Back during the days of Texas' struggle for independence from Mexico, Colonel Fannin and 300 loyal Texas troops were shot by the soldiers of Mexican General Santa Anna, days after they had surrendered to the Mexican army. This was to forever be known as the "Massacre at Goliad." This weekend the CCRiders suffered their own version of the massacre at Goliad. It all began Friday night...

Leaving Houston were Mr. and Mrs. Poppins, 4 Pinkstonians, Slick, Baby Ruth, Zip and Batman. From the CCRider's elite Austin Division came Ox... we all had booked rooms at the Antlers Inn in Goliad for Friday night, or at least we thought. Somewhere outside Victoria, we called the Antler's Inn, only to learn that of the 5 rooms we thought we had, only three rooms were available. Ox had checked in and the Pinkstonians still had 2 rooms, but the rooms that Mr. Poppins had reserved for the rest of us had disappeared! This should have been our first omen that all was not well for the CCRiders in Goliad.

"Raj", our hotelier, finally persuaded an elderly couple to give up one of their rooms, and procured one rollaway bed from a competing hotel, and with everyone pitching in - we all had at least 1/2 a bed per person! The quiet before the storm....

Ride choices were 100, 50, and 30...so we split into 2 groups, the regular riders doing the 50, and Mrs. Poppins and 3 Pinkstonians doing the 30.

We were the largest and most visible of the ride teams in Goliad. Everybody knew the CCRiders would be a force to contend with. At the start of the ride, we wheeled out behind all of the other 50-mile riders and formed our pace line. The three remaining Pinkstonians, and Mrs. Poppins were waiting for the start of the 30-mile group, about 5 minutes later. It was just after the start of the 30-mile group that the first disaster struck!

Mrs. Poppins was not quite out of the town square, vigorously pedaling at about 5mph, and about 200 feet from the start line, when she realized that she had not yet put on her riding gloves. Rather than pull to the side of the road and safely place them on her hands - she choose unwisely to put them on while riding her bike. This did not appear to work as she, the bike, and the uninstalled gloves took a slow motion dive to the pavement. Mrs. Poppins thought that she was going at least 200 mph when she hit the street. Eyewitness accounts vary, but most agree that she did have some forward motion on the bike when it crashed. They figure more like 5 than 200 mph. This all happened in full view of the EMS wagon who was behind her, but the drivers took pity on Mrs. Poppins and did not run over her. So with 1 minute after the start, Mrs. Poppins is down, with leg, hip, elbow scraps - plus a possible broken right arm. The CCRiders 30 mile team is halted while they tend to their fallen and wounded. It's off to the x-ray machine at the Doctor's office for Mrs. Poppins. She will not finish the remaining 29.999 miles of her course.

Terry Pinkston, who will evermore be known as the "Push-me, Pull-you" (a Llama with a head at both ends of Dr. Doolittle fame) took off to find the 50 mile group, who were merrily riding along - doing speed work and bothering everyone they encountered in normal CCRider fashion. About 15 miles into the ride, Terry and a race official hailed Mr. Poppins and Steady Eddie over to the side. We sagged off to see about Mrs. Poppins as well as relocate Stead Eddie - to another part of the course in order to find his boys who were riding the 30-mile ride alone at this point. So in the first hour, 4 CCRiders were out of the ride. Down to 7 remaining - still the largest group on Goliad.

We relocated Steady Eddie across the county and onto the 30-mile course to wait for Munch and Russell, where we were horrified to witness Steady Eddie
go to the ground by somehow catching his left heel in his rear wheel spokes. This all in direct view of the 30-miler's rest stop. Naturally all that was bruised was his pride, since he wasn't moving at the time, but rather standing beside my car talking to us. One moment he was there talking, the next, he was gone (but on the ground!)

Mr. Poppins, the race official, and Push-me, Pull-you all drove back into Goliad to find the ailing Mrs. Poppins. Good news, the arm did not appear fractured, only badly bruised and strained. I couldn't help notice Munch and Russell, who were with Mrs. Poppins at this point. Now we have Stead Eddie waiting faithfully for his boys, out at the far end of the county...but the boys are still in Goliad. We now have 6 of our finest off the course, with 5 still in the ride. Baby Ruth, Zip, Slick, Batman, and Ox completed the course without incident, and somewhere along the way Bill drifted back into town, but took Russell out for the 10 mile loop, as young
Russell had not really had a chance to ride. Since I was out of the ride at the 15-mile mark, I can't really report on the successful completion of the ride by Ox, Batman, Slick, Zip, and Baby Ruth - except to say they appeared to have a fun day. We can report that Baby Ruth bought a new and spiffy bike outfit, and the Zipster has a new pair of gel gloves. Batman was riding the early part of the ride like a wild man, as we Ox and Slick...but beyond the 15-mile mark, someone else will need to comment....

Back to the story...While Steady Eddie and Russell were out on the 10-mile course, Munch was invited to test ride a 2 wheeled recumbent around the town square. Recumbents apparently are more difficult to keep upright than conventional bikes, as Munch lasted about 5 seconds before he toppled off the bike and skidded to a stop on his rump, in full view of the entire city of Goliad. Another CCRider down. On the way back to the finish line, within a stone's throw of the
courthouse and in the middle of a 90 degree right turn, a well known physics principle was again tested and upheld - "two bicycles cannot occupy the same
piece of right turn pavement at exactly the same time." Steady Eddie and youngest son both collided, and Russell went to the ground. Road rash and damaged pride later, Russell (who will forever be known as "CRUNCH") is ok. Now this makes the second time that a Pinkston adult has run over a Pinkston child- all in the last 3 months.

CCRiders set several records this year in Goliad - most crashes in a single year, most injured ever in the Goliad racing history, most crashes involving a single team-without involving anyone outside their group, and lowest percentage of team riders who started and actually completed their course (43%). So the battle cry of the CCRiders became "Remember Goliad" - and we thought of Fannin's men, as we ate piles of chips and salsa at La Bahia Mexican Restaurant in the afternoon.

We'll be back next year to attack the course. As a precaution against an assault with a hammer, I have relocated Mrs. Poppin's bike to a safe place in the garage ceiling, while she cancels tennis matches and the bruises heal. We have the "Munch and Crunch" team of Matthew and Russell Pinkston...and a new nickname for Terry - Push-me, Pull-you. Terry not only must shepherd her children on the rides, she must baby-sit Mrs. Poppins and patch up everyone in site, and act as sag wagon support coordinator for the CCRiders.

So the weekend was not entirely lost, but at one point or another is was in various stages of jeopardy… This is my third Goliad ride and I've only completed the course once. Last year my front wheel came apart with 5 miles to go, this year my wife came apart with 29.999 miles to go. There is always next year.
Mr. Poppins