Another Bike Date

It's been a while since I posted about a bike date. Time for another one. The winds were favorable this time, so we decided to head north to the Stockyards to put the wind at our backs on the way home. We planned to park downtown at Taylor Street, but the parking there is now metered and limited to 2 hours during the day. So Mrs. Doohickie suggested going just north of downtown to LaGrave Field (the minor league baseball venue). The trail runs just behind there, so we figured it would be a good (free) place to park.

Bike Date Dec 30 2011Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

We had to lift our bikes over a fence, and then we were on the Trinity Trail.

Los Vaqueros in the Stockyards

You may want to peruse my previous review of Los Vaqueros.

If you get there by bicycle, you don't have feel guilty about having dessert. ;- )



Coincidentally enough, we ordered the same thing we ordered last time. I had the brisket tacos and Mrs. Doohickie had the veggie enchiladas.



Part of the reason I'm posting another review of Los Vaqueros is this: They are my favorite Mexican restaurant. Period. The reason is this: You know your Mexican grandmother? The one who cooks stuff that is so much more delicious than that Mexican food you can get in restaurants? Well, no, I don't have one of those either. But if I had a Mexican abuela, this is how her food would taste.

The beans are a treasure. The brisket in the tacos is unbelievably rich and flavorful. My wife likes all the different veggies in the veggie enchiladas. The food just tastes like mi abuela spent all day cooking just for me.

To add to the atmosphere, the wait staff really make us feel like family as well. There is a genuineness in the way they interact that makes us feel like they are there for us and just us. And they bring the food fast.

Oh, and since we did ride our bikes to dinner, we decided to indulge in dessert.



The sopapillas have a similar homemade essence to them. Rolled in sugar and just a touch of cinnamon, they come with honey, a strawberry glaze, and whipped cream. The amount was generous but we somehow managed to finish them off.

Third Annual Fall Finale Country Path Ramble

Saturday was one of the few occasions I've actually carried my bicycle to a ride on the back of my car. The Fall Finale Country Path Ramble is worth the drive to get there.

My Commute

Inspired by my friend, The Beer Pedaler, I decided to make my own ride-home-from-work video.



Enjoy!

Bike the Bricks N Trails

In years past, Fort Worth had a ride called The Clean Air Ride. For whatever reason, the name changed this year to Bike the Bricks N Trails, and it went off without a hitch this morning.

My bike club does a Saturday breakfast ride, and we decided to combine that with Bike the Bricks N Trails. I was running late so I didn't take any pictures of the first part of the ride, but once we arrived downtown I got my camera out to document the "mustering of the clans" (i.e., area bicycle clubs) as well as the individuals that rode.

A Night Ride

Since some people like more pictures more than words, here are some pics from a night ride I took a little over a week ago. I rode down to the Trinity Trail, then downtown, then home.

First, a few pics of the carnival rides in the parking lot of a church, in preparation for a carnival.

The Best of September

Haven't been blogging much lately but figured I'd put a few pictures up from September.

Still life with bicycle, somewhere downtown

Same ol' pub crawl?

Not exactly. Typically, our group meets on Sunday evenings at the Chat Room Pub and then ride to a couple of other bars. The current heat wave is inspiring interesting alternatives. On the way to our first stop, we head west, casting long shadows in the late afternoon sun.

The Next Stage of the Tour de Fort Worth

After a night time ride with our new mayor, I dragged my butt outta bed to ride with her again this morning.... early.



This time we met at the Fireman's Memorial at the north end of Trinity Park and rode up to, and past, the Stockyards.

Tour de Fort Worth

I enjoyed an evening ride with Fort Worth's new mayor, Betsy Price, this evening. During the Tour de France, she and her husband Tom do daily rides around Fort Worth and call it, not surprisingly, the Tour de Fort Worth. Having just been elected mayor, she opened up the ride to any and all that want to join her. It's pretty cool that the mayor of a city of 750,000 makes herself accessible this way.

