Doohickie

Whycycle?

2012-02-01T22:44:00.002-06:00

The other day I thought: I am not a typical cyclist. There are others out there like me, but I don't think I'm typical. Why do I like to ride? What motivates me? I have reasons, of course: fitness and stuff like that, but why do I like to ride?

I think the number one reason is exploration. On a bicycle I can explore my city. There are a lot of cool things to see, and a lot of areas are far more accessible than I realized. On foot, I have no range. In a car, I go by things too fast. On a bike, it's just right. I can spend a day and ride 40 or 50 miles and see a bunch of cool stuff.

I've lived here for nearly 20 years, but it's only the last 3 or 4 that I've started to actually learn about the city- the terrain, the river, the train tracks and yards, the way it evolved and grew. You get a feel for the neighborhoods; that's probably my biggest surprise. On a gut feel level, I can tell one neighborhood from another. Some are rather pleasant. Others are stuck up. Or laid back. Or tense. Some of the most interesting are where residential areas butt up against industry.

If I were to drive through some of these neighborhoods, there would be no interaction. It's like watching TV. It's all passive. If I parked the car and walked, I wouldn't feel very safe in some areas. Or others wouldn't feel safe with a stranger walking around. When I ride through on a bike, there isn't an expectation of extended conversation. It's just a series of greetings. Any tension quickly passes.

My bell is a good ice breaker. I can ride through a neighborhood and even where I don't speak the predominant language, I can ring my bell and nod to the people. They smile back. They always smile when I ring my bell. Well, except for the teenaged girls. For some reason, girls laugh derisively- look at that dork on the bike.

Kids are fascinated; they think I'm the ice cream man since I have a bell, or it's just the novelty of seeing a grown-up riding a bike. Older boys can at least appreciate the effort involved, the motion, the freedom. Adults see someone on a bike and it takes them back to their childhood, or maybe their home country, when cycling was a normal part of life. I'm still not part of the neighborhood. I'm apart. But for a few seconds at a time here and there, I connect.

Some of my rides are group rides. I do Saturday morning rides with a club. Most of them are professionals- engineers, managers, etc.- and have the money to spend on a state of the art bike. I ride cheap bikes in comparison. It's a good group though; they look forward to seeing what I'm riding that week. What's normal to me, a fixed gear bike, an old road bike or even older English roadster, is unusual to them. We ride to breakfast and enjoy each other's company, both on the ride and while eating. Luckily for me, it is a very inclusive club with different riding levels.

I also do social rides with another group, more loosely organized. I like the come-as-you are nature of the second group. I have many conversations along the way and have made good friends among both groups. And sometimes the groups overlap. But even when I ride with others, I almost always ride home by myself. Just me. And the bike.

Then there are the bikes themselves. Most of them are used, some throw-aways. I adopt them. Just like most of my rides are not about the destination, but the journey, so are my bikes not about the bike itself, but the seeking, the transformation. Unlike people, if there is something about a bike I don't like, I can change it.

Working on the bikes is a whole hobby unto itself. Someday I will own a brand new, state of the art bike and I will love riding it. But even with the warts my current bikes have, they are mine. It's more of a baseball card collection than a stable of bikes. I search, I acquire, I trade. I add pieces to my collections of parts, and put them on a bike that needs it. Even once a bike is "done," chances are I will still make further changes down the road.

The result is a continual massaging of steel and aluminum to produce a bike that is mine and no one else's. When I ride it I get the pleasure of having at least some part in the configuration of the bike- a seat added, a wheel built. If a bike falls short of expectations, I will do what I can to help it make the grade.

So why do I ride bikes? It has nothing to do with speed really. It as a bit to do with distance, but that's not main motivation. It's about people and places and how metal and rubber come together to form a heart and soul.

Another Friday Ramble

2012-01-20T17:18:00.004-06:00

January has been very, very good to me. The temperature got up to 80 today so I went on a nice long ramble around Fort Worth, about 41 relaxed miles.

Even thought I didn't start until after 10 am, the winter shadows are still long.

A quick stop in Overton Park

...and out to the creek that leads out to the main river trail.

Once out to the river, I crossed to the other side. See that black bird on the left?

Here's a closer look. I was thinking black egret, but apparently that's an African bird.

The Woodshed still isn't open. The sign promises February 1st.

I'm pretty sure about this one: a snowy egret.

The multiple river crossings at the south end of Trinity Park

MOO MOO BUCKAROO!

Fly-away ramp

Trinity Park. Downtown is not far off.

The old water treatment plant (I think) just north of downtown on Main Street

Heading northwest toward River Oaks

A great blue heron

Rockwood Park Drive

Off to the left of the levy is Crestwood neighborhood

The Trinity Trail is different here than in the southwest part of town. The trail is up on the top of the levy for most of its distance. There is space at the base of the levy, though, that makes a handy dog track. The dogs tend to stay down and don't chase cyclists.

And except for the paved ramps, most of the trail is crushed stone.

I got off the trail for a short bit. I rode on White Settlement Road to cut across one of the loops in the river.

Back to the trail now, and almost to my destination.

This section of the trail starts to look a little different; the channel has stone walls.

This is a recent addition to the trail.

The trail runs by a little waterfall. Very scenic.

Beyond the waterfall is goat farm (yes, the goats are kind of hard to see).

At the end of the trail are the tail and wing of an jet. I've heard they will be used to make shelters along the trail. It makes sense, really; this end of the trail is just a few hundred yards from a Naval Air Station.

They must be prepping for construction, because the entrance to (in my case, exit from) the rail is blocked by construction fencing!

Luckily I did find a gap to get out. I'm not very familiar with this part of town, but I ended up on Roaring Springs Road which I know heads back into town. It's kind of a busy street, but only one lane in each direction, and the lanes are very wide; really almost as wide as two lanes. So even when heavy trucks go by there is enough room.

Back on the west side.

This is River Crest Country Club

I approach one of my favorite spots to ride- the western end of 7th Street. It's one of the highest spots in town, and 7th Street descends down to downtown.

North Hi Mount Elementary School; a beautiful pre-war building.

Downtown gets closer

After riding most of the downhill, I detoured off to the Fort Worth Food Park for my first visit there. It's basically a lot in an industrial neighborhood just north of Montgomery Plaza where six food trucks park. They change up the trucks so the menu varies.

Back on the trail, approaching University Drive

I jumped off the trail an University and headed toward Colonial Country Club (on the right)

This house is across the street from the country club. Very handsome.

The whole area is pretty swank.

The reconstruction of Amon Carter Stadium at TCU is making progress.

Heading south through the barrio near Seminary Drive

The sign in the front yard of the house says
Se Vende
Dueño a Dueño
I think this means "For Sale by Owner" (or owner to owner)

Transitioning back to where English is the primary language

Briefly on busy McCart Avenue... just a couple blocks of this

I turn left almost immediately

Then its just cutting through another neighborhood and I'm home. 41 miles in 70 degree temps in January makes for a nice ride.

Friday Ramble

2012-01-07T21:15:00.011-06:00

Put in about 35 miles Friday afternoon, riding around Fort Worth. This is a long post; go get yourself something to drink and maybe a snack! Here is your guide for the Friday Ramble (me).

I rode over to Bellaire Drive, which is part of the Trinity Trails system, although not right on the river.

Finally, out to the river.

Lots of winter construction along the trail. This is a newly paved section.

Fishing on the river bank.

More construction ahead.

This will be a new road bridge over the river, with a bike/pedestrian bridge underneath to connect the trails on the banks.

With all the talk of construction, it may sound like complaining, but I have to say that the detour trails are really pretty good. Hard packed stone trails that are fine for road bike tires, for the most part.

And just a little further up, even more construction on the Hulen Street bridge. This will be an elevated interchange with the new Chisholm Trail Parkway toll road.

Finally, a clear trail ahead.

I hear people in other cities complaining about all the different users on MUPs (multi-use paths). One of the great things about the Trinity Trails is that in the busiest areas there are actually two trails: a paved trail generally used by wheeled traffic, and a crushed stone trail for food traffic. There is enough extra room that some people even walk beside the trail.

This is probably my favorite spot on the Trinity River. There is a lookout over the river with benches. The bridge in the background is the University Drive bridge.

Hi, it's me again.

And just up the bank is the brand new Woodshed restaurant which should be opening in the next couple weeks. It will be run by Chef Tim Love.

Around the next bend is Trinity Park. The narrow gauge rail tracks alongside the trail are for the Forest Park Miniature Railroad which runs between the zoo in Forest Park, and Trinity Park.

Be careful when you cross the tracks!

As the trail follows the river through Trinity Park, downtown Fort Worth comes into view.

Ducks swimming in for a free meal.

As with the fishermen earlier, the duck feeders remind me of all the wildlife along the river. I've seen snowy egrets, blue herons and night herons, other water birds, armadillos, skunks, foxes and even a near encounter with a coyote, all on the trail. It's almost like an urban nature preserve, even more so with all the road construction going on around town.

Downtown looms closer. (It's not really that close; I just used the telephoto setting.)

I stopped for a quick meeting with Mark Twain. He's a fixture here along the river. No, literally: He's fixed to the bench.

Here's the Lancaster Avenue bridge. Just this side of it a pedestrian/bicycle bridge is being built that will join Trinity Park to the west end of downtown.

The river wraps around the west side to the north side of downtown.

This is Henderson Street approaching downtown from the northwest.

Time to cross the river to the downtown side.

No, this isn't the Henderson Street bridge again; this is Main Street coming in from the north.

Here's something else about Fort Worth that's cool: For years, elementary school kids have been painting random walls around town. Retaining walls, bridge underpasses, creek channels... they start with a blue background, then turn the kids loose. This kind of thing is the result.

Back on the other side of the river, here is a view of the new campus of Tarrant Community College (foreground), with the DR Horton and Wells Fargo towers behind.

Riding north along the river, putting downtown in the background.

When you ride the trail to the northside, you have to be careful not to run over the little "dirt piles" on the trail because, well, they're not dirt. I had to call out "On your left!" to make sure they didn't wander too far over.

Marine Creek joins the Trinity River.

The trail ends here at 23rd Street. It picks up again closer to the Stockyards (off to the left). But since I'm just out for a ride, this is my turnaround point. I'll turn right onto Samuels Avenue (the white bridge above) and head back toward downtown.

This is a city-designated bike route. While there is no bike lane marked, there is plenty of room to coexist with the motor traffic.

Yep, it's still me.

This end of Samuels is pretty industrial, but lightly traveled.

But it transitions into an older, historical residential neighborhood.

There's a grand old house.

"Progress" kicks in. As you get closer to downtown, newer developments come into view.

But before we get there.... Pioneer's Rest Cemetery. Many of the city's prominent names can be found on the headstones here.

And now, the more elegant abodes of uptown.

I did some exploring around the eastern fringe of downtown. This area is best explored by bicycle. Here's the Allen Chapel Church.

I believe the St. Louis Southwestern Freight Depot building is a restored original; the apartments behind are recent construction.

A glimpse of the Bass Hall angels from the east. Most pictures show a view from the west.

Crossing over the tracks just north of the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center leads to an interesting little area of warehouses, some abandoned and some rehabbed into offices.

This building is just.... bizarre.

The old King Candy Co.

"Manufacturers of Chocolates and Bon Bons"

To give some idea of how big the building is, here is my bike...

And here it is next to building (really tiny at the bottom right corner).

Around the corner of the building we find that the building was used to sell antiques at some point as well.

Looking back the way I came, west toward downtown.

Before I leave, some views of the "ignored infrastructure" of Fort Worth- the rail lines.

People waiting on the platforms at the ITC for the commuter train to take them back east toward Dallas.

A little further south, the old Santa Fe Depot, now a branch of the University of Texas at Arlington.

We've now toured the eastern fringe of downtown Fort Worth. For several of the pics you saw, it was my first time seeing those sights too. Turning right on Lancaster, then left onto Main, will take me to the southside. The tall building ahead and to the left is the old Texas & Pacific Depot, which also still operates a train station (along with the ITC), and has been remodeled into loft condos. The even taller building on the right edge of the picture is the new and incredibly modern Omni Hotel.

Having crossed through the tunnel under the tracks, here is the commuter lot for the T&P. The T&P Building and the Omni are lined up in this photo.

Heading south on Jennings Avenue. It is a bike route from Vickery (where the T&P commuter lot is) to Magnolia Avenue, about a mile, linking downtown with the eclectic and historic Fairmount neighborhood. In some stretches there are bike lanes; in others bicycles are instructed to take the lane.

Downtown recedes in the distance.

Off to the right (to the west) are Trimble Tech High School and the hospital district.

I've cut over to College Avenue and am coming into Fairmount now. I think this building, a former Police Station, would make a cool book store.

A little further down College, now in the residential area, is a small collection of old store fronts that are now a historical hardware store (i.e., old fixtures and doors and stuff). A lot of Fairmount renovations are done with recycled hardware.

One of the store fronts is still identified as a Piggly Wiggly grocery store.

