Panther City Volunteer 100k Preride notes!

[Joshua Haley]

I was in Ft Worth for work last week and packed my Brompton to get some RUSA credit for Texas. (I'm the Ohio RBA). It was great to sync up with Pam and Dan for an absolutely Texas-sized Steak Dinner on Thursday. The next morning, I met up with Rob May at 7am to burn off some work stress and pre-ride the Panther City Populaire event before catching my flight home.

The route is fantastic. Being on trail, there was some traffic, but the sort of traffic that tells you that you're on a good trail. This route isn't a fast route, but it's sure fun to enjoy and get to know another randonneur. While the weather was amazing on Friday, Thursday was far crummier, which led to a few low-water crossing detours that Rob was a lifesaver on. There were also a few muddy patches that gummed up our wheels and really made the ride an adventure that my Brompton is still recovering from. So if the weather is bad before the ride, you might have a full value adventure. My only other note is there were water and restrooms, but not much in the way of food right off the trail on the eastern leg. For a 100k, perfectly fine, I was just about a granola bar short of awesome around mile 55.

I'll be down in Texas a few more times for work over the next quarter, so I'll bring my Brompton with me when I can to do some Circus bike rando while I'm there.

Josh Haley