Steve, Peggy, and I, along with Dan and Pam from LSR, rode this 200k permanent Saturday. It was pretty tough going out mostly against the wind, but nice finishing up with a tail wind. It wasn’t a hammerfest pace; our mph average didn’t even get above 15 until we turned and had the wind at our backs, and we ended up finishing in 10:03. But it was great company, and I really enjoyed the ride.

I do believe this is my favorite of the LSR permanent routes that I’ve done so far. It leaves from Lynn Creek Marina at Joe Pool Lake, heads west through Arlington onto some of the roads on my Briaroaks routes, then turns and goes through Alvarado. It then continues south on some tiny roads, some of which I hadn’t ridden before, and some which I had only ridden when Greg, Ray, Steve and I had to make a detour on a club ride. Then it turns east to Maypearl, travels some of the small roads south and east of there, turning northeast at Italy. Then it turns north and passes by Lake Waxahachie, leaving the chipseal there to go down Lakeshore Drive beside the lake, a very scenic road which I had never ridden before. It then takes familiar roads through Midlothian and Cedar Hill, finishing up by going down the big descent on Lake Ridge Parkway from Hwy 67.

The route has less chipseal than just about any of the permanent routes I’ve done, and while the almost 4,000 feet of climbing was enough to let you know you’d ridden up some hills, it wasn’t enough to completely wear me out. I look forward to riding this route again.

We passed Mark Metcalfe, Vickie Tyer, and Jerry Austin, going the opposite direction, twice as they rode a different 200k permanent. Rose joined us at the Oasis for dinner afterward, and it was a fitting end to a very enjoyable day. I ended up with 127.2 miles, at a blistering 15.6 mph average. Thanks, Steve, Peggy, Dan, and Pam for a great ride.