These are typical Fairmount homes. I hope to move to this neighborhood eventually.

Ack. I thought I was done with construction. And this isn't as smooth as the detours on the trail.

South of Fairmount is Ryan Place. Slightly more recent, and also more upscale.

Ryan Place dumps into Berry Street, a 7-lane road (almost a highway) that I ride on for a block or two. While waiting to make my left turn off Berry and onto Ryan Avenue, I took a picture looking west. Texas Christian University is about a mile down the road.

Now I am in a more humble neighborhood. Older homes again, but smaller and not as well maintained as Fairmount. This is an immigrant neighborhood where Spanish language is common. I ride down here frequently at all hours and have never had any problems. Fort Worth is funny that way; before I started riding my bicycle, I thought this was a "bad neighborhood." But really, it's quite safe. You'll note the green bike route sign in the first photo. I've asked the city planner who plans the bike routes to extend this route pretty much all the way down to my neighborhood.

I've jogged over a block and now I'm on James Avenue. With the Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary on the right, I pass my favorite southside taco truck. They barely speak English but make great food and are nice folks.

Seminary buildings on the right. James is a 4-lane road but has light enough traffic that it makes a great bike route. I hope the city marks it as such and puts sharrow markings on the road.

James branches off and the main road becomes Crowley Road, but I veer left to stay on James. Crowley gets quite busy south of I-20. But on James there's almost no traffic to be seen.

It makes for great riding.

I veer off again, onto Old Crowley Road, which runs between a nursery on the right and a trailer park on the left.

Old Crowley Road runs into Edgecliff Road which crosses busy 7-lane Crowley Road. I stayed on James to avoid this. (Now I just cross it at a light.)

Westward on Edgecliff.

Then I turn south for the final push home. I head toward Westcreek Park.

Note the recently painted-over graffiti on the path.

Careful! Stay on the path!

Families using the playground.

And finally, crossing West Creek itself, at a low water crossing. Note more paintings by school children.

My route home from the southside to my neighborhood is pretty flat. My trip up Canyon Circle is the exception. Fairly steep for several blocks. It flattens out some at that light pole ahead.

Almost there (huff, puff). I was riding a geared bike this time. Riding this on a single speed really builds stamina, especially at the end of a long ride.

This is a good spot to cross Altamesa Boulevard. No traffic light to wait for, but a wide median at the halfway point which makes it easier to get across.

1980s houses... almost home.

Note how the sun and shadows change through here; I have to make several turns to cut through this neighborhood to get to my own.

Shadow Me.

The home stretch now; on the other side of that light is my neighborhood.

Sycamore School Road can be busy. Best to wait for the light. Oddly, this light seems to trip more readily for bicycles than for cars.

Finally home. That's the side of my house on the right edge of the picture.

Thanks for traveling around Fort Worth with me. We did 35 miles together; I hope you enjoyed it.

Another Bike Date

2011-12-30T21:59:00.004-06:00

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.

Time for a water break.

The trail actually goes under Exchange Street in the Stockyards.

A couple blocks off the trail is Los Vaqueros. I wrote a review of dinner here. Let's just say we enjoyed it very much.

From there we did a little shopping in the Stockyards.

Hey dude- real men self-propel!

We found a hitching post for our mounts.

Actually, Mrs. Doohickie did the shopping while I waited at the bar at Mavericks. It's a brilliant concept, actually- a touristy western store where you can have a beer at the bar.

Our shopping done, we headed back toward the trail. We stopped to take a few pictures by the old Swift Co. stairway on 23rd Street. The stairway leads to the old meatpacking area. The Stockyards processed millions of head of livestock in the early 20th century. The Stockyards today is an Old West tourist area, but some of the old processing buildings still stand. They will soon be cleared for future development just east of the tourist area. This stairway leads to that older, abandoned area.

Finally, time to head back on the trail.

Shortly after hitting the trail, we passed a couple of guys riding older bicycles. Or rather, they were looking at one of their bicycles. They had just started to ride from a parking lot. I stopped and asked whether they needed help and they said yes. After a quick look, I saw his chain had slipped off the smallest cog in the back and was jammed in between the cog and the frame. A closer look revealed his cable housing was messed up. So I unstuck the chain and took a screwdriver and turned the limit screw far enough to put the chain on one of the middle gears. I told them it would be easy for a bike shop to do a full repair. They were grateful and rode off.

The Fort Worth skyline is visible on the right...

Time to load the bikes back onto the car and go home.

Los Vaqueros in the Stockyards

2011-12-30T21:52:00.006-06:00

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

2011-12-19T21:37:00.005-06:00

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.

Once again, Chris proved beyond measure with his hospitality. We arrived on a chilly but sunny morning, with breakfast tacos awaiting us to get our furnaces going. The weather for the annual ramble on (mostly) unpaved roads couldn't have been better. Cool in the morning, steadily warming during the day, and virtually no wind to fight us. Just a few lazy clouds got in the way of the sun once or twice.

Shortly before our scheduled starting time of 10 am, Chris (in the blue jacket) briefed us on the ride. Things went subtly smoother this year. I think the riders knew what to expect this year and came better prepared, and Chris was better prepared as well, printing out several cue sheets so that people wouldn't get lost.

We started out on pavement,

but soon that gave way to chip seal.

We saw our first livestock.

When we got to this bridge last year, it was still under construction. A lot smoother this time.

After the bridge, though, the pavement gave way to stone roads. This is why we ride today.

We were all fresh, so the first few hills are easy.

One might ask, why choose to ride on stone roads?

My answer is that there is less motor traffic, and it tends to be locals that aren't in too much of a hurry.

But as I was riding, I also realized that it's a different challenge. It's not mountain biking by any stretch, but it's more "technical" than road cycling normally is. You have to choose your line more carefully, trying to find the smoothest path, and trying not get caught in pockets of deep stone.

It takes a little more oomph as well.

Horsey!

Taking a picture of Chris taking a picture.

This is what passes for fall foliage in Texas.

Longhorn!

The grades are shallow, but long.

I have a suspicion the sign went up first and then they felt obligated to build the road accordingly. ;- )

Coming up to the highest point of the ride. The smiles are because the climb is complete.

My steed. It started life as a 1994 Nishiki Sport XRS hybrid, but is now uniquely mine.

From this spot you can see the wide open spaces.

If you read Chris's blog, you know this is the reason why he rides: to drink coffee a few miles from home.

The road goes on forever.

Rollers.

Another new bridge.

The old one was more interesting.

We encountered a few dogs along the way. Most didn't threaten us very much. One came out as we passed by. I knew she wouldn't get the rider ahead of me and she turned her sights on me. Rather than outrun her, I decided to stop. She just wanted to make friends! Several of us stopped and she showered us all with kisses. I told the others to take off and I would deal with her. She wanted to come with us. I tried to get her to stay by shouting, "NO! BAD DOG!" She was so crestfallen I had to pet her and cheer her up. Then I tried, "GO HOME!" She kind of started following me, but realized that our encounter was over.

Close to Rosston, the turnaround point. Here is a chimney from an old cabin.

The most impressive dog encounter was just before we came into Rosston. The rider ahead of me was charged by a black lab. Just as the dog got up to the bike, he pointed at the dog and yelled, "NO!" The dog sat down and watched the rest of us go by. All in all, no riders or dogs were hurt during the ride.

The Rosston General Store.

The store first opened in 1879. I wonder if the wood stove is original?

Zack thought the barbecue was delicious. The dog wanted to try it as well.

This is the crew that made the ride.

Time to head back.

The downhill into Rosston becomes a climb on the way home.

Another one of those new bridges.

What is down there anyway?

Don't make faces; your face could freeze like that!

Homeward bound.

A coyote carcass on a pole. A warning to other marauding coyotes?

Almost home now. Pavement never felt so good.

Last year, I was among the first to Rosston, owing to the lead cyclists making a wrong turn. On the way back to Chris's house this year, my legs were shot and I didn't think I was gonna make it. But again (even with cue sheets), the leaders missed the last turn, and I somehow managed to be the first rider back. So I got to take pictures of the arriving riders.

There were a few pictures I didn't post here. You can see all my pictures on my photobucket account. There is also an album of photos here. And Chris's account his now posted on his blog.

Thus ended another successful Ramble. These rides are fun. First of all, the fellowship of other riders is enjoyable. Also, the roads and scenery are so different from my usual urban experience. It's hard to imagine having this much fun for so little money. Thanks again, Chris, for your hospitality.

My Commute

2011-10-19T18:07:00.003-05:00

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

Enjoy!

Bike the Bricks N Trails

2011-10-15T16:48:00.005-05:00

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.

The president of our bike club, Jim, in his red, white & blue club jersey

I ran into my friend, Hector, who had his daughters with him.

We were well supported by the police who had several bicycle cops, a couple cars, and a golf cart for keeping the trails clear ahead of the group.

Lining up for the start.

Heading north out of downtown on Main Street.

We got on the river trail at Northside Drive and headed back toward downtown.

Hector with his daughters again.

The line stretched out in both directions; I heard an estimate of about 300 riders.

Near downtown we crossed under Main Street and stayed on the trail toward the westside.

We had to cross a couple of these bridges over the river.

We hopped off the trail at University Drive and headed through the westside retail district.

Then we curled around to get on Lancaster to take us back downtown.

Whoa... check out this tandem recumbent.

After the ride, the bike club went to the Corner Bakery for breakfast.

It was a pretty good ride. When it was the Clean Air Ride, they gave away t-shirts to the participants. Now they charged $10, so I passed. Apparently they had more sponsorship last year.

This was my longest ride so far on my fixed gear bike (I built a new rear wheel to convert my single speed to fixed gear). When I got home I figured 47 miles. Since I just turned 49, I hopped back on the bike and rode around the neighborhood a little more so I can say I've ridden my age. I ended up with 51 miles for the day.

A Night Ride

2011-10-14T22:21:00.003-05:00

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.

Then out to the trail. This is at the low water crossing where Overton Creek joins the Trinity River.

Downtown is a ways off...

A visit with Mr. Skunk. He was actually pretty close to the trail.

The bridges over the Trinity River at the south end of Trinity Park

Just past the bridges, downtown comes into view

I followed the new bike lanes along Texas Street, riding by the main Firehouse.

Stopped by the T&P Tavern at the turnaround point. It's in the historic Texas and Pacific Train Station, which is still an active train station. A look up at the ceiling:

Andrew and Anthony, the bartenders.

Looking back toward downtown from the near southside

This night, I cut through the campus of Texas Christian University. A random shot of some of the campus

The rest of the ride home was through neighborhood streets... no more pics.

The Best of September

2011-10-08T12:51:00.003-05:00

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

Still life with bicycle, somewhere downtown

A couple scenes from the stylish new campus of Tarrant County College

This is a view of the campus from across the Trinity River.

The Garvey-Veihl-Kelley House at 769 Samuels Ave.

The Night Riders did a rare daytime ride.

Bass Hall angels, day...

...and night.

Self portraits with bicycles

I worked a Habitat for Humanity build

and rode with Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price

Random Night Riders pics

Scenes around the city

Closing out a night at the taco truck

...then closing out the month with a Critical Mass ride. Burn fat, not oil!

Same ol' pub crawl?

2011-08-01T20:08:00.003-05:00

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.

We often regroup in this lot before setting out. It was a large enough group that Mark, the ride leader, reinforced some of the rules we follow- staying in one lane, obeying traffic signals (but continuing through as a group if it turns yellow as we go through), that kind of stuff.

And off we go again, into the sun.

If you watch the video you'll see that instead of going to a bar, our first stop was at Central Market which offered not only spirits but gelato and other treats.

Randomness: This is Wilson. He was "driving" around the parking lot. (He's actually sitting in the lap of his owner who was waiting for his wife to come out of the store.)

Heading out, it was finally starting to get dark. The temp was still 100 degrees though. Crazy.

Our second stop was a little more appropriate for a pub crawl.

This is Mark, the ride leader.

Meanwhile, Charles is keeping on eye on the bikes out front.

Finally, time to head for home.

Good night, Night Riders!

The Next Stage of the Tour de Fort Worth

2011-07-22T20:25:00.005-05:00

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.

I rolled up just as Betsy was taking a group picture.

And off we go.

I have to admit that the group set a surprisingly fast pace. Our new mayor is no slouch on a bike, running up to an 18 mph pace. A lot faster than most of my group rides, which are admittedly more on the social side. We rode through, actually under, the Stockyards and up the trail along Marine Creek to about NW 31th Street. Betty had appointments to get to, though, so we had to high-tail it back.

On the way back, I thought to take some pictures where we go under the Stockyards. The trail literally goes under Exchange Avenue, including the buildings along the street. If you haven't seen it before, it's pretty cool.

Then it was a dash back to Trinity Park. Downtown gets progressively closer.

I got some of the trail ride on video.

