With the Grand Parkway segment scheduled to open today I thought it would be interesting to ride north to see if the opening happened. I rode the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” route taking the northbound US59 service road to Community Drive. As I passed the west bound Grand Parkway entrance from US59 north the ramp was still blocked at 2:10 pm with a construction company truck sitting on the ramp with lights flashing. I guess the west bound lanes were not open yet. I turned right to take Community Drive to Loop 494 where I went north to Roman Forest Blvd. It has been a while since I rode on this section of Community Drive due to the construction work.
The start was late today getting away from home at 1:23. The sky was overcast and the temperature was 75 degrees with a light breeze from the SE. Looking at the weather radar I didn’t see any rain nearby.
Making the turn to the south at Roman Forest Blvd. I stayed on the service road until Valley Ranch Blvd. where I turned right to go to FM1314. This road goes under the Grand Parkway and when I got there the barriers were still up. I think it was about 2:40 pm. There were two construction workers there and I asked one when the road was going to open but he didn’t give a time. I made my way through the barriers heading to the Stripes station at FM1314 for a short break. My Garmin Edge 520 when I got there.
I went inside to get a Greensheet newspaper to sit on while I ate a couple of trail mix bars and emptied my water bottle. I didn’t want to stay too long so I wouldn’t cool off too much but I couldn’t leave too quick or I would get caught in the Briar Tree school traffic. The weather looked like it would stay dry as I checked my phone.
I went back inside the Stripes store to refill my water bottle and use the restroom before heading out. I was chilled some from cooling down at the break since I decided to not wear a short sleeve jersey over the long sleeve one I had on. I rode into Briar Tree and the school traffic was gone. As I rounded the first curve my glasses started to get misty from a very light mist. This was around the 23 mile point. The mist stayed with me all the way home when I arrived at 3:59. The temperature had dropped to 71 degrees and the wind increased to 10 mph. I was glad to be home before I got any wetter. I wiped the bike down and went inside.
With today’s ride March miles are now up to 693, 62 miles over my goal for March. I am not sure I will get to ride the last 2 days of March with rain in the forecast both days.
THE WOODLANDS, TX (March 25, 2016) – Residents of The Woodlands and Montgomery County will switch from their Saturday, April 2, Muddy Trails Bash running shoes and shorts and don bicycle gear and helmets for the Gran Fondo bicycle rides on Sunday in Montgomery. The busy weekend of fun and physical feats is all sponsored by one Woodlands-based company – The Woodlands Financial Group (TWFG) and its president and CEO, Gordy Bunch.
The TWFG Insurance Services Gran Fondo: Texas TMCOâ„¢ is a bicycle ride and race for the whole family to …
By Grace Atkins and Madhuri Venkateswar blog.chron.com
MobilityHouston provides an online and in-person platform for citizens of Houston to discuss and develop community-sourced solutions to complex transportation problems. As part of the initiative’s in-person component, MobilityHouston teamed up with Rice University’s Center for Civic Leadership and the Rice student chapter of the Roosevelt Institute to host the MobilityHouston Policy Competition. The event gave Rice students the opportunity to generate new, innovative ways to address the mobility issues facing the Houston community. …
… The winning team’s pitch envisions expanding opportunities for multimodal transit in Houston by streamlining the bike sharing and metro ridership. Among their recommendations was the development of a single card that could be used to pay for both bike sharing and METRO services. This “C†or “connect†card would combine the current payment abilities of …
NEW WAVERLY, Texas—This past Saturday saw racers from around Texas take to the start line at the first HTFU Roubaix, a gravel race of either 36, 72 or 108 miles, presented by Kolo Promotions. Texas has seen a growth in gravel events with Bicycle Sport Shop’s Holey Roller in the late winter and next month’s Castell Grind, perhaps the most well known gravel event in the Lone Star state.
For its part, Kolo Promo is a known commodity in the Central Texas cyclocross scene, with equal payouts for men and women, great awards for lower category podiums and good times. Speaking to founder Bryan Voytilla, originally from the “cyclocross capitol of the world Portland, Oregon,†he said that Kolo is “just a group of people that …
It is not often students use outdated technology when there is a newer option, but more and more Bobcats are opting to ride their bicycles to campus instead of taking a car.
