2ND ANNUAL TEXAS HILL COUNTRY 600

Linda and I repeated our supporting performance as crew for long-distance cyclist, Mark Metcalfe (Linda’s husband), who competed in the Texas Hill County 600 the weekend of March 12th to March 15th.

Linda and I drove to San Antonio on Friday evening stopping in Gruene, Texas, at Moxie’s to have a drink and give Linda’s daughter, Lauren, her 21st birthday present. Lauren works at Moxie’s as a waitress while attending Texas State University just a few miles up the road. Lauren recommended the chocolatini, made with Godiva chocolate, a wise choice—I just wish there had been more of it. Historic Gruene is a tiny, picturesque tourist spot on the Guadalupe River whose motto is, “Gently resisting change since 1972.” I vowed to make it back for a long weekend with husband, Ed in the near future.

There wasn’t much time to sleep once we arrived at our hotel in San Antonio and rolled into bed. The 5:15 alarm left me wondering how I would ever stay awake for the next 25 hours performing my duties. This was the 2nd Annual Texas Hill Country 600 and some changes had been made to the course since the year before making it roughly 18 miles longer. This year the 375-mile-long race also had an additional 20 riders. The riders were divided into many categories—solo men, solo men over 50, solo men over 60, solo women, mixed tandem and two-and four-person relay teams.

The race started promptly at 7:00 a.m. The temperature hovered around a chilly 40 degrees at the start but climbed to 82 and back again before Mark completed the race. Although the riders began en masse, it wasn’t long before there were many miles between them. During the daylight hours, the support vehicles drove a few miles down the road to wait for their rider to pass and communicate their needs. Further up the road, the requested item would be handed off and the cycle would begin again. The crew couldn’t get very far ahead of the rider in case of an accident or flat tire which would cause valuable time to be lost backtracking.

The hills on the course were merciless. There were so many more up-hills than down-hills that it didn’t seem fair. By late afternoon, one solo rider had dropped out. Tweets on IPhones updated teams on the progress of other riders. Times were reported by the crew at nine checkpoints along the course. Mark was on a mission to catch up to the other rider in his age category who had gone out strong. By the time Mark caught him, the other rider was exhausted and subsequently dropped out of the race. Mark cruised the rest of the way to a third place overall finish—with two much younger contestants in first and second.

Linda and I fared quite well considering the lack of sleep the night before. Caffeine from Coke Zero and Starbucks coffee drinks kept us alert. After the sun went down, we closely followed our rider listening to commands and passing food and drink out-the-window of our moving vehicle. Deer, rabbits and stars were in abundance—the night was clear and crisp. I felt I improved dramatically over my novice performance last year. Everything seemed to run more smoothly. At times there wasn’t much to do but eat, drink and talk and we did plenty of all that.

It was no secret that Mark was exhausted with more than 75 miles to go. I wondered how he would find the energy to continue. He is scheduled to do the Race Across the West in June—a race almost three times longer than the Texas Hill County 600. How and why do people push themselves so far beyond their limits? As a marathon runner, I felt like a slouch. Mark kept up his efforts to the end despite sore feet, no sleep and weariness beyond compare.

Mark finished in 25:10:02 with the first and second place finishers over three hours ahead of him. The last rider, a solo woman, finished more than nine hours after Mark. Once Mark finished, we drove the 65 miles to Fredericksburg, Texas, and our Bed & Breakfast where Linda, Mark and four other riders were staying during Hell Week—participating in group rides from 50k to 200k daily. We showered and slept for a few hours before we headed back to San Antonio for the award banquet (although it could hardly be called that). The next morning after a full night’s sleep and a morning jog, I ate German pancakes with Linda, Mark and two of the relay cyclists at our favorite German Bakery before I headed home and back to my real life.