Overcast to Partly Cloudy Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I delayed the start of today’s ride because of light rain. Instead I did a couple errands and then began the ride at 12:26 pm. The overcast sky hung around as I headed out on the “New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch” route. I had my doubts that I would actually ride the entire route because the rain looked like it would hang around. After about 1.1 miles I looped back to my home to pickup a jacket. The long sleeve and short sleeve jerseys were not doing much against the chilly wind. After getting the jacket I continued the ride through Elm Grove Village in Kingwood. I ran into some more light rain but I rode out of it.

This did not build my confidence that I would complete the planned route but I stayed on the ride. I made mental notes of places along the route where I could turn back if the weather got dicey but I didn’t need to take evasive action. Biking through Woodridge Forest and then to I-69/US59 I turned to the north. The wind still felt chilly but in the distance I saw some blue sky breaking through the overcast sky. The closer I got to Tavola the more blue sky. With this change in the weather I stayed the course to Tavola and the turn back to the south. The jacket wasn’t as important like it was when I stopped at home to get it but I kept it on and pedaled forward. The wind felt stronger than the 4 mph I saw at the finish slowing me down at times when I was out in the open.

Rather than take the usual streets through Oakhurst I detoured through Auburn Trails back to I-69/US59 for the ride back to Kingwood Drive and back into Kingwood through Kings Manor. No school traffic today Making my way through Kingwood I arrived at the finish at 2:54 pm. The blue partly cloudy sky was till with me and the temperature was a nice 79 degrees, up from the 74 degrees at the start.

PowerPod activity today went smoothly. It connected the Elemnt computer after I pressed the start button and no further actions was needed. Power output recorded for the whole bike ride. Hopefully this is the norm from now on.

Overcast and 73 degrees for the Sunday forecast. I hope to get to go for a bike ride. Only 196 miles left to reach my February goal.

Link to Strava Ride Summary

SportTracks Ride Summary

Bike Ride Summary

Texas Bicycling News Digest February 16th 2018

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Bike share at UT Tyler?

Chandler Gibson | www.patriottalon.com

Imagine being late to class. For certain people, this might hit close to home. Maybe this was you, today, in fact. You didn’t mean to get stuck into an 8 a.m., but such is life.

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Dallas is right to wait to regulate bike share

Tom Giovanetti | www.dallasnews.com

So how’s that bike-sharing thing working out for you?

Right now, the Dallas bike-sharing experiment more than anything else resembles a fiasco. We teach our children to not throw trash on the ground, and we get fined if we’re caught littering in the city of Dallas, but most trash is biodegradable or at least eventually blows to Fort Worth. The litter of bikes, on the other hand, doesn’t seem …

Night Ride McAllister(Mountain­­ Bike)

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Austin Police officers get new bike gear

Jay Wallis | www.kvue.com


Police officers riding bicycles in downtown Austin now have new and improved riding gear thanks to a donation from an Austin company.

Parlsey Energy, Inc. provided funds for the Austin Police Department to invest in new bicycle helmets and other protective gear to equip 50 officers.

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Bikers from across the country coming to Huntsville for Prison City Gravel Challenge

By Tom Waddill | www.roysecityheraldbanner.com


Runners from all over the country came to Huntsville State Park for the popular Rocky Raccoon runs the last two weekends. This weekend, people are coming here to ride bikes.

That’s right, folks from as far away as Washington state are headed to Huntsville for the first Prison City Gravel Challenge, which will take place Sunday in the Sam Houston National Forest.

One hundred riders have preregistered for the race, which offers two distances — a 33-mile route and a 60-mile route. There will be 50 riders in each category.

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Can Austin’s Bike-Sharing Go Dockless Without the Entire City Losing Its Mind?

CALEB PRITCHARD | austin.towers.net


Earlier this month, a former mayor of San Luis Obispo, California, wrote a letter to the editor of that town’s newspaper in which he felt it perfectly acceptable and cool to describe a proposed bikeway as a “gigantic urban rape.”

“Yes, rape!” Ken Schwartz wrote before graciously elaborating, “No other word would be proper. The rape will not be performed by a male penis, but by thousands of inanimate bicycles guided by individuals who will have absolutely no understanding of that precious tranquility they will be destroying in their mindless focus of getting from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ with the least possible inconvenience to themselves.” …

City Council May Approve Bell St. Bid That’s $5.5 Million Over Budget

By Yantis Green | sanangelolive.com


SAN ANGELO, TX — San Angelo City Council members Tuesday may approve the sole bid to reconstruct Bell St. that could be as much as $5.5 million over budget.

