Reptile Dodging Alligator Alley On Wichita Falls Wee-Chi-Tah Trail

Til yesterday it had been several years since I have mountain biked on an actual mountain bike trail.

At my former DFW location there were multiple mountain bike trails within a reasonably short distance of my home location.

At my current home location in Wichita Falls, as far as I know, there is only one mountain bike trail within a reasonable distance of my home location.

That being the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail.

One can access the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail from multiple access points. My access point, yesterday, was via Lucy Park, crossing the suspension bridge across the Wichita River to the location you see photo documented above, that being the ALLIGATOR ALLEY section of the Wee-Chi-Tah Trail.

I saw no alligators lurking on this trail section. I do not think it likely that alligators venture as far as Wichita Falls. But, I suppose it is possible, what with alligators known to be frequent visitors in the DFW zone, which is only a little over a hundred miles to the southeast.

On my regular Circle Trail type bike rides I don't bother wearing a bike helmet. On a mountain bike trail I feel the need to be helmeted.

I need to get myself a better, more comfortable, bike helmet, by the next time I dodge alligators on a mountain bike trail...

Mountain Out With Ruby Rocking The Tacoma Pump Track

I had just finished watching the latest episode of NCIS: Los Angeles with part of this week's plot having Callan discovering the fun of being an uncle, which had me thinking about the fun I had being an uncle a couple weeks ago with David, Theo and Ruby whilst I was in Arizona.

I turned off the TV and woke up my phone to see an incoming text message from my Favorite Sister-in-Law Kristin with the text message saying...

"Ruby Rocking the Tacoma Pump Track with a HUGE Smile."

The text message had a video attached which then had me connecting the phone to my computer so as to turn the video into a YouTube video.

The Tacoma Pump Track Ruby is Rocking is this well done mountain bike rock and roll track in one of Tacoma's many extremely well done parks. I can not remember the name of this particular park, but when I was in Tacoma the summer of 2017 I had myself a mighty fine time in that park, rocking and rolling the track, and then doing some further exploring on our bikes with Ruby and Theo, whilst David had an injury which needed attending.

Wondering if I can easily find the blog post I made that day. I shall see if I can do so, before adding the YouTube video of Ruby mountain biking.

Found it.

Swan Creek Blackberry Mountain Biking With David, Theo & Ruby

I am thinking the name of this park, whose name I can't remember, may be Swan Creek Park.

The photos you see on that blog post give you a good idea of what the Evergreen part of the Pacific Northwest looks like, with giant trees smelling like Christmas.

I'm hoping, sooner than later, to make it to Tacoma with my mountain bike so as to ride those Swan Creek Park trails with Theo, Ruby and David.

I can't remember the last time I mountain biked on an actual mountain bike trail on an actual mountain. This century? I don't remember.

Anyway, here's is that aforementioned YouTube video of Ruby Rocking her mountain bike...

The Last Saturday Of August Rolling My Wheels In Fort Worth's Gateway Park Before Town Talk Treasure Hunting

I rolled my wheels in Gateway Park on Thursday because I had had myself such a mighty fine time doing so on Tuesday and the precipitation predictors were predicting precipitation on Friday, which I figured if the predicted precipitation did precipitate that it would render the Gateway Park trails into being a muddy mess.

Well, the precipitation did precipitate just as predicted Friday morning.

With today being my regularly scheduled Saturday Town Talk visit which I've not visited on Saturday for about a  month, rendering my regular schedule all asunder, I decided to attempt rolling my wheels at Gateway Park today, pre-Town Talk, figuring I could just roll on the paved trails if the unpaved trails were muddy.

I was pleased to discover, along with a lot of other wheel rollers, that yesterday's rain did not result in muddy mountain bike trails in Gateway Park.

For the first time since I've been enjoying these trails I did the entire loop twice. I have no idea how many miles that is. I suspect around 10.

When the Town Talk parking lot came into view it appeared to be overflowing, with people parking on the street, which I do not think is likely legal parking. I drove on to the parking lot, ready to bail, if I could not find a parking spot.

I did not bail.

I don't think I've ever seen the inside of Town Talk so crowded. But the checkout lines were not too bad, so I was able to make it out of there with a lot of chicken thighs, cauliflower, sharp cheese from a place called England, smoked sausages, sweet potato rolls, whole grain bagels, a case of pumpkin spice Siggis Icelandic yogurt and other stuff I'm not remembering right now.

Miss Mary K, do you remember Town Talk's parking lot being filled to overflowing during your years of Town Talking? Methinks Town Talk needs to move to a bigger location. Like the old Krogers that's been long abandoned a short distance from my abode. That would be very convenient. And it comes with a huge parking lot.

