Wanting to try different bike ride scenery I decided to drive to Mesquite yesterday, stay at a hotel and ride today. I took my Canyon Endurace CF SLX bike. I have not rode this bike ride before and wasn’t sure exactly what to expect being different terrain from my usual bike rides. I was a little concerned about the time cutoff and needing to average 15 mph to get there in time. But I figured if I didn’t make the cutoff it would a shorter ride.

Arriving at the Mesquite High School around 6:45 AM the parking lots were filling up. I suspected that when I got near the high school and the traffic backed up. As Snoopy likes to write, the dark sky to the north looked threatening though the day before I checked the weather forecast and no mention of rain. I picked up my t-shirt and wristband last night so no need to hurry to get them. I walked around the parking lot I was in passing out Texbiker.net business cards as rain sprinkled. I heard some say the start for the 63 mile ride was delayed until 8 AM after a couple of lightning bolts raced across the sky.

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Getting the Canyon Endurace out of the Jeep and putting the wheels on I wondered if the rain would increase. It never did, just sprinkled off and on for about 15 miles into the ride. As I prepared to put my biking shoes on I couldn’t find my socks. I left them back at the hotel because I didn’t put them with my helmet and shoes but in my travel bag. With the rain and lightning delay I toyed with the idea of driving back to my hotel which wasn’t too far but decided to ride without socks in case the ride started before I got back.

About 10 minutes before 8 the announcer came on the PA system with an update and instructions. The ride would start at 8 AM and the 63 and 35 mile riders would leave first. He mentioned the time cutoff but didn’t adjust it for the 30 minute delay. This might be a problem. But I reached the cutoff point where the 63 mile route split from the other routes about 9:39 AM and continued on the 63 mile route with no problem.

Another concern was no paper maps. I usually don’t use them but since this was strange roads a map was helpful. Last night I got an email with route gps files which relived some anxiety. I downloaded the route to my recently added Wahoo Bolt V2 computer and hoped this would solve the problem. This morning after I connected my phone to the Bolt I selected the route and wondered how this would work since I never did it before. It worked nicely, just like using Google maps or Waze. In advance of a turn the Bolt would beep and the LEDs would flash at the top alerting me to a coming change in the route. After the change I saw a the next change and how far it was at the bottom of the Bolt screen. I was impressed and did not stray off the route except for the rest stops.

I stopped at two rest stops, the third and fourth but skipped the last one. My CamelBak had enough water and I ate 2 cookies at each stop plus some orange sport drink. Thank goodness it wasn’t lemon-lime.

The ride organization was very good. My route had orange stickers or painted arrows in some places. Every major intersection was staffed with someone pointing the way, most times a policeman or deputy sheriff. The rest stops were friendly, well laid out with plenty of supplies. Ice was hard to get with rest stop 4 saying they were restricted in giving it out due to COVID. Fortunately I got some ice at rest stop 3 (no restriction there though it was in a self-served pitcher) to carry me to the finish.

In the talk before the ride start the announcer warned of some rough road or potholes but thanked the City of Mesquite for filling many of them. I saw some places on the road marked with orange spray paint around problem sections. Overall the roads weren’t too rough though some of the bounciest ones were in town with some nice smooth roads in the rural parts.

Not expecting the rain I wore my new arm sleeves for sun protection and sunscreen. They both came into play after the rain threat moved out. The forecast called for the temperature to be in the 90’s. Weather conditions: start 73 (100% humidity), light rain, wind N 10 mph; finish 81 (70% humidity, 70 dew point), partly cloudy, wind NE 6 mph. Sometimes the headwind combined with a hill but I handled that.

I think I climbed more on this one ride than I do in a month biking around my home and area organized rides. Flat versus rolling hills.

I will put this ride on my do it again list.