Bike Around the Bay - Recap

It was alright. For a first-year ride, it was very well organized and supported. Both days, the actual mileage was shorter than the advertised mileage...not sure why, maybe because they changed the route? Regardless, I'd much rather have that than the opposite. There were some roads that we rode on that I thought, "what were the organizers thinking, having us ride here?"*, but overall, a good event.

A few notes on my experience:

Day 1

• As we were driving to the ride start, Rob and I were talking about wind. He said (and I quote), "the wind down there always blows from the gulf...and you'll never be riding right toward the gulf." That was both true (first part) and a damned lie (2nd part).

• The weather was just about as perfect as could be--the high 50s in the morning, high 70s-low 80s by afternoon. I complain a lot about wind in the next couple bullets, but it was actually an unusually calm day for the coastal area. (Thank God.)

• Headwinds and rough roads are much harder for me to handle than hills. This course was dead flat except for a couple bridges, but the wind absolutely killed me. I was pretty much miserable from Anahuac to High Island.

• Chip seal + headwind + steep bridge = no fair!

• By the time we got past said bridge, I was beginning to suspect that my HR monitor was broken. Even sitting around at the lunch stop, I could not get it to drop below 75%. The remainder of the course was flat with no more major headwind, I took it super easy, felt fine, but my HR still never got below 85%.

• Riding the ferry w/bike was kind of cool. Maybe just because I'd never ridden a ferry before at all. There was a scary moment where I thought we were going to collide with a cargo ship, but apparently both boats' drivers (there's another word for that, I'm sure of it) knew what they were doing. It sure looked like a close call from where I was standing--next to my very expensive yet uninsured bike, surrounded by cars, with no life jacket. In dolphin-infested waters, if the ride brochure is to be believed.

• Speaking of which, I saw none of the promised (or, okay, suggested) dolphins. I did, however, see a lot of seagulls. Also big boats, and lots and lots of water.

• Ferry ramps are not made for walking, especially in road cycling shoes. I can barely walk in these shoes on normal surfaces, let alone a big steel grid. I did manage not to faceplant or twist any ankles, but it was touch-and-go for a minute there, especially going down on the Galveston side.

• Sunscreen is my friend. How many times must I learn this?

• Downtown Galveston is prettier than I thought. I've only ever been to Moody Gardens and one of the beaches (once, 10 years ago), so was surprised to find that the entire island doesn't look like 61st St.

• I got into Moody Gardens at almost exactly 3:00. This was later than I wanted, but just about what I expected. I also expected our room to be ready at that time, but would have known better if I had read the hotel info thoroughly. Check-in time is 4 pm, and our room was totally ready then.

• Though I do think that the ride was well-organized, I question the overnight logistics. With a 75-mile first day, wouldn't they expect most riders to be in by 3:00 or so? Now, they did alter the route from 96 miles to 75 sort of late in the planning, but it might have been a good idea to work with the hotel staff to accommodate the people who would be arriving early...particularly since there were no alternate shower facilities available. From the couple of conversations I had with the front desk between 3:30 and 6 pm (trying to get a rollaway for the boy), they seemed pretty frazzled. Probably because they had dozens of cyclists and bikes hanging out in the lobby since 1 pm or so, asking for rooms that shouldn't need to be ready till 4:00.

• I don't know how official ride party went that night, because I didn't go. I didn't see the point, since I didn't know anyone anyway. I'd rather eat with my family than 500 strangers, so we went to a little Italian place. We kind of chose it by default, but it worked out well. Excellent pizza, and the pasta was pretty good, too.

• The Moody Gardens hotel is nice, and our room was lovely. They also have pretty good wine, and they'll serve it to you poolside. :)

Day 2

• The hotel room service had the most flavorless bacon I've ever (barely) tasted. Also the flattest. After some discussion, Rob and I agreed that they microwave it. Everything else was pretty good, and it arrived right on time, which was important since there were no late ride starts allowed. I'm not sure the breakfast was worth $9, however.

• Sometime after breakfast as I was gathering up my gear, I realized that I had forgotten to charge the Edge overnight. Since it only has about 12 hrs of battery life, I was just sure that it was going to die on me during the second day. With my luck, probably right in the middle of the big bridge, so that I'd never know just how awesome I was climbing it. ;) I'm happy to say that it did hold up for the entire ride. The stats are in the extended entry, if you like that sort of thing.

• My bike, I was happy to see, was right where I left it in the bike corral....though it took me a panicked minute to remember where I'd left it. I was also happy that there were a couple volunteers matching bike numbers with rider numbers as we came out. Cyclists are generally honest folks, but it's nice to see that there were some checks and balances.

• Oh my, did it hurt to get back in the saddle. I expected it, and I had braced myself for it, but it was still mighty unpleasant. Especially since the shorts I chose for the 2nd day weren't really great for long distances...which I didn't realize until I had ridden a long distance. Then it was too late to change, obviously, so I soldiered on. (And now have the saddlesore to prove it.)

• Hip, hip, hooray for tailwind! Especially since the second day was WAY windier than the first.

• The crossing of the causeway was well executed, and went off perfectly as far as I could tell. They made a big deal about it being the first time any bike ride was allowed on the causeway, so I guess we were all on our best behavior. I don't know about the folks behind me, but everything in front of me seemed to go smoothly. (The regroup before the crossing was also a good thing for me personally, because I had forgotten to start the timer on my GPS till then. If I hadn't noticed it when we stopped, I may not have any stats for the 2nd day at all even if the battery did hold up. Doh!)

