{"id":32680,"date":"2016-03-29T16:49:49","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T21:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/?p=32680"},"modified":"2016-03-29T16:49:49","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T21:49:49","slug":"checking-the-grand-parkway-opening-bike-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/2016\/03\/29\/checking-the-grand-parkway-opening-bike-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Checking the Grand Parkway Opening Bike Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>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 &#8220;New Caney &#8211; Roman Forest &#8211; Valley Ranch&#8221; 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.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;t see any rain nearby.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-32682\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"32682\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/2016\/03\/29\/checking-the-grand-parkway-opening-bike-ride\/3-29-2016-porter-stripes-stop\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg?fit=4032%2C3024&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"4032,3024\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Nexus 6P&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1459262948&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.67&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;60&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00291545189504&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"3-29-2016 Porter Stripes stop\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg?fit=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg?fit=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-32682\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411-800x600.jpg?resize=640%2C480\" alt=\"3-29-2016 Porter Stripes stop\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg?resize=800%2C600&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg?resize=640%2C480&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg?resize=600%2C450&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg?resize=150%2C113&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg?resize=400%2C300&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Stripes-stop-e1459287355411.jpg?w=3600 3600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;t want to stay too long so I wouldn&#8217;t cool off too much but I couldn&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tiled-gallery type-rectangular tiled-gallery-unresized\" data-original-width=\"1200\" data-carousel-extra='{&quot;blog_id&quot;:1,&quot;permalink&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.texbiker.net\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/29\\\/checking-the-grand-parkway-opening-bike-ride\\\/&quot;,&quot;likes_blog_id&quot;:1066296}' itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\" > <div class=\"gallery-row\" style=\"width: 1200px; height: 1064px;\" data-original-width=\"1200\" data-original-height=\"1064\" > <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 600px; height: 1064px;\" data-original-width=\"600\" data-original-height=\"1064\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png?ssl=1\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"596\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1060\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"32684\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png\" data-orig-size=\"1440,2560\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"3-29-2016 Porter Weather-1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png?fit=253%2C450&#038;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png?fit=338%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png?w=596&#038;h=1060&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png?w=1440&amp;ssl=1 1440w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png?resize=270%2C480&amp;ssl=1 270w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png?resize=253%2C450&amp;ssl=1 253w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png?resize=338%2C600&amp;ssl=1 338w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png?resize=84%2C150&amp;ssl=1 84w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-1.png?resize=400%2C711&amp;ssl=1 400w\" width=\"596\" height=\"1060\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"596\" data-original-height=\"1060\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"3-29-2016 Porter Weather-1\" alt=\"3-29-2016 Porter Weather-1\" style=\"width: 596px; height: 1060px;\" \/> <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 600px; height: 1064px;\" data-original-width=\"600\" data-original-height=\"1064\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png?ssl=1\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"596\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1060\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"32683\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png\" data-orig-size=\"1440,2560\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"3-29-2016 Porter Weather-2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png?fit=253%2C450&#038;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png?fit=338%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png?w=596&#038;h=1060&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png?w=1440&amp;ssl=1 1440w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png?resize=270%2C480&amp;ssl=1 270w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png?resize=253%2C450&amp;ssl=1 253w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png?resize=338%2C600&amp;ssl=1 338w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png?resize=84%2C150&amp;ssl=1 84w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/3-29-2016-Porter-Weather-2.png?resize=400%2C711&amp;ssl=1 400w\" width=\"596\" height=\"1060\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"596\" data-original-height=\"1060\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"3-29-2016 Porter Weather-2\" alt=\"3-29-2016 Porter Weather-2\" style=\"width: 596px; height: 1060px;\" \/> <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <\/div> <!-- close row --> <\/div>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>With today&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>[iframe http:\/\/ridewithgps.com\/trips\/8316910\/embed 50% 600px] [iframe https:\/\/www.strava.com\/activities\/530193538\/embed\/442f2455e3c43d94e2a06f2f7bc98303092be870 590px 405px]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 &#8220;New Caney &#8211; Roman Forest &#8211; Valley Ranch&#8221; route taking the northbound US59 <span class=\"excerpt-dots\">&hellip;<\/span> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/2016\/03\/29\/checking-the-grand-parkway-opening-bike-ride\/\"><span class=\"more-msg\">Continue reading &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[4342,1424,4699],"class_list":["post-32680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bike-ride","tag-new-caney-roman-forest-valley-ranch","tag-road","tag-stradalli-rp-14-carbon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4tok-8v6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}