A friend of mine sent me an email with some thoughts and experiences from the Excruciation Exam mountain bike race earlier this month.

First time racing the Excruciation Exam
by Luke Fletcher (Houston)

Here’s the scoop on my first excruciation exam race.  My long-time friend Chris Sechelski told me about E2 when he started training for it around the end of summer 2011.  I decided to race E2 and started training at Thanksgiving; giving me about 6 weeks to get into better shape.  In addition to my normal mountain biking, I put my semi-slicks on my mountain bike (I rode my 2010 Specialized Stumpjumper hard tail, 26er) and started doing some road riding as well.  Some of the best workouts were trying to keep up with the roadies from Bike Barn (at Cypresswood and Steubner Airline) during their 40 mile rides on Saturday mornings.  They would usually leave me in the dust a couple of times on the ride but I worked hard and always caught up with them down the road.

My friend Chris’ computer showed 80.12 miles total distance.  I forgot to set my computer until after we came out of the woods at Warda (about 4 miles  or so after we started) so my computer showed 74.88 miles, max speed of 36.1 mph, an average of 13.1 mph and total ride time of 5:45.32; so I spent about 51 minutes not riding (eating, drinking, catching my breath, fixing a flat tire, etc…).

It was a blast but one ultra-marathon may be enough for this rider…. we definitely did one of the best since it included 2 very fun trails (Warda and Rocky Hill Ranch) and the scenery was pretty while on the road. And we had really good weather and trail conditions…. it was tough but a lot of fun.  It’s definitely tempting to race it again though because you always feel like you can do better and take off time here or there.  Chris and I mainly just wanted to finish and have a good time…. mission accomplished.

And the training for it was fun too for the most part; I like the road riding so much that I want to definitely do more group rides with Bike Barn, etc…. in NW Houston but I need to find a new job and then I’ll either have some work done on my old, Centurion road bike or maybe add a new road bike to my collection.

HARD RIGHT
by Steve A            DFW Point-to-Point

Entirely by accident, I almost witnessed a “right hook” collision on my way home from work. No, I was not an involved party, but I have to admit it was fascinating to watch the scenario unfold. It should remind us once again that it is unwise to pass on the right.

I was northbound, taking the role of the “red arrow” in the aerial view of Pipeline Road in Hurst, Texas. Pipeline is a somewhat conflicted five lane road. I had come upon the intersection and was watching the oncoming, eastbound traffic for a gap I could safely enter. Coming on, in the right lane (the lane of the green arrow, I saw an…

Georgetown to host bike races in May
By Pam LeBlanc            Fit City

Big news, bike racing fans.

Come May, bicyclists will zip around downtown Georgetown during the Georgetown Grand Cycling Race in the Streets.

Eight hundred cyclists, including professional and Olympic cyclists from around the country, and 5,000 spectators are expected for the races on May 19-20.

The headline event, a criterium race staged by Holland Racing on a USA Cycling-sanctioned course, will double as the state criterium championship weekend for the Texas Bicycle Racing Association. A criterium is a closed-circuit race on a 1 or 2-mile course. …