heavydutytrek

Has anyone done this before? It would be fun to ride at night, but the website says its a 5 mile closed course that you just ride as many times as you want??? Kinda boring......but I wanna ride at night...

dr. nate

Yeah, I was going to ride it, but that turned me off. Then I found out a friend is having a party that night and that pretty much made me not want to ride at all that night.

-Nate

StephenH

Actually, that would be kind of neat if you had enough people riding and no cars on the course. I assume this is Houston area?

krocdoc

down one side of a road and back up the other side as much as you want... gee that sounds like a blast... i'll pass...

chevy42083

When I heard about it, I could only imagine the responses... I mean, people complained about the out and back on the hardy toll road for Houston's last ride (name escapes me). Although, it ended up being nice. This one is just way too short.

chinotex

It's up and down Memorial Drive, from downtown to Shepherd, I believe... which is a pretty nice stretch of blacktop. I'm sure you could get going pretty fast, and it's not a road you can normally ride down.

Rex G

Memorial Drive between downtown and Shepherd Drive is normally off-limits to bicycles, pedestrians, and other non-motorized traffic, though the signs posting it as such have largely fallen into disrepair or disappeared. The minimum posted speed limit of 40 MPH should, of course, preclude most bicyclists from legally using Memorial in this stretch, so, for those who want to be able to blast up and down Memorial, this is your chance.

This was MUCH more scenic when green space was more prevalent, but the green spaces north of Memorial and south of Allen Parkway were mostly simply unused private land, which is now largely developed, with the renaissance of the old West End and Montrose.

Nobody has done this ride before, because this is the first one. FWIW, all or most police officers working this event are unpaid volunteers, unlike most athletic events which use paid overtime funded by sponsors. Y'all might want to keep that in mind if y'all attend.

Why the short, relatively boring course? Well, there are very few access points for this stretch of Memorial Drive, requiring just a few officers and resources to close it off, and two very nice alternate routes for the public to use to get around the closure. Closures going through neighborhood streets or downtown requires massive coordination and manpower.

I don't yet know if I will be there, as a rider or to work the closures/TCON part of it.

Rex G

I just noticed, in the brochure, that lights and reflectors are required. While I understand lights being required at night on public streets, this is a well-illuminated closed course, with a parade permit, and this MORONIC rule, if enforced, will probably keep the attendance way down. What percentage of the riding public owns a light? I do, because I often ride after dark, but this event is meant as a fund raiser for an organization, which means they want a significant number of riders.

Edited to add: This organization is NOT the same thing as the 100 Club, which helps the families of slain police officers and firefighters. In fact, the rank and file HPD officers generally have no idea what the Houston Police Foundation does. I had never heard of them, myself, before this event was announced. According to the brochure, "Your participation and donations will fund equipment and training for the Houston Police Department."

chinotex

There were a few thousand people at the Moonlight Ramble back in November (October?)
Plenty of people have lights.

Rex G

Is the Moonlight Ramble a fund-raiser, or a just-show-up-and-ride? Of course, lights are very necessary for the Ramble, because it is held on streets that are open to traffic. I am wondering how successful this new ride will be; this does not mean I have ill will toward it. Has it been promoted much? I rarely watch TV.

chevy42083

I guess since you rarely watch tv, you might not realize that no ride is advertised on TV... atleast to my knowledge... MAYBE MS150... not sure.

Ramble is fund raiser for Bike Houston. Plenty of people ride with glow sticks or taped on flashlights... not the "brightest " idea IMO.. but they do. Also, the ramble goody bag included an LED reflector last year

webmstrk9

just 'announced' at the end of the news episode on abc 13, 'before we go' segment.

Rex G

Well, it is after midnight; anybody have a ride report? I got roped into doing a bit of volunteer work with the missus, and it got messy. By the time the dog, equipment, and ourselves were cleaned and decontaminated of poison ivy, it was way past dark.

Ride Happy

I did the HPD ride and had a very nice time. It was well organized for an inaugural event with several water and rest stops, quick first aid, and good support. I thought it was well attended. The upside was the undulating course of under and overpasses, but the downside was several stretches of darkness due to street lights being out, and a nasty pavement gap right after the return from Shepherd that took it's toll on SEVERAL riders. I think they learned from any mistakes and I'm pretty sure I'll be doing it again.

grayloon

Ride Happy, I read about the pavement gap elsewhere...some nasty falls. The gap, from what I understand is a open joint that runs parallel to the road. Those are no fun. I've had one fall caused by one. My helmet hit the curb, my noggin escaped injury, so all was fine. But, it was on a feeder for the Gulf Freeway, not a good place to go down. I understand they finally put out cones and flares to mark it off.

In spite of its short-comings, its good to see rides like this in Houston. Now, if only they would branch out to the burbs a bit.