Road Cycling - What makes a GOOD Rest Stop?

I am asking for any suggestions for what makes a good rest stop. I am helping to organize a team rest stop for the MS150, and would appreciate any input. Our stop will be towards the end of the 2 day event, and I would like to help motivate and refresh riders to finish. Thanks for input!

Hey I dont have a response to your question, but I noticed under your screen name is says TxTeacher. Im assuming your a teacher and I just wanna say yall do a wonderful job. You dont get enough credit yall deserve. :)

I love teaching! Texas legislature keeps shooting itself in the boot, but I'll hang around until they get all this testing stuff figured out. I'm hooked! Thanks for the reply. By the way, Austin is beautiful! God bless Texas...

My girlfriend is in school to become a teacher. She really loves the things she is learning...again sorry for hijacking your post

I'll be riding the Houston-Austin MS150 again this year, so I'll be happy to offer rest stop suggestions! :D

I'll skip the obvious suggestions re: food and drinks; that all goes without saying and instead I offer the following:

1) Plenty of potty bandwidth -- as many Porta Cans as you can find and have room for

2) A place to sit down -- benches, chairs, whatever. This is an often overlooked aspect of rest stops but is a very welcome feature, especially if your stop is toward the end of that day's ride.

3) Put it on the right side of the road, period. Rest stops on the left side of the road are a real traffic hazard if they are busy stops and riders are getting all crossed up trying to get in and out. Right good, left bad...

4) Shade. Shade is good...

Oh, and by the way... Thanks for volunteering and helping with the rest stop! :beer:

I am asking for any suggestions for what makes a good rest stop. I am helping to organize a team rest stop for the MS150, and would appreciate any input. Our stop will be towards the end of the 2 day event, and I would like to help motivate and refresh riders to finish. Thanks for input!

At that point in the ride, some particpants will be pretty tired and may need some protein, in addition to the regular carbs and fluids. Some may need medical attention due to saddle sores, sore muscles, and/or dehydration.

Fluids - water, Gatorade or Accelerade, or other sports drink (preferably in different flavors). Maybe some Endurox R4 if you have the budget for it. Make sure you have plenty of water...riders will be trying to stave off dehydration.

Foods - bananas, cantaloupe, grapes. Trail mix with nuts and M&M's is good at that point in a ride, because it has salt, fat, and some protein from the nuts. Pretzels, for the salt. Energy bars or gels if you have the budget.

Meds - Ibuprofen or Naproxen, antacids, sunscreen. For saddle sores, Bag Balm or Butt Butt'r, etc.

Hope this helps.

I don't have much to add except that as far as food goes, nothing beats watermelon slices. Those have always been a huge hit on every organised ride I've been on.

A pub?

If it is a hot day, some misters or a sprinkler sure feels good on the face! (HHH does this alot) I think a few on the MS150 Hou-Aus do it too.

We just ran one of the rest stops for the Space Race (Houston MS training ride) but the weather really sucked! What a downpour all ride long. Well, there was a real slick turn and and a hole coming into our rest stop. After seeing a few people hit hard and a couple go down, I decided to stand there in the rain and call it out to them even though we had it marked. Nobody else went down!

We had a pallet load of Beef Jerkey donated. I never thought of it, and never thought it would go. We went through tons of cases and ran out. The riders loved it. Especially the century riders. Go figure.

Plenty of space to put the bikes. Nothing fancy, but just leave it where people are not walking over each others bikes to find a place to dump theirs.

By the way, thanks for supporting the MS ride! I may see you there if I hit your rest stop.

I agree with pcsanity. If you can find some misters, sprinkler or some type of shower...something to help cool down real fast is great. Sometimes April in Texas can be like February. Sometimes it feels lke July. Those of us blessed to be here understand. I remember a ride that had hand/face towels soaking in ice water in coolers. Great to wipe away sweaty salt on the arms/legs. Another had moist towelettes in the porta cans. I thought that was a nice touch. Good luck. By the way, my wife is a teacher so I know what you mean about our "great" legislature.

pickles. spicy or dill (give riders a choice).
They use them at HHH and towards the end of the ride
I really appreciated them. helps get salt back to the
system, and the heat (hey, its texas ya'll) just makes
em better, gets ya'll fired up for the finish.
BTW, thanks for manning/putting up a rest stop. Without
help like this these organized rides wouldn't be 1/2 as
good. thanks for teaching our "younguns" too.

