Today I rode my first organized ride of 2013. The drive to Coldspring took about 50 minutes from my house. Once I arrived fog was clearly in the area. I parked my Jeep and walked over to the registration area. The not pre-registered line was only 2 or 3 people long after I completed the form at the table in front. The ladies manning the table were friendly and eager to help the riders. I got my bag, number and T-shirt. Heading back to the parking area I started to hand out Texbiker.net cards. Every person I offered one to accepted it and almost everyone said thank you.

The person in charge alerted us to the 15 minute delay to the start due to the fog and then again for the second 5 minute delay. After the Star Spangled Banner we rolled out at 8:35 AM. The temperature felt like the lower 60’s and I dressed accordingly with leg warmers, short sleeve jersey, long sleeve jersey and windbreaker jacket. For the first 31 miles this attire did the job but once we turned after the 31 mile point riding up and down the hills warmed me up enough put out some serious sweat. At rest stop 3 I almost took off my leg warmers but I changed my mind because I would have to carry them in a jersey pocket. By the time I finished about noon the fog burned off and the sun shined. when I got back to my Jeep and started to take off my jacket and jerseys I could tell I perspired a lot; maybe I could wring them out but I didn’t.

While we waited for the start the announcer told us over 760 riders registered, a great turn out for a January ride with some unpredictable weather earlier in the week. I know I spoke with one lady rider twice on the phone about registering and then cancelling on the Texbiker.net “hot line”.

On the road the farm to market roads were a little rough but not too bad. SR150 is another matter; TXdot applied their favorite road surface (chip seal) once we were west f Shepherd. It was rough enough to cause the top of my right toes hurt from vibrating against my shoe. Thankfully this only lasted about 7 miles from rest stop 2 until the turnaround point for the 46 mile route and then the 7 mile return to what would become rest stop 3. After rest stop 3 back to the finish the road surface was generally smooth. There was a section in a low area where water damage had messed up the old surface and the overlay asphalt was spread out by a tractor tire but this was only for a few hundred yards.

I only stopped at two rest stops and had no problem with water or food shortages. The crews were friendly and wished everyone a safe ride.

This is the second time I rode this ride, the last was January 29, 2011. It was colder then than today.

The video below is the first with my new RCA Small Wonder HD camera. It took a few clips to get the hang of turning it on and aiming. I think I captured the essence of the ride.

One of the challenging parts of this ride is the elevation on the return back to the start in the last 5 miles. The chart below in the slide show makes that evident. I made it up all of the hills without walking but some other riders walked. At the finish I spoke with one of the drivers of the MW Cleaners sag wagon and he said they had picked up 4 riders so far but he was going on another run to get some more.

Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.

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