Texas - Tour Dallas!

I'm ready for this one. I had fun last year. This year, I'm taking "The Thing" on the 20 mile route. :)

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/Worksman2.jpg

http://www.tourdallas.org/

My wife and I are riding. I think we are only going to do the 8 mi loop, though.

Have fun! I won't be riding unless I get my son's car fixed before then.

Girlfriend and I are registered to ride. Weather is not looking to good though- 30% chance of rain.

I'm sorry, but the registration fee is ridiculous.
It costs more for a couple thousand people to ride 30mi in dallas than it does for 13,000+ people to ride 100mi in wichita falls with fully supported rest stops ever 10mi?
Because of the police fees?
Totally bogus.

That's basically the same 30mi loop I ride 5 times a week.
For free.

I expect, yes, it does cost a lot more to run a ride through the heart of Dallas than it does through the countryside around Wichita Falls, and police fees are likely a big part of the reason. Most of the other people involved in either ride are volunteers. (Speaking of which, you can volunteer for pre-ride duties on this ride, and do the ride for free, or volunteer during the ride, and do one of Bikin' Mike's other rides for free- see the website for details.)

For me, the attraction is not just riding that stretch of pavement, which I can do anytime, but the whole experience, and riding with a couple of thousand other people adds a lot to it. I've spent plenty of time riding around in the dark by myself this winter, so it's good to have a change. I'll take my camera along and try to work in some pictures as I go. I've got some aerobars for the trike just for this event. It should be good.

Keep in mind, too, that these rides do serve as fundraisers for various causes, so if they do things right, your costs exceed their costs by a fair margin.

I'll be there dressed like a DART bus, riding the 30 mile loop with my dad. I'm riding the commuter carrying DART info in the pannier.

It's iffy but I hope to join in

Chris

Signed up the other day, hope we have nice weather

No way am I paying that registration fee, but I may jump in when it comes through my neighborhood.

A dollar a mile if you do the "long" 30mi route. Almost $4 a mile when you do the 8mi route.

Ridiculous.

If it's miles per dollar that you want, check into Randonneuring. http://lonestarrandon.org/

It's fun to have fun but you have to know how. :)

I'm ready for this one. I had fun last year. This year, I'm taking "The Thing" on the 20 mile route. :)

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/Worksman2.jpg

http://www.tourdallas.org/thats going to be a wild & different ride!!!very cool !! i should make it,,,i'am thinking of parking at Katy trail and riding the 3 miles,to downtown.....weathers looking good...

I'm ready for this one. I had fun last year. This year, I'm taking "The Thing" on the 20 mile route. :)

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/Worksman2.jpg

http://www.tourdallas.org/

I still say that if we can strap an ice chest on The Thing and fill it with paletas and sports drinks, we can make a killing!:D
Ernest

Got the aerobars on it this evening and went for a little spin. Think I need to tighten some bearings a tad.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4272Proc.jpg

Got the aerobars on it this evening and went for a little spin. Think I need to tighten some bearings a tad.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4272Proc.jpg

You gonna wear your aero-time trail helmet with that too?

Got the aerobars on it this evening and went for a little spin. Think I need to tighten some bearings a tad.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4272Proc.jpg

Awesome, Stephen!

Sorry, don't have a time trial helmet. Give me time.

TRIcycle, time TRIal, TRIathlong....it just makes sense.

We're in for the third year, this time on our tandem. We'll probably do the 30 miler.

I'm sorry, but the registration fee is ridiculous.
It costs more for a couple thousand people to ride 30mi in dallas than it does for 13,000+ people to ride 100mi in wichita falls with fully supported rest stops ever 10mi?
Because of the police fees?
Totally bogus.

That's basically the same 30mi loop I ride 5 times a week.
For free.

Apples and oranges.

For beginners, the Tour Dallas is a benefit tour (White Rock Lake this year) so a portion of the money is for the selected charity. That separates it from HHH.

Every organization in WF turns out to help...and I mean everyone who is anyone shows up and volunteers.

A large part of the rest area location/equipment and supplies are pretty much donated by either local or national businesses since the HHH benefits the entire community.

The required traffic control is pretty minimal compared to riding through Dallas.

gonna miss this year for the first time.
I'm talking a class for instructing for Handicapped Scuba Association
and its only given a few times a year.

oh well. look for me next year.
good luck to y'all and hope it doesn't snow.