Marty

Coupons for free cocktails when they finish the ride. Big time motivator.

55/Rad

I second the idea of some kind of water to help you cool down. At one of the rest stops in Michigan last year they had squirt guns to play with, that was fun! The same rest stop also had some remote control cars they were playing with, gave you something to watch while you rested. Also, people cheering for you as you come in to the rest stop, makes you feel really good and helps to rev you back up for the next leg.

Sprinklers and/or misters. Great idea. Coupons for something bicycle-related for after the ride, like a local bike shop or something from an Internet supporter. One rest stop I worked had potted plants and flowers. Lots of comments on how nice it looked.

I second the sprinkler suggestion. If it's a hot summer day, they are well appreciated. On the Hotter then Hell Hundred, there were a couple stops with sprayer hoses. Nothing better to cool down.

I've been on rides where each rest stop had a "theme". The rest stops were each decorated for their theme, and the volunteers wore costumes. For instance, Hawaiian luau, Jerry Springer trailer park (on the AIDS ride), etc. It makes it kind of like a party for the riders and the hard-working volunteers.

I'd prefer "Fantasy Island" myself, with suitably attired young ladies, of course...

If you can, you might want to consider inviting a shop to set up a service area at the rest stop too. Just be sure their prices seem reasonable and encourage them to do some small work for free.

I like a decent variety of drinks and food is what I like. Fruit is good and usually a big hit. Watermelon is my favorite as stated above. I'm not much for one who sits down to rest. A few porta potties is always nice I hate rolling into a rest stop to find a long line for 1 porta potty. That sucks!!!

If it is a hot day, some misters or a sprinkler sure feels good on the face! (HHH does this alot) I think a few on the MS150 Hou-Aus do it too.

We just ran one of the rest stops for the Space Race (Houston MS training ride) but the weather really sucked! What a downpour all ride long. Well, there was a real slick turn and and a hole coming into our rest stop. After seeing a few people hit hard and a couple go down, I decided to stand there in the rain and call it out to them even though we had it marked. Nobody else went down!

We had a pallet load of Beef Jerkey donated. I never thought of it, and never thought it would go. We went through tons of cases and ran out. The riders loved it. Especially the century riders. Go figure.

Plenty of space to put the bikes. Nothing fancy, but just leave it where people are not walking over each others bikes to find a place to dump theirs.

By the way, thanks for supporting the MS ride! I may see you there if I hit your rest stop.

OREOs!!!
Props on the Space Ride BTW. It was great - except for the weather.

I just did a century last Sat., my first, so my opinion might not be worth much. But I thought it was well done.

Pleanty of porta potties.
A good variety of food - banannas, cantalope, pineapple, oranges, fig newtons, pb &j, bagels, pretzels, cookies, trail mix.
Music - each stop had a DJ - nice touch. It made it like a party.
Mechanical help at each stop.

One stop was a little tight on space, so the cyclists were crowding the road. So that might be a tip.

bathrooms- clean ones with toliet paper.

The very best rest stop goodie towards the end of a long ride was a small bowl of cold pasta salad (not long spaghetti type). The taste and texture was a pleasant surprise and the carbo load was definitely needed.

Beer and scantily clad women?

Nobody's mentioned yet a good place to park bikes. Probably because nobody ever does it. How about a horizontal pole about 4' from the ground? Road bikes hang from the brake levers, mountain bikes hang from the nose of the seat. Triathalon promoters will have them in storage somewhere. Looks to me like a real do-able way to get your rest stop noticed. Takes up a lot less space too.

melhiggi,

You're going to have to tell us where this rest stop will be, because with all the suggestions you've been getting it's probably going to be the best one on the ride and I don't want to miss it! :D

Place to rest bikes. Now there's a good idea.

Also agree with Lotek if it's hot - pickles. Also wet/cold paper towels or the like.

Fans, big fans turned on high.

Music is always nice too.

Thanks to all who have made suggestions...keep 'em coming! Pickles, huh! I'll see what I can do! Music suggestions, anyone??

Many of the organized rides I've been on have fruit. I like it when they cut the bannanas in half and quarter the apples and pull the grapes in little clusters. I also like hard boiled eggs for protein, but being the last stop, you probably only need carbs.
If for some reason the weather changes, coffee, hot chocolate or hot soup are a god-send when it gets cold, damp and rainy. I'm not sure of your budget, but one ride had yogurt (protein & carbs) that was ice cold.

Joints are always a big favorite.