In the parking log afterward, Mayor Price said that it's been so enjoyable riding with different groups, she may organize regular rides, maybe once a month. There was also mention of setting up a Mayor's Sprint Triathlon next year. I can already see Betsy adding to the city's heritage.

After leaving the group, I had a hankerin' for some Mexican breakfast. I headed down Hemphill, knowing there are a few Mexican restaurants down that way. Along the way, I passed the old Berry theater building. It would be cool if someone could fix up this former gem.

It would take a lot of work though.

I ended up getting some huevos con chorizo (eggs with sausage, Mexican style) at El Mil Taco.

Kind of typical of the little taco places around here. You never know if the staff will speak English. I was lucky this time. I was able to order what I wanted and it was delightful. I got home before the worst of the heat settled in.

Tour de Fort Worth

2011-07-21T23:29:00.006-05:00

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.

That's Betsy on the far right, with the blue butterfly on her jersey.

A stop in Trinity Park

for a quick repair

A group photo of the eight of us that rode. When Betsy sees me putting up bunny ears behind her, she'll never ride with me again.

Stopping for a Gatorade on the way home

Like Night and Day

2011-07-19T00:24:00.004-05:00

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.

Low water crossing over the Trinity River

Some video riding through Overton Park

Muggin' for the camera

The second was to Lucille's Stateside Bistro. We had a guest on this ride, Nick from Streams and Valleys, the organization that develops and maintains several of the MUPs (multi-use paths) along the Trinity River and elsewhere around the area.

On the way home, we went up to the western end of 7th Street, which leads to a very long descent toward University Drive and the Trinity River.

The new bike lanes along West 7th Street

Trinity Park

Kayakers on the Trinity

It was getting pretty hot so after leaving the group I stopped for some Gatorade.

The breakfast rides work because we get our miles in before the sun gets really hot. The alternative is to ride after dark. There is a loose group of folks who call themselves the Night Riders. This is kind of a come-as-you-are group, with racing bikes, fixed gear bikes, utility bikes, you name it. Some recent Night Rides:

July 3

Last Sunday night- July 17

And Monday night I did a solo night ride. Just me and the bike.

I'm doing whatever I can lately to miss the heat of mid-day.

Dog Update

2011-07-15T00:34:00.001-05:00

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

2011-07-02T21:40:00.007-05:00

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.

She was a problematic puppy. First of all she had epilepsy when she was young. We had to run her to the vet several times when she started having seizures. She had to take phenobarbital for years to keep the seizures away. Eventually she was weaned off the pills and hasn't had seizures in many years now.

Also, she was a real pain-in-the butt little sister to Mollie, our golden retriever. Sugar was a typically playful pup, and Mollie was too old for that stuff. When Mollie passed away, though, having Sugar around was a comfort.

She wasn't alone for long; we soon adopted another older dog, Chip, a lab mix. Chip came and left us after a few years, so then we got Cookie, a beagle mix. Now Sugar was the grown-up dog and Cookie was little sister. Sugar was lucky, though. Cookie has a very sweet and submissive disposition and didn't give Sugar nearly as much grief as Sugar gave Mollie. So they settled in... Sugar was the grand dame, the boss.

At one point, Sugar developed a tumor on her back right leg. Our son, who was working by then, paid for the surgery to remove it. It was not malignant. It grew back quickly, though. The vet said that as long as it didn't affect her mobility, removing it again was probably of little benefit. So we let it be.

Bringing a cat into the mix didn't affect things much, even though Sugar wasn't too sure at first.

Last year, though, everything changed. We adopted yet another stray, Winston. He was such a little puppy but he quickly grew to be quite large. Sugar didn't give up her grand dame status easily, but Winston was just too big and asserted his alpha dog status. Eventually she relented and they now get along pretty good. She is old and treacherous and knows how to get into trouble. He has the brawn to execute her evil plans. So we've cleaned up our share of tipped garbage cans.

Things settled down, but Sugar has had a few health problems this year. She had kennel cough this winter and while recovering from that developed digestive problems so now she needs mild food. Then a couple weeks ago, that tumor on her right rear leg burst and we had to rush her to the vet. They removed the tumor but it was not without complications; there just wasn't enough skin to close the wound, so she has a small patch of raw flesh. To keep her from chewing on the wound, we had to use the Cone of Shame on her.

Amazingly, though, she is recovering and less than two weeks after surgery she is walking on the leg most of the time. For an old lady, she's doin' pretty good. My son is planning a visit back to Texas for the end of this year; I hope Sugar will be here to greet him.

Pub crawl

2011-06-27T23:12:00.005-05:00

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.

Then we rolled around Fairmount for a while... and then went over to Trinity Park.

The park has some nice views of Downtown, and soon there will be a bicycle bridge to go over the Trinity River to easily get there.

We hopped out of the park and into the redeveloped area along West 7th Street.

We arrived at our first Lounge stop, the Magnolia Motor Lounge.

The place was hoppin'

...to the sounds of Fish Fry Bingo.

They are a versatile bluegrass band, playing everything from rock standards with a country vibe, to their own genre of music they call Hill-Hop.... hip-hop for hillbillies.

By the time we hit the road again, we really were Night Riders.

We followed West 7th over the river to Downtown on our way to our next Lounge stop,

...the Rainbow Lounge.

Here's a Night Riders group picture on the Rainbow Lounge stage. That's me in the rear on the left end.

From there it was the solitary 9 mile ride home. For some reason, the 24 mph headwind (with gusts to 33) didn't seem to affect me too much. I usually feel stronger on my single speed bike, and this night was no exception. Just follow the Sharrows

Finally I was on my own street, with the street lights casting shadows.

When I got home I'd done 29 miles. Not bad for a Sunday night out with friends.

Baby it's hot out there

2011-06-24T11:14:00.003-05:00

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.

Commuting in my work shirt. It always balloons out when I'm riding, making me look like a hunchback.

Riding along the edge of the golf course on Hillcrest Street.

This is the high point of the ride, literally, at the western end of West 7th Street.

Now for the descent, a mile-long coast through the North Hi-Mount neighborhood, down to University Drive.

Approaching University from the west, W. 7th Street is a two-lane neighborhood street. Looking across the intersection, W. 7th is practically a highway. Most of the traffic diverts slightly left onto Camp Bowie Boulevard.

Magnolia Motor Lounge is just a few blocks away. I've reviewed their food before. They're basically a bar that serves automotive-themed sandwiches like the Sloppy Jalopy. This time I got The 550: Chicken Fried Chicken, Chicken Fried Bacon, and the fixings. Their coleslaw is perhaps the best in Fort Worth. The tomatoes on the sandwich stood out; very tasty. To complete the meal I threw in a Garage Taco with Pork. Their pulled pork is pretty tasty too.

They also had entertainment.

No, not Christa and Scott demonstrating bottle mustaches.* They had live music in the form of Chris Hawkes. Just a man and a guitar making some great music.

*No, they weren't really drinking beer; it was a demonstration with sealed bottles.

By the time I rode the rest of the way home, it was dark and the edge was off the heat.

The Nation's Capital

2011-06-21T23:52:00.003-05:00

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.

A swipe of the credit card and I was on my way. The bikes are pretty basic, low performance bikes. They get the job done but they're not very fancy and not very fast. They do have some good features such as integrated head and tail lights, driven off a dynamo I believe, and also a front rack with a permanently attached bungee cord. They also have a long seatpost with markings on it so once you dial in how high you want the seat, you can quickly reset it on subsequent rides.

The credit card transaction was pretty straightforward. For a one-day rental it costs $5 for a membership, the first half hour is free, and then there is a charge thereafter until you turn the bike in at a bike share station. You don't have to turn it in at the same station where you checked it out, and there are quite a few stations around. I think the total rental for a few hours was about $10, but the one thing I didn't like was I didn't see a way to get a final receipt after checking the bike back in.

Directions were pretty easy; the Washington Monument provided a great landmark from pretty much anywhere in the touristy area of DC.

I took the Mount Vernon Trail from Crystal City in Arlington, crossed the Potomac River on the 14th Street bridge, and found myself on the edge of DC.

I wasn't sure how much time this would really take, so I didn't go into any of the buildings; I just looked around from the outside. My primary landmark, up close this time:

There were several blocks of massive government buildings. Here is the Commerce Department

Across the street I noticed a couple of commuter bikes locked up. There was an old Schwinn Collegiate

...and a pretty nice Raleigh Super Grand Prix.

Near the White House I caught up with a tour group on bicycles. The guide was telling the group about how Truman had a piano moved and the floors were in such bad shape that the piano fell through!

I headed over to the Capitol Dome. Bicycle traffic was really kind of different in the touristy area of DC. There were some on-street bike lanes, wide sidewalks, although there were a lot of tourists on foot, and at times I rode out in the traffic lanes. Maybe just because there were so many people (the weather was beautiful), nowhere seemed quite right for riding.

I felt safe enough, but when I rode on the street I got caught in the rush hour traffic and noticed a lot of cyclists were making good time on the sidewalks and footpaths. When I rode on them myself, they seemed kind of crowded with people. I didn't have any incidents, though. I suppose riding a bicycle in DC would take some getting used to.

I made it over to the Capitol Building.

When I turned around I was looking down the National Mall and back at my old landmark, the Washington Monument.

Somehow I expected the National Mall to be a very well-kept, formal lawn with perfectly trimmed grass. Over by the memorials this is the case, but on the National Mall and the Ellipse, the grass was overgrown a bit, and there were a lot of groups playing kickball, dodge ball or softball. I suppose the memorials are America's front lawn, but the National Mall is America's back yard.

I rode back toward my landmark and beyond, to the World War II Memorial

Beyond that was the Lincoln Memorial.

There are also lesser memorials, such as this one of John Paul Jones.

I got a nice pic of the Jefferson Memorial across the Tidal Basin.

And as I left the area, one more shot of the Jefferson Memorial, with my old landmark, the Washington Memorial, behind it.

Then it was back over the river and south on the Mount Vernon Trail.

I didn't mention it earlier, but the trail goes through Gravelly Point Park which is just north of the main runway of Washington Reagan National Airport.

Several people were just hanging out, watching the jets take off over them. So I did, too.

Here you can see the main tower for the airport.

From there it was a short ride back to my hotel in Crystal City. Altogether I rode about 12 miles to, from, and around the Nation's Capital.

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

2011-06-04T18:52:00.006-05:00

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!

It was cool in the morning; it's hard to imagine riding this on a hundred degree day.

When I took this picture, you could see the Fort Worth skyline. I can't quite make it out on the picture though... maybe to the right of the tree?

Mark helped Larry get his camera out of his pack...

...so Larry could take a picture of the skyline, too. I hope his came out better.

My ugly mug.

Larry.

This is typical of the long rollers on FM 1187 south of Lake Benbrook. Each hill was probably about a mile long; there were about a half dozen of them.

Finally we rode toward the lake to follow the shore for a while.

Again, you can (barely) see the Fort Worth skyline, above the dam in between Mark and Larry.

We left the lake shore and headed toward Downtown along the Trinity Trail.

The Benbrook end of the trail has several sections that have some much-appreciated shade.

This video gives a bit of a feel of the trail.

There's also a nice little waterfall.

At the waterfall was a park bench with a memorial plaque.

I got the title of this post from the plaque.

We rode the trail toward Downtown. As we passed through Trinity Park, we came across Myles from Rat Trap Press and invited him to have lunch with us at The Flying Saucer... making it an even four. Myles and Mark:

Me and Larry:

Up until lunch, the temperature ranged from a little cool too warm but still pleasant. After lunch, though, it was downright hot. We went our separate ways, but since Mark and I live near each other we rode together for most of the ride home, down Fort Worth Bike Route 41 through the Jennings-May corridor, then cutting across to the Ryan-James corridor until we split up just north of I-20 and I continued home through Westcreek Park. In the noonday heat nearing 100° F, the last five miles or so were quite a slog.

When I totaled up my miles, I had gone 53 on Saturday. If I count the 18 miles I rode Friday night, that makes 71 miles in less than 24 hours, a metric century and tied with my longest ride ever in less than a day.

May Critical Mass

2011-05-28T13:43:00.004-05:00

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.

After gathering... off we go.

We started out in Downtown Fort Worth, then rolled down to Magnolia.

Then into the Fairmount Neighborhood.

We took a couple breaks to regroup.

Sadly, my camera batteries died at that point, so if you know Fort Worth, just imagine pictures of Fairmount, Ryan Place, taking over University Drive on the long downhill going from the TCU area down to the Zoo, up to West 7th Street and back to Burnett Park where we started.

The ride home was brutal with stiff headwind out of the south. It wasn't that the wind was that strong, it's that it was the second time I did the ride home on Friday; I had taken a ride earlier in the morning and had to fight 30+ mph gusts to get home. Doing it all over again ensured a sound night's sleep.

Wednesday Night Phở Ride

2011-05-26T20:34:00.004-05:00

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.

This thing called a job followed, but when quitting time came, it was time to get some phở. Phở is Vietnamese soup, and Fort Worth is home to an active Vietnamese community. For some reason, the Night Riders go for phở on the last Wednesday of the month.

