Texas Bicycling News Digest October 14th 2017

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Video: Bike-Share Company Says Bikes Left Damaged in Dallas

By Kristin Dickerson | www.nbcdfw.com

It’s meant to be a convenience: a sharable bike that is available anywhere you can find one.
But bike-share company VBikes reports that some of its sharable bikes have been vandalized, while other bikes have been abandoned in places like a lake, a tree or just thrown on the ground.
Rory Vigne and his co-worker, Havala Broderick, tried riding bike-share bikes for …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

The Heroes Bike Ride, Conroe, TX

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I left home this morning about 6:45 AM to drive to Conroe, Backing out of the driveway everything looked good but as I headed to I-69/US59 fog was closing in. In places it was quite dense. It was like this all the way to the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Conroe. I was concerned I might be late for the 8:00 AM but with the fog the start got delayed until 8:25 AM but even then it was foggy in low places.

Packing the Stradalli Red Pro 14 yesterday evening I got a quick start on the road to Conroe. Since I didn’t pre-register I walked to the sign in area, filled out the form and paid my money. People were starting to gather anticipating that 8 AM start but the man speaking over the PA said he was not going to speed through all of the things he had to say hoping the fog would thin out. After I registered I started handing out Texbiker.net business cards giving away about 3/4 of the ones I brought. Back at the Jeep I unloaded the Stradalli, attached the Elemnt and water bottle and headed to the starting area. In the crowd where I stood the lady net to me also had an Elemnt bike computer so we talked about how we liked them. When I was handing out the Texbiker.net business cards two people told me they visit Texbiker.net frequently. One man told me he likes my ride stories. This makes it worthwhile.

Finally the fog agreed to let us go and we were off. I planned on riding the 51 route. The ride marshals were letting riders go in groups and I manged to be in the first group as they stopped the people behind me as they came to the line.

This is the second time I rode this ride and the route was the same. Generally the road are good but there are some sections not so good. On SH 150 in San Jacinto County the shoulder disappeared and the white line on the edge was where the warning grooves were residing. I found out the hard way when I tried to ride on the white line and got the ultimate vibration treatment. At the 25 mile rest stop a DPS trooper arrived and told us drivers were complaining about blocking traffic on SH 150 and warned us to ride single file. Cars and bikers would get a ticket if they broke the law. FM 1725 was a little better than SH 150 with no edge grooves and less traffic. FM 3081 was smooth with even less traffic, some hills but nothing too steep. The vibrating road was FM 1484 with the dreaded chip seal surface. I thought it would never end but ti did when the route turned onto FM 2432. What smoothness!! From there to the finish the road was generally good except when we entered Montgomery County Precinct #1 when the asphalt was broken in places with some potholes scattered around for good measure.

Starting around the 37 mile point a pair of riders, numbers 2162 and 2163, and I went back and forth changing positions. We stayed together until about 4 miles to go when they pulled away from me. They were pedaling smoothly and chatting between them whenever I was close to them. They may have been husband and wife.

I crossed the finish line at 12:13 PM with several people clapping and cheering. I biked 52.2 miles. This leaves me 307 miles to reach my YTD goal by the end of October of 6,800 miles. For the week I bicycled 225 miles.

Link to the photos I took before, during and after the ride.

Strava Ride Summary (click the image to go to Strava.com)

Strava bicycle Ride Summary

Strava Segment Efforts

Texas Bicycling News Digest October 13th 2017

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Video: Former first lady spends time with spouses of wounded warriors

By Julie Hays | www.kwtx.com


CRAWFORD, Texas (KWTX) While former President George W. Bush traversed the trails at his ranch outside of Crawford with dozens of wounded warriors during his annual W100 bike ride, former first lady Laura Bush met casually over coffee with those who care for the injured troops.
“I felt like a caregiver really when we lived in the White House when George was commander-in-chief,” Mrs. Bush said in an exclusive interview with KWTX.
“I’m also so aware of what the spouses of the military men and …

Adaptive Bike Program for Children with Physical Challenges Rolls Into SA

Meredith Michelson | therivardreport.com


The Believe It Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to include children with physical challenges in the lives and experiences of their typical peers, on Friday announced Believe It Bikes, a citywide adaptive bike program for children with physical disabilities.
The new program will launch Sunday, Oct. 22 at Síclovía, a free event sponsored by the YMCA of Greater San Antonio that turns major city streets into a safe place for …

