Patriot Pedal report (rain!)
Hurricane Ike managed to roll into town about halfway through the Patriot Pedal. A lot of people I guess decided not to brave it, as it was a small but dedicated crowd that showed up. The weather at the start was warm but not hot, with a pretty good pre-hurricane wind. A helicopter started us off (that was cool) and we rode through Southlake easily enough. As we turned through Keller (I was following the 100k signs) the wind picked up and rain started and it rained intermittently for a while. There were lots of rolling hills, some hard hills. I missed the turn for the 100K in Keller, and wound up following the 54 mile route, which irritated me. The route was not very clearly marked. By the time I realized I missed it, I was reluctant to turn back North into the head on wind for a mile to correct it, so I stuck it out and tossed eight miles into the wind.
I was at 1:54 at mile 36, where I stopped for a few minutes, then pedaled on in the now pretty much constant rain. We went on through Trophy Club, around Lake Grapevine, and back over the highway to end. I finished at 3:01 (54 miles). Not terrific, but not bad with the conditions. My brakes were definitely smushy in the rain, and the roads slick, so I kept it pretty slow.
The last two miles it POURED.
I had fun waving at my Keller police friends who were directing traffic. I rode with my Lt...who managed to make the turn at the 100k. He was about 10 minutes ahead of me at that point, so I came in about 45 minutes before him.
All in all not a bad ride...it was a little disorganized in the directions and routing, and several people got lost. They had police support at major intersections, but many were unmarked and un manned. At one intersection a Grapevine officer gave no direction and, in fact, motioned a car through as I went through....hmmm. Maybe next year a little more organized.
I felt good...though wet. I had to go to work after and as such pretty much stayed wet all day. It was a bummer not being able to relax and decompress after, and I joked that if anyone ran from me while on patrol, I would have to just let them go.
Next stop...Tour de Argyle.
