Does anyone know of any MS150 groups for slower riding folks? We have one team member who is perfectly content at walking up the hills and doing no more than 15 mph on the flats with at least six feet of space around her. She doesn't mind riding alone, but if I could find her a group to ride with, it would be nice.

Northwest Cycling Club has some beginner and "no-drop" groups for slower riders. They ride every Saturday am from Zube Park and are very welcoming to newcomers dropping in to ride with them.

Thanks for that tip. I was actually talking about the MS150 itself. I didn't make that clear enough. However, I do think we have one person that is riding with her.


Is anyone doing the Grand Parkway ride on 3/19? it's pricey ($50), on short notice and the only break point is after a 25 mile loop and located a mile from the route.

Next year, your team should look into joining "ready2roll" MS150 training program. It has over 1000 riders and at least 500 riders riding every Saturday. I have seen many 10-12 mph beginner riders in the program and some walkedup the hills. Because there are so many riders, she should not have any problems finding a riding partner with the same speed while you can take off doing 20mph.

I did suggest R2R to our team captain, but nothing came of it. I don't think most of the team could make the time commitment anyways. I was hoping my question wouldn't be taken the wrong way, but that 20 mph comment makes me think that I failed in that regard.

There is also a ride marshal that stays with the last person on all the R2R rides, so no one is left behind.

R2R can be daunting - its an extra hefty cost, and your team must commit to volunteering multiple times in multiple ways, so you gotta have good reliable people otherwise you don't get allowed back.

None of those are exactly the strengths of our team. Cutbacks at the office have decreased interest, riders and fiscal support. I did explain some of the requirements when I passed the info along. I am sure that was a big factor.

We're a small team too - and even smaller this year because of laying off half the company. Add to that 4+ of us mainstays can't ride this year because of going to weddings, pregnancies, and other commitments. I'm not sure if the rest of the team ended up doing R2R or not, but even last year it was like pulling teeth to get people to volunteer. I helped out at a rest stop, so did my wife, and we had two guys do a SAG for one ride. It's definitely harder for small teams.

Who is doing the Bluebonnet Express on Sunday? Sun looks good, but the predicted 20-30 mph SW winds will make the first half a challenge. Hopefully things change as it is only Thursday.

Sadly I've ended up bailing on all the rides I said I was going to go on. Too much going on at home - don't even want to attempt asking the wife for permission to take the car and be gone half the day.

Tour de Houston is this weekend too I think.

Bluebonnet is always windy - two years ago it was brutal, last year was a little better. But 20-30, yikes. It's just not even fun anymore.

Reality check...50 miles over 5 hours is 10 mph average. You're not going to magically be 50% faster just because you have a road bike...plan on maybe 13-14 mph average at the most.

I've been riding road for 12 years and two years ago it took me 6 hours to ride 100 miles on Day 1...about a 17 mph average. If you're planning to do the 100 miler the first day, you'll be spending 7-8 hours on the road at least (don't forget...there are hills starting at Mile 40)...and that's just Day 1. I'd suggest the shortest of the Day 1 options, if that's possible, so you might have something in the tank for Day 2.

FYI...two weeks before the ride, I rode 80 miles on Saturday then 60 miles on Sunday, just so I was confident I could do long back-to-back rides. You might want to consider something like that next weekend...then give yourself time to recover prior to the event.

Good luck!

FYI...I just clicked on a link from an e-mail I had gotten at the beginning of March and it appears that registration is still open.

Register here

Don't forget you'd still have to raise the $400 minimum of funds as well.

Best advice: wait for next year.
Plus if you aren't riding with a team you'll have a hard time finding a place to sleep Saturday night. There are probably no hotel rooms left and who knows about the tents from Academy sports.

You're just going to injure yourself and be stressed. Get to know your bike over the next year and you'll be ready for next year.

Sign up for Bike For Mike instead.

I agree with this as well. There are plenty of rides coming up that you can do. If you want a challenge, then sign up for the Katy Flatland Century. 100 miles in insane heat is a great challenge for sure.

Yup Katy Flatland is a great tester because of the physical demands from the heat.
Rolling Hills Challenge is another upcoming ride worth doing too. Though I think that takes place in parts of Waller County so that could be interesting...

If you can do the $400 fundraising before the ride, then why not give it a try? Worst case is that you raise some money for an excellent cause and have to sag for a few miles.

As for test rides, the Good Old Summertime Classic in Fayetteville in June and the KFC in July would be good choices.

