Day 1 - Houston to Austin MS150 2016

Hi everyone, I just wanted to say a huge thank you for helping to support my  MS150 bike ride this weekend. Despite the cancellation of Day 2 due to a large storm system that has brought snow to Denver and tornadoes to both Oklahoma and Northern Texas as well as flash flooding, Day 1 still went ahead. Yesterday I joined 10,000 cyclists to ride 100 miles from Houston to La Grange. Conditions were overcast making for an easier ride, and the  resulting front created a strong 8-12 mph tail wind with short patches of rain along the way.

There were so many memorable moments during the ride, plus the bonus of cycling through the wonderful Texas countryside with wildflowers, farms, horses, cattle and friendly small towns. In Belville, after the lunch stop, there were people with MS out to say thank you as we cycled around the town center.  At Fayetteville, near La Grange it always feels like the entire town of 300 turns up to cheer the riders on. In between there was a bluegrass band, with a superb fiddle and a man with a van and rather large speakers playing music (he turns up every year at a road junction when you'd least expect it). And people outside their houses, some with music, some with signs, always waving and cheering.

 

I made a collage of the day - It's hard to nail the spirit of the event. Day 2 was cancelled but it turned out for the better as you can see we had this huge storm system over us which drifted across to Houston and caused a lot of flooding across town. All the schools were closed and a lot of offices as well. If the riders had been caught up in this system it would have been bad so not having Day 2 was the safe thing to do! Till next year ....

Running on Black Chili

Ever heard of black chili compound ??? Does it make the bike go faster :-) Just what I need...   Had to changeover the bike tires and I found these on Amazon at the start of the ride season. . I've been riding on Conti's for a long time but have never tried these before. 300 miles in and black chili is black magic.  Predictable and haven't lost grip - especially in wet weather.  Fantastic tires so far...


The Infamous Black Chili

http://www.amazon.com/Continental-Grand-Prix-Black-Chili/dp/B00BCU7WDU

Blue Bayou ..... Downtown Houston Bike Trails !

 

Always in search of places to ride, where one can avoid the notorious Houston traffic - Last weekend I followed the bike paths along Braes Bayou into the city. The trail cuts behind the medical center, and along Hermann Park and into the extension of the Bayou heading towards McGregor Park.  I managed to get 35 miles in on a round trip and have since done this track 3 times, once coming back into the University of Houston campus which was a quiet place to ride on the weekend!

 

The Texas Independence Relay was in full swing as one of the relay sectors finished in the park. This is a 2 day foot race from Gonzales to San Jacinto monument - Over 200 miles and it makes the bike riding look easy. Come & Take It the defenders declare!

http://texasindependencerelay.com/

 



The $5M Bill Coats Bridge across from Hermann Park built in 2012

Smooth riding - Most of the bike path runs along Braes Bayou through downtown and in the other direction towards th Houston Ship Channel......



Plenty of New Construction as the area is close to the City of Houston

Another new bridge - this time for cars and bikes



It was warm - And I only had taken 1 bottle with me...Was glad to get home eventually!

May the Course Be With You!

Pushing to get 80 miles back to back this past weekend I planned to ride 50 miles on Saturday and the same on Sunday.  On Saturday, the morning dawned cold and then turned into a beautiful day for the 13th annual Fort bend fundraiser for the school district sponsored by Schlumberger. The wind whipped after as it got to mid morning - The sky was a glorious blue as we rode through cattle farms with lots of wild flowers out along the roads. Almost didn't notice the severe wind :-)

Break Point 2 - May the Course Be With You!

It was largely a cool over cast day until about 10 am. Each of the break points were manned by school kids and they ha different themes with the opportunity to vote on the winning one at the end. Break Point 3 was perfect for Star Wars fans

You can see how strong the ind already was at 9 am. It was likely 10 plus mph gusting to 15.
Slow ride back against the wind for 15 miles..

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich for fuel.

Fixin Flats !!

I had to fix a flat the other day - My 16 year old Cannondale R900 comes an Italian Groupset - The drivetrain includes Campagnolo Veloce shift levers, and Campy front and rear derailleurs. It has Gipiemme Grecal Parade rims and hubs. The spokes are stainless steel and while the wheels are heavy you really don't notice it when the bike is rolling.  It is worth learning how to change a flat and to be prepared to do so, to get over the fear of punctures - If you ride enough, you are going to get a flat, and you should have the right gear and practice at home, for when you need to do it. Be able to change a flat quickly means having the right gear (multitool, levers, pump), and to make sure you carry at least 2 spare tubes as well. I still carry a puncture repair kit - there's been a few times when I have run through my spares and wound up needing to patch a tube. Here is a useful link on how to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLO_HO0kEjs



Grecal Rims : Old tube out, new tube back in ....

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Tour De Houston

Sunday dawned a little cool for the Tour De  Houston kick off with phased starts from 7.30 am - this was the 2nd time I had done the ride, and I put in a half century getting back before 12 pm to City Hall downtown where there was a band playing at the finish line. The ride went out on a long loop along the Heights at Yale, along Tidwell into Humble and for 70 plus milers even further North. It was windy on the way  out which took 5 miles off but I managed to hit 20 mph coming back in some stretches. Interesting neighborhoods - The heights has really come along in terms of a mix of housing and eating spots, but we also passed through some poorer areas of town and even small farms as we got to the outskirts - Next weekend the plan is to try a 60 - 70 miler  not many weeks left to get ready!

 

Above is City Hall at the end of the ride with the band playing across from the reflection pool.