Having A Smoggy Sunday Reaction After Rolling My Wheels On Gateway Park's Mountain Bike Trails

I must have misunderstood the weather forecast for today. I  thought serious storms were a sure thing for this final Sunday of the 4th month of 2014.

Last night I figured this morning's pool bout would have me swimming in the rain. And that I would not be going anywhere hiking or biking today.

I figured wrong.

I had myself a mighty fine rain-free swim this morning,  followed by an equally mighty fine rain-free rolling of my wheels on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails.

No rain, but HOT and humid. Currently the temperature is 86, with that vexing humidity making it really feel like 91.

Of late I have been vexed by some new allergen that makes my eyes itch and burn in a way that reminds me of my first encounter with LA smog when I was a teenager, way back in the last century. Post Gateway Park I'm finding the burning eye sensation to be particularly vexing. Eyes drops help some.

I never had any allergy woes when I lived in Western Washington. Is Mother Nature trying to tell me something?

Rolling My Wheels Through A Gateway Park Carpet Of Green Serenaded By A Bird Symphony

I drove my handlebars back to Gateway Park today to have myself a mighty fine time rolling my wheels on the Fort Worth Mountain Bike Association's mountain bike trail.

As you can see, via the carpet of green, spring is really starting to get sprung, although wildflowers continue to be in scarce supply at my location in North Texas.

However, yesterday I did see a few bluebonnets coloring up a little bit of the Tandy Hills. I'd intended to photo document yesterday's bluebonnet sighting, but I got distracted by the discovery of proliferating Hoodoos.

I don't know if the temperature is yet sufficiently warm enough that I need to be on the lookout for slithering reptiles, as in snakes in the grass, when I'm  stopped in a lush location like you see in the picture.

In a month or two I think my level of snake wariness will be amped up if I am still opting to roll my wheels at this location.

Today something had the bird population chirping a symphony. It was non-stop. Like Mother Nature was playing a Sounds of Nature CD featuring birds.

This morning I had either my 5th or 6th swim of the year in the no longer too cool pool. My hot tub hydrotherapy sessions have been of much shorter duration of late. In other words, I think swimming season has arrived for those of us who do not require our swimming water to be heated to an un-naturally warm temperature...

Today It Was Not Too HOT To Have Myself A Fine Mountain Biking Time In Gateway Park With A Giant Turtle

With the temperature predicted to hit a high of 105 with possibly a record breaking high of one degree more and with the humidity causing the air to feel 5 degrees HOTTER, I thought going on a bike ride sounded like a good idea.

Over an hour in the pool, starting at the crack of dawn, really does not give as good an endorphin boost as one might hope it would.

Even though the outer world is a little HOT, the Gateway Park mountain bike trails are mostly under the cover of big shading trees, thus making for a not too HOT time.

Til one stops to get oneself some hydration.

The last time I pedaled the Gateway Park mountain bike trails I noticed that at a point where the trail sign pointed right, bike tire tracks continued left.

And so today I ignored the sign pointing right and went left to discover new trail has been punched through the underbrush to get around an area of trail which had been damaged by the flooding remnants of Hurricane Hermine, rendering what remained of the old trail to be a bit treacherous, with not enough treachery to make hiking the damaged trail dangerous, but with enough treachery to render biking it an invite to take a flying leap off the side of a cliff  into a green river.

In the picture above those are my handlebars looking at the damaged trail which runs along side the top of a cliff with the Trinity River flowing slowly below. The new bypass trail is to the right of my handlebars.

Looking over the edge of the cliff I saw a HUGE turtle floating on the surface, with its head stuck out of the water. I was able to make one snap of the camera before the turtle dived.

Speaking of critters floating in the Trinity River,  I believe tomorrow, Thursday, August 8, marks the end of this year's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Music Extravaganzas.

The extremely HOT temperature and the extremely inviting crystal clear water of the Trinity River should make for a possibly record breaking crowd tomorrow, floating around a non-existent island, listening to music emanating from a non-existent pavilion.

With beer.

The SB Depot Dud Had Me Happy To Be Back With My Regular Saturday Gateway Park Town Talk Rut

In the picture you are looking at my handlebars above a cliff above the Trinity River in Gateway Park.

Last Saturday, from this same location, I said that today I was going to break free of my Saturday Gateway Park Town Talk rut and go instead to SB Depot in Arlington.

Well.

I had to be in Arlington yesterday. Which made it make sense to go to SB Depot, then, since I was in the neighborhood.

Last week, after I mentioned I was going to go to SB Depot today, Stenotrophomonas told me I would like the SB Depot cooler much more than the Town Talk cooler.

I somehow construed what Stenotrophomonas told me to mean I would like SB Depot better than Town Talk.

