Tour de Goliad

/ .

Missions Tour de Goliad
Goliad, Texas
October 19, 2019

Line up was beside Goliad's impressive court house on the square.

Christine and I were the only riders from San Angelo. Not too surprising as it is a 5 hour drive from San Angelo to this south east town close to the Gulf of Mexico.

 Yes, I was impressed by the court house.

Line up shots will be from several view points as we were quite scattered out. Mostly these were the 65 mile riders.

Mostly 50 mile riders.

Mixture of 50 and 30 mile riders. As can be seen, the town square buildings were part of the historic part of town.

It was a beautiful day. Temperature ranged from mid 70's-80's during the ride with about a 5 mph wind.

 I could probably get some arguments but most of the 50 mile route was relatively flat.

Much appreciated volunteers hosting a rest stop.

Don't want to whine but most of the roads had #3 chip seal.

Good scenery, though, and a small climb coming up.

Decline. Not steep but provided a good roll.

By Faith Ranch. Hope they do well and get ample rain.

Well water rig. Since in the middle of a field, would be easy to run a circular irrigation system.

Starting to angle back toward town.

These yellow (weeds) flowers were the only wild flowers left for the season.

Even though the patches be small, flowers are flowers.

Rest stops were plentiful and well spaced out.

There was a friendly group of riders who frequently teased me about not being able to stay up with Christine. Every time I would get close, she would speed up and drop me again. (Editor's note: If you have the e-power, use it!)

I could use the excuse that I was too busy taking pictures of cows and barns to keep up with Chris.

Not sure where the other cows were in this field but this one had plenty to eat.

An astute person would pick up on the rest stop trend. Each one had a few more riders who stopped. As mentioned it was a beautiful day, but it kept getting a little warmer and warmer. Ergo: more riders would stop for refills and refreshments.

There is a little story with this and the following picture. As cyclists know, a lone rider goes for a ride. If two, then it is a race. Christine had just passed this guy and he took off after her.

Didn't take him too long for him to realize she was on her electric bike and he was being dropped whether he wanted or not. (Now he knows how I feel).

Long rolling inclines usually topped out at 5%.

The long gradual inclines masked that most were 5%. (Being compulsive, I counted about 28 inclines that topped at 5%. The rest were 3-4%)

Not sure why pushing bikes. They had 30 mile bib color and we hadn't gone over tough steep hills so maybe just out for a stroll.

Not far to finish at this point.

Finish line was at one of Goliad's parks.

Off to the right was the after ride lunch serving line.

Great sausage rolls in a picnic atmosphere.

Thanks to the Goliad ride volunteers for a good ride and nice lunch.

Departing the park provided another good view of the Court House.