I did Bike Through the Forest yesterday and chose to do the 55 mile route. I was feeling pretty good, and we all started the ride. Then it took us out on to the feeder road of US59, one of the busiest freeways in Houston. There was minimal police escort, one officer for every large intersection. About 5-7 miles into it, a cyclist got mowed down by an impatient truck. He flew up onto the hood and broke the windshield Another cyclist hit the truck, and yet another cyclist hit THAT cyclist. We had to walk our bikes through the intersection, it was pretty sobering to see the guy laying on the ground with all these bikes around him. My husband later found out that there was a neurologist riding and he wanted to examine the 1st cyclist, but the cops wouldn't let him. Interesting. So, we went on our way, and after the 1st rest stop, DH got a flat. He changed it and towards the end, he was told me I was almost done and that to just go on without him and he'd catch up. So I went 8 miles to the next rest stop and he still hadn't caught up. A very nice woman let me borrow her cell phone and he told me that he had gotten lost (poor markings of the route, another bad thing about this awful ride) and that he was going back. I told him I was going ahead. I made it to the 3rd rest stop, ate some Shot Bloks (pina colada, tasty!) and went on. What I didn't know is that they had already started taking down the route marker signs, so I missed a turn and got VERY VERY lost. I ended up 15 miles off course and had to ride through a place called Cut and Shoot, TX. Lucky for me, another cyclist was just ahead of me, so he let me use his phone to call DH and get the SAG to come find us. I only got to do 43 miles and was almost killed by some very scary Harley-riding bikers. My father-in-law finished the ride and the last 5 or so miles were on the same feeder road, but that side was under construction, there was only one lane for cyclist and cars to share. One cyclist had the choice of either getting hit by a car or veering off the road. He chose the veering option and hit some kind of trench the construction workers had dug, causing his bike to snap in half and probably some real damage to himself. This was a VERY poorly planned ride. DH said that some of the organizers at the rest stop were laughing about how badly this went and how they have learned SO much. I don't think anyone will be Biking Through the Forest next year. I just want to know why this was an MS150 recommended ride. Ugh.