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https://rbentonline.org/YaBB.pl General Category >> Ride Reports >> Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent https://rbentonline.org/YaBB.pl?num=1226268745 Message started by Bud_Bent on Nov 9th, 2008, 4:12pm |
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Title: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by Bud_Bent on Nov 9th, 2008, 4:12pm 7 of us, all on recumbents, rolled out of Rockwall at 7:30 am yesterday morning to do the Ferris Wheel 200k permanent. There was Steve, Peggy, Greg, Ray, Nelson, Bryan, and me. Greg only lasted 4 miles or so when boom issues on his new bike cut his ride short. Toward the end of the ride, it started looking iffy whether or not Nelson would be able to finish, after rear wheel hub damage showed up, but he did finish. This route goes southwest out of Rockwell, goes through Forney, then crosses the Trinity River near Combine, and on to Ferris. Then it turns southeast, getting hilly for a bit, then turns northeast on SH34. It angles more north from Scurry, going through Crandall and Terrell, before heading back to Rockwall. There are some rough spots, and some stretches of chipseal, but the roads on this route are pretty good, overall. The traffic, though, is just about a deal breaker for me, with lots of high speed roads with no shoulders. It was pretty chilly early in the morning, with lows in the lower 40's, but warmed up into a beautiful day. The north wind never blew really hard, although it seemed to change around enough to be in our faces on three fourths of the ride. No matter what speed you like to ride, we rode it at one point or another on this ride. Nelson sprinted often and far, scattering us out, then we'd regroup. I stayed with Nelson a couple of times when he took off, but more often watched him disappear ahead. I can ride fast or I can ride far, but riding far and fast isn't working too well for me. All of us managed to get bonus miles. We missed a turn early for a half mile of bonus distance. Then, leaving Crandall, Steve set a brisk pace and Bryan fell back a bit. Nelson stayed back with him while the rest of us went on ahead. We missed a turn onto FM148 at mile 85 and were rewarded with 2 1/2 more bonus miles. Nelson and Bryan made this turn, so were ahead of us. But they missed a turn in Terrell at mile 95, and we were very surprised when they weren't already at the control in Poetry when we reached it. In spite of some harrowing traffic at times, it was more great riding fun with friends. It was 5:34 pm when we reached the start/finish, and was almost dark. I need to remember to take my light for all these late fall/winter rides, even when I think I won't need it. We had less than 8 hours of riding time, but over two hours in controls (CHOP! CHOP!) made us finish later than I expected. My total miles were 129.1. I was a lot more tired than I should have been after a 10 hour 200k. Either the route is tougher than I thought, or the occasional sprinting turned me into a tired camper. We finished up by joining Paul and Terrie for a good meal at Luigi's Italian Cafe. Thanks, everyone, I had a great time! |
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Title: Re: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by Kwijybow on Nov 9th, 2008, 4:37pm It was great riding with everybody, no matter how briefly (Greg :)) I wanted to make sure I worked hard to try and regain some fitness for next season and had good success there as I felt the workout pretty well afterwards. I should have done a better pre ride inspection myself, but time was short, and I decided to ride my 650c low spoke count wheels despite a nagging feeling I should put the stouter rando wheels on. Before the ride I felt a little rubbing, but didn't notice the wheel out of true, thinking my tire might be bulging a little or something I lowered the brake pad slightly and thought I was good. Later after experiencing a big thump while applying the break, and having missed a turn I decided to do a better inspection of the rear wheel. Checking the spokes I found one loose, but not broken, hmm whats up with that?, wiggled it some more and a piece of my hub flange cracked off. Oops :o, and close inspection revealed the flange was also cracked further the same side as well, yikes! I undid the loose spoke and decided to press on, thinking the further I advanced the less far my rescuer would have to drive. But fortunately the wheel held together depite a big wobble the rest of the way. I carry a spare tire, spare spokes, tie wraps, chain links, various bolts, etc, but doubt I'm going to start carrying a spare hub anytime soon, so lesson learned pre-rando-ride inspections are very important. Take Care, Nelson. |
