I got up earlier than usual this morning to drive 44 miles to Magnolia, TX for today’s ride. Since this was the first time driving to Magnolia West High School I wasn’t sure how long it would take and left home at 7:00AM. I pulled into the school parking lot about 8:10 leaving plenty of time to register before the 9:00 AM start time. I walked to the registration area inside and filled out the necessary paperwork and stood in line for about 5 minutes or so. After paying $40 I got a nice sport tek T-shirt with the ride graphics, ride number (#426), a blue wrist band for lunch after the ride and some other ride materials. Going back out to the Jeep I walked around handing out Texbiker.net business cards to other riders. I ran out of cards before I got around to everyone. From there I unloaded the Stradalli RP-14 bike and got ready for the ride to begin. Here are some pictures before the ride started.
The weather before we started.
I figured the weather would be cool so I dressed warm with a heavy long sleeve jersey, a Texbiker.net short sleeve jersey over that, shorts and half finger gloves. It ws chilly at the start but as I warmed up I didn’t notice it much. The overcast sky gradually changed to mostly cloudy around noon.
The plan was to ride the 50 mile route but I should have sensed a problem when I lined up with the 20 mph riders for the start. I thought I was back far enough to be in the next group but not until I passed the start line did it dawn on me which group I was in. I stayed in the group and followed the signs and other riders.
Roads were smooth most of the time but riding into the wind was hard. There were inclines but not actually hills. I passed the first and second rest stops because I was making good time and I didn’t need to stop. Going by the second rest stop was where my problem began. I found out at rest stop 7 that I was on the 28 mile route with about 8 miles left to the finish. I wasn’t alone. About a dozen other riders at rest stop 7 were also off course. Some people looked at their phone trying to figure out how to get back to the 50 mile route without retracing back to rest stop 6 (the second one I didn’t stop at). With the recent heavy rains and the ride not supporting the side roads back to the 50 route I opted to ride back to rest stop 6 and get back on course riding on FM1488. Before I left rest stop 7 I took these pictures.
Leaving rest stop 7 I headed back to FM1488. I turned right onto FM1488 and was by myself except for passing traffic. I came to a left side road where a bunch of riders came onto FM1488 and I followed them. I pulled up beside a lady rider and asked what route she was riding. She said the 70 mile route. I asked how far she had rode and she said 28.6 miles. This was about a mile less than what I had on my Garmin. With the retracing the route I guessed I would add about 14 miles to the 50 mile route if I managed to find it. I stayed the course and followed the signs and other riders. At rest stop 4 I talked to another lady rider who was on the 70 mile ride but wasn’t sure if she was on the right route. We looked at the map trying to figure out which rest stop we were at and finally decided it was #4. I ate a trailmix bar, drank some lemon-lime Gatorade (yuck), filled my water bottle before leaving and took these pictures.
I was at 39.40 miles according to my Garmin 520. My guess was this was about 23 miles from the finish. The signs got better after leaving rest stop 4 until I came to an intersection where the sign said the 50 mile route turned left. There were 6 or 7 riders there trying to figure out where the 70 mile route went. I told them about a turn 3 or 4 miles back where the sign and corner person said the 70 mile route turned left and the 50 mile route turned right which was how I got to there. When I rode away they were still trying to figure out what to do.
Following the route signs I came to rest stop 6 for the third time. I stopped to eat and take a short break for the 14 to 15 miles to the finish. I talked with the rest stop volunteers about what happened and where I think I made the wrong turn. They said the correct turn was west of FM1488 which I missed. While I was there a lady rider pulled in. she was a tall lady with a backpack. At first I didn’t pay too close attention to her backpack until I saw something move. It was a small curly furred dog. I asked her how the dog was doing on the ride and she great. She also was lost looking for the 70 mile route. At this point I showed 46.8 miles on my 520 which was pretty close to what she had on her computer. I ate a granola bar, drank some more bad tasting lemon-lime sport drink, ate some very good pumpkin bread before leaving for rest stop 7, again.
The road was familiar since this was the third time on it today. When I got to rest stop 7 I stopped again. The lady I spoke with earlier about which route she was riding pulled in shortly after me. Apparently she wasn’t riding the 70 route any longer or she wouldn’t have caught with me. I drank more of the lemon-lime stuff, refilled my water bottle and went to the port-a-potty before leaving. Only 8 miles to the finish. I got there at 1:26 after riding 61.69 miles. So much for the 50 mile route. The highest ride number I saw was 734.
Surprisingly my legs were in good shape at the finish. I managed to average 16.0 mph and at times it was up to 16.2 mph. This is the longest ride for 2016 so far. This bumped my March miles to 281.16. Only 350 more to ride to reach my 631 mile goal.
After putting the Stradalli in the Jeep I walked to the cafeteria for lunch, a big stuffed baked potato. After eating I changed clothes for the ride home. I had to walk to the portable restroom by the starting area. I was surprised when I went inside the trailer restroom. It was almost like one at home, no port-a-potty smell or mess.
No Garmin 520 phone disconnect message on this ride. Not sure why it decided to behave today.
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