Rain, Rain Go Away – April 13th Bike Ride

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Several times this morning a dark cloud moved over my house and a few rain drops fell. When I rolled out of my driveway at 12:15 another batch of rain drops came down but by the time I biked a couple of tenths of a mile the rain left but the dark clouds hung around. During the rest of the ride occasionally a dark cloud moved through but no rain drops. My rule: if is not raining and radar shows no rain then I should ride. With the dark clouds in the area the temperature did not get too high: 78 at the start and 83 at the end. At one point heading east on FM1314 the cool wind felt great. The dark clouds had left but the sky was mostly cloudy. When I started the wind was 8 mph from the south but by the finish it increased to 17 mph from the south. Riding south on FM1314 presented a strong headwind which reduced my speed by a several miles per hour.

Today I felt better from the yard work and my riding effort and muscles responded when I needed them. I did not expect to get out of bed so easily this morning but my sleep appears to allowed some recovery. No yard work is planned until next week but we are on the downward side of the “to be done” curve. Monday shows a high percentage of rain and storms so I will be on the lookout then.

No bikers spotted today. Maybe tomorrow.

Some ride numbers:

  • 2:20:09 riding time
  • 15.3 mph average speed
  • 24.9 mph max speed
  • 80.2 RPM average cadence
  • 3:55 average minutes per mile
  • 35.77 miles
  • 125.74 miles this week (4 biking days)
  • 305.13 miles in April (10 biking days)
  • 1524.49 miles YTD
  • RideWithGPS.com data link

[iframe http://connect.garmin.com/activity/167691376 98% 700]

4-13-2012 Home Weather Station End

4-13-2012 Home Weather Station End

Opportunity to discuss Anthills with Mayor Parker Sat. April 14

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Article category: 
Advocacy

Who: Mayor Annise Parker
What: Three Minutes with the Mayor (Neighborhood Office Hours)
When: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday, April 14, 2012
Where: Hillendahl Neighborhood Library, 2436 Gessner Rd, Houston, Texas 77080

Notes: Mayor Parker is taking her Three Minutes with the Mayor neighborhood office hours on the road again. This time the destination is Spring Branch. The mayor is traveling to a different neighborhood once every quarter because she knows many Houstonians are unable to bring their questions and concerns to her at city hall. Three Minutes with the Mayor offers the opportunity to meet one-on-one with the mayor on a first-come first-served basis. It is recommended that attendees prepare ahead as each conversation will be limited to no more than three minutes. For more information, call or email the Mayor’s Citizens’ Assistance office at 713-803-1062 or ruben.vela@houstontx.gov.

This is a great opportunity for you to tell Mayor Parker exactly how important it is to preserve the Anthills in its natural state for the benefit of the trail users and community.

It is a challenge to give up a Saturday afternoon, but how often do you have the opportunity to have the Mayor as a captive audience?

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GHORBA Short Track Stampede Championship Series 2012 – UPDATED SCHEDULE!

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Article category: 
General

Registration & Details

  • Current GHORBA membership required. Please join or renew your membership first (you may also use the Membership menu at the top). Please join at least 48 hours prior to the race to ease processing.
  • 13 to 18 yr. old and 9 to 12 yr. old youth classes
  • Prizes for podium finishers in each category: Men, Women and Youth
  • PRIZES FOR SERIES CHAMPIONS
  • Races start around 8:30-9 AM, depending how many sign up.
  • Please fill out the release form beforehand and bring with you. If you have family membership and your children will attend, please also fill out this Parental consent form <18 yrs. old .

Registration is $17 per event, online, by credit card or check – NO ONSITE DAY OF RACE REGISTRATIONS!

Schedule (click trail name to register)

Registration online only, in person registrations cannot be accepted.

If you need to renew or start your GHORBA membership please do so.  If you are unsure of your current membership status please contact our membership director.

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SHNF Trail Closures and a Call For Volunteers

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Article category: 
General

As many of you are aware all trails in the Sam Houston National Forest are closed because of an order related to the dead trees. The number of dead trees in close proximity to the trails has caused for the forest service to prohibit all use of trails (including Double Lake) due to the perceived hazard that the falling dead trees may pose to users. The background to the closure is due to recent natural events which resulted in injuries occurring on National Forest property, particularly the flash flooding in the Ouachita NF in 2011. GHORBA cannot say enough good things about our Sam Houston NF district ranger though – he’s working very hard to coordinate with the user groups and re-open the trails.

So what does that mean for you? For the time being please stay off the trails in the SHNF. A huge effort is being rapidly mobilized through to get the hazard tree assessment done, with the help of trail users, by Friday 4/13. Once the plan is in place there will be a call for volunteers to travel the trails and record the location of dead trees on GPS devices. We are hopeful that the trails will be re-opened after the completion and consideration of this risk assessment and posting of additional warning signs. A strong showing from GHORBA in the assessment process will go a long way in getting the trails open.

Please respect the current closure and work with us to get through this issue. Your support will be greatly beneficial to the re-opening of the trails, if you have any questions please discuss in the forum link below or email myself.

-Justin Dunn
VP Trails, GHORBA
Forest Closure Order:http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5361496.pdf

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