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September 27, 2008 - Parker Ride for wellness

Arlington, TX

This was the 1st ever Parker Wellness Ride. It was very well organized and staffed in my opinion, for a first time event. Parking was easy to find and registration was fast. There was a small number of riders participating - I would say about 100-125.
There was a motorcycle escort for the lead group around the 13.2 mile circuit.
Most the intersections had Arlington (and Fort Worth?) police to direct traffic. Only 2 places didn't have police (Green Oaks & Randol Mill and Lamar & Fielder). At these 2 lights we had to stop and wait for the light to give us a green. But I didn't feel any danger from the light traffic.
They had one rest stop and it was overflowing with water, accelerade, fruit, pretzels, and some energy bars/gel shots. They had a port-a-potty, too.
At the finish line area they had the same foods, except only water to drink. (I wish they would correct that for next year by adding accelerade). [Maybe someone simply forgot to put the powder in one of the coolers & stir it up]. However, they did have HOT pancakes and syrup. They had a live band and also some free massages. I didn't go over and check on the massages because I had to get home. They also had chairs and shade tents there.
At the start, a black, stretch limo was there and Jack Lalane got out and thanked everyone for coming and for getting/staying in shape. He just had his 94th birthday the night before.
During the ride I saw one sag wagon helping out with a flat tire. Thanks Bicycles Inc! The sag had a tent set up before and after the ride, too.
The course was asphalt and concrete, with 2 sets of triple hills per lap. I did 2 laps so I had 4 sets of hills. They had good signage at every turn. No street markings were necessary.
Overall, I would give it an A for a grade and I will do the ride again next year.

This was a very lightly attended first time ride (about 120 riders). This was in large part due to the date they choose as there were other, more established rides (like Bonham) the same day. They also limited the ride to 18 and over, which further reduces the number of people, with younger children, who will attend. The Good: lots of parking, easy to find, fast registration, nice hat and t-shirt. The route was very fast (13 mile loop), great road conditions, good signage, good traffic control (did have to stop at one light) and, surprisingly, not a lot of traffic. The Bad: don't like a loop, but understand they had issues with the route. Limited the number of loops (you had to finish two by 9:30am if you wanted to do a third). Served pancakes after the ride, would have been much better before ride. If they want this ride to be a success in the future, changes will need to be made all cyclists welcome.

Very fast course with some good hills on a 13 mile loop course. This course was the result of construction at the Arlington Convention Center and the Cowboys new stadium that necessitated a change to the course on event day –good recovery with a difficult last minute problem. The event was started by none other than 94 yr old exercise guru Jack Lalane – what a thrill for those of us old enough to remember him. Great value when considering the goodies given out. For those riders wanting to stay close to Dallas/Ft Worth, this ride would be a great option next year with their new routes.