Old Taco Blog
01/21/2014
The final ride planner is updated for the change to No label this weekend - Still Subject to change!!!!
01/05/2014
The final ride planner for 2014-2015 training season is at the top of the page - Subject to change!!!!
12/08/2014
The preliminary ride planner for 2014-2015 training season is at the top of the page
10/31/2014
All I can say is Wow. Had to add disclaimers to the website about Critical Mass and Crucial Matter. They are not associated with this group or our rides. They hold a similarly named ride.
Calendar updated. See newsletter and FB page for up to date information.
02/28/2014
Well, a few people seem to be getting injured. Look out of uneven concrete. Both Amy and Teri have suffered at the hand of the "Urban Assault". Remember, you don't assault it, it assaults you!
02/12/2014
Great rides this past weekend. Almost 10 people both days. Hills are tough, but
we never let them get between us, and a taco! Someone left an insulated water
bottle with a pink logo in the back of my truck. Chime in if it is yours!
01/15/2014
Good back to back rides last weekend. Now it begins!
01/03/2014
Yes, we're starting off a new year and a new MS150 training season. See you on Saturday for the Tour de Taco kick off!
10/28/2013
Sealy ride - Well, there was beer...
10/22/2013
Looking forward to the Sealy Ride
10/15/2013
This past weekend we returned to Saint Arnolds. The run down towards Galveston
was uneventful...until Taco Grande broke a spoke. Which reminds me, I need to
work on truing my regular wheels....So, I ended up getting a SAG from Alex.
Thanks!
And commendations to Laura and Kelly for doing Bike around the bay. Way to go!
10/09/2013
Updated Calendar. Switched the ride this weekend to St. Arnolds, and No Label to next week.
10/07/2013
Well, that run on Saturday was a comedy of Errors.
#1. Hempstead Hwy was torn up.
#2. Train Blocking our path in Downtown
#3. Allen Parkway closed
#4. Torchy's Taco's on Shepard closed
On the plus Side, going to Karbachtoberfest was fun! We did have to build our own table and chairs, but hey, we're Engineers!
See everyone next week!
Taco Grande
10/04/2013
Wow! This place is dusty! <cough> <cough>
OK, I guess it is back to work! The MS150 signup is next week. Saint Arnolds is already building the 2014 team. Rides are starting to be scheduled. work work work.
Since Oktoberfest, I haven't been out for a few weeks. It will be good to get out there on a weekend with only about 60F in the morning.
See you at Karbach this weekend!
06/25/2013
Just a few notes for those following in the summer. I don't keep the calendar up to date during the summer. Events are planned on a week by week basis for weather conditions. We ARE doing the "Burn your Buns" ride on 4th of July and Katy Flatland Century on July 21st, 2013. Events like that are on the calendar, but not the weekly rides.
05/03/2013
Apparently Taco Grande has way too much time on his hands...
I came across this website while searching for the Facebook page for Ruby’s.
http://www.gunsandtacos.com/category/houston_tacos/
Pretty hilarious!
On the news of TDT, two pieces of news:
1) Christine has made it back onto a bike after about 5 months. Yay, Christine! Even Scott supported her by riding. And he coined a new term:
sphinctles – I don’t suggest anyone really ask what it means...
2) Geli has returned from Indiana! One of the early Taco riders left Houston for a few years and is back. Welcome! I’ll forward the Saint Arnolds meeting notice for May so we can celebrate your return properly!!!
The Taco Loop ride on Saturday was pretty good, a kind of social ride. Socialistic, really, since no one really worked too hard and we definitely cut a few corners! The best part of the ride, besides seeing old friends, was Torchy’s.
04/23/2013
We all seemed to have a good year. The weather cooperated, if a little cool. The beer flowed freely. And The Bastrop Brewhouse was exactly the kind of stop we needed. I don’t know about y’all, but I had a great time.
Day 1, we pushed and liberated the beer
Day 2, a great ride with buddies, keeping in time and finishing together.
Let’s keep on riding and keep it all up. Taco Rides will be going on all year round.