According to the city’s website, Reece Albert was the lone bidder for the reconstruction project that will replace the road surface and water and sewer lines from Rio Concho Drive to the Old Ballinger Highway. The bid was opened Jan. 30. …

… This design is for reconstruction of College Hills from loop 306 to Ave N. It will include reconstruction of culvert banks at the two Red Arroyo crossings, an evaluation and possible design of underground drainage conveyance in College Hills, sidewalk/pedestrian conveyance, bike lane access, water and …

Officers arrest man doing doughnuts in roadway, attempting to run down cyclist

By AUSTIN KING | lufkindailynews.com

Lufkin Police arrested a man after officers saw him in a vehicle spinning in circles in the roadway and attempting to chase down a bicyclist.

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

PowerPod Profiles Implemented Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Not sure if I can comprehend three days in a row with the temperature in the upper 70’s or higher. Unfortunately I didn’t get to ride yesterday (Thursday) but instead I spent time with my wife. Today I got on the Stradalli Red Pro 14 and headed out on the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route for a 34.84 mile bike ride. I left at 11:27 am and it looked like the sun might hang around but as the ride progressed the clouds rolled in and the sky turned overcast. It was 80 degrees (73% humidity) and the wind was light though my legs might argue with it only being 5 mph from the west.

After exchanging emails with the PowerPod support person I think I found my problem. The PowerPod supports up to 4 profiles. Within each profile it lists the specific speed and cadence sensor id numbers. When I changed bikes with only one profile the wireless id’s were different on each bike which caused the PowerPod think I had new wireless sensors and would update the profile. I created a second profile with the sensor id’s for the Stradalli and verified the wireless id’s in the Blue Norcross profile. Now once the bike sensors connect to the PowerPod it will select the corresponding profile and the wireless sensors should connect. On today’s ride I had to do the 1 to 100 countup setup because the profile for the Stradalli was new but once that was complete the PowerPod communicated with the Elemnt computer. The test will be the next bike ride, hopefully on Saturday, weather permitting. Maybe I got this figured out.

Two other cyclists passed me riding west on Old Atascocita Road west of FM 2100 while rode to the east. I waved and they waved back. Later when I rode west over Lake Houston I passed a casual cyclist riding a MTB going the same direction. Biking across Lake Houston was hard with the wind in my face.

It was good to be back on the road in weather warm enough I didn’t have to dress so heavily. I thought biking over Lake Houston might be chilly with the wind cooling over the water so I wore a long sleeve jersey topped with short sleeve one with shorts. It wasn’t that chilly over the water but I was okay with the choice.

I finished the bike ride at 2:02 pm. The temperature dipped to 78 (75% humidity) by then. A mild cool front is supposed to arrive sometime between this evening and Saturday morning. Not sure how this will affect my bike ride.

Link to Strava ride summary

SportTracks Ride Summary

Bike Ride Summary

Texas Bicycling News Digest February 15th 2018

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Grant gives College Station Fire Department bike medic program boost

By Rebecca Fiedler | www.theeagle.com


The College Station Fire Department’s bike medic program has been growing since its trial run started in 2016, and now it will have the chance to continue to expand thanks to a grant from Firehouse Subs’ nonprofit organization.

In 2016, the CSFD began testing the efficiency of using two paramedics on bicycles at pedestrian-heavy locations such as …

VBikes are taking over Denton

by Jacqueline Guerrero | www.ntdaily.com


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Bicyclist found lying injured in Southeast Austin yard was likely hit by car, police say

Katie Hall | www.statesman.com

A bicyclist who died last month was likely struck by a hit-and-run driver, Austin police said Thursday.

Leonel Hernandez, 58, was found around 10:40 a.m. Jan. 29, lying in a yard in the 4800 block of Teri Road in Southeast Austin. He had “significant trauma to his head,” Austin police said in a statement.

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Eddie Briscoe, Jr. “Bubba”

www.panews.com


Eddie (Bubba) Briscoe, Jr., age 77, of Port Arthur, Texas passed away February 13, 2018. Eddie was born August 23, 1940 in Port Arthur, Texas to the late Eddie Briscoe, Sr. and Anna Cole Briscoe.

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Step-Up Ride for Sat., Feb 17th, 8:00 AM Planned Start

jtotaro | www.planobicycle.org

At this writing (Thursday, Feb 15th 11AM) the weather predicted for Saturday for the riding area is not good. Temps will be in the low-40s with very light winds, but there is an 80% or higher chance of rain between 4 AM and 10 AM Saturday morning. We’ll set the planned start for 8:00 AM, assuming the rain doesn’t materialize for our ride area. Check the PBA Facebook page or the Step-Up page on the PBA Ride Forums webpage on Saturday morning for possible cancellations of the ride should the rain come in as now predicted. Any additional delay or cancellation notice will be posted by 6:15 AM Saturday morning if it’s obvious enough to make the call at that time. If you don’t see …

Refuge weighs cycling, geocaching pursuits

www.valleymorningstar.com

HARLINGEN — Bicycles could be back at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge — and virtual geocaching could ride in with them.

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Texas Bicycling from Twitter