Tour de Temple, TX

May 28, 2005

This is a great ride! I had an excellent time despite the fact that it rained for almost the entire ride. I rode the 25-mile course. It would have been nice to ride the 50-mile or the 100K, but I'm still working on my conditioning. Maybe next year. The terrain of the course is predominantly flat with some very minor hills. The scenery was very nice indeed. The volunteers did an excellent job. Route maps were provided for the riders to take with them. The course was well-marked with blue, yellow, green and red arrows to differentiate between the 10-mile, 25-mile, 50-mile and 100K routes, respectively. There was water, orange slices, and bananas at the rest stations. I was impressed with the sag wagon coverage of the course. Some of the roads were slippery due to the rain, but otherwise in good condition. The four-wheel traffic was minimal.
The only downside was that I also received some bad information as to the location of the Frank Mayborn Convention Center. I got the directions from a relatively old (2002) announcement for the Tour d' Temple. I didn't think that the convention center would have moved, so I ended up at the bank the previous reviewer mentioned. I stopped at a convenience store and the cashier was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction.
The end of the ride was very nice. The volunteers provided doughnuts, beef jerky, power bars, barbecued hotdogs, and water and coffee. Many riders stuck around after the ride to converse with other riders. I would like to thank the members of the Kiwanis Club of Temple and the sponsors who helped make this excellent event happen. I'll definitely be returning next year!

Ride was good, maps were bad, colors of distance on maps did not match colors of arrows on roads. Planned to do the 30 but did most of the 50 until I got a ride back to one of the rest stops. Found out I was not the only one who was lead astray. I plan to check out the maps and distances and colors better next time. would help if everything matched better next time.

May 25, 2002,

Pros:  *  Very scenic ride through farm lands and pastures. I saw lots of farm animals and nice rural homes. I am partial to the outdoors and found this area to my liking. * Roads were mostly black top and were in general good condition and smooth for black top. Four wheel traffic was minimal. * The route was well marked with painted arrows on the roads as well as some signs. * Police, county officers, and civilians were visible at most critical intersections or corners. * Rest stops were provided. *** Cons: * Finish was blank. Nothing there except a sign that said start/finish. I like a finish with something. A rest stop type table, greeters or something. * The flyers put out to the public with the entry form had two major errors. This is the means to get peoples attention and is the primary communication to the public. * Error 1 was the address given for the ride start. There was a drive in bank at the address. I searched and searched for the Frank Mayborn Convention Center at 201 North 5th, Temple and it wasn't there. Of course after checking with local citizens I learned where it was and made a dry run on Friday to be sure on the second location. It was a considerable distance North of downtown. On the basis of the prior address I had chosen a motel close to the start. That location did not fit well with cycling to the start of the ride. When I pointed the address problem to the person at the registration booth I got a kinda too bad everyone else knows where the Frank Mayborn Convention Center is. Obviously this ride is intended for locals only. * Error 2 was the ride distance indicated on the form. I had chosen 30 miles. That's what I had planned for and conditioned for. When I registered I was informed there was no 30 mile route, it was supposed to have said 30 km.; however, the maps were marked 25 miles. I did the route and my computer indicated 28.8 miles . Very confusing. ** Summary: I enjoyed the ride, but would probably not do it again. I thought I had planned well and drove 150 miles to do the ride to find my plans were based on erroneous information. I will not trust the Tour d'Temple flyers to make a round trip of 300 miles again. Especially when I could have stayed home and done MADD.

To the rider above, sorry to hear of your troubles on the TD`Temple Tour. I traveled from Beeville which is a 3 to 4 hour drive to ride and the weather was great, (no wind). The route was well marked and the rest stop staff was very friendly. I have participated in 4 rides and the Tour D` Temple shirts are the best. I heard some of the professional riders complain of no oranges, pretzels and the last rest stop ran out of water. They had plenty of Gatorade. I rode the 50 mile tour. I hope that the ride will be on for next year!

As the tour director, I was sorry to hear that Richard was disappointed in his experience. Believe me we will take his comments seriously and attempt not to make the same mistakes next year. However, I don't understand the "flat finish" remark? We had music, food, refreshments and a P.A. system greeting the riders as they came in. Quite a bit more than has been available, with the exception of the Ride for the Roses and the MS150 Houston to Austin, at the 10 rides that I've done this year. There was an error in the address, my fault! I proof read the application several times but just missed the fact that I moved the start two streets over. Next year I'll have more than one pair of eyes proof it. We probably made some mistakes that we shouldn't have. In mitigation, it was the Temple Bike Club/Kiwanis Club of Temple first tour. We'll do better next time. We had more than 210 riders and I must say that I have had more than 40 emails (a high percentage) from folks who came from the breath of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana, and with Richard's exception they have all been very positive and appreciative. Several have made suggestions that will make the ride better, and where possible, we'll implement them next year. It'll be bigger and better. You all come back, heah!

The tour d` temple will be better next year I will see to it ....this is a ride we put together at a very short notice to see how it will be come and so far a good turn out and next years ride is going to be better. Not bad for a club that we put together one month earlier.