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Spring
Training in Texas-2008
Sunday,
March 2nd - Friday,March 7th
5 Days in
the saddle, 5 nights
Includes:
Lodging(Double Occupancy) , Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner & Food/Drink
along the route, Sag vehicle, Two Leaders, Daily maps, Airport
shuttling (San Antonio International)
Maximum
Group Size is 10
Total
distance for 5 days: 358 Miles - That's 358 miles without frost bit
fingers or numb toes!
Cost: $1490
This tour
must have a minimum of 6 riders or will have to be cancelled.
Call or
email to
make your reservation. (651-343-0973)
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Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
Assemble at: Holiday Inn Express, Boerne, TX
Airport shuttle: Provided by Spree Touring or commercial
taxi.
Contact Spree several days in advance to arrange a pick-up and
transport to Boerne.
Lodging: Holiday Inn Express
Dinner:
Limestone Grille at 6:30 pm. Transport to the Limestone
Grille
departs from the Holiday Inn Express at 6:15pm.
If you're out walking the Holiday Inn Express is 1.4 miles from
Bourne's shopping area
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Monday, March 3rd
Boerne to Fredericksburg
57 Miles; Ascending 3917 feet
Monday Evening Lodging: Hampton Inn & Suites
Dinner: Navajo Grille
Route
Description: Today's ride will give cyclists a chance to stretch after
a day of travel and acclimate to the surroundings. In the
begining the terrain is rather easy riding. The roads we'll ride will
take us through pastures and wooded areas, giving you plenty of time to
stretch and begin to concentrate on finding a relaxed, controlled
tempo. Along the way you'll traverse a few cattle grates, low
water crossings and start getting a few long views of the Hill Country
scenery. Shortly into the ride, about 18 miles, we'll regroup
for
a brief check and refuel at the Sister Creek Vineyards. By
now
cyclists should be warmed up and if adjustments are necessary this
would be a good opportunity to make them. While at the
Vineyards,
you're free to take a self-guided tour and visit with staff.
After the Vineyards we'll progress north to tackle our toughest climb
of the day which will take us up to Bat Cave Summit, which is next to
the the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area. The steepest
part of
the climb to this summit is short. The bat cave is an abandon
tunnel that has become a summer haven to roughly three million
bats. Our midday (and early spring) visit insures that we
won't
see any bat significant activity. Just beyond Bat Cave
summit,
slightly off route on Alamo road is a store where we can
refuel
if necessary. After Alamo, we'll continue to work our way way
up
to Fredericksburg. If some cyclist wish to ride farther,
additional miles can be added to todays ride.
Arriving in
Fredericksburg, you can check in at the Hampton Inn, grab a lunch,
clean up checkout local shops and museums.
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Tuesday,
March 4th
Day Loop From Fredericksburg to Fredericksburg
70 Miles; Ascending 4554 feet
Tuesday Evening Lodging: Hampton Inn & Suites
Dinner: Bejas Grill
Today
cyclists will tour several Fredericksburg favorites. Roads
that
make up some of the Hill Country Classics such as the Willow City loop
and Crabapple road. Gillespie County has many great roads to
ride
. We could pick any series of roads and have a great
experience! So, today, we'll depart Fredericksburg to the
northeast taking a scenic route on our way up to Willow City where we
will regroup and refuel. Once away from town we'll ride north
sweeping through pastures popular for springtime blooms and wonderful
views. From Willow City we'll proceeding north to ride the
Willow
City Loop which provides a nice downhill coast along side of the
Devil's Kitchen and cruise though unique geology that has the road
twisting through rock outcroppings. After riding the loop,
you
will continue on, ascending to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area where
we'll again regroup and refuel. When visiting Enchanted Rock,
you
may wish to change shoes and hike to the top of the granite dome where
you will be rewarded with terrific Hill Country Views. After
Enchanted Rock, the route begins to make its way back to Fredericksburg
passing over Mount Crabapple. This summit offers some great
views
of the Texas Hill County. It's worth a stop to
examine the
landscape that you just spent a good part of the day riding.
From
here, the ride to Fredericksburg is about 10 miles and a significant
portion of that ride is downhill. Cyclists looking
for more
miles (and some more terrific scenery!) can continue with short trip,
from Enchanted Rock, into the area sometimes call Little Switzerland
before making a turn back to Fredericksburg.
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 Wednesday,
March 5th
Fredericksburg to Comfort
71 Miles; Ascending 4670 feet
Wednesday Evening Lodging: Meyer B&B On Cypress Creek
Dinner: Catered
With
all of the paved possibilities, you can rest assured that we will not
ride a direct route to our final destination, which is
Comfort.
