Houston Area Bike Commuters
 

I did a search of this sub-forum, and didn't find an existing thread for Houston area commuters. I know there's not a lot of us, but I thought maybe a thread where we could post our bikes, and talk about our routes, and ask questions would be nice.
And who knows, we might see each other out there!

Here's my ride:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7627/...9811e4_b_d.jpg
1984 Raleigh Sportif, rebuilt completely from the frame-up (some of you may have seen my blog post about the project last summer)
A Seattle Sports rain-rider pannier on a Blackburn narrow rack.
Cygolite Metro 400w
Radbot 1000 tailight

My morning route takes me from Dairy Ashford to Beltway 8, but I go through the neighborhoods between Briar Forest & Westheimer.
In the evening, I ride up to the entrance to Terry Hershey on Beltway 8, and take THP, pop out at Eldridge Parkway, then ride in the road down Enclave Parkway all the way till it ends.

I pass a lot of folks coming from the opposite direction in THP - maybe one of them is you!

There may be a few commuters out there.
I always wanted to bike commute but living 42 miles from work made it impossible. I use to work (retired now) at Sysco on Enclave Parkway and would see commuters at noon and in the evening. We had several that parked their bikes in the parking garages at Sysco. Nice area.

I ride right by that building on my way home!

Daily commuter here. I live near the Railyard bar on San Felipe inside loop 610 and work in the near north side close to St. Arnold brewery. My route from home is north to get to the trail at Woodway which takes me all the way into downtown. From there a short jog on the Heights trail at UH Downtown and east through the neighborhood to the office. 11 miles each way. It's 7 miles if I go through River Oaks, but that's not enough riding & I prefer the longer route. The return route is basically the same. My commuter bikes are a Salsa Vaya and a Sam Hillborne.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=446602http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=446603

I used to work on Enclave and always wanted to bike commute, but I live west of Hwy 6 and north of Clay Road. Anybody who has driven those roads in the morning or evening knows that only somebody with a death wish would try to ride a bike on or near them during rush hour. I am really hopeful that one of these days we will see some movement on the Energy Corridor Trails Master Plan and they will start building some of the feeder paths along the bayous. If they ever build the one along Langham Creek down to Bear Creek Park, it would solve 90% of the problems with my commuting route. The rest of the issues are manageable if I could just get past Hwy 6 and Clay Road safely.

Katy commuter here. There are a few of us out west. I ride in about once a week. Hoping to increase that to 2x pretty soon. Mostly I ride my road bike, but over the Christmas holidays I converted an old mountain bike into a CX/Commuter bike. Now that the MS150 is over, I will dial-in the fit and start riding that bike to work.

From home, I take the Buffalo Bayou Trailway at Cinco Ranch Blvd all the way to Westheimer then ride through George Bush Park and connect up to Terry Hershey which dumps me into the Energy Corridor. My commute is about 23 miles each way and less than 4 are on roads. I like that.

I also like the fact that my new/old bike will open up levee top/gravel options.

Hey Bruce! Haven't heard from you in a while! How are things? Glad to see you're still riding it out! That Hillborne looks great with those new bars. Last I saw it it had drops on it right?

Howdy Dan. No, it's got the same bars, but I'm always changing other things around. Fenders on, fenders off, different lights, different racks, different bags, etc. The picture is out of date. The bike now has a front rack with a small Rivendell trunk bag. The Vaya picture is current. The wine corks in the handlebar ends were supposed to be a temporary fix, but they work so well I'm leaving them. I think I have as much fun building and changing my bikes as I do riding them.

me too. it's probably why i also love LEGO so much :lol:

Anyone commute from spring/woodlands south? I work right near beltway 8 off 45, and can't figure out a safe route to get between Spring and work. Holtzworth was just put through, but no bike lanes, and morning rush traffic is very heavy through there already. No way I'm riding on a feeder during rush hour. Any tips or alternatives?

tip: don't bike into gunspoint

Not a terribly useful tip;) I've worked in Greenspoint at various locations (Oil and Gas companies are all over the area), and can bring my bike inside at work. I'm also originally from Chicago, and Greenspoint aint got nothing on the south or west side. Traffic and unsafe roads, not a slightly rough neighborhood, is my worry. Very few surface streets that connect, and the ones I'm aware of are 1-2 lanes with no shoulder and lots of southbound traffic in the AM (less concerned about the PM ride home.) I can get down to about Cypresswood Dr safely, but then I have to hop on Louetta or Cypresswood to head west across 45 as there aren't any surface connectors there to the east side. If I cut to the west side of 45 further north, like I mentioned, Holzworth is the only surface street that goes through. Its one of the things I don't like about Houston, its a bunch of planned communities that didn't bother to connect with each other, and when they go back and connect them later, its poorly planned and executed. Drives me nuts, I'm 12 miles from work, perfect distance, and not a darn way to do it.

I feel your pain. I used to be about the same distance. Now I am about 20 miles from home. We have showers in the building, lockers, plenty of room for my bike in my office...everything I would need...except a safe way to get through the Hwy 6 @ Clay Road area.

