I waited until yesterday to register for the FISD Zuhne Education Expedition bike ride in Rosharon. Last year I made the decision earlier, drove to Alvin the evening before to not get up so early. Today I left home around 5:45 AM and drove to Freedom field in Iowa colony where the ride started. I got there about 6:40 AM with the start rolling out at 7:30. This gave me time to walk around handing out Texbiker.net business cards. I gave out all that I brought with me. It was warmer this year compared to last year but foggy. I got my number and pins, attached it to my Texbiker jersey and got the Cervelo Caledonia bike out of the Jeep.

Riding to the start area about 5 minutes before the start I found a spot to wait. The riders were going to start in groups of about 100. When I got my number I asked how many registered and the lady said a little less than 500. I was in the second group to roll out when the time came. It was 73 degrees so I wore shorts, arm sleeves, and a short sleeve Texbiker jersey. I hit the start button when we rolled up to wait our turn but the actual ride didn’t happen until 7:32.

Weather conditions: start 73 degrees, 94% humidity, dew point 71, fog, wind calm; finish 85 degrees, 21% humidity, dew point 42, partly cloudy, wind NE 10 mph.

(Update 4/3/2023) After registering for the ride on Friday I went to RideWithGPS.com and downloaded the route map to sync with my Wahoo Bolt computer. Prior to the start I selected the route and followed the turn-by-turn directions. I think there was only one time when the turn-by-turn got confused on some turns in Liverpool but was on route the rest of the ride. The route was well marked with ride signs.

The road was damp from the fog but not enough to cause a problem though later I looked at the Cervelo and knew I would need to wash it when I got home. The roads were smooth except for the first 1/2 mile which had some big cracks. The route headed southeast and the wind felt like a light tailwind making pedaling not too hard. To pace myself I used the 35×15 gears for 62.6 of the 66.16 miles. My average speed increased to 15.4 mph and I held it there until the route turned into the wind. Then my average speed slowly went down to 14.4 mph at the 12:41 PM finish. Link to my AXS.SRAM.com ride report.

Around halfway into the ride the roads dried off as the sun peeked out and the fog lifted. Sadly this was about where the route turned back towards the finish into a headwind. Sometimes my speed was around 12 mph but improved to 13 mph when the road curved away from the full headwind. I pedaled steady sometimes passing other riders and sometimes getting passed by faster ones.

The only climb was on FM 523 over railroad tracks and a road. To add to the misery the climb was into a headwind. The other bumps were over some irrigation canal bridges.

I got Strava top results on all but two of the segments in the ride. The image is below.

Last year I rode 65.18 miles and this year I rode 66.17 miles. I’m not sure where the extra mile came from.

I stopped at the rest stops except for the first around 7.2 miles into the ride. They were well stoked with food and the volunteers were friendly. I ate 2 ubar cookies at 2 different rest stops. I had not seen them before and they were good. The last rest stop was about 5 miles from the finish and I drank 2 cups of orange sport drink to get me to the finish.