Anyone ride Highway 36 South of Houston from Needville to Coast?
 

Has anyone ridden or even driven southwest of Houston, basically looking at Highway 36 south of I-59, from around Needville to Freeport? I know Highway 36 north of I-10 is a nice 2-lane road with full shoulder, and I was wondering if it was the same south of Needville and would be decent for cycling. I am looking for a route where I can ride a solo century, but have never been down in this area before. I know someone who lives near the George Ranch Historical Park, so could park at his house, and then cycle down 762 to 36, then travel SE to the coast and turn around once I hit 50 miles.

I live in SW Houston, so it is easiest for me to drive out of town SW on 59 to find a cycling route rather than going west out I-10 or 290.

If anyone is familiar with this area southwest of Houston I would appreciate some feedback. FWIW, I would probably ride this route on Fridays. Thanks.

I've driven from Freeport to Needville once, and I'm vaguely remembering chip-seal.... and, riding from Needville to Freeport, you may be dealing with a headwind the entire time. Something to think about.

Thanks for the report. Chip-seal is quite popular around here. Do you recall if the shoulder was nice and wide?

As for the headwind, that's the plan, headwind first half of the ride, tailwind on the way back. But this Friday they are predicting a NW wind instead of the prevailing SE wind.

EDIT: I didn't go Friday because of 24 MPH north winds with gusts over 30 MPH and COLD. Yeah, I'm a wimp. Maybe next Friday I'll give it a go.

I've been up it in a car, but it's been ages. Seems like the section through West Columbia was 4-lanes + curb, rather than a shoulder, but that's a bit hazy now.

Use either google maps satellite view or preferably, google earth to check out the road. From a quick check on google maps here at work, it appears that it is still the same type of road with a shoulder. Its been a long time since i've been on the road, but thats what i remember it being like.

Let me know how that works out for you. I've been planning to ride my first century solo to celebrate turning 50 this year. I found this route on Bikely: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Ryans-century-ride . Of course I was going to modify it slightly so I could start near my home and end there.