Rolling Hills of Collin County

Yesterday I participated in the Collin Classic, a bicycle ride put together by Plano Cycling and Fitness and Bikin Mike. The organizers had carefully planned the ride in such a way that cyclists could choose the distance they are comfortable with and yet participate in the event. Distances ranged from 4 mile family route to 55 mile hard-core cyclist trail.

The website explained that the ride would expose participants to the rolling hills of Collin County. Having been in Dallas for over 18 months I haven't seen any real hills. I thought these guys are just joking when they talk about hills. But it became obvious that I was wrong in the first couple of miles itself.

The ride started off at 8.00 am sharp with the US national anthem and then there was mayhem on the road cyclists racing each other. This is a perfect example of road rage in its most human form, rage of humans on vehicles powered by humans. Riding my street hybrid bicycle I was quite a spectacle for many of the serious guys riding carbon-fibre framed $1,000-10,000 bikes.

The ride took us through the real countryside of Texas, hundreds of acres of corn and wheat lined the roads on either side. Unlike the MS-150 this ride was more adventurous and in remoter areas of the state. The villages I passed through had badly potholed roads, especially New Hope, Melissa, Blue Ridge, etc. There were couple of mile-long uphill stretches which had to be negotiated.

Towards the third break point (half-way through), we had negotiated about 12 miles of uphill ascents and my left thigh was threatening to collapse. I ordered myself to persevere and conserve energy and complete the ride. It would have been embarassing if I had to call for SAG support. I took a slightly longer break, massaged myself poured water and rode on. As I rolled across the finish line 2 hours later I felt glad I had recognized the signs of muscle fatigue and conserved my energy to complete the ride.

Some interesting sights of the ride I could never forget include, seeing a donkey breeding farm, undulating roads of Collin County, vast corn fields, among others.