Hello Houston!

The leg to Houston was scheduled to be a short, yet fast leg of the trip. With close to 100 miles day it was a pretty tough leg.

Ditch flowers. It’s a new phrase I’m inventing right now. It’s been one of my favorite parts of riding the past few days. The ditch is typically a dirty, muddy, just not an attractive piece of land. However, recently, the ditch has been filled with flowers. Colorful plants that light up the ditch, and transform it into a beautiful strip of land. I view it as one of the little things that can make a ride.

 

My first day of riding took me to Mexia. A small Texas town. I’ve noticed a lot of these smaller Texas cities struggling to keep businesses open. Many businesses are no longer open, gas stations are boarded up, cafe’s with signs dangling from the roof. It’s kind of sad that small town America no longer has the same allure and ability to compete with modern day technology. Either way, there are still some small businesses open, that I often stop in for lunch, water, or a snack. It is these small towns that are most often the most hospitable. You hear the accents, trust me, these Texas accents can get incredibly hard to understand. I feel bad asking people to repeat themselves four times. However, these accents are so foreign to me. Either way, the small town feel is unique, comforting, and a great way to dive deep into the culture of the region I’m biking through.

I couldn’t find a host in Mexia, so I once again stealth camped within a patch of tress on the side of the road. It’s not my favorite, I love having a warm bed, shower, and a roof over my head. However, sometimes, it’s just gotta be done. I try to wash up in a restaurant or gas station sink so I’m not as sweaty. The humidity here in the real deal. Stealth camping now, is filled with mosqitos. Considering the rain that the Houston area has received in the past few weeks, that’s no suprise. However, without bug spray, my night consisted of taking cover beneath the screening of my tent while mosquitos swarmed the tent.

I made it through the night, and took of for College Station. I’ve been excited to bike through the home of Texas A&M for sometime. It’s always great to check out different campuses and experience the vibe and feeling of a university. Maybe I’d even run into Johnny Manziel. I was having trouble finding a hos in College Station. However, while riding throuh campus I spotted a bike shop. Bike shops have been few and far between since Denver, so I had to stop in. Believe it or not, it lead to me finding a host Andrew for the night! Woohoo! I’d get to shower!

Before Andrew got off of work, I rode around campus to check things out. I mostly wanted to check out Kyle Field. Being a huge college football fan, it’s always great to check out the different stadiums around the other conferences. Texas A&M’s Kyle Field is currently undergoing a massive remodeling, but the venue was still impressive. It’s the true home of the 12th man, in fact, the Seahawks actually have to pay Texas A&M a licensing fee to use the phrase.

Andrew was an incredible host. Being a bike mechanic, he casually aked if he could check out my bike before I hopped into clean off in the shower. After I finished my shower, Andrew was already replacing cables, adjusting braks, and reworking my bike to run a whole lot smoothly. He really overdid it. He has four dogs. Two boxers and two corgis that made for a lot of fun and activity in his household. I loved his pups, and they sure loved me. Andrew even took me out to a few of the College Station bars, which was a great time. After playing a few games of pool, a few local beers, and lots of talking about bikes, it was time to return to the house for a good night’s rest.

The ride from College Station was a strenous one. This humidity and heat is getting tougher and tougher to ride in. You’ve got to drink a ton of water. That’s what I’ve been doing, however, I sweat it all out. I get hot and sticky, tired, and sun exhausted. I even got two flats. Which made the day a little longer than expected. Not fun, but what can you do? You gotta fix them.

Coming into Houston was some of the most dangerous riding I’ve done yet. I hated it. No shoulders, no bike lanes, nothing. Traffic whizzing by me. I couldn’t stand it. However, I had to ride it to get into town. It gets awfully nervewracking on streets like that. You don’t know what car is going to hit you, or give you plenty of room. Houston, really needs a better bike infrastructure. Many times the bike lane wasn’t repainted so you couldn’t even see the lines for the lane. Thus cars would treat it as non existant. Cars would park in the bike lane, and many other problems made it arguably the worst bike city that I’ve rideen through thus far. I’m just happy to not have been hit.

Houston has been in the news quite often the past few weeks after receiving loads of rain and significant flooding. However, luckily for me, the weather has cleared up as of late, allowing the waters to recede and for me to bike on through. However, there are still plenty of signs that the city was under some significant flooding. The washways of the canal I rode in on, had debris close to 25-30 feet higher than the current water level. That flooding was major. I can only imagine what the city was like.

I made it to the ballpark while fans were getting ready to enter the gates for the evening’s game. I’m attending the day game the following day. I smelt too bad to stink up a few sections. I got some pictures, and even was able to grab a bite to eat at a local BBQ joint. When in Texas you’ve got to eat as much BBQ as humanly possible. Right?

I’ll be off to the ballgame in a few hours. I can’t wait to experience ballpark #10! The Astros are playing some great ball as of late, and their fan base is newly rejuvenated. We’ll see how they hold up down the stretch with their lineup. It’s always a good day when it’s a GAMEDAY!

Matt