I got up this morning at 4:15 AM to get ready to drive to Pearland about 40 miles south of my house. I registered for the Rollin’ Pearland bike ride that started at 7 AM and I wanted to get there a little earlier to pickup my registration packet. I backed the Jeep out of the driveway about 5:35 AM and proceeded to US59. I made good time until on SH 288 at I-610 the freeway was shut down except for 1 lane due to what appeared to be a one vehicle crash. I thought this might mean I wouldn’t get to the starting location in time to roll out but traffic slowly moved through the area and I was back up to speed. I pulled into The Sports Complex 13050 Shadow Creek Parkway in Pearland. It was a good thing I wasn’t any later because the parking lots were almost full. I found a spot and went to get my packet. On the way back to my Jeep I talked with another biker and remarked about how many cyclists were there. He told me the organizer called him on Tuesday to get more rider packets. They had thought 150 would be there but it looked more like 400 or more.

After announcements the 60 and 40 mile A group riders started. I wasn’t in the A group but I started with them to get ahead of the others and my ride started at 7:22 AM. Sunrise was past and the sky was full of sun, wind was light and the temperature was 75. Great weather for a bike ride. Photos at the starting area before the ride began.

The 40 mile route was actually 43 miles according to RideWithGPS.com. I had loaded the route on my Bolt computer yesterday for turn-by-turn directions which worked perfectly during the ride though I made a wrong turn on the way back at SH 6 but I quickly corrected it and was back on course.

As I was riding along in the early miles not thinking about much another cyclist pulled up beside me and called my name. It was Jeff, a friend of another friend, Jodi. Jodi had told me Jeff might do the ride but with all of the people I didn’t expect to see him. He actually had sent me a text before the ride started but I didn’t see it. We rode together and chatted until the 60 mile route split from the 40 mile route. It was great to have a riding buddy to talk to.

As you can see on the route map below the ride went south and east before turning back and riding on some of the same roads. Before the 40 mile route turn I noticed some roads from a ride I did earlier this year in Alvin. I rode by the Freedom Field Stadium that it started at today. Being this close to the coast the ride was flat with no railroad overpasses. I think the steepest place in the ride was on Iowa Colony Blvd. riding over some railroad tracks near SH 6. We rode over that going both directions.

The roads were good and the riders spread out after the opening miles. Pearland Police and other officers were at major intersections at the beginning and later when we returned. A few roads were well used farm roads with irregular surfaces but not a problem riding on.

When I returned to the starting point there was even more going on with soccer games on 3 or 5 fields. Cars were cruising the parking lots looking for spaces. I was back at the start line and finished at 10:23 AM thanks to a very strong 15.7 mph average speed.

From the AXS.SRAM.com ride report: Total moving time was 2:53:27, riding time using the 35×15 gears 1:12:38 (17.2 miles) and riding time using the 35×13 gears 1:35:01 (25.6 miles). I didn’t change to the 35×13 as soon as I could’ve. I made 29 RD shifts. There were not many traffic stops for the first 35 miles but after that the route was passing through major intersections and red lights though the police usually didn’t make riders wait for the green lights. I shifted to the 35×15 as I approached those.