I want to ride this, but it's a job thing, be in Phoenix over the weekend, I hope those of you who go, will take pictures........

80 degrees & windy..post ride party looks big this year...

Well, I went and registered at REI off of 635 and Welch. This will be the first ride I take part in. I'll ride in the 20 mile route.
Now I need to decide which bike to take. It will either be my "truck", the Motobecane Nomade

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/Gordo_Ruckus/Picture2785.jpg

The "Meteor", Puch Meteor Luxe

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/Gordo_Ruckus/Picture2677.jpg

or the Schwinn Super LeTour,

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b396/Gordo_Ruckus/Picture920.jpg

More than likely it's gonna be the Meteor. She's a fast and no-nonsense bike. Decisions decisions!
Ernest

E, great looking bikes. Take the Puch, my man!

Looks good. "Fast" is not too critical on this ride, so just about anything will work. Wide tires are a plus- there's some (edit) cracks and rough road out there in places.

Then the Puch it is. She'll be just right for our lovely roads.
Ernest

I'm not sure of the route, but if the ride goes over the viaduct by Reunion arena be very careful on
the road returning to downtown Dallas (Jefferson Viaduct) . There have been crashes ( serious ) there every year.

Marty

I'm not sure of the route, but if the ride goes over the viaduct by Reunion arena be very careful on
the road returning to downtown Dallas (Jefferson Viaduct) . There have been crashes ( serious ) there every year.

Marty

Yep, you need to look out for cracks on the bridges. :(
They are just the right size for grabbing skinny tires.
Keep your eyes open, be aware, maintain a reasonable speed and you should be safe.

Remember it's not a race.
Relax and enjoy the ride.
etc.

Yes, the route does go both ways over the viaducts.

We drove the route last night. Here are some cautions:
They say that there will be no street closures.

There is a large steel plate in the road at the corner of
Jefferson and Young.
Swiss Ave is reduced to 1 lane the entire length the ride will follow it. Construction.
On the return, there is a turn Left on us 75 Northbound access road. That is against the flow of traffic...
From Cedar Springs, turn left on Harwood. There is no place to turn left from Cedar Springs to Harwood...hopefully it is well marked.

About half of the route is on large, heavily travelled roads. The half that is on neighborhood streets, there were lots of cars parked on both sides of narrow lanes.

Except for some trouble (wrecks) on the bridge, the rest of the route last year was about the same as this year's. The wrong way section on the frontage road of 75 was well managed, as was the rest of the route.

yup, from what I can see about the same route. The only place there has ever been
a problem since the first tour was the viaduct, there have been crashes there every
year. The little wrong way jog at Central expressway was as stated handled very well by
the Dallas Police who did a really good job last year.


Marty

It was a good ride today, didnt see any accidents just a few riders getting flats from some of the rough city streets

Had a good ride myself. It was cool but humid, and I worked up a good sweat pedaling The Thing around the 20 mile course. Got to meet a couple forum members, no less.

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4279Proc.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4282Proc.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4283Proc.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4284Proc.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4287Proc.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4294Proc.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4319Proc.jpg
I took lots of pictures while I was riding, and of course, most of those show other rider's backsides. So every once in a while, I'd snap a shot back behind me. I think this might have been the best one I took today, and it was one shot that way. I have no idea what the kid was looking at- might have been my trike, might have been stuff up ahead.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4325Proc.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4345Proc.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4347Proc.jpg

got there waaay to late !!!! (wreck on hwy-183,,so i sat and watched some cars get booted for not paying to park:lol:..did make a few laps on the Schwinn "TT" at the post ride party and meet a few of ya,maybe next year?

Hee-hee! StephenH took a pic of me! I'm in the blue helmet and orange vest. I parked at Lake Cliff park by Methodist Hosp. on Colorado and hightailed it over the Zang bridge and made it right on time. It was great to finally meet some BF members and see The Thing up close.
This was my first ride and I enjoyed it. I'm hooked! Looking at my picture I realize I'm such a Fred.
Ernest

PS: As I rode on the route, I kept seeing keys and at least 3 Ipods that other riders had dropped! I hope somebody picked these items up. I dared not stop to rescue these items since I would have caused an accident.

