My wife and I drove to Beaumont Friday afternoon in order for me to ride the Spindletop Spin for the first time. I did not preregister and arriving Friday around 5:15 we went to the Event Centre to register and see how to get there Saturday morning. The Jeep Grand Cherokee GPS went crazy and routed us on a number of back streets when driving on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd would have taken us right there. When I registered I asked how many riders they were expecting and the lady said they had 600 preregistered and thought another 200 or more would register Friday evening and Saturday before the start. I was number 40 registering Friday and my number was 1047. Later during the ride I saw number 1139. This probably means almost 800 bicyclists were in the ride.
Before we got to Beaumont I made reservations using booking.com for Sleep Inn. Thursday during my ride from Kingwood I got a call from Sleep Inn telling me they could not honor the reservation because they did not have any rooms. When I got home I checked several hotels and found many were full but Super 8 had a room and I made the reservation. Friday as we were driving to the Event Centre in Beaumont I got a call from Super 8 to confirm our stay which I did. In all the years I traveled I don’t remember a hotel calling me asking that. Later when I checked in the desk clerk said they only had a couple of rooms and people had called to see if they had any vacancy and the manager wanted to be sure we were still coming.
Saturday morning my wife and I drove to the Event Centre leaving the hotel about 6:50. Fortunately the traffic to there was not like Friday night when I-10 was backed up for several miles for some reason. We got there and found a parking spot. I got the bike out and assembled. Then I walked around to the few people still in the lot and handed out Texbiker.net business cards. I donned the rest of my riding apparel and my wife left to go back to Super 8 before going shopping. Later she told me she stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast before heading to Super 8.
Riding the starting area I could many bikers gathered. In the distance I heard a train blowing its whistle. Around 7:25 the 96 mile riders left but there was some confusion about that and some of the other riders started to leave with them. A few returned to the starting line and we waited until 7:46 for the 52 and 29 mile riders to leave. This was delayed from 7:30 while we waited for the police motorcycles leading the 96 mile group to return and another train to move across the route. Once they came back it was only a few minutes and we rolled out at 7:46.
The first 5 miles or so were in Beaumont and the motorcycles scooted from intersection to intersection so we could pass through without stopping. By the first rest stop at 6.22 miles we were out of the city and on county type roads. So far the wind and temperature cooperated and the speed was good. I was surprised at the speed I maintained over the whole 51.84 miles averaging 16.1 mph. There were only two splits that I averaged less than 15 mph.
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At about the 10 mile point I came upon a bunch of bikers gathered on the side of the road. Two bikers were on the ground from a crash. Later on I was talking with another rider and he said there was a paceline (they passed me before the crash) and two of them overlapped wheels and went down. Not sure if it was serious.
Roads were generally good surfaces. Two sections that were not so good was SR326 from US90 to SR105 in Sour Lake. The road was chip’n seal on the shoulder but not the worst I have rode. Once we got to Hardin-Jefferson High School the shoulder switched to a smooth asphalt to the right turn onto SR105 where the rest stop was. The one saving thing on SR326 was a nice tailwind all the way so I could quickly ride over that rough road. Also the first elevation was a bridge over the railroad tracks as we entered Sour Lake.
Stopping at the Sour Lake rest stop I loaded up on orange sport drink and a trailmix bar. Then I went through the car lot and onto SR105 heading to Beaumont. A mileage sign said Beaumont was 18 miles but my Garmin 510 said it was further if the 52 mile route was right. SR105 had a nice wide shoulder that was smooth except for a few commercial driveways. I made good time thanks to the wind behaving and the trees to my right holding it back. This changed when the route turned right onto Keith Road. The wind became a headwind and the road surface was rough with a number of 50 to 75 foot long patches. This road lasted long in my mind but was about 4 1/2 miles until we turned left onto Phelan Blvd which was concrete. This put the route back into the city and the road surface varied from concrete to asphalt. Sometimes the concrete expansion joints were rough. Phelan Blvd switched to Laurel Ave on the next elevation change going over I-10. As I was going up the bridge I heard a siren behind me and I could see a motorcycle policeman stopped at the top of the bridge. Once I reached the motorcycle I saw why he was stopped and the firetruck whizzed by. Looking down I saw a pickup truck on fire in a fast food restaurant parking lot along I-10. Riding down the bridge I was closing in on the finish but about a mile from there a train was slowly moving across the route. I stopped and was soon joined by 4 or 5 other bicyclists. At one point it looked like the train would stop before clearing the street but it slowly moved past and the arms went up. From there I rode to the finish and was greeted by applause from the people there.
As I waited at the finish line for my wife to arrive I was talking with another rider. He asked if any of the 96 mile riders had crossed the finish line and I said it probably wasn’t enough time yet (it was about 11:50). He then said there were some bikes around that looked fast enough to og the 96 mile route. One of the ones he pointed to was mine. I told him I knew for sure it had not been 96 miles.
Weather for during the ride was pleasant but warm. 71 degrees when I arrived at the Event Centre and 86 when I returned to finish at 11:37AM. The mostly cloudy sky kept the sun at bay sometimes. Riding back into Beaumont the shade trees offered some coolness. Wind was from the SSW at 8 mph.
The rest stops were manned by friendly volunteers and well stocked. I did notice that the water tasted burnt after I refilled at rest stop #2. The cups of water tasted fine so I think the ice might have been the source. The sport drinks tasted fine as well. The rest stop in China was great with a few mermaids greeting the riders. See the slide show for some pictures. The Beaumont police were friendly and helped us get i=out and back without issues.
Today’s longer ride bolstered my mileage. 227.70 miles for the week. 256.82 miles for June. 2656 miles year to date. Link to RideWithGPS.
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