As I ate breakfast and waited for the temperature to go more I watched the Tour du Jura from France on Max B/R Sports. The riders were in sun as I would be when I started riding. I rode away at 10:19 AM on my Cervelo Caledonia, the rear tire still nice and firm from the tube replacement yesterday. I hoped to see other cyclists so I chose my Reverse Atascocita – Huffman – Walden route which gets me to FM1960 and Atascocita Shores Drive quicker than the not reversed version. I rode this last on September 7th, 2023. I did see other cyclists on Atascocita Shores Drive and Old Atascocita Road. On the way back I stopped at Donald’s Donuts for a glazed donut to fuel me back to Kingwood. I haven’t stopped there this year. It tasted good and I’ll stop there more often. The wind was light and my legs felt good powering me along nicely.
Weather: Start 74 degrees, humidity 66%, dew point 62.0, mostly cloudy, wind calm: Finish 79 degrees, humidity 46%, dew point 56.9, partly cloudy, wind SE 9 mph.
I forgot to include our visit to the Hallie Stillwell Museum next to the Stillwell Ranch Store and RV Park before dinner yesterday. Mrs. Stillwell was remarkable woman managing a 200,000 acre ranch after her husband died. As I entered the museum hanging on the wall was a life sized portrait of her holding a rifle in a western outfit. On the table below were some photos of her late in life and she looked like my mother’s twin.
In my haste to leave Sunday I forgot a bar of soap. The Stillwell store had Dial soap but it was expensive, $3.50, but I needed soap to take a shower. Another item I didn’t think to bring was lip balm and the store had that too. The sun and wind dried my lips out quickly. The showers were free and much appreciated.
Once again we were up before sunrise with the previous evening’s cooking team preparing breakfast and putting out supplies for lunches. Because of the wind I dressed warmer than yesterday with a long sleeve jersey under a blue Descente jacket. Rolling out the long downhill from US385 on FM2627 was now a long uphill back to US385. The wind wasn’t as strong on the uphill but present. Turning left at US385 it was about 2 miles to the Big Bend National Park entrance. When I got there I chatted with the ranger before continuing. I misread the route map thinking the road was relatively flat from there to Panther Junction, the park headquarters. I thought the climbing would be from Panther Junction to Rio Grand Village. About a mile from Panther Junction the climb became more noticeable. When I reached Panther Junction I took a rest break. Unfortunately Marty had a flat ire about 1/2 mile from Panther Junction and spent his time fixing it there. While resting and talking with Chris from our group that was when I realized my mistake about the route profile and looked forward to a mostly downhill ride to Rio Grand Village. While I was eating a bagel and talking with Jeff from our group Anthony passed by and we starting talking. Anthony is from Houston and manages 3 pizza restaurants. We talked about food suppliers and I told him retired for Sysco. An interesting conversation.
Rested I got back on my Canyon Endurace bike to ride to Rio Grand Village. Not long after leaving Panther Junction which was busy with people (maybe because of the upcoming eclipse) the road started down. The sky clouded up while I was stopped at Panther Junction and it got chilly riding. I was glad I wore the Descente jacket keeping the wind chill at bay, mostly. I could see sunshine in the distance and eventually rode into it. The 20 miles from Panther Junction to Rio Grand Village went pretty fast going through a tunnel before reaching Rio Grand Village. I rode the brakes a lot because of the rough chip’n seal road surface.
When I reached Rio Grand Village I rode around to several areas looking for the van and trailer but couldn’t find them. I asked the people in the store if they knew where they might be but they had no idea. They suggested looking in the group campground which I had not seen and that’s where I found them. Our campsite was dirt and some grass, much more tent friendly than the rock area at Stillwell. After setting up my tent with some help, Gary passed out $2 in quarters to pay for the showers at the store. I was pleased that I got all of the shower done in the allotted 5 minutes. Back at the campsite Buzz and Beth cooked a Lebanese entree which was a hit. After dinner and conversations I got in the tent to sleep. The next day was going to be hard pedaling.
