Anyone else riding?

Pretty sure I am, but not registered yet. I don't know anyone who's ridden before, and don't know anything about the ride... but it works in my schedule, so I figure I'd give it a shot.

http://www.novemberfestmetriccentury.org/

Straight from the site....
2007 NovemberFest Metric Century
Saturday - November 10, 2007
Foundation for the ******ed invites you to participate in the NovemberFest Metric Century on Saturday, November 10, 2007. Routes include 10, 27, 44, and 62 mile rides near scenic Stephen F. Austin State Park and the pastoral surrounding countryside. This fun-filled, pedal-pounding event is held in conjunction with NovemberFest 2007, a day of food, live music, live and silent auctions, a parade, and entertainment for the whole family.

Routes
All four routes begin and end at Willow River Farms, about 45 miles west of Houston on the outskirts of historic San Felipe, Texas. The 27, 44, and 62 mile routes will start at 9:00 a.m. The 10 mile route will start at 9:15 a.m. The route takes you across the Brazos River, winding through serveral small Texas towns. NovemberFest Metric Century is not a race, so you can cruise leisurely or try to set a personal best. Well-stocked rest stops, police support, sag wagons, mechanical assistance, and emergency medical support will be provided along the route. After the ride, enjoy the fun family festival.

Registration
The deadline for early registration is October 15. The entry fee is $30 per rider.

After October 15, the entry fee is $35 per rider.Day of the ride the entry fee is $40

There is a special registration fee of $70 for families of up to two adults and any number of minor children prior to Oct. 15, $75 after Oct. 15, and $80 the day of ride.

The registration fee includes lunch and a NovemberFest Metric Century T-Shirt. You may register the day of the ride, although we cannot guarantee a T-Shirt.

Its a nice ride and the festivities and food afterwards are really better then what is common in the Houston area. It reminds me of the rides I do in East Texas. I rode it last year and plan on going back to take the whole family. It is a great family atmosphere.

I'm signed up for the metric. My first time on this ride...

Registration went up today... guess I should've posted that before today :D

Anyways, I registered... I need to get a long ride in ... it's been way too long.

I'm registered for the 62... chevy, we should try to get all the guys to go.

I'm signed up to ride marshal this one. It'll be only my second time on this ride, but I recall it being pretty pleasant. Good time of year for it, the route is pretty good, and the food and festivities afterward are very good.

I'm registered for the 62... chevy, we should try to get all the guys to go.

I plan to sign up Saturday, I get paid Friday but will be at work and might not be able to sign up.

-Nate

I can't wait... gonna be FUN :D

I'm registered.

Are Will and Chris in for this weekend? If so, we should seriously discuss where to do the Free Agent ride for this month.

Will is registered... Chris already had other plans.

Oh yeah, and I'm planning the 62 miles also. Haven't done any serious riding lately, so the overal pace will probably be slow... dunno how the pace at the start will be.

I am in for this weekend. I believe I will have my 5 and 6 year old with me so I am probably going to cut it off at the 27. I will be easy to spot. I will be the only tandem+trail a bike trying to keep up with a 87 year old on a Serotta. Looks like this will be a great weekend for riding.

I am signed up for the 62 mile route.

-Nate

We'll finish the 62 together, no matter the pace. I'm tired of showing up to an organized ride alone and trying to keep up with a paceline going 24 mph, and then dragging myself the rest of the way after they leave me in the dust.

We'll finish the 62 together, no matter the pace. I'm tired of showing up to an organized ride alone and trying to keep up with a paceline going 24 mph, and then dragging myself the rest of the way after they leave me in the dust.

Wow, you just called me slow. :o:(

Haha, well it should be Duane, Will, you, and I...so a paceline of at least four.

