Cycling Space City- discovering Houston's bicycle culture!
When we moved to Houston we had no idea it would be a decent bicycling town. The mixed use paths along the bayous, bike lanes from the Heights into Downtown, largest MS 150 bike ride in country, critical mass, yep not bad. Join us as we discover Space City's bicycle culture with candid bike shop reviews, discussions of bike routes, and issues effecting Houston's bike community.
This Sunday January 15th, 2017 is the Houston Marathon. In the wee hours of the morning before the runners start a group of cyclist will race the course. Here is a link toFacebook pagefor info and here is a link to the page to register. Race starts 4 AM at Rusk St and St. Emanuel. Riding in the dark through deserted, car free, Houston streets sounds like a blast.
I first heard about cyclocross back in the Eighties when I rode with a high school friend who was far more advanced in bike riding than me. I honestly couldn't get his enthusiasm for taking your road bike and pounding it through the forest. But now I get the appeal in particular in a place like Houston where we ride miles and miles of flat roads. The switch to going over a course that changes from pavement, to grass, to sand, to running over barriers sounds like fun. And now there is easy access to specialized bikes just for cyclocross. What more $$ to spend on bikes? Shocking.
The Houston Grand Prix Of Cyclocrossstarts September 26th and spans five races ending on November 21st. The locations of the races move from park to park. My old butt is too slow to race but I plan on taking the family to watch a couple the races. Here is the series schedule and pasted below is the flyer for the first race in Sugarland. Now I need to go find a cowbell.
July 5th through August 1 is a weekly criterium designed for beginners, the Summer Crit Seriesat theHouston Sports Park. The weekly race features a beginners race program where instructors provide lessons on racing in criteriums. The races are for Nuniors and Cat 5,4,3 Men and Women.
Another Houston criterium is the Memorial Park Criterium.
This series runs every Wednesday from early June through the end of
August. For 2014 the exact dates are June 4th to August 27th 2014. The
Bike Barn puts on the race and a portion of the proceeds go to the
Memorial Park Conservancy. You can find the most current updates on the
races Facebook Page. The race is run at the Memorial Park Picnic Loop (link to Google Maps)
Once again the best sound around:
Each week's race is sponsored by some major sponsors: Trek, Specialized,
Oakley, Michelob Water, Chico's Bail Bonds, etc. Prizes are awarded to
top three finishers in each category and there is an overall series
award as well.
I like to grab dinner to go and have a picnic by the races. Then when we are done eating and my boys get bored of watching bikes go by we hike the great trails Memorial Park has.
On Wednesdays from the middle of April through May every year the Northwest Cycling Club hosts a criterium in Bear Creek Park. This is a .8 mile course. The races start at 5:30 with Cat 4 &5's and finish with P,1,2,3's starting an hour race at 7:00 PM.
The loop is in the middle of the park on Sullens Way. That is important to note because Bear Creek is a big park and first hand experience says you can spend a good chunk of time circling around without finding it- middle of park on Sullens Way folks!
There is a nightly purse and primes as well as a series award for category winners. The series doesn't have a web page but they update their Facebook page frequently.
On a nice Spring night you can't beat picnicking in the park while hearing this great sound!
Houston has a velodrome? Damn straight. All part of the complete biking experience in Space City. Alkek Velodrome is in Cullen Park. What is a velodrome? That's French for a bicycling track. IN this case Alkek is a 333 meter concrete track with 33 degree banks in the turns. Race season starts in March and they have Spring, Summer, and Fall race seasons. Here is their web site: http://www.houstoncycling.org/index.php though it looks like their Facebook page may be more active: https://www.facebook.com/AlkekVelodrome
We went in May and had a great time. This is definitely on my "to-do" list. They have a training series as well.
Add a little chalk to the mix and the kids entertain themselves...
