North Extremes of Lake Houston and San Jacinto River

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Needing 40 miles to reach my mileage goal for July I decided to ride the “New Caney – FM1485 E – Huffman” route around the northern extremes of Lake Houston and the San Jacinto River. I ended up biking 45.22 miles. This put me 4.75 miles over my goal. I started somewhat earlier than usual leaving home at 9:18. The weather was compatible with biking when I started: 82 degrees, scattered clouds and a light SW breeze. The last time I rode this general route was June 21st. That ride was a little shorter by a half mile. This route is one of the few with no duplication; I like that.

Returning home at 12:58 the temperature had increased to 95, humidity was 57%, scattered clouds and a 10 mph SW wind. I tolerated the weather pretty well but the last 11 miles home was into the wind until I turned north into Atascocita and my pedaling bogged down whenever I was out in the open. I stopped at the Huffman Chevron (can’t resist this place if I go to Huffman) for about 30 minutes to eat a couple of trail mix bars and rehydrate. Sitting under the pump canopy the SW breeze felt nice as I cooled down and dried off. Today I did not avoid getting sweat on my glasses. I was in the Commons of Lake Houston when that happened. This is really not that big of a deal except my sight is blurred until it runs off and drys. The Headsweats headband did good other than that. I almost wore one of the tube scarfs and the headband but it felt too bulky to fit under my helmet’s headband. When I was at the Chevron there was a motorcycle couple resting and it looked like they were wearing the $19.95 As-Seen-On-TV scarfs. I almost asked them if they were those scarfs but they were talking to another man.

On this route there is a 2 mile section on FM2100 where there is no shoulder. This concerns me but today only 5 vehicles passed me in that section going my direction. The first one turned on his flashers while slowing down to pass me. I thought that was nice. One of the 5 was a motorcycle so that shouldn’t really count.

Mileage standings:

  • 227.16 miles for the week
  • 720.75 miles for July (4.75 miles over my goal)
  • 4096 miles for the year to date

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Sunday’s weather should be a repeat of today. I have biked 12 days in a row so I may take a break especially since I have reached July’s goal.

Texas Bicycle News Digest July 25th

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Off-roader ruins city bike trail

by Claire Kowalick        www.timesrecordnews.com


WICHITA FALLS, Texas – One man’s joyride has become a nightmare for Hotter’N Hell Hundred bike ride organizers who maintain the Wee Chi Tah trail.
A man with long blond hair has been seen over the past two years riding a blue Enduro-style off-road motorcycle with no tags through the Wee Chi Tah and…

New Bike Czar Ashley Haire On The Roadblocks To Making Dallas Bike-Friendly

By Krystina Martinez & Rick Holter        keranews.org


No doubt about it: North Texas is car country. The League of American Bicyclists ranked the 70 biggest U.S. cities in share of bike commuters, and four of the bottom 12 were in North Texas. Dallas came in at No. 65, and the city’s new bike czar. Ashley Haire, is determined to change that. She sits down with KERA’s vice president of news, Rick Holter, in this week’s Friday Conversation.
Interview Highlights: Ashley Haire…
…On the effectiveness of ‘sharrows’ in Dallas:
“I think they work in the right situations. Ideally, they’re really only for roads that have speed limits of 35 miles or less, and when you get that speed differential between cars and bicycles, that’s when it can be really dangerous. That’s when we…

The Bayou Greenways Plan: A Game-Changer for Houston?

by Angie Schmitt        streetsblog.org


Houston’s Bayou Greenways plan is perhaps the largest active transportation project in the country right now — if residents can actually use it for transportation when it’s completed.
Jen Powis of the Houston Parks Board has described the greenway project as a cross between the Atlanta Beltline and the Portland Bike Master Plan, which “re-envisions transportation” in the city. The project is undoubtedly ambitious, but it remains to be seen whether the city will create safe street-level walking and biking connections to the greenway network.
Construction of the Bayou Greenways is already underway. Once complete, it will consist of a comprehensive network of greenways and walking and biking trails along the city’s many natural bayous.
The plan comes from a blueprint more than 100 years old. It was part of early city planner Arthur Comey’s vision for the Houston park system back in 1912. And in…

