Well it's been over a year since I've updated this thing, and who knows when I’ll update it again but I’m sure it will be sooner than a year. I've done a lot of riding since my last post and will be doing a lot more in the coming weeks but last Saturday's ride was definitely something I need to write about.

In April I rode in Cycle Zydeco again. It's a 200 mile bike rally in Southern Louisiana. Shortly after, I posted some pics of the ride on my site and sent the link out to everyone as a way to share my experience. Not long after, Lisa visited the site and decided then that she no longer wanted to miss out on these experiences and decided to buy a road bike. We went to the bike shop the next week and bought her a new Giant OCRW road bike and the appropriate gear.

She then started to ride around the neighborhood, 3 miles here, 10 miles there. She was amazed at how much faster and easier it was to ride than her mountain bike. She also decided that she wanted to ride a few of the weekend rallies that I do. She had already ridden the Tour de Pants twice, in 2004 and 2005, on her mountain bike. But she had only done the 12 mile route (which just happens to be the toughest 12 mile route in the area) and had not really experienced the bigger and longer rides. We decided her first rally on her new bike would be the Cow Creek Classic in Waxahachie. She did the 20 mile route. It's mostly flat with a few rollers but very manageable for a novice. She completed the route easily and seemed to have a good time.

Next, she decided she wanted to do the Peach Pedal ride in Weatherford. They had routes of 11, 26, 42 and 62 miles. The morning of the ride she decided she would do the 26 mile route. My route (62 mile) started at 7:30am and hers started at 8:00am.

7:30 rolled around and I was off! I was having a great ride and had completed 57 miles when Phil, Rick and I rolled past the last rest stop. We had no plans on stopping until we noticed a smiling Lisa waving at us as we passed. At this point I was a little confused. I knew the 26 mile route did not join up with the 62mile and could not figure out how she had made her way to that particular rest stop. I stopped and asked how she was doing and she had that "I'm done" look in her eyes, but she was still smiling. She asked if I would ride back to the car and come pick her up. Still thinking that she had only ridden about 21 miles, I said, "come on, it's only 5 miles to the finish." Thats when she told me she had done the 42 mile route and had just completed 37 miles of it and that was enough for her.

I was blown away! My baby had just done 37 miles! Not because she got lost, but because she wanted to! The 42 mile route on this ride in no picnic either, it's very hilly and definitely not for a beginner. I'm so proud of her for having the will to go for the longer route and for sticking with it as long as she did. I'm also ecstatic that I have a new riding partner and someone to share these experiences with and even more excited that she's my wife!

I was a little worried that she had over done it and that it would discourage her from doing future rides, but the next day she felt fine and was asking when the next ride was.

She'll be doing the 50 mile route at this years Hott'er than Hell!

Yea Baby!!

-blanca

After reading the reviews on this ride I almost didn’t do it. People complained about everything, road surfaces, volunteers, the organizer, you name it!

I left work a 7am and make it to the start just in time. Again I only did the shorter route (55 miles) due to the fact that I had just completed a 12 shift….. and I was the only MBBC member to show for this one as well.

The ride started at 8am from the McKinney North High School and headed North East toward Chambliss, Valdesta and then to Blue Ridge. Almost immediately we were traveling on some beautiful, lightly traveled country roads. I only stopped at one rest stop and found that it was adequate, nothing impressive but it served its purpose.

From Blue Ridge we made our way through New Hope and then on to the finish in McKinney. I finished the 55 Mile route with a 17.17mph Ave. and had a great time.

The only issues I had with the event were the $2 Tacos Chipole was selling at the end of the event..... that’s one taco for $2. Other than that the ride was better then expected, and certainly didn’t warrant all of the bad reviews.

-blanca

This was second year to participate in this one. Last year I did the 40 miler with Danny and Michelle. This year I decided to do the long route (56 miles) and was the only MBBC member to show.

I got off work at 7am and rushed to Mesquite to try to make it in time for the start. I showed up with 10 minutes to spare. I quickly registered, but the ride started as I was getting my bike ready. I managed roll out with the 20 milers (about 10 minutes late). I got up to speed quickly and 15 minutes later I had caught up with the tail end of the 56 milers.

About 18 miles into the ride I started to really move, I was feeling great and passing folks with ease. It was at this point I noticed a small group of riders on my tail. Two of them liked the pace I was keeping and decided to help pull for a while.

We took a brief break at the 30 mile rest stop and were off again. Not long after the rest stop our pace line was down to 2. Ken, a member of the TI team and I were the only ones to stay together till the end. We would pick up a few riders along to the way, but they all eventually got dropped.