We rode a short route, just under 10 miles, because several riders did not have lights with them. As the "local" who knows the area, she allowed me to pick the route. I touched on some of the best spots the Night Riders go: Cutting through Fairmount, through Berkley Place, down Zoo Hill, up the Trinity Trail to Trinity Park, a quick tour of the West 7th area, and then Downtown before heading back to our starting point. We rode several of the recently installed bike lanes. About the only "political" issue I brought up was the rough pavement in some areas.

Like Night and Day

I'm not commuting on my bike much these days, but I'm trying to get miles in when I can. That basically means night time, or early morning on the weekends. On Saturday mornings I ride with a local club on their breakfast rides. I ride the 8 miles over to the meetup point, we ride to breakfast as a group (usually an hour and a half ride), have breakfast together, then, depending on where we had breakfast I ride back with the group at least part way. I usually cut away from the group at some point and ride home rather than riding back to the meetup point and backtracking. Here are some pics and video from a couple recent breakfast rides. The first was to Paul's Donuts.

Dog Update

Sugar's doing pretty good. She still has a nasty-looking scar on the leg, but it is healing over.

Winston caught and killed a 10-pound possum tonight. He was very proud and happy.

Sugar

This is a celebration of life. This phrase is often used at funerals, but Sugar is still alive. Reading Chandra's recent post on his own recently departed dog inspired me to write about Sugar while she is still with us.

We took her in just for a night or two, intending to take her to the pound after the weekend. That was 1997, shortly after we moved back to Texas, and she's been with us ever since.



This is a picture from when we first got her, posing with my son who turns 24 this month. She is his dog and he is her boy. Unfortunately for both of them, he now lives in New York state.

Pub crawl

On Sunday nights I sometimes ride with the Night Riders on their pub crawl. Tonight was Lounge Night. We met up at the Chat Room.

Baby it's hot out there

I got my first chance to ride my bike in a couple weeks yesterday. I rode to work; I knew it was gonna be a hot one as soon as the sun peeked up a few blocks from home. By the time I got to work I was a sweaty mess. The shower felt great.

I had to work late which was fortunate. By the time I started home the sun was low and the edge was off the day. It was only 97 degrees when I started out. I stopped for dinner on the way home.

My route to the Magnolia Motor Lounge is one of my favorite rides. It starts out with some significant hills on the west side of town- a series of rollers that really discouraged me when I first rode them. It seems you get over one hill only to have another one to climb. With a rig loaded with my work clothes and stuff, it can be kind of a pain.

The route settles down to a steady climb through some nice, picturesque neighborhoods to the River Crest Country Club. The streets are quiet and views are beautiful.

The Nation's Capital

I've been traveling to Washington, DC, occasionally for business, but I never got a chance to get over to see the Capitol Building, the White House or any of the monuments. Last week I finally got a chance. From my hotel room you could see the Capitol Dome.



A couple blocks away there was a bike share station.

"Life is not a race. Do take it slower."

So I did a fifty miler with a couple of friends Saturday morning. I made the short ride over to Mark's house where Larry joined us. We headed down to Crowley on our way to Lake Benbrook. Yay chipseal!

May Critical Mass

Last Friday of the month means another Critical Mass ride. Perhaps due to the Memorial Day holiday, many of the regulars didn't show up, but there were a lot of new faces. I would guess there were 50-70 riders.

Wednesday Night Phở Ride

The day started perfectly,



...and just got better. I rode my bike to work Wednesday morning and enjoyed another beautiful daybreak. I took the picture above while crossing the Trinity River. Mind you, this is in the middle of the city. There was a generous tailwind out of the south to help my ride.

Ride of Silence

The Ride of Silence is observed the third Wednesday in May every year starting in 2003, when Larry Schwartz was killed by a school bus mirror in Dallas. The Ride of Silence is a worldwide event. It is a slow paced, silent bicycle ride in memory of cyclists killed in accidents with motor vehicles. The Fort Worth ride started and ended in Trinity Park, riding through Downtown and the Near Southside. Armbands were displayed: red for riders who have been injured or harassed by motorists, black for everyone else, to honor those who could not be there.

