The girls and I spent the July 4th weekend in Smithville with family. We had a wonderful time: fireworks, boating, fishing, 4-wheeling, and eating. There was no cycling, which is sad, but the other fun stuff overshadowed it, and also pushed me to making a personal commitment to ride on the vacation day I had scheduled for July 6th.
I woke up 30 minutes before dawn on July 6th, and was on the road before the sun was up. I had planned a 40 mile ride, which would give me plenty of time left during the day to spend with the family. I also purposely decided it would be a steady paced calorie burning ride, but with plenty of stops for photos.
About 2 miles from home I paused to snap this photo of the Sugar Land, Texas sunrise. Sadly, the hay field in the foreground will be replaced with housing within a year. The Telfair subdivision is expanding (sprawling?), and infrastructure construction has already begun.
Sunrise at University and US 59, Sugar Land, TX
I rolled on towards Pecan Grove and Foster's Creek. Once the sun cleared the clouds, I pulled out my iPhone and snapped the ubiquitous cycling bloggers' "shadow of the cyclist" photo.
My Shadow...
A few miles later I entered the town of Pecan Grove. It is a suburb of Houston, and you wouldn't know you entered a new town except for the water tower. It does really have some honest-to-goodness PECAN GROVES. My Pa-Paw always said that once the pecan trees had leaf buds, there wouldn't be frost on the ground again that Winter. That doesn't really fit with a cycling-related blog, but it makes me feel good to write it.
Pecan Grove in Pecan Grove, TX
A bit farther down the road and I rolled through Wood's Edge subdivision. The massive Live Oaks shading the road are beautiful. I stopped to snap the equally ubiquitous cycling bloggers' "road through the handlebars" shot.
Live Oaks in Wood's Edge, TX
All of these photos were taken along a First Colony to Fulshear route that is heavily used by local cyclists. On a weekend, I'll usually see 3 or 4 large groups, as well as a couple dozen solo cyclists. Even on a non-holiday weekday, I saw about 12 other cyclists. Overall -- one of my favorite new routes, which can be a 40 miler, 60 miler, or 80 if you ride past Fulshear or add some loops.
After riding 40 miles of the route, I was home. I felt great, sweated gallons, and as usual, my Garmin 305 hiccuped and lost most of my data. If you live in the area and want the map, send me an e-mail and I'll send you a link to a map. Otherwise, blame the lack of a good map and stats on Garmin.
