Midtown by B Cycle

 Again, I am running behind on my posts.   This trip actually happened Monday, October 17.

I took the Park & Ride bus up Louisiana and got off around the Pierce Elevated.   YMCA let me use the restroom.    Hey, I'm almost 70, I don't pass up many opportunities.  My first intended stop was behind Randalls, but was out of service, so it good that I started at YMCA.   Then I started meandering around Midtown, defined, apparently, by B Cycle, as East of Spur 527, South of Pierce Elevated, West of 288, and North of 59, except for Peggy Park, which became my bridge to Texas Southern University.  Was that sentence too long for you?

I read the Historical Marker in the middle of Midtown.    Way back when, the state fairgrounds were here, with a baseball park and a racetrack, at the edge of the prairie that marked the end of Houston!   I enjoy the murals that have been constructed all over town.   I very much like the idea that most of them remain undisturbed by vandalism.

Houston Community College has their main campus here in Midtown, near the old Sears building, which is now The Ion

Columbia Tap Trail is one of my favorite Hike and Bike trails.   It goes from the soccer stadium, through TSU (my destination) across Brays Bayou, and ends at Dixie Road where a short ride will put you on the east edge of Hermann Park, and the Bill Coates Bridge.   This is one of Houston's Rails to Trails.   Years ago the railroad ran from about downtown, to West Columbia, on the Brazos.  "Tap" is a railroad term meaning the line was usually owned by the industries (sugar and cotton) that it served, and letting these industries tap into the main trunk line.   I enjoy rails to trails because of the lack of hills for my 70 year old knees. 

Had to take my picture because this station ate my bike!  Mary, at B Cycle will give you credit for out of service stations, if you show were actually there.  No need to notarize and certify.

Texas Southern University is a beautiful campus, fairly compact, and with five bike stations.   You can be at University of Houston in about 5 minutes, and at Hermann Park in about 15.   But TSU seems to be a much slower pace than UH, and also is not near as crowded.

Hermann Park has wonderful bike trails, Bill Coats Bridge, and the kiddy railroad.   It tried to rain pretty much all day, which kept the crowds away.   

Rice University is full of the super intelligent students, although they didn't LOOK any smarter than me.  Maybe one of them knows what this sculpture represents!

I finished up and went back by Memorial Hermann to catch the Park & Ride.   One of my fellow commuters had his bicycle, and I watched him load it in the compartment under the bus.   I had tried this last week, and maybe I read the instructions too carefully, because this guy literally threw his bike onto the rack and then slammed the rack shut!   And it fit!

We are getting very close to the 153rd B Cycle Station!

I 

The Heights

 On my last ride, I may have ridden too long.   I tried to fix that Wednesday.

I took the Park and Ride to downtown.   I managed to find an E Bike with a full charge (a first for Dan) and I kept it all day.    Here is a note about how the system works.    It's fine to check in and out all day with the standard B Cycle, but I now know that every time I checked this E Bike in and back out, the cash register went ding!   $8.64 for the day.    (B Cycle people, this was my doing, I should have known.)  Whatever, I worked about as hard as I do with the old 3 speed, but I went faster.

Monday, I had to go back home for my iPhone.   Wednesday, I reached into my backpack, and found that my insulated quart thermos of ice water was still on my kitchen counter!    Deal with it!  (By the way, as I write this two days after this ride, I asked a stranger to call my phone when I couldn't find it in the car.    It was on top of the car!   And we encourage this guy to ride a bike?)

I headed into the Washington Corridor for a few stations, then headed north to pick up the Eastern most Heights stations.  I rode through an old part of the heights, lots of old house, trees, and signs marking this as a historic district.  Bric-a-brac and wrap-around porches. and two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard, now everything is ........The Heights have so many cute little streets with cute little bungalows, and most of what I see is either restored homes, or new homes that try to blend in.   Three story homes no wider than the two-car garage seem to be the norm, but I see no McMansions.

Beach Park has an HEB water feature.   I may be 69 years old, but I hit the red button to activate the water jets, just as if I were seven!   

Where on earth am I?  The sign says 19th and Rutland and I thought I was riding through the Houston Heights, but I think I've been transported to downtown small town Americana!  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture.

I was ready to stop, and hey, here's Heights Central B Cycle.  Right here is Ike's Love and Sandwiches, so I parked my bike and ordered my sandwich, and now I don't remember what I ordered, but it is good, and I like it.  The bread is listed as their own Dutch, and it's very tasty.   The décor up in the ceiling is lunchboxes!

It's a school holiday for Yom Kippur.   There are a couple of boys just outside a park on the main MKT bike trail, and they are selling lemonade and cookies!   Good, too!   Ice in my cup.   It doesn't get much better than this!

