For Old Times Sake...

 Demonitized, de-incentivized and irrelevant as time has moved on...

...But I'm still here.

    I remember a time when Google would send me a $100 check in the mail every year for my blog contributions on Blogger. It was always a treat to see proof that people were engaging with my written content and it made me feel good as an amateur columnist of the internet. Those were the days when people read instead of scrolled. The modern day chat forums were in their infancy and if most people were interested in researching a topic they would turn to blog posts instead of going on YouTube. 

A lot of good ideas and good intentions have now gone by the wayside. Technology has left them behind as well as the fickle nature of people's constant wandering interests. Every once in a while, something is picked up from the rubbish heap and trended for a few days on social media. A good idea can be acknowledged with a fleeting curiosity, given a self righteous lip service then tossed back in the heap for a few more years. The truth is, all good ideas are filtered through the sea of bad ones, making it impossible for them to prevail. They are constantly tumbling in an ever changing media spin of trends and content that is making the world's head spin. Society is primed and ready for a Fahrenheit 451 scenario, all too ready to stop reading, critically thinking, creating and imagining all together. Here's the thing, if good ideas were allowed to flourish, progress would be made and our society as a whole would be improved. However, only be bad ones prevail because they promote inequality and division instead of collaboration, inclusion and a societal baseline safety net. Bad ideas only benefit a small group of people who hold the most power, instead of giving more power to the people. Social media has become the coping mechanism for the masses, a means of consuming the fantasies of wealth and status (whether real or imaginary) that the privileged few occasionally decide to share with us. Meanwhile, the infrastructure projects that would improve people's lives are quietly shelved or hollowed out of funds on a local, state and federal level so that a bigger football stadium can be built in one town or more parking space for giant SUVs and trucks can be added in another.

Reading the list of transportation initiatives that have failed to thrive in the past ten years would easily read like a eulogy.  Mixed use zoning was a way of property developers to make overpriced, luxury apartments that gentrified long standing neighborhoods. Bicycle transportation networks have resulted in many trails that lead to nowhere. Sharrows no longer get repainted by city maintenance. Rental bikes were often vandalized, stolen or tossed around towns and college campuses as road debris. Whatever happened to that bullet train that was supposed to go from Dallas to Houston? Whatever happened to that trail that was supposed to connect Dallas to Fort Worth? What ever happened to many cities 2030 walkability plans? Was that bond money re-allocated to say, having the nation's largest High School football stadium only to be outdone by another town the following year? How about the policing and fare enforcement of DART rail? How did DART go from being one of the largest rail networks in the country to one of the most poorly maintained, and dangerous to ride on? Why does most new city planning in new areas not include sidewalks or bicycle infrastructure? Why are SUVs and trucks 3 times the size that they were 10 years ago as well as 3 times as fatal? Why do public works projects like installing a traffic light now take a year or more to complete?

The changing landscape that has resulted as bad ideas have taken over have left us in the DFW cycling community with little recourse as our roads have slowly become unrideable over the past few years. The post pandemic population explosion has also added more vehicles to an already strained, unkept road infrastructure. All of these new vehicles have grills and headlights taller than a child's head in the front, resulting in poor visibility to the driver and over reliance on lane and other object sensors. Now, already distracted drivers on their phones are behind the steering wheels of much more fatal weapons. What is a road cyclist to do these days?

The truth is, it is expensive to live near any cycling infrastructure as properties that are built or around existing trails are fetching a premium. In addition to these locations having always been expensive and cost prohibitive, the current mortgage interest rates and property values have deemed areas that once could be aspired to as un-obtainium. For long time locals in the area, moving to another part of the state is simply not doable. The result of all of this is that we now face a grim choice as cyclists if we are to continue doing the sport we love; cycle indoors or quit cycling. In recent years, indoor cycling has enjoyed a resurgence as more technology has been thrown into smart trainers and virtual reality cycling software. I guess when reality sucks the only way to keep fitness gains and be a part of the community is through virtual workouts. As a user of indoor trainers there is nothing I hate more than burning the rubber on my rear bike tire sitting in place or an hour, sweating puddles and giving myself crotch pain trying to push out watts on a traditional trainer. However, with how bad the situation has gotten on the roads I am seriously contemplating buying a smart spin bicycle that can work with virtual riding software. Even with a mischievous toddler and limited space in my home this option seems wiser than riding out of the neighborhood sometimes. 