However, I'd barely driven on to the SB Depot parking lot when I decided this place was a dud. A big DUD.

It was coming up on noon and there were only a couple cars in the parking lot. Inside the store was a ghost town. The touted International Food Court was empty of anyone from any nation. The sole checkout person appeared to be napping.

And then I found the SB Depot cooler and got what Stenotrophomonas meant. This cooler was so big all of Town Talk could fit inside. However, the SB Depot cooler was mostly empty and what was in there was nothing I wanted.

I quickly left SB Depot and continued on to Cho Saigon and then ALDI.

Now, back to today. I had myself a really fine time biking the Gateway Park mountain bike trail. The trails are in great shape, which enabled some high speed pedaling.

And then it was on to Town Talk to cool off in Town Talk's tiny cooler.

I filled an entire shopping cart at Town Talk today. That has never happened before. I got Pineapples, Oranges, Asparagus, Mangoes, Romaine Lettuce, Yellow Peppers, Avocados, Green Beans, Rainier Cherries from Wenatchee, dozens of Tyson All Natural Chicken Legs and other stuff I am not remembering right now.

I guess I am okay with my Saturday Town Talk rut. I do enjoy it. And since there really are so few things I enjoy, I suppose I should just be happy to stay in my familiar rut....

Today There Were Fewer Signs Of Danger In Gateway Park With Snakes

Last Saturday I saw a Sign of Danger at Gateway Park at the  location you are looking at on the left.

Today, at that location, that particular DANGER sign was gone, so I was able to take a picture of my handlebars overlooking the currently green, and running a lot of water, due to recent rain, Trinity River.

DANGER signs still block the other locations, with red tape, that I came upon last Saturday.

Today there was no DANGER sign to warn me that I was about to roll over a snake with a diamond pattern to its snakeskin.

I spotted the snake in sufficient time to avoid hitting it. Though this snake had a diamond pattern, it was not a Diamondback Rattlesnake. Those have big heads and very noticeable rattles, which the snake tends to shake when a human on, or off, wheels gets too close.

Due to the temperature being in the 90 zone, snake mobility is much faster than when the air is in the chilly 70  zone. Which means the snake slithered out of sight before I could get my camera aimed at it.

Speaking of the temperature, and who isn't? The temperature of the water in the pool has warmed up significantly in the past couple days. A week more of this near 100 degree HEAT and getting in the pool will start to be not as refreshing as one would like a dip in the pool to be.

You always hear people asking if a pool is a heated pool. No one ever asks if it is a cooled pool. A cooled pool would be a much bigger asset in Texas than a heated pool. In summer.

Every year there is a standard article in many North Texas news purveyor publications, advising people that it is not possible to add enough ice to ones pool to bring the temperature down to a noticeable degree of chill. Apparently there have been incidents where a Texan will order up a dump truck load of ice to be dumped into a pool, to find out that this was not such a good idea after all.

I noticed this morning that we have reached that time of the year where cold tap water is no longer very cold.  But makes for very refreshing showers, which I think I'll avail myself of, right now....

I Was Forbidden To Ride My Horse On The Gateway Park Trails Today So I Mountain Biked Instead

It was back to Gateway Park today in the noon time frame to excessively exercise via high speed pedaling of my mountain bike crank on the twisting, turning, up and down, Gateway Park mountain bike trails.

I am trying to drastically amp up my amount of exercise and amp down my calorie consumption in an attempt to shrink before I strap myself into an airplane seat.

I am shrinking, but not very fast. I want my flying pants to be baggy on me once again. This is a lofty goal.

I thought about riding my horse on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails til I saw the signs warning me not to, with a number to call if I had any questions. Why would I have any questions after the sign clearly states "NO HORSES ON TRAIL"?

Why would anyone want to ride a horse on these trails? I have to duck, at times, on my bike, due to the low lying foliage.

There are also signs in Gateway Park informing park visitors that they are not allowed to pasture their animals in Gateway Park. Has there been a problem with people bringing in their cows to graze?

I think, sometimes, that some people get way too sign happy at this location on the planet. Pedal or walk the current state of Fort Worth's Trinity Trails and you will see prime examples of this bizarre phenomenon.

It was only 95 when I went biking today. Now, at around 3 in the afternoon, as you can see via info gleaned from my computer based temperature monitoring device, it is now 10 degrees HOTTER, at 105.

A few more degrees should be added to the 105 before the sun starts to reduce its daily heating efforts on this 2nd day of August.

When the temperature is this HOT, is it really necessary to add "HEAT ADVISORY" to the temperature info?

Today Mountain Biking In River Legacy Park I Did Not Get Snakebit

I'm copying my favorite Fort Worth blog again today, that being Hometown by Handlebar.

