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Monday Sept 3rd: LGT (unofficial) Dragonslayer pre-ride call


CBaron

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I was the first one to bail.  My rear linkage snapped about 1 mile in.  Currently working through the warranty process, but plan to take a rental bike out there as soon as weather permits.   Either this Saturday or sometime next week.   Pretty bummed that I did not get to finish the loop.

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     No doubt,   

    What an epic ride! It was way too humid and way too wet, but the sun came out at about 12pm and became wayyyyy too hot... and even more humid...     I had a hell of a day out there....  Started the trail at 7am, wanted to get a head start on the crowd.  I planned on doing only one lap but wanted to make sure that I could finish in the 4.5 hour time frame...  Started off on a great pace, in the roughest part of the trail, went over the handle bars twice (damn rocks) where my front wheel planted (snipers) and did not roll forward (hate it, when that happens-- need more bike head angle).  licking my wounds, headed forward, ran into many riders at this time that started from the Dam and were riding counter clockwise.  I made it to the DAM, still on a 3.45 hour pace, feeling somewhat OK, but drenched from the humidity,  I had plenty of water and food and some tunes to keep me going.  Made it to the other side of the Dam, and thought maybe I should top off my water at Cedar Breaks park.  Naw, I will be fine... (wrong).... 

     The relentless rock gardens kept me on my toes, climbing up and around the south side of the lake really started to take its toll on me.  My legs and lungs were fine, but my upper body strength was having problems (damn rocks).  Had to stop at the water hole (natural springs) and cool off, chill out and catch my snap.. About this time the guys that started at 8;15AM passed me, going very fast, I thought ' how the hell can you go that fast out here??' OK ready for more of this hellish ride.  I could feel the light mist of rain in between the trees, not too bad, I can do this, but the more I rode the wetter the rocks became, front tire slipping right, slipping left and in between, the mud stated to get heavy on the tires...   On ward, further down the trail,  I ran into the same guys that started from the dam going CCwise,  they all huddled up trying to get out of the rain and rest up before the rocky hell that lay in front of them...  as I past them, I thought,  I am glade to not be going that way, happy that it was behind me.... but little did I know what was in front of me....    Starting to make many stops to rest and mistakes in judgement on the trail,  due to the pace that I had set in the beginning.  

     Realizing that I was not going to hit my 4.5hour goal as I was 2.5 hours in and only half way around the lake..  Fatigue was setting in and my mind started work against my body, why the hell did I think I could ride this in that amount of time????   Keep pedaling, the flats are coming up and it is all down hill from there, no more rocks...  made it to the stair climb, had no gas in the tank, it took everything I could to get up to the top of the staircase pushing my bike..   Made it back down and was thinking I am home free, I can do this,  Wrong, body said no way... Cramp city, started to fill light headed and ran out of water (damn rocks), but I had an ace up my sleeveless jersey,  buried deep in my  Camel back,  I had two small packs of mustered and hot sauce from Taco Bell,  also found a small bottle of Pickle Juice....   Score!!!!

   After resting, taking shots of Pickle Juice and Hot Sauce,  I felt renewed and thinking I could do this, just a little bit more to the park to refill my water bag and then jeep roads back to the Russell Park, all went as planned, until I had to climb up from the jeep road, thru the rocks back to Russell Park.  The sun was out, it was about 12pm and the heat/humidity started to get really bad....This is a short 1.5 mile trail but it took me over an hour to get thru,  my body was spent, the PJ and Taco Bell special had long passed, happy that it got me this far but i needed more...  I stopped at the bottom of the climbs as well as the top of each, hating all of the rocks that I hit on the way up..  my arms were throbbing in pain..... Finally made it back to the car, I lay on the ground in front of my car thinking, never again......

 It took me 6 hours to complete just one lap, I have ridden this trail before, only in the Winter, never in the Summer, previous times were about 5 hours.   Glade this ride is in the past and humbled by all the riders that can do one lap under the 4.5 hours time limit..  I cannot understand why anyone would want to do a second or third lap, pure hell....   Good luck to all, thank you for letting me vent.......

https://www.relive.cc/view/e1191064516

 

Edited by Eric
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Good for you Eric for getting it done!  I kept waiting for a truly "bad thing" to occur in your ride report.  But thank goodness it never came.  Yes, it sounded like a tough day, but you made it back in one piece.  I do think I recall coming passed you while you were pulled off to the left of the trail?  I seem to recall this might have been near the springs area on the southside.

