By Robin Y. Richardson, News Messenger

Charles Fletcher has always been spontaneous.

He and his wife Gloria have been hiking mountains around the world — from the French Alps to the Smokys — since their 30s. He climbed his last one, a major ice wall in Europe, at age 57.

Now, at 84, Fletcher revels in riding his bicycle as a member of the Marshall Chain Gang, initially called The Marshall Bicycle Club.

“He’s an adventurous person,” said Ben Bates, president of the club.

Not even illness can slow him down.

“He’s had cancer, can barely walk, but he gets on that bicycle,” Bates said.

With the rapid increase in gasoline prices Metro could be overwhelmed with bicyclists riding to meet buses according to the Houston Chronicle story. As I drive around Houston I have not seen many buses with their front mounted bike rack filled with the two bikes they can carry.

From the Chronicle story:

“In April, 1,510 bus riders boarded after attaching their bicycles to racks, according to Metro. By June, that number increased to 3,624.

Bike racks, which hold up to two bicycles at a time, are installed on all Metro buses, save for the longer accordion-style models. Park & Ride commuters can put bikes in the luggage storage areas, and riders can bring their bikes onto MetroRail trains during nonpeak hours of the day.”

link to the full story

• 574.29 miles for the month
• Days that I rode: 19
• Average miles per ride day: 30.2
• Total year to date miles through June 30th: 2661.74

I did not do any organized rides during June. This was influenced by the driving distance to the rides and the price of gasoline. All the miles are on the road, no mountain bike riding this month. Road construction continues to limit the routes I can ride from home.

To read the full account visit Keith’s blog link

By Mary Ann Cavazos

A recent week on Corpus Christi roadways saw seven accidents involving motor vehicles and bicyclists.

Local cyclists say the sheer number of accidents during that week, June 15-21, is cause for concern and should serve as a wake-up call to cyclists and drivers who share area roads.

As of Monday, there had been 38 accidents this year, 13 of which happened this month, according to recent figures released by police.

link to the full article at the Caller-Times

By: HEATHER NOLAN, The Enterprise

On Tuesday, Southeast Texas natives Joe Haeggquist, Tom Simon, Charlie Dixon, Eric Laing, Richard James and Britt Gober will begin pedaling their bicycles across the country from San Diego to Washington, D.C.

The group plans to traverse the 3,300 miles in 33 days - 100 miles a day - to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which focuses on cancer awareness. They plan to stop in 34 cities.

Along the way, they’ll be sporting helmets with a Beaumont logo, and the Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau provided them with T-shirts to hand out at each stop.

link to the full story

link to 331 Miles

Now the question, where does this wire come from? My theory; the steel wire in radial tires. I see tire chunks along the road from radial tires. But how do the little pieces of wire come to be?

Do you have a theory or guess?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran this story, “More workers are riding bikes to work to sidestep high gas prices” online today.

What have you seen?

By VAL CLIFTON

“Many motorists don’t think bicycles belong in the roadway,” Wang said. “You have to put up with a certain amount of discrimination.”

Outside Houston city limits, Harris County has “no interest” in building facilities for bicyclists on roads or streets, he said.

“Some of the precincts have some very nice trails, but none that are on road that actually serve destinations like schools, businesses or retail,” Wang said. “They are recreational in nature. No one lives on a trail or buys groceries on a trial, so they aren’t usable for transportation.”

Link to the rest of the story