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A BIG 'THANK YOU' TO ALL RIDERS, VOLUNTEERS & SPONSORS for MAKING THE 10th Annual OmniSYS Cotton Patch Classic
A RESOUNDING SUCCESS!

Click HERE for Race Results

EVENT DIRECTOR'S REMARKS
I would like to thank all of you that participated in our 10th anniversary ride of the OmniSYS Cotton Patch Classic. Each year more of you participate in our ride, this year was our best with 720+ bicyclists. We try to improve our ride every year for the benefit of the riders. Each year we listen to our riders and then re-evaluate for changes in the coming year. Please post your comments here or send them directly to me at my e-mail: alineme@geusnet.com . This year was our first year to have our bicycle event on the same day as the Lions Club Mini-Grand Prix car races. This year is also the first year that the Chamber of Commerce added vendors to the event. We think these additions helped to make a better entertainment value for the participants and make it a more unique experience, not just another bike rally. We invite you to return next year and bring your families and friends. We promise to entertain your families while you are "beating yourself up" on the course. Thank your for making our event a success this year! …..Dan Reinboldt, event director

RIDERS' REMARKS

Debra J. Simpson - Ft Worth TX
What a great ride! My husband and I enjoyed the beautiful countryside and the hospitality of your volunteers. We will definitely plan to see you next year.

I want to give special thanks to my hero Graham, a volunteer from the BISD, who gave me a ride for a couple of miles when I "ran out of gas" (because of the strong headwind) about 4 miles from the end of the ride. I was able to rejuvenate and complete the ride under my own power. He was the cutest, most charming man on the ride!

John Sadowski
I think all the events added to the overall event. Especially if the family's came along. The parking people were on the ball filling up the close-in lots first. Some of the riders were mildly upset at having to get off the bike and walk thru the festival but it is better than not even knowing it was there. Next year publicize it more.

I enjoyed the cut fruit, I did notice that they cut the bananas up in tiny pieces, half seems better to me. That and the cut pieces turn brown and don't look so good.
One part of the route had rough chip seal on the shoulder, but if you had a rear view mirror you could keep an eye peeled and ride on the smooth road. It was only for a short time anyway. Other than that the route was great. By doing the 54 I missed the hills. I should have known better, I rode the course last year.

Next year you might have a few signs showing to registration, not a high priority, but some riders like to ride to registration and/or to the start and it is not easy with the race course blocking some of the roads. You know how we hate to stop and walk. I ended riding the wrong way on a one-way street to get to the start.

Oh yes. At the start they had riders line up in front of the stage. then after announcements they had all the riders move around the corner to the start line. It is a pain and too easy to have an accident with so many bikes moving together in a big group.
All in all I had a great ride. the reviews so far are looking good too.
Thanks for everything.

Charles Rathbun:
" I participated in this years ride. I would recommend that any organization considering a bicycle event come to you guys for guidance. Anyone who gives a critical review of this wonderful experience is simply looking for something to gripe about!

The maps on your website made it easy for this first-time visitor to find everything quickly. Registration, even at the last minute, was a
breeze. I did the 66 mile route and was duly impressed. Anyone who
missed a turn must have been asleep. I thought the smiley-face at the top of the last big hill on 896 was a cute touch and was pleased to see most of the bad road hazards clearly marked. Thanks for the warning about the dogs. Apparently they were pepper trained because they never came out to visit <grin>.

After a very rough ride in Forney the week before I was extremely pleased that the great majority of the 60+ miles I rode were relatively smooth. The melon and grapes at most of the stops quenched both my hunger and thirst. The pizzas and freshly-blended smoothies at the end were a great finishing touch.

The wind was a friend on the way out and something we cussed on the way back but that's just part of the challenge. I would like to see a
75 mile or century route eventually but was very glad that I wasn't trying to complete a longer ride and fight that brutal wind!

So please extend my heart-felt thanks to all the hard working people who planned and executed this year's event. And I appologize for some of the riders who littered the roadways with empty gel packs instead of disposing them properly.