• My absolute favorite part of the entire ride was in Texas City, riding Skyline Dr. next to the bay. Smooth pavement beneath us, park to the right, water to the left, wind at our backs. Awesome. The pavement on Bay St. coming back was really bad, but it was totally worth it for that view.

• Somewhere around Kemah, I noticed that my HR was staying down in the 70-75% range consistently. I'm pretty sure it was the help from the wind that was doing it, and possibly better hydration and my body adapting to all the riding from the day before. I was also taking it very easy, conserving energy for all the bridges.

• Speaking of that, I really didn't care for all the bridges on the 2nd day. Causeway, Kemah, Fred Hartman...I know it's unavoidable on a coastal ride, but I'd much rather have rolling hills (eg, like the MS150) than a bunch of bridges. At least then you can get some momentum before the uphill. This ride, it was all flat-flat-flat-flat-BRIDGE! I wore my QOTM jersey to psych myself up for the bridge-climbing, but I still didn't exactly enjoy it.

• Despite my lack of love for bridges, I didn't think the Fred Hartman was that bad. Maybe it was because I was dreading it so completely all day long...things are rarely as difficult as I think they're going to be. The wind helped too--it was pretty strong by that point, and while it wasn't totally at our backs, going ENE in a SE wind isn't all that terrible. Plus, the place where they put the ramp up to 146 was far enough back that we could get a little bit of speed on before the incline really started, and I had shifted down to my climbing gears before I even hit the bike lift. I had run through all 10 of them about halfway through the climb, so from there it was just keeping a good rhythm and checking out the view, concentrating on the song on the iPod, the road ahead, and the boats in the bay. (After I saw the GPS hit 7% grade, I quit looking at that.) I thought about stopping at the top to really check out the view, but I decided it would be more fun to get right to the downhill. Since I was feeling both conservative and exhausted, I coasted all the way down. My top speed was around 33.5 mph.

• Ironically, I almost had to walk the last part of a little baby bridge about five miles later. I think it crossed a creek, for goodness sake, but it was the 2nd hardest bridge of the entire ride for me (the one on the first day was worse). I guess I had psyched myself up so much for the Hartman that I just didn't have the heart for any kind of challenge after that. I would not make a good mountain rider, I don't think.

• I got to the finish about 2:30, and it was sort of anticlimactic. There weren't a whole lot of people, I set my bike down (where it almost got loaded onto a truck shuttle to Anahuac--oops! Didn't realize what that line of bikes was about...), got a drink, waited for the boys to get back from the mall. They came, Rob met me near the finish line (I couldn't bear the thought of getting on the bike and riding all the way back to the Raceway Park entrance. My ass could barely stand the thought of riding the 50 or so yards to the nearest parking area, actually), we packed up and left. I had Biked around the Bay, and lived to tell the tale.

Will I do it again? I don't know. The first day was a lot more wind and misery than I was prepared for, but the second day was really nice. I liked the overnight at Moody Gardens, and it had some unique aspects (all the coastal views, riding the ferry, riding the causeway) that you don't get on most organized rides. It was well supported and well organized. I'm just not sure how much of the ride I enjoyed this year just for the novelty of it. Would I like it as much now that I've done it already?

Anyway, stats and music are in the extended entry, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Day 1 Stats:

Distance - 76.05 miles
Time - 6:10
Avg Speed with stops and ferry - 12.3 mph
Avg HR - 79%
High HR - 94%

Day 2 Stats:

Distance - 68.38 miles (this is +/- 5 miles or so. I forgot to start the timer in the morning AND after the lunch break)
Time - 5:21 (+/- 30 minutes)
Avg Speed w/stops - 12.7 mph
Avg HR - 71%
High HR - 111% (!!!)

Avg moving speed for entire ride: 13.7 mph

Times include all stops except lunch, when I stopped the GPS timer. Because Training Center is inscrutable and MotionBased doesn't do moving speed averages for laps, I don't have avg moving speeds for each day. If I had remembered that, I would have uploaded each day separately. Ah well. :)

Also, did you SEE that HR on the 2nd day? Methinks I've still got my max set too low on the monitor (currently set at 200 bpm). If I hit my true max at 111%, that means my real max HR is somewhere around 222 bpm, right? Good to know.

Music:

Maybe it was fate, maybe it was mood, but the most memorable parts of the second day seemed to have the perfect soundtrack. Like this, for that gorgeous ride along Skyline Drive...

World Spins Madly On

Okay, so the lyrics aren't exactly uplifting, but the melody was just as light and pretty as the view. I liked it so much, I hit the repeat button.

And these for the climb up the Fred Hartman Bridge...

Bodies (as I was filling up with dread, waiting to mount the ramp to Hwy 146)
Up Up Up (right around the time the incline hit 7% grade...hee)

Right-click, save-as, and may all your bridge crossings be in cars. :)

*And I'm not even talking about riding the Galveston causeway...that part was very well planned and executed, and it was kind of a trip to ride a bike on the freeway. I don't know the names of a lot of the roads and I don't have my map handy for examples, but there was a ridiculous amount of chip-seal down there (especially the first day), and also some fairly serious road construction between Galveston and Baytown. There was this one place where a 4-lane road became a two-lane road, moderate to heavy traffic both directions, no shoulder, and rough pavement. I understand why they chose that route, since the other option was a freeway, but damn. I'm not even very skittish about traffic, and I was fearing for my life a little bit with the dump trucks and semis flying by. Other roads on the route had shoulders either too rough or too full of debris to be ridden, forcing us to use the main lane without any reason that would be immediately obvious to car traffic. To the cars' credit in both situations, though, everyone was very tolerant of the bikes. No honking, no threatening behavior that I could see...if they did think we were jerks, they kept it to themselves.