David Ross, art history senior, rides his bike to school and work for a variety of reasons, but saving money is high on his list.
“I don’t spend money on gas, I don’t have to pay for a parking pass for campus or spend money parking at (the LBJ Parking Garage), which …
Van Horn, TX: Last of three
Saturday March 26, 2016, 74 miles (119 km) – Total so far: 631 miles (1,015 km)
I literally fell into Van Horn after 74 miles of riding through desolate western Tx. There was only water at the library in Valentine. Going downhill for maybe 50 miles was a treat however gradual. It’s surprising how the road surface changes with each county. Going west it started rough, turned nice, and ended almost silky smooth. I’m embarrassed to say how much food I ate to get me here! …
This is the European Tour of Texas Challenge registration. Registering for this will automatically register you for all rides included in the challenge as well as making you eligible to receive a custom European Tour of Texas Challenge jersey upon completion of the challenge, jersey design is shown in the event picture. To complete the challenge, all you have to do is show up and check in with the challenge registration table at each ride in the challenge, what this meens is that even if weather forces you to not want to ride or forces the ride to be cancled there will still be …
The ladies ride is on for tomorrow night. We may have a some wind but the rain should hold off until late Tuesday night / Wednesday morning. Forecast is 70-72 deg so the weather will be great.
We begin at the Tri Shop, Northwest corner of Windhaven and the Tollway in Plano at 6:15pm. Park on next to the Tri Shop on the west side of the building.
21 miles and …
Saturday, March 26th, 2016
Dinosaur Valley State Park
Glen Rose, Texas
The FOSSIL 50 Challenge is 34 miles of single track with roughly 16 miles of paved country roads mixed in. The course covers two trails; Dinosaur Valley State Park and Solavaca Ranch.
Below is a snapshot of my Stava of this event. The green dot is the start and the checkered dot is the finish. We had the racers’ meeting at the finish and then rode across the river to the start. From there we went past check point one and up the hill, clockwise through the Dino Valley course which eventually brought us back to check point one again. …
http://www.bigpigracing.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-27_13-19-381.png
I was feeling great this first lap. The hills seemed easy but a lot of guys were crashing, falling over, or slipping out. Luckily, I had none of those problems this first lap so I got ahead of the field and even …
We were starting to wonder if we’d pissed off the whole of San Antonio?! Whew, we finally received a team submission from the Alamo City. It’s a toss-up right now for our favorite team name between Jelly and Jam Racing and …
Day 33: McDonald Observatory to Van Horn
Tuesday March 22, 2016, 75 miles (121 km) – Total so far: 2,092 miles (3,367 km)
This morning we hung out for a while at our campsite until the visitors center at the observatory opened up. Seeing as we had about 60 miles or so until any services, we decided it’d be a good idea to wait until it opened at 10am and stock up on water there. After setting off on the road, the first half of the day went smoothly. The wind was coming in from the side so it didn’t bother us too much, and we had a lot of slightly downhill stretches that aided in putting quick miles on. The second half of the day, however, was a different story. After biking about 35 miles we turned onto a …
Sierra Blanca, TX: Small town
Sunday March 27, 2016, 34 miles (55 km) – Total so far: 665 miles (1,070 km)
A side wind from the SW at 9 mph , 70 ish, a slow flat tire and nowhere to go finds me 34 miles down the road in Sierra Blanca. Riding on I-10 was almost better than the frontage road. 50 mph wind gusts for 2 days coming !!!! Wind alert! Decisions!! Night riding?? A short day like today makes me unsatisfied. There is so much joy in fulfilling your passion! Riding…
Day 28 Round Top to Bastrop State Park, TX. Day 29 is rest day at the State Park.: Route 153 Rocks
Monday March 28, 2016, 54 miles (87 km) – Total so far: 1,362 miles (2,192 km)
I’m catching up from a day behind on my Day reports because the cellular network was overwhelmed in Round Top from all the antiquers Facebooking their latest finds and waffle cones. We really missed getting to a church on Easter but thought it best to get me on the road before the antiquers totally clogged the roads. My thoughts for the day did center on my blessings and peace in my faith, my creator and grace received.
