# DFW Train-ing ride



## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

About 6 weeks ago a group of DFW area riders came up with the idea of getting the Dallas area and Fort Worth area riders together for a group ride. What made this ride different is we decided to have the Dallas area folks ride the train to Fort Worth and as a group, we'd all ride to from Fort Worth to Dallas. The Fort Worth area riders would then take the train back home.

The ride ended up being right at 60 miles. We had a total of 9 riders. Chris H created some fantastic spoke cards for the event. The RBRers in attendance were:

Innergel
Chris H
Bluechip( he wins the award for longest distance traveled- He drove in from Houston)
633
RoyIII
Jeffn
nonsleepingjon
Dave Hickey

Most of the riders were on fixed gears...The Dallas group boarded the 8:30 train and arrived at Fort Worth at 9:30. After introductions, we headed toward Dallas at about 9:45
We stopped for lunch at about the 40 mile mark in Los Colinas. We ended up arriving at White Rock Lake about 3:15. 

The weather was perfect and the route worked out fantastic. We tried to avoid heavy traffic areas and succeeded as best you can in a metropolitan area of 5 million people..

Many thanks to all the helped organize the ride and to all that attended.

Here are a couple of pics

1. The FTW group waiting for the Dallas riders to arrive
2. nonsleepingjon, 633 and bluechip at a rest stop


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Taking a break in Los Colinas

Taming the Mustangs


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Our group picture

and our high dollar lunch stop at a gas station....


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

A couple of the bikes

The bikes tucked in for the train ride back to Fort Worth


Thanks to all that made this happen. We will do it again


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Chris H's spoke card he created for the ride...


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## Jeff in Texas (Mar 17, 2006)

Sorry I couldn't make it. But I had to work today. About what time did y'all stop in Las Colinas?


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

That looks like fun (and your red and white sweetness in beautiful).


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## JeffN (Sep 19, 2006)

*Looking forward to next time*

Thanks for the pics Dave!

I too had a great time on the ride today. I want to thank everyone who put it together since I feel like I just tagged along for the ride. I look forward to doing something like this again.


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## Chris H (Jul 7, 2005)

I had a blast on this ride. Next time I might bring a geared bike. Will make it easier to keep up with the gearies.

It was great to meet up with everyone. I can't wait for the next one!


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

JeffN said:


> Thanks for the pics Dave!
> 
> I too had a great time on the ride today. I want to thank everyone who put it together since I feel like I just tagged along for the ride. I look forward to doing something like this again.



Hopefully I'll see you in Austin at the LiveStrong ride...Thanks for coming....


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## JP (Feb 8, 2005)

Hey that's really cool. Any time you have a card made up, it's got to be good.


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## culdeus (May 5, 2005)

Sounds great, sorry I couldn't make it. Lets try going in the other direction in the fall sometime?


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## rule (Dec 2, 2004)

Good times! Nicely done all.


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## nonsleepingjon (Oct 18, 2002)

Chris H said:


> I had a blast on this ride. Next time I might bring a geared bike. Will make it easier to keep up with the gearies.
> 
> It was great to meet up with everyone. I can't wait for the next one!



Are you kidding me? I needed gears to keep up with the fixtes! 

Great ride, let's do it again some time. I should be recovered from this one in a month or two...


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## 633 (Feb 10, 2004)

It was a fun ride until I had to split off in Las Colinas. Flatted as I was heading for the train to make it back for my son's ball game. Got the flat fixed, but missed the train by 6 minutes. With the Saturday train schedule, next one wasn't for an hour and a half. I didn't know that part of Irving, but figured if I pointed the bike west, I'd be heading the right direction. Finally rolled in about 5 minutes after Daniel's game ended. 64 miles total, after my long for the year was 35 so far. I'm moving a little slow today.

The group ride part was a lot of fun, though. Let's definitely do it again.


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## Bluechip (Feb 19, 2004)

It was a lot of fun. Well worth the trip in from Houston. If the timing works out I would consider doing it again. I guess I'll need to come up with a good idea for a Houston ride and see if any of you guys make the trip.


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## RoyIII (Feb 24, 2007)

*Best Ride of the Year*

so far. Great group, and well thought-out route. Now I know what a real spoke card is for! I had a blast. 633, sorry to hear that the flat-badmojo settled on you. Bluechip, I'd drive to Houston in a heartbeat for another one of these rides. Let's do it again sometime.


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## innergel (Jun 14, 2002)

A+ to everyone for everything. I had a GREAT time! It was nice to finally put some faces to the names. It was definitely the best ride of the year. I'm in for any and all sequels, including a Houston version. 

I'll try and get my pics posted today. I've got some live action shots in Deep Ellum, downtown Dallas and Main St in downtown Ft Worth. 

633, sorry to hear about your flat. Missing your kids game stinks.


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## innergel (Jun 14, 2002)

*My pics - #1*

Here are some of the pics I took. Action shots, etc. 

1. pre-ride leg shot of yours truly
2. Deep Ellum heading towards downtown Dallas and the train to Ft Worth
3. nonsleepjon
4. JeffN
5. Don (non-RBR interloper)


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## innergel (Jun 14, 2002)

*More pics #2*

1. bikes loaded up
2. misc cycling paraphanalia
3. arrive' in Ft Worth
4. bikes
5. spoke card installed on a fixie


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## innergel (Jun 14, 2002)

*More pics #3*

1. rollout down Ft Worth Main St - note the pave'
2. more Main Street
3-6. rest stop in scenic Las Colinas - riders everywhere
7. your truly - damn I'm sexy!