So I rode over to the usual starting point, the Chat Room Pub on Magnolia.

I guess there were about 20 of us.

Some last minute adjustments,

And off we went, up East Belknap Street to Pho Hung.

The food was great, the company good, the beer brought in from outside (since it is a BYO place), and the Mavericks game was on the TV.

We rode back toward downtown, happy and content.

The Dallas Mavericks, by the way, were losing while we ate. As our group passed by the very packed Fox & Hound downtown, the place went nuts with cheers- the Mavs took the lead for the first time all night.

We traveled on and I decided to stop for a quick one with Larry, Jay & Scott, at the T&P Tavern. As we came in, the Mavs were just wrapping up their win over the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the NBA Western Conference title; they are on their way to the finals!

During the day, the wind swung around and by the time I rode south toward home, there was a moderate tailwind out of the north. I pushed it a little, listening to the hum of the tires on smooth pavement while the wind ran with me. I think I got home in record time but felt very relaxed when I got there; it was a very zen-like ride.

For the day I had over 50 miles on the bike.

Ride of Silence

2011-05-23T21:16:00.006-05:00

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.

Members of bike clubs were encouraged to wear club jerseys to let the public know that we have a very active cycling community in and around Fort Worth.

We took the ride slowly enough that any cyclist who could ride for an hour would be able to keep up.

Special thanks to Scott Strom for organizing this event. Also, thanks to the Fort Worth Police bicycle-mounted officers for providing escort, Bicycles Inc. for providing mechanical support, and several EMTs who rode with us just in case there were any medical problems. 182 riders participated in Fort Worth.

Spring Arts Goggle

2011-05-22T21:29:00.003-05:00

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.

The artist they hosted was Adam Werner, the painter who did the mural on the wall, along with his wife, Robbie, who has just started Stir Crazy Baked Goods.

I failed to take any pictures of them, but during the Arts Goggle last fall, Trinity did a Complete Streets demo, including painting a bike lane with a door zone to keep cyclists away from car doors. Shortly before the Spring Arts Goggle, the city painted the lanes for real from Vickery to Magnolia, marking a big improvement for cyclists.

I visited there for a while, and checked out some of the other artists, then rode over to Avoca Coffee, a new coffee shop over on Magnolia.

Wiener Man was in Avoca's parking lot, so I got me a wiener.

While I was waiting, I watched the hoop dancers.

The main event at Avoca was watching Fish Fry Bingo play.

I wasn't the only one who was getting into it.

Sorry I didn't take more pictures of the art. It was as much about the party as it was the art. Even as it got late there were still lots of people out.

Afterwards, a bunch of us went for a drink over at the T&P Tavern. On the way over, I saw one other band still playing at an old used car lot.

The Arts Goggle is fun. It's a lot less formal than the Main Street Art Fest downtown.

A Notable Breakfast Ride

2011-05-13T15:46:00.006-05:00

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.

I followed Overton Creek out to the Trinity River.

Across the low water crossing.

Sometimes there is a blue heron down by the low water crossing. Today, there was a snowy egret.

This is construction of the Clearfork bridge. It will have a main span for the motor traffic, then another span underneath for pedestrian and bicycle traffic, linking the banks of the Trinity River. This will be useful on my commute.

The activity on the other bank of the river is preparation for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at the Colonial Country Club.

Continuing on toward downtown...

And more construction. This one is for a pedestrian bridge that will link downtown to Trinity Park, completing what is currently a "bike trail to nowhere."

Until then, I still need to take 7th Street to get there.

This is an interesting building: I think it used to be an auto dealership a long time back. More recently it housed a private auto collection. You could look at them through the windows but it wasn't a museum or anything. Not too long ago, the cars were moved and I think there are other plans for the building. There is a ramp on the far side of the building to enable cars to drive into either the first or second level of the building.

Almost to my destination, the Paris Coffee Shop, but I paused to take some picks of the bike at the T&P Warehouse.

I met one of the other Night Riders at the Paris. We knew more people were coming but would be late so we went in and ordered... and this is where things got interesting. While we were waiting for breakfast, we noticed a crew was filming.

They were apparently with a Food Network show called Sugar High. Presently, the owner came by with plates of their specialty- coconut cream pie- and asked if we wanted to be on TV. Eventually the crew came around.

The started filming while we ate the pie and talked about how good it was (and it was good!)

They said the show will air in August, so you may want to keep an eye for it.

Back on the road, I found an interesting spot for some more bicycle art:

I stopped by the Texas Christian University Campus to see how the work on the rebuilt Amon Carter Stadium was coming.

The area around TCU has some beautiful older homes.

I went through Bluebonnet Circle and took some fun pics over at Mellow Mushroom Pizza.

As I took that last pic, someone came out of the restaurant; I thought she might yell at me for putting my bike on the grass (which seemed a little thin), but instead she explained she was the manager and offered to take a picture so I could be in it.

The rest of the ride home was just cutting through the various neighborhoods that take me home.

A block from the steel company, housing for Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary.

The seminary itself is in the middle of a pretty run down area. The campus kind of a Faber College feel.

The rest of the ride is kind of a tour through Fort Worth development. There are the old houses from the 1930s

Post-war

1960s

70s

80s

And finally, to my street.

This is part of the Bike Friendly aspect of Fort Worth- you can ride for several miles, getting from one part of town to the other, without having to ride on the busy streets. You can just ride from one neighborhood to the next on the residential streets.

Beautiful Physics

2011-05-08T13:59:00.002-05:00

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

Fairmount Neighborhood Parade

2011-05-07T17:20:00.002-05:00

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)

There were some older cars

But the parade was dominated by bikes

The parade had two "queens"

They are guys I regularly ride with.

More bikes...

It was a fun way to start the weekend.

Fort Worth Mayfest

2011-05-07T14:55:00.005-05:00

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.

This festival focuses on youth activities- dance studios and such. It gives them a chance to show the public what they do.

Dancing...

Boxing...

This was a gymnastics trampoline demo by a professional group

Plenty of stuff for kids to do

And there was classic midway fare

I like their slogans:

The reason I went, though, was to see a band called Fish Fry Bingo play. I know one or two of the guys in the band, and they have fun with their music. I would describe their style as Urban Bluegrass. They do bluegrass, bluegrass interpretations of classic rock songs, and something called "hill-hop" (hillbilly hip-hop). It's amazing what kind of sounds you can get by scratching a washboard and amplifying it through a wa-wa pedal. Here's their interpretation of the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Woman":

A Perfect Day

2011-02-19T19:32:00.005-06:00

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.

Hello to my adoring fans.

I came out at the south end of the Wedgwood neighborhood onto Wedgwood Drive. This is kind of an unusual situation- Wedgwood, a local neighborhood street, runs right alongside Granbury Road, a 45 mph multi-lane highway. So in the picture below, I'm safe on the side street while highway traffic buzzes past on the other side of a median.

As I approach Hulen Street, though, Wedgwood dumps into Granbury, so I have to jockey with the traffic.

I planned to stay in the traffic lane when I turned right onto Hulen Street. But I got caught at the traffic light and looked around. I wimped out- I noticed a sidewalk and jumped on it.

The credit union was just up ahead so I just followed the sidewalk.

Now here's a poser: I know we had a lot of ice a little over a week ago, but temps have been mild pretty much all week. So why was there still ice on the sidewalk?

I looked at my cell phone... 8:50...

I guess it's the drive-through for me.

Next stop was the eye doctor. There are no pics of the ride down to that stop because I was actually out in the traffic lane with the big boys.

Having taken care of my eyes, my next stop was at the LBS to exchange a part I'd picked up on the way home earlier in the week. It was a shifter cable, but it was a little too short for the way I wanted to use it. I ended up having to buy one for a tandem bike! Anyway, since City Cyclist closed, Bicycles, Inc. is the closest one to my house.

Guess what? I got there at 9:50 and the don't open till 10.

I must be traveling too fast on the bike. Bicycles, Inc. is a good shop. Unlike City Cyclist and nowadays, Trinity Bicycles, it's not exactly a place to hang out. They are very professional and do good work, though.

The four pictures above are a real good illustration of why Fort Worth is a great city for cycling. Sure, there are few bike lanes and paths, but you can cut through near-deserted neighborhood streets to get where you want to go. I was able to cut through the South Hills area, then Westcliff, Ryan Place, and finally got to Fairmount where my next stop was, to pick up some coffee. I had to pop out of the residential areas for just a few blocks.

I love riding through Fairmount; the homes are old and beautiful. I hope to move there eventually.

Finally, my Locally Roasted coffee source.

What? You don't see it?

There it is, behind the potted plant on the front porch. I had already paid for the coffee online so he left it out for me to pick up.

I've been riding all morning and haven't breakfast yet. Where to eat?

I know! Paul's Donuts!

I was pretty close to Trinity Bicycles so I stopped in to say hi.

Hi, Nelson!

Time to head for home. I slowly rolled down Magnolia...

...and noticed a few interesting things, like this license plate:

The new Avoca Coffee shop should be open within a month.

So I rode back through several southside neighborhoods and got home. By the afternoon it was starting to get a bit warm, so maybe the day wasn't quite perfect, but boy it was close.

Happy Birthday, Larry!

2011-02-15T21:15:00.004-06:00

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.

I was glad Myles from Rat Trap Press (in the blue jacket) was along for the ride. (You can read his account of the ride here.)

The streets are ours!

...but we still obey the traffic lights. We went down Taylor Street to...

...the Trinity Trail and the bridge over the river.

I love the Main Street bridge over the Trinity River.

There's the birthday boy on the right. The one who always has a big smile.

And the rest of the group. People joined and left the ride as we went along; there were about two dozen riders.

Over-the-shoulder shot. We followed the river to the east side of town. I'd never ridden over there before.

Approaching Gateway Park.

An obstacle! But nothing would hinder our ride. When we rode in we discovered the problem- there was some erosion of the river bank that brought it close to the trail. The trail was still intact, but I'm sure the city doesn't want anyone to carelessly fall in. Don't worry- we were very careful.

Crossing the barrier at the other side was a little more challenging, but we made it.

I hope they get the trail fixed soon!

Let's get going!

We rode through the park and out the other side. To ride 62 miles, Larry planned a route to go 31 miles before lunch and 31 miles after. To get the morning miles in we had to ride past the park a ways, down East 1st Street.

Here's the group at our furthest point out.

This is Pat and his new bike.

*Sigh* Yes, he and I wore the same jersey...

Retracing our path back.

Another over-the-shoulder shot.

We crossed back over the Trinity River, but instead of going back to downtown right away, we headed north...

...to the Stockyards.

Here is Cooper's Bar-B-Que.

Larry leads the way.

Bulls and Bikes.

What's the hold up?

Oh. Flat tire. :(

The first half of the ride ended at the Flying Saucer for lunch. Plenty of room to park the bikes, good beer, and good food.

For me, this was the end of the ride; I had to get home. But many of the other riders continued on with Larry and did the whole 62 miles. (With my ride to and from home before and after riding with the group, I did about 52 miles.)

Happy Birthday, Larry!

A Quick Word

2011-02-11T20:17:00.002-06:00

I imported all my posts from Beginning Bicycle Commuting to this blog. I stopped posting over there just before Christmas and now do all my posting here. If you followed me there, maybe you can follow me here, too.

My Bikes- The Daily Grind

2011-02-10T22:54:00.002-06:00

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.

I thought about what might be better and decided I wanted to try either butterfly trekking bars,

...or drop bars. There was a swap meet in January and I decided to see if I could find the parts to go one way or the other at the meet. I ended up with a great set of Suntour Barcon bar-end shifters, which have been described to me as one of the most perfect product mechanical designs ever. The price was right, so I bought them. I already had a set of drop bars to go with them, as well as the other bits I needed to complete the conversion, so drop bars it was.

The conversion involved a set of ergo drop bars I bought at the same swap meet, but two years previously, some Tektro aero brake levers that came with them, a handlebar stem and an adapter to use the threadless stem with my threaded headset. And, of course, the Barcon shifters. Here is how it turned out. The first picture is an in-progress shot.

For now I have old black handlebar tape; after riding the bike a bit and making sure everything is adjusted, I will put natural cork bar tape on the bars.

With the honey brown Brooks B17 I got for Christmas, and the drop bars with bar-end shifters, the bike is beginning to look kind of like a Surly Long Haul Trucker. I like to think it's even better than an LHT because the bike is built around a frame that is approaching 20 years old of a type that actually served as an inspiration for the LHT. All in all, I'm pleased so far with how the modification turned out.

The Mixte Gallery is back!

2011-01-26T22:25:00.001-06:00

That's right, I made the first post to The Mixte Gallery in several months. Come on over and check it out.

My blogs- past, present and future

2011-01-20T22:42:00.004-06:00

I formerly ran three blogs- this one, Beginning Bicycle Commuting, and The Mixte Gallery.