A rider was injured very early on. I didn't see any more injuries. I am curious as to the final number of tour riders".

Stephen B. Norris
Thanks for putting on the race this weekend. I thought that the event was well done, both during and after the race (the smoothies and other post race goodies were great, who knows how many I downed post race). I will be back, and will get more of my teammates to participate next
year. Please forward this e-mail to others who made this race possible in order to extend my thanks to them as well. Thanks again.

Brian:
First let me congratulate the CPC team on a well-organized 2006 Cotton Patch Classic ride this past weekend, and thank the many cheerful volunteers for their efforts and enthusiasm. We always look forward to going to Greenville for the ride because we know it will be well-run.

Some of us had suggestions that might help make the event even better - most bicycle rallies offer camping at the event site. Dallas is just far enough away that if you live on the far side you may not want to travel that far saturday morning and the camping option would allow more people to attend. We would have used this option had it been available to us.

Having shower facilities would allow us to take part in post-event festivities in the courthouse square. We understand that since most bicycle rallies are staged out of civic or high school complexes with existing shower facilites we have become spoiled, but if you could find a way to arrange access, i think more people would stay for the post-event activities.

I t would be very helpful to have more than one portable toilet at the rest stops.

T he only negative that we know of in the Cotton Patch Classic is the route. It is a well-known problem that gets talked about amongst area cyclists. The route travels north out of town, gauranteeing that the second half will be dead into the wind. This is a particularly cruel hoax when the wind is up (as it certainly was this year. I heard several riders comment that they weren't coming back because 30 miles into the wind on the return of the 100k route wasn't their idea of fun). Even if going south is not possible, an east-west route would be better. I think if the route were more rider-friendly, word would get around and more riders would attend.

All in all, a good ride and good people. Thanks to the people of Greenville .

Event Director Response:
Brian, Thank you for taking time to give us your opinions. We really do value rider opinions. Most of the organizers are bicyclists but we never get to ride in the event since they depend on us to help pull it off every year.

Q #1: Camping options are somewhat limited around downtown. I will bring up the issue at our wrap up meeting.

Q #2: We did have showers available at the Greenville YMCA but we did not have it on our website or brochure – thanks for pointing that out. We have announced that in the past but fell through the cracks this year.

Q #3: Port-a-toilets were only single at all but 1st rest stop (2) because they represent one of the biggest expenditures for any ride. When we exceed 800 tour riders we will talk about adding more toilets. After the 1st rest stop riders stretch out so usually one port-a-toilet will work.

Q #4: If you look at the map Greenville is at the intersection of 5 major roads: I-30, Hwy 66, US 69, Hwy 380 and Hwy 34. The only feasible way to change the route would be to start in south Greenville and head south. In going south we run into Lake Tawakoni and the Sabine River. In September the chances of have wind are good but also chances of a north wind are just as good. This year we had a south wind for the ride, today the wind is from the north. We have looked at routes in the south but then we would have to find a new staging area. Best overall road routes in Greenville are in northern Hunt Co.

I know as a rider in other rallies I have said to myself “If only they had done this……. It would be a better ride.” There usually is a “rest of the story” to most of the problems at any ride. Again thank you for your opinions and comments…..Dan Reinboldt event director

Overall a good ride through Hunt and Fannin counties. Routes were well marked and rest stops were good. I want to point out that the Wolfe City FD consistently does an outstanding job with their rest stop. Way to go guys and gals!! Downtown was a bit chaotic what with the 57 different events going on. Will do this one again.

This was a pleasant ride. Parking could have been a challenge had I not got to Greenville so early. Registration was easy and painless. The routes were pretty well laid-out and marked--in particular one road marking caught my attention. It was labeled "Dogs" with an arrow pointing a bit up the road and off to the left...and, there were dogs. I appreciated the warning. The route out was pretty smooth and very fast (we had a hefty tail wind). The lateral leg was a bit lonely but well marked. The return route was pretty brutal because of the winds but there were rest stops at just the right points. Everyone was friendly and helpful. It was also interesting to watch the racers but sad to pass those who had crashed painfully. It was also nice to see a bicycling event as a part of a larger celebration. I will ride this ride again next year.