We thought we might have to just grab fast food being Easter in the town of LaGrange. While we did not see any nods to ZZ Top and all dem nice girls we were totally impressed with …
My Cat2 40-49 mountain bike race video from the 2016 Hill Country Mountain Bike Challenge held at Flat Rock Ranch near Comfort, Texas.
The 3rd race of the Texas state 2016 series.
After flatting out at Flat Creek Crossing, I was a little dejected on racing. I kept my head up and kept prepping for the Flat Rock Ranch race.
I was all kinds of spaced out the week of the race due to various life reasons. I made it out to the venue, but not without forgetting SO MANY things! Most of all, I forgot my sleeping …
Texas Bicycling from Twitter
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Biker! Here's George's 4-year-old grandson having some fun in the wildflowers! pic.twitter.com/SLMH2xyz10
Riding the “Kingwood – Hare Cook Road – Kingwood” route today for 43.45 miles put me over my March mileage goal by 30 miles totaling 661 miles for March. The ride began at 11:59 with the temperature at 70 degrees. The sky was mostly clear with some high clouds on the SE horizon. Wind was a light 4 mph. According to the weather forecast people this could change come Wednesday when another cool front and rain might visit the area. I am ready for the 80+ temperatures to arrive. The last time I rode this route was last year and was about 3 mile longer. I did not ride the 2 miles through Elm Grove and Sherwood Trails villages at the beginning of the ride to shorten the miles.
With the temperature at 70 and the forecast of a high of 74 I decided to dress warm with shorts, long sleeve jersey and an un-vented windbreaker jacket. I expected to sweat if the temperature exceeded 74 which it did with 80 degrees at my home weather station at the end of the ride (3:34pm). At the Huffman Chevron break the end of my jersey sleeves were soaked and the jacket had salt streaks on the sleeves and back.
The ride went as planned along the route. I saw some of the pavement markers from last Saturday’s Band Against MS Ride but no signs. As I was riding west over Lake Houston on FM1960 I saw the only other biker I saw during the ride. I almost missed him as the traffic zipped by but I waved. Wildflowers dotted the pastures on the west side of FM2100 but I did not cross over to take any pictures as I concentrated on reaching Huffman for a break. I got there and took this picture of my Edge 520 screen.
It was 2:12 and I ended up staying until about 3:40. I needed to let my legs recover from the 31.72 miles so far. I ate a trail mix bar, granola bar and some Little Debbie mini-donuts (for the sugar charge to get back home 😎 ). Sitting in the sun felt good and when I got up the Greensheet newspaper I sat on was wet from the sweat. I took these screenshots of the weather before I left the Chevron station.
The wind helped me ride the 11+ miles home from the Chevron station and I improved my average speed to 15.2 mph until I got back in Kingwood and hit all the stops.
It’s been way too long since my last vlog, but the Driveway Series just started up and I’m super pumped about it! Here’s my first Driveway race of the season. I’m looking forward to 30 more weeks of this…
SALADO — More than 500 cyclists rode through the scenic back roads of Salado during the 14th annual Smokin’ Spokes bike race on Saturday.
Six routes covered treks ranging from 15 to 102 miles around the winding country roads near the village. The routes started and ended at Pace Park on Salado Creek. About 200 more …
Day 27 Anderson to Round Top, TX: working ranches to gentleman ranches and hordes of antiquers
Saturday March 26, 2016, 59 miles (95 km) – Total so far: 1,308 miles (2,105 km)
I dressed for starting the ride at 50 degrees and the sun was so strong I started peeling clothes after 15 minutes of riding. As I headed west many of the ranches began to be accompanied by fancy fences, gates and generous houses. From the two lane road covering high ground I had views far into the distance and could see a very large recreational Lake Sommerville. This Route 390 was a joy to ride. I stopped to take a picture of a cute house with a bicycle hanging from the gate and the owner and his wife came out and we chatted about cycling trips. He had ridden the Southern Tier Route from …
