La-Z-Boy

I've been on vacation for about a week and haven't touched a bike since my last ride to work. My commuter bike is sitting outside the back door with a flat and a forlorn expression. In my defense, the weather has been unpredictable but mostly unpleasant, I was busy with Christmas preparations, and tomorrow is our annual New Year's Day Open house, so opportunities have been limited. The Mules have been quiet, too, but Kevin wants to ride out of Zube before we both go back to work, so maybe we'll go Sunday.

Santa stopped off at the bike shop this year and brought me a very spiffy rain jacket because I've been extra good. I also received a very nice flashing light that attaches to my spokes so I should be quite a sight when next I ride in the rain after dark.

We'll be having a flat-fixing master class pretty soon. MC's bike at college got a flat and she doesn't know how to repair it, so we're going to have a hands-on session with her old bike. Unfortunately it's the back wheel, so she has to wrangle the chain as well as get the tire off and back on again. I anticipate a video Skype session with her when she gets back to Roanoke.

You've gotta have friends -

I've decided to return to the Mule Paddock, but wasn't sure if anyone would be riding today, as the BHP Holiday Party is tonight. I texted Paddy to see but had no reply by 6.00am this morning, so I opted to go with the Bicycle World group instead. Imagine my surprise when I read a Facebook update from him talking about a tough ride with Gregor et al...

I did enjoy the ride today, though, mainly because I met three or four new riders who turned out to be very interesting. The first was Ian, a 23-year old whippersnapper who works for Oceaneering and actually built some of the kit on one of the deepwater rigs we use. His father, who's from Glasgow, was working in Aberdeen about the same time as me (ie, early 80's) but moved his family to Houston when Ian was a kid. He's a very strong rider but took pity on me when we were at the head of the paceline.

My next new friend was Kevin, a pretty remarkable 50-year old who is just moving in to Houston from Phoenix. He and a fellow 50-year old recently won a 24 hour mountain bike race, completing 21 laps of a 10-mile circuit in the allotted time period. He has three boys - the oldest just finished a 5 year hitch in the Navy and is now studying computer programming, the middle son is the top gunner on a Humvee in Northern Iraq (!) and the youngest is still in school. Plenty more Kevin stories -

Another newbie I got chatting with is a trainer at the MAC. He recounted the tale of being in a paceline at 30 mph recently, when the rider in front hit the brakes. My buddy went down and the next guy in the line rode right over the top of him! He broke the frame on his gorgeous Felt bike and had to get a new one.

So it was fun to meet some new people, and it was a good ride too (although the wind coming down the home stretch in front of the Dam was brutal). Maybe I need to reconsider...

Spinning in the snow

Two weeks ago Susan and I drove north to spend Thanksgiving with her extended family. Our two kids also came in (MC flew in from Virginia, James got the train from Indiana) and we had a lot of fun. Since the hotel we were using has a small gym, I brought indoor biking gear, planning to burn off some pecan pie on a static bike. When Susan's sister Nancy heard this, she suggested a spin class at the local exercise studio and actually had coupons for two free sessions.

Susan's home town, Morris IL, is the epitome of small town America. It's the county seat of Grundy County, and boasts a population of 10,200 and a powerhouse high-school football team. When I first visited in the early 80's there was still a downtown drugstore, cinema and grocery store. Now of course everything has moved out to the outskirts of town, handy for I-80 and US 47, and the stores on Liberty (aka "The Gut") sell knick-knacks and crap that indulgent grandmothers buy for their grand babies. Actually it's not as bad as some of the small towns I've seen in Texas - there are also cafes, a wine merchant, a book shop and of course the exercise studio, which brings me back to the subject of this posting, a spin session on a very chilly morning.

It was a balmy 29 deg F as I walked briskly across the road from my parking spot just outside the Gun Reloading store (seriously). I got a warm welcome from the owner/instructor Lynette, who pointed me to the one rest-room to change into my exercise gear. Her gym doesn't offer quite the same amenities as Lifetime Fitness back in Memorial, but the bikes were all new, she had two different models, and they all had a computer that picked up my heart-rate monitor.

I chose a bike that looked identical to the ones I normally use, set it up with the same settings and off we went. At first it was just me but pretty soon a good group had assembled, all women, all regulars who were on first-name terms. Lynette got us going at a cracking pace and in general pushed us harder than Zoe, her counterpart in Houston. The other riders clearly had no problem with the level of effort required, however, and kept up the banter. The two women on either side of me appeared to have a calorie-burning competition going on!