-Nate

nono, you don't understand. I would spend 5 minutes with those guys going way too fast, and then ride alone trying to catch my breath.... I am very much looking forward to riding with Team Free Agent. I think Duane was saying he would be going slow, since he hasn't ridden in a while. Nate, I was having trouble keeping up with you at the ramble up until we hit that hill in Memorial, so don't give me this "hey, don't call me slow" business;)

I'm headed out now for a few miles... standard time sucks, I like sunshine.

nono, you don't understand. I would spend 5 minutes with those guys going way too fast, and then ride alone trying to catch my breath.... I am very much looking forward to riding with Team Free Agent. I think Duane was saying he would be going slow, since he hasn't ridden in a while. Nate, I was having trouble keeping up with you at the ramble up until we hit that hill in Memorial, so don't give me this "hey, don't call me slow" business;)

I'm headed out now for a few miles... standard time sucks, I like sunshine.

Hills own me, and the ramble was a blast.

Do y'all want to meet at the Katy park and ride (Where we met that first time in August) and drive over in a group? It might be hard to find each other before the ride starts otherwise...

I think meeting before hand is a good idea. Some of us are carpooling... so we might send you to the place we are gonna meet... but we haven't picked that place yet :D If it's my place, it'll only be 2 blocks from the P&R. I'll definatly let you know. Also, I haven't the faintest idea when we need to roll out.... we all still need to pick up our packets.

D'oh. I'll be stuck at church tomorrow. But with the in-laws in town, we will be drinking away my "not being able to go ride blues".

Y'all have fun.

We are meeting at the P&R location. Your welcome to toss your bike on the rack and ride with us. I'm driving the full size, so we have an extra seat. Be there between 7:00 AM and 7:15 AM so we can get there at 8:00 AM and have about an hour to get ready. I hate having to rush through getting ready.

-Nate

That 62 mile route was the worst ever.

I second that.

Yeah, the route was pretty rough.

I'll explain a little more for those who are looking into various rides... as that is why I read many ride reviews :o
Cliffs Notes at the bottom ;)

Riders in group: Dr. Nate, Chinotex, Will, and I. 2 aluminum roadies, my '83 Bianchi roadie, and a fixed Surly streamroller.

The start wasn't so bad... not glass smooth, but not horrible. The motorcycles were pretty annoying... they were marshalls, or ride hosts, or something... I dunno, didn't see them doing anything but get in the way. Basically cruising down the right side of the road (not off the side, all on the pavement) at 10ish mph, with EVERY bike passing them on the left... not one single bicycle was going slower than them. These full-dresser and trike motorcycles... taking alot of valuable space during the first several miles when riders are semi-bunched and trying to set their pace and get infront of slower riders. Just before reaching the first rest stop we turned onto hwy 36..... the "vibrator". Chip seal from hell. We were on that road for about 10-15min doing a 20-ish pace. At the end we stopped just to let our hands stop tingling. We passed up rest stop 1 BTW, but stopped at 2.

We were all pleasantly surprised with the "stock". ICE COLD water and powerade (didn't taste watered down, or like hosewater ;) ), bananas, pickles, oranges, bagels, trail-mix, skittles, pretzels, ... and more. :D

Shortly after that the 62 mile route branched off, and the roads got bad. Parts were large slabs with huge cracks every 15ft, and other sections were just largely destroyed and rough... felt like a slolom trying to find a decent line which wouldn't yeild a flat/bent wheel. EVERYTHING was rattling, creaking, and making a racket.... even on one of the guys Fixed gear bikes... where there is NOTHING TO RATTLE.

Rest stop 3 was stocked much the same as 2 (this one had porta-cans too), but less quantity...well duh, only the 62ers would pass here. Powerade was less than ideal... funny taste. Storms on the horizon. Two of us with leather seats bagged them in prevention... no, not to stop them from getting wet... to stop it from raining in the first place... you know how that works. :D

Rode on to find the hills start... right about 30ish miles into the ride.... with a headwind. I've been out of shape anyways, and it showed here. LONG uphills, and headwinds strong enough that we pedaled on downhills just to keep our speed. Normally, I love hills.... not yesterday. Rest stop 4 was a much needed break after fighting the wind and hills.... I was pretty dead. And VERY happy I didn't give in to the thought of riding my fixed gear bike.

Directly after rest stop 4 was a turn... and a big hill. :mad: This stretch had lots of rolling hills, and lots of bad pavement. It was here that we saw a rider down, and an ambulance passed us going to help her. We only assume it was the speed and the bad roads...either additional swerving, or simply lost it on one of the bumps/cracks. This was Coshatte rd.... long straight rolling hills and harsh bumps.

