two rides

I'm finally starting to make up for my lack of riding at the beginning of this month. This week I was able to make two longer rides from my house to the gym and back. Each ride was between 10 and 13 miles each and, while not real long, were challenging as I was not used to the paths I chose.

The most interesting part of the rides, the second one in particular, was riding amongst the general traffic. On the first ride, I loaded the bike on the rack and crossed the main thoroughfare, parked and rode on from there. However, on the second, I chose to brave the main road between my house and the neighborhood where my gym is located.

North of Houston, F.M. 1960 runs from Katy to Dayton and is relatively busy. It's seven lanes at its widest, has a lot of stoplights and is not really striped for a bike lane on either shoulder. Fortunately, the distance from my neighborhood to the next light, where I cross, is only about 3/4 of a mile. The shoulder is about 2 feet wide and allows plenty of room to ride. Still, for that first ride I have to admit that I took an older bike and not my new one. It is an older mountain bike and would be more equipped to go off-road if the shoulder proved to be too narrow in some spots. But, everything was fine and I plan on taking the Biketown bike on that path from here on out.