Hill Country Update

Much of the course you’ll be riding just over a month from now consists of many of my most memorable training rides when I lived in San Antonio. The challenge of putting on a new race – especially one that’s about 2,800 miles from where we live – has been pretty, well – uh challenging. The final decision to do this was made at the beginning of December so putting together a race that meets our standard of quality in such a short time is daunting. The only thing I’m a little bummed about is that Terri will be unable to attend – which also means you won’t get to meet our daughter Amelia. So – on with the update.

The course: I think you will love it. It is a great mix of fast rollers, slow rollers, tough climbs, long descents and even some nice flat sections. With tailwinds in the right places there will be some very fast times posted. One thing I do want is honest feedback after the race. We’ve altered the RAO route every year based on rider input. I want to know what you liked and what you didn’t like ((no complaining about the climbs from Medina to Camp Wood however!). My intent was to ride the route non-stop in December as a two person relay. Work and Oregon weather made that impossible but I made a scout trip in January to drive and GPS the course. The majority of the route has very low traffic. Shoulder width and road quality vary but for the most part it’s good to excellent.

Time Stations: BRING YOUR CELL PHONES. Almost the entire route has great cell coverage. The only place I didn’t get a signal was on the section between Medina and Camp Wood. Pay phones were harder to locate than a cell signal. If you have your mobile phone you DO NOT HAVE TO STOP for a time station. Just make sure your crew calls in as you ride past.

The route book: The mileage and directions are complete but the book is undergoing some final touches – David Bradley is adding maps, satellite photos and elevation profiles. We’re following the format of the RAAM and RAO route book which gives total mileage and also Time Station to Time Station mileage. As car odometers register mileage differently (there was a 7 mile difference between our van and the GPS by the finish) I strongly recommend zeroing out your odometer at each time station to stay as close to the route book mileage as possible. This is very important on this route as the majority of turns occur after 300 miles – if your mileage is off at this point those turns will be easy to miss. As soon as we get the book back from David it will be posted for download on the Hill Country page.

The day before the race: Sadly, Helotes was recently ranked as the third fastest growing city in America. While houses are springing up all over the place (fortunately you won’t ride by many of them) there is only one motel in town. It is a Quality Inn & Suites about two miles from the start. As this motel chain isn’t known for having wonderful meeting space we’re having the race check in as well as bike/vehicle inspections at Roger Soler’s Tri Shop and Helotes Bicycle both of which are located a few feet from the start/finish line. We’ll also hold a couple of brief pre-race meetings at this location. Since questions tend to be so different solo and tandems will meet for about 20 minutes @ 6:00 p.m. Teams will meet at 6:30. HOWEVER, if you are participating in Hell Week and will be staying in Fredricksburg please let me know in advance. We will hold bicycle and vehicle inspections early evening Friday for your convenience. If you elect to have your inspections in Fred you will need to show up an hour before the start so we can go over what you’ll miss at the pre-race meeting. Though it’s recommended that as many of your crew/rider(s) come to the meeting, I require only one rider and one crew member represent you at the pre-race. I’ll post contact info for motels in the surrounding vicinity this weekend.

Qualifying for RAAM: You have 36 hours to be considered an official finisher. However, to qualify for RAAM we will be using the current qualification rules of being within 15% of the first non-RAAM qualified finishers’ time in your division. Teams do not have to qualify in order to enter Race Across America.

That’s all for now. I have a busy work schedule this week but will be focusing the majority of my time on the race from then till the you are all safely across the finish line and the post race party comes to a close.

Here are some nearby motels I’d recommend (first choice would be Bandera Pointe):

Quality Inn & Suites
Bandera Pointe
9522 Brimhall Road
2.3 miles from Helotes
(210) 372-9900

or

Quality Inn & Suites
Fiesta Park
10950 Laureate
6.7 miles from Helotes
(210) 249 – 4800

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