But, once again, my handlebars are nowhere near my hometown. My handlebars are, once again, in Arlington, about 2,000 miles from my old hometown.

What you really can not tell via looking at the picture of my handlebars is that they are on one of the mountain bike trails in River Legacy Park. I'm at a junction in the trail, with a green arrow pointing the way.

The River Legacy Mountain Bike Trail has expanded a lot over the years, with many loops added, and bypasses. The trails have become a bit of a maze.

There are sections of the trail which I do not enter on two wheels, with names like "Fun Town." A name like "Fun Town" makes you think it'd be really fun to ride on. And likely it is, if you are a teenager or in your 20s and impervious to flying over your handlebars.

There are two very extreme sections of the River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trails. I am drawing a blank on the name of the one that is not "Fun Town." I have neither biked nor walked "Fun Town." I have tried to bike the other extreme section and quickly gave up. I have managed to walk the non "Fun Town" extreme section and managed to get lost. It is a very confusing maze of trails. Steep ups and downs. And water features that you really do not want to end up in.

Speaking of mountain bike trails, which is what I'm doing right now, I heard from someone named Anonymous about getting snakebit whilst walking the Gateway Park Mountain Bike Trail yesterday....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Walking The Gateway Park Mountain Bike Trail Finding Tasty California Peaches": 

You're a lucky man!! I just read in the Startle Gram that there was person bitten by a snake near Gateway Park yesterday!! Could have been you! 

I missed the article about the snake bite in this morning's Startle Gram, also known as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. When I found the article, after reading the comment from Anonymous, I found there was very very little information in the article. I don't even know if the few words amounts to enough words to qualify as an article.

Suffice to say someone reported someone got bit by a snake and after awhile that person was found somewhere near Gateway Park.

I don't believe I have ever seen a snake in Gateway Park.

I have seen many snakes in River Legacy Park. I've had to stop on the mountain bike trail and wait for a big bull snake to move out of my way. I've been stopped by a big snake on the paved trail, stretching clear across the trail. I've been warned about a swarm of copperheads ahead on the mountain bike trail, which I never saw.

Having Fun Getting Overstimulated On The River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trail

I have now had my first mountain bike ride in over a year. I went to River Legacy Park today around noon. The mountain bike trail has become very popular. The parking lot was almost full. A lot of bikers were hanging out in groups. It was being like the parking lot at the Slick Rock Trailhead in Moab.

The previous time I went a long time without mountain biking was due to the trails being badly damaged by storms. The River Legacy trails were flooded, that time, with a lot of wind damage.

If I remember right the flood/wind damage kept me off the River Legacy trails for a long time, maybe 6 months. I remember when I first pedaled there again I had trouble with the first drop, wobbled and had to jump off the bike. It was only on my second time around, that time, that I got my mountain bike legs back.

Well, today it was like I'd not been off my bike for a year. I sailed down the first drop and zipped up the other side. Same with the next drop. I was being sort of amazed at how much obviously stronger I am being. I had no idea.

Mountain biking was being way funner than I remembered. It is way more intense than pedaling on a smooth paved trail. On a mountain bike trail, particularly one like River Legacy, you have to be constantly alert, lest you run into a tree or miss a curve. It's very stimulating.

I'm thinking testing out my new power legs on the Cedar Hills State Park Dorba Trails would be interesting. I used to go there all the time. But, nowadays it seems foolish to drive 50 miles, round trip, to ride a bike.

I went 11.934 miles today, in an hour and 12 minutes, plus some seconds, the number of which I have forgotten.

When I pedaled the River Legacy Park paved trail a couple days ago, a few miles in, I discovered my mesh shorts had developed a malfunction. Today a few miles in I made the same discovery about another pair of biking shorts. I bought a new pair at Wal-Mart on my way back here. We'll see how long they last without an unfortunate splitting.

Alarming Snakes & Biking Injuries At River Legacy Park

It's another hot Sunday in Texas. 91 out there right now. My Physical Therapist, Dr. LC told me I don't get enough exercise, so I decided to go to River Legacy Park and pedal the mountain bike trail.

My last attempt to bike at River Legacy, on the mountain bike trail, was aborted due to the dual problem of it being too muddy and my bike gear/chain thing having a malfunction that caused me to have to jump off the bike 3 times, narrowly averting disaster.

So, I didn't know how it was going to go today. I'd quickly know if the gear/chain woe was gone, when I hit the curb to start the trail. Made it up that without a problem. And then make it up the first steep part with no problem, so I relax a bit about it.