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Title: Re: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by Strada177 on Nov 9th, 2008, 5:43pm Yes ,I t was great to see Old friends(Nelson) & ride with the usual suspects ,again. FYI- I have submitted all the perm.cards/waiver info to George Evans. I would echo would Bud stated, I would scratch this route off of my "to do" list(another route bites the dust). Not one of my favorite routes for the reasons mentioned. I was disappointed for Greg. Sorry Greg. When Nelson mentioned that he was having mechanical issues at control #5(approx.miles #103),I was getting nervous for him. He said he would have to "limp" back to the finish. Limp my butt ,he blew past me as was sprinting for 6 miles. AND Nelson gave up a training session at the Velo track in Frisco to ride with us. Not one of my stronger rides(right knee pain) ,but I finished ,so I can't be all that disappointed. Bud & I had our usual fun. Ray,rode super strong after making a seat adjustment at Control #3(miles 68). Congrats to Ray for riding after being sick all week. Peggy was strong all day. Bryan from Waco continues to impress with me with relatively few miles on his Corsa. He get going all day. Bud had a very strong ride all day. He was either hammering with Nelson or me(when I had something to hammer with). We made it through another 200K,SUCCESSFULLY! I have to admit ,I underestimated this route. I thought it would be easier than it was(shame on me). With bonus miles,I ended up with 131.01 miles. |
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Title: Re: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by FlyingLaZBoy on Nov 9th, 2008, 9:00pm Greg came out for a 2nd attempt today on the V-Rex, joining me and two other DF riders, Bob and Bruce. MM an GG decided to skip it, for some reason. Our rollout time was 7AM, and we did, indeed have the anticipated south wind. However, at 6:30AM it was COLD out there... I got the bike ready, and suddenly, I realized I had left my Camelback bladder at home in the fridge... So I hauled a&& home and back, re-arriving just before 7, so our start was only delayed a couple minutes. After ten miles or so, and a couple of regrouping stops, it became apparently that Bruce hadn't paid attention to my earlier advertisement about our intended pace, and he told me his typical time for a 200K (Italy) was 11 to 12 hours... but he encouraged us to go on ahead. So at the first control in Ferris, we gave him Greg's light, exchanged phone numbers, and belatedly left him behind to fight the worst of the headwinds... The three of us had a good ride, although Greg and I didn't provide much of a draft for Bob... Oh, and while at the Ferris control, we got to talking some more, and it turns out that this particular Bob was Terry Pickl's riding partner in the TTTT... :D It stayed fairly chilly (and windy) to the second control. After that control at Mile 70, we had a NICE tailwind or crosswind most of the way back... At the Mile 81 control, it was time to doff the jackets and tights... The three of us finished at 4:20PM, in nine hours and twenty... We had kept in touch with Bruce by phone during the ride, and he had just left the Mile 105 control -- so Greg and I went to Luigi's to eat dinner, then around 6PM we drove out to the I-30 service road (in the DARK) to look for Bruce... he was only a couple miles up the road, so we turned around and followed him the rest of the way in, lighting his way for him... he finished in eleven hours and twenty. I now see what you others were talking about yesterday with the traffic and lack of shoulders... I had forgotten the 2nd half of Rte 34 doesn't have a shoulder... we didn't have it TOO bad on a Sunday, but I can easily see where Saturday traffic would be BAD in several sections... I'm definitely going to keep that in mind, and only consider doing this route ONLY on SUNDAYS... NOT on Saturdays... and only with a south wind. :D Paul |
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Title: Re: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by aikigreg on Nov 9th, 2008, 9:30pm I actually didn't think it was TOO bad, though there were a couple spots I was nervous riding through for sure. I still want to get back out there once more on the carbent for some sweet revenge. I have no idea why I had trhe problem I did, except that I must have overtightened the boom bolt, and then cracked it witht that magnificent artie johnson right outta the box. Because the boom had slid inward and the chainring bolts were rubbing the clamp. I stopped to see what was up, pulled the boom out and when I tried to tighen it, the bolt exploded all over the road. >:(. I'm not exactly the luckiest guy with