Tour De Fire Ant - Marshall, TX

October 2008

Update From The Race Directors for Tour De FireAnt 2008
We have decided to kick it up a notch and have made some cool changes to this year’s event:
* Have enough short sleeve rally T’s? This years rally T-shirt will be long sleeve and in color. Register now to make sure you get one
* Rest stop # 4 will feature free Red Bulls from the Red Hats, free Cliff Bars too!
* This years start will wind around Marshall’s Historic Cobblestone Square and will feature a “Special Surprise” for the riders
* Woolley G’s Bike & Fitness will be on hand for pre-ride wrench support
* Extended Trophy/Award Placings for each category
* More free pizza & beer at the finish
Don’t forget, one rider will win a free Trek bike, so save the date of October 11th and we will see you at The Fire Ant Festival in Marshall, TX!

Great ride. Beautiful route. Some of the friendliest rest stops ever. Big high fives out to the Boys and Girls club stop, the Red Hat Ladies stop, and the Pilot Club stop. Well done. We will be back next year.

GREAT FIREANT RIDE this weekend. All those involved with organization, planning, and execution deserve high fives!! I thought it was well attended and met many folks from the nearby areas. The awards and award categories were well done. Loved the giveaways, beer and pizza. Again, well done!! I stopped at 2 rest stops which were well staffed and supplied and the staff were pumped up about being involved. I passed a couple others which appeared to be pumped up as well with signs and decorations (even if a rider doesn’t stop, it is still a shot in the arm to go by the rest stop that is decorated and the staff are yelling out encouragement!). I was unlucky to break my rear derailleur 2/3 of the way thru the 100k, but, lucky enough to have broken it AFTER ascending the fireant hill! I had stopped at the rest stop on the corner of hwy 43 and 2625, gotten refreshed and took off for the final push back to town and stood up on the pedals and wham, it broke right there at the rest stop. Wendy Newman, staffing that rest stop along with all the red hat lady's!, drove me back to town. The refreshments at the finish line were SO APPRECIATED!! One suggestion that I would make for next year is to be involved in the parade again--nice touch! Let’s do it a little differently next time, but let’s do it again. Maybe get the lead car/ truck/motorcycles to set it on 10-12 mph and lead us around the square ahead of the parade and then outa town. Could even have a lead car for each distance with a sign on it for the spectators to notice the distances. This would also separate the groups, until at some point, the actual ride could begin to speed up down the hill toward the pic-n-pay or start it after turning off Alamo at the pic-n-pay. I like the parade idea, but, let’s do it with a little more speed!! GREAT JOB FIREANT RIDE ORGANIZERS!! THANK YOU!!

As with many of the Texas rides, this ride featured beautiful scenery, great (and I mean great) hospitality at each rest stop, and good eats/drinks after the ride. The ride was sufficiently challenging - named after a fairly steep climb known as Fire Ant hill. Another hill followed directly after it that was nearly as demanding, but none so bad that we dropped many riders. Roads chosen were surprisingly smooth overall - better than some more renown rides in Texas. Traffic crossing support was above average (great around the city - sparsh in the more remote areas), but the route was among the best marked I've experienced. Free pizza, soft drinks and beer after the ride, as well as well stocked rest stops along the way (properly spaced) added to the positive experience. I understand this is only the second year and we had about 200 or so riders. If so, a great start for what is bound to be a going concern in a few years. I plan to be back and bring my wife next year.
I do have a couple of suggestions. You may think them petty, but a couple play to the safety of the riders. 1) Please don't start the ride up hill. Those slightly uncomfortable with clips had trouble. 2) Bikes don't do well at waking speed. It was an honor to participate in the parade, but the slow pace was impractical for cycling. Maybe you could let us do a couple of laps around the square at 8 to 10 mph, then launch us and start the parade directly after that. Now for 3 petty suggestions: 1) Have a vegatable pizza for vegans (but what you had was very tasty), 2) offer t-shirt made of 100% cotton and with multi-color image(s) of your famed fireant, 3) make sure your on-line registration is a bit easier next year and include those registrants in the raffle drawing.
I gave the ride an A- and am sure it will quickly rise to an A+ over the next couple of years.

This year marks the 6th time I have ridden in the Tour de FireAnt. I am writing this review because I was amazed at how many changes were made this year. For the first time, the riders started the route going around Marshall’s historic cobblestone square. Because we were also leading out the FireAnt Parade, the streets were lined with spectators, which made you feel like a ‘Pro-Racer’. We did have to stop a few times, but I’m sure they will work those kinks out next year. The rest stops were a180 degrees from anything I have seen in the past. They all had all kinds of food, drinks, pickles, snacks and even Red Bull and Cliff Bars at some. The spirit of the volunteers was also really amped up. The route was the same and as beautiful as ever. I did notice a bunch of new spirit signs that were out on the course, including FireAnt Hill. The Police Officers were out on the course and blocking traffic for us. There was plenty of free pizza and beer at the finish, always an added bonus. They gave away a Trek bike and added door prizes, and more trophies than in the past. This was also the largest turnout that I have seen for the ride. Great job- Marshall & kudos to everyone involved!