So, my first incident. This is a one-way trail, for good reason, lots of blind corners. I was on the first of the steep up and down sections with multiple ups and downs. I see this kid coming right at me. I hit the brakes. He stops. I tell him he is going the wrong way. He says "someone got hurt on the South Loop, it's closed." I ask, "hurt how?" But he pedals off without answering.

When I pulled into the parking lot there were 4 or 5 emergency vehicles, including one firetruck. I figured they were doing a practice thing, because I've seen them practice search and rescue at River Legacy, closing the paved trail at the far north end past the Boyds Branch Bridge.

I don't bike the South Loop. It's a new section. I tried it once. I made it to the third downhill and decided, no, I'm not going to do that. As I pass the South Loop intersection nothing indicates it was closed. I pedal through the bypass and continue on. As the trail loops to run parallel to water treatment land I hear voices. I stop. I couldn't see anyone. I hear one guy say something like we can't take him out over the trail, he's too unstable on the stretcher. We've got to get them to come in this road so we can get him out.

I could only make out parts of what they were saying. I'm guessing someone had a really bad bike wreck and maybe broke his neck, hence the need to get him out as smoothly as possible.

So, I continue on, no major incidents til I have trouble passing a family of slow moving pedalers.

Due to that copperhead incident of a few days ago, where I almost ran over one while pedaling at Village Creek I was being a bit hyper-vigilant about the snake threat. Okay, I'll just admit it, I was being a whacked out neurotic. Over and over again I hit the brakes due to thinking a curvy stick or root was a snake. The flickering light shadowing through the trees plays tricks when you're moving fast.

On the second time around I come to the South Loop turnoff and stop to take a picture. Several bikers fly by and zip in to that danger zone. A guy walks up that I'd howdyed the first time around. I ask him if he knew anything about someone getting hurt. He'd walked the South Loop and said he saw no one in there except for the biggest snake he'd ever seen. I ask him what type. He says he didn't know snakes. He then describes it as brown with a criss cross pattern. I say rattlesnake. He says he didn't think so, he saw no rattle. Then I say cottonmouth.

Maybe the injury that caused the big ruckus was a snake bite causing an epic wreck, or just seeing the snake causing an epic wreck.

So, I pedal on. If I was being a hyper-vigilant neurotic before, now it went into overdrive. One of the snake alert heavy braking false alarms almost caused a wreck, wrenching forward, twisting my neck.

I make it back to my van without further incidents of any sort. It was a good bike ride. I hope the injury wasn't serious. Maybe I should start wearing my helmet at River Legacy.

Various Mother's Day Malfunctions at River Legacy Park

I made my Mother's Day call to my mommy on the drive to River Legacy Park to ride my bike. I didn't know if it'd be dried out enough for the mountain bike trail, but I was optimistic, because the Tandy Hills were dried out yesterday.

Well, I got to the mountain bike trail parking lot, saw the trail closed cable was not up. But I saw a lot of clumps of mud in the parking lot. Not a good sign.

I got my bike out, got it ready to ride, loaded it up and hopped on. When I went to switch sprockets the chain went all limp, stuck trying to make the switch. I didn't know what was wrong. I got all greasy getting the chain on the sprocket. I don't like getting greasy.

Got back pedaling again. Going up the first steep part, as I put pressure on the crank, the chain messed up again, going limp. This causes me to pretty much have to jump off the bike. The same thing happened again. Then a third time on a very steep uphill, I came very close to a bad wreck.

So, this was not being fun. In addition to the malfunction, the trail was very muddy, in way too many places. The mud began to build up on my tires. The trail should not have been open. Between the mud and the malfunction I decided to shortcut it out of there and head back to my van to see if I could figure out what was wrong with the chain.

I figured maybe the chain, gear shifting thing was malfunctioning due to needing to be lubricated. Lubrication seems to have become my go to fix-it solution. So, I sprayed some White Lightning on anything that moved and set off to pedal the paved trail for a few miles.

The first picture above is looking across the bridge that the paved trail crosses to get to the north side of the Trinity River. It was on this bridge that I had my best bobcat encounter, with the bobcat coming on to the bridge from the south side and me from the north, with us meeting in the middle. It was a friendly meeting.

The second picture is looking east from the middle of the bridge. There were a couple guys fishing on the left bank, well, the bank on the left in the picture.

There were a lot of people picnicking, barbecuing, walking, roller blading, skateboarding, biking and scootering today.

I'm thinking I may need to take my bike to a bike doctor. Does anyone know a good one? I've taken bikes to Bicycles, Inc. in Hurst a couple times with bad results. The first bad result was the gears sprockets needed to be replaced. And so Bicycles, Inc. did so. I get the bike back with the new gears, go to ride it and the chain has all sorts of problems.

