Here is a Google map of the MS-150 route from La Grange to Austin:
Apr 242009
Apr 052009
The weather was beautiful today so I rode the Trek Pilot to the gym today for my swimming session. On the way over there I was kind of with the wind and maintained 20+ mph with very little effort. The return leg was more … interesting.
View Larger Map I had just replaced the tires on that bike yesterday. I was running Michelin Krylion Carbon tires and had recently gotten a fairly large hole in the rear tire, temporarily patched with a folded dollar bill. I could find replacements in stock so ended putting on Continental Ultra Gatorskin tires. Both the Michelin and these are sturdy and heavier tires designed to minimize flats, which is something I sorely need riding on the streets in Humble and Houston.
Feb 212009
We had a nice time today at the 7′th Annual Humble Lions Club Bike Ride. We did the 45 mile route. The starting and ending point was the Humble Convention Center near the intersection of Will Clayton and N. Houston. Continue reading »
Jul 302008
In addition to an email to Houston Mayor Bill Write, I had written a letter to the Houston Chief of Police Harold Hurtt. A copy of the letter is appended to this post. Well, that letter went out in the mail on Monday, and I just received a call at about 10:50 today (Wednesday) from Officer Roderman in Chief Hurtt’s office (713-658-1737).
Officer Roderman was very concerned and even went so far as to express amazement that the Houston police officer in question was not aware that it was illegal for me to ride on the sidewalk. He said if I was ever stopped again that I was free to tell the office that I had spoke with him.
A hearty kudos to the Chief’s office!
Here is a copy of the letter that I mailed to Chief Hurtt:
July 27, 2008
Harold L. Hurtt Chief of Police Houston Police Department 1200 Travis Street Houston, TX 77002
Dear Chief Hurtt,
On Sunday, July 27, 2008 at about 3:00 PM I was pedaling north on Homestead Road, just south of Tidwell. A Houston police officer came along side me and used the loudspeaker in his squad car to order me to move off the road and onto the sidewalk. When I stopped pedaling and looked in his direction he repeated the order and then sped off before I could see his car number.
I moved onto the sidewalk as ordered but was unable to stay there for long. There was too much dangerous debris, like broken glass and metal bits, and in any event the sidewalk soon disappeared completely and I was obliged to continue on the road as before. I had at that point resigned myself to be ticketed or arrested if the officer came by again. Fortunately, he did not.
I know that the police officer was wrong. You know he was wrong. The law is quite clear. One can even go onto the City of Houston web site and print out the Bike Smart booklet that says:
Bicycles are NOT allowed on sidewalks with businesses on both sides or with riders 10 years of age or older UNLESS there are hazardous conditions on the road.
So not only are bicyclists allowed to ride on the road, they are compelled by law to ride on the road in most situations.
Chief Hurtt I have the greatest respect for law enforcement and I have no desire to get anyone in trouble. That is why I’m asking that you issue a communication to the troops reminding them of the law with respect to bicyclists. Also, may I ask your advice as to how I should proceed if I am confronted like this again in the future?
Should I carry a printout of the various parts of the law and present a copy to the officer? I don’t wish to appear disrespectful in any way, but at age 50 I most definitely do not want to be pushed around by someone who is clearly misinformed with regard to the very same law that they have sworn to uphold.
Sincerely yours,
Gordon Tillman
Jul 272008
I just sent this email to Mayor Bill White:
Dear Mayor White,
On Sunday, July 27, 2008 at about 3:00 PM I was pedaling north on Homestead Road, just south of Tidwell. A Houston police officer came along side me and used the loudspeaker in his squad car to order me to move off the road and onto the sidewalk. He sped away before I could get his car number.
I moved onto the sidewalk as ordered but was unable to stay there for long. There was too much dangerous debris, like broken glass and metal bits, and in any event the sidewalk soon disappeared completely and I was obliged to continue on the road as before. I had at that point resigned myself to be ticketed or arrested if the officer came by again. Fortunately, he did not.
I know that the police officer was wrong. You know he was wrong. I’m asking you to please issue a communication to the various police stations requesting that they educate their officers as to the law in Texas and in Houston.
Also, should this happen to me again, personally, what do you recommend that I do? Should I confront the officer? Should I carry little Zerox copies of the relevant parts of the law with me and ask that the officer take a copy? I don’t want to be belligerent in any way — I have the greatest respect for law enforcement — but on the other hand I don’t want to be put in this position again.
Respectfully,
Gordon Tillman
May 192008
Performance Bicycle is a large retail chain that sells bicycles, components, etc. Their web site is http://www.performancebike.com/. You can be a member of their “Team Performance” club if you like. The cost is $25.00 / year.
On May 18, 2008 at 14:54 CDT I received an email from customerservice@performanceinc.com informing me that my American Express credit card had been charged $25.00 to renew my Team Performance membership.
I was a bit concerned because I did not receive any warning that my credit card was going to be charged on a certain date, etc., so I sent the following email in to their customer support:
Folks I’m a bit concerned about this.
I was not aware that this was an “auto renew” account. I did not receive any warning about this.
