The Cliffs Tour De Pants Bike Rally - Possum Kingdom Lake

August 6, 2005

What a pretty day for a ride! The showers the night before really cooled things down. Registration was smooth as was the start of the ride.
The route was breathtaking (caused by the views and the hills). Possum Kingdom is a beautiful area. I rode the 40 mile route and, for me, it was just right. I felt challenged, but not hammered. The tough hills were matched with some fun descents.
I found the rest stops to be well stocked and the volunteers were friendly. The signage was easy to follow. SAG was everywhere checking on folks. If you've never done this ride, plan on it next year. You'll be glad you did.

I didn't think an event could improve so much over a one year period. For those of us discouraged last year, this year more than made up for it. From registration to rest stops, everything was in super order. The pasta served after the ride was perfect and plentiful. The routes, no different from last year that I could see, were in great shape. And, as usual the last two miles uphill to The Cliffs and the finish line seemed to be the capper to a perfect day and a perfect ride. Temps seemed to be in the mid to upper 80's, again, exceptional weather for this time of year. The only complaint I heard was "no Ticket Chics" anywhere around. Although I didn't notice, they would have been a nice addition!!

My first time to ride this rally. Did not preriegister so no t-shirt or pants.:< I enjoyed this ride tremendously. Some exciting downhills and a couple of long uphills but a lot of flat to slight incline stretches too. Very pretty scenery in spots and the lake is beautiful. Start and parking was ok, a little confused. Rest stops and volunteers were great for the most part, could have used cold water and ice at a couple of them. The post ride meal was the best I ever had at a bike rally. Top shelf spaghetti and salad. Weather was cool early and heated up. I would recommend this ride and will go back next year. .

August 7, 2004

I am a member of the FWBA. I rode the 75 miles and here are my comments and constructive suggestions to bring this ride to par with the best in Texas :
1) No restrooms near the start/registration. Had to ride/drive 1/2 mile to the resort pool that had limited facilities
2) For some reasons, the ride started at 8:30 instead of 7:30 as scheduled -No big deal in relatively cool weather but 1 hour under the normally hot Texas sun makes a huge difference. I am guessing that it had to do with the road construction on Hwy 16. I am also guessing that the construction had been in work for awhile such that the ride organization could have been prepared for it. They were obviously not and had to make decision on the fly; i.e. explaining the delay.
3) Instructions were finally passed on to the riders wrt road construction on Hwy 16 however most of us could not hear them since they were not using a megaphone.
4) An unordinary amount of rest stops were lacking WATER ! Again this did not cause problems because of the cooler weather but had it been warmer, riders could have had problems.
5) Did not see or recognized sag trucks/cars, did not need any but..
6) Most of the riders I talked with noticed that staff at the rest stops were "passive". Only the staff manning the last rest stop had a cheery attitude. I stopped at the 34, 54 and the last.
7) The size of the garbage bags was too small and all of them were overflowing at the rest stops. Get bigger bags and replace them often.
8) Need to stock the rest stops with ice.
The route was definitively challenging, well marked. Very few intersections, good maps. Great meal afterwards. Maybe it can be scheduled differently so it does not compete with other well established local rides (Melon Patch Tour in DeLeon).

Thanks for the suggestions. Our ride tripled in size this year, so we'll definitely be more prepared next year. There was a lot of SAG support who tried to check with anyone struggling, but we will have to mark them next year. We did have Gatorade at all of the rest stops, and tried to have water too, but your right, we'll have more next year. We were aware of the construction, but had to make a decision on the fly because it was constantly changing. When we first drove the course, it was pretty bad, then it was fine, then on the day of the ride it was only 1/2 mile stretch, and we were able to shift traffic to accommodate the riders. Sorry for the delay. Most of our problems were the result of the amazing turn out. We will be better prepared, and be certain there is plenty of obvious support for everyone. Thanks for all the pointers, and let me know if you think of anything else.
Thanks

I rode the 41 mile route which is a challenging and beautiful route. I can't speak to the 75 mile route, but if you ride the 41 mile route, consider this to be an unsupported ride. When I stopped at the second rest stop which was probably about 30 miles into the route, they didn't have any water. The people who were manning the rest stop did go into the Church and refill the single Gott cooler while we waited, but come on - running out of water at a rest stop? They didn't have any food at this rest stop which is no big deal in a 41 miler, but I've been spoiled by some of the other rides. I'm glad it was a mild day instead of a typical August scorcher. They fed us well at the end.

What a ride! A very challenging course that will be much better next  year without the one stretch of road construction. There were some  very exciting downhills and a few tough uphills on the 75 mile course. Other than a long section of chip seal along the north side of the course, the roads were very good. This course definitely has a big finish, my GPS showed a 300 ft climb over 1.75 miles. That must have been an exciting start for the 40 & 10 milers.
The ride was fairly well organized, having to make a call about the road construction, but there was a lack of toilet facilities at the  start.
That should be addressed for next year. The barbeque afterwards made for a perfect ending to the day.

