Just checked out the secreT route... was thinking about taking it all the way to Fulshear tomorrow and gOOglE mAps shows the northern part GONE... absorbed into the never-ending urban sprawl. I'm going to try it anyway -- one last time. Be warned if you live in the area -- and extremely slow, out of shape dude with a clapped out bike running baby wheels might be seen rolling through your yard tomorrow morning.
jacked up near the entrance to the R-O-R was a new hood w/~150 water fountains. Red right = 30 fountains red left same red center = ~100 brown entrance to R-O-R the road stopped 1/4 mile later into a new hood under construction. I noodled through it then ended up on the last 2 miles of the old R-O-R. Pulled into Fulshear covered in mud and dust, looks of horror from the Cervelo people. I was smiling like the olden days.
and I'll admit -- I, the human compass, got lost on teh way back. I puss-pussed out and tried taking the road instead of a section of bayou to save a couple miles. I ended up in a vortex of doom going here and there. I knew my ultimate boundaries (I-10/GP/Westheimer/359) but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get out. Some weird force wouldn't let me go. Mile after mile. Zero water. Hot. The miles ticked by slower and slower... I must have looked like hell, walkers/cyclists/cars parted the way for me like I was Moses. Except for witnessing the urban sprawl, it was a damn dam good ride.
Having not ridden on FM 1463 in more than 3-years, the wife and I opted to ride south from Katy on our way to Fulshear. Having departed at 6:50 on a Saturday morning, lots of new strip centers and subdivisions, and I would like to say it was a nice route, except for the exceedingly heavy traffic volumes for that time of morning, Sort of related, but last Thursday I found that the contractors for the Army Corps of Engineers have made it extremely difficult to get past the damn should one opt to traverse the Noble road trail east from the multi-use path! While the orange plastic barricade at the levy is easily traversed, that is not the case down at the damn spillway. As I was prompted by a fast approaching, afternoon thunderstorm, the more industrious will note that while the barricades prevent passage on top and on the bike path, following the outflow channel allows one to then cross the intersecting spillway where everyone fishes from the south bank.
T, that neighborhood is TAMARRON. Whenever I see it I can’t help but say it like “CAMELOT!” from Monty Python. That stupid fountain is all lit up at night. There’s a back way to get from tamarron to the rhode of remorse, ifs you were on starva I could point it out to yah.
But the neighborhoods are going in fast so that back way will be gone soon too. Nowadays those of us looking for bumpy stuff have to go to nails road (paved but bumpy) or wilpitz/donigan (alls ze gravelz)
Funny - Either Canuck or Tugboat just said the same thing to me. Nope, do doggies -- but I was ready. Hell, those dogs are probably long gone by now...