So, I take the bike back to Bicycles, Inc. and am told that due to it being a new gear set, or whatever it's called, I needed a new chain, because the old chain had been worn in to match the old gearset. Why was this not taken care of in the first place? They had no good answer.

And then about a year ago my new bike was missing a couple spokes and the wheel had gotten out of round. So, I took it to Bicycles, Inc. I was told it'd be ready to pick up the following Tuesday. I go to pick it up. Ooops. They hadn't got it done. I was told they could get it done within a half hour. I said fine, I'll go to Wal-Mart.

When I got back to Bicycles, Inc. the wheel had been trued, as good as it could be, I was told.

I got out of there, put my bike back together, and found that the wheel was way wobblier than when I brought it in to Bicycles, Inc. This was to be my last time taking any business to Bicycles, Inc. in Bedford.

And then I kept getting one flat tire after another. After the fifth flat, or maybe the sixth, I figured out that the Bicycles, Inc. bike fixer guy had not put back the liner that keeps the spokes from causing flats.

I had a good place to get my bike worked on when I lived in Washington. There must be a good place somewhere in Texas.

Sunday Mountain Biking With The Kids At River Legacy Park

It is taking some getting used to to get in the pool with the air temperature being warmer than the water. This is making the water feel cold, unlike going swimming in the middle of winter. I'm sure I'll adjust.

It has been a windy, cloudy Sunday here in North Texas. I went to River Legacy Park to pedal the mountain bike trail around noon.

There were a lot of people doing the same thing today. I tell you, this trail is getting way too popular. That's a good thing. I saw no wildlife today, except for humans. I saw one family of mountain bikers. You don't see that all that often. I wish I'd grown up in a family of mountain bikers. But that would have been impossible, because mountain bikes had not been invented when I was growing up. I did have a cool bike though. I think it was called a Sears Stratoliner. It had 2 speeds which you switched by back pedaling fast, but not hitting the brake. Very high tech.

I went two times around for a total of about 11.5 miles. At about the 9.5 mark it started to rain. I had to plot my escape strategy if the rain went into Texas Downpour mode. I figured I was about 1.5 miles from a paved trail. In Texas there are areas where if rain meets dirt it makes this incredibly sticky glue-like mud. That is the sort of dirt that is at River Legacy. Walking on it can quickly add 5 inches to your height. Which quickly turns me into potential NBA material.

The new section of trail, which I first pedaled only days ago, has now been ridden enough that it's been smoothed over and you can now pedal fast on it. I like the new section. I did not like it when I first pedaled it, mostly due to, I suppose, the need for it to get broken in.

So, that's been my exciting day. Oh, I forgot to mention, the second picture is of the new section of trail. It was so dark in there the flash went off.

To those who have never been to Texas, does it being so green surprise you? I remember before I moved here, I went to see the X-Files Movie, I think that's actually what it was called, in Seattle. The party with whom I went to the movie was not approving of the move to Texas. When the X-Files Movie started it was in a suburb of Dallas, with the Dallas skyline in the background. It was all brown and desert-looking. I leaned over to my fellow movie watcher and said it's not really like that, it's really green with a lot of trees. She said, yeah, sure.

Four months after I moved here the party in question came for a visit. It was April when that visit occurred, so it would have been very green, but I do not recollect bringing up the X-Files Movie moment of skepticism about the greenery of Texas.

Texas Ups & Downs, Icy Water & Steroid Use Accusations

I've had me a day. By 3 in the afternoon it caused something that rarely, very very rarely happens, in that I passed out for a few minutes in the form of a nap. Very unsettling.

A bit before that, the President of my Fan Club (I think there are now 2 members), emailed me with the shocking accusation that she believes my bloggings have grown more long-winded due to my performance enhancing steroid use in the form of Dragon Speak 10. I deny this shocking accusation. I am naturally long-winded and I've not yet even got the Dragon Speak Voice to Text program totally up and running.

I proudly admit I never win at anything. This was once more true, this morning, when my first game of Facebook Scrabble ended with me thoroughly trounced, something like 566 to 133, beaten by Karen, the Washington Queen of Scrabble. I don't think Facebook liked me playing Scrabble, because now Facebook is saying that due to supposed technical problems Scrabble is not working.

After my Scrabble defeat I needed to do something where there was some likelihood that I might not fall down. I so enjoyed yesterday's mountain biking at River Legacy, after not having been there in so long, I decided to go back and stay longer.

Well, I did not have a wreck. But there were problems. I decided I'd try one of the new sections, a section on which the warning sign simply said "Steep Climbs." How steep could they be, I thought. There are just gullys here, no hills.