Does anyone know what the elevation change is: (1) on Day 1; and (2) for the Bechtel Challenge Route on Day 2? I just rode Chappell Hill (Head for the Hills) last weekend and am trying to figure out whether to expect less or more climbing. According to my Garmin, the express route on Day 2 last year was a little over 2,000 feet of elevation change. Thanks!

Day 1 - Rhodes Start
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/11560391

Day 1 - Tully Start
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12875600

Day 2 - Express Route
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12947624

Day 2 - Challenge Route
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12947490

Some interesting developments concerning Waller County. This comes from the Houston MS headquarters via the head Ride Marshal.

Waller County officials in writing to the MS Society has confirmed that none of it officers will be assisting MS150 riders at intersections this year. They will allow law enforcement officers from other areas to direct traffic in these areas where Waller officers are normally positioned. They will not ticket riders following these officers instructions. They will have Waller officers out in full force along the routes writing tickets to riders who cross the middle stripe, not allowing vehicles to pass, not stopping at locations where no officer is present or anything else that they can find. Also they will ticket any SAG or MS Support vehicles that cross the solid center lines, do not move over to allow opposing traffic to pass, or stop where required. So we told to pass this along to our teams and other riders we know. Be very careful how you ride when in Waller county. All routes pass through this area, so it effects all MS 150 riders.

Wow.

What a bunch of dicks.

I hope the cycling community's retribution will be swift & devastating.

I saw something similar at the LBJ ride this past weekend. On a particular stretch of straight rode, not too from the start, a Gillespie County Sheriff was monitoring and occasionally pulling over riders who crossed the double yellow line to pass other riders. Hopefully this isn't a trend...although I've seen some really stupid behavior on charity rides that might warrant increased scrutiny of the rules of the road.

you know what
if the road is empty and you only get 2 cars every 20 minutes and it's a long stretch of nothing - which a lot of rides often are - then who cares? People want to ride in a group and hang out and talk and have fun. as long as they don't impede automotive traffic, who cares if they swing out and around a group or ride alongside.

it's seriously not that big of a deal.

What "retribution" is possible or effective? Anything too antagonistic will only further the negative image of cyclists held by the noisy few Waller County residents and the opportunistic sheriff's office. Do you boycott Waller county by not riding there? It's not like we pay anything to park and ride from Zube. Do we boycott Buc-ees or Jellystone or any other business in the county? Do we wait for the next election and support the challenger for sheriff?

The only thing cyclists really can do is obey the laws and respect the residents. Basically, don't be dicks. Eventually this will die down and things may return to a state of normalcy. Still, it wouldn't hurt to publicize the Waller County Sheriff's Office attitude and actions. But be careful, you don't want to go to that jail. They don't exactly have a great reputation.

i know there isn't anything we can really do. all we do is use their roads. there isn't much business to support out there anyway. It's just a colloquialism.

but seriously. they are the main drag for the MS150 and so many other rides. seriously dick move.

I think Critical Mass should do one of their rides out there talk about overload. It'd be hilarious.

I think Critical Mass doing a ride out there would be an absolute disaster for the cycling community and would do irreparable damage to our relationship with the local leaders out there. This whole thing with the Waller County Sheriff came about because of some unique miscommunications and the stupidity of a couple of deputies who didn't understand how their actions could be misunderstood. Taking a bunch of in your face anarchists on bikes out there to deliberately antagonize people would do absolutely nothing positive, and would likely mobilize the community to make it as difficult as possible for any future cycling activities in the area. Sure, somebody might think it is good for a few laughs to see some skinny jeans hipster piss off a dude in a cowboy hat driving a truck, but please don't kid yourself that it would help the situation in any way.

The reality is that a lot of the drivers out there are right...there are some dicks on bikes that won't move over. Those same two or three riders riding out there across the entire lane that are forcing riders to cross the yellow line to pass them are also refusing to move over to single file for cars as well. That is against the law and we have no right to be upset if the Sheriff decides to start writing tickets for it. The law says we can ride two abreast...BUT ONLY...if we can do it without impeding the flow of traffic.

The reality is that it is time for the MS Ride Marshals to step up this year and become true ride marshals instead of a mobile tire changing crew. The Ride Marshals are going to have to ride up to the rolling roadblocks riding 2-3 across and either convince them to move to single file so people can pass, or take down their numbers and report them in to ride organizers so they can be removed from the course at the next break point. Until we get much more aggressive at policing the behavior of the few bad apples on our own, we should expect law enforcement to do the policing for us. It isn't difficult...just follow the law and they won't ticket you.