The Commuting blog was about my journey into bicycle commuting. After a while, I no longer was a beginner, so I thought of it as inspirational and changed the tag line to "Encouragement for Getting to Work on Your Bike." It was intended to be a multi-author blog and I invited some other authors to blog there too, but after one or two posts, they kind of trailed off.

The Mixte Gallery was a posting of mixtes submitted by readers.

And then there was this blog. Basically, I posted stuff about commuting and bicycles to the Commuting blog, mixte pics on The Mixte Gallery, and everything else to this blog.

I fell behind The Mixte Gallery and actually had so many submittals that it seemed like I'd never catch up.

Then last year I started posting to Facebook under my real name. I found I simply didn't have the energy to maintain and do justice to all those outlets, along with some forums I post to, plus, y'know, real life. So one night I just shut the Commuting blog and The Mixte Gallery down. It was very liberating.

In a recent comment, one of my favorite bloggers asked why I "decided to consolidate [my] blogs, and to end the Mixte Gallery?"

I figured this post would explain how I got to this point.

So what does the future hold?

I'm looking into importing all the posts I made at the Commuting blog into Doohickie. I will probably do it with a dummy blog first, just in case I don't like how it comes out. Even if I decide not to go through with that, all my future bicycle and commuting posts will be here at Doohickie.

As for The Mixte Gallery... I shut it down because I just felt like I was too far behind and wanted to clear my table. I've kind of felt bad about that ever since. Sometime soon, I think I will revive the gallery. First I will go ahead and post all the previous submittals I've received while keeping new submittals closed. When the backlog is just about exhausted, I will open up the blog again for new submittals. I hope everyone who was a fan of The Mixte Gallery will eventually notice when the new posts start again, so keep an eye out. (I will announce the Grand Reopening here, of course.)

Anyway, that's where I sit, blog-wise.

Summer Rewind, part deux

2011-01-16T15:28:00.005-06:00

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.

This is Louie's Texas Red Hots. I've never heard of hot dogs being called Red Hots here in Texas, but in Buffalo that's what they call 'em.

This is where Buffalo Creek and Cayuga Creek come together to form the Buffalo River.

The Polish Villa Restaurant; come get your pierogis! Lots of Poles in Buffalo (including my family).

In case you haven't noticed, that's a garbage truck I'm following; it's trash day.

Hundred-year-old homes, last remodeled fifty years ago.

One of the biggest hills I rode when I was growing up- the bridge over the rail yard.

And the rail yard.

Time to start looking for my past. This first stop was an attempt to find my great-great-grandfather's grave. The graveyard lies right next to the train tracks.

I looked where I thought it should be, but couldn't find it. I found some interesting markers though. A World War I veteran:

And a World War II veteran:

This guy could be related; my great-grandfather listed in his immigration paperwork a Koscielniak as a cousin he would be staying with when he came to America.

Enough graveyards- time for breakfast, a breakfast wrap combo at Tim Horton's. Yum.

Getting closer to my hood. These are post-war homes from the 40s and 50s

Finally, the house I grew up in.

It's seen better days. Looks like it could use a new roof.

This is Mr. Hank. He is the best next-door neighbor ever. He's over 90 years old now, and still pretty active. (That's my parents' old house in the background.)

One of the prominent features in our neighborhood was the volunteer fire hall at the end of the street.

There were three bars that were "staggering distance" from the house I grew up in. Otto's is one of them.

This used to be Waring's Grocery, the corner store where I used to buy bottles of Orange Crush for ten cents. (That's the fire hall in the background.)

Now I will bore you with my academic career. I went to these schools. I started at North Hill Elementary.

Then in fourth grade I switched over to Maryvale Elementary (background), which was next to the library (foreground)

During my childhood, my hometown was reaching its peak population of a little over 100,000. The 50s and 60s saw the building of many schools. Now, both of the schools where I went through sixth grade are no longer public schools. North Hill, I think, is now a private school, and Maryvale Elementary is now a continuing/community education building, and the library is now an archives and records center for the town. The Maryvale School District once had 4 elementary schools; now they just have one. The population of Cheektowaga has dropped to less than 75,000. It ain't what it used to be.

The high school is still in operation, but even there change is evident.

The mascot has always been the Flyers, since they are just west of Buffalo International Airport. But in my day, the Flyer mascot was Snoopy (dressed for flying his Sopwith Camel). They changed over to a Pegasus some time after I graduated; I never forgave them for that. :P

Ack. There's that Pegasus again.

At the end of Maryvale Drive you can look across a parking lot and almost see the airport.

The neighborhood around the school is more post-war houses. I kind of like this style.

Time to head south.

I didn't take too many pictures because the traffic near the airport and on Transit Road can be pretty heavy. Eventually, though, I cut over to Borden Road which is a little more mellow.

This is the Nickel Creek Cafe. It is typical of inns that were built when the area was still rural. Many of these inn/pubs were "gin mills" (a term my mom used) where old men went to get schnockered. Now I guess they are becoming restaurants.

This is "Nickel" Creek I guess. (It's really Buffalo Creek, but the cafe name references the old buffalo nickel.)

By now things are getting more rural and scenic. This is Leydecker Road.

This is scenic Cazenovia Creek.

Still climbing up Leydecker Road.

The building on the right was part of a "grove." Groves were private picnic areas that were rented out for outdoor events during the summer. My dad was a member of several clubs and fraternal organizations that held summer picnics at groves.

There was usually polka music, beer on tap, pop for the kids, grilled hot dogs, burgers and chicken, maybe a pony ride, and a sawdust pile. The idea behind a sawdust pile is they would put a bunch of money in it and we kids would dig through and try to find as much as we could. We would be put in by age, and they would restock the nickels, dimes and quarters in between age groups. The older kids didn't go in for such kid stuff though; instead, once we got to a certain age, it was more fun to sneak off down to the creek (groves always seemed to have creek access) and catch crawfish (pronounced "crayfish") and take them home as pets (but they never lasted very long).

I don't think too many of the old groves are still open. I think the popularity of the Knights of Columbus, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and other groups my dad belonged to has waned, and the family picnics are less common, so the groves now sit idle.

And there you have it- my personal trip down memory lane. I could be wrong in some of my memories, but I like them that way. ;)

You Ever Want to Rewind back to Summertime?

2011-01-15T10:47:00.009-06:00

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.

This is Kev. I found out on this ride that you never underestimate the lungs of a guy who plays sax.

We had a great ride through some awesome scenery- rolling hills of the Hudson River Valley. This is Krumkill Creek.

After crossing the creek, there was a steady climb up; we took a rest at the top. This is me...

...and Kev and Heidi.

This house used to belong to Mike Tyson.

The top of Krumkill Road.

Some nice scenery shots.

At the furthest point from home, the skies opened up and we were soaked. Heidi...

...Kevin...

...and me.

Luckily, the rain didn't last long. We steadily pedaled home after that, though, to beat any more rain that might arrive.

I got some good video going down to Krumkill Creek.

Almost home:

Just as we thought we would make it home without rain, the skies opened up again, soaking us as we rode the last half mile or so and pulled into the driveway.

A good 20 miles. :)

Mid-Winter Dawdle

2011-01-07T23:45:00.009-06:00

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.

I got a new leather saddle for my commuter bike, so I put the old Wrights W3.N on the Super Course.

As I was writing this post, I got an email from Cameron at Old Ten Speed Gallery, notifying me that this Super Course was just posted as the current entry.

I rode to Fort Worth's near southside and had lunch at Shaw's Burger's Shakes (review here). It gave me an opportunity to use one of the new bike racks being installed around the city.

A few blocks away is Southside Bank. Their sign is my favorite anachronism- an old-timey sign with neon letters that neatly advertise the availability of their ATM.

I rode by Trinity Bicycles for a short chat, then headed downtown before heading west along the new bike lanes they put in on West 7th Street just west of the Trinity River.

Come ride with me! (I hope R A N T W I C K enjoys the sound track.)

I rode all the way out to University where the new lane ends, then cut back toward Foch Street which leads into Trinity Park. The bridge I'm leaning the bike against carries Lancaster over Foch.

According to the plaque, the bridge was put up in 1938.

The sea creatures seem interested in my bike.

From Trinity Park I headed southwest on the Trinity Trail

They've started the Clearfork bridge over the Trinity River. The plans that were unveiled showed a bridge for motor vehicles, with a smaller span suspended underneath for pedestrians and cyclists that will connect the Trinity Trail on either side of the river. It will open up more practical off-road bike routes in the city by providing another crossing over the Trinity River.

The sun was getting low and I hadn't grabbed a headlight, so it was time to get home. I got off the trail at Overton Creek and headed south toward home.

Shaw's Burgers and Shakes

2011-01-07T21:14:00.007-06:00

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.

The menu has a lot of different burgers including several made from exotic meats, hot dogs, sandwiches, and all kinds of other vittles. Perfect for lunch. I decided to order the SHAWsage Dog, which was actually Andoulle sausage. I decided to give it a try. After some awkwardly long waits and embarrassed apologies on the part of the staff, the meal arrived.

It was kind of like an Italian sausage, but seasoned a bit differently. As I recall (I was counting on them having an online menu but their site isn't complete yet), it had chili, melted cheese, an abundance of grilled onions, and was served open-faced (even the sausage was sliced open) on a hoagie roll. The food was delicious, and is almost more than I care to eat in a sitting. The cole slaw was fresh and tasty.

Now for the bad news: At Shaw's a milkshake costs $3.99, and my glorified hot dog with a Dr. Pepper came to just short of $10, and with tip (yes I tipped okay, despite the spotty service), it was $12 for lunch. Really? For a hot dog and a soda? Costco sells a combo like that for $1.50. Yes, it was on a fancier roll and had some neat stuff added, and yes, it came with a side. But seriously, that was more than I like to pay for a "snack food" lunch. I would have liked to try a burger, but many of those were over $10. The cheapest burger was $8.99.

I would like to recommend this place to others because really, the food was good. But I can't ask someone to pay $15 for a burger lunch. I wish Shaw's well, but these are not burgers for the masses.

UPDATE: If you read the comment below, Shaw's has taken some of my advice to heart. I will be going back for another try at some point, and will post the results. Maybe this time I will try a milk shake.

Cyclists' Special

2010-12-29T11:05:00.001-06:00

Bike Date

2010-12-25T16:04:00.004-06:00

A couple posts ago, you were introduced to Mrs. Doohickie and her new bike. She's been a willing riding partner and watches the weather, especially on the weekends, to see if we can go for a ride.

Monday I took the afternoon off from work. We originally planned to ride the Trinity Trail from downtown Fort Worth north to the Stockyards for lunch, but after consulting with the weather we changed out minds and rode south from downtown, through Trinity Park, to Panera Bread on University Drive. We changed plans to put the wind at our backs for the ride back to the car. Here is the route we rode:

Bike Date 12/20/2010

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Approaching the Lancaster St. bridge in Trinity Park

A quick break to take a drink

Two riders, two bikes under Lancaster St. in Trinity Park

Train bridge over the river

Mrs. Doohickie, with downtown Fort Worth as her backdrop

Mrs. Doohickie meets Mark Twain in Trinity Park

Crossing the bridge over the stream in Trinity Park, with University Drive in the background

Two lovers

*smooch*

Second Annual Fall Finale Country Path Ramble

2010-12-21T19:49:00.011-06:00

I rode with Chris of Pondero blog, and a few other friends, some old, some new, on the stone roads between Sanger and Rosston, Texas. This started last year as a get-together of local bicycle bloggers, with only about a half dozen riders. I actually didn't make it since we had to attend a wedding.

Things worked out in 2010 and I was able to make the Ramble this year. So did a lot of others, as over two dozen people made the trek to Sanger for the privilege of riding the stone roads.

After a pre-ride pep talk from Chris,

Off we went.

The pavement got a little rougher,

It wasn't long before we got out on the gravel.

The jackrabbits went on ahead, but Chandra and I took Chris's description of the ride to heart: "ride a pace slow enough for old men... to carry on a conversation."

If you haven't read Chandra's blog, it's worth a perusal. He is a pretty inventive guy which is evident in the helmet mirror he rigged up and several other details on his bike. Because we insisted on following the advertised ride pace, we pretty much rode at a the rear of the pack. Chris always came back to check on us.

Don't worry folks, we're comin'!

Here's Chris talking with Hector and Dave. Unfortunately, shortly after this picture was taken, Dave's hat fell into his wheel and broke a couple spokes and trashed his derailleur. (I heard later the bike was repaired without too much fuss.) But his day was done, and Hector, being a good friend, went back with Dave. (Thanks to Chris's wife for picking them up en route.)

At times it looked like the road went on forever.

Chandra and I, near a creek that cut through the road.

Just before Rosston, there was a series of fairly steep hills; Chandra and I made full use of our low gears.

We finally arrived at Rosston. Ironically, the two tortoises (Chandra and I) were among the first into town (because the main group missed a turn and rode extra miles). Rosston has a genuine old-time general store

The cashier proclaimed that she was the oldest lady in town.