Just like with Scrabble and turning letters into words, my topography observations are equally faulty. When I turned on to the "Steep Climbs" trails, I sort of easily made it up the first steep climb. The steep drop off was a bit daunting, then the next steep climb equally so. And then I did the 3rd up and down and barely up again. And then I saw the next drop-off.

No way was I going down that. It was not just steep. It was vertical. And then the next climb was also steep and at an angle. So, I took the wimp's way out and walked my bike back up and down the steep things I'd already biked. It was not easy it was so steep, with the dirt loose in places.

That is a short section of the "Steep Climbs" trail in the picture above. The picture does not give even the slightest idea of how treacherous this was for an elderly biker.

No wonder I later passed out and had a short nap.

I forgot to mention, I went swimming this morning around 8am. I lasted at least a minute. I swam from the shallow end to the deep end and back and decided, if I did not get out, extremities were going to go into frostbite mode. I got in the hot tub and could not feel if it was hot or not. It felt good though.

I'll try again in the morning. I didn't think it felt all that cold. I think it's just that I've not been in the frigid water for over 2 months and I've got to get back re-acclimated and must keep telling myself that it's not as cold as Tacoma last summer, it's not as cold as Tacoma last summer, it's not as cold as Tacoma last summer.

Speaking of Tacoma, I keep hearing from people up there who feel/felt my pain, due to their own pains, to varying degrees, dealing with the one who Gar the Texan has labeled "Lord Voldemort." I have absolutely no idea who Lord Voldemort is. I think Jabba the Hut is more appropriate, but then again, like I said, I've no idea who Lord Voldemort is.

According to one of my sources, anonymous, of course, so take it with the credence an anonymous source deserves, but one of my anonymous sources has told me that law enforcement is once more dealing with Lord Voldemort of the Hut of Jabba, due to theft accusations somehow associated with Fremont. The message was very cryptic, with no details. I believe one of the original probation terms was a prohibition against being where money was exchanged. Which made no sense to me. How is one supposed to go shopping if one can't go where money is exchanged? Or do much of anything for that matter?

Endorphin Addiction Worsens At Tandy Hills & River Legacy

I need to get this monkey off my back. This addiction to endorphins is wearing me out. By tomorrow morning it will get worse. My pool is back open. I was last in it 6 days before the Winter Solstice. We are now about a month from the Spring Equinox. It would seem this should mean the water is warmer than when I was last in it.

Before noon, after sitting too many hours in front of this computer, I went to the Tandy Hills again and ran up steep hills. That quickly gets the endorphin fix happening.

That's the Tandy Hills tower known as the Fort Worth Needle, in the picture at the top. It's really tall. It makes me dizzy to stand under it and look up. Part of that dizziness may have been due to having run up the hill to get under the Needle.

There's a library a short distance from my abode. I went there about 3 this afternoon to get some books. Reading too many books is the other monkey on my back addiction that is taxing me.

When I left the library I decided, why I do not know, craving more endorphins, maybe. For whatever reason, I went to River Legacy Park. I had not biked the mountain bike trails there in a long long time. I don't know why.

It has been so long that several new trails have been added. I've never seen the River Legacy Trails in such good shape. New bridges have been added. Bypasses and shortcuts have been added. Real good signage has been added.

One section is called "Fun Town," for Experts. There is a red skull and crossbones on the sign. Fun Town had some really steep drops and some really steeply banked turns. I should wear my helmet. The River Legacy Trail used to be so tame. Not anymore.

And there were a lot of bikers there this afternoon. Word must be getting around, River Legacy has some really good mountain bike trails in really good shape.

I only went one time around, that's about 5 miles. My bike was making a weird squeaky noise. I knew it'd been too long since I'd greased all the moving parts. So, I cut it short and went to Wal-Mart and got some grease and some new bike shorts.

I see a return to biking and swimming in my immediate future. Weather permitting.

Texas Bush Biking

When I moved to Texas, I assumed I would be unable to continue with my mountain bike habit, due to Texas being a little short in the mountain department. Well, that erroneous assumption is my favorite of all my erroneous assumptions about Texas.

I was about 2 months into my Texas exile when I was out in the East Texas zone. I drove into Tyler State Park. There was a sign pointing towards the mountain bike trails. How can this be, I wondered?

I had my bike with me, so I followed the signs to the trails. It was on those trails I was to learn that, though Texas may not be mountainous, Texas did have mountain bike trails that are quite strenuous.

After the Tyler trails had worn me out I was talking to a guy, telling him I was from Washington, recently moved to Fort Worth and not expecting to find mountain bike trails in Texas. That guy told me there were a lot of mountain bike trails right in the D/FW Metroplex.

That information totally surprised me. The biking guy told me to go to a bike shop where I could get the local trail info. I did so the next day. Soon I was biking all over the D/FW Metroplex.

