Ep. 87 - East Texas Showdown
Bikes or Death
Patrick Farnsworth
4.8 • 563 Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2021
⏱️ 115 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Join me in the van as I scout a re-reoute for this years East Texas Showdown and Slowdown. Back in July on a scouting mission we discovered a 25 mile section of road that looked good on the maps, but once we saw it in person it was an obvious "no go" for safety reasons. This left a huge hole in the route and with only 4 months until race day I had to scramble for a solution.
On this episode I take you along the journey as I scout a new section for the route. Along the way I share what to expect for people who are signed up for the race or may want to ride it at some point in the future. I speak directly to folks from all over the world who have never been to Texas and have know idea what to expect, but I hope locals will find it helpful as well.
As we go along I share updates on the progress and also important details about surface type, tire choice, weather, a little Texas history, and anything else that pops in my head. If you are considering creating a route/race like this you may also find this episode helpful as I share some of my reasons for this event, what I hope to accomplish, challenges I faced, and how I am tackling things that come up.
At the end of this episode I answer questions that have come up since releasing the route and I also announce the live Facebook event for race participants. This will be part route overview and part Q&A to tie up any loose ends that may still be dangling in the wind.
Showdown Route Stats
- 373 miles
- 15,800 ft. elevation
- 60% gravel
- The hardest part of this route may be the last 40 miles. At mile 329 you will pass the Bullet Grill and you may be tempted to stop for a burger and beer, but will you get back out on route?? Time will tell! If it helps, the last 20 miles on the route are some of my personal favorites.
Slowdown Route Stats
- 273 miles
- 11,300 ft. elevation
- 64% gravel
There are 2 days left to register and 3 spots left.
Episode Sponsors: tell them thanks for making this episode possible!
Ruby Coffee: This week Jesse shares some tips on brewing the perfect cup of coffee at home. Use code "BIKESORDEATH" for 15% off your first order or 20% off your first order of a subscription
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Bikes or Death podcast. As always, my name is Patrick, |
| 0:04.9 | and I'm your host. And on today's episode, we are going to be doing something different from our |
| 0:11.1 | regular interviews and conversations that we have. Today is going to be all about the East Texas |
| 0:18.0 | showdown and slowdown routes that I I've developed and we are going to be |
| 0:22.9 | holding a race slash event in just 22 days from today. So I wanted to create an episode |
| 0:31.2 | about the route, about the race and give people an idea of what they can expect, especially people who are coming |
| 0:40.0 | from out of state. I really try to talk to people who may have never come to Texas, have no |
| 0:47.8 | idea what to expect, and really try to give an idea of a lot of things. You know, what, what is Texas like? What are the roads |
| 0:56.1 | like? What are the people like? You know, what, what to expect? What are the resources like? All |
| 1:00.6 | these things are hopefully helpful and informative to people who have never been to Texas or aren't |
| 1:06.4 | as familiar with East Texas as maybe some of us. but also I hope that it is informative and helpful |
| 1:12.3 | to Texas themselves. I really think that this route is going to take even Texans into parts |
| 1:19.2 | unknown. We'll also be covering stuff like tire choice, surface conditions, weather, timing of the |
| 1:27.0 | race, why I even went through all the |
| 1:30.6 | effort to create this route and the subsequent races that are going to be held on them. |
| 1:35.4 | So I hope that this is valuable to not only participants of the race, also just anybody who is interested in learning about |
| 1:47.8 | maybe what it takes to put on an event like this. |
| 1:51.9 | As you listen to this episode, I am taking you along for at least part of the journey |
| 1:58.6 | as I tried to find rerout at the last minute that were, |
| 2:05.0 | in my mind, necessary for safety reasons. |
| 2:07.3 | And we'll go into more of that in the episode, so we won't take too much time on that now. |
| 2:11.3 | But I just want to preface this by saying that I hope this is a good episode for just about anybody listening, |
... |
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