This is a Lone Star Beer ad. The picture for the ad was taken in front of the store.

Finally the rest of the group showed up.

The Quitters: Pat and Bryan had to leave early because Pat had another commitment and the ride was taking longer than he thought it would. So they sagged back from the halfway point at the store. But it didn't stop Bryan from reveling in the glory of it all.

The group hung together a little better on the homeward leg of the ride. Steve A in particular didn't seem to mind hanging out with the Slow Old Guys.

Toward the end of the ride it was easy to push the pace a bit. The shadows were getting long and we didn't want to be on the road after dark.

All in all, a great ride. Special thanks to our host, Chris, and his wife, who rescued them's that needed rescuin'.

I took a lot more pictures at the Ramble; to see a slideshow of all of them, click here.

The End

2010-12-21T19:47:00.000-06:00

I will no longer be posting new articles to Beginning Bicycle Commuting. I will leave the blog here for the time being, but I've decided to consolidate all my blog posting activities to Doohickie. Check me out over there.

Look out! Here she comes!

2010-11-22T12:06:00.003-06:00

I am pleased to introduce the newest cyclist in the house: Mrs. Doohickie! She was skeptical of getting back on a bike after a fall when she was a kid, but finally decided to try it again.

We bought her a Biria Easy Boarding Top 3. She likes the fact that she doesn't have to swing her leg over the bike, but can simply step through the frame to get on.

The Biria is a pretty nice city bike. It came with fenders and a rack.

We were both delighted to find that riding a bike is just like riding a bike. Once you learn it, you don't forget it. After just a few wobbles at the bike shop, everything came back quickly. She's even quickly learning the 3-speed shifter.

For now, it's just rides around the neighborhood. Maybe eventually we'll take the bike over to the Trinity Trail or do an occasional group ride. But no hurry; just getting her on a bike is a joy.

Give a little to get a little

2010-11-13T22:02:00.006-06:00

After an exchange with a guy on BikeForums we realized that I had a 1987 Schwinn Prelude with a 23" frame that was just a bit too small for me and he had a 1983 Raleigh Super Course with a 25" frame that was too big for him. He lives in the DFW area so we arranged a meeting to swap bikes, and did exactly that yesterday morning.

Here is what I gave up:

Here is what I got:

They are actually pretty similar bikes. I believe the Super Course is a little higher in the 1983 Raleigh lineup than the Prelude was in the 1987 Schwinn line, but the Schwinn was 4 years newer at a time when bikes were rapidly advancing. The biggest difference is that the Schwinn had indexed shifting (click-click from one gear to the next), while the Raleigh has the older style friction shifters, where you have to just move the lever until the gear changes (and maybe trim it back a bit once it changes to make everything smooth and quiet).

Here are a few more details of the Super Course

I think the history of Raleigh bikes from this time period are kind of interesting. In the 1980s, British bicycle maker Raleigh raised money by licensing the Raleigh name to American cycle maker Huffy. Raleigh was short of cash and Huffy was interested in penetrating the higher end bicycle market. So Raleigh USA bikes of the mid-1980s were bikes spec'ed out by Huffy and built (mostly) by Japanese and Taiwanese bike builders. I think some of the very high end stuff still came from England. More history can be found here.

I found online catalogs from that era, including a 1983 Raleigh catalog (pdf file), an a later 1985 Raleigh catalog.

According to the '83 catalog, the Super Course came with Suntour aRX derailleurs. The original rear derailleur on this particular bike had been damaged and replaced with a Suntour aR, but I happened to have an aRX derailleur laying around, and put it on so now the derailleurs match again.

So now I just to put some miles on it and see if it needs any changes. I may put aero brake levers on it, and maybe even get some parts to put indexed shifting on the bike. But for now I'm gonna just ride and enjoy it for a while.

City Pig BBQ

2010-11-01T21:10:00.005-05:00

So I finally got around to trying a place I've passed probably a hundred times: City Pig BBQ at 2001 8th Ave. at Arlington in Fort Worth. They have all the normal Texas barbecue favorites, brisket and the like, but at a place named City Pig, you gotta go with some kind of pork.

Happily, they had a pulled pork sandwich lunch special. For my side I got coleslaw, and topped it off with a Dr. Pepper and banana pudding for dessert. The girls at the counter assured me that both the coleslaw and pudding are homemade. I got two sauces- the honey mustard that normally comes with the pulled pork, and some spicy barbecue sauce.

After carefully putting honey mustard on one half of the sandwich and spicy barbecue on the other, I tried it. Yum is all I can say. The pulled pork was not slivers of meat like you get on a chopped beef sandwich; it was pencil-thick strands of of tender pork that melt in your mouth. The sauces were both excellent, especially the spicy barbecue which was definitely spicy but not macho-man hot, with a sweet vinegar taste.

The coleslaw was made of thick sliced cabbage and tasted... I guess just the way good coleslaw should taste- a little sweet, a little sour, and the cabbage was crisp, not wilted.

I was fully sated by the meal, but then there was dessert- the banana pudding. It had hunks of bananas and Nilla Wafers mixed in with the pudding, just the way grandmas in Texas know how to do it.

As I was walking out to my bicycle with a satisfied look on my face, another customer was leaving too. He asked what I had and I told him. He said, "You need to try the ribs- the best in Fort Worth."

It looks like I still have more research to do at the City Pig. But even if it didn't have ribs, it's worth the trip.

I ran across another eatery on the way home. This one is less formal, on Wellview, just north of McCart and I-20. The diners were a little different,

and so was the entree:

Yep, this turkey buzzard was enjoying a fine meal of pulled cat.

I think I'll stick with the pulled pork at City Pig.

Magnolia Motor Lounge

2010-10-01T20:26:00.007-05:00

This post was brought to you by Car Free Fridays Fort Worth.

I took a little ride on my off day. I stopped by the City Cyclist where they are busy as always. They got a nice letter from someone they recently sold an ICE recumbent bike to. Debbie said hearing from the customers makes it worthwhile. After chatting with the crowd there, I rode up the McCart corridor toward the southside. I wandered a block or two off my normal route and found some interesting neighborhoods. The most unusual thing I saw, a block east of McCart (this is the middle of the city, folks) was this little guy.

OMG, it's a teeny little horsey!

Moving on, I got to the southside. My intent was to go to the new Avoca Coffee House on Magnolia, but they aren't open yet. So I continued on for a little visit at Trinity Bicycles. They said they heard Avoca is now due to open mid-November. While I was there, I mentioned that I was trying to figure out how to describe their shop. I said they are a cross between a boutique bike shop and a flea market. Bernie agreed that, yeah, that's about right.

By now it was getting to be lunchtime and since Avoca isn't open yet I decided to try out the fare at the brand spankin' new Magnolia Motor Lounge. Oddly, they are nowhere near Magnolia Avenue. In fact, you can see the new buildings on West Seventh Street from their parking lot at 3005 Morton Street at Norwood.

The Magnolia Motor Lounge is a classic car themed restaurant and bar. This greets you as you walk in the door.

It is located in a former transmission shop and decorated by motor heads.

The staff dresses in uniforms that would look right in a 1950s gas station. Everyone there is very friendly; the servers all introduced themselves and asked for my name... and even remembered it.

I asked Mark, the owner, why he named the place the Magnolia Motor Lounge when they are not on Magnolia. He told me a little story about trying to by a former gas station on Magnolia but couldn't work out a deal. He liked the way the name Magnolia Motor Lounge sounded, though, so he kept it.

The first thing you need to know about the place is that PBR is only $1.50 for a draft pint. Other selections are reasonably priced as well; Rahr Octoberfest was only $2.75 for a pint. The drafts come out of an old pickup bed mounted to the wall, and served by someone like Crystal:

But I was there for lunch. They have simple fare, really, featuring comfort food that would be at home at the State Fair of Texas, along with hot dogs, burgers, salads, and other pub grub.

I chose to go with the Sloppy Jalopy, described as "Chicken fried steak, chicken fried smoked applewood bacon, lettuce, tomato and Spicy Magnolia Sauce." (Now maybe you know what I mean by State Fair food.)

The sandwich was tasty for sure, and the cole slaw was better than you usually get in a restaurant; Crystal assured me they make it right there. If I have one complaint about the menu, it's that the only vegetarian offerings involve withholding the chicken off the salads. This isn't a problem for me but it will be a tough sell to convince my vegetarian wife to go there for a meal. At least they are up front about it: On the About Us page of their website it says "We offer our customers a tasty selection of vegan free grilled animal products, a good selection of beer and booze, live music, and the option to smoke cigarettes somewhere else."

There are some other things I thought I should mention- the music was a great selection of the rock I grew up with in the 60s and 70s. And perhaps more importantly, you could hear the music, but you didn't have to yell to talk over it, or strain to hear what others were saying. Too many bars blast their music all day long regardless of whether people are partying to just hanging out. The building itself is a no smoking facility. They allow smoking on the outdoor patio though. One last thing to note: The Capital Bar next door is building a beer garden. Since they don't serve food, the MML will put in an order and pickup window on the wall that faces the garden, so look forward to that.

The Magnolia Motor Lounge is a great place to hang out.

Fort Worth Critical Mass

2010-09-25T21:53:00.004-05:00

So I took part in my first Critical Mass ride on Friday. I wasn't sure if I would; there was a pretty good chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. But there's a facebook page promoting Car Free Fridays in Fort Worth, so I decided to ride the bike to work and see how things worked out.

Rather than riding my boring commuter hybrid, I decided to ride my 1973 Schwinn Varsity. It made the trip just fine, but it's a slow bike; it took me about 20 minutes longer than usual to ride to work. On the other hand, I didn't feel as tired as I usually do when I get into the office. I was still worried about the weather... what do old sailors say? "Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." Was this too much red?

The afternoon came. A check of the radar showed thunderstorms to the north but they seemed to be staying there. I rolled the Varsity through the streets on the westside of Fort Worth, taking one of my new favorite rides, up Crestline and eventually to the west end of 7th Street, then a long descent into downtown. The weather seemed to be holding with just a few sprinkles.

Once again the Varsity proved to be slower than than expected and I didn't have much time for dinner. I settled on a hot dog and a banana from 7-11. The dog was surprisingly good.

I rolled into downtown's backyard, aka Burnett Park. I had enough time to take a few glamor shots of the Varsity.

This is what a working bike looks like, boys & girls.

The other cyclists were gathering in the park.

One thing that struck me was the family friendly nature of the event. Lots of people with their kids either in baby seats, on trail-a-bikes, or on their own bikes. From what I've heard about Critical Mass rides in bigger cities, the rides are sometimes confrontational. I'd heard this was not the case in Fort Worth and it seemed to be true based on the gathering crowd.

Finally, time to roll. I think there were probably about 60-70 riders. Someone said they've had crowds on past rides of over 100 but that the chance of bad weather probably scared a few off.

One thing I like about Fort Worth bike culture is that it is "come as you are." You'll see people on high-end road bikes in spandex, hipsters in polyester on their fixies, cruiser-bike riders in cotton, and everything in between. At least on these social rides, there is very little class consciousness. Everyone just gets along.

The way the ride worked is this: If the group approached an intersection and the light was red, we waited at the light until it turned green. Once green, the whole group proceeded through. If it turned red for us as we were moving through, certain riders stopped in front to hold the cross traffic off until the rest of the group went through. This angers drivers in some cities, but the "corkers" in our group tried their best to be friendly, and the group members waved and smiled as we rode through. No honking of horns; everyone was either smiling or neutral.

We rode north through downtown. There was a party atmosphere helped along by the sound system that one of the riders pulled along on a bike trailer. Great selection of music in that there was something for everyone.

Apparently a longer ride was planned but concerns about the weather limited the ride to a simple seven-mile loop from downtown up Main Street to the Stockyards area and back again.

In the pic below we were crossing over the Trinity River, leaving downtown.

At this point my feeble phone camera wasn't working in the darkness so there are no pictures of the Stockyards. We cruised down Exchange Street, the heart of the Stockyards, then came back on Samuels Avenue. I tried a picture on the way back toward downtown as we rode along Samuels Avenue, on the bridge that took us back over the Trinity.

Not too good, I know. As we rode through the Stockyards and downtown, we smiled, waved and rang our bells as we passed by people on the streets. People called out, asking why we were riding, and the answer most often was, "Just for fun!"

And this is true. One of the other riders commented that he recently moved from Austin, which is considered very bike friendly. He said that yeah, there are more facilities for bikes, but you'd never see such a large group out riding "just for fun." To me, this is one of the most awesome things about the blossoming bike culture in Fort Worth. We ride for many reasons, but the one reason we share is that cycling is fun, and we don't lose sight of that.

I started home from downtown along 7th Street, riding part of the way with one of the other cyclists. As we approached the bridge over the river, we noticed a cyclist changing a flat tire. We offered to help, even if it was just for moral support, but it turned out it was a good thing we stopped because it turned into a teaching opportunity about how to get those tight road tires onto a rim and how to fill a tire with one of those CO2 cartridges. Until you use one, they are mystery.