Biking event to join festival

By KAILA CONTRERAS | www.brownsvilleherald.com

This Sunday, enjoy a nice bike ride with friends and family while listening to some live jazz music.
CycloBia and the Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts have teamed up for the second time to create Jazz It Up CycloBia.
The CycloBia will …

HTXCX Series Kicks-off Saturday at Hilltop Ranch

by Doogie Roux | texasbikeracing.com


The HTXCX Series kicks off Saturday at Hilltop Ranch in Willis, Texas. Houston’s very own Doogie Roux had a chance to sit down with the series organizer, KOLO Promotion’s Bryan Voytilla, for a rapid-fire Q&A.
Q : What made you decide to put this series on?
I’ve really focused on growing the cross racing in Houston. I was exposed to the sport of cyclocross by some pretty cool people back in Portland. The focus was all about having fun on a bike. Something that I think is easy to forget when racers are concerned about upgrade points tallies. Thats fine, too, but I think in some cases we …

TxDOT Wants Your Input on Bicycling in Laredo, Texas

tti.tamu.edu


The Texas Department of Transportation is hosting a workshop to discuss bicycling in Laredo, Texas. The department would like input on why and where cyclists ride, what bike accommodations are important to them, and what would make them ride more often. Meanwhile, take the survey and tell us what you think! | Take the survey here …

Influx of VBikes in Denton could lead to bike-share regulations

Jenna Duncan | www.dentonrc.com

Now that about 60 rentable VBikes are scattered around Denton, city officials and company representatives are figuring out how to keep them parked in safe and legal spots.
When people see the signature yellow, silver and black bikes around town, a lot of residents don’t know what to do. Police had one brought in to lost-and-found last week after a woman found a VBike in her front yard. …

How will U.S. market respond to Canyon’s arrival?

By Kristen Legan | www.velonews.com


Inside a nondescript warehouse perched on a hill outside Koblenz, Germany, an alarm beeps and green lights flash every few minutes. A line of bicycle frames hanging from a conveyor belt jolts forward with each buzz. Frames move down the assembly line, stopping at workstations along the way, where workers install cranks, shifters, cables, and other components. Each time the green lights flick on the conveyor sends the frames ahead. Station by station, frames are transformed into bikes, and then packed into boxes, loaded onto trucks, and sent out across Europe. …

Austin’s only state park desperately needs volunteers

By Kate Weidaw | kxan.com

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The only state park in Austin is in desperate need of volunteers. The Halloween floods from 2013 and the Memorial Day floods of 2015 destroyed portions of McKinney Falls State Park and in an effort to get the community more involved, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department hopes community members will help revive portions of the park. …

LAST CALL Thumper EB Pre-ride- Wednesday Oct 18th

CBaron | www.bikemojo.com

Well, I ended up being too busy to get this done this week, so I’d like to get it done next week instead. I’ll come back into the thread and fill in all the finer details. But for now, I wanted to post-up so that people can get this onto their calendar.
I’m unsure as to the start time for the pre-ride and …

Pop-Up Bike Lane At Sunday Streets Gulfton

bikehouston.org


BikeHouston is building a pop-up bike lane!
On Sunday, November 5, The City of Houston will be hosting Cigna Sunday Streets on Bellaire Boulevard in the Gulfton neighborhood from 12pm-4pm. Bellaire will be closed to vehicular traffic from Hillcroft to Chimney Rock to allow community members to bike, walk, and play on …

This weekend’s rides: Lime Creek! Red Horn!

by Thomas | steinerranchcycling.com

Everyone should have their new kits by now. I have caps and socks, and will bring to the start both days this weekend.
Saturday looks to be great weather! Let’s go enjoy the lovely Lime Creek route, which is 61 miles. Down the sisters and up Abbotsbury https://www.strava.com/routes/4732205. Wear your white summer jersey! After the ride we meet up at Lakeside for some discounted burgers and beer! …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Preparation for The Heroes Ride In The Sun

Texbiker.net Posted on by

The Stradalli and I headed north to SH 242 on the “Kingwood – SH 242 – Kingwood” route for a bike ride 34.7 miles long. The Summer