Bikepacking basics

by Karen Brooks        www.peopleforbikes.org


If you’re at all interested in adventuring on two wheels, you’ve probably run across the term “bikepacking.” This is exactly what it sounds like: a self-supported camping trip in a natural setting, but using a bike as transportation instead of walking. The big advantage over backpacking is that, just like on city streets, you can get farther and see more on two wheels than you can on two feet. Remote areas that would be all but inaccessible to a backpacker can be reached much more easily by bike. And even if you’re not up for a grand long-distance journey, you can still discover hidden gems during…

 

Biking With The Indian Ghosts Pondering No Good Deed Going Unpunished If Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

Durango Texas

That’s the pool and hot tub view from my patio prison cell you are looking at on the left.
That view is currently scheduled to change this coming October, with a new view north, rather than this old view south.
I was up not long after the sun this morning, with a long swim before a short breakfast.
After several hours of fussing with HTML code type aggravation I felt the…

Tuesday: Intermediate/Advanced Mountain Bike Ride at the Ant Hills

Tuesday, Aug 5, 2014, 6:15 PM

15200 Memorial Dr
15200 Memorial Dr Houston, Te

2 cyclists Went

This will be a medium to fast pace ride through the Ant Hills of Hershey Park! Bring WATER, spare tube/tire, snacks, etc…Helmets required. Call if you are going to be late so we can wait for you. Wheels rolling by 6:30! See you there

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ARR Free Beginners Skills Clinic

Sunday, Aug 3, 2014, 8:30 AM

Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park
12138 North Lamar Boulevard Austin, TX

12 Mountain Bikers Went

ARR Free Beginners Skills ClinicJoin ARR this Sunday morning (August 3) at Walnut Creek Park for a free beginner skills clinic before the regularly scheduled Sunday morning ride. Arrive early enough to prepare yourself and your bike, the clinic starts promptly at 8:30 and runs until the 9:30 start of the ARR ride.This clinic is for ARR members on…

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A Lot of Dirt Moving Around

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While I was biking today I was thinking that this route must be burned into my mind. The reason is that I now know where many of the road blemishes are and swerve around them without too much thought. On Loop 494 riding north just past the bridge by White Cemetery there is a gash in the asphalt shoulder section. It doesn’t go all the way from the white line to the end of the blacktop so there is enough room to ride around it without going into the main lane. Today I made that move knowing where it was at. Some of the excitement of biking is discovering new things. Does this mean when a route is well known you can’t discover new things?

I exited Kingwood via Adams St. and I noticed Adams St. now has stripes. A yellow center one and two white ones on the edges. I guess this means the resurfacing is complete. The route went through New Caney to Roman Forest Blvd. AT Roman Forest I checked the progress on Lake Tavalo. There are big letters on the far side of the lake on a wall below the tower and the tower assembly is making progress. It still needs to lifted into place. Leaving Roman forest I rode south along US59 through the Grand Parkway construction at Community Drive. As I went through the site one of those very big off road dump trucks scampered across the road with a full load of dirt. Years ago I read about the invention of the electric wheel by a Mr. LeTourneau. One of the things that stuck with me is the amount of dirt that has to be moved during a construction project. The Grand Parkway is no exception. There are dump trucks going in and out of Valley Ranch Parkway hauling dirt. Sometimes the trucks stir up the dust making riding difficult.

The route was 33.39 miles long today and I averaged 15.6 mph.

During my stop at Stripes on FM1314 I had a conversation with a man when I first pulled in to get some paper towels to dry off some. Later While I sat drinking some Gatorade he stopped and we talked about exercise. He asked how many miles I rode each week and he said he use to run 15 miles a week until his knees gave out. He said he needed to get his bike out and start exercising again. I agreed. It was at the 22.25 mile point when I stopped at Stripes. It was 88 degrees there according to the weather app on my phone.

My start was slow getting off the line because the Garmin 510 would not connect to the cadence/distance sensor. After several tries it connected and I rolled out at 9:55. The temperature was 82 degrees. At the end of the ride (12:48) it was 91 degrees and 52% humidity. I wore a Headsweat headband today. It did a little better than the scarf I wore yesterday keeping the sweat off my glasses. While I stopped at Stripes I felt the water dripping down my neck as the headband drained. The scattered clouds did not offer much relief from the sun and the very light breeze didn’t help cooling unless I was moving.