This was well worth my long drive to get there. Thanks to all the volunteers and great folks who made this ride go so smoothly! I've never been to Geenville but with the detailed maps from their website I was able to find everyting very easily. Most of the stops had watermelon, cantaloupe, and grapes, which I thought was a great addition to the usual fare. I was impressed with the way hazards were marked and amused by the smiley-face at the top of the biggest hill. Anyone who missed a turn on this ride must have been sleeping. The road surfaces were mostly good with only a few short sections of rough chipseal. The wind was great on the north leg and brutal on the south but that's just part of the challenge. The pizza at the end was delicious and the fresh fruit smoothies were certainly relished by this hot, tired rider. I even got to chat with the fine fellow who does the bicycle-stuff.com website. I'll definitely be back next year.

The Cotton Patch Classic is definitely worth putting on your ride calendar. The ride coincided with a festival in historic town square of Greenville. Consequently, parking was chaotic. It was difficult to find a place to park and there wasn’t anyone around to direct us. Thankfully, registration went smoothly. I did the 63 mile route. Scenic, well laid out course with turnoffs every 5 miles or so for riders doing the shorter routes. The Leonard Leviathans were steep, but manageable and provided some fun downhill screamers. Real bugaboo was the return into the wind with what seemed like an endless though gradual uphill for much of the return trip. Averaged 20 mph going out, but only 16 mph back. Road surfaces were mostly excellent. Course and road hazards were extremely well marked. Course monitors did a great job directing riders through turns. Alll in all, a great ride. Will be back next year.

It seemed to me that there was someone with a flag at EVERY turn. - John

This was my first time to ride this and wanted to see if it was worth the 2 hour drive from Fort Worth. Since this was my first time I had no clue where to go once I reached Greenville. The maps on-line did get me inside the "ball park" but it was dark and I could not drive and look at map. I think they could have posted "this way" signs to guide the first timers to right place. This brings up my second point, the bike ride is held in conjunction with a festival. It just so happens the ride start/finish point and the festival are all in the same place. When you get to town, parking is where ever you can find a space, then when you finish the ride (come up to the finish line) you find yourself in the midst of the towns people out enjoying the festival. So now you have to navigate your way through the crowd to your parking place, then try to get out of town, it can be challenge, especially if you have never been to Greenville. The town had several roads closed off for a cart race, so depending on where you park it could be a challenge to get back to your vehicle. I would suggest that you move the race start/finish away from the downtown festivities. It is a good idea to hold a race in conjunction with a festival but I think they need to be in separate locations, just for ease of getting in and out and safety of the people enjoying the festival. With that being said, that was the worst of my experience. The route was along good secondary roads that were for the most part lightly traveled. The scenery along the route was awesome, except for the skunk that crossed the road right in front me, but hey, I got to see some of the local wild life. The route was rolling hills, a couple of good climbs but nothing difficult. The route is a north/south route so the last 30 miles (I did the 100K) was into a 16 -20 Knot head wind - earned your lunch that day, saw a lot of people struggling. Typically the winds are out of the S- SE in Texas so plan on a head wind for the last part of the route. Maybe the organizers can look at more of east - west route and you will not have to battle the head wind on the way back. All of the turns were staffed by volunteers, so it would have been very difficult to get lost. I wanted to say thank you to those volunteers. I stopped once and the rest stops were well stocked and staffed with helpful volunteers. Overall, this is a good ride, I did enjoy myself, the last 20 miles was painful, but then again you need something to challenge yourself and a 20 knot head wind will provide that challenge. If you have a USCF license you can enter the race and see if you can get into the prize money. Not a lot of people (couple hundred at the most), good roads, good support, good ride. Thanks to people of Greenville who put on this event.

EMAIL YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT THE EVENT TO: Cotton Patch Classic Event Director

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