HORRIBLE! I rode the 75 mile route. Check-in was chaotic. There were not nearly enough tables and it was setup next to the main road that enters The Cliff's which caused the lines to block the road. The rest stops were out of food by the time I got to them, with the exception of a couple stops still had a few orange wedges left, and the rest stops were too far apart and one of the rest stops was out of water! This is completely unacceptable for a Texas bike ride in August. After about mile 55 after not having any food, I finally bonked and it took about 2 hours for a SAG to finally pick me up. When I did finally make it in, the so called BBQ was closed. I expected more from The Ticket and The Cliff's and will NEVER do this horrible ride again. 

WOW! What a ride. Though a little more expensive than most, it is well worth the cost of admission (you almost get an entire wardrobe). I thought about the doing the DeLeon ride again but with a little help from the reviews from last year, I decided to try the TDP. What a fabulous venue for a ride. The setting was at a resort so there were very nice facilities to use before and after the ride. The drive out there should have prepared you for what was to come. Many hills and rolling terrain made up this ride and the miles tick away. There are some very fast stretches of this ride. 30+ mph for extended periods for many of the faster riders weren't uncommon. Just like most rides this one had a couple roads that were a little rough., the beginning of the ride was one, another seemed to be "groomed" with a chain grinder and another 10 mile stretch of chip 'n seal. The beginning of the ride was down a road that was under construction and eye protection should have been mandatory but we were warned about that and were told to keep the pace down until we were out on better pavement. A light drizzle kept the early portion of the ride cooler along with the cloud cover. Any wind was hardly noticeable because there was sure to be another hill to conquer just ahead. After the ride, they had a large tent serving fresh barbecue with potato salad and sourdough bread. It was nice to kick back in the grass afterwards and just talk to other riders. Excellent job with this ride folks, I will be back again.

Sign up tables poorly marked regarding pre-registered and day of. Lots of confusion. Port-a-potties no where to be found around the start area. Lots of riders asking questions with little assistance available. No maps in the goodie bag and, in speaking with other riders, the event planners ran out before all could have one. No set up for water filling, etc at the start line.
Route was limited to five rest stops, only two with port-a-potties from what I saw. Stops, other than #3, were only manned by 2-3 people which led to confusion and lag time. The first stop, 15 mines in, had no Gatorade. The second no Gatorade, bananas, cookies etc. left when we got there as well. Nice group of people manning the 45 mile stop (3). Stop four apparently was more of a "social opportunity" for those working the stop to speak amongst themselves rather than servicing the riders. The same could be said of the last stop. Post tour food pretty well wiped out by time we pulled in. Next time I will be sure to pack food for the ride if this is what they consider acceptable. Glad the money went to charity otherwise, I would not be happy for what I got for the money.
Good repair (Wheels in Motion) and SAG service along the route.
Overall, cloud cover led to a relatively comfortable ride considering all those rollers and hills (mile 60 and last two) during the second half of the ride. Services led a lot to be desired. At minimum, you would think that The Ticket could pull assistance from some of their sponsors to properly man the (and additional) rest stops.
The time of year gives this ride a lot of opportunity to being a valid tune up to the HHH. Maybe The Ticket should recognize it by hiring a professional service to organize it for them and help it's popularity grow while reaping the benefits of having their name associated with a successful and well thought out event!

Based on last year's reviews, I had high expectations for a challenging ride and I was not disappointed. I rode the 75 mile route. By my computer there was a total of about 2400 feet of climbing. Most of the hills were the typical rollers you see and generally expect at these rides. However, there are two extremely difficult climbs, one at about 38 miles into the ride and the other at about 60 miles into the ride. They are both between 9 and 10 percent grade and about a quarter of a mile in length by my computer. The second of these two climbs came after a section of about 15 miles into the wind on a series of roller hills on some very rough chip and seal pavement. I never recovered after that second climb and had to crawl the last 15 miles to the finish by spinning some very low gears. Another great aspect to this ride are some outstanding descents and the "mountain top" finish. The "mountain top" finish is a climb of about 1.6 miles in length on a hill of about 4% grade for a total finishing climb of about 300 feet. The total amount of climbing for this ride is similar to that of the Goatneck but the difference is in the difficulty of the key climbs. For this year's event we were treated to light rain for about the first 30-40 miles and generally cool temperatures. They had a fantastic barbeque lunch afterwards and even though I was probably one of the last to finish the 75 mile route, there was plenty of food and drink when I got there. I heard they had about 800 riders this year, up from about 200 last year. If you want a challenge, I strongly recommend this ride. It is well worth the drive to Possum Kingdom Lake. Make sure you bring several spare tubes because I saw lots of flat tires although the road surfaces did not seem that bad except for that one stretch of chip and seal. I come from Rockwall so I stayed in Mineral Wells the night before to avoid the long early morning drive.