Mile markers:

  • 181.94 miles this week
  • 675.53 miles in July (40 miles to reach my goal for July)
  • 4050 miles year to date
  • Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS

Texas Bicycling News and Blog Digest July 24th

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Riders and Their Rigs : Jenna Emerick’s Giant Lust

texasbikeracing.com


Jenna Emerick
The Peddler Bike Shop
Category 1 • 19-39 Women
This is my Giant Lust Advanced 2.
Right now it is the only women’s specific, full-suspension, 650b, carbon cross-country race bike on the market, which is ultimately what makes this bike so unique. While I’ve been dreaming up a long list of upgrades for her, right now the bike is fairly stock, and still totally rips.
The geometry in conjunction with wheel size make the bike incredibly responsive. I can carve through tight corners and still descend with the confidence of a 29er. The Fox Float front and rear shock have 3 modes- Climb, Trail, and Descend, which lets you conquer virtually any type of terrain, and is…

 

Los Ebanos Ferry tour

by Ray Garza RGV Cycling


Several weeks ago a friend of mine, Letty, rode her bike to go see the Los Ebanos ferry. Although she couldn’t see it due to customs blocking the view it did spark something in me. I want to go and see it myself. After talking about it we decided that we would go one weekend and cross over to Mexico for a taco and a Coke. Well, one-thing led to another and we decided to open it up and make it a public event and invited our Facebook friends to join us.
What all the commotion over a ferry ride? A little background on it. The Los Ebanos Ferry is the only hand-pulled ferry on the Rio Grande River between Mexico and the US. The barge has been operational since the 1950’s and it is anchored to a large ebony tree. Since the ferry is hand-pulled, only three cars can cross at a time. Three cars and…

 

Family fun at Rockwall Rotary’s Hot Rocks Bike Ride

By BRN Media


ROCKWALL, TX (July 23, 2014)- Enjoy family fun at the 2014 Hot Rocks Bike Ride, which begins at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, August 9 at Wilkerson-Sanders Stadium.
Presented annually by the Rockwall Noon Rotary Club, Hot Rocks has been growing in popularity every year, attracting cyclists of all ages and skill levels. Proceeds from the ride benefit Rotary college scholarships.
More than 1,000 participants are expected at this year’s event, from competitive racers and beginners to families with young children. With improved roads and a better course – including routes of 57-miles, 40-miles, 23-miles, 13 miles and the newly introduced 3-mileIMG_0569 or 6-mile kids loop – the 2014 event offers safe, fun and challenging options for all ages and abilities. Volunteers provide rest stops every…

 

David Baxter ready for 1,000-mile Canadian bike race

By Pam LeBlanc www.austin360.com


David Baxter’s definition of a long ride differs from most.
Next week, the 45-year-old Austin computer programmer (he’ll be 46 tomorrow) will set off on a 1,000-mile endurance bicycle race in the mountains of British Columbia.
He’s raising money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in support of his twin sister Bonnie, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2007 and has since retired from her job as a…

 

Man hit by car while biking on Lake Air

By OLIVIA MESSER         www.wacotrib.com


A man was taken to the hospital Thursday evening after he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle, police said.
Police on scene said the man was biking on Lake Air Drive crossing Bosque Boulevard at about 5:40 p.m. when he reportedly ran…

Where My Adventures Began

by: Omar C. Garcia        Go Beyond


I grew up in the small town of Mission, located just a few miles north of the Rio Grande River. In the 1950’s, Mission was the South Texas version of Mayberry. Everybody in town knew my family and I felt at home no matter where I happened to wander. Mission became the setting for a childhood of fun adventures — everything from climbing mesquite trees to playing Cowboys and Indians and unwittingly starting a one-alarm fire to many other epic childhood adventures.
This morning, I hoisted my mountain bike into the bed of my Tundra and drove the short distance from my Dad’s home in McAllen to Mission — the place where my adventures began. Returning to this particular place on the planet still excites me…

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