I'm not familiar with the north side of town, but that seems like quite a haul. I don't know, maybe not. Anyway, have you looked at any heatmaps?
http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#11/-...5108/blue/bike

Ok, so here's my road bike on last year's MS150 (Day 1)
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=446882
I have some new wheels on order. Expecting them any day. :)

And here is the project bike. My first ever mountain bike. It had been collecting dust in my parents garage for quite a few years. I may manage to get a few more miles out of it. :thumb:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=446883

Ugh, I'm sorry - so close, yet so annoyingly far from a safe commuting route.

I'm an inner-looper, so I'm lucky! I ride from the Heights to the Med Center, though only on the days I really feel like it - I'm lazy :p I've always been able to find pretty decent routes, but thanks to the Buffalo Bayou Partnership and all their improvements, I now have an alternate route around my biggest bugaboo - the Waugh Street bridge.

Going in to work I take the Heights bike lane to Washington - there is often interesting art on the esplanade:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=446902

cut through Rice Military to Jackson Hill, then use the pedestrian bridge to get over Memorial Drive. (Sometimes I have to wait for double-wide strollers or big dogs to clear, it's not very wide). The new (absolutely gorgeous) walk/bike bridge just west of Waugh takes me over the bayou, and then I ride south on Waugh to Fairview, turn south on Mandell, then cut through the Rice campus to Main street. Rice recently added a trail through their folf course/wild prairie/water retention parklet thingy that ends at the light at Main and John Freeman Blvd. John Freeman now goes under the Methodist Outpatient Center, so I have good way to cross Main and Fannin and then get to UT Houston. We have decent bike parking:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=446900

On the way home, I usually turn right on the Buffalo Bayou trail at Waugh - at sunset it is worth it to stop and watch the bats for a bit - then head east towards downtown. I use the double bridge to cross the bayou, then ride the north side past Sunset Heights cemetery - very nice view of downtown
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=446901

Then I take the Sabine Street access up to the 6th ward. I can ride Taylor north across Washington, then pick up the hike/bike trail at the Target and get back into the Heights that way.

I've been riding variations of this route for nearly 8 years now, and it just keeps getting better. I am astounded how much the bayou trails have improved. Yeah, they can be crowded and I'm not going to be setting any speed records on them, but it's so nice to ride through trees and wildflowers instead of buildings and parked cars.

You might want to look at the "trail" that follows the drainage bayous. I am not sure how much traffic these get but when I drive by them there appears to be a path on one side or both. In the future these should get developed by the flood control district and the City of Houston.

That's a possibility, but there are usually nasty scrub-filled ditches running perpendicular to those bayous. Pretty much impossible to cross unless you are geared for serious adventuring (and not a bog-standard bike commute).

Such a ditch is the reason the White Oak bayou bike trail does not connect directly with the Heights bike trail. You can stand at the end of one and see the riders passing by on the other, but you'd wreck yourself trying to get over there.

Commute to Energy Corridor from North Eldridge
 

I commute from Lakes on Eldridge North (Tanner Road between North Eldridge and Brittmoore) to Westlake Park. My most common route is Tanner/Eldridge/I-10 access but when conditions are right I prefer to take the top of the Addicks Dam to the bike trail from Chatterton to Dairy Ashford between Shell and Conoco. Last week I was able to use Brittmoore to get to Chatterton. The paving on Brittmoore is complete but the southbound lanes between Clay and Hammerly are not officially open as of April 2015. (I went southbound outside of working hours.) It should be open soon and will be a good option when the top of the dam is wet.

You may want to connect with a group "Livable West Houston" that is forming up with the ambition of improving the environment for cyclists and pedestrians along Highway 6 from I-10 to 290. Their primary communication channel now is Facebook "Livable West Houston".

Energy Corridor Bike to Work Day Thursday May 14
 

For commuters in west Houston, Bike to Work Day will be Thursday May 14th with a gathering at the Terry Hershey gazebo from 06:30 to 07:30. See the attached flyer. If you would like to join a group, go to Home - Energy Corridor District, "Commute Solutions" "Bike/Walk" "Bike to Work Day". Group routes may be viewed with "Download 2015 Route Maps. ATTACH=CONFIG]447925[/ATTACH]

Nice! Glad there will be something else besides just downtown - which I could never participate it because I work out this way. I'll probably show up for this.

Posted this on Instagram earlier from my ride home:
https://instagram.com/p/2E-DQ7KezF/

Ride safe, y'all!

Bike to Work Day for the Energy Corridor is tomorrow. Anyone else showing up at the gazebo at THP on Memorial? Barring any unsightly weather, I'll be there probably between 7-7:30.

White Oak Bayou Trail to the Heights Bike trail
 

Anyone have any information on the delay in connecting the White Oak Bayou Trail to the Heights Bike trail? Less than a couple hundred feet of trail would connect the two trails and allow people to avoid the crossing at Sawyer and the trail from hell that goes through a large commercial area.


I have asked the city and all they will say is that it is with the Army Corps of Engineers. I know the government is known for inefficiency but it has been a more than a couple of years laying incomplete.