Pineywoods Purgatory – Lufkin, TX
Overnight the temperature went down into the 50’s. I got up at 4:35 to get ready to drive to Lufkin. The ride starts at 8:00 and it is 104 miles from my house. Last night when I was loading into the Jeep Wrangler I noticed the gas was at 3/8 of a tank which meant a stop on the way. I ate and was out the door at 5:30. My plan was to stop in Cleveland for gas. As I was driving through New Caney I saw the Brookshire Brothers station had an unbelievable low price: $2.829. But I was past the exit and did not have time to go back. In Cleveland I bought enough gas to get to Lufkin and back to New Caney.
I arrived at the Henderson Expo Center on the north side of Lufkin about 7:20. I registered and waked around some taking pictures and handing our Texbiker.net business cards. About 7:50 I got the bike out and put everything together. I made a comfort decision to not wear leg warmers. The sun was out and by the end of the ride it should be in the 70’s. It was 53 at the start. As everyone was getting ready to start the starter said there was an unusual prize that they have given away before. He called out the winner, a lady, and the prize was a diamond. It turned out a man was proposing to his girl friend. She said yes. Not long after the shotgun was raised and shot. The ride started 8:03. About 500 bikers began leaving the expo center parking lot.
At first I was second guessing my leg warmer decision but no turning back now. We were in the sun most of the time until we turned off of SH 103 into the woods. As usual there were plenty of mountains, hills for other bikers. I used many gears going up the hills. I did find that the new chain did not want to shift onto the third smallest gear on the rear cassette. It skipped and I could not apply any power. Not a big problem since the riding was mostly up it seemed. (Check the elevation profile at the RideWithGPS link to see sawtooths.
This is the first ride in a long time where I stopped at each rest stop on the “72” mile route. My logic was based on not riding most of September and only two rides before today since we got back. I don’t know if this helped but I made it up every hill and averaged 15.1 mph over the 68.68 mile route. Each rest stop had its own flavor. At the first one Consolidated Communications had a flat screen TV playing ESPN. This was out in the middle of nowhere so I don’t know how they were getting the signal. Rest stop 2 was manned by Shriners and their wives. I asked one man if they came all the way from Tyler to do this because that is what their jackets said. It turned out they have their meetings in Tyler but live in Lufkin. The 4th one was staffed by one man. It was a good one though with big Red Delicious apples. I ate one before resuming. All of these stops had plenty of hills between them. Number 5 was past the hills around Lake Nacogdoches. A woman and a man staffed it. During our conversation I was talking about the ride and the man asked if I was 38 and I replied was that how many miles were left (I’m 67). The next stop was on US69 but to get there we ride on SH 7. This is the worst road on the ride. There is a wide shoulder until a mile south of the river when it disappears and the hills try to defeat us. Traffic usually gives us room but one big RV towing a car did not move over much even though the other lane was open. The other bikers about 1/2 a mile in front of me also did not get much room. When I caught up with them we talked about the closeness.
Thankfully US 69 was not too much farther after the RV encounter. The rest stop there was at the bottom of a hill where it used to be at the top. The people here were friendly and I ate some crackers to fuel me up the hills. The last rest stop was filled with desserts. Rest stop 5 told us about them but I wasn’t sure if I should believe them. They were good. I ate pecan pie and apple strudel. The sugar helped me climb the mountains from there to the finish.
At the finish we rode through the west parking lot and down a steep short hill turning left into the expo center. The dirt floor was covered and I rode to the tables, leaning my bike against an empty Whataburger booth. People cheered whenever someone crossed the finish line.
I have rode the Pineywoods Purgatory many times but lately for some reason only in even numbered years: 2010, 2012 and now. At the finish in the past the food was fajitas. I was looking forward to them today but the menu was hamburgers. I don’t eat red meat so I made a salad and ate Frito’s.
Pictures I took during the ride.
