Second Annual Katy RAM Challenge

04/04/04

If this was only their second annual then I expect great things for this ride. It looked like about 1500 riders and most of them seemed to have a great time. The mass start really needs to change, it was a mess and I saw several falls in the middle of it. There was a short section of pretty rough chip and seal road but mostly nice smooth pavement. This ride seems to be over some of the same roads as the Katy Flatland later in the year. Do keep in mind that this is a totally flat course (I heard one guy near the end complaining about the overpass we had to cross near the end, heh). The sag support was excellent, support at the rest stops was friendly and plenty of fruit, cookies and drinks. They do need to do something about the huge lines for the porta potties and at most rest stops there were only a few coolers so there were long lines for drinks, they never seemed to run out though. The high school jazz band at the start and the cheering people at the finish line were nice touches. Most rides I have been on could learn a few things about signs from this ride, all signs looked exactly the same and were professionally done so they were easy to spot. Goodie bags were nice too. One really nice thing was that at the start the registration was in the Sun and Ski store in the mall. The store was open (as were the rest rooms) and it made it really nice. No lines for registration to speak of. Hazards were well marked and some nasty gravel patches at intersections were actually manned by people waving orange flags, nice. Police support was good as well. Overall I would give this a 9 out of 10 for what it is, totally flat, as I prefer something with some hills.