October, 2007

It was perfect weather for riding. There was a good turnout this year. Most of us pre-registered but those doing so at the last minute didn't have any trouble. This is still a small event so packets were sparse except for stuff from Michelob, a water bottle, and a nice T-shirt.
The website said start time was 8AM but thankfully we got wind that the ride didn't begin until 9AM. They staggered the start with the 100K riders going first. Although we had a police motorcycle escort out of town, there were few intersections with any kind of traffic control.
Being used to riding in events where cyclists have the right-of-way, it was difficult to have to screetch to a stop and wait for the light to change before we could continue. That was my main gripe about this event. We had to cross several major intersections on very busy highways and it would have been nice to have had some sort of cop car with lights going at least to slow the traffic.
Several SAG trucks constantly patrolled the ride. Rest areas were good with some big juicy cookies and some great CiCi's brownies. There were several challenging hills, and roads were mostly good except for the last stretch going back into town, which had the worst chipseal and the roughest overall surface.
There was a moderate crowd at the finish line and they had lots of warm pizzas, cookies, fruit, drinks, and beer [Michelob was a sponsor]. They had awards but I had to get back home so I didn't stick around for the ceremonies.

October 2006

This is my 3rd time to ride in Marshall and I could almost echo the 2002 review. Marshall has some decent hills and mostly good roads although the last few miles was brutally rough chipseal. There were probably no more than 100 cyclists. The weather was crisp but dry which made great cycling weather. We rode the 100K and the first rest stop wasn't even set up when we passed by. Thanks to the lady about 30 miles into the course who saw us miss the turn and hastily drove out to catch us. That particular turn was confusing and we might have done a real century had she not intervened <grin>.
There is usually a rest stop at the top of Fire Ant Hill but when we got there about 11:15 the potty was the only thing to be found. The SAG support was clearly visible with at least 3 unmarked trucks patrolling the area. The only real disappointment besides the absence of the advertised rest stop atop Fire Ant Hill was that the people at the finish line didn't stick around. The course is supposed to close at 3PM but the people at the registration desk and the ones handing out snacks and cold drinks were mostly gone shortly after 12 noon.
There was absolutely no food at the end of the ride unless you walked over to the festival and bought something. We dealt with several dangerous road crossings and had absolutely no assistance. The only police presence was a motorcycle escort at the first and officer-guarded crossings on the route out of town. Tour de Fireant could really be a nice event if it were a bit larger, had more sponsors, was more organized, and folks stuck around untill everyone finished the course.

I guess I didn't have as bad a time as the first review. I rode the 100K. Finished about 11:30. I had no problems with signs. I did see a couple of rest areas that were unmanned but they had snacks and drinks on the table. I was around the awards ceremony till about 1 O'clock and there were still plenty of folks around. Weather was great. Rolling hills were definitely a challenge which is what I expect when going out of town to a ride. Otherwise I could have rode at home and saved myself a three hour drive. This event seemed to be well organized to me. I do know some folks didn't get a t-shirt but I think they are supposed to be mailed one. First event I have ever been to that gave out several trophies. I was number #103 when I finished and there were still folks behind me so they had a pretty good turnout. I will agree about the last few miles being rather rough. Only other complaint was a couple of rodes were well traveled by semi's who cut it close a couple of times. Announcer siad at the beginning that the paper made a mistake but saying ride would be open till 3PM so everyone should have known that was rather long.

I rode the 45 mile ride. It was my first time at this event. Nice little ride. I asked one of the organizers at the end of my ride, and was told they had 147 participants this year. I agree that the downtown area in the beginning and at the end had some rough roads, but I've never seen a city with smooth roads in the downtown area. I only stopped at one rest stop and that was at the top of Fire Ant Hill. It was manned by two friendly women, and had plenty of snacks. Most of the roads were smooth and I found the signs to be clear and easy to follow. I didn't really have any problems with any of the road crossings. Usually, there were no cars coming or I had to wait for just one. According to my odometer the 45 miles was actually 41. A minor negative on what was otherwise a very enjoyable ride through East Texas. I'd consider it again for next year.

October 9, 2004

I rode the 100k ride and enjoyed the scenery and rolling hills. The day was wet with just the right amount of moister to keep from getting you hot. There were probably 75-80 riders. Road conditions weren't bad , had several miles of no shoulder farm to market roads but the traffic was not bad. Did not see a marked SAG vehicle but does not mean there was not one on the course some where. At the end of the ride on the town square was the Fire Ant Festival where you could get some grub or amuse yourself in other ways. I will ride the event again for I enjoy riding in the piney woods. 

October 11, 2003

This was my second year to do this ride. I asked about the number of riders and was told 86, last year there were 88. The routes were all very hilly with hardly any flat areas to them. There is one hill around the 20 mile, that is named "Fire Ant Hill". It is not too long, but steep.
I rode the 33 mile route and there were 2 rest stops, there was not much at either one. The folks were friendly enough, just did not seem to "get into the spirits " of the ride. The route could have been marked better, the turns were spray painted on the pavement and some were from last year and were faded and hard to see and no other indications of where to turn. I did not see any sag support and not too much traffic control other that at the start. Getting back to the finish line was very hard, had to cross over 4 lanes of traffic to make a left hand turn and there was no traffic control and no traffic light. It is busy highway and was dangerous to cross over to turn. The route after that was hard to find and after the ride I heard quite a few folks complain about getting lost, missing turns and the rest stops . Talked to some folks that did the 100K and they said that when they got to the rest stops, they were not set up yet. But the folks there were friendly, the T-Shirts were nice and there was a free pasta dinner afterwards. The big plus was the road surface were smooth and fast and the country side was nice. This was the 3rd year for this ride, so maybe they are still learning.