2015 CtC ride, etc..
Sept 18 - drove my car and stuff to Steve's. Transferred stuff to Steve's car, left my car in his garage. He drove. On the way, sister Patti texted me that Oak Lane had contacted Uncle David saying this will be Grandma's last day. I knew Grandma would want me to do what I loved, which is ride my bike, so I continued on to Corpus Christi. Got to Brewster Street Ice House right at 6:00, got my packet, said hi to Richelle, Barrett and Tim. Steve and I had dinner (including oysters and an avocado salad - YUM!) Went to Econo Lodge Room #222 (upstairs, but I'd take that room again next year!!). I thought the fridge in the room wasn't working, so I fiddled around with fridge and micro cords, and finally got the fridge to hum, so put my bottles in the freezer, hoping they'd at least get cold. Texted with sister Eileen who said she'd contact sister Carolyn to find out “What's up” and went to bed about 10:30. About 45 min later I heard my phone buzz. It was Eileen calling to say she'd heard from Carolyn that Grandma had passed away. I spent a fretful, but not horrible, night trying to sleep adequately for the 65 mile bike ride ahead of me. I didn't hear Steve snoring, but the A/C in our room was pretty loud, so along with a Lunesta 3mg, I took amitriptyline. I think I actually did sleep a total of about 3-4 hours and when my phone alarm went off at 6:00, I was cool with resetting it to 6:30 so I could rest a little more. Never got back to sleep but a few more minutes to rest was good. Did a few stretches, pumped up my tires, dressed in my ride gear, brought my (already made, stored in room mini-fridge) Anet bfast to the breakfast room, nuked it, poured coffee and chatted with other riders, including a couple I shared my Grandma grief with.
Back to room 222, final bathroom stuff (cleaned off contact lens AGAIN), packed jersey, and put FROZEN (YES!!) bottles into BottleSox and into cages on bike, turned on blinky light and headed down the stairs at 7:20am. Did a final check in the parking lot. Sunscreen, check. Sunglasses, check. Larabar, Nutz to go and banana, check. 4 frozen bottles, check. Thermolytes, check. Lipbalm, check. Helmet on head, gloves on hands, bike shoes on feet. Roll! Rode to the ride start, got there at just the right time. Saw the guy I had seen at hotel earlier to share Grandma grief. He was wearing the same jersey as me, my very first one, from 2005.. I think we rolled out about 7:40am. Going over Harbor Bridge, just like usual. Riding through portland, in rain/slushy condition, just like usual. Passed my hotel mate at some point while riding uphill. I regret not asking his name!! I never saw him again.
Turning east toward Ingleside, I hate that stretch, it's rough road, people in all kinds of places, riding wrong way, debris, glass, etc... happens every year. Tried to focus on riding steady. Fell into a group of bright green “State Farm” jerseys... hung with them and maintained about 18mph pace, which I thought was great because we were supposedly riding “into” wind.
Cool. I'm not stopping till Ferry Landing and THIS YEAR I HAVE MY OWN BANANA, DAMMIT! As we approach the Ferry Landing (around 9:15am) we see the sign “Wait for Ferry, 15 minutes”.. ha.. well, we get priority. Or, so we used to get priority. I arrived at Ferry Landing rest stop at 9:25am, took care of all business (porta potty, swap out/fill bottles, eat my own supplied banana, and get in line for ferry) while the volunteer was yelling, “Get your supplies here and get in line... it's a 15 min wait for the ferry!!!” so I got in line... at 9:35am. At 9:45am, I started getting a little shaky, so I ate my blueberry Larabar. 10 min pass... 15 min pass... hey, what the hell! In past CtC, I have NEVER had to wait for the ferry more than 5 min and well, even CARS don't have to wait more than 15... After we'd been waiting “patiently” 30 min, well, we started yelling at the ferry loading crew.. after all, the car wait was less than 5 min.. why were we, in a nutritionally and hydrationally challenged environment, being held up?????? Then, just when I thought I'd “seen it all”.... two riders, I assume a couple, arranged their bikes in a sort of tent-pole arrangement so they'd hold each other up, and walked over to the chain-link fence at the water's edge... and... smoked cigarettes... I shit you not. I'm on a 66 mile bike ride and these two have packed absolutely EVERYTHING, including smokes and lights......... WHAT?? who goes on a 66 mile bike ride and takes a smoke break at mile 28???
well, after much ado from the crowd (us) we finally saw some bikes loading onto ferries. But as I started heading that way, some guy said, “Sorry ma'am, you can't go”.. I'm like “but my Grandma just died! I need to get back”... then the guy ON the ferry said “10 more” and I went on. Let's recap.... I've never waited more than 5 min to get on the ferry for CtC and, although I hauled ass to maintain 18mph to the Ferry Landing 28 mile mark, I waited FORTY MINUTES.
AT ANY RATE, this is completely abnormal. I've done CtC since 2005 and bicyclists have ALWAYS had priority getting on the ferry. It would seem obvious that to make folks who are operating on their own physical power in the Texas heat and humidity WAIT 40 or more minutes without proper care/hydration/nutrition, that's a HUGE liability. And... let me re-iterate: the sign we saw approaching the Ferry Landing Stop said:”Wait for Ferry 15 minutes”..
I finally got on the ferry at 10:15am. Fully FORTY minutes AFTER I completed the breakpoint activities. I was not motivated to “race” the “toughest 18 miles in Texas” after that. Mostly because we were starting from scratch. We had to warm up again. That 18 min took 70 minutes.. the last time I timed that stretch, when I did “race” it, it was about 52 min.