We finished the 57.02 miles with and 18.59 mph average. My highest average since the 05 HHH.

It still amazes me just how well planned this ride is, everything was perfect! The route, the rest stops, traffic control, SAG and even the weather.

A perfect ride on a perfect day!

-blanca

The ride start was in Pilot Point, about 10 minutes from my house and it was sponsored by MADD, needless to say my little bottle of Captain Morgan's on the back of my bike, didn't go over very well.

I arrived early and met up with Danny, Nathan and Burt. The ride started at 8:30 on a route that completely circled Lake Ray Roberts. Nathan, Burt and Danny quickly pulled ahead of me, but I did manage to catch up with them at the 15 mile rest stop. After a quick break we started to head north along the I35 service road and quickly got up to speed. We were traveling at about 25 mph, occasionally hitting 30+ mph. The roads at this point were smooth and flat, plus we had a strong wind at our back. When we turned to the East, we had to deal with a wicked cross wind, especially on the bridges crossing the lake.

We all managed to stick together until about the 30 mile mark. At this point Nathan and Burt pulled away slightly and then I dropped Danny on some moderate hills around mile 35. All of us still averaging over 19 mph at this point.

The last 8 miles were pure hell! We knew it was coming, but had hoped the conditions would improve by the time we reached the end of the ride. As we turned south on 377 we were meet with a 21 mph head wind, with gusts over 30 mph. I trudged along, passing a few folks along the way, traveling at a blistering pace of 9 mph. About a mile from the finish, I meet up with Nathan again, who had been waiting for us at a gas station. We took a short break as we waited for Danny than the three of us finished the ride together.

The head wind on the last part of the ride really killed my average. I finished up with 46 miles at 17.3 mph average for the ride. It was a great route, a beautiful ride and considering how close it is to my house, I'm sure I will be doing it again soon!

This was the second time, in as many years, that I've ridden in this ride and this year was far better than last. After last years ride and the fact that I had just got off work 45 prior to the start I decide to do the 40 mile route.

The ride started promptly at 8:00am from the Richardson Regional Medical Center and made its way out towards Lake Lavon and back. The route was fairly flat on good road surfaces. The rest stops and volunteers were great, as was the traffic control, which is no easy task in this part of town. The weather was a little better than last year, 96 degrees with a 14mph south wind.

The ride itself was pretty uneventful, I was the only MBBC member to show up for this one and I never did hook up with any substantial pace lines, they were either to fast or to slow for me.

I completed the ride in 2 hour and 38 minutes with an Average Speed of 17.37mph. I hung around afterwards for some free Pizza and drinks and to see was would walk away with the Trek Maldone they were giving away......... it wasn’t me, so I left after the drawing .

It was a great ride and look forward to doing again next year.

-blanca

The second annual North Texas Classic. Not much has changed for the previous year. We had a large turnout from Team Bulge...... Nathan, Danny, Michelle, Rico, Babs, John and Myself.

The route took us along Old Decatur Rd. in Saginaw, to the service road of NE Loop 820, onto Jacksboro Hwy, to Azle, then onto Boyd, Newark and back to Saginaw....... completely circling Eagle Mountain Lake. The roads seemed to be in better shape this year and the northern part this ride when along the same roads as the MS-150 route from the previous week.

The start was fast, I managed kept up with the lead group for a little while, then noticed that Danny and Michelle had stopped to help one of the Broken Films guys with a flat. I stopped and waited with them.... not more the 3 miles later his back tire went flat again. Again we stopped, then Danny and I decided to made our way to the rest stop to re-hydrate and wait for them there. Once we were all back together, we held a good line for about 5 miles. When we hit the hills I started to pull away. I figured that the three of them would eventually catch me, all three being much stronger riders then I. Usually I'd be lucky if I can hang with them for 20 miles, but I did not see them again till the finish. The last 20 Miles I was keeping a great pace and it nice to be riding on familiar roads.

The ride organizers did changed some things for the better this year, such as the new start location which cut down on the Rail Road Crossings and The 5 mile stretch north or Newark and along the 287 service road which kept us from having to make a left turn across Business 287...... much safer route.

I only had three complaints

1: The complete lack of Traffic Support. You really don’t need a lot on this route, but there were a few spots in Azle and Newark that help was desperately needed.

2: The signs were difficult to see and too close to the turns. I didn’t have any problems, being that these were some of my normal training routes when I lived in Saginaw, but I did notice a lot of other riders having a difficult time.

