"I got to teach Sharon (Stevens) how to two-step and waltz. It's pretty special to dance with the women's winner!" said George Thomas, Race Director. Stevens won the 358-mile race in 28 hours 53 minutes. She waited for Vickie Tyer to finish an hour later. They each took a four-hour nap and then showed up for the post-race celebration.

John Schlitter on his Bacchetta recumbent leading the Texas Hill Country RAAM Qualifier

Races put on by George Thomas and Terri Gooch are known both for the high quality of the events and the friendly, family atmosphere. I contacted Thomas and Gooch in December 2008, asking them if they'd be willing to organize a mid-March RAAM qualifier in the Texas Hill country. They immediately accepted the challenge. "I felt like I was coming home." said Thomas who grew up in San Antonio. "I went to college in Helotes (the race start/finish) and I loved the opportunity to show riders the beautiful, quiet roads that I'd ridden so often." The race started March 14 and finished on the first day of Texas Hell Week. Racers covered many roads familiar to Hell Week veterans.

Thomas' new route was almost desolate and very challenging with over 18,000 feet of climbing. Stevens has qualified for RAAM at both the Tejas 500 and the Hill Country 600 km. She commented "I think the Tejas 500 is harder, simply because it is longer, but not too much harder than the HC600 . . . If you cut the Tejas 500 down to 350 miles, there is no question that the HC600 is technically more difficult with its steep uphills and some winding downhills."

John Schlitter, riding his Bacchetta recumbent, was the first finisher overall in 20:59. Navy Seal David Goggins was second in 22:22 and Mark Metcalfe was third in 23:16.

John Caton leads Navy Seal David Goggins in the Texas Hill Country RAAM Qualifier

Schlitter: "After looking at the race profile I thought what am I getting myself into but I decided the first few miles of climbing did not seem too bad and I figured if I set a good tempo on those climbs I might get a gap and then be able to stretch it coming off those climbs."

At the first Time Station in Medina (42.6 miles) Schlitter had a seven-minute lead, which he built to 16 minutes by TS#2 in Leaky (79.4 miles). Schlitter followed his race plan and continued to build his lead to the finish where he crossed the line one hour and 23 minutes ahead of Goggins.

"The solo (upright) race was totally hot for 26 hours," said Thomas. John Caton was two minutes behind Goggins at the first Time Station. At TS#2 Caton had a four-minute lead. Caton had a 13 minute lead by TS#3 in Rock Springs (129.7 miles) where Thomas reported on his Twitter feed that "Caton has been off the bike a total of three minutes to this point-one reason he is increasing his lead". That evening on Twitter Thomas commented, "Goggins is as fast as anyone but is spending a lot of time off the bike." Caton continued to build his lead over Goggins to 16 minutes by TS#5 in Llano (254.9 miles).

Metcalfe reported: "I managed to cause major pain to develop in the muscles around my knees. By mile 100 the riders ahead of me had a big time gap and I was hoping I could make a comeback if I just gave myself time. We were getting time splits as my crew reported in at Time Stations and on the Twitter posts George made. Between TS 4 and TS 5 to my surprise I caught and passed Goggins for a short time. He passed me back and the race was on." Thomas commented, "Goggins and Metcalfe were really duking it out!"

Metcalfe said, "My objective was to catch Caton, my (age group) category competitor. I had used a great deal of energy to catch back up and knew I may not be competitive with Goggins during the remainder of the race."

John Schlitter, wearing the winner's sombrero, congratulates David Goggins after the Texas Hill Country RAAM Qualifier

Due to vision problems Caton dropped from the race between TS#5 and TS#6 in Fredricksburg (300.1 miles).

A little farther back the race was on between the mixed tandem Bicycle Heaven (James Slauson and Lara Sullivan) and recumbent rider Kent Polk from Helotes, TX, the race start/finish. Thomas: "Polk was super-excited about the local races." Bicycle Heaven chased Polk most of the race. The tandem and the 'bent arrived at the same time at TS7 in Boerne (340.3 miles). As they approached Babcock hill on the way to the finish Thomas thought "whoever is over the hill first will win." Polk won the hill climb and finished the race in 26:24. The tandem finished 12 minutes later.

When I interviewed him Thomas said he'd been very worried about the race, since it was the first time, and he wanted to be sure everything went right. For the first event he wanted a small field to test the course and race organization so he could perfect it for next year. The 2010 Texas Hill Country RAAM qualifier will be held the second weekend in March.

More information: Texas Hill Country website.

Download Route Book as an example of Thomas' attention to detail.