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## innergel (Jun 14, 2002)

1. bikes
2. more bikes
3. my bike
4. my legs, dying a slow death (note to self, don't wear mtb shoes on a long fixie ride)
5. JeffN and his short cotton socks - this pic is for teh moreon


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

innergel said:


> 1. bikes loaded up
> 2. misc cycling paraphanalia
> 3. arrive' in Ft Worth
> 4. bikes
> 5. spoke card installed on a fixie



Good stuff...Thanks.... The Light Rail from Mockingbird worked out fine. It was a little crowded but we made it to Union Station with 5 minutes to spare(the next train was an hour and half after our train). The TRE back to FTW was excellent..

That train ride opened up a bunch of possible rides...I'm just going to hop on it some day and ride home from where ever I get off......


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## innergel (Jun 14, 2002)

*and finally...*

After a long shower and accompanying nap, I managed to whip up a nice meal. Many kudos to the lovely Mrs. Gel for doing all the shopping. I promptly feel asleep after a great day in the saddle and a nice meal afterwards. 

1. mmmm filet mignon
2. various and sundry food items - steak, margarita shrimp skewers, spinach salad w/ blue cheese dressing, fresh tomato's w/ balsamic, salt pepper and olive oil


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## innergel (Jun 14, 2002)

Dave Hickey said:


> Good stuff...Thanks.... The Light Rail from Mockingbird worked out fine. It was a little crowded but we made it to Union Station with 5 minutes to spare(the next train was an hour and half after our train). The TRE back to FTW was excellent


Glad you made it in time. Waiting at Union Station would not have been fun. I can tell you no one was too happy to have to go back up Flag Pole Hill again. But we all managed without too much complaint.  

I agree the TRE and DART is excellent. We'll definitely have to do this again. We can work out an different route through Dallas next time. I'm thinking Highland Park & Uptown would work nicely.


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## Bluechip (Feb 19, 2004)

innergel said:


> After a long shower and accompanying nap, I managed to whip us up a nice meal. Many kudos to the lovely Mrs. Gel for doing all the shopping. I promptly feel asleep after a great day in the saddle and a nice meal afterwards.
> 
> 1. mmmm filet mignon
> 2. various and sundry food items - steak, margarita shrimp skewers, spinach salad w/ blue cheese dressing, fresh tomato's w/ balsamic, salt pepper and olive oil


It looks like you had a better meal than I did. On the drive home I ate one of my Cliff bars. Yum!! I got home around 8:30 and took a shower and then ate a quick sandwich and watched a little tv before going to bed. At 4:45 AM my alarm went off. I forgot to turn it off from the moring of the ride. I tried for a while but could not go back to sleep. I did a few items on my honeydo list and puttered around the house until we went to go see Shrek 3. I then of course fell asleep in the movie. I guess I will see it on dvd.


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## Chris H (Jul 7, 2005)

Thanks for the pics. Again, I had a blast.

However, looking at the pics I need to quit hanging out with skinny people. You all make me look bad! lol


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## gentryd (Mar 12, 2007)

*Thanks for letting me tag along.*

I finally got around to getting back to the forum and get registered.
I appreciate you guys letting me tag along. The last bit of the ride I was really hurting, but I'll use this as incentive to get back on the bike. 
Sorry to hear about the troubles everyone had, but hopefully we'll have the train schedules and routes nailed down for the NEXT TIME! I normally don't get to ride west of the airport and thoroughly enjoyed that part of the ride for sure.
You fixies are impressive and I suffered trying to keep up most of the time. You've all got me interested in converting one of my rides to a fixed gear so there's probably quite a bit more suffering in line for me.
Let's do this again...only Jason has to learn how to use photoshop to trim up my belly


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Welcome to the boards.....It was great to have you on the ride


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## 633 (Feb 10, 2004)

gentryd said:


> Let's do this again...only Jason has to learn how to use photoshop to trim up my belly


No kidding on that. I'm going to take those pictures of me and post them on the fridge as a dietary aid.


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## innergel (Jun 14, 2002)

gentryd said:


> I finally got around to getting back to the forum and get registered.
> I appreciate you guys letting me tag along. The last bit of the ride I was really hurting, but I'll use this as incentive to get back on the bike.
> Sorry to hear about the troubles everyone had, but hopefully we'll have the train schedules and routes nailed down for the NEXT TIME! I normally don't get to ride west of the airport and thoroughly enjoyed that part of the ride for sure.
> You fixies are impressive and I suffered trying to keep up most of the time. You've all got me interested in converting one of my rides to a fixed gear so there's probably quite a bit more suffering in line for me.
> Let's do this again...only Jason has to learn how to use photoshop to trim up my belly


Glad you could make it Don. As usual, we have a good time on our rides. 

We can fix up that Ironman Centurion very easily. You could probably sell some of the parts on it and have enough money for a new flip/flop wheelset. You'd probably come out ahead on the deal. I've got all the tools to do the job. We could knock it out in a few hours, no problem. 

And I've got no PS skills. I just snap the pic and post. Where's firstrax when we need him


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Either of you guys PM me. I'll set him up with a wheelset...No worries on that part..
we need more fixed riders


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## technotart (Jun 24, 2005)

So...this ride *IS* happening again right?


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Yes, there will be another. It will probably be the reverse route(Dallas to Fort Worth)


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