Gravel Cycling in Chappell Hill and Areas South

This past weekend, I met some friends to ride some of the gravel roads south of the town of Chappell Hill, Texas. There were seven of us including my friend Kevin who just recently purchased his first gravel bike and was excited to try it out on these roads. We followed a 52 mile route …

Deep thoughts . . .

The Scanlan Mansion is GONE!

November 14, 2017 UPDATE: While using Google Maps recently to see the extent of Hurricane Harvey flooding in the area where I live, I made a startling discovery: the Scanlan Mansion is gone! The home site has been completely cleared. I presume that when I visited the site of the mansion earlier this year that …

Stranger Things in Sugar Land-UPDATED

I've been trying to get over to the Justin Brindley Trail at Sugar Land Memorial Park at least once a week. The mountain bike trail was been rebuilt after the destruction caused by the flooding in May and June 2016. It's much improved due to the hard work of local volunteers. But it seems that …

The Bridge

Near where I live there's this cool pipeline bridge that crosses the Brazos River. It's not really accessible to the public and there is a forest and various fences and gates to get through to reach it. Nonetheless, I knew it was back there and took the Slate out on the levee and around the …

The Iceman’s Challenge

December 3, 2016, marked the third running of the Iceman's Challenge, a gravel race and endurance ride from the Talbert Ranch in China Spring, Texas. This year, the ride consisted of an 82 mile race and 82, 61, 48 and 31 mile non-competitive "pursuits." I completed the 82-mile pursuit event. The ride organizers bill the …

UPDATED: Graveyard Hunting, Part 2

In my November 10 blog post, I mentioned my desire to find the Duke Cemetery where Daniel Perry, his family and other relatives are buried. I learned about Daniel Perry and the old Duke Community after finding three recently erected Historical Markers on Highway 6 in Missouri City just east of Arcola. On my way to …

175 mile Thanksgiving weekend

I got a lot of cycling in over the long Thanksgiving weekend, 175 miles to be exact. The main event was the Black Friday Century organized by Shama Cycles and my friend Kiet. I knew that this ride would be difficult so I tried to taper a little before the big day. Actually,  I might …

This . . .

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you …

First wintery ride of the season! (Is autumny a word?)

Today I rode with one of the groups that depart from Society Cycle Works each Saturday morning. What made today special is that the first real-honest-to-God cold front came through on Friday and the temperature this morning  was 45 degrees. Yikes! This just got real, y'all. I've been moaning about our unseasonably warm weather for over a …