04/20/2013
And so it begins! Tour de Taco, having fulfilled it's mission of riding and eating tacos, is now heading out on the 2013 MS150. Be safe and see you out there.
Oh, and don't "420" too much along the way!
Taco Grande
04/15/2013
Good rides last weekend. Taco Grande did suffer a bit with a delaminating tire. The good news: the dollar trick worked. The bad news, the dollar was shredded in the process and probably wouldn't have made it another couple of miles.
The Sunday social ride was fantastic, and we even had great service at Rockwells! OK, it wasn't great, but it was well above average, considering we slammed them with about 25 people!!!
Good luck to all the tacos for this weekend's MS150
04/12/2013
Great training weekend. I put in almost 130 miles over 2 days. Everyone keep it up!
Saturday was a good loop fest at Bush park, until Taco Grande took a spill. Yep, the big taco took the big fallo! Fortunately it was just a flesh wound and
nothing serious. But I have no one to blame but myself for this one! No pictures will follow.
Sunday most of us did the Gran Fondo. Those that heeded the advice arrived in time to take off around 7:45. Those that didn’t I expect started between
8&9. One person said it took her 45 minutes to go up Hegar. Barry warned you!!! Anyway, enough that that.
Windy? All I can say is my average speed when we hit Navasota was 18.5! And if you know the Grande, this is fast! The return, not so much. Everyone was
cursing the wind! But with a few good Pelotons (thanks Barry and Kelly for pulling most of the way). We survived. Beer was consumed by all, except those
that didn’t partake and we’re banished from the team! Which brought it back up to 100%. And we even had a good crowd at Rockwell’s and relatively quick
service.
A special citation to Stenning who actually did the entire 94 miles! You is crazy, dude! Good job!
04/01/2013
This past weekend we had a couple of great rides. Saturday was spent training how to change various tires. And one group decided to make a new rest stop for a few glasses of homebrew. Hey, we’re a beer team with a riding problem. Sunday was nice ride from Waller to Bellville. It was a little windy on the way out, but
that gave us a push home. And the bluebonnet patches added to the ride
Taco report: most of the team missed Ruby's on Saturday, owing to the impromptu beer diversion. Jackson and the girls seemed to like the eclectic atmosphere! On Sunday we did Ranchito Taqueria in Waller. Nothing but cheap good eats! Five Stars!
03/27/2013
Well, last weekend was a blowout!
When the veteran riders decide not to go, that says it all. Time to go get tacos! Even Taco Sufrido said “I like to suffer, but not that much!”
Saturday was a good run, except for the dirt road. Who knew?
03/19/2013
When you wake up in the morning and the light it hurts your head
The first thing you do, when you get up out of bed
Is hits those streets a riding, to try to pass the masses
And go get yourself some cheap sunglasses
In a discussion over the weekend, one of the tacos had their riding glasses eaten by the dog. Seriously? Anyway, I mentioned that I used polarized safety glasses for riding, which are ANSI Z87.1 +2010 compliant and Ballistic MIL_PRF 31013 3.5.1.1 compliant. In other words, they will stop the rocks and crap.
Check them out: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KIBGTK/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
There are similar glasses with different colored lenses. Make sure they have the little nose ridges!
Tour de Houston was good this year. A little windy, but most of us finished before 1PM. Keep drinking - Keep Hydrated - Keep Fueling.
03/09/2013
Downshifting may not be failure, but laying on the couch all day certainly is! Yep, Taco Grande is down. Hopefully my neck will be better for a ride on Sunday.
03/07/2013
Saturday was wind, hill and accident training. Let’s try not to repeat the last one! I do love the New Ulm loop. Maybe we’ll run it again before the MS150.
Sunday was sun, hill and wind training. It started at a frigid 34F and rose to 70F before we were done. Beautiful day and there was some wind protection in the pines going south. And that brings up another point.
Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink before you feel thirsty. Figure out how much you need per hour or per mile and drink it. I’m one bottle every 10 miles. Others are 1 bottle every hour. And you need “gatorade” with calories and electrolytes, unless you’re getting those from gels or something. One of the tacos had a miserable ride because he became dehydrated. He’s a great rider, but it happens to ALL of us. We forget to drink.
Post ride rehydration is helpful, but you must hydrate on the ride.
02/25/2013
Saturday was the Bulldog Bike ride. Same route as last year and very fast being in a nice pack. We did lose Owen at some point and he missed the rest stop! We found him at the finish.
Sunday was another windy Katy ride. The weird part was the wind shifted and we had a tail wind for the East to West and the South to North portions. And then a headwind from Sealy/San Filipe all the way back to Katy. Thanks again to Berry who too the brunt of the wind for us!
02/18/2013
Yep, my wife is calling me a red-neck. I guess I should have used more sunscreen. And that brings up a point, we’re generally out in the sun and even on cool days, we need the old sunscreen.
Saturday turned out to not be as as windy as expected. It ended up being a very small ride with just 2 of us. We planned to join with another who became side tracked, but all was well. We had a breakfast taco at a random taco shack while we waited.
We did have to find sunshine wherever we were. It was cold and we were damp from riding. A couple of notes, Katy-Hockley cutoff road is insane. FM-529 is not safe due to the road barrier on the south side. We’ll be adjusting routes to avoid FM-529.
Ruby’s continues to expand the bird menagerie. And the Taco are still very good!
Sunday we ran the Bellville to Industry ride. A little windy, but mostly a cross-wind. I will swear that the mostly cross wind went from being from the Southwest going out (partially in our face) to being from the Southeast on our return (also in our face!) It was enough to make drafting basically useless. Well, we need to ride in the wind. And the beer was cold afterwards and the burgers at “The Hill” are always good.
02/12/2013
Saturday day was good, but not easy. The wind was around 12-15 from the ESE. Those last 2-3 miles were not fun. But the beer was good and Rockwells wasn't too crowded!
Sunday was a bust! The wind was about 12-15 sustained with gusts in the mid 20s. That plus the rain, we cancelled. This run is now rescheduled for Saturday 2/16/2013.
02/04/2013
Adding more people to the Taco group! The mailing list is up to 49 people! I know many are alumni, but still. It is a sizable following.
Saturday and Sunday both had great weather. Saturday the urban assault did not disappoint. After a few technical corrections, we were off and running. And we all need to remember that the turn to Torchy's is Vera Street!!!! This reminds me. I need to put up another page with a list of the different taco joints and trucks we've hit over the years.
Sunday was Terry Hershey. After dodging countless runners, we made it to Fry road. As we were heading back, Barry showed up and took the lead! Thanks for pulling as much as you did. And we had our first SAG rescue. Hey, it's why we ride as a group. Next time, we need more tools! Oh, and I think we're going to start the rest of these rides from Bush park, the Hwy 6 parking lot by the Buffalo Bayou outflow. There are just too many runners, walkers and strollers in Terry Hershey.
And, ta da! The Calendar is populated. Again, as I said in the newsletter, it is subject to change based on weather, wind and the whims of Taco Grande. See you soon.
01/30/2013
Last weekend we were off to a good start. The "Zube" Saint Arnold ride may not have been exciting, but the beer and friends were excellent. We do have to give a SIGNIFICANT downgrade to Rockwells. We've stopped there from time to time after rides. Beer is excellent, food is excellent, service is spotty. Saturday it took an hour and a half to get a burger. Not good.
Sunday was a good first run of the Taco Loop. Hopefully we won't lose Owen again. And hopefully he won't be chased by crazy women! Andy commented that he didn't realize how bad Houston's roads were. We don't call it "The Urban Assault" for nothing. You don't assault it, it assaults you! After we stopped at Torchy Tacos. They are presently "Top of the Heap" for taco joints in Houston. If only they had an espresso machine, they would be Nirvana. Arturo and I will work on them!
I'm finalizing the plans for training the rest of the season. Check the calendar soon!
01/23/2013
The First team meeting of the year was last night. It was great seeing all of the old friends and tacos. Kudo's to Fred for arranging the Taco Truck at the brewery! On the other hand, what would you expect from Tour de taco?
Sunday will be a downtown Urban Assault. The meeting location will be next to the baseball fields near Picnic Ln. I'll send a map out for the new riders.
See you there!
01/10/2013
OK, so I haven't updated this in a while. The "Blog" function still doesn't work, so I have to edit the website every time. But you don't care, you just want to know when the next ride will be!
Not much(really!) has happened since the party. The beer was eventually finished. Well, it was replaced! Oh, and a new feature for this year: If the ride is large enough, I'll pickup a "slim keg" for afterwards. We need to have at least 20 for that. We tested out the setup at the last Texans game and everything worked fine. It was one of the last kegs of Christmas Ale. Now we just need a big ride for testing. Maybe after Frost-Bike 50?
Check the Calendar, as I put a ride in for Saturday the 12th.
07/23/2012
Well, a long time since I updated the page. We had the MS150. Taco Jefe finished #2 at the Saint Arnold tent on Day 1.
We've had a few rides and the June party at my place. Oh, there is still beer left! Maybe a few select people need to come over and help finish it!
Katy flat land was yesterday. I couldn't make it, but I know a bunch of the tacos did.
Check back more often, I'll have the ride schedule up. We're looking to do a few runs with a brewery in the middle. Sound interesting?
03/29/2012
Well, what a weekend last weekend. Almost no wind, lots of sunshine, a little fog, let’s hope the MS150 weekend is similar!
9 of the tacos completed the double taco loop on Saturday. Woo-hoo! Remember, we call it the “Urban Assault” because you don’t assault it, it assaults you! Torchy taco is a double thumbs up! We didn’t try the breakfast tacos, but everything else was great.
Sunday the Bluebonnet had almost perfect conditions. Road conditions were pretty good. The only complaint I’ve heard was there were not enough police at the intersections.
03/18/2012
What a fantastic riding weekend! 2 great tides with great riders.
Saturday was Waller to Bellville. TX159 has been repaved. Inside Waller county it is awful awful chip-seal. But once you cross the Brazos, it is perfectly smooth asphault! Taco Jefe was having a little energy issue on the way back, then made worse by a broken rear derailleur cable. Fortunately, Hempstead to Waller is pretty flat. And we've been screwing up for years in Waller. Ranchito Taqueria has much better food!
Sunday was Tour de Houston. Not ideal conditions, but at least the wind was with us on the way home. And what a wind it was! We were flying back! And I felt so good on the way out (kudos to Taco Veloz for dragging me against the wind!), that we ended up doing the 60 instead of 40. Great ride! And as always, St. Arnolds came through afterwards.
03/13/2012
What a washout! No riding last weekend. We need to get out and ride
And for those that did not hear, one of our riders was hit by a car 10 days ago, on March 4th. He's OK, just shaken, stirred and a little bit ground. But please be careful out there!
Taco Jefe
03/03/2012
Wow, looks like we're going to have some wind this Saturday!
Beaufort Wind Scale
Wind-speed
in MPH Description - Visible Condition
0 Calm smoke rises vertically (great riding)
1 - 4 Light air direction of wind shown by smoke but not by wind vanes (not much of an issue)
4 - 7 Light breeze wind felt on face; leaves rustle; ordinary wind vane moved by wind (at bit of slowing, but not bad as long as not too much distance)
8 - 12 Gentle breeze leaves and small twigs in constant motion; wind extends light flag (Moderate slowing. Cursing can ensue if the distance is long enough)
13 - 18 Moderate breeze raises dust and loose paper; small branches are moved (Major cursing if the distance is anything but short, sometimes in Spanish)
19 - 24 Fresh breeze small trees in leaf begin to sway; crested wavelets form on inland water (Seriously, this sucks! Major curing in all languages at any distance)
25 - 31 Strong breeze large branches in motion; telephone wires whistle; umbrellas used with difficulty (uckFay-ouyay indway! Get a SAG wagon)
32 - 38 Moderate gale whole trees in motion; inconvenience in walking against wind (What the Eff are we doing outside? I’m finding a bar!)
39 - 46 Fresh gale breaks twigs off trees; generally impedes progress (Was that a small child that just blew past the window of the bar? Yeah, I’m not going out either…)
47 - 54 Strong gale slight structural damage occurs; chimney pots and slates removed (Dude! Seriously!)
55 - 63 Whole gale trees uprooted; considerable structural damage occurs (Was that a cow? Where is the cat and the fiddle?)
64 - 72 Storm very rarely experienced; accompanied by widespread damage (Why are we not in the basement of the bar? Can we still get service in the basement?)
73+ Hurricane devastation occurs (How do we tap these extra kegs down here? Not cold? I don’t care…)
02/28/2012
Well, last weekend was interesting. The Bulldog Bike run was different. While it used some roads familiar to Zube park riders, it went much further north and used some different roads. The bad news was that Beerbo decided to do the 50 mile loop, without leaving someone else keys to the tasty beverages. The quicker 32 mile riders were left thirsty. I also learned a lesson. I had emergency backup beverages, but they were also locked away. I, like Beerbo , will be more contentious to thirsty tacos...
Sunday was a quick El Rey run! I think I was still tired from the Bulldog.
02/18/2012
What a Washout! Next weekend is looking a lot better!
02/14/2012
The Sunday ride had few participants due to the 35 F weather.
Note:
1. Gloves with full fingers are important to keep warm.
2. Kroger does not sell gloves, even garden gloves in Houston
3. Socks with separate toes don’t really work...
I know, I know, its Houston.
It shouldn't be cold, etc. This weekend is looking to be quite a bit better.
But remember to take gloves with you, just in case!
Cinnamon coffee!!!
02/11/2012
Well, today did not exactly get off to a great start. We had one new person, which we’ll refer to as “The Lone Taco” (Who was that masked man? Well, it was 40 F! p.s.: send me a note, I didn’t catch your name…). If you said you’re coming and then not, text me so we don’t have to wait too long in the freezing cold! If you did show up late, sorry, we usually leave pretty much on time. We did wait until around 8:15. And it did warm up…to 43 degrees.
01/28/2012
Well, the Saint Arnold ride was a bit on the blustery side. The 43 mile ride felt like a 60! The beer tasted good!
01/27/2012 - We're Back!
The MS150 Taco season is underway. Check out the Calendar above to see when/where the rides will be.
9/27/2011
Of course we are competing with “Race for the Cure” on Saturday morning. Do you think they would have the courtesy to check to see if we had scheduled an event? Seriously?
What this means is that we need to divert from our “standard” loop which uses Allen parkway. At the end of Elysian, we will make an immediate turn to the right and travel down Commerce. This gives us an excellent view of the pimps picking up their hookers from the downtown police station; this is not to be missed!
We then turn left on Milam and right on Franklin. Franklin takes us to Washington and up to El Reys. Anyone unhappy with the change in Route can Loop around Memorial park while the rest of us enjoy breakfast tacos, espresso and fresh squeezed orange juice.
Again, Saturday morning, 8AM departure from Memorial park, parking is in the lot next to the baseball fields by South Picnic LN. Let me know with an e-mail that you’ll be attending. I’ll update the website to show the above changes.
Good news about Steve Goulet (taco veloz). The tear isn't as bad and he is not in for surgery! But, I will still be faster on a bike than he his, for a couple of months!
Heal fast Veloz!
- James
9/14/2011
It is almost time to get back out on the bike and have some tacos! How stupid hot has it been this summer? OK, so I'm a geek, I actually looked up the degree days for August 2010 vs August 2011:
2010 = 254.5 and 2011 = 364.3
Basically it was 43% hotter in 2011 than 2010. Seriously! Literally! Bite me! (Inside joke, had to be there).
We need to get out riding. Tour de Donut is only 6 weeks away. Signup for the MS150 is in about 4 weeks. I just signed up for Saint Arnolds again, because
its all about the beer. Wait, that's not quite right...
So, first Taco ride of the Season is set for October 1st, 2011. As usual, it will be the Taco Loop around Memorial Park and Downtown Houston.
Meet at 8:00AM, rain or shine (Rain? Ha!) The meeting/parking area is shown on the map. There are baseball fields where Memorial Loop and South Picnic Ln meet. Park there and look for Taco Grande!
A sad note, Taco Veloz has torn his hamstring. Surgery is next week and he'll be out of action for 3 months! Wow! Taco Grande will be faster than Veloz for a few months. Not to be believed...
So, let's see how many tacos we can get out there on October 1st. And if you haven't picked up/payed for your Jersey, I have them.
Also, if you don't know your taco name, or if you don't like the one assigned, what do you think this is? A Democracy? We might be a benevolent dictatorship, at best...
El Taco Grande (aka Taco Jefe) - James
Stuff to do:
October - Sign up for MS150 2012!
November - Tour de Donut
December - Maybe Santa will bring you a new bike!
January Frost Bike 50
April 21-22, 2012 - MS150 Houston to Austin
June 2012 - MS150 Cape Cod
I'm leaving up the Blog post of the Cape Cod MS150, 'cause it was cool.
CAPE COD was great! I'm glad to have met all of you and to let us join you for 150 miles!
6/25 - Cape Cod MS150 - Day 1 - U-Mass Boston to Bourne
Well, it started out with a bit of rain. And 55 degrees! We asked for cooler temperatures, right? In the process of lining up, we met the Bike-a-sore-asses! What a crazy group of people. They Remind me of the Albany NY Out of Control Ski Club. They are a drinking team with a cycling problem. We spent the first 40 miles going through the suburbs and towns south of Boston. After about 40, the rain let up, which was good! Those "Tour de Taco" rain ponchos came in handy, but could now be put away.
About 6-10 miles before Plymouth was the "oh-shit" hill. Not really a problem, just not exactly expected. After Plymouth, we climbed to an upper section of rolling hills, then a very long, gradual set of rollers which dropped us back to sea level.
Pulling into Bourne was the end of the first day. After a quick shower and beer, along with trying to find the missing taco, the sky opened up, sun poured down and we partied with the "Sore-Asses".
The dorm rooms were NOT all that. First, the window was too small, so not enough ventilation. Then, someone left a chainsaw running in the room. I apparently ran all of my roommates out of the room. One of them commented Sunday morning that my snoring was an OSHA violation. All I can say is my regular companions do not complain!
OSHA violation...
6/26 - Cape Cod MS150 - Day 2 - Bourne to Provincetown
Sunday came very soon! We had to be across the Bourne Bridge by 7AM. I crossed at 6:15. For some reason my Bike Computer seemed like it wasn't running properly, until I realized that I was being affected by the previous nights activities.
About 10 miles in, there is a very very long high hill. Not exactly steep, but long. At some point, we went north and ended up on 6A. This went around through lots of little Cape Code towns, exactly how I pictured things. Nice!
Around 40 miles in, we turned north and headed up the arm. The trees became shorter and the bay and the ocean were visible at times. Beautiful. At one point, around 55-60 miles in, we were along the East Shore. It was HOT. Sand dunes blocked the ocean. But where they did not, there was a BLAST of cold air.
About 5 miles short of the finish, the Cape Curves west. With the wind solidly behind me, I was pushed to the finish.
But that was not "The End". After a short clean up at the shower trucks, we headed for "The Boat" and the local "Color" of Provincetown. Provincetown does not disappoint, even though it was early season. And then there was the boat.
500-1000 people, on a ferry, for 3 hours, a dance party, a drunken dance party with the Bike-a-sore-asses. All of the women on the various teams had stashed nice clothes and were all up for it. Good times!
I think we'll be doing it next year. And the support staff has assured me that they will also be along, partially to chaperone, but mostly to make the tacos!!!
