Honey Tour

 Honey Tour

May 23, 2015

Burleson, Texas 

 Three of us from San Angelo, Christine Jones, Brian Backlund, and I, traveled to Burleson, a nice city just below Fort Worth.  

 Line up for an 8 a.m. start. 

 It wasn't really that cold, Christine just likes to play it safe. Among other things the jacket is water proof and rain (thunder storms) is in the forecast.

 I stepped out of the line up for this picture. I would estimate over 1,200 were in attendance.

 And this was the crowd behind us. Note way in the distance, more riders were coming from the parking lot to get into line. Take off was staggered and it reminded me of HHH start. One foot clipped in and the other pushed and scooted the bike along. 

 Eventually we began the ride. We stretched out for miles. 

 The scenery was great. Ahead was a nice tree tunnel.

 Brian picked up a sliver of glass and had a flat. He was in good company because at least 30 people for a 2-3 mile stretch were fixing flats. I had not seen as many flats since several years ago when riders at the 4th rest stop at HHH rolled their bikes into the "grass" and picked up goat heads and other stickers. On this ride everyone was complaining about glass on the road--perhaps washed on the road by recent rains.  

 While Brian was fixing his flat, I watched people zip past as we were on a fair decline. While on the topic of flats, when we got back home I checked out our tires and I found a sliver of glass in my front tire--but it did not puncture my tube. Some years back I put RhinoDillos in our tires. Neither Christine nor I have had a puncture flat since then. Our flats are tube seam splits and valve tears.  

 And speaking of Christine, I spotted a person hunkered down Christine-style to get the most out of a decline. Sure enough it was she. She didn't (wouldn't) stop and just yelled that she would wait for us at the rest stop. Thanks for your support.

 We continued on a slight decline so I figured we were headed toward a river. I was correct, and if the terrain goes down toward a river, it goes up after. One really can't complain (or brag) about the Burleson area hills. None registered over 6% on my Garmin.

 Rest stop. They had enough goodies and such a variety that one could just stay there and eat lunch. 

 Christine did wait for us and Brian was still disappointed over the flat. But on another shout out for the ride and support volunteers, a bicycle shop representative "traded" a new tube for Brian's punctured one. I am not sure if he traded with the other 29 riders but he gets four stars from us.

 Headed toward another slight incline. Not to worry. 

As I recall this was the community of Briaroaks.

 Hay bundles in a field that looks as if it could be harvested for a second crop.

 The shots would make one believe that this was another "Waller" ride; flat and good roads. That was not the case. Good roads yes, but the course reminded me of the local ride of Door Key Road where we practice "rolling hills" of 4-6% grade.   

 The hilly ride is best described by Brian's average mph on this ride which was a few notches down from his impressive "flat" Waller ride.  

 Another tree tunnel.

 As stated: good roads and great scenery.  

 When I downloaded the pictures, at first I thought I took two of the same thing. Then noted that the trees on the left are different from above.

 If I had stopped, this would have been a nice picture of a stretch of yellow flowers. Interesting that with all the rain we have had this year, I have yet to see blue bonnets on any of our rides.

 Final leg of the ride. Finish line at the middle building.

 Satisfied looks for at least three reasons: The tour had chicken sandwiches, drinks, and goodies for the riders after the ride. We had good roads, and great scenery on our ride. Although thunderstorms were forecast for the day, we were only rained on at the finish of the ride and it wasn't all that heavy or long lasting. We really got a break on the weather as this was the weekend that Texas had all of the flooding that made national news.

Will we return for future Honey Tours? You bet.