cycling group in the Netherlands and rides with us when he comes to visit in the U.S. We claim him as a member of our riding group even though he frequently rides with that other group in the Netherlands. By the way, I love that name Wim.

What is the Leakey Challenge?

The Leakey Challenge is a training ride that our group does a couple of times a year. This is not to be confused with the Leakey Death Ride that has a few big climbs over 150 miles in the same Leakey area done over three days. The Leakey Challenge is a concentration of five big hill climbs over 56 miles starting in Medina, Texas and continues along Hwy 337, passing through Vanderpool, and loops back a few miles short of Leakey, Texas.

It encompasses some of the most beautiful parts of the Hill Country and has some of the toughest hill climbs in Texas. This ride has three really long hills along Hwy 337, making this ride a true “Challenge.” Since this is an up and back ride, we hit two of the three hills twice for a total of five tough climbs over 5100 ft. It is a great route for cyclists wanting to do serious training or riders who just like leg pain and feeling like death is eminent. Therefore, you frequently see cycling teams and other crazy people in the middle of nowhere climbing those “terrible” hills that never seem to end.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1186324

Let’s do it!

Wim arrived in the states on Thursday afternoon after an all-day flight from Europe. To ensure that he got a minimal amount of sleep, we all took off work Friday so he could ride shortly after arriving in the U.S. That was the only way we thought we’d have a smidgen of a chance to keep up with him. It didn’t work!

As Friday approached, the weather looked ominous, good chance of rain and fog. Going down a long, steep hill on wet slicked roads is more than a bit scary. By Thursday midday, we questioned whether a ride in this weather was wise. However, by Thursday afternoon Hans declared, “Let’s do it.” So we showed up at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, February 20 in Medina with overcast skies and chilly temperatures, but no rain or fog. Robert Hogue, Toni Gonzalez Flores, Bill Sanders, Brain Moore, Elaine Pena, Jeff Porter, Bert Miller, Peter Beverage, Hans Heijmans, Wim Heijmans and I all gathered for some good cycling. Sorry I don’t have a picture to show our pretty faces.

For the first 12 miles, we had an easy gradual climb — a perfect warm-up before hitting the first good climb. The first big hill is a Cat 4 climb almost a mile long, (350 ft. of climb with a 12.5% max incline.) It’s the shortest of the five hills, but still wakes the legs up to pain. The 1:40 minute video below is sped up 4 times the actual 6.45 minute ride time.

Wim, Bert, Peter and Robert led the climb; I remained a little ways back in the middle of the group. After reaching the top of a plateau, we then hit a series of rollers (small hills) for the next 2.8 miles and then finally took the big descent. The descent was a fast 1.2 miles, going 38 mph down a beautiful road chiseled through the rough terrain.  We had two thoughts as we flew down: 1) oh, what fun, and 2) oh, the pain we’ll have when climbing back up later in the ride.

We continued on for another 5.5 miles through the “major metropolis” of Vanderpool and on to the next big climb. This second climb, known as The Wall was longer and bigger than the first (Cat 3  – 2.3 miles, almost 600 ft. of climbing and 11% max incline).  Although it took just under 12 minutes to complete the climb, it felt like an eternity as our legs screamed in pain. Again the below video is sped up 2.8 time so it does not take long to view.

As we crested the hilltop, we road across a brief plateau and then a fast 36 mph descent for the next two miles before hitting hill #3. That gave us only five minutes for recovery, so we hit the third climb with our legs still tired.

The third climb was a Cat 3, 2.3 miles, 560 ft. of climb with max incline of 9.2%. This climb made us feel as if we were winding around a mountain. The road bends sharply around tight curves with steep ledges, overlooking large valleys. Cyclists on this route think the end of the climb is just around the next corner only to realize more climbing and turns await.

After climbing for just under fifteen minutes (again it felt like eternity), we finally reached the top. At this point we were 28 miles into the ride and at the halfway point. If we had gone another seven miles down the hill, we would have gone into the town of Leakey.

We waited for everyone to get back together, then turned around, and started back down the hill we had just climbed. Then came the fourth big hill (the back side of our second big climb). This is a Cat 4, 1.2 miles, 480 ft. of climb with a mix incline of 9.5%. By this time, the legs started to ache a little more as we climbed. The stress of all the climbs were adding up to increasingly tired legs.

As with all good hill climbs, when cyclists reach the top and the road levels off, a feeling of relief exists while the leg pain persists. Then finally — the recovery as we pick up speed looking forward to a fast and fun downhill descent. We especially look forward to this fourth hill descent because it leads straight to our rest stop at the Lost Maple County Store. Everybody stopped at the store except for Brian. He kept going to catch up to Elaine, and Bill who decided not to do the last climb, returned early.

Lost Maple County Store is where we refill our bottles, eat anything with carbs and rest our legs for a few minutes. We do this knowing that we have one more hill to climb. This fifth hill, known by many as the Eagle’s Nest or Condor’s Nest is the toughest of the ride for several reasons. It has the steepest grade of all the five hills of 12.7%, lasting 1.1 miles climbing 495 ft. The climb looks intimidating as the road is carved deeply into the rugged hillside. It’s deceptive, because just as a rider feels the climb is over as the first curve approaches, cyclists soon discover yet another half mile of climbing to go. Lastly, the legs are already tired from the previous four climbs. Admittedly, we got a chance to rest at the store, but the 3.5 miles from the store to the base of the climb is a constant 280 ft. of climb unto itself with a max incline of 5.7%. Therefore, cyclists are tired again as this last climb begins.

As we approached the climb, several of us, including Peter and myself, questioned how well or not so well, we would do. Some suggested stopping halfway up the hill so we could take pictures. I purposely did not push it hard on the previous climbs just so I would have something left for this last climb. The last time we did the Leakey Challenge, I completely exhausted myself on the last climb (it hurt) and I had nothing left to finish the last twelve miles back to Medina.

We started the climb as a single large group, but we quickly spread out with Wim, Peter and Bert in the lead.  Robert and I remained a short distance behind the lead, with the others somewhere behind us. For the first half, I stayed in my seat to conserve energy. At one point I thought about trying to catch up to the leaders, but not enough energy remained in the legs, so I decided to ride conservatively. I just wanted to make sure I made it to the top and had enough for a strong ride back to Medina. We came to the halfway point where we had planned to take the group picture, but we kept going without stopping. I finally got out of my seat and ground the last half mile to the top. As I got to the top, I was tired, really tired, but not completely exhausted as the time before.

Now at the top of the hill the typical thought is that the climb is over and a fun and fast downhill remains. Not quite, we had another 2.8 miles or rollers (small climbs) totaling 270 ft. with a max grade of 10.5%. Normally 270 ft. of climb is not difficult, but we just finished the toughest climb of the ride without time to recover. To stay up with the leaders, I had to pick up the pace. Therefore, we averaged over 17 mph through the rollers and then came to the last and final mile long descent hitting speeds over 40 mph.

From there, we still had twelve miles of a gradual descent back to the finish. In the last Leakey Challenge ride (June 2014), the big climbs exhausted me; I had nothing left, and slowly crept into Medina. Also, the summer heat (97 degrees avg.) completely sucked what energy I had left. I averaged barely 16 mph. Those 12 miles felt miserable the whole way. For this ride, I had energy left, and the temperature for the last 12 miles averaged only 60 degrees with no sun — perfect! So, I rode with the lead group, averaging almost 21 mph and enjoying it all the way.

Finished

The entire ride covered 56.2 miles taking 3 hours and 44 minutes of moving time to complete. That is only one minute faster than my best ride back in 2013 and two minutes faster than June 2014. Our total time from start to finish was 4 hours and 13 minutes, significantly better than previous rides which were over four and a half hours.

Something I noticed about our special guest, Wim. He led the group on all the big climbs, but on several climbs as I neared the top, I saw Wim turn around and head back, passing us going the other way. He would later catch back up to us, to continue the group ride. At that time I thought he was delirious, possibly disoriented from being tired and confused about his directions. I asked him about it after the ride. He said he was training to be ready for his team back in the Netherlands and wanted to get in some extra distance. So, I concluded he was a little delirious!

Speaking of unusual things, can’t remember ever seeing someone climb tough hills, like those on the Leakey Challenge with a tri bike. Tri bikes aren’t designed for hills. With these bikes, a cyclist must work a lot harder to climb a hill compared to a good road bike. Knowing that, Toni brought her tri bike anyway. She wanted to train for her upcoming half Ironman this year and full Ironman hopefully next year. The questions were: Could she climb these hills? Could she keep up with us? Could she go the whole distance? Well, she did it all. She climbed all the hills without stopping, stayed right with the group and completed the whole distance. Tony is tri bike ready!

Also interesting to note: we almost canceled this ride because of rain. It turned out that we never saw a single drop of rain and the weather was almost perfect. Yes, we had chilly temps, but we dressed for it, and therefore felt great. No heat or sun beaming down on us. Can’t ask for much more than that!

So as it hit noon, what would cyclists do after riding 56 miles across some of the toughest hills in Texas? EAT! We packed up our bikes and walked across the street into the Love Orchard Café. Most everyone got hamburgers and fries. I got a hamburger and an apple pie. My thinking? How can you go into a café that owns its own apple orchard and not eat an apple pie? I love apple pie!

Final Thought

It was great having everyone together for a good tough ride. The Leakey Challenge is a challenge and Wim is an excellent cyclist. We all had a great time. After we finished, all but Bert and Peter headed back to San Antonio. Bert and Peter just happened to schedule a church retreat in Leakey that weekend. So they drove the other way to Leakey to learn more about their faith and hopefully they prayed for good cycling weather, no flat tires and strong legs.