Spring Arts Goggle

Fort Worth's Near Southside has a twice-yearly art fest called Arts Goggle. I'm a little delinquent in getting up a post about it since it happened over a week ago, but I decided to post it anyway.

According to the Near Southside description, "Arts Goggle is a grassroots gallery crawl held twice a year since 2004. Around 60 Near Southside businesses are transformed into art galleries for a Saturday evening each spring and fall, hosting artists and musicians from the neighborhood and throughout the region."

The Near Southside is something like a neighborhood association, and then some. Anyway, Arts Goggle is one of the bigger events they put on. Anyway, I headed over to Trinity Bicycles on South Main. Note Nelson, the shop dog, in the lower center of the picture.

A Notable Breakfast Ride

Took the Schwinn Cutter for a ride to meet some of the other Night Riders for breakfast at Paris Coffee Shop. Left home early so I took an extended route, up through Foster Park. There was a very polite group of students in the park.



Then I went through Tanglewood.

Beautiful Physics

I've posted demonstrations of improbable physics in the past. No tricks here; just beautiful physics.

Fairmount Neighborhood Parade

Every year, the Fairmount Historic District on Fort Worth's near southside does a historic home tour. They kick off the weekend with a neighborhood parade, and this year I participated, riding my vintage Raleigh DL-1 (unintentional self-portrait)

Fort Worth Mayfest

Each year Fort Worth picks a weekend to have a party in Trinity Park and call it Mayfest. I rode to work Friday and then rode directly to Mayfest. I felt a little funny leaving my bike with loaded panniers, but no one messed with it.

A Perfect Day

I had Friday off and decided to keep it a car-free Friday even though I had several errands to run. So I set out through the neighborhood. The weather was perfect. No, really. PERFECT. It was perhaps 60 or 65 and almost no wind. I was able to ride in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. Tooling around on my single speed, I didn't even really break a sweat.

Happy Birthday, Larry!

One of the guys I ride with, Larry, celebrated his birthday this week with a birthday ride. He rode his age- 62 miles- and invited his cycling friends to ride with him. We met in the morning outside the T&P Tavern downtown.

My Bikes- The Daily Grind

I've done some modifications to my commuter bike, a 1994 Nishiki Sport XRS I call The Daily Grind. Granted, I haven't been commuting on the bike daily lately because I'm realizing I'm a weather wimp, but hey, that just gave me a chance to do some work on the bike.

I like the bike, but I've grown tired of the straight handlebar. Even with extensions, I just don't like the hand positions and riding position.

Summer Rewind, part deux

Another fine day from our vacation up north last summer... this was the bicycle ride I took from where my mom now lives in suburban Buffalo up to the neighborhood where I grew up. Kind of a (say this with an echoed announcer voice) Journey into My Passssssst!

I rode over to Orchard Park Road and headed north...



...to Harlem Road which would take me north to Cheektowaga.

You Ever Want to Rewind back to Summertime?

So I was in chilly Washington, DC, all week and came home to cold, wet conditions here in Texas. I realized this would be the perfect time to post the posts I never posted from last summer, when we were vacationing in upstate New York.

I took my bicycle with me and had a couple wonderful rides. One of them was with my wife's sister and her husband along Krumkill Road. We set out from their neighborhood at the edge of Albany. Right now in Texas, the dormant grass is a depressing shade of beige. Going back to summer in Albany, the greenery is stunning.

Mid-Winter Dawdle

I took advantage of a warmish mid-winter day and took my Raleigh Super Course out for a solo ride. It was a bit of a dawdle in that I stopped here and there and just kind of looked around a lot. The kind of ride that would make Pondero proud.

I tried a new route to get into the city that took me through Westcreek Park. I'd never even been to the park before, but it has a trail that connects two neighborhoods divided by the creek. I set up the bike and took a few pictures, just as the Amtrak came through.

Shaw's Burgers and Shakes

I intended to do a breakfast ride but got rolling late this morning. So I rode over to the Southside, not knowing where I would end up, and decided to get some lunch at Shaw's Burgers and Shakes at 1057 W. Magnolia Ave, Fort Worth. It's not a huge place, kind of cozy. I decided to sit out on the patio.