Once again the Ticket did a great job on this ride - challenging  terrain, well-marked route, numerous rest stops and very visible route support.  The mild weather made it a really good day to ride. The only negative criticism I would offer is that they should 1) start on time, 2) have a regular century, and 3) attempt to find roads without chip and seal.  One could also criticize the gravel at the start, but it wasn't the  Ticket's fault the roads were being worked on. Hopefully, that means the start
will have better roads next year. I can't speak for the rest stops because  I bypassed all except the first one and all I can offer is that there was  no line for the sole porta pottie at that rest stop. I do have to say  that if all the other rest stops had ticketchicks like the first one, then it  was my bad that I didn't stop at each and every one. The BBQ lunch  afterwards was superb. Overall, I think this ride's route is comparable to the Goatneck. Goatneck probably has more climbing, but the Ticket ride may have a few steeper hills. Still has a bit to go until it gets to the  level

Every ride has its share of "growing pains". Although this year seemed to highlight the areas needing additional preparation, we who rode were very lucky to have had a day of overcast skies, low temps with occasional rain showers.
Relative to the routes, the ride was great. It's one of the most challenging rides in Texas and one of the most enjoyable in terms of scenery.
However, ride support and organization was "new low" for me. I've never ridden an event yet that ran out of water. Had this been a typical summer day in West Texas the lack of water could have created some serious health issues.
I've emailed The Ticket with all my criticisms and concerns as well as suggestions for next year. I hope for those who suffered because of poor planning/support this year, that you will give this ride a "second chance" next year. Possum Kingdom certainly isn't in need of additional visitors during the summertime, but this ride is one I hope continues. It's in a nice part of Texas with plenty of post ride activities to make you forget the aches and pains some of the hills create.

I didn't use any of the rest stops, so I can't really speak to those problems. However, the course (75 mile) is one of the best around. Lot's of rollers, a couple real climbs and no dangerous intersections or small towns to navigate. From what I've heard, the number of entrants tripled over last year, which would explain the shortages at the rest stops. Granted, there's no excuse for running out of water, but I don't think it was for lack of trying. Given a couple more years to mature, the Tour de Pants could become one of the better rides in North Texas

A beautiful ride. It was odd riding in a light drizzle in August in Texas, but I'll take it. Like all rapidly growing rides, this one is experiencing some growing pains, but I'm sure in the years to come, this could be one of the best. Some hints for next year: Bring money. We ended up stopping at a Texaco Food Mart at mile 50 to refuel on Gatorade and snacks. This was, in hindsight, a very wise choice given the next 10 miles were tough and the rest stops were lacking. Next: Arrive in good riding shape or come with at least a 39x27 gear.

only have one complaint about this year's Tour de Pants. The first rest stop on the 41 mile route wasn't well placed. After a tough climb and then a very fast descent, the rest stop was positioned at the bottom of the descent. It would have been more logical to have the stop at the top of the climb. All momentum from the descent was lost if you wanted to stop at the rest stop.

I have read many complaints about the lack of food and or water at the rest stops. There was plenty at each rest stop for me. I have also read about the lack of barbecue at the end of the ride. When I first arrived at the barbecue tent, the pans were empty. Within minutes they were all refilled. I had plenty of food at the end of the ride. I loved the challenging course with the high speed descents and the really difficult climbs. The goodie bag included a great pair of pants and a T-shirt, water bottle, and other freebees. I will be back next year for sure. Could we please schedule it so that it doesn't conflict with the Melon Patch Tour in DeLeon? Melon Patch is also a great ride and I hated to miss it this year.

I did the 40 mile route this past Saturday on August 7
Routes were scenic and roads were decent to great. Very friendly folk did not encounter any "angry cars".
The goody bag at packet pickup was pretty nice.
Rest stops were lacking a bit and I was told that last year's rest stops were lacking also.
All in all I enjoyed the ride and will probably return next year if they put the ride on again.
The temps were down and the day was not hot at all.
Suggest that if you want to do the ride to get an over night way in advance as the choices are limited.

Have ridden most of the 40+ rides available in North Texas over the years and absolutely feel by far the the Tour De Pants was the best in regards to the challenge of the up hills and the excitement of some great down hills. Loved the party at the end and although the rest stops etc were not the best around they were adequate, especially if you've ridden enough to know to always come prepared!! Thanks to the reviewer from last year who stated this was a ride for males and "some" females. I'm a 46 YO female and can tell you it is for ALL females who love a challenge!! Thanks Ticket and other sponsors!!