After that road, we loop back onto a section that we had previously road on, and head down the same hill to rest stop 5... which was previously 2. Still stocked ;) Talk about De ja vu... coming over the same hill to see the same rest stop :D

Continued on, average roads, no killer hills... or atleast my legs were already used to them. I had given up on speed... and was just working to get over them. We made a quick stop at rest 6 (final), and got back on the road... back into the wind.

As we neared the finish it became apparent that 62 miles would end up being 57miles. Not that I was itching to ride more... but when I set out for 62, I like to do it.

Cliffs:
Rest stops - EXCELLENT. Well stocked, friendly, only 1 could have used more space... kinda crowded on the shoulder of the road, this was 2/5, which also saw the most riders all day.

Roads - BAD. The WORST was on the 62 mile stretch, but other sections were definatly bad. I won't ride the 62 as long as it's on those roads.... and I'd have to give the 44 a lot of thought. I'll never complain about the streets around my house again. Routes were WELL marked, no doubts, no problems.

Support - Where was it again? The sags were going back and forth often, so that would not have been a problem if they were needed. I think 1, maybe 2 intersections had someone there to help with traffic... one was an officer just watching the signal... not a problem though really. I only saw the motorcycles the first half of the day on the main route that 27/44/62 all followed.... don't know what they were supposed to do... just got in the way. They can stay at home, or pick a tree off the road to park under next year ;)

Terrain - Hills would have been nice without the headwind... but hey that's riding. :o Together they were a challenge for me.


I had fun, but it was grueling... I was out of shape to begin with, and felt like the roads beat me into submission.

stats
3h 36m pedal time
15.8 avg (had an 18+ average the first half)
56.98miles distance

Yes, I will not be riding in this ride again until the learn to pick a route that doesn't involve having my bike go to the shop for work.

-Nate

I just dropped my bike off at the shop; supposed to have it back by Thursday, let's hope so. My back wheel was REAL wobbly.

I only did the 27, but that was the hardest 27 I ever did. Up to the second rest stop was great going 20-24 with the two kids in tow. I should have known it could not stay this way forever. The last 10 miles were terrible. I am glad to hear I wasn't alone. The slight hills, bumpy roads, headwind, and tired kids made this a slow final 10 miles. I probably averaged 10 mph if I was lucky. It was still a great overall event for kids. They enjoyed all they had to do afterwards. A smoother road would have made things perfect.

Were you on a tandem pulling a trailer? If so I think I saw you before the ride.

Yeah, I went for a Sunday stroll and took the fixed gear... didn't wanna even try the roadie.

What did some of you other guys think of the ride?

We were the tandem pulling the trail-a-bike. I think we were the only ones with that set up. My 4 year old son was on the tandem and the 6 year old daughter was on the trailer bike. Friends of ours brought there kids also with one pulling a trailer and one pulling a trail-a-bike. It was a great workout although I think I need to check every thing to see if it vibrated loose. I tightened a few things during the ride that I did not think would make it otherwise.

Here is a piture of our 4 generations that were riding. This was definatly a rare oppertunity. I hope to get a chance to do more next year.

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee58/aggie_grad/IMG_8018.jpg

I AGREE. I never compain about a ride, but this ride was horrible....the worst!! Absolutely worst roads I have ever ridden on. I was cussing under my breath the whole way. I know the ride is for a good cause, but these people need to get a freakin' clue!!! We spend a lot of money on our bikes to have them destroyed by these horrible roads. I'm still pissed off about this one!

Yeah, at the VERY LEAST my wheels need to be trued.... and I weighed in at a blistering 119lbs the evening of the ride.... not like I'm pounding on the bike.

Probably gonna give the bike a once over, then ride my fixed gear till I can get the roadie to a shop to have a tune-up. It was in need before, but now... jeez.

I rode Tuesday night, I was nervous seeing as how I was going to ask Kourtney to marry me on Wednesday and figured I'd go for a ride. Not one chirp, jiggle, jang, it feels solid. I'm cheep and will hold off on a tune up until after Christmas. I did check it before I rode, the bottle cages were lose and that was it. Sure sounded worse though on those roads.