-CJB

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Great write up, Eric.  Sorry it was such a tough day, but if you can get through a day like that then doing a lap in cooler, drier conditions should be refreshing, right?  And mad props to someone who has the guts to fuel up on Taco Bell hot sauce! 

Relative to earlier rides on this trail, I had a great day.  This was the first time I managed to come in under the 4.5hr cutoff and it actually gave me hope that I can finish at least 2 laps in Nov.

I started out riding loosely with JRider and Reuben.  After JRider turned back Reuben and I tightened ranks and stuck together for full lap.  Reuben is young and energetic but wasn't as familiar with the trail as I am, so he kept my pace up and I showed him some lines through some of the nasty stuff (and showed him a few lines not to follow).  Carried a pretty good pace out to the dam and then stopped at Cedar Breaks trailhead for a snack.   I was feeling good up til about the halfway point between CB and Tejas - that's where I started re-evaluating (for the 3rd week in a row) my choice of diet.  It wasn't really a bonk, just a severe fatigue set in.  I kept suggesting that Reuben ride on ahead because he was feeling fine, but he's a good guy and claimed he wasn't in a hurry (probably worried about all the explaining if I was found dead on the trail).  Once we made it Tejas, I ate my last bar and we loaded up on water.  I'm finally starting to appreciate that once you hit Tejas, you're really mostly done.  Made it back to Russell and found the fast guys all hanging out in the shade waiting around to make sure everyone survived.  Pulled up and joined them for a well earned Topo Chico.

We came in right around 4hrs overall (3:30 riding time).  I would like to say I considered going for a second lap, but honestly I don't think it even occurred to me.

So, that's 1 week on keto that felt great, 1 week on keto that felt so bad it made me re-evaluate keto, and 1 week on a regular carb load that felt really great up until it didn't.  I think the next test is regular carb load but with snacks along the way instead of just a protein bar at CB and at Tejas (Reuben, those clif shot blocks made a world of difference, thanks!)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Todd posted a fb request for riders to hit this part of the Lake Georgetown loop in the near future. 

Quote

Riding this weekend? Provided no more heavy rain, please put some wheels around Lake Georgetown. Specifically needing traffic on the lost 15mm loop at walnut springs and from Tejas back to the stairs. Those two areas have been mowed today and yesterday but need tire traffic. Don’t want to do a full lap? Park at Russel and head CCW upstream, around Tejas and to the stairs then turn around and head back. Thanks guys and gals.

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  • 2 years later...
2 hours ago, CBaron said:

BUMP

I'm not fully committed to this right now, but I would like to gather what the interest might be?  Every year, I've done the Dragon Slayer, I've put on this unofficial pre-ride on Labor Day.....well I'm sorta thinking about do DS again.  @Barry @knifezilla @512  Can we get the OG gang back together on Monday?

??????

Later,
CJB

You guys shooting for a sub-3 hour lap time or a Dragon Slayer 3-lap pace?  Note that these are not the same thing for most of us!

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1 hour ago, Tree Magnet said:

You guys shooting for a sub-3 hour lap time or a Dragon Slayer 3-lap pace?  Note that these are not the same thing for most of us!

Right now, I don't have any expectations set yet.  I'm just now coming off my low-point in my fitness.  I'd be using this day as a nice training ride with a hope that I'm not completely riding by myself.  I'd guess that the pacing would be not unlike it was for me the 1st year.  Here's my Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/1168514299   I could see us doing a 3:15 lap #1 and then a 3:30 lap #2 (+/- each)...but that might be a bit over reaching for where my fitness is right now.  Like I said, I've not really thought about it much....

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On 9/2/2018 at 10:59 PM, Barry said:

A little last minute route guidance here...

Both times that I've found where The Organizer did the 2018 route, he took the lower option to the dam, instead of the road. The below image was from his May 10 ride named, "2018 Dragonslayer Route." So I assume this is the official route. 

 

image.png.9ecfb99a1f47d996ccc1721d30f41ecc.png

You will ride across the damn, but then drop down below it so you can get about 400' of extra climbing in because more is better.... See map https://www.strava.com/activities/2907219116?share_sig=27F86B511630855328&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ios_share at 

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