What an awesome event! All of the TFF cyclists need to ride it next year.

I was up at 5 Saturday morning, and met my team (Norton Rose Fulbright, NRF) at the Omni Westside Hotel in Houston at 6. We didn't leave from the official start point, but it was within a mile of us, so we rode the full distance. My wife's best friend invited me to ride with her law firm, so I committed to riding with them the first day. The first 40 miles were a breeze, flat and a rocking tail wind. We we rolling along at a decent clip. We skipped the first break point 13 miles in, but hit all of the the rest of the way. We made it to the half way point/lunch, Bellville, around 10:30 or so. We rested there for over an hour (more rest than I needed or wanted.) After Bellville, started to hit some hills and a cross wind. The couple I was riding with were fighting to keep up. I did a lot of ride ahead then stop and wait. We stopped at every break point along the way, some up to an hour. We finally made it to camp around 4:30 that evening. Way too long for that ride in my opinion. Our moving time during the ride was 6:41:49. Total time of the day was 11:15:57. We spent 4 1/2 hours stopped at breakpoints
Strava Day 1

The camp we had was awesome. Probably a 40'X70' tent with cots, tables, beer, Gatorade, BBQ, masseuses, and all kinds of goodies. The cold front from this weekend hit around midnight and cooled the whole tent off. I went to sleep around 8:30 after a decent plate of BBQ, a slice of cherry pie, 2 bud lights, a gallon or two of Gatorade, a 30 minute massage, and a shower. I slept like a baby.

I got up around 5:30 Sunday morning, and it was still drizzling and raining. We took a team picture at 6:00, and rolled out of camp at 6:30. I got in with a fast group of guys on day two. We were bucking a stiff head wind and had some big hills to climb. Again, we skipped the first break point and rolled to the second one at 28 miles. It was at this break point we realized that the official start was delayed an hour and a half to 8. We were out in the front! I stuck with the fast group on day two, and we rode in a draft line the whole time. You would pull for a mile then fall to the back of the line and wait your next turn to pull. We were trucking. We only stopped twice on day two, at mile 28 and mile 50. I crossed the finish line at 12:00 Sunday. It felt like we were some of the first cyclists to cross the finish line, considering we left an hour and a half early, and rode at a good clip. With the stiff head wind and all of the hills, we averaged 14.3 MPH. My total riding time was 5:00:30, and the total time of the day was 5:39:35. Only 40 minutes spent at rest stops and stop lights.
Strava Day 2

Cool trip. I was waiting on a review of the trip!

How did you get back home?

Congrats on the Century Ride! Not many folks have done that! Betcha you the first TFFer ever!

My wife drove up to Austin Sunday Morning. She was planning on watching me cross the finish line, but I beat her there. We took Monday off from work and spent some time in Austin. Went to lunch then went over to Barton Springs before heading home.

The team I rode with had a charter bus driving folks back to Houston with their bike though.

Ah, charter bus part of the deal?

When you ride with a bunch of lawyers it is!

So how do others get home?

I think there are MS150 busses. I may ride with a different team next year, but I would recommend staying in Austin if you can. I would think a 3 hour bus ride back to Houston after riding 170 miles would be pure hell.

Oh for sure!!

Where did ya'll camp at? Campground? Private area?

Really sounds cool. Sorry so many questions.

There are a bunch of large teams, BP, Noble, New-field, Karbach, St. Arnold's, Exxon, etc. that all set up large industrial tents for their riders. There are two camp sites, the main one at the fair grounds in La Grange, and the St. Marks camp site over by the hospital in La Grange. It is important to ride on a team because they take care of most of the logistics (getting your bags to the camp grounds Saturday night, getting you and your bike back to Houston if you left your car there, food, drinks, etc.)

All I had to worry about was getting my overnight bag, pillow, and a sleeping bag to the Omni Westside, where we left from, Saturday morning. After that, I was focused on the ride. My wife brought a bag with cloth for our day in Austin with her when she drove up. My team had quite a few guys staying in Austin, so they got a block of rooms at a discounted rate and dropped our overnight bags off at the Hotel while we were riding on day 2.

Ah cool. Good info to know. How did you hook up with the lawyers?

St. Arnolds might not be bad.

My wife's maid of honor works for NRF. She invited me to ride with them. I hung with her and her husband on day one. I'm on the right.


St. Arnold's actually had the biggest team this year. They had awesome jerseys.

That's cool!

Done focusing on riding for a while now. I am going to do the Silver Lake Tri in Sugarland at the end of the month, then possibly the Ironman 70.3 in Austin at the end of October.

Tri bikes are stupid expensive...

Running and swimming now?

We got guys in the club who don't like Tri bikes...then you got some who got both. If you ride in groups its often frowned upon to ride aero. (Not really in our club, but most places it's that way)

I am tempted too.....but I got some Profile Design T3 Aero bars on Amazon and it's been nice having that option. Its nice giving the shoulder a rest. BUT going up hill sucks in aero.....or high wind will blow you right over.

Amazing how much less wind drag you get in aero. I raise up to brake now.

Yeah, I'm comfortable with my biking now. And swimming is usually easy for me. Really, I need to focus on running.

I've heard that about riding aero in groups. You don't have breaks out on the aero bars and that's why its frowned upon. If I keep riding on a road bike, I want to upgrade from my aluminum Defy 5. If I get a tri bike, I'll keep my Giant for group rides and rides like the MS150.