Furthermore, I just logged into the team performance buyers club site and I could not find any place that talked about auto renewing nor give me the ability to de-select an auto-renew option.
–gordon tillman
I received this response back from Amber:
Dear Mr. Tillman,
The information is posted on the website.
http://www.performancebike.com/team_policy.cfm
Regards,
Amber
Customer Service
So I went to the page that she referenced and found this:
Memberships are automatically renewed annually at the fee effective at the time of renewal. Consent to Automatic Recurring Charge–By purchasing your Team Performance Membership or Renewal, you request and agree that we may annually automatically renew your Team Performance membership by charging the most recent credit card you have used with Performance, Inc. The charge will be made within the month that is one year after this transaction. In advance of enacting such charge, we will send notification of the membership fee to the email or mailing address you are providing in connection with this transaction, and absent your notification to us that the charge should not be imposed, we will attempt to charge your credit card. If your credit card is no longer valid for any reason, such as that you discontinued or changed the account or if the expiration date has changed, or if the credit card processing company gives us notice that your credit card should not be used, the charge for the annual membership may not be processed and your membership may not be renewed through this process. Please therefore ask us about renewing your membership if the credit card you provided us is no longer valid (or has a changed expiration date). Contact us also if you wish to opt out of or cancel this consent by calling 1-800-727-2433, Mon – Fri 9am – 6pm EST. Consent to Use of Electronic Signature and Records–By purchasing your Team Performance Membership or Renewal, you are affirmatively consenting to the use of the electronic signature process. You understand that you have the right to have the Authorization provided to you in a non-electronic form, provided however that we may assess a copying fee for sending a paper copy of the Authorization to you. Your consent to use the electronic signature process applies only to this specific transaction and not to any other future transactions. If you wish to withdraw your consent to use the electronic signature process at any time or you wish to obtain a paper copy of this Authorization, please contact us by calling 1-800- 727-2433, Mon – Fri 9am – 6pm EST.
In that block of stuff I see that “In advance of enacting such charge, we will send notification of the membership fee to the email or mailing address you are providing in connection with this transaction, and absent your notification to us that the charge should not be imposed, we will attempt to charge your credit card.”
Well, I did not receive this advance warning or notification. I replied to Amber with the following:
Amber I’m pretty sure that I did not receive advance notification per this term:
“In advance of enacting such charge, we will send notification of the membership fee to the email or mailing address you are providing in connection with this transaction…”
Note that the above quote came from the policy page that you told me about, term #1.
I’m hereby notifying PerformanceInc.com that, next year, if this happens again, I will contact my bank and dispute the charge.
I like Performance Bike just fine, but I don’t like being charged without advance notification.
Furthermore I’m going to post full details of our email conversation online for the benefit of others who may be concerned or confused about the policies of PerformanceInc.
–gordon tillman
May 102008
The Houston Bicycle Club had it’s annual Picnic Ride today. We met up at the new Houston Discovery Green park at 08:30 and headed out for a great ride through some historic Houston neighborhoods.
I recorded most of the ride with my Garmin Forerunner 305. Unfortunately, I forgot to press the start button until after we had been on the rode for a while. But here is a Google map of the part that I did record:
You can also see some pics that I took along the way. Here is a direct link to the Flickr set
And here is a small Flickr slideshow. Just click Continue Reading.. to load it. Continue reading »
Nov 112007
Yesterday I attended a great ride with some of my fellow members of Team Bent. Coleman put together a nice ride of about 38.3 miles and even printed out turn sheets for all of us. In the spirit of randonneuring I thought it would make for an interesting day if I were to ride my bicycle to the event in the Woodlands, then ride the event, then ride home.
Route from Home to the Woodlands
This is the route I took to get from Humble to the Woodlands. It was about 22.3 miles in length.
Pictures!
I have a few pictures that I took before and after the ride. Just click on this picture and you will be taken to the Flikr photo set. As always, if you click on any individual picture in the set, use the “All Sizes” button to be able to view and/or download any picture at any size that you wish.
Route from the Woodlands back home
I usually try and take different routes just to keep things interesting. Here is the route that I used to get back to Humble from the Woodlands. This route was about 32.6 miles.
It was a very nice day of riding. A total of about 93.2 miles.
Nov 042007
Yesterday I did my first ride with the Houston Randonneurs. These folks are the true crazies of the cycling world. They participate in organized rides of up to 1200km (thats about 746 miles) in length!
Yesterdays ride, called a Brevet was a minimum distance of 200km. It turned out to be about 128mi, which is about 206km. I met some great folks and the ride itself was wonderful.
Here is a Google map of the route:
Remember that it was an out-there-and-back ride. I also took a few pictures along the way. If you click on the picture below you can see the Flickr photo-set:
Sep 112007
TeamBent is a group of recumbent bicycle riders from Houston and the surrounding areas. We often meet in Fulshear, just West of Houston, for a ride.
This was my first attempt at shooting video with the tiny Flip Video Camera. I won’t lie … it’s deadly dull, so don’t say you were not warned!
I promise to work on my shooting skills and also learn how to edit video!!! 