Keys...ouch, how bad would that suck? A lady in the parking area at WildRide last year asked to borrow my cell phone and called someone, telling them the same thing and agreeing that it would be another three hours before they could get there with a set of spares...from Tyler.

My goal was to line up yesterday on the Tour's 30 route just ahead of the first flat bar bike I could find but definitely to be up amongst the roadies on my lovingly customed Trek 7.7 FX commuter. It's an aluminum frame but everything else has been lightened up. It is as light as a road bike and almost as fast even for a flat bar, with quite a bit of carbon and race light wheels. The heaviest thing on it other than the frame was probably my headlight battery. I left all of that on for the ride down to the start from the Dart rail line. Their first trains were running before 5:00am yesterday so it was really easy to ride to the station, hop on and then ride from the rail stop down to City Hall.

I found my spot just off the lycra crowd up front as planned and was most definitely the first guy wearing baggies on that crowd. My bike was also the first flat bar and the first one with commuter lights on it as well. I hung in just off the front at the start but falling quickly behind the team kit boys who as usual took off and looked from there like they were on motorbikes. Once we turned into the wind coming back along the viaduct though I dropped back pretty steadily into the trailing pack for a while from there, as roadies got hooked up and drafted up past me. I did take note that none of them were flat bars though. By the time we approached the lake I had fall in with a good roadie group too. By then we were filtered back up through our share of roadies, some of whom already looked pretty cooked from the time heading into the wind. A lot of them though you could tell were just settling back and enjoying to scenery as we moved through the Swiss Avenue homes and sights. Our little group hung together though and had picked up a couple really fast fit female roadies by the time that we had circled and turned back away from the lake.

My FX is really quick and nimble. I commute in through Murphy and Plano and it pretty much has to be if I am going to arrive alive. With the flat bar it is was a lot better through all the turns and especially once we hit the 20 and 8 mile riders. I had an easier time cornering and filtering through the slower riders without making it any harder for them to enjoy the ride at their speed. Our pace group though had dropped down to me and a roadie couple by the time we broke clear and crossed Central. Coming up to that crossing was the only time along the route that I hit a stop for traffic control and even then my group only slowed and didn't even have to unclip before being waved on.

On the fast down hill section coming through Turtle Creek my top speed was just a hair over 35mph according to my Garmin. My group used that section to draft and cycle up and get clear for the dash down to City Hall and the finish. It was really cool zipping past the people queued up along the museum going into the King Tut exhibit. We kept our speed up but behaved on the way through downtown and in to the finish, slowing and merging at times with the folks from the shorter routes. I finished with an average speed of just over 19mph and the distinction of being among the first flat bar bikes to finish the long route. I thought the atmosphere at the City Hall Plaza was a lot better than what we had at the AAC. Everybody hung out scarfing the free pizza and energy drinks, taking advantage of all the benches and spots to chat and mingle. Jack FM did a great job with the music too. I talked to Bikin Mike for a bit before heading back to the Dart rail stop. He said that he was spending over $100K for the traffic control along the route. He also said that there were only a few minor scrapes out on on the road, with mostly just road rash and only a single ambulance call for what turned out to be only a dinged up collar bone. Not too bad on the day as there were probably north of 3,000 riders.

Sounds like you guys had fun. I wish I could've made it out, but I had prior reservations during that time. I just got into cycling late last year, and can't wait to do my first group ride.

It was a good route this year and better supported than last, I like getting the chance to see some of Dallas I would never get to otherwise. I rode in full commie mode, panniers, rear bag, lights.....Got a lot of weir looks especially when riding with the rodies at 20MPH.

Looking at my picture I realize I'm such a Fred.
Ernest

Dude- You looked better than me on my first group ride (last year's Turkey Roll; pic also taken by StephenH)

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/TurkeyRoll08/Turkey5.jpg

I'm glad everyone had fun. I would have ridden but had other things going on. Maybe next year. Also, if there are other rides coming up in the Dallas area I may jump in for one of them. (There is a cruiser meet on April 19 that I hope to get to; I think there is a short ride associated with that one.)


Sounds like you guys had fun. I wish I could've made it out, but I had prior reservations during that time. I just got into cycling late last year, and can't wait to do my first group ride.