Anyway, we got on the Trinity Trail and we had an opportunity to put the hammer down for a couple miles. Then my riding partner got to where he'd parked his car and got off the trail. I rode by Colonial Country Club and the Westcliff area on my way home. The day was perfect. The weather held and the temperature was just ride for riding. Definitely a blog-worthy day.

Commuting to Dinner

2010-09-14T22:57:00.000-05:00

So as I left work, I called my wife said and she was also on her way home and asked if I wanted to meet her at Freebird's (a burrito shop) for dinner. Without a second thought I said, "Sure!"

Then I started riding and realized that construction of the new Southwest Parkway lay between my location and Freebird's. To be honest, there isn't a good bicycle approach to Freebird's from where I work even when there's no construction.

I rode my normal route, then jumped into rush hour traffic on Bryant Irvin Road, which is always an adventure in car herding. I was able to navigate across three lanes of busy traffic and turned left onto the I-20 access road. I turned into the parking lot for Main Event (a bowling/laser tag place), which connects to the Costco parking lot that empties onto Overton Ridge, which is where the construction is. Normally I wouldn't cut through a parking lot like that but I was trying to minimize my time in the construction zone. I couldn't avoid it entirely though and had to ride through the barrel zone for about a half mile, and finally made it to my destination.

I was in my commuting clothes, sweaty from the commute, and in comparison Mrs. Doohickie was a vision of loveliness in her work clothes. We enjoyed our burritos then she drove home while I rode.

The ride home was much less stressful. I just followed the side streets behind the busy retail area to get home. I rode right past the home base of Rat Trap Press but it was a long day so I continued on. The weather this time of year is just... peachy. Not too warm, but very comfortable.

I got home in time to catch the Texas Rangers game; they seem to be peaking at the right time, coming back from a 4-1 deficit to crush the Detroit Tigers 11-4.

Commuting Again

2010-08-31T23:05:00.000-05:00

So, the weather is cooling off a bit, and the crazy work schedule I've had the last few weeks has eased up some. Put those together and it means I can start riding to work again.

This afternoon I rode the normal route in, but decided to get some extra miles on my trip home. I followed a route I've only taken a few times, and made a wrong turn at one point. This led to a fun downhill run before I realized I was going the wrong way. So I turned on the next street only to face this:

View Larger Map

This is Merrick Street. I plotted this little stretch on Bikely.com, and found that, at least for a small portion of the climb, it was a 40% grade. I'm not sure I believe it's quite that steep, but yeah, it was steep. It was the first time I ever needed the lowest gear in the back and the small chainring in the front. And even then, I barely made it.

But it was worth it. The reason I like this route is it takes me to the western end of West 7th Street, high above downtown. The downhill run into downtown Fort Worth is great.

I stopped just shy of downtown though, jumping onto the trail through Trinity Park, then following the Trinity Trail south toward home. There was a stiff headwind out of the south, but at least the heat isn't so stifling these days.

Rock Bottom

2010-08-06T17:18:00.004-05:00

Ocean Rock redux

So today Mrs. Doohickie and I went to lunch at Ocean Rock... er, I mean Rock Bottom. It's a bit confusing; Rock Bottom just opened recently.

Before that, it was Ocean Rock.

We liked Ocean Rock. One of the things Mrs. Doohickie liked is they had a good Key Lime Pie. After checking out the menu for the new Rock Bottom, we saw they have Key Lime Pie on the menu and decided to try lunch there.

Rock Bottom has a decor very similar to the previous tenant; if anything there is a bit more pandering to the TCU crowd, both in what hangs on the walls and in menu items. The service was good- very attentive and several servers asked us if we needed anything even though we weren't their table. It was prompt too and the food arrived quickly. I had the Baja Fish Tacos.

They were excellent, with a great blend of flavors. Mrs. Doohickie had the Santa Fe Veggie Wrap, but had regular ranch instead of the jalapeño cilantro ranch dressing and a spinach tortilla instead of the jalapeño cheddar.

She liked her lunch a lot. The staff was totally cool about substituting for milder flavors.

Overall our experience was excellent and the food was great. I have two minor criticisms though: They were out of Key Lime Pie! That was the reason we decided to try them in the first place. (Oh well, I guess we'll need to go back for that another time.) Also, they had neither a lunch menu nor lunch specials. I usually don't pay $10.99 (not including drink) for lunch. The fish tacos were good, but equivalent level of food can be had elsewhere for less.

I mentioned the lack of a lunch menu to our server; I hope she passes the idea on to the management.

With just a little tweaking I can see Rock Bottom becoming one of our regular stops.

When it Gets Too Hot to Commute

2010-08-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry, but I just can't get enthusiastic about a 17 mile commute each way when the temps are easily over 100. Call me a wimp, but I just don't wanna do that. So how to get some miles in? Well, find a group that rides at night, of course!

I found such a group locally. They start at a pub. I rode my bike up there and had a pint at the pub before the 7:00 pm meetup time. I found out they meet up at 7:00 but don't usually start until 7:30. That gave me time for a second pint. ;- )

Some pictures of the ride follow (and also a video). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, mostly. But first, the video.

Fearless Leader consults with Mark Twain

Waiting for the train crossing gates to go up

Sure beats riding in the afternoon sun!

Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens

2010-07-28T16:09:00.003-05:00

While we were Buffalo on vacation, we went with my mother to the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens. The gardens are unique in that most of their collection of plants is indoors to keep harsh Buffalo winters from killing the many tropical plants they have.

The building is unique from what I learned at their website. The tri-domed glass, wood and steel building designed by the premier conservatory designers of the time: Lord & Burnham, Co. from New York's Hudson Valley and completed in 1899. Today there are fewer than a dozen large Victorian conservatories in America and this is one of two with the tri-dome design. (The other is the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.)

I know very little about plants, but there were lots of beatiful ones there.

I bet these are the only bananas growing in Buffalo.

I liked the indoor waterfall in the tropical section.

They had sections for everything from extremely humid,

...to extremely dry.

I wonder why they call this a bunny ears cactus...

Self-portrait in a mirror:

My mom and my wife:

Playing checkers with my son:

A cute little statue, through an arch of ivy.

The central dome from below.

There were dramatic views of the domes from the perennial garden outside.

The Our Lady of Victory Basilica was just a short distance away. It's also well worth a tour, but we didn't have time for it this time around.

Downtown Dawdling

2010-07-10T21:12:00.003-05:00

It's been raining a lot lately so I haven't been riding the bike as much as I'd like. So after dinner tonight, I hopped on my trusty single speed and headed... well, I just rode for a while without really knowing where I was heading.

I rode through the upscale Tanglewood neighborhood, then by Colonial Country Club and the Zoo, then across into Southside. Having gone through all my water already, I stopped into a convenience store and grabbed a sport drink, only to find that I only had a dollar in my wallet. The only wet stuff a dollar would buy was a can of soda, so I put the sport drink back and picked up a Squirt. It's been a long time since I had one of those; it was tasty, and I now had thirty-five cents left from the dollar.

I ended up on eastbound Vickery which splits into two routes- one went to an above-ground intersection; the other went down. I wasn't sure if it was the thing to do but I went down into the tunnel which makes a hard left turn and merges with Jennings. The reason I wasn't sure it was the right thing to do is that I wasn't sure if there might be folks of less than honorable intent down there. The only indication of them was a scent of stale urine (ew, I know). One of the things that I usually like about riding a bike is you get to smell the smells. Often that's a good thing, but not in this case.

Anyway, I popped up on the other side of the tracks in Downtown. Again, I wasn't sure where I was going, so I just kind of trundled around a bit. I heard music over by the recently closed Dixie House at 5th & Houston. I pulled up on the curb and heard this guy playing his slide guitar and singing.

I stopped and listened. Once he was done with his song, I got up and told him, "I won't keep you in suspense; I've only got thirty-five cents for you, but you deserve more." He said, "Oh, that's alright." Then he played a few more songs while I sat there. No one else stopped to listen, which I thought was a shame. I stayed, hoping someone else would get the idea and kick in a buck or two, but no.

I will say this about the spot he picked: It wasn't profitable, but it was a great place to people-watch, with several smartly dressed couples out on dates and a couple of bachelorette party groups walking by.

Having nothing more to contribute, I hopped back on my bike. I rolled by the Starbucks on Houston and asked if they could fill up my water bottle from their tap which they readily agreed to do. (Now I need to go back there an actually pay for something next time.)

I rode home on the Trinity Trail, detouring off into Trinity Park where several picnics and birthday parties were happening. I just cruised through, then got back on the Trinity Trail and finally got off at Overton Creek and took a familiar route home.

On the last hill I have to climb, a rather steep one, a dog came after me. I think I could have outrun it, but decided I didn't want to and just stopped. The dog barked at me a little then came over and made a new friend. I made a couple new friends as well, as the couple that owned him was out in the yard and we chatted for a few minutes. Finally I headed for home.

A pointless ride, really, in terms of destination. But it was a good ride for my psyche.

Commute Orlando

2010-07-06T19:23:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned Commute Orlando before, but I recently discovered something that reminded me what a great resource for bicycle commuters this site is. Commute Orlando is a multi-contributor, multi-mode website with a strong sense of mission to encouraging bicycle commuting in Orlando. It does a great job of promoting commuting in general, for people both in and out of Central Florida.

What do they offer, you ask? Just click on the main website and see. For people all over, there are lots of goodies. Start in the left-hand column at The Basics. If you're just starting out, this will help you select and outfit your bike and get started with cycling. Just below that is On the Road with more articles about how to operate your bike on the streets.

In the center left column is a link to their blog which covers the world of cycling with a focus on cycling in Florida and Orlando. Even though I don't live in the area, I find much of the information there relevant and interesting. In preparing this post, I noticed that they now have a message forum as well (how did I miss that??) in the center right column. In the blog and forum columns you can see previews of the articles and posts inside.

In the right sidebar is a link to an online book about bicycling called Bicycle Street Smarts by John Allen, another good resource. Below that is one of my favorite sections: A series of articles called Smart Moves. Once you get past the basics, there is so much good information in these articles about how to navigate the road with other traffic while on your bike. One of my favorites is a little piece called You Lead the Dance, which now features a video that gets the point across really well.

Bicycling in traffic is a dance you lead from Keri Caffrey on Vimeo.

If you are a complete beginner with respect to cycling, I hope you look at my blog for inspiration, but for the real nuts and bolts, you can't beat Commute Orlando. Oh, and by the way, you can thank Keri Caffrey for this great public service.

A Milestone

2010-07-05T19:37:00.000-05:00

Strictly speaking, this has nothing to do with commuting.

Having said that, I haven't posted here in a while and since the goal of the blog is to encourage people to commute, I thought I would point out the obvious: Commuting is a great way to get miles in during the work week. Sometimes having those miles under your belt helps with other pursuits.

This morning I engaged in such a pursuit. I decided that I would do a local club ride. Usually I just do their breakfast rides which begin 8 miles from my house. Today's ride was a little different; it started at 8 am on the west side of town, about 16 miles from home. The planned distance was 30 miles (turned out to be a bit less). I started putting some scenarios together in my head and realized that if I left home at my normal commute time, 5:30 am, I could get enough miles in by 8 am that, when added to the 30 miles plus my trip home would equal more than 62.2 miles. Kind of an odd number you say? Do the conversion: That's 100 kilometers. I'd never done a metric century (100 km). Until today.

Before Meeting the Group: 27 miles

Like I said, I left before dawn at 5:30 am. This was to get a bunch of miles in before it got warm out, and also to try to avoid the chance of thunderstorms later in the morning. When I got on the trail it was still pretty dark out.

Shortly after 6 am, I took this video as I crossed under the Hulen Street bridge.

Just after putting the camera away, I found out I wasn't alone on the trail when I passed right by a fox that was no more than 5 feet off the pavement. If you're familiar with Fort Worth, it was at the spot across from Colonial Country Club where the view of the train yard gives way to the stand of trees just before Rogers.

Here's a nice shot of the sunrise over the Trinity River, with downtown in the background.

In this shot, the group of buildings on the right side of the frame is Radio Shack headquarters, with the river reflecting the sky.

There is a bridge right after this by which cyclists can access downtown, or go north to the Stockyards. I did neither; instead I stayed on the side of the river I was on and followed it as is swings northwest toward River Oaks. I followed the trail less traveled. The one that's not paved, it's covered with packed stone. It's still plenty smooth enough for road bike tires.

There are actually several trails- one outside the levee (on the left) one on top of the levee (center) and one inside the levee (right). Even though the other paths were paved, I preferred the path on top of the levee. Besides, it reminded me of Memorial Day.

If you're in the Fort Worth area and are looking for a quiet place to ride, the River Oaks branch of the Trinity Trails fits the bill. That trail was recently extended and now goes right by a waterfall before it ends at Pumphrey Drive.

