I left home a little before 6 AM driving to Lee College in Baytown where the Heart & Hands Gator Ride starts. When I arrived at the parking lot there were some open spaces and I pulled the Jeep in. I looked at the outside temperature on the Jeep dash and saw 71 degrees. This would be the warmest Gator Ride for me. The previous 5 times were colder. One time it was 42 degrees at the start. Back in 2010 the route went over the Fred Hartman Bridge but not today. In previous years the organizer was the YMCA but this year a new organization took over, Hearts & Hands of Baytown. Below is a summary of the times I rode the Gator Ride.

From the parking lot I walked to the starting area to pick up my packet. Entering the building I thought it would take awhile to move through the line but it was shorter and faster than I expected. When I got my packet I asked a lady how many had registered and she said 499. During the ride I saw number 561. Back to the parking lot to get my gear and bike. I was going to meet Jodi and Jeff at the starting line to ride together. They live in Baytown.

We rolled away at 7:50 AM on the 52 mile route heading north to Crosby and back to Baytown. I had the route loaded on my Bolt computer for turn-by-turn directions. The directions were good until 7.1 miles when a police directed to go straight instead of turning right because a train was blocking the road. The Bolt beeped a lot as we rode off course but at 11.3 miles we joined the original route. I wondered if this would change the distance but at the finish the ride was 52.32 miles instead of 52.5 miles. Original route map link and the actual route map link. Changing the route missed the first rest stop. Our first rest stop was at the Crosby Fire Station along US90.

Weather conditions: start 70 degrees, 94% humidity, dew point 68, fog, wind S 6 mph; finish 81 degrees, 58% humidity, dew point 64, mostly cloudy, wind SW 16 mph gusts 24 mph.

As long as we rode north and east the wind wasn’t a problem but after the second rest stop in Crosby the route made the turn to bring us back to Baytown. The roads zig zagged sometimes putting us into the headwind and other times not. At 49.7 miles the direction turned back to the north and northwest and a tailwind helped get me to the finish line at 12:05 PM. The last rest stop was at 44.3 miles where I fueled up and used the port-a-pottie.

The road surfaces were good most of the time though the first mile in Baytown the streets had lots of humps in the asphalt over expansion joints. I enjoyed the company of Jodi and Jeff. Jeff stopped at the Crosby Fire Station to go on a conference call. I think he rode after the call.