The Dallas-Fort Worth zone has over 200 miles of maintained mountain bike trails on 23 different trails. Some of them are quite challenging, like the DORBA trails at Cedar Hills State Park. Or the Northshore trail on Lake Grapevine. Some are easy, but still fun, like the trails at River Legacy Park. There is one trail, that being Sansom Park in Fort Worth, that is so steep and scary looking that there is no way I'd bike it. It was hard enough to hike it.

Many of the local trails are made and maintained by DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association).

In a little over a week there will be a new scary addition to the Dallas-Fort Worth area mountain bike trails. As in the soon to be retired Mountain Biker in Chief is moving to Dallas and is said to be looking forward to riding the trails. Bush started pedalling when his knees could not handle jogging anymore. Apparently George has gotten quite skilled at mountain biking.

I suspect I'll run into George W. some day on some trail some where. I shall resist the urge to throw a shoe at him.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Palo Duro Canyon is the Grand Canyon of Texas. It's also where Charles Goodnight started a huge ranch that continues to this day. Charles Goodnight's life helped inspire Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park is the setting for an over the top Texas spectacle called "Texas".

"Texas" is sort of an outdoor musical drama telling the story of the settling of the Panhandle.

Palo Duro Canyon is near Amarillo.

That part of Palo Duro that you see sticking up in the photo is called The Lighthouse. You can hike or bike to The Lighthouse. It takes about 4 hours to hike roundtrip. Much faster to bike.

Palo Duro Canyon has great mountain biking. Several years ago I talked Gar the Texan into learning how to mountain bike. This had mixed results. And a lot of bad wrecks. Gar the Texan's parental units live near Palo Duro Canyon, I believe in a town called Canyon.

Below watch video of me and Gar the Texan mountain biking to The Lighthouse in Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

Super Bowl XLV

The temps reached into the balmy 80s on the first Sunday of the New Year. So I went bike riding at River Legacy Park. There was a large number of like minded people out on the trails enjoying the temporary respite from winter. On my third time around a group of 3 younger guys came up behind me. I sped up. They kept up. I asked if they wanted to pass. They said no, that I was setting a good pace. I sped up. I don't think they realized I was much older than them and that they could possibly be pushing me to an early heart attack. After about a mile of this un-asked for punishment I came to a bypass (that is not a heart attack reference), so I took the left and the speed demons did not. So I was rid of them. And not a crank of the pedal too soon.

After the exhilarating exhausting bike ride I decided to head to the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium to snap some pics of the current state of construction. As many of you know the new stadium is pretty much being built on a graveyard of stolen homes and destroyed apartment buildings and bulldozed businesses.

As I got to the stadium zone I came in from a new angle, that being heading east on Randol Mill Road. This direction brought me to a very unfortunate unflattering view of the new stadium, with rundown tenement looking apartment buildings of a way more decripit state than those destroyed by the stadium, sitting now in the shadow of the new, according to Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, Roman Colisseum of the 21st Century.

To get a pic of the newly added banner extolling the upcoming 2011 Super Bowl hosted in the new stadium we pulled into one of the commercial buildings appropriated by the Cowboys. I got my pic and then drove in front of the building attempting to escape the parking lot, to no avail due to a line of traffic cones. Turning around I saw a large sign in the window of the former bank, saying "Dallas Cowboy Preview Center". It must give one quite a sense of empowerment to be able to take owner's places of business for your own purposes. It's almost like living in the Wild Wild West. Or the former Soviet Union. With Eminent Domain laws making it all very legal.

I have not as yet heard if Jerry Jones and the Cowboys are going to invite the former residents, of the land they legally stole, to the opening football game or the Super Bowl, or even for a look at their old land. I don't know know if it is known nationally what the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones did to people to get this stadium. I believe the total of Tony Romo's new contract is larger than the total paid to the victims. In addition to his 5 year contract Tony Romo got a $13 million signing bonus. As far as I know neither the Cowboys or Jerry Jones has given any of their land grab victims even so much as a Christmas card with a hard loaf of fruit cake.

I have not yet called up the Cowboys to pay my $100 non-refundable fee to be put on a list to pay $50,000 for a Personal Seat License Fee that gives me the right to pay a couple hundred bucks for a game ticket and hundreds more for a parking ticket. I gotta get right on that today. I'll be so sad if all the Seat Licenses sell out before I get myself one. I so don't want to miss that Super Bowl in 2011. Then again, maybe by then there will be such a big national stink over the way the Cowboys and Jerry Jones built their new stadium that the NFL pulls the game from Dallas and awards it to a more civic minded, more decent, more humane, more worthy team. Yeah, I'm sure that is gonna happen.