When departing Fredericksburg, to avoid some potentially nasty traffic
we'll take back streets out of Fredericksburg, after which we will make
our way to Luckenbach. Along the way you will pass through
Cain
City, a virtual ghost town which thrived and faded long before you and
I were able to ride bikes. Luckenbach, is a convenient point
to
regroup and refuel. While visiting, you had better checkout
the
town to see what Willie was singing about. From
Luckenbach,
we'll ride to Kendalia. Like the previous day, the roads are
such
that you can take-in the outstanding scenery while monitoring your
riding technique. Today there are two climbs to keep you
challenged. The first climb, for which I have no name, is
approximately 7 miles out of Luckenbach and has a 8% grade for a 1/4
mile. If you really have it together you may hold a tempo up this
one. I'm betting the second climb is certain to disrupt any
tempo
that you may hope to hold. The second locals have
named
'Crankbender'. Crankbender's 10% grade for ¼ mile
is
certain to be painful but short lived. After slaying the ugly
Crankbender, you are rewarded with an easy coast into Kendalia where
you can refuel and checkout the Kendalia store. Back in the
saddle, we'll cruise our way to Comfort via Sisterdale and
Waring. This final portion of the ride offers wonderful views
and
a few sizable rollers that will likely be forgotten as soon
as
you hit the backsides. Riders will check in at Meyer
B&B
where they will find lunch.
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 Thursday, March 6th
Comfort to Utopia
94 Miles; Ascending 6993 feet
Thursday Evening Lodging: Utopia On The River B&B
Dinner: Catered
This
is the day of epic views, climbs and descents! Departing
Comfort,
cyclist will spin through the now familiar pastures, making their way
through Center Point, Camp Verde, crossover the Bandera pass and
continue on to Medina where we'll regroup and make sure everybody has
refueled. After Medina we'll ride Farm Road
337. Farm
Road 337 is known to the moto crowd as one if the three sisters and
offers what has to be the most magnificent views and riding of the
Texas Hill Country. This road will taking cyclist through
canyons
carved by the Sabinal and Frio Rivers, By the time we get to Leakey,
you have conquered three spectacular climbs. The challenge is well
worth the reward!
Several mile beyond Medina you will notice the
hills are beginning to grow and close in on the road, making the
valleys deep and long. The challenging climbs occur between
mile
marks 43 to 61. Once you ride past Duncan Creek the road will
begin to ascend to the first summit and you begin to see stands of
bigtooth maples as you approach the Lost Maples area. After
that
first descent, you will cruise into Vanderpool where we'll regroup and
refuel before hitting the second climb. The road up the
second
and third climbs will twist it's way up to breathtaking
summits
followed with white-knuckled descents. After that last
descent,
you will roll onto Leakey with ease to checkout the town and
refuel. From Leakey there is plenty of time to recover as the
route follows Frio river valley. Several miles past the town
of
Rio Frio, cyclist will turn east, away from the Frio river, and work
their way to a gem of a spot; 'Utopia On The River', Here we
will
will spend a hard-earned quiet evening on the banks of the Sabinal
river. As expected, lunch will be waiting when you check in.
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 Friday,
March 7th
Route: Utopia to Boerne
66 miles; ascending 4315 feet
Showers: 24/7 Health Club
Lunch: Catered
Airport Shuttle: Spree Touring or a commercial taxi will get you to
your terminal.
Today's
route will tour through more magnificent scenery of the hill country,
eventually reaching the innocent rolling pasterland of Bourne where
this week's tour began. We'll depart through Utopia and
follow
the Sabinal river for several miles, then turn to the east for more
great riding. Today there are two passes
that will
involve a bit of climbing, these are Seco Pass and Tarpley
Pass.
Average grade for these two are about half of the average grades
endured the previous day. Getting over these will seem like
kid
stuff. Our next regrouping and fueling point is Tarpley and
after
that Bandera. The road between Utopia and Bandera offers wide
sweeping turns though large hills that eventually flatten into the
gentle rolls we had experienced earlier this week. After
Bandera
we'll ride over Boerne to complete our tour. This
last
stretch is over the more gentle and scenic countryside of the Texas
Hill country.
Todays ride is a great chance to put the focus
back in tempo and position while soaking up
scenery.
Cyclist should target a 'very aerobic' spin on their way over to Bourne
so that circulation is sufficient enough clear the muscles of acid and
make the trip home comfortable. Upon arriving at Bourne,
cyclist
can shower up at the 24/7 health club followed with lunch.
After
lunch, its back to reality with a shuttle to the airport.
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Please
call or email if you have questions
651-343-0973
or
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Spree
Touring, Inc.