Driving to the trails isn't much of a better option. The nearest trail to nowhere that is paved is still a good 30 minutes away from my house. To get to a premium riding destination is about an hour drive. I have a few mountain biking trails that are closer, but extreme weather can keep those trails closed weeks at a time. Up until a few years ago, I lived near trails or lived in a bike friendly town. I would routinely get rides in as often as 3 times a week. I had fitness, I had drive and I was in the right environment for cycling. When we bought our first home in many years we were priced out of the areas I had lived in previously. We bought into a new community which was at time a small neighborhood surrounded by quiet, rural roads. In a matter of just a few years, the growth in the area has exploded, but the roads aren't any better. Several neighborhoods are now built or being built in the area. Newcomers who don't respect the slower pace of rural life are tearing up the once tranquil, idyllic roads. The new home we bought as a family has become a money pit of problems caused by rushed construction and rolling black outs in the area. We are in the golden handcuffs scenario as having a mortgage rate too low to refinance and no way of lowering our mortgage payment elsewhere. So unless I leave Texas altogether, there is no moving back to the city or closer to bike trails anytime soon. 

As I get older, the more irrelevant  I become. My cycling peers of a similar age have already moved over to the dark side of cycling, aka indoor cycling. Road cycling isn't attracting a younger audience like it did when I started riding, one could even argue that it has always struggled to find its footing with younger people. The fact that I am choosing to blog about it in 2024, when the written language is going the way of analog film cameras, is my therapy and way of coping with life's changes. We are in a malaise era in a lot of ways, but this is probably the worst time to be a cyclist on the roads of north Texas than any other period of time that I can remember . In the grand scheme of things, my problems are only a ripple effect pointing to a much larger moral bankruptcy in our society today. 

It's official that the millennial generation that I am a part of has finally grown up, peaked and fallen out of style and favor with the generation coming behind it. Despite this, I am still here in the sense that I will continually adapt to life's changes and will do my best to make the best of getting older. I do not really feel like my time has passed. There is very little evidence of change of who I am on the outside as well as how I feel on the inside. I must admit, however that the rest of the world is moving on and away from those in my age group, especially in terms of deeming them a target audience in the fitness community. I get more targeted ads for investing and politics than I get for new bikes. No matter what, I will keep going, putting one foot in front of the other, one pedal stroke at a time.

Hotter N' Hell 2015: How Did it Go?

The 2015 Hotter N' Hell Hundred

Carlos (Center of the photo) finished the ride in 5:10, Levi (Left hand side) came in 10 minutes after me (on the Right). I finished the ride with an elapsed time of 5:38 and a moving time of 5:10.

With the hot month of July we had this year, I thought this year's Hotter N' Hell was going to be a scorcher. Well, it was, in the sense that I am now officially a "Scorcher", or a sub 6 hour century rider. The actual temperature itself averaged in the low 80's, freakishly cool for this time of year in what is supposed to be the hottest part of the country right now.  I am by no means complaining that it wasn't hot enough. You see the guy in the blue, long sleeved jersey in the photo above? Yep, that's me, dressed up trying to protect myself from the sun. The cool, overcast and breezy day kept me fresh on the bike and contributed to my performance.

The first 50 miles of the race, as opposed to last year's Hotter N' Hell, were the hardest.  The roads were so bumpy that even my Selle SMP TRK saddle didn't help to take the edge off the harshness of the ride. I rode the last couple of miles to the 50 mile rest stop standing on my pedals and cramping. At the rest stop, I ate a hot dog and knocked back a few bottles of pickle juice. That might sound disgusting, but after 15 minutes the cramping started to go away. My cramps were so bad that I had to slowly remount and pedal the bike once I was on my way. The pickle juice basically saved me from falling off the pace, maybe even from ending my ride early.

At the starting line.

The 50 mile rest stop.

I rode the rest of the ride at my own pace and wasn't even looking at my average speed until the end of the ride. I caught several pacelines on the way to the finish, dropping back whenever I needed to recover or when I needed a swig of water. I  only stopped one other time at the 85 mile mark, because I had run out of water by that point. I tried to fill up my bottles as quickly as I could and was off to the finish line.

This year was about breaking my personal record, as well as redemption for having been the last among my friends to cross the finish line. I not only broke my record by over two hours but I now can start at the front of the race with all of the other "Scorchers" should I decide to do this again next year. The Hotter N' Hell is basically the one event a year we non-professional riders can aspire to. It's a great event and a bucket list item if you are a cyclist living in Texas that takes riding seriously. If you have a fleeting interest in the sport then this ride is not for you. This race is tough, even though this year it wasn't particularly hot, cyclists still had to turn the pedals for a 100 miles to finish it. Last year we had temperatures around 103 and headwinds of 20 mph for the last 30 miles of the race. In years like that it takes the entire year to train up for a 100 mile race. I'm glad things worked out the way they did this year, because I have not been training as much as I did last year and in years past. This might very well be the last century ride that I do in August, although next year I'm looking at going to Hotter N' Hell for the triple threat. We'll see what happens next year.

Single Speed Mountain Biking: My New Favorite Thing

The Picture does not do the gradient of the climb any justice, however it was a beautiful autumn day here in Texas.