bikes. Obviously that title goes to Nelson! :o Glad you made it through ok, man. Today was fun once we made the turn. I was sucking wind until the 70 mile control. Paul and Bob would leave me and I just couldn't muster the energy to combat the chipseal, hills, and wind to catch up, After that I was fine and we were able to really kick it into gear to make up for lost time. It was SO MUCH COLDER than yesterday and the wind was howling. But I managed to turn in my best 200k time yet. I'll take it. Sorry i didn't get to finish with you guys yesterday. Nelson and Steve - thanks for turning back to check on me - I really appreciate it. Thankfully a guy who turned in to put up signs was co-opted into taking me back to the car. :D |
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Title: Re: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by Strada177 on Nov 9th, 2008, 10:40pm aikigreg wrote:
Greg, sorry I couldn't be more help on Saturday's ride. Riding back with Nelson was the least we could do. Did you ride the route today on the V-Rex? Congrats to you guys for completing the route. As with most routes in E.Texas(OK ,Rockwall isn't actually E.Texas ,but it's close enough for me),the LSR routes suck(chips/seal ,busy roads with no shoulders)-IMO. |
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Title: Re: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by aikigreg on Nov 10th, 2008, 9:52am You guys also rode on Saturday, which probably made the traffic ten times worse, too. |
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Title: Re: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by Kwijybow on Nov 10th, 2008, 10:12am The traffic was quite a bit higher than I remember from previous rides, in my mind the only reason to ride this route is the Blue Bonnets in April. Bryan and I had a lady cut left right in front of us on the section into Terrel forcing us to brake hard, and I had a tractor trailer swing off road a little on the narrow part of SR34 before scurry as it was coming towards me because of someone passing unsafely and spew rocks at me. I managed to dodge most of them but one I missed caught the right lens of my new glasses and added a nice scratch. Thank goodness for eye protection though. The part I hate most though is the section at the end on the I30 service road, blah. Parts of this ride are great and parts really suck. I hope someday George revises it to keep the Blue Bonnets and lose I30. We should have none of that on Spanish Fort on the 22nd a very pretty low traffic route. Also depending on what today holds in the way of my future employment I'm thinking about the 400K on the 29th. Put the 32 spoke rando wheels on and mounted up the fenders in anticipation. Take Care, Nelson. |
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Title: Re: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by FlyingLaZBoy on Nov 10th, 2008, 10:32am Some pics and a video from yesterday: Ferris control http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/flyinglazboy/FerrisWheelNov08/101_0416.jpg For some reason, this caught my eye.... http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/flyinglazboy/FerrisWheelNov08/101_0417.jpg Anyone else see the Virgin Mary? ;) http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/flyinglazboy/FerrisWheelNov08/101_0417-1.jpg Rival biker gang, on Hwy 34 (notice the lack of shoulder?) http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/flyinglazboy/FerrisWheelNov08/101_0422.jpg Wide load passing... http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/flyinglazboy/FerrisWheelNov08/101_0423.jpg Unique way to build a barn... http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/flyinglazboy/FerrisWheelNov08/101_0425.jpg About 9 miles to go http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/flyinglazboy/FerrisWheelNov08/101_0431.jpg Fun with birds.... http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/flyinglazboy/FerrisWheelNov08/th_101_0419.jpg (http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/flyinglazboy/FerrisWheelNov08/?action=view¤t=101_0419.flv) |
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Title: Re: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by Kwijybow on Nov 10th, 2008, 2:07pm Paul just be glad those birds flew the other way :P otherwise bombing for effect! some good news, starting to look like my wheel might be warrantied. Take Care, Nelson. |
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Title: Re: Ferris Wheel 200k Permanent Post by MrOverdressed on Nov 10th, 2008, 5:48pm FlyingLaZBoy wrote:
Sounds like Bob did a outstanding job keeping pace with Yall. At the end of TTTT he said he had fun. |
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