The Monday 9/29 ride report

In effort and from a psychological standpoint it was a normal round-trip commute from my house near Conrad Sauer to Texas Southern University; however, there is still much evidence of storm damage from IKE. There are several items to to note on the Westview Dr. portion of the commute. There is a lot of small twigs and other wood fiber debris liberally scattered along the route (not to mention glass) the former of which makes for a bumpy ride. the latter; well, you already know you have to avoid it.

Also, there are portions of the power grid on Westview that suffered damage in the storm and are still not back yet. The section of Westview just before Bunker Hill and the sectionbetween Campbell and Bingle is almost completely without streetlights. The other section of the route that raises concern is Memorial Drive from the 610 loop to Crestwood. There are absolutely no streetlights or park lights activated at this time. It's probably a good idea to avoid Memorial Park in the early morning hours until Houston Looting and Plunder gets around to repairing the power grid through the park. If you decide to chance it and ride at this stretch be sure that you have effective lighting both front and rear so that approaching cars can see you. From Crestwood onwards to Shepherd and eventually to TSU is completely routine.

The afternoon ride I did not come back on the reciprocal route, but I went straight down Alabama/West Alabama to Wesleyan and from there I went north to San Filipe and then westward on San Filipe to Briar Oaks Lane where I eventually worked my way on to Post Oak where I cut over through the neighborhoods to make it to the Tanglewood bike lane that took me to Chimney Rock. From there I continued on northward until the route met up with Westview and westward to home. The distance is equal to doing the reciprocal, but does not require a sprint with traffic through Memorial Park. The one thing I I might add is that the lights in Memorial Park are not functioning and HPD is manning the intersections. I mention this because if one were to chance running through the park in the afternoon you may get waved through the intersections. I have not tried it myself, but I recognized when driving through that the possibility exists.