Christmas Threw up on my neighborhood!

Starting the week after Thanksgiving every year the annual competition to out-do the Grizwalds happens in my neighborhood. Once that happens the streets are nearly impassable for a month as cars and eventually buses prowl every night, often with headlights off, around the streets. Walking an biking are out for a month. I'm not kidding, freaking tour buses. Some of the lights are art, some tasteful, and some jaw-dropping displays. Most in my opinion just look like Christmas went on a bender and threw up lights and inflatable yard decorations. Imagine being embarrassed by just looking at it, thats what many are like. But this isn't a blog about Christmas decorations and excesses or I would be telling you about a neighbor that throws a party every year. "So what?" you say? This year he had Sting perform. And I have to tell you putting my lights up on the roof while listening to Sting perform live is pretty cool. The years before? Hanna Montana, Dolly Patrton, and so on. Its a really big event. I live in an interesting place.

So trike riding had to be accomplished by hauling my trikes around in the SUV. I found it a tight fit to put both of them in with the seats folded down and it takes two people to do it easily. The Sidewinder folds and breaks down easy enough, but it didn't matter that much in the end it still fit about the same once both were in. I will bee seeking or building some sort of roof-rack option. I don't have a trailer hitch and I'm not sure I want to go that route as it would be an expensive solution for a hitch mount rack or trailer.

I found a great little paved trail not far from my house to go to. Its only about 2.5 miles, and around 4 if I extend the ride through the neighborhood it ends in, but since I have to backtrack to the vehicle it can be turned into a pretty decent ride. There were some mis-starts, the boom on the Sidewinder needed shortened for my wife and this lead to the chain falling off several times and she discovered if she hits the brakes hard the trike tips up a bit. Not unsafely really, but startling none the less. We lost the allen wrenches I brought along somewhere. Oh well, I plan to get a small bag to put stuff like that in that attaches to the bike in the future. Probably the Terra Trike seat bag.

I took the trikes over to the in-laws while we were visiting for Christmas and riding around their gated community found a hill that I could pedal up to 30mph. Pretty thrilling at 12in off the ground and a 90 degree turn just past the bottom. But really not enough room to ride very far.

I also got over to a place here in town called "The Anthills" or Terry Hershey park. I didn't have nearly enough time that day at all. I hadn't been there since they were being built years ago and its a wonderful park with at least 10 miles of paved trails and many others. It also butts up to 2 other parks with almost as many trails. Its also pretty nice scenery for Houston. I will be going there a lot.

I'm going to try to get in a ride this weekend before I have to fly off to Chicago for work stuff I have to take care of. We will see how that goes.