-Nate

I rode Tuesday night, I was nervous seeing as how I was going to ask Kourtney to marry me on Wednesday and figured I'd go for a ride.

-Nate

Wait, what??? How did that work out for you???

I didn't look at the ride reports for this one until just now. I feel sort of bad for having said anything good about this ride. When I first rode this one, the roads weren't awful. Now, frankly, they are. I think the organizers have not bothered to look at the route or evaluate the road surfaces since first setting it out years ago. Coushatta Road, in particular, has gotten much worse in that time. I started out the day with a dicky front wheel. Riding Coushatta, I was really concerned about whether I was going to make it through the ride without totally destroying the wheel such that I couldn't finish.

Anyway, I won't be doing this one again unless the route changes substantially. I covered only the 44 mile, but Highway 36 and Coushatta Road are enough to dissuade me from trying it again.

The roads seem to be a county issue, most of the roads that were in Austin County were really bad. Not to mention that the section through Bellvile was horrible. Not only were two of the intersections not marked well, but the traffic was dangerously high. This could have been made safer with one police officer at each intersection (two total). Once we were back in Waller County, the roads weren't as bad.

-Nate

I AGREE. I never compain about a ride, but this ride was horrible....the worst!! Absolutely worst roads I have ever ridden on. I was cussing under my breath the whole way. I know the ride is for a good cause, but these people need to get a freakin' clue!!! We spend a lot of money on our bikes to have them destroyed by these horrible roads. I'm still pissed off about this one!

This was the highest priced organized ride I've been on this year. If they had not had a good BBQ meal at the end, I would have been asking for money back. They make sure and make it difficult to give feedback on the ride. I wrote a long letter and faxed it to the organization benefitted by the ride. Even though I put all my phone numbers, mailing address, and email address in my letter, I never heard a peep from them. I also contacted the MS150 since this is an MS150 recommended ride and let them know how bad it was. I did get a response from them, including a phone number to call to discuss my experiences. I plan to follow up with them next week and point them to the comments in this thread. I recommended that this ride be dropped from the MS150 recommended list.

Bob

Here is a link to a site that a lot of guys I know use to get a feel for a ride. There were no prior reviews of the Novemberfest until I submitted mine a couple of days ago. Just a couple of lines would help a lot of people avoid a disappointing, bike destroying experience...

http://www.bicycle-stuff.com/reviews/index.htm

Here is a link to a site that a lot of guys I know use to get a feel for a ride. There were no prior reviews of the Novemberfest until I submitted mine a couple of days ago. Just a couple of lines would help a lot of people avoid a disappointing, bike destroying experience...

http://www.bicycle-stuff.com/reviews/index.htm

Thanks for the link. Some people may think you are exaggerating bout the bike destroying experience. I took my bike into a shop to have it thoroughly inspected by a mechanic after ride. The headstem was loose. The Bottom bracket was loose. Two days later the frame cracked. I am certain Novemberfest contributed to this demise. Fortunately Specialized is giving me a new frame.

Bob

As I heard someone else say..... mountain bike would have been more suitable.... or atleast the safer bet.

This was the highest priced organized ride I've been on this year. If they had not had a good BBQ meal at the end, I would have been asking for money back. They make sure and make it difficult to give feedback on the ride. I wrote a long letter and faxed it to the organization benefitted by the ride. Even though I put all my phone numbers, mailing address, and email address in my letter, I never heard a peep from them. I also contacted the MS150 since this is an MS150 recommended ride and let them know how bad it was. I did get a response from them, including a phone number to call to discuss my experiences. I plan to follow up with them next week and point them to the comments in this thread. I recommended that this ride be dropped from the MS150 recommended list.

Bob

Here is a follow-up to my original post. Yesterday I received an email from one of the organizers who found the original letter I had faxed. Its a shame it took two months to respond, but it was an appropriate and apologetic letter. She said they had heard from others who were also pissed about the ride and they heard the message loud and clear. They are going to change the route for next year and will make sure everyone knows they heard and listened.

Bob

Maybe they will move it to a county that understands that roads have advanced since 1920.

-Nate