(Richardson, TX) – The City of Richardson is holding its first Citywide Bicycle Rodeo on May 11 at Huffhines Park. Scheduled for 10 a.m.-noon, the event is an opportunity for children to learn about bicycle safety and test their skills in a variety of games and obstacle courses.
The City has partnered with BikeDFW to present the event, which will feature a bike safety course, bike safety check-ups, helmet checks, and bike skills and games. Children should bring a bike and helmet to participate. City staff and the Richardson Police Department will be on hand to discuss recent and upcoming improvements for bicycle safety throughout the City, including recently installed bike lanes and trails. …
Cycling McAllen Texas Rio Grande Valley in Deep South Texas. Whole afternoon on Bike Ride video begins after True Texas BBQ beef brisket and sides at HEB, then 10th Street to Harvey to Main to Broadway. Some shop errand stops in downtown McAllen, a slow tour of the “Entertainment” Bar and club 17th Street district. then Bicentennial Bike route to Nolana, tacos not open yet, another stop, then the trail to Auburn and another stop. I ate too much this day. Also Youtube says there is music on this video. I try very hard to keep any music from being on my videos. It must be some background music from a outside speaker.
The Wee-Chi-Tah Trail has been voted the best urban off-road trail in the State of Texas! It is a fun trail with many short, steep climbs, and screaming descents. It will be the venue for the Wee-Chi-Tah Mountain Bike Races and the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail Runs. There will be awards by age groups but the greatest reward is finishing all in one piece.
Registration for the 2024 Wee-Chi-Tah Trail Races, presented by the Wichita Falls Streams & Valleys, will open January 1st! There will be 12-ish mile …
Fifteen track bikes were stolen last week from storage at the Alkek Velodrome in Cullen Park.
Stuart Gardner, the velodrome’s program director, said the stolen bikes account for more than 40% of its rental fleet. He estimated the cost of the bikes to be around $15,000.
The thieves nearly wiped out the velodrome’s fleet of size 56 bikes, which most people between 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 6 feet tall would be best fitted to ride. Only one in that size remains.
Beautiful weather this weekend in Texas. Hope everyone is able to get out and ride! Here’s my Soma Double Cross that some members here helped me convert to 1X. This bike has taken on many different forms over the years. Really enjoy this latest iteration. Rapha handlebar bag is new and seems to be the perfect size. Also recently picked up the Outter Shell seat bag, which i love as well. 42cm Teravail Washburn tires, might be able to go a bit larger in the front.
cheers! …
Houston Mayor John Whitmire insists he supports Vision Zero as he tears down street safety improvements.
With Mayor John Whitmire ordering a pause last month on all projects that involve narrowing traffic lanes or adding new bike lanes, the new administration’s game plan to curb the growing number of car and cyclist crashes in Houston streets remains unclear.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation’s newest data, car accidents involving cyclists increased by more than 20 percent from 2022 to 2023. Last year, there were 365 collisions, 16 of which resulted in fatalities. It’s important to note that this …
The second day of the tour started in Marathon Motel and RV Park. That was my first night in the tent. The campground was rather lumpy but I would look back at it as smooth compared to where we were headed, Stillwell Store and RV Park. We got up before sunrise, ate breakfast prepared by one of the teams, took down the tents, took the bags to the trailer, and put together our lunches. I think my lunch was a bagel and chewy granola bars. I checked the route map and stuck the cue sheet in my Camelbak. The parking lot was chucks of rock to the road, US385, making the road seem smooth even though it was the Texas chip’n seal we would come to love.
More wind from the southwest awaited. At FM2627 the road turned and the crosswind/headwind became a strong tailwind. Pedaling wasn’t really necessary with the wind pushing. The wind hid the fact that we were going downhill most of the way until about a mile from Stillwell a big climb stared at me but I made it up and over. What I saw for a campsite was dirt, dust, and rocks. Oh, the wind was there too.
Jim and I weren’t the cooking team. We thought we were but another team had salmon and wanted to cook it before it spoiled.
I got the tent set up with more help. Went to the shower and was ready for dinner. The wind was still blowing strong. Sleep was limited and according to my Galaxy 5 smartwatch I slept 3 hours and 52 minutes.