Whatever.. Mile 48, didn't have much. I got maybe half a banana, water and some ice. Then on to the Causeway and the stretch home. And even when I got to the finish, why?!? I could not eat the food provided (hot dogs and bread buns?? really?!?!?!???????) so I got my dos dos xxs , chatted with a couple from Brownsville and rode back to the hotel.
Disappointed. Fix the ferry delay. Get some real finish line food options. Nobody cares about the Hurricane Alley stuff. Give us real food in exchange for Hurricane Alley access. And did I mention - fix the ferry delay??
I do this ride as a celebration for my birthday every year, and an excuse to visit my family in the CC area. They wondered if “plans changed” because I didn't contact them. Well - my day didn't go as planned. Work on it, CtC crew!
Back to room 222, final bathroom stuff (cleaned off contact lens AGAIN), packed jersey, and put FROZEN (YES!!) bottles into BottleSox and into cages on bike, turned on blinky light and headed down the stairs at 7:20am. Did a final check in the parking lot. Sunscreen, check. Sunglasses, check. Larabar, Nutz to go and banana, check. 4 frozen bottles, check. Thermolytes, check. Lipbalm, check. Helmet on head, gloves on hands, bike shoes on feet. Roll! Rode to the ride start, got there at just the right time. Saw the guy I had seen at hotel earlier to share Grandma grief. He was wearing the same jersey as me, my very first one, from 2005.. I think we rolled out about 7:40am. Going over Harbor Bridge, just like usual. Riding through portland, in rain/slushy condition, just like usual. Passed my hotel mate at some point while riding uphill. I regret not asking his name!! I never saw him again.
Turning east toward Ingleside, I hate that stretch, it's rough road, people in all kinds of places, riding wrong way, debris, glass, etc... happens every year. Tried to focus on riding steady. Fell into a group of bright green “State Farm” jerseys... hung with them and maintained about 18mph pace, which I thought was great because we were supposedly riding “into” wind.
Cool. I'm not stopping till Ferry Landing and THIS YEAR I HAVE MY OWN BANANA, DAMMIT! As we approach the Ferry Landing (around 9:15am) we see the sign “Wait for Ferry, 15 minutes”.. ha.. well, we get priority. Or, so we used to get priority. I arrived at Ferry Landing rest stop at 9:25am, took care of all business (porta potty, swap out/fill bottles, eat my own supplied banana, and get in line for ferry) while the volunteer was yelling, “Get your supplies here and get in line... it's a 15 min wait for the ferry!!!” so I got in line... at 9:35am. At 9:45am, I started getting a little shaky, so I ate my blueberry Larabar. 10 min pass... 15 min pass... hey, what the hell! In past CtC, I have NEVER had to wait for the ferry more than 5 min and well, even CARS don't have to wait more than 15... After we'd been waiting “patiently” 30 min, well, we started yelling at the ferry loading crew.. after all, the car wait was less than 5 min.. why were we, in a nutritionally and hydrationally challenged environment, being held up?????? Then, just when I thought I'd “seen it all”.... two riders, I assume a couple, arranged their bikes in a sort of tent-pole arrangement so they'd hold each other up, and walked over to the chain-link fence at the water's edge... and... smoked cigarettes... I shit you not. I'm on a 66 mile bike ride and these two have packed absolutely EVERYTHING, including smokes and lights......... WHAT?? who goes on a 66 mile bike ride and takes a smoke break at mile 28???
well, after much ado from the crowd (us) we finally saw some bikes loading onto ferries. But as I started heading that way, some guy said, “Sorry ma'am, you can't go”.. I'm like “but my Grandma just died! I need to get back”... then the guy ON the ferry said “10 more” and I went on. Let's recap.... I've never waited more than 5 min to get on the ferry for CtC and, although I hauled ass to maintain 18mph to the Ferry Landing 28 mile mark, I waited FORTY MINUTES.
AT ANY RATE, this is completely abnormal. I've done CtC since 2005 and bicyclists have ALWAYS had priority getting on the ferry. It would seem obvious that to make folks who are operating on their own physical power in the Texas heat and humidity WAIT 40 or more minutes without proper care/hydration/nutrition, that's a HUGE liability. And... let me re-iterate: the sign we saw approaching the Ferry Landing Stop said:”Wait for Ferry 15 minutes”..
I finally got on the ferry at 10:15am. Fully FORTY minutes AFTER I completed the breakpoint activities. I was not motivated to “race” the “toughest 18 miles in Texas” after that. Mostly because we were starting from scratch. We had to warm up again. That 18 min took 70 minutes.. the last time I timed that stretch, when I did “race” it, it was about 52 min.
Whatever.. Mile 48, didn't have much. I got maybe half a banana, water and some ice. Then on to the Causeway and the stretch home. And even when I got to the finish, why?!? I could not eat the food provided (hot dogs and bread buns?? really?!?!?!???????) so I got my dos dos xxs , chatted with a couple from Brownsville and rode back to the hotel.
Disappointed. Fix the ferry delay. Get some real finish line food options. Nobody cares about the Hurricane Alley stuff. Give us real food in exchange for Hurricane Alley access. And did I mention - fix the ferry delay??
I do this ride as a celebration for my birthday every year, and an excuse to visit my family in the CC area. They wondered if “plans changed” because I didn't contact them. Well - my day didn't go as planned. Work on it, CtC crew!