July 26, 2003

What a ride! Very challenging. I did the 41 mile route and I've never seen so many bikers walking up hill or just plain sitting on the side of the rode from exhaustion! The rest stops left a lot to be desired. there were only two, which was not enough for how hard the terrain was and how hot the weather was! The first rest stop was at 16 miles and (I was in the middle of the pack) they had already run out of Gatorade and only had 6 bottles of water left! The next rest stop was at mile 26 with no shade what so ever! But they did have water and Gatorade. When I got to the finish line they ran out of food! More was delivered after about 25 min. They was no sag wagons on the route what so ever! The only one I saw was at the registration area. So if you go next year be sure and bring 2 tubes, the terrain is rough! I know this was the first time for this ride but the planning for this ride left a lot to be desired!!!!!! I hope next year will be better.

I read the other review and the exact opposite of how I felt. I did the 75 mile route and it was by far the best route I've ever done in a rally and I've done pretty much all the ones around here. There were 2 hills that were very challenging and if you can't climb, you'll be walking. Other than those two hills the route was nice rolling hills with great scenery, great roads and very, very small amount of traffic. No stop lights to go through.
Maybe the sag and support was missing on the 41 mile route, but it was always near me on the 75. I even got a flat 20 miles in and as it went flat Plano Cycling and Fitness was right coming up behind me and fixed it and within two minutes I was back to the road. The rest stops were fine and typical of all decent rest stops and had everything I needed. They probably could have added another one as they did seem far apart, but when you got to them few people were stopping and using them anyway.
I HIGHLY recommend this ride. It was also marked great and I did get a lunch.

The Tour De Pants was by a long shot the best bicycle rally I've participated in, did the 75 miler. Just the scenic beauty alone was worth the trip, but wait there's more the road surfaces were incredibly smooth and fast with good climbs and European style descents with plenty of wind protection for most of the ride. Yeah the first couple of rest stops didn't have chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies, big wup, the last one did. The goodie bag was goooood, a  ticketchick calendar, a ticketchick dvd, a Craig "junior" miller bobble head, t-shirt etc.. This was a ride for men and some women. Hey the radio add warned of the difficulty. Hopefully this will be an annual ride I would have liked to stay at the cliffs resort and rode the route again Sunday mourning.

I did the 75 mile route and agree with the assessment that the ride was outstanding. I found that the support was great. I saw the SAG wagon helping people, offering water, and offering assistance. There was a Plano Cycling mechanic at several of the stops. The roads were superb -- hardly any traffic at all. The route was well marked. They had plenty of sack lunches at the end of the ride. Only a couple hundred people showed up for the ride so it wasn't that crowded, which was even better. The only negative criticism I had was the spacing of the rest stops. I believe they either had the last one was too far out (about 15 miles from the finish) and or should have had an additional one closer to the finish. After the last rest stop, it was all rolling hills and it was a bit hot. The end had a nice long gradual hill after a series of rolling hills. Given the heat, it would have been nice to have another rest stop closer to the end. Also, one of the rest stops did run out of water, but that was early on so it really wasn't a problem.

I rode the 41 mile route and had a great time. I can't comment on the rest stops too much as I only did a quick splash and go at the last one on the route and I was the first rider to stop there as there were only maybe 5 or 6 guys in front of me on the 41 mile route. I'd argue with the guy who says that the finishing hill is long and just gradual but this is just a matter of perception. It kicks up pretty good for a couple of hundred meters right at the start after crossing the Brazos then levels out a bit for a kilometer and then really kicks up again for the last 500 meters. It's twisty and turny too so you can't see the whole thing. A pretty challenging finish and the only "mountaintop finish" of any ride around and will challenge most riders. I know it did me! I was cramping for the last 10 miles and wanted to get off the bike SO BAD but wouldn't let myself and finished in 2:20 and change. I know I'm old, crippled, and out of shape, but I've done 100K's in less time so don't let anyone fool you, this is one of the toughest rides around. I went out on the finishing hill after cooling down and witnessed some great human drama on the slopes of Hwy 16. Lots of riders walking their bikes up the hill. Lots of suffering and despite their lack of breath and pain many of these riders made the effort to thank me for cheering them on and assuring them that in less than 500 meters their suffering would be over. The only guys I saw go up that hill with any pop were the first few 75 mile finishers who showed up at 3:15 for a 23mph avg. I told Junior that this is my target ride for next year - I want to do the 75 miles respectably and asked them not to change a thing about the route. As far as I can tell that is TheTicket's plan and they also assure that many of the problems with rest stops etc. will be worked out. I CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR THE 2ND ANNUAL TOUR DE PANTS!