Any idea why Houston have no tall trees? I like trails with tall trees during daylight.

Generally the growing zone follows I-10. North of that line trees grow taller and south of the line is the coastal plain where the salt water breeze tends to cause trees to be smaller. I live in Kingwood and we have very tall trees compared to areas south of us. Also population growth clears the land and trees go away.

What do you mean by tall trees? There are plenty of 40-50' tall trees in George Bush Park, Bear Creek Park, etc. and along the bayous. If you mean 100' tall pine trees, that is just purely a function of soil type and climate.

The Woodlands. Nuff said.

Anyone brave the elements this weekend? LoL

I didn't, obviously, but I did enjoy finding out the roof over our living room has two leaks in it.
So much for that CF bike next year.

I mean tall trees like oak tree or pine tree(I hate pine corn). There are no kudzu too and I like that. In Georgia, we have all of these.

My parent live in Manvel and before that Pearland. No tall trees.

Only time I see nice tall trees is in Sugarland that droop over the roads. Its a nice place.

So Houston is not a fun place to ride bicycle during the summer. I think Florida is like that also.

The closer you get to the coast, the more you get into gumbo clay soils with very shallow water tables. The trees are only going to drop their roots deep enough to get to water, then will spread out laterally. Down in the Pearland/Manvel area, you probably are in Beaumont Clay with a water table maybe 2-3' deep. Trees with wide shallow root systems won't grow very tall, but will grow really wide. When you get into older subdivisions, you will see more large oaks, but a lot of the newer subdivisions down there are built on old rice fields, so there are only relatively new trees that haven't had a chance to grow up much. The woodlands has a much sandier soil with deeper water tables, so they get more pines and taller oaks, and the developer put a lot of effort into leaving as many trees as possible when building.

Yeah, I went out and road 40 out of Zube on Saturday morning. I think it was the smallest ride start Ive ever seen there, maybe 20 of us idiots. Wound up being solo for the last 30 miles, and a brutal headwind for the last 17. Rule #9 ride for sure. Sucked hard, but still better than the trainer!

Yeah, luckily for me, I was teaching a Spinning class at the gym Saturday morning so I wasn't tempted to get out and ride before the worst of the rain hit.

I got a email from a friend a on Sunday who had just been dropped from the group when it happened. It was Cy Sanders and he was very badly injured. Multiple fractures and head trauma and was in the Shock Trauma Unit at Memorial Herman according to an update from his wife. But she also noted there were encouraging signs.

So keep him in your thoughts. Cy has been involved in the Houston cycle community for decades.

I'm planning on taking this Friday off to go for a long ride because I haven't in months. Does anyone know for sure if GBP is still flooded all the way through the center? I'm assuming it is since the bayou is very high along THP.
If that's the case, anyone got any good, safe, routes from the constable station in the north to parts south in the park?

The middle of GBP near the bridge is still flooded, FYI.
And the path from the north leading down to it is still completely covered in debris. Fun times.

Thanks for the update. I had a feeling it would still be bad. The water is still high north of I-10 and they just reopened Patterson Road on Sunday. Getting bored with the Bear Creek loops and was going to head out there for a look. Glad I didn't.

Anyone know if the damn construction project at Hwy 6 and Memorial has started?

It kinda has - they have put up the construction office trailers and some orange fencing just beyond the parking lot at the spillway (between Briar Forest & Memorial). I haven't seen any digging.
They did replace the planks on that short bridge that crosses one of the feeder spillways though right in front of the parking lot - thankfully because it was horrible - and there are some in THP that are in desperate need too.

I wish there was an easy way to get from the east side of the park, past the flooded area, to the west side to ride the path from the parking lot near the shooting range, and out towards Fry rd.

Russ, I used the cut through the neighborhood you mentioned to get from GBP near fry Rd to the mason Creek Greenway. Very nice.

Sunday, January 10th 2016 -- Bike the Bend for Literacy -- Richmond TX
 

Bike the Bend for Literacy features three lengths, 20 miles, 35 miles or 62 miles, throughout scenic West Fort Bend County, starting and finishing at Foster High School in Richmond. This ride appeals to both cyclists' training needs and families interested in riding for a great cause!

Bike the Bend for Literacy

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Anyone doing this ride?

Didn't know it existed. Will look into it (aka: I have to ask the wife).

I'm thinking about doing the 62 miler. I'm really not sure yet if I am going though. I may wait to do one in a new area to me.

Anyone do the blue bonnet today? Love to see some pics

So I saw on FB that the cops were out giving out tons of tickets to riders at the BBX yesterday.

Apparently the Magnolia Miles ride didn't let Waller County know they were coming on Saturday. Waller County has been dealing with closed and flooded roads for several days. People came a bit unglued at riders blocking lanes, all the usual issues. So the Sheriff told NWCC (who had notified the county of the BBX ride the next day) that they would have officers out ticketing riders who didn't obey the law. NWCC also had several paid Waller County off-duty deputies working intersections. The on-duty officers apparently setup at an intersection and numerous riders rolled through without stopping, thinking the deputies were there to guard the intersection, and instead got tickets. Now the WCSO is saying they won't allow any of their deputies to work off-duty for any bike ride in Waller or surrounding counties. Going to make it very interesting for that MS150 start in Waller.

I saw the Peace Officers writing citations to 4 riders at fm 529 and fm 3346. At the time I was guessing the tickets are for impeding traffic (riding more than 2 abreast or failing to stay to the right. If the riders were riding 3 abreast, then I would have no objections to the officers for the citations provided they also cited drivers who were speeding over the limit on the route.

This will be interesting since I think there are at least 10 t-shirt rides that go through Waller County.

I have no way to confirm this since the Waller County Judge was kind enough to delete his post and all replies that went with it, but was an allegation made that some of the intersections that didn't have deputies were supposed to be manned, but the deputies assigned called in "on-duty" instead. Then went to those intersections and wrote tickets instead of helping riders through safely. If so, then I would hope BBX and NWCC go scorched earth on the county.

what a cluster****. You know, I'm all for cyclists following the rules and when a car is coming get in a tight two abreast or single file depending on the road- but when the road is wide open, and it's such a large event - I'm going to ride in a pack of friends and people 4 wide and unorganized because why not? (not crossing the center line, though).

BBX has been going on for like 25 years hasn't it? All of a sudden? They need to get a grip.

Also, totally agree about the MS150 starting route. That will be interesting. We started there a few years ago.

This was BBX's 27th year. My first was 1991 or 1992 when there were 300 riders or so and we started at the VF factory outlet mall in Hempstead. Missed the last several years. I was surprised at how large the ride was this year.

There was a officer (county deputy maybe) at the last rest stop on the 35M that was warning everyone to stop at all stop signs or risk tickets. While I didn't see any officers from there to the end, I absolutely stopped at the remaining signs. Would sort of stink to get a ticket on a bike - even more so that a vehicle.

Almost every vehicle I saw rolled through the stop signs.....

I could have done without the stiff headwind for much of the last 15 miles.

(This is apparently a statement from NWCC - http://www.wheelbrothers.com/2016/03...-cycling-club/)