I have passed three ice cream places so far today, all in the Heights!  but was too full to stop.    When I finished with the heights in Stude Park.   I found that the new connecting trail from Stude Park to the MKT railroad bridge is not quite open, so I turned East on White Oak Trail and on to MKT, into downtown, where I swapped the E Bike for a ride on Metro rail to Wheeler.   I climbed aboard 152 to Westwood  Park And Ride.   An interesting thing here is Bus 152 doesn't stop between Wheeler and Hillcroft  Transit Center, which made the ride shorter than taking Bus 65, which was also an option.   See what I have learned!

My trip Wednesday was a good two hours shorter than Monday.   Good plan.

5th Ward, Near North Side, UHD and a couple of miles too far

 Monday, October 3, I headed to the Park and Ride in plenty of time, only to find that I had left my iPhone in the house.   45 minutes later, I arrived at Park and Ride in time to see the last bus leave.   Fortunately for me, a commuter then chose to drive in, and by giving me a ride, she was able to use the HOV lane.   Worked out.

So, starting from a downtown station, I knocked out U of H Downtown.   Note that there is a back road from UH Daly lot to Burnett Transit center.  I had no idea University of Houston Downtown had become so big.   The lady who took me into downtown told me she went there for all four years plus her masters.   Nice, modern campus, easy walking or biking between buildings, and what looks like a very convenient shuttle from satellite parking lots.  

The Exchange at Hardy Yards doesn't look like anything on the map, but it's within walking distance of UHD and hosts the $5 million postcard view of downtown Houston!   These are beautiful apartments/condos that look to be the beginning of a livable neighborhood.   I missed the UHD Shay Street building, so I backtracked, and now I have earned my first badge.

From Shay Street I headed East past the Catastrophic Theater (what on earth?) and some other very quirky businesses in old warehouses.  Stopped to watch a train go by (lots of them, it turns out), 

I pick up Lyons Ave, which goes close to several stops in 5th Ward, but first I have to stop at St Arnold's Brewery.   I have been in Houston 18 years, and this is my first visit to the brewery.  I circled the parking lot and determined that the bier garten (German spelling) opens at 11:00 and it was almost that, so I had lunch and a beer.    Very good food and service.

Here is an observation:  When the Army sent me to Germany almost 50 years ago, Germany was busy consolidating breweries into just a few giants, and now, here in Houston we have little breweries all over the  city.   Go figure.

Continued East on Lyons picking up 5th Ward.    I can see some gentrification, and some houses that have been renovated, but I also saw run down homes.

Anybody know the story about this brick sculture on Lyons?

Crossed Buffalo Bayou and up Navigation.  From the bridge I could see some of the East River Project.   I was getting tired by now, so I just noted the sign pointing to the Houston Maritime Museum.   Maybe next week.    Cruised into EADO and struggled through downtown to Smith, where there is a stop every two blocks for my P&R bus.   It was right at 3:00 so the the express   buses were running.

Some random thought about the whole experience.

You don't want to be in a hurry.   Look around, there are many places we have never seen before.

I think most of us are checking a bike in, and immediately taking it back out, or taking out another, so we can get credit for the B Cycle station.   Give yourself a couple of minutes before you try to take the next bike, as the system needs a minute or two to reset your account.

If you run into problems at a station, call the service desk.   Many call centers want you to recite every number you know, including your Mother's maiden name, Daisy just needs your name and location, and she will fix any problem.

I ran across two B Cycle techs on the road.   Joshua bailed me out when I questioned whether that out- of-service station was really out of service.

And finally, whether you plan to hit all 153 stations, or just a couple of neighborhoods, I hope you have a great time, as I am.

Tour de Bicycle - I get started!

 I headed to 5th Ward after church.   I decided there were a few stations too far from the others for a full day's ride, so I headed to Mickey Leland Park.  Zero bikes.   Cross US 59 and go to Henderson Park.  Large Live Oak provided a shaded parking spot for the car.    Checked out a bike and headed back to Mickey Leland Park.    

Leland Park has a very nice memorial to the late congressman.   It is also the trailhead for Hunting Bayou Trail, so I rode down the trail, crossed a couple of bridges and came back to the station.   This is a very nice, paved trail that may someday go all the way to Buffalo Bayou.

Back at my car, I decided to scoot over to Moody Park.   Crossing the Metro tracks can be interesting, the park had families engaging in numerous Sunday afternoon activities.   Took a bike to Quitman nearnorthside Metro, then on to Leonel Castillo, where the station and I had some misunderstandings that the nice lady at the service desk helped me with.    One slot would not lock, and another slot would not unlock, so once the lady manually got me a bike, I decided to head back to Moody Park.

It was a nice day to ride.    Hopefully, we are done with high heat for a bit.