I managed the full 45 minutes but was very glad to get off the bike at the end. I tried to pay for my session (of course I'd left Nancy's coupons at her parent's house) but Lynette insisted that the first ride was always free, even when I pointed out that I had no idea when my next ride would be. Normally I'd cool down and shower after a spin class but that was not an option, so I changed out of my wet gear and dashed to my car, feeling virtuous and ready for some serious gluttony. I love Thanksgiving.

Getting to know you

A chilly start to today's Truth Squad ride - 40 degrees at 7.00 am - but I decided to risk the ridicule of my fellow riders by showing up in my regular, Houston-in-the-Summer outfit, on the principle that it would be warmer later and I didn't want to over-heat. I was fully kitted-out in new, birthday present attire, with my bib shorts (first time ever in bibs!) and socks.

Last week we'd agreed to try a different, slightly longer route, hopefully missing out a few of the traffic lights that make the normal runs tedious. This involved a run north on Eldridge, then a left turn onto Clay, all the way to Katy and back on the regular Old Katy route. We duly set out, missing Denis, Keith and Mike, but with the addition of Susan and Bruce. The run north on Dairy-Ashford generated a few complaints (this is worse than Memorial, etc). We turned on to Eldridge and climbed the largest hill in West Houston (a short but steepish ramp over the Addicks dam). I was in the lead and looked back to see that the group was pretty fragmented already.

It was pretty damn cold but I was OK, at least while riding in the sun. The shaded sections were a different story...

We made the turn on Clay, but unfortunately not only were there traffic lights, there was also a lot of traffic. I wanted to keep the pace high but the group couldn't keep together, and we had to settle for about 17 mph. And then Jolynne flatted. We pulled in to a gas station and Bruce took over. Turns out he was a mechanic for a Pro-Cycling team for 45 years! He stripped out the old tube and had the new one in place in a flash. Sadly, though, the tube turned out to be bad - it didn't hold any inflation - and he had to put another in, leaving Jolynne without a spare. By now it was 8.30 and Jamie couldn't go any further (she has to be back by 10.00 am to work in the shop). With no spare tube, Jolynne didn't want to go any further either and Bruce needed to get back too. I wanted to keep going and so did Susan, so the group split up with Susan and I heading west on Clay and the others heading back south to pick up the trail.

So there we were, Susan and I, cruising along together. She was struggling to make the pace but toughed it out. She was also very chatty and I learned quite a lot about her over the course of the next hour or two. Clay continued to be busy and Susan wanted to ride side-by-side. Single-file would have been better, and several motorists let us know in the time-honored fashion.

A bit further on and the road got much quieter and became more of a country road, similar to many back country routes out by Hempstead. We saw two magnificent hawks on telegraph poles. One I'm sure was a red-tailed hawk, the other was even bigger. The saddle of a bike really is the best place to go bird-watching.

We kept rolling west, with a decent tail-wind. Susan was struggling a bit and I was wondering when we'd reach the turn - Avenue D in Old Katy. Eventually I decided we had either missed the turn or the directions were wrong, and we turned south at the next opportunity. Susan had the temerity to suggest that we ask for directions at a house! I had to explain that males, and male bikers in particular, did not do that.

The road T-d out and we turned left, heading back east. This turned out to be a good call, as we pretty soon got back into Old Katy and saw Avenue D, which did not in fact go through to Clay. Anyway, no problem, we were back on the map. We turned south, found the Shell station and had a quick break, then headed back on Franz.

We were running into the wind, but it wasn't too bad for me. Unfortunately Susan was about played out and the wind hit her hard. I tried to encourage her to draft behind me but she didn't really get it, so it was quite a trek back to the Park. Once in the Park she got her second wind and we made it back OK.

Back at the shop I gave Jamie some grief for misleading directions and then went to visit Bruce, who had set up a stand to advertise his company's products (bike degreaser and chain lube). He was showing riders how to clean their bikes in 10 minutes, pro-style, and did mine for me. Very impressive, and the bike is very clean, but it's a very messy process, not really suitable for a garage. Back home for lunch and a beer.

All aboard for the Estrogen Express

Last weekend Bicycle World and Fitness added a third Saturday morning ride, an intermediate paced outing for those not strong enough for the International Liars' Club but too fast for Manny's ride. Jamie "Green Ears", who works as a sales associate at the shop, was leading and christened us "The Truth Squad", as we are like the ILC but with 10% more truthiness. The first ride included Jamie and Jeremy (who also works at BW&F), Denis and me, and we had a lot of fun on the short-ish run to Katy Mills Mall and back.