I followed Pumphrey south to Westworth Blvd. and followed that west where it turns into Alta Mere Drive (TX 183). TX 183 is a busy road with a lot of retail traffic these days, but here again my early start time paid off as there was almost no traffic to be found. I stopped in for some breakfast before meeting my club, and met a great group of older ladies who hold court at Ridgmar Chick-Fil-A every morning. They insisted I give them a full report of my bike riding thus far and my plans for the day. With wishes of good luck, they sent me off to meet my club.

Group Ride: 29 miles

I met the group at Veterans Park in White Settlement. We divided into several groups according to the pace we wanted; because I had already ridden 26 miles I chose the Cruisers. We headed north toward Lake Worth and followed its shoreline for several miles.

Then we hopped on the access road for Jacksboro Highway to get to the Fort Worth Wildlife Preserve.

The preserve was nice riding- almost no traffic,

...and a lot of shade. Good thing because those predicted thunderstorms never came.

We got to see the buffalo roam.

...but it was time to move on.

We wound our way through a rural area

Before heading back to the lake.

We got back to the park and awaited the other riders' return.

Then we had lunch at a nearby Mexican restaurant.

My bike looked lonely at the restaurant (everyone else drove to the group ride).

Eventually everyone else showed up.

Don't make the same mistake I did: It's a bad idea to accept a glass of water from a waitress when you're trying to take pictures.

The Home Stretch: 15 miles

The rest of the ride was routine; the restaurant wasn't too far from where I work, so it was just like my normal commute (Ah! This post does have something to do with commuting!) Except for a stop I made along the way. I ran into a member of the bike club that hadn't done the ride with us. He was on a solo ride and had gotten a flat tire. I decided to hang out until he got his new tube in. It's a good thing because his spare tube didn't hold air either. I gave him my spare and we rode together until we got to his subdivision (which was right on my way)

...and I rode the rest of my "commute" uneventfully.

Total distance: 71 miles or 114 kilometers. A metric century!

Kind of Famous Again

2010-06-30T22:13:00.002-05:00

So another one of my bikes has been posted to The Old Ten Speed Gallery, this time my 1987 Schwinn Prelude.

The OTSG is one of my favorite blogs. Cameron puts up a great collection of older bikes, everything from trash to treasure. If you like older bikes, check it out. That blog was the inspiration for my own The Mixte Gallery.

Rosebud Cafe

2010-06-25T21:42:00.002-05:00

So this morning I rode out to the Rosebud Cafe at 1519 West Rosedale Street (at 8th Avenue) for breakfast.

There are breakfast institutions in Fort Worth- Ol' South Pancake House, Paris Coffee Shop, etc., and never having been inside, I viewed Rosebud in the same light. You know, the Grand Dames of Fort Worth Diners. Maybe it was just an off-day, but Rosebud isn't part of that group. Although the restaurant was clean, the decor was tired, probably from the 1970s, and lacked the charm of other older diners.

Like I said, it may have been just an off-day for them. When you go to the other diners I mentioned earlier, there is a sense of purpose, of action. People meet there to conduct business. The movers and shakers gotta eat too, ya know? But Rosebud just doesn't have the same energy. In fact it was just about empty while I was there.

Okay, so... that's the down side. Time for the good news. First, the wait staff is friendly and prompt. My coffee cup runneth over; it was never empty. Second, for the money, the food was good. I ordered a $5.75 breakfast special that included a Belgian waffle, two eggs (ordered over medium) and bacon. It was basic greasy spoon fare, and it was perfectly executed.

The place may not have charm, but they do have good food. And reasonable prices. Sometimes you go to a restaurant that has good atmosphere but the food sucks. Sometimes the food is good but the ambiance isn't so hot. Rosebud is one of those good food places and I would definitely give them a second chance, and I probably will at some point in the future. I'm sure the decor won't change, but maybe the place will have a little more life.

While I was riding over to Rosebud, I noticed the tower of the Public Market building. I've read on Fortworthology that there is a group seeking to restore it and open it as a farmers market, so I decided to ride over and check it out. Sadly, there is no indication of activity yet. It's such a cool old building; I hope it gets fixed up.

On the way home I stopped by Trinity Bicycles and visited with Bryan and Bernie, and met Jeremy of Gallus Bicycles. Trinity has a new project going on. In addition to the local art that is finding its way onto the north wall of the shop, there is now some art on the south wall, being painted by a local art teacher.

Bernie is doing everything he can to make Trinity Bicycles a cycling destination and a cool place to hang out. If you haven't been by yet, you may want to pay them a visit at 207 South Main.

Those Were The Days

2010-06-25T20:30:00.000-05:00

I was downloading pics from my cell phone and found this little gem. It was taken the morning of June 4, just three weeks ago.

A nice, cool, misty morning. Ahhhh.... those were the days.

Baby, it's HOT out there!

2010-06-21T21:16:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I haven't posted much lately. There are lots of reasons for it. Mostly it's because I'm not riding my bike much lately. Last week was a lost cause since I got very little sleep with a new puppy in the house.

It's like having a baby in the house again. We didn't plan on getting another dog; my sons took our two dogs for a walk and came back with three. After a week's worth of trying to find his owner and/or a family to adopt him, it appears he's here for the duration. We named him Winston. He's gonna be a big boy.

My lovely bride did good for Father's day, getting me a Park Truing Stand and Spoke Tension Meter.

And finally... the title of the post. The other reason why I haven't been riding is that summer has definitely come to Texas. Temps around 100 for the ride home time means one more reason to not be all motivated to ride, especially if I'm running late. Today I did ride though, and it took quite a while to get home. When it's that hot out, I just don't real upset if I only average 10 mph. At least I got home. One thing that helped is I found an ice machine in my office building. I filled up my water bottle with ice water and not only drank it but poured it over my head, chest and back when I felt too hot. Aaaaaaaaah!

If you're riding in the heat, be careful out there!

Grrrrrrr

2010-06-11T21:54:00.000-05:00

I like my job. I switched to a new location at the end of last year, and my commute increased from 7 to 17 miles each way. A new challenge, and I'm starting to meet it. But... the new job lately requires extra time at work, and to make my day fit together I've had to exchange a half-hour car ride for my hour-fifteen commute on the bike. I'll be glad once I get over this hump and I can get back to more normal hours so I can ride more. And blog more.

Our Place, N. Richland Hills

2010-06-05T20:53:00.002-05:00

So I took my car in for some warranty work, then went with Mrs. Doohickie to help her move some stuff at her office at work. After dropping the car off we went to breakfast at a nearby diner, Our Place Restaurant at 7630 NE Loop 820 in North Richland Hills.

It's basically a Bob Evans. Without the Bob. Or the Evans. Okay, it's a former Bob Evans restaurant, but the new owners have put their own spin on the place. We were both in an omelet mood, so I got a Greek Omelet and Mrs. Doohickie got a Veggie Lovers Omelet.

It said it was a three egg omelet on the menu, but I think they lied, because it was huge. The eggs were light and fluffy and tasted wonderful. I'm a big fan of the Greek Omelet at Ol' South Pancake House and to be honest, I won't be pinned down as to which one is better. The omelets from the two restaurants are different, but both are very tasty. The food arrived quickly and my coffee cup was filled frequently.

If there was any fault with the experience, it was that the final check took a while to get to us, but that was minor. Good food, a better value than any corporate owned place (like Bob Evans). And definitely more like real home cooking than Bob Evans.

The Spiral Diner

2010-06-04T16:53:00.001-05:00

A Carnivore's Guide

If you haven't heard, Fort Worth has a pretty good vegan diner. The Spiral Diner & Bakery, at 1314 West Magnolia Avenue, is the best choice for vegans in Fort Worth. Surprisingly they have what it takes to keep meat eaters happy as well.

The decor of the place is what you would expect for a hippie-vegan place. Kind of mid-20th Century shabby chic...

...on hallucinogens.

The wait staff are in character too, with tattoos and piercings and stuff. They are always friendly and make you feel welcome. This time around, Mrs. Doohickie ordered her usual- a Hummus appetizer and Sweet Luv’Us Hummus Wrap. I ordered the special which was a Meatloaf Dinner. Ermmmmm, I mean Meatlessloaf. Whatever.

The portions are surprisingly filling. They are also surprisingly realistic, even though they have no meat or dairy or anything like that. You can go meatless without hardly realizing it. One of my favorites when I'm not in the mood for the special is the Jamaican Jerk BBQ San’ich which, if I didn't know any better, I would think was made of real pork.

This is where I go off and editorialize a bit: I'm not vegetarian; Mrs. Doohickie is. When we go to a vegan restaurant, she orders something vegetablely. Her wrap had baked sweet potato, hummus, broccoli, cucumber, avocado, and salad greens. What I don't get is why some people try their best to make vegetarian food seem like meat. If eating vegan is so great, why fake it and make it like meat? I do appreciate it, mind you. Maybe they do it because they know there are mixed families and they want to keep the carnivores happy.

The Spiral Diner does this very well; I've never had a bad meal there. Oh... the other thing that makes me happy: They have an excellent selection of beers.

This time around it was Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. It's is a heavy, wheaty stout that will knock you on your can with 9% alcohol content. Delicious. Oh... and the ice cream is pretty good, too! So to sum it up, don't be afraid of the vegan food at The Spiral Diner, even if you'd rather just run out for some barbecue. Those crafty vegans are so tricky, you won't know you're not eating meat.

Strada Biancha en Memoria

2010-06-02T23:06:00.000-05:00

This blog is normally about commuting, but I thought I would add a post about a nice recreational ride this weekend.

After reading Pondero's recent post about his Strada Biancha ride, I kind of invited myself up to Sanger for a trip around Chris's unpaved road circuit on Memorial Day.

I have several bikes, but I wasn't sure which one would be best for this kind of riding. I finally loaded my 1983 Raleigh Marathon on the rack and set out to meet Chris.

The day promised to be a warm one, but there were still some clouds in the sky when we set out. After just a few minutes, we were in farm country.

A short way into the ride, Chris said something about a bridge being out, "but we can get across." He actually seemed a little embarrassed that the bridge was out, but I recall reading that this favorite bridge had been slated for replacement. After a few awkward moments, we were again rolling.

We got up on a ridge that seemed like the top of the world, and where God himself was reaching down from the clouds to greet us.

Some of the scenes looked like the the kinds you see on old jigsaw puzzles or postcards. It's hard to explain how beautiful the area is without going up to experience it for yourself.

I felt kind of privileged to get a glimpse into the countryside that inspires one of my favorite blogs. Then again, there was Slidell, Texas, which was barely a town; more of a crossroads.

It made me want to introduce the town, Hee-Haw style: "Slidell, Texas. SAL-UTE!"

There were places where the road looked like it went on forever.

The bike picked up a lot of dust.

But all-in-all, it was a good day for the bike. The Marathon was the perfect bike for this ride. I haven't been riding it much lately, and forgot how well we fit each other.

Thanks, Chris, for giving me a peek into your world. A lovely world it is.

Pak-A-Pocket

2010-06-02T20:38:00.004-05:00

I first learned of Pak-A-Pocket at 5512-D Bellaire Dr South (at the corner of Bryant Irvin) when I was working a short distance away. I went there a handful of times for lunch. Tonight I stopped in unexpectedly but figured it was a good opportunity for a review.

You see, I was riding my bike home from work, and a front blew through. Rain? I can handle that. Lightning? Well... maybe if it's not too close. When I was within about a block of Pak-A-Pocket, I decided it was too close (in fact it was lightning on both sides of me, not a good sign).

So I stopped in at Pak-A-Pocket, called my wife to let her know what was going on, and had dinner. I had a shawarma gyro (that's what it's called, although in my mind the name is redundant).

Order at the counter

All the food is good at Pak-A-Pocket. They will pack just about anything fresh and delicious in a pita and serve it. They have good hummus too. And if you don't want the pita, they'll make a salad with the same great stuff. They've been there 24 years, so they know what they're doing. The prices are very reasonable and the service is prompt and friendly.

Unique decor

Like I said, I had the shawarma: Great seasoned meat, tucked in a pita pocket, with tomatoes and onions and a cucumber sauce. Brilliant in its simplicity, and Pak-A-Pocket's version is both delicious and satisfying (i.e., fills you up).

Forgive me, but I ate the pickle & took a bite of the pocket before I remembered to take a picture of it

The weather was still threatening so I had some of the homemade pita chips. They are awesome.

But the story doesn't end there. While chit-chatting with the proprietor Imad, we realized that we live fairly close to each other. I called my son a couple times to have him check the weather radar, but it was a hard read: The storm was literally forming over me and wasn't moving in a clear direction. Imad graciously mentioned that they close the restaurant at 7 pm (it was already 7:10) and if I wanted, he could give me and my bike a ride home in his van. I took him up on his offer, which was a good thing because we saw several close lightning strikes on the way home. He dropped me right off at my driveway, and then he was on his way home.

So hats off to Imad and Pak-A-Pocket. Great food, great prices, and super-great service!