No shocks, no gears, no clipless pedals, no carbon. "What are you thinking..." some might say, bewildered that I would find such enjoyment out of this bike setup. As backwards and pain inflicting as it seems to want to ride a single speed mountain bike, it really isn't, my single speed has actually become one of my favorite bikes. Despite not having the benefit of granny gears and suspension, after a month of riding this way I honestly do not miss those perceived advantages. Today I did an 18 mile mountain bike ride and experienced no pain whatsoever afterwards. I chose Northshore Trail, located in Grapevine, Texas which is the hardest trail in my surrounding area. I wanted to see if a single speed bicycle could stack up to the most monstrous climbs and rock gardens that I could throw at it. Surprisingly, I did a lot less walking than I was planning on doing. This bike could climb straight up a rock face with enough inertia and was only impeded by the most impassible boulders on the trail. When my friend Levi warned me about the obstacle trail simply known as "the wall" and hoped that I could get up it, I was able to roll up and over the 8 foot plus precipice when I came across it (Levi did not make it up "the wall" as he later told me).

My friend Levi

I was a cold morning when we started out on our ride. When I got out of bed, the temperature read 35 degrees Fahrenheit on my phone and when we got to the trail it must have been just about 10 degrees warmer. Despite being conditioned to the cold through mountain biking during the week as I normally do,  we were both short of breath and had to stop for some breaks during the first few miles of the ride, until our bodies and lungs acclimated to the cold temperature.

The west side of the trail is notorious for having an expert level of difficulty with the last 3 miles being a one way track and basically a playground for trials riders. We were able to complete most of the loop with the exception of those 3 miles and our total came to about 18 miles for the ride. The eastward side of the trail is smooth, winding and sloping singletrack with creek crossings, bridges and small rock gardens scattered throughout. At the end of the trail going east is Rockledge Park, a once public park that has now become a campsite. It lines the shore of the lake and the view is fantastic. Out of all Dallas and Fort Worth area trails, this is the most beautiful trail as well as the most challenging. 

At the easternmost end of the trail, at the campsite known as Rockledge Park.

Will this be the only mountain bike that I ride? No, and I will still use my geared mountain bikes whenever I can. However, for my needs I foresee my single speed being my go to, main mountain bike that I will be doing most of my riding on. With the high maintenance my suspension bikes demand a single speed bike is a welcome change. I added a few videos of me riding my single speed mountain bike through this trail from Levi's Helmet cam. They're not the best quality and are only 30 second clips, so my apologies in advance. Check them out, and stay tuned for more adventurous riding!

Mountain Biking in Texas: Erwin Park, Mckinney

Erwin Park Trail: The place where locals ride.

The trail isn't the most technical trail in north Texas, but is challenging enough on my 90's rigid
mountain bike.

Past the northern suburbs of the city of Dallas and Tarrant county, mountain biking options are few and far in between. Erwin Park has been around since the 90's and it's the go to place for local Collin county mountain biking scene.  About 8 miles long, this trail is known to have lots of tree roots that can frustrate many  a newcomer who come and ride it. It is not the fastest flowing trail in DFW, nor is it the most challenging. In spite of this it is challenging enough to keep intermediate riders on their toes and boasts a variety of obstacles that are both natural and manmade. There are no rock gardens at Erwin and only one huge drop that would require a bicycle with suspension (there is a detour on the trail for this drop, so it's not necessary to cross it and can be avoided all together). A rigid bicycle of good quality should be able to handle anything this trail throws at it, although a front suspension will take the edge off the bumpy surfaces and the many tree roots that are scattered along it.

Erwin Park is a short distance from home and can be ridden in about one hour. It's not an all day sort of trail, but it's short enough where I can now go mountain biking a few times during the week in between the things that I have to do. As winter draws near, the days get shorter and daylight runs out. It can be frustrating and dangerous riding at night on the roads in this cold weather. Although not as cold as many states in the Northeast, Texas is a very windy state. When cold fronts come through, 20 and even 30 mile an hour winds can be expected, which will drop the wind chill factor by over 10 degrees. A bright sunny day can be freezing and a cloudy day can be much warmer. It's one of the few places that I know of where someone can freeze while getting a tan. It's nice to have a local trail in the woods where I can escape of the chilly plains winds that are so common around this time of year. The tradeoff of course is riding shorter distances and a slight loss of form during the winter months, but anything beats being on the stationary bike or trainer. 

I recently purchased a Nikon S32 point and shoot camera for my off road bike rides. I wanted something other than my phone where I could take pictures and video of  the things that I saw on my mountain biking trips. Here's a few snapshots and videos from my ride at Erwin Park.

The area around the trail still reminds me that I'm still in Texas.

If you're new into mountain biking, or just new to the DFW area, you should definitely give Erwin Park a try. Stay tune for more video clips and photography articles of places to ride that make North Texas a great destination for any kind of cyclist. Please subscribe to my posts for future write ups.