dstrong 

I'm planning to use organized rides as a way to boost my annual mileage. Here are the rides in the area that I'm targeting. May could be a rough month...I may have to choose 2 out of 3. There is a dearth of rides in July/Aug.

3/24/2012 ............... LBJ 100 (replaced Rosedale Ride)....................... 62 - Registered
Ride report here
4/14/2012................. Cow Patty Classic ..................75 Decided not to do this as it was a route I'm very familiar with and I'm meeting my mileage goals so far this year.
4/28/2012 ............... Red Poppy Ride .................. 100 - Might do this ride this weekend...but probably the 80 mile route. Rode the 80 mile route but got off course and ended up with 86 miles. Super windy. A little more detail below.
5/5/2012 ................ Shiner G.A.S.P. ....,.............. 100 - Hmmmm...unsure.
5/12/2012 ............... Armadillo HCC .................... 105 - Won't be doing this as I'll be in California. I'll do a ride in the Bay Area and also attend Stage 2 of the Tour of Calfornia!
5/19/2012 ............... Real Ale Ride ....................... 80 - Nope...sick.
6/10/2012 ............... Fire Ant Tour (Gatesville)........ 62 - Nope...too far to drive.
9/22/2012 ............... Rip Roaring Ride .................. 103
10/1/2012 ............... Outlaw Trail ....................... 100
11/12/2012 .............. Wurst Ride ......................... 50

Is anyone else planning to do any of these?

texbiker

Nice ride line up. I see what you mean about May. Three weekends in a row with long rides could be tough. Hopefully the temperature has not gone up too much by then.

Rick Ankrum
www.texbiker.net
Texas Bicycling Events, News and Experiences

martialman.45

I will do the shiner ride if they add Houston again.

rainycamp

Instead of Rosedale, I'll do the LBJ 100 (k) again this year. Probably Outlaw, but undecided about the rest.

dstrong 

I wasn't even aware of LBJ...that looks like a very interesting ride in an area I've never ridden. That stretch on Herber-Schaefer road looks might interesting. I might just have to alter my schedule.

dstrong 

Did the LBJ100 yesterday. Ride report here.

waitforme

Any indication if they will do this again, if so I will join the fun.

dstrong 

Updated my OP. It doesn't appear that there's a Houston option this year.

waitforme

Thanks, that's a shame as I'd heard that the party afterwards is fun at the brewery. It was on my list, not anymore

dstrong 

Updated OP with completion of the Red Poppy Ride. No pics taken, so no ride report except this description I posted in Machka's Weekend Ride thread:

Did a local charity ride...the Red Poppy Ride in Georgetown. I didn't see a single red poppy. I signed up for the 80 mile route and toyed with the idea of doing my first century of the year but the wind squashed any ideas I had of doing that. I ended up riding with a woman from about mile 20 on. She had some interesting cycling stories, as she used to be an endurance cyclist, her longest trek had been 500 miles. Six years ago, on a training ride, she was hit by a car and ended up with a smashed left ankle (and a Merlin Extralight with Chorus). 5 surgeries and six years later, she now has an artificial ankle, can no longer run but still loves to bike. The wind...was brutal...constant 15 - 20 mph from the south. Fortunately the route was made up a lot of short legs on country roads so you got it from all angles...but there were a couple of long legs directly into the teeth of the wind and she ended up drafting me. We also got off course which added 6 miles to our total. Ride time was 6h7m on this flat but windy course. Pretty warm today also...it was 91 when we finished up. I'm guessing there were about 800 riders. The even was well organized and the rest stops were top notch.

H-Bear

In.

https://realaleride.com/

Entry fee increases from $60 to $75 on May 1st.

dstrong 

Yeah...hoping to do this but on the fence right now due to family commitments.

chiefDave

Nice list!
My wife and I rode many of the same events this year, and some last.

Rosedale was very foggy and no bib numbers, just sticker. They fell off by the 1st rest stop, and there was almost no photos due to fog. Nice course, pretty flat and very calm. Great SAG and rest stops and all the road crew at the turns where in PJs! Very cool.

I signed up for a century @ Red Poppy, but stayed home due to the wind that am. Was 25MPh at my house, so stayed local and got in 40ish in the winds and called it quits.


I think we did the Cowe Patty Clasic, but I am having a senior moment and can't remeber a damn thing about that ride lol

We are good to go with the Armadillo Classic, and we love the rollers out in Oatmeal. We have done a few events out there this year (RAAM...) and just need to watch the cattle gaurds.

Signed up for Ale Ride, and did the Outlaw last year. Good route, nice rollers but the wind was bad at the higher points last year. Lots of chipseal and back roads but there is a section that crosses by CR 110 that can have some bad pavement and trafic. They repaved some of it, but still can be harry going across the bridge with no shoulder.

We signed up for the Wurst but took a muligan as it was very cold, windy and rained last year. There are some nice inclines on the course, and that has a nice destination. See you out there!
Dave

chiefDave

Did the Real Ale Ride Saturday, 3700+ pf climbing, windy, ship seal... lot's of fun!
Dave

miles.lowry

I was wondering what was going on this weekend. I saw a bunch of bike on the back of cars and RVs while I was driving home from SA.

dstrong 

Glad to hear the Real Ale ride was good. I rode from my house to Buda this weekend but I'll probably end up short of my monthly goal unless I get out tonight or tomorrow morning.

Looking ahead, the Fire Ant Tour in Gatesville is looking less likely for me...it's a long way to go for a somewhat local ride.

So...that means I'm sort of on my own until the Rip Roaring Ride in September. I still don't have a century in yet so I'll need to do that one on my own in the coming weeks.

dstrong 

Alright then...out of the 7 I had targeted, I've only done two. Thankfully, my mileage has been good, which was part of the reason I was targeting them in the first place. My only regret so far is that I've still not done a century ...the 86 miles at the Red Poppy Ride has been the furthest so far. I'll probably choose between the next two (Rip Roaring and Outlaw Trail) and then decide whether I want to do the Wurst Ride when the time comes.

richfell

Hi dstrong,

I think "Rip Roaring Ride" is on 9/29 now and not 9/22? I could be up for that one but not sure about the whole 103 miles