Follow Me To The Peach Pedal

Finished the 100K (bike computer said 60.5 miles) at the 2007 Peach Pedal in about 4 hours (or just over 15 MPH) with two stops. It was a nice ride in Weatherford with partly-cloudy skies (for pleasant temps in the 80s). The route in and out (or rather down and up) of the Brazos River valley presented a hilly challenge at times. Lots of tough climbs at around the 41-mile mark. It didn't help that my rear tire had a slow leak - by the time I reached the last 5 miles it was nearly flat (didn't want to waste a CO2 cartridge when I was that close to the finish line). According to my pump gauge, I was around 20-30 PSI when I got back to my car. I guess I will be patching/replacing that tube.

Jonathan & Alexis and Mike & Simone were also in attendance and did the 11-mile route which had a later 8:00 AM start. Don, Derek, and I started at 7:30. We weren't paying complete attention to the time/crowd and were almost late getting to the starting line (which was actually about 1/2 mile away from the registration tables!)

I rode with Derek for the first 13 miles or so until he had to turn left for the 27-mile route (he had to make it a quick ride to attend a lunchtime appointment). Don was just a little behind me and caught up as I was leaving the 28-mile rest stop. We rode for a while, but I wanted to push myself and started pulling ahead. Unfortunately, I found out later that he had a wreck which resulted in a broken clavicle soon after we split. I hope he has a speedy recovery.

Ride Review:

• Course: 4/5 - road conditions were pretty good; hilly, but in a good way; needed better signage (painted arrows on the road when turning left from a major road onto a residential street are not sufficient!)
• Rest Stops: 3/5 - I only stopped at two stops and due to food allergies I could not partake of the titular peaches and bottled water at rest stop 3 was a pleasant surprise (but it wasn't on ice so it was not cold); however, I was disappointed at the watered-down Gatorade and lack of any snacks other than fruit (no cookies or crackers - we need carbs!); stops were well spaced out and had enthusiastic volunteers
• Logistics: 3/5 - easy online registration, reasonable entry fee, not enough portapotties at the registration site (long lines!), decent T-shirt, free pass to the Parker County Peach Festival (although I did not use); too many people at the starting line and wimpy "let's go" send-off; bad traffic when leaving due to Peach Festival
• Overall: 3.5/5 - will do again; the good, challenging course outweighs the shortcomings