The 16th Collin Classic was a very different ride from the 14th Collin Classic I first took part in, back in 2005.  That one was beastly hot, the 50-something mile route was crazy with large-aggregate chip seal, and I was still suffering on a DF bike.  After what seemed at the time like an ungodly amount of climbing, we had to battle up one of the vicious hills on the frontage road running south along US-75—only to arrive at McKinney High School to find that the Chipotle eats we'd been promised had been replaced with jelly sandwiches or rubbery hot dogs.  Some people were irate because the t-shirts had run out, and they'd been given headsweats instead.
 
The Classic took a lot of knocks that year, and Mike Keel took them to heart.  In 2006, there was a lot less chip seal, the giant hill at the end had been deleted from the route, and there was pizza and fajita tacos for afters.  This year, the improvements to the 55-mile route (in fact, 53.72 miles) continued.  There were still plenty of hills to climb, but I can't remember a ride route that had such a high percentage of smooth, well-maintained pavement. There was a small amount of chip seal, but it didn't feel particularly rough to me.  Either it had been broken in, or running my tires a couple PSI softer this year helped.  There was no wind to fight, and the heat wasn't bad.
 
It was a good day.
 
I started off with The Stradas and CorsaKen, but because of traffic and a mechanical glitch, I quickly became separated from The Stradas.  Not long after, I lost Ken as well.  Without any social governor to keep my need for speed in check, I set about the business of passing... well, everyone.  I hadn't started out feeling particularly spry, but my legs warmed up and the HRM showed an average around 160 bpm (not unreasonable, for me).  By mile 30, the crowd had thinned a bit, and I pulled in to the rest stop to wait for the Stradas so we could regroup. When they arrived, we compared computer readings and found we'd been averaging 18.5 mph.
 
A bit further down the road, Peggy took a spill at a railroad crossing and got banged up a bit.  She's a trooper, though, and after taking a few minutes to clean her injuries, we were all back on the road.  We all made it across the finish line at around 3 hours and 15 minutes, in plenty of time to chow down.
 
Notwithstanding my glowing review of the Wild Ride, the 16th Collin Classic might have replaced it as my best for-pay ride experience of this season, if the route had been about 10 miles longer and if I'd spent less time separated from my riding buddies

OUch, sorry Peggy went down... hope bike and rider are OK...  Tracks are definitely treacherous!!!!!
 
Opus and I crossed paths with CCC riders for about 100 yards today, on our Sherman ride, but it looked like a 20-mile type of group...
 
Paul

Has peggy got a set of assless chaps like me now?    
 
Hope you're all better now Peggy!

Quote from Strada177 on Jun 10^th, 2007, 10:49am:

It doesn't hurt to keep an eye out for the odd water bottle either.  

I saw a few of ya'll yesterday and am starting to learn faces.  A neat things happened as I was waiting for Richard to finish his ride.  Two DF riders sat with me and when they found out I rode a bent they were telling me all about the guy they see at White Rock on a bent that they have tried to keep up with....but can't.  Couldn't help but be a little proud that I have joined bent riders.....although NOT at the speed that these guys were talking about.  
I'm with FooRider, I think this was a great ride.  Although I am certainly not an authority with this only being my second rally.  I liked the course, the organization, the police and volunteers directing traffic and hazards, and folks working the stops.  There were a couple of irrate folks in cars who didn't seem to be too happy though.   The only problem I saw was that they ran out of food by the time the last riders were getting there, which was good for the guys selling smoothies.  
Hope to see some of you next weekend at the Tour de Italia!
Linda

Quote from FooRider on Jun 10^th, 2007, 5:31pm:

 
On the Austin to Ft Worth Tour I came across an orphaned water bottle in the middle of the road.  I thought it would be "Cool" to reach out and snatch it up cowboy-style and find its owner at the next rest stop.  Not wise!  As this is a maneuver someone would need to practice first.   I jammed my hand on the road.  Nothing Serious.  Felt like a twisted ankle.  Bottle left behind

Hey Foo,
 
I once ran over one of our  poor squirrel nature buddies. He paused on the side of the road like a 9 year old crossing a railroad crossing, looking franticly back and forth. As I approached, at the last moment he darts in a flash across the road, all the way to the other side ahead of me. Safe! Then in a moment of insanity or some demented self sacrifice, or maybe he left a good nut behind, he darts back across the road directly under my tire. It was a Vonnegut like moment. I still get a weird feeling when I see someone riding or driving in a "squirrely" manner.