2006 Tour De Habitat

I'm not sure whether to review the ride or my nice, new winter cycling shirt. I think I might write a totally different review if it weren't for that shirt.
The ride started out at the decent hour of 9am. Just enough time to get a real breakfast (something other than a Clif Bar) and make a coffee stop on route. So, A+ for start time and many, many 7-11 stores, on the way.

It was pretty cold, about 50 degrees and as windy as a day in March so we weren't too surprised that the turn out was small compared to last year. That's ok, just meant we extra attention from the incredibly nice volunteers and more cookies on the route. I even noticed a huge tub of Super Bubble so A++ for the nice volunteers and their thoughtfulness in handing out my treat of choice, Bubble Gum! Oh...and they all loved Eden and even offered to watch her while we rode. These folks are tops in my book.

On to the ride...
Kent was cold. The volunteers were cold. Everyone was cold but, me, I was nice and warm in my new Sugoui riding jersey. I'm not 100% sure what it is made out of but I think it is a mixture of fleece, cool max and Eskimo all rolled into one snug-as-a-bug shirt.
If it had not been for the 20mph winds, this ride would have been fast and smooth. Most of it didn't have a hill to speak of and the scenery, though not so scenic, was better far better than any ride up Palmer or towards Buda (both normal Austin routes). The other riders were polite if a little too cold to carry on a real conversation. The volunteers, however, are what made this ride so nice. I think there was one volunteer for every rider and each rest stop (one about every 10 miles) had cookies (some homemade) and fruit. There were even cops stationed at every crossing to hold the traffic as we went by. I felt like I was at the Ride for the Roses but for less than 1/10th of the cost. There was one stretch of about 2 miles where the road was grated and was so hard to ride I almost got off and walked. Other than that, they were your normal country back roads. A few pot holes to keep you on your toes but not so bad beyond that.





We got back, and unlike the Ride for the Roses, there were no bands or roses being handed out. That's ok, though. For $25 I was not expecting bands. There were hotdogs and chips (knock off some points for no turkey legs). We left the hotdogs to the other riders, loaded our bikes and said farewell to our fellow riders and headed off to find more coffee and another 7-11.


Race Schwag Shirt.