Ride For The Roses

[Yubagirl]

Anyone Do The Ride For The Roses In Austin? Im Doing It This Year Because Its Great Cause. Pls Let Me Know How It Was And What To Expect. I Signed Up For The 25 Miler. Thanks, Denise

[Technotart]

I would love to do this this year - I will say though - slots fill up fast so if you are planning on going, register NOW!!!

Last year they rode it east of Austin - soft rolling hills, with a few good climbs on the longer rides I am told (I didn't ride it but my son did)

[Steph_in_TX]

I've done it the last two years. As for weather...come prepared for all possibilities. The first year is was raining, in the 50's, and VERY, VERY windy...miserably cold and we weren't quite as prepared as we should have been, but more prepared than most. People were buying LAF socks and cutting holes in them to make arm warmers...kind of a funny sight. Last year, it was high 80's and only VERY windy...miserably hot. Hydration was a problem for most...lots of folks were having cramping problems. The route is east of Austin, out towards Elgin. I did the 40 miler both years so I can't speak to the terrain of the short route. There is one fairly nasty hill that all of the longer routes encounter, but other than that it's lots of rollers. It's not really the terrain itself that's tough...it's the speed of the wind.

The ride will be capped and all the slots will be full before the ride. I think last year it was full about two weeks before...seems like the year before it happened faster. Last year we sort of let the time slip up on us and registered in late August...the problem was it was only about two weeks ahead of the fund raising deadline. So our donations were pretty low last year. The cost has gone up this year to ride. It will cost you $100 to join the peloton project and then another $50 must be kicked in by you or raised to be able to ride. Kinda costly, but it's a good cause. Even though you are riding along very tired and in some level of pain, you find inspiration in all the folks along the route that are survivors. It sort of puts the immediate pain in perspective as you realize what those people have gone through just to still be on this earth.

I'll stop rambling...if you have any other questions...let me know and I'll answer what I can. Hope to see you there!

Steph

[Trek420]

you go Yubagirl!!

and keep us posted on your fundraising, we'll add it to the 2005 TE figures.