Yesterday we were joined by a few more riders, some of whom were refugees from the ILC and some poached from Manny. I persuaded Jolynne to come along and I think she had fun. At the first stop light I realised that there were more women than men in the group, whence "The Estrogen Express"'.

Unlike Manny's ride, we don't try to keep together as a group, and since the route includes numerous traffic lights, it's easy to get split up. That's exactly what happened fairly quickly and I found myself in a mini-peleton in front of the rest, with an English lady and a younger American woman, who turned out to be the strongest rider in the group by far.

We regrouped at the turn-around (Walgreens on Pin Oak road) but split off from the pack again, this time with Denis too. I pulled for a while but the pace was too hot and I had to drop back and draft. This gave me an opportunity to chat with the English lady, who rides with the ILC normally but tends to get dropped after 30-40 miles. She's still a pretty strong rider.

Back in the Park, we passed Manny's group, who were resting at the Cop Shop, and headed onto Wind Alley. The young American woman took off like a scalded cat and I let her go. She ran into traffic not far along though, and Denis, the English lady and I caught her, and latched on to her back wheel for the rest of the run.

I'll keep riding with The Truth Squad for now. If we get enough riders, Jamie will be able to go further than 30 miles (for now she has to be back by 10.00 am to open the shop), delaying my return to the Mules' Paddock and driving half an hour for a ride.

Peeling the Big Apple

Susan and I were in New York City at the end of September, meeting some friends from London. We took the Circle Line ferry around the island on a beautiful late afternoon/evening cruise (and saw Lady Liberty) and the next morning I got up bright and early to ride the Manhattan Greenway, a 32-mile trail that follows the waterfront and is mostly on dedicated hike/bike paths.

I had arranged to rent a bike at Pier 84 on the Hudson river, coincidentally right next to the Circle Line ferry terminal. Our hotel was at the other end of 42nd street and I planned to get breakfast and then hop on the Cross-town bus. I managed breakfast OK but waited twenty minutes for the bus, before deciding to start walking. Of course, as soon as I was too far from a stop to catch it, the bus rolled by. I ended up walking all the way, but it was a pleasant morning (if chilly!) and I arrived just as the shop was opening at 9.00am.

They gave me a pretty crappy comfort bike, but it looked sturdy enough. Sadly they had no helmets and advised me to pick one up at another of their locations. I headed south, to round the island counter-clockwise, just like the ferry. The path along this portion of the Hudson river was well laid out, with clearly marked bike and runner lanes, and dedicated traffic lights. I made the out-of-towner's mistake of stopping at one of the lights - the locals all whizzed through without a glance.

After a few miles I was diverted off the trail and onto the street, presumably due to construction. The roads were very quiet and it was easy to follow the diversion. I arrived in Battery Park, the southern tip of Manhattan, pretty quickly and found the bike rental place's other location, where they gave me a helmet. I headed on, feeling a lot safer.

The ferries to Liberty and Ellis islands leave from Battery Park and the lines were already very long. The Vietnam Veterans' Memorial is right by the ferries.

The trail was not very well marked through this section and I was pretty much just following the water front. After a while it got better and I began to enjoy the view. It was quite a thrill to ride under the storied Brooklyn Bridge, too.

There were a few other cyclists on this stretch along the East River and a fair number of walkers and runners. I passed Stuyvesant Cove, with its seating areas in little groves of trees, and saw a few people deeply engrossed in their reading, despite being well wrapped-up against the chill. Another man was going through a Tai-Chi routine, perhaps a little half-heartedly.

The trail moves away from the Water Front at about 30th Street and you're on the street for a few blocks. Another rider was with me as I turned west against the traffic and I asked him if he knew the way. He didn't, but lives on the West Side and enjoys little cycling adventures (less than 5 miles from his home! Come down to Texas some time, pardner). He told me that he rides year-round, which is impressive given the winters here. I turned north on 1st Avenue, which was fortunately still pretty quiet and has a bus lane.

I stopped at a light at 42nd street and was asked for directions by two young women. Luckily they wanted to go to Grand Central station, which was just a few blocks away. Further up 1st, I started looking for the path back to the Greenway but it was not very obvious (I found myself on the access road to the Midtown tunnel at one point!). As I needed to answer a call of nature, I stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts to look at my map, get a coffee (surprisingly good, even for a coffee snob like me) and strain the spuds, if you know what I mean. The bike rental included a D-lock so I chained my steed to the railings and marched in, head held high in my Mules shirt and cycling cap.

Much refreshed and with a better (but actually misguided!) idea of where I was, I set out again. I couldn't find the access point that appeared to be quite near, but the next (at 79th street) was a bit more obvious - an overpass over the FDR - and I was back in business. The trail was wider and better laid-out along this section, but the wind was right in my face and had picked up quite a bit. The Willis Street bridge appeared, marking the entrance to the Harlem river.

The next stretch involved quite a long run through Harlem at street level, to the northern-most point of the ride. I left the Greenway at 120th street and quickly picked up a bike lane. The next few blocks were very pleasant, going past brownstone after sunlit brownstone, with the smell of Sunday lunch being prepared. I got to Frederick Douglass Boulevard and turned north. No more bike lane but the road is wide and there wasn't much traffic. Every few blocks there was a large, shiny SUV double-parked, with windows open and hip-hop music blasting. Towards the end of this stretch I heard some loud music and looked around for the SUV. Instead I saw a young man on what looked like a home-made trike with two enormous speakers. We rode side-by-side for a while, boom-boom-a-boom and some very salty language, until he saw a friend and pulled over.

I reached what I thought was the turn that would put me back on the Greenway, but it dead-ended at the base of the supports for a large bridge. A look at the map confirmed that I was in the right place, so I scouted around for the trail. There was a path leading into a housing project (The Polo Grounds Housing Association, built with a donation from baseball great Willie Mays) and I took it, in the hope that it would lead to the Greenway. It didn't, but I rode around the project for about 10 minutes looking for it. I eventually found myself back on Frederick Douglass heading south.

Another look at the map and I saw an alternate route, going round the south end of Jackie Robinson park. I decided to ride one block off Frederick Douglass, which was starting to get busy. No signs of a route through the park so at the south end I turned right and immediately hit a pretty sharp climb, which got my legs warmed up nicely. Half-way up I saw signs for the Greenway, quite a relief after wandering around Harlem aimlessly for what seemed like hours.

I was now in Hamilton Heights, which sits atop the ridge of volcanic rock that is the spine of Manhattan. A few blocks north and I picked up entrance onto the Harlem River Speedway, one of the highlights of the Greenway ride. I crossed the bridge that had blocked my way earlier and realised that if I had climbed the stairs by the side of the supports, I would have been back on track. Oh well, I was in good shape now, and enjoyed the run down to the river front. I couldn't resist a shot of this nice exposure of schist.

The Harlem River Speedway was delightful - a wide, smooth surface, great views all around, hardly anyone else in sight - but it was over all to soon, and I was dumped out on Dyckman Street in Inwood. A few blocks in this busy neighbourhood and then I picked up the Greenway for the run down the Hudson river, the final section of my ride.

I joined the trail right by The Cloisters Museum and Fort Tryon park. It runs parallel but separate from a busy highway. You run down hill for the first mile or so and there are breathtaking views of the Hudson River between the trees that line the trail. I caught a glimpse of the George Washington Bridge (sadly in the public eye at the time, due to the gay student at Rutgers who killed himself by jumping from it, after bullying by his room-mate). You really wouldn't know that you were in Manhattan up here - no houses to see, just river and trees.

Back on the flat and I detour to look at the Little Red Lighthouse, apparently the subject of a children's book, sitting under the GW bridge. No longer used, it once was an important navigational aid along the Hudson, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It's a must-see landmark on the Greenway and here it is.

The trail winds its way south, in and out of trees, playgrounds and sports fields. It was getting busier with every mile and pretty soon I was back at the bike rental shop, ready to get off the bike and eat something. I managed to get the cross-town bus pretty quickly and was soon back in the hotel.

Despite getting lost twice, I enjoyed the ride and would do it again in a New York minute, as they say.

Isn't it Fall yet?

Not around here it isn't, although the mornings are cooler (but still humid). Out with Manny's group this morning for the usual Saturday thrash around Terry Hershey/George Bush parks. A surprisingly small group today - only eight, very odd given that at the height of summer we regularly had 20+ riders. Some of the stalwarts were missing, too.

The ride was fun, relatively low-key (no Keith or Denis to make me sweat!) and uneventful. There was a young rider on an 80's Bianchi in gorgeous condition. I asked him if he was younger than his bike and it turns out that they are the same age! He kept up with the pace well but flatted on the way back.

One advantage of the cooler weather is that it's easier to stay hydrated, which in turn means I don't finish the ride feeling like death warmed up. My time with Manny's group is limited - I'll soon have to rejoin the Mules and start thinking about the MS150 - but it's been a blast riding with them. Here's a shot of one of the larger groups.