Clean Air Bike Rally

This was not really a race or even much of a workout, but it was such a good event that I had to write a review for it.

The Clean Air Bike Rally was a 12.1 mile (per GPS, advertised as 12.5 miles) bike ride through Fort Worth. The main purpose was to promote alternative modes of transportation to help reduce air pollution in the city. It started at 9:00 AM at Trinity Park, wound along some of its roads, then through the Cultural District (passing the Amon Carter Museum and Will Rodgers Colluseum), went up to the Stockyards and then back through downtown (right by the Courthouse) to return to the park.

As I said, it was not much of a race as the Fort Worth police ensured the entire group of 300+ riders stayed together. The course was mostly flat except a decent hill at Mile 2 up University Drive and at the very end which had two hills (one small and one large/steep) for 325+ feet of elevation climbed (albeit with a 150 ft downhill as well) in about a mile of travel.

Since I knew the ride was not going to be fast (it took about an hour and 15 minutes to complete the 12 miles), I rode my "Walmart Special" mountain bike with my daughter in the attached Bell Classic Child Carrier Seat. So the hills were actually a bit of a challenge - my average heart rate was 116 bpm, but I crossed 150 eight times (with 171 being the max for the hill at the end).

After the ride, we partook of the wide assortment of free snacks (M&M cookies were my daughter's favorite; I had some granola bars and a banana) and checked out the booths sponsored by various City of Fort Worth Departments, ATMOS Energy, TXU Electric, and others. We got a bunch of giveaways - Post-Its, letter openers, a compact fluorescent light bulb, some mini-frisbees, and an insulated lunch bag - in addition to the free T-shirt. Definitely worth the registration fee (free :-)

Ride Review:

• Course: 4/5 - nice course through downtown Fort Worth; I can't remember if it was well-marked - there were at least a few signs, but it is almost irrelevant since the entire group had to stay together; good traffic control from the FW Police; the course through the Stockyards was a little onerous, though (basically riding on a narrow winding sidewalk) - so I'm subtracting some points for that
• Rest Stops: 4.5/5 - there was only one "rest stop" on course, but that was just so the second half of the group could catch up; about half-way through there were people handing out water bottles; the pre-/post- race refreshments at the start/finish line were excellent (apples, oranges, bananas, animal crackers, M&M cookies and M&Ms, Nutrigrain breakfast bars, fruit snacks, granola bars, and bottled water)
• Logistics: 5/5 - online registration worked great; on-site packet pickup/registration was/seemed painless; nice T-shirt; and IT'S FREE.
• Overall: 4.5/5 - a great family ride; looking forward to doing it again next year