Across from the old Alley Theater the Houston Palestinian Festival was in swing for its 6th year!

George Bush Park Trails

Logged 40 miles at George Bush Park along the I10 past the beltway. The trails connect to Terry Hershey Park but the former is a better choice for bikers of all speeds, as there are very few pedestrians on the shared trails.  It is often windy and today was no exception - especially heading back east along the I10, there is always a strong wind bearing down with little respite across the open trail. Heading in the other direction the terrain changes completely and becomes more woody, a marsh and Buffalo Bayou.

The park covers 7,800 acres and the marsh was part of the original Stephen F Austin colony. In the 1880s In the 1880s, a railway named the Texas Western Narrow Gauge Railroad ran trains from Houston to surrounding areas. Barely lasting one decade, the line was forced to shut down due to bankruptcy.
http://lifeonthebrazosriver.com/TexasWesternNarrowGageRR.htm

Cattle and farms occupied the area throughout the early 1900s, until the it became parkland in the mid-1940s. Today it borders a whole lot of housing in Eldrige and Katy.

Boardwalk over the Buffalo Bayou, often see people fishing along the banks just here.

It was a warm but overcast and windy day.  There were several horse trailers unloading to go riding along the trails.

Red, White and Bike ! For Presidents Day !

Bike for Little Heroes - Waller High School Football Stadium • 20735 Stokes Road Waller, TX 77484 - Sunday, April 10, 2016 - An organized ride supporting children and younger siblings of veterans. Check it out at www.redwhiteandbike.org

 

 

 

Humble, TX – Lions Club Ride

This Valentine's weekend I cut a badly needed 50 miler in near perfect weather on Saturday morning. 3.5 hrs with some wind. The annual ride by the Lions Club was one I had not done before and it took off from Will Clayton Parkway  near the airport – Cycling out against the backdrop of planes coming in for a landing, was one thing, but there was also the opportunity to ride over Lake Houston. This reservoir built in 1953, supplies much of the water for the city of Houston, and is on the west fork of the San Jacinto River, 15 miles northeast of downtown H-Town. Going over the main bridge was tricky as the reflectors along the side are old and broken and cyclists had to weave in between them to avoid a bumpy ride. While I was doing this I looked across at the sunrise breaking through clouds across the lake and I noticed several large water birds just skimming the surface – flying low an inch above the water with hardly any wing movement. They seemed to be moving at the speed we were – just on the lookout for something to eat – Amazing sight – and just one of many on the ride. A white collie ran alongside some of the ride near a farm and the wind mostly behaved although it whipped up to 12 mph by 9 am.  the We rode through Atascocita, Humble and through  the Dwight D. Eisenhower Park on the way back.   There were some peaceful farms, one had a creaky Aermotor 702 spinning away. In Lubbock, TX there is a fantastic Windmill Museum called the American Wind Power Center and Museum.  It is well worth a stop if you are ever up in that part of Texas. Wind power is now generating up to 10% of our state’s electricity and these early windmills used to pump water were key to opening up the west.

Start of the Ride at Humble - 8 am

Breakpoint 3 - Near a busy intersection

 







Lunch !  Made it back to the start after 3 ½ hours for a well earned BBQ lunch with a lot of volunteers helping!

 



Cycling at Brazos Bend State Park

 Brazos Bend State Park in Winter i s a terrific place for both taking a road bike for a run. There are off road paths which are more suited to a mountain bike but the park has a lot of sealed roads and  pathways for cycling. It is also a great way to get around the various parts of the park when you are camping if you bring you bike along with you.

The park website has detailed site and trail maps and can be found at
http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/brazos-bend

There is a great interactive trails map as well as PDF maps that can be downloaded
http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/brazos-bend

Cycle Training Videos for Winter

There are lots of great training video sites on the Internet, some of them you can often subscribe and download content for offline use.   I use GCN - Global Cycling Network a lot.
It is an easy way to ride a static bike indoors and get a real sense of being out exercising. Check out this link to GCN...

https://www.youtube.com/user/globalcyclingnetwork

The Importance of Eating Properly on a Long Ride

 Long distance cycling is really an endurance event. We worry about the psychology of it but it really is about how you pace yourself on the ride more than anything else. External factors such as wind, sun, rain all cause changing conditions which alter normal habits on the bike. Being careful about  how you eat and drink is SO Important as if you don’t get this right you likely won’t finish.  “Bonking” or hitting the wall is what cyclists call hypoglycemia when you wind up with abnormally low levels of blood glucose. Glycogen  serves as a form of energy storage in humans and animals. In humans glycogen is made and stored primarily in the cells of the liver ad muscles hydrated with three or four parts of water.

  It doesn’t matter how good a cyclist you are, you can still make this mistake. It is even easier to do on the MS 150 when you have a ton of cyclists in your way and the temptation to not stop and refuel is constantly occurring.

The problem is you need to eat before you really feel hungry and drink before you feel thirsty – It is a bit like steering a ship – There is a lag between how long you feed yourself and when the fuel becomes available.  Not eating properly also affects how you think/what you think so ultimately it impacts your psychology and your emotions on the ride as well.

Attached is a link to a terrific article on the subject of hitting the wall. Credit to the author as this was one of the first articles I ever read about the subject when I started riding long distance and it has helped me a lot.

http://tunedintocycling.com/2008/05/10/cycling-nutrition-the-bonk/

Watch that Glycogen ! I will cover the Glycogen window the next time, a 4 hour window after vigorous exercise when ingested carbohydrates are converted into glycogen 3 times faster than normal – to support depleted reserves.