It's fun; I highly recommend it.

I am the guy in all black holding the black Specialized. I also enjoyed meeting StephenH and Big_e.

I started out with the plan of riding at least to the breakpoint on the 20 mile route (have only been back cycling consisently for about 1 month, and my longest distance so far was 10 miles), but once I got to the breakpoint, had half a banana, and refilled a bottle, I was ready to continue. Throughout the ride, I was passing slower riders, but was not on a mission to get to the front. I simply rode at what felt like a decent speed and a comfortable cadence. My final average speed (including my break) ended up being just over 13 mph. Not bad for a fat guy.
The weather was perfect. Just cool enough so that if you were standing around, you were chilly, but once you started pushing the pedals, the blood got flowing and you warmed right up.
I did not wear the jacket that is shown in the picture...I would have died of heat exhaustion!
Dallas Police and Biin' Mike's people did a GREAT! job. Only one incident that I heard of. My wife watched a cyclist run the light (against the officer's instructions) and almost get blindsided by a minivan...it would have been the cyclists fault...

Go to www.bicycle-stuff.com (http://www.bicycle-stuff.com) to see what rides are coming up- that's where I keep track of them.

I am the guy in all black holding the black Specialized. I also enjoyed meeting StephenH and Big_e.

I started out with the plan of riding at least to the breakpoint on the 20 mile route (have only been back cycling consisently for about 1 month, and my longest distance so far was 10 miles), but once I got to the breakpoint, had half a banana, and refilled a bottle, I was ready to continue. Throughout the ride, I was passing slower riders, but was not on a mission to get to the front. I simply rode at what felt like a decent speed and a comfortable cadence. My final average speed (including my break) ended up being just over 13 mph. Not bad for a fat guy.
The weather was perfect. Just cool enough so that if you were standing around, you were chilly, but once you started pushing the pedals, the blood got flowing and you warmed right up.
I did not wear the jacket that is shown in the picture...I would have died of heat exhaustion!
Dallas Police and Biin' Mike's people did a GREAT! job. Only one incident that I heard of. My wife watched a cyclist run the light (against the officer's instructions) and almost get blindsided by a minivan...it would have been the cyclists fault...

If that was just a decent speed, I'd hate to see fast! You flew ahead at like warp 5 or something.:D
I love that bike and now I decided what my next purchase is gonna be. Even with the rack, that bike was LIGHT!
Ernest

It went good for us until the 20 mile point. When we turned up the street (at last years break) I somehow wrapped the big cog, the derailleur, and two spokes into a big mess.. With a little help from the Richardson Bike Mart sag we did the last ten miles with our big orange Burley running as a two speed tandem.

We were some of the last riders in after spending nearly an hour fixing a spoke, chain, derailluer, etc. I'm sure some of you passed us...the orange tandem with the Soft ride stokers beam.

The busted cassette (notice the spoke and rear D/r)

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/monoborracho/100_0597.jpg

The start

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/monoborracho/100_0589.jpg

Looking back toward downtown from the overpass

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/monoborracho/100_0593.jpg

the treacherous RR crossing

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm11/monoborracho/100_0595.jpg

Over at www.bicycle-stuff.com (http://www.bicycle-stuff.com), he's got 300+ pictures posted of this ride- go check 'em out. I don't see me anywhere. There's a couple on a tandem at the second rest stop, that I'm pretty sure I was right behind or right ahead of when he caught them there- I played tag with them for several minutes.

Great pics but I don't see myself in any of them. I see a few faces and bikes that I remember though.
Holy carp MonoBorracho! Something musta got caught in your spokes to cause then to do that.
Ernest

I used to wonder why I never made it into his pictures (did finally make it into some, by the way). What happens is that he goes a certain speed, and I go a certain speed, and we don't necessarily ever meet. In your case, you started off behind him (he was doing the 30), and probably got ahead of him and stayed ahead of him when he went around the lake.

Got the aerobars on it this evening and went for a little spin. Think I need to tighten some bearings a tad.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z172/stephenhazelton/MiscBikePhotos/4272Proc.jpg


Sorry, don't have a time trial helmet. Give me time.

TRIcycle, time TRIal, TRIathlong....it just makes sense.

Genious. Pure genious.:thumb: