Shiner GASP -- first 100-mile challenge of the year

It's a long, hard road and it's going to have bumps; there are going to be times when you fall and times when you don't feel like going on anymore, times when you're just crazy tired but it takes focus on that one step you are taking. -- Ryan Hall

Saturday I rode the Shiner GASP, a 100-mile Austin-to-Shiner jaunt. I had been told by my cycling teammates that in years past this ride was really windy, with a lot of chip seal, rough road. But I mentally needed to do a long ride after crashing in Galveston, and I had not done this ride before. Since it was a point-to-point ride, Friday night I drove the truck and trailer down to Shiner and parked it at the brewery – yes, they at least had planned a great finish… more on that in a bit. Rode the motorcycle back in the cooling evening air; pretty nice road trip to keep the carbs blowing in sync.
My sister MJ was willing to take me down to the start, so it was up early to get ready, and encountered police on my street dealing with some nitwits breaking into cars – good thing mine was in Shiner, so that was a good sign. Originally had the HED wheels on the tri bike, but even in the driveway already I was thinking the winds were picking up, so I put the 58s in the car… figured I would decide for sure when I get to the start.
Sure enough, pulling into the parking lot, I knew the wheel change was the right call; flags were already blowing, and I didn’t want to risk getting caught up in a group of riders and getting blown over. Got the wheels changed, helped a newbie get their tires pumped up, and met a bunch of the Team In Training folks from the Dallas/Fort Worth area… this was their local ride option for those choosing to not go to Tahoe, I was told.
Promptly at 7am, we were off and rolling. Great police support for the first 20 miles or so, and then we were pretty much in the back roads. But even the intersections in the small towns we went through were managed by the local police or the county sheriff’s office. Aid stations were placed pretty well. All of them had the giant water “monster” towers, so we had plenty of water (I heard that late in the ride some were running out of water). About mile 75 my thighs started to cramp, and I knew it was because I hadn’t been drinking enough. I stopped at the next aid station, re-filled my bottles and drank quite a bit before getting back on the bike. 10 minutes of easy spinning and changing to drinking every 5 minutes instead of every 10, and the cramps subsided. Again, the Infinit worked well all day; I am really happy with that part of the ride training.
One freaky moment - I was in a group of about 14-16 riders and in the middle of the pack on the left side, when a rider on the right side and just in front of me all of a sudden turned 90 degrees left, straight across in front of me and others. He took the guy right in front of me down, and all I could think was somebody was going to run over me from behind. Fortunately everybody saw it and reacted at the same time, scattering and braking. As the crash unfolded, a car came past us and barely missed the rider who went down. A little shaking of the nerves there.
Winds were out of the SSE about 15-20 ALL DAY, with some gusts closer to 25-30. And the last 10 miles, you turn from Moulton onto 95 straight south into Shiner – and directly into head winds. I passed a number of riders, and rode the last few miles with a struggling young lady. She did the half-ride and had not been on her bike much prior to Saturday. She had run out of water, and I felt bad because all my bottles had Infinit in them and I couldn’t offer her any not knowing how she would react to the mix.
The finish… I managed a 5hr 50min ride. I was surprised how few riders had finished before I did, but I got the bike into the trailer and went to the showers. They had 3 shower trailers lined up, so it was REALLY nice to be able to wash off all the sweat and get into some clean clothes. Grabbed a cold Coke on the way back to the truck, and then grabbed a beer on the way to the finish line to wait for some friends to finish. Yes, they had 4 different Shiner beers on tap and cold! I only drank one since I knew I had to drive home… but could have had at least one more of the 4 you were allowed, since I ended up waiting so long… but drank those ice cold Cokes (and lots more water) instead.
A meal of sauerkraut and brats was included as part of the deal, but that seemed like it would mess with your stomach after the workout on the bike, so I ate some of the coleslaw and figured I would eat something else later. But overall, the ride is very well organized, there were plenty of volunteers at all the aid stations, and the finish was pretty neat – food, beer, cold Cokes, cold water, showers, and bands playing for the entire 4 hours I was standing around waiting! You could even tour the brewery.
I think this is a great training ride for Florida - a few rollers but without any super steep hills, the winds and the terrain overall would be good prep. I may try to do this route again in early October. We'll see...