3: For some reason they decided that Porta Potties were not necessary for this ride. Last year they had at least one at each rest stop, this year none! We were told to go to Whataburger or the Exxon Station down the road. I opted for a lovely bush along 718.

Other than the above issues, It was a great ride and I finished up with a total of 58.1 miles with an average speed of 17.4 mph. Not bad considering the amount of hills on the back half of the route.

-blanca

WOW!! What a great ride!

The MS150 is a 2 Day, 150 Mile (162 Actual Miles) annual bike rally benefiting the National MS Society. This was my first year to do this ride and what a great ride it turned out to be!

I was Riding for Plano Cycling and Fitness - Team Ticket. Which turn out to be the largest team in the History of the tour, 380 riders on our team alone and a total of 2890 riders altogether.

Day 1: We started on the Morning of May 6th at Rough Rider Stadium in Frisco at 7am. It was a staggered team start. The first days ride took us from Frisco, to Pilot Point, over the Lake Ray Roberts dam, then onto Sanger, Krum, Justin and Finishing at the Texas Motor Speedway for a total of 79 Miles. The weather couldn’t have been better. 83 degrees with overcast skies and an 8 to 10 mph tail wind for most of the ride. The ride support and traffic control were outstanding.

It took me 45 miles to find a group that was keeping a similar pace. I had just stopped at the lunch stop for a quick bite and was merging back in to traffic, when I hooked up with a pace line of about 35 riders. Most of the riders were with "Team Texas Irish". We held it together to the finish and maintained an average speed of about 19 mph.

When we arrive at the finish, a little after noon, I quickly gathered my gear, set up camp and went in search of the free beer. The Ticket tent had all kinds of snacks and drinks. I hung out there for about 30 minutes and then decided to take a shower before the lines got too long. After getting cleaned up, I hung around visiting with the other cyclists, grabed a bite to eat from the Hooters tent and enjoyed the Bands that were playing nearby.

Later that evening we were treated to a nice fire works display, I then decided to call it night.


Day 2

I woke up around 5:30am, packed up my tent, had some breakfast and made my way to the track. The ride started with a lap on the speedway and then onto Hwy 114. From here we rode to Hazlet, Rhome and Boyd with a lunch stop in Paradise. We then rode back to Boyd, Through Newark and Saginaw, then onto the Finish at Sundance Square in Fort Worth, for a total of 83 miles.

This route was much tougher than the previous day. A lot of rolling hills on the first half, primarily between Boyd and Paradise. That part of the ride took a lot out of me, I was feeling pretty worn out by the time I reached the lunch stop. I took about a 30 minute break, grabbed some food and headed back out to finish things up. Being familiar with the roads around Saginaw, I knew that the toughest climbs were still ahead. So I eased up a bit to save some energy.

As expected the hills along Boat Club road were killers. I made it up the first couple sets of hills with no problem, but about halfway up the final (largest) hill the guy directly in front of me went down, almost taking with him. He dropped his chain while trying to shift and fell to my right, causing me to swerve to the left and into traffic. Luckily the car behind us was paying attention and slowed just enough for me to get by. I stopped briefly to make sure he was alright and then continued up the hill and to the final rest stop. At this point I was getting my second wind and was feeling great. Maybe it was the food, the last rest stop or the fact that I knew the toughest part was over…… whatever it was, I was feeling stronger then I had all day.

The ride into Fort Worth was much faster than I had expected. About a mile from the rest stop I got overtaken by a 5 man/woman pace line. I got onto the tail end and we kept pace at about 23/24 mph. We were having a blast until about 3 miles from the finish when one of the cyclists, again directly in front of me, hit a pothole which sent her front tire into a 2 inch crack in the road and she went down hard. I grabbed the brakes and swerved to the right while the guy behind me made a few impressive evasive maneuvers to avoid the two of us. We stopped while her husband, who just happened to be a Paramedic, check her out. She had some road rash on both shoulders, and a really bad headache (She cracked her helmet) but otherwise she was ok and wanted to finish out the ride.

The ride into Sundance Square was incredible! They had Houston and Main Street barricaded while loads of people lined the streets and cheered us on as we crossed the finish line. My first priority upon arrival was to find the Food/Beer tents. Once they were located, we had an awesome post ride meal, provided by Razzoo's, grabbed a couple beers and enjoyed the live funk band playing in the background.

Great ride from beginning to end!

Thanks to all my Family, Friends and Co-workers who supported me on this ride. I was able to raise just over $1400 and had a blast doing it. I hope to do it again next year.

Totals:

Total Miles: 162
Ave Speed: 17.02 mph
Total Number of Riders: 2890
Total Amount Raised: 1,256,300