Tour de Rouge, From Houston to New Orleans
May 2-7, 2010
The HostGator.com Tour du Rouge is a six day bike tour from Houston to New Orleans supporting the Red Cross. This year it was May 2-7, 2010. Forty-one cyclist, including myself set out and completed the ride, and overall it was a really good experience and a fun time.
This was the second year this tour has been held. The first year had some misfortunate problems such as a pair of really bad roads, and a beach campout, which was a disaster when the sand fleas swarmed in after sunset. This year those problems have been eliminated and along with other improvements, this is now a truly great tour.
I think it is telling, that in spite of the problems of the first year, many of those riders returned again this year. This included myself who was probably the most sand flea bitten of the bunch (I went by the nickname “Spots”)
.Some cyclist may be wary of the long distance of 526 miles. That’s on average of 88 miles a day. The shortest day is only 76 miles, the longest 103 miles. It is flat the whole way. The only hills are some bridges we cross. I kind of think that if you can handle a two day ride, like the MS150, and not be dead tired at the end of day two, then you can handle a six day ride. With that said, still you should be able to maintain a 15 mph average speed each day, so that you don’t fall behind. If your a racer, you may not want to go too fast as they may not have rest stops ready, and turn signs yet posted--it is a fun ride, not a race.
Other cyclists may balk at the $2500 in pledges to the Gulf Coast Chapters of the American Red Cross that you need to raise for privilege to ride the tour, but if you consider that this is about the cost of a one week cycling vacation tour, that amount no longer seems as much. The trip has a lot, including all your hotel stays (double occupancy), all your meals (most buffets), transportation back to Houston, and much more.
The swag begins when you pick up your packet. They had a packet pickup party where they served quesadillas and drinks. For those who could not attend, the packet was mailed to them. The packet was quite loaded with a number of Gu and other nutrition products, chamois butter, suntan lotion, and tour maps. Of course it included a T-shirt, but it also included a duffel bag for use as your luggage while on the trip.
The tour jersey (also included free) was not yet available for the packet pickup. We picked up the tour jersey, along with custom tour socks, and a head band, at a dinner held the night before the ride. They requested that we wear the tour jersey on the first and last days of the tour.
The Hotels we stayed at were quite nice. Most of them were Holiday Inn’s which helped to sponsor the trip, and they did a great job and had free wi-fi. The night we stayed at the Abbeville Sun Belt Lodge is not as good as the Holiday Inns, but you have to remember that there are not that many big hotels in small town Abbeville, so they got what they could. The final hotel stay is at the Riverside Hilton in New Orleans, which is quite a nice place right on the Mississippi River and within walking distance of the French Quarter
.Each morning before setting out, we dropped off our duffle bag on the luggage truck (It ended up in our room at the end of the day). There were big breakfast buffets at each hotel (or in the case of Abbeville, at the nearby Caffe Maria’s). After a tour briefing and a short prayer, we took off on each day’s ride.
The tour was well marked with signs along the route, and you are reassured by all the tour vehicles that past by along the way. The cyclists were followed by a Red Cross Hummer, two Red Cross ERVs (Emergency Response Vehicles), and two SAG vans (one pulled the Bike Barn Repair Trailer), each looking to aid riders having problems. Overall, this tour has a high volunteer to rider ratio
.The route varies in quality, but this year most of the roads were quite good. A few rough spots here or there but overall the route was well conceived.
The break points were well stocked with what you would expect from a well supported ride. The lunch rest stop each day, was often quite good, especially the lunch in Franklin, Louisiana, which had these wonderful croissant sandwiches, in a pleasant area overlooking a river.We cycled past farmland and rice fields, crawfish farms, bayou’s with gators poking their head out of the water, along the beach, through swampland, and over several bridges. We had fun stops at Avery Island (where they make Tabasco), Patterson Air Museum, and St. Joseph’s Plantation.
You finish each day under the large inflated Red Cross arch, with several people there to clap your arrival. Small shade tents are set up with lawn chairs to let you relax and sip a cold drink (including soft drinks, beer, and wine) after your ride was done. Near the finish is a Modspace unit, which is a large portable metal building. Inside the air conditioned unit are some couches to sit on, some platters of snacks to munch on, laptops for internet access, and a sign up sheet to get your free massage each day (Yes, they were free, though most gave them a tip for their excellent efforts).
Also at the finish, the Bike Barn mechanics diligently worked on peoples bikes, much as they fixed things along the way during the ride. They did excellent work and they did their best at searching local bike stores for special needed parts (like a broken carbon fibre seat post)
.Soap and water was provided to wash off our bikes, as we kept them in our hotel rooms.
After a shower in the hotel room and maybe a little rest or more socializing at the start or in the hotel pool, we would head off to dinner. These were usually held at the hotel, though in a few cases we went to a restaurant. All the food was great, and in spite of the large amount of exercise we were getting though the day, you could easily gain weight on this trip. We often had some form of entertainment each night, for instance a very entertaining zydeco band called Wayland T.
On the final stretch of the last day, we ended up on an excellent bike path on the levee next to the Mississippi River. This led us safely straight into New Orleans. We followed the levee bike path to Audubon Park where we had a late lunch of jambalaya. There we waited till all the remaining riders came into the park. Then we got set for a parade through New Orleans to the finish at Woldenburg Park along the river near the French Quarter. We had a police escort with the Red Cross Hummer behind them, then four riders carrying the US, Red Cross, Texas, and Louisiana flags. Followed by the rest of the riders, and finally a Red Cross ERV and the rest of the vehicles. People waved along the way, not quite knowing what to make of us, but they love parades in this city. We made it to the park where they popped open the champagne, had a few words of ceremony, everyone took many photos, and we then loaded up our bikes on the truck for next day’s trip home.
We then go off the Hilton hotel where we got cleaned up for a final celebration which this year was held at Mardi Gras World. Mardi Gras World is where they store the parade floats from Mardi Gras. More food, drinks, reminiscing and plenty of thank you’s to those who supported the ride and those who rode. After the party broke up many of us then headed off to Bourbon Street to have more fun.
After the night’s stay in the Hilton we said our goodbyes to those staying or flying back to other destinations, then filled up the two sag vans, the Red Cross Hummer and an additional minibus headed back to Houston, Texas.
The Tour du Rouge was a great trip, and the money raised goes to a good cause. It help the Texas and Louisiana chapters of the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross helps out people after various natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and floods.
So consider doing this ride. It is a lot of fun. You will see me out there next year, cause I know I plan on doing it again.
To see the photos I took from the trip, check out the web site: http://rikkers.fotki.com/team-mission-control/2010-tour-du-rouge/
The Tour du Rouge web site is at: http://www.tourdurouge.org/
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