Texas Hill Country 600

The Lee-Side has been on a diet the past couple months. It's time for a monster post...

The weekend of March 13, 2010 Nick Nisbet raced the Texas Hill Country 600 to qualify for the 2011 Race Across America (RAAM). Nick is living proof that there is no substitute for saddle time. He rides his bike almost every day, sometimes logging 200 plus miles, on 8 hour rides. The 380 mile Texas Hill Country 600 (600 = kilometers) would be right up his alley.

On Thursday before the race Jo, Matt, and I left Boulder at 6:00 am for the sixteen hour drive to San Antonio. Jo and I got onboard to support Nick relatively last minute. Our mission throughout the race was to follow and support Nick in the Phoenix Multisport Ford F250 Crew Cab under the same vehicle support rules as the RAAM. It would be a RAAM training event for us as much as a qualifier for Nick. The logistics were immense and to complicate matters even more I woke up with a powerful cold on Thursday morning. We wearily rolled into San Antonio at 1:00 am. No sleep and lots of driving would be a theme for the weekend.

16 Hours on the Road

Friday we met up with Nick and Patti and enjoyed breakfast on the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio. It was the calm before the storm. It was 70 degrees and a nice break from the El Nino induced gloom of Colorado's winter. After breakfast it was business time getting Nick checked in and readying his bikes and the truck. By 8:00pm we were mostly dialed and broke off for dinner and another brief nights rest.

Meeting Up with Nick and Patti

The River Walk

Getting the Bike and Truck Ready for the Race

The race started at 7:00am Saturday with a rolling start down the main street of Helotes. The first leg was 40 miles to Medina, the first time check point. The route was main roads and highways and we were only allowed to do "leap frog" support, waiting for Nick at designated aid stations.

Pre-Race Photo

Rolling Start

Leap Frogging Support

Team Canada

After the first time check the route followed country roads and got into the hills. I've always despised Texas as a flat wasteland of strip malls, unchecked suburban sprawl, and gas wells. The rolling hills, crystal clear streams, and quaint towns north of San Antonio changed my mind. There was a certain charm to the land and people that humbled my prejudices and opened my mind. The hills were steep and some were even long, but Nick crushed them like speed bumps opening a 30 minute lead over the rest of the field.

Hill Country

Charming Texas

At the second time check, Leakey, the steeper hills gave way to gentle rollers and less charming towns. Nick maintained his lead and switched to the time trial bike. At this point we were allowed to do follow support instead of leap frogging. By this point we had all settled into our roles. Nick was riding, I was driving (and had a sizable tissue farm at my feet), Jo was navigating and communicating with Nick, Patti was doing nutrition and clothing swaps, and Matt was doing all the above plus bike tending, logbook keeping, and water bottle hand offs. The whole time Nick was positive and smiling, he is the easiest bike racer I've ever supported.

Water Bottle Swap

Jersey Swap

Water in Texas

More Water

Time Trial Bike Swap

Nick rode and with us in trail through the hours of the mild afternoon literally into the Texas sunset. Just outside of Junction, time check 4 we switched into night mode. Even though Nick had bike lights we, were required to follow him at all times with the truck. This meant we only stopped when Nick stopped and if our bladders weren't on Nick's schedule then we had to get creative. Peeing in a bottle was not an option, I'll leave it at that!

Sandwich Hand Off

Long Horns

Sunset

Switching to Night Mode

At time check 5, Lano, Nick was maintaining his 30 minute gap chased by Tom Lavalle, who was also from Colorado. The rest of the pack was over an hour back. Barring a significant medical or mechanical incident the race to the top of the podium was a two man duel between Nick and Tom. As midnight approached fatigue was affecting everyone. Nick was starting to squirm in the saddle, but he held his pace strong and kept smiling. I knew exactly how he felt. In all the 24 and longer events I've done I seem to hurt the most between 12 and 18 hours. After that I go numb.

Riding Through the Night

Just after the town of Fredricksburg (time check 6 and the home town of Admiral Nimitz) we made a fatigue induced navigational error. We caught it after 3 miles and were allowed, per race rules, to shuttle Nick back to where we left the route. Nick took it in stride with nothing more than a smile and a laugh, just another testament to his character and sportsmanship. I've seen people blow up at their support crews over far more trivial oversights. We lost about 12 minutes, but Nick's lead had opened up to 45 minutes so we could afford it.

Pressing On

And Pressing On

The route to Kenalia, time check 7, was wooded and desolate back roads that mirrored the eery solitude of the early morning. The obstacles changed from cars and towns to blind turns, low water bridges with 6-8 inches of flowing water crossing the road, and suicidal deer that would sprint at full speed along the road and charge in front of Nick at the last minute. They presented a serious threat, but Nick was able to dodge the best of them in the inky black night. We had a steady supply of Nutella and peanut butter bagels to keep him going.

Delirium

Nutella Powered

Nearing Leon Springs, time check 8, Nick's pace finally dropped off. We couldn't believe he had maintained such a strong pace for so long, over 20 hours at this point. It didn't matter though because he had widened his lead to an hour. He asked us to tell him when he was fifteen minutes from the finish so he could open up his last push and cross the line empty. We did, but it was a mistake as there were a few steep hills lurking on the last leg. I could tell he was cracked as he climbed the last hill, but he soldiered on, maintaining his gap. Making matters worse were a few moral-killing red lights, but Nick kept smiling, taking them in stride. We followed him across the finish at 3:35 am. He won with a one hour and twenty-one minute lead over Tom, who beat the rest of the field by an astonishing three hours and twenty-nine minutes. Nick's total time was twenty hours and thirty-five minutes, setting a new course record, ensuring his slot in the 2011 RAAM. The most impressive part was that he did it with smile on his face and didn't utter one complaint.

1st Place

After a brief medal ceremony on the steps of Roger Soler's Tri Shop there was no time to rest. We needed to get Nick warm and find a place to crash for a few hours, which was compounded by the fact that it was spring break and every hotel within an hours drive was booked. After begging, pleading, and dealing I was able to score us a room at the Roadway Inn which made Motel 6 seem like the Waldorf Astoria. It didn't matter we were so tired we didn't feel the bed bugs bite (they were) and didn't think twice about the outlined shapes of the previous night's homicide taped on the floor.

Victory

A few hours later we celebrated with a victory breakfast at IHOP, dropped Nick and Patti off at their hotel, and headed back to Denver. Sixteen hours and one snow storm later we finished the drive as it started, with another breakfast at IHOP.

One Last Shot

Long Drive Home