First off-WELCOME BACK!
I'm here at Hood. For the cycling, there is a Ft. Hood Team Army cycling club
(active, retired, civilians, quite a group
) and they meet on Thurs/Sat/Suns for rides, some in combination with local bike clubs
(Team Roadkill from Copperas Cove
). They have a Facebook page where they announce the upcoming rides, etc. Look for Team Army Ft. Hood
(or something like that
).
As for riding on your own, Copperas Cove's Chamber of Commerce website lists several bike routes of various lengths and difficulties. Clear Creek is a pretty good route, especially earlier or most times from the Stan Schlueter to 195 intersection and back. Off Clear Creek you can head back on Ivy Mountain Road and hit some other back roads that are pretty good for riding, but also pretty isolated.
On Ft. Hood, you can get some great climbing by riding East and West Range roads in a loop
(they connect up near N. Ft. Hood
), Old Ironsides/Hell on Wheels is about an 8-9 mile loop of good pavement and not too hilly, and also heading out towards BLORA is a decent ride.
The Bell County Bike club has several rides, and one starts at 0800 from Lion's Park on Saturday's and goes out about 40 miles with a variety of speeds in the group.
Running--I run in my neighborhood a lot
(Bridgewood
) as I can easily get a lot of mileage in, the streets are wide, and fairly safe. I also have run on Clear Creek from Bridgewood to 195 and back for a good 10 mile loop. A friend of mine will run on Maxdale--but that is more like trail running if you're into that. Of course, there is 2 mile Corps loop on post.
The Southwind Runner's Club
(they have an online site
) meet and run in various locations
(I haven't run with them so, I can't comment much
) in the area as well.