Yesterday was the annual Collin Classic bike rally to benefit City House, an emergency shelter/housing for at-risk youth. The bike rally consisted of multiple routes designed for all levels of cyclist, from the 4mi Family Fun ride, to 15, 36, 47, 56, and 64 mile options. Excellent LEO support was provided on all routes, to control intersections and motor vehicle traffic during the ride, to lessen the risk to riders and drivers alike. A big thank you to all the LEO/FD/EMS folks for their help.
A classic T-shirt ride, the Collin Classic was routed over remarkably good roads for the most part, with very limited chip seal (aka boulder seal in Texas!). The routes were well marked and key turns were flagged by volunteers too. In a twist I had not seen before on a T-shirt ride, there were special "Ride Guides" riding the routes with the paid riders--these folks were there to provide minor mechanical support (fix flats etc) that happened on the routes, and I think, to also provide emergency support like First Responders would, in the event of injury accidents. I suspect they also provided the calls for the trained EMS folks to get rolling. Sadly, EMS was busy yesterday...there were a number of bad crashes, at least one of which resulted in a cyclist getting choppered out to a hospital, and others with broken bones or leaking hydraulic fluid (blood).
Still, the weather was gorgeous yesterday, and not hot. Winds were mild to non-existent at the start, and not much over 15mph by noon. Yours truly opted for the middle distance, 47mi route, as I hoped to be done early enough to still get the free hamburger promised to all riders! There were a couple trikers on the ride, and a fair number of recumbents, though I only saw most of them at the food line at the end. I did ride the last 3rd of my route with Ken and John, both on their Bacchetta recumbents, and had a pleasant time chatting.
SAG stops were well manned with plenty of food, including a better variety than the usual SAG fair of oranges, bananas, and cheap cookies. We got peanut butter crackers, really good trail mix, fresh watermelon, Grandma's Cookies and popsicles including the unique Pickle Juice Pops (blech!). I know some folks (DH comes to mind) like to eat pickles in the heat, but the mere thought of pickles or worse, pickle pops, in the heat is enough to turn my stomach! One SAG had a guy with a pump sprayer walking around spraying down cyclists with a cold mist. It felt good actually, and allowed me to soak my armskins to provide evaporative cooling when I was riding again.
The organizers also had a Family Fun Fest set up at the ride's finish. It was really geared toward little kids, but DH took the Monkeys up, and they still had fun, and got snow cones to boot! They enjoyed the kite display most. It was nice that the organizers thought to try to entertain the kids who didn't ride, but it would've been even nicer had they planned for some older kids to attend.
And in local news, I just spotted this tidbit. Possible Explosive Device Found Outside McKinney.
Yeah...they found whatever it was or wasn't, right ON the bike route we
all rode along yesterday. I guess I was luckier than I knew! And
HUGE thank you to the Collin Co Sheriff's Dept, and the Plano Bomb Squad
for taking care of this!
**I guess I should have read the article more closely. The device was found on last Monday, not yesterday. My mistake.
Here's a look at my ride and results.
That is hreat you had good weather. Glad they found the device.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great ride and good, clean fun! Lu and I need to do another one of these, they're always a good excuse for a nice ride.
ReplyDeleteThat is pretty good time. I just did one 40 plus mile run and that was a fund raiser for diabetes (Big Bro is diabetic). That about did me in and I was about 20.
ReplyDeleteGood for you!
Oh that sounds like a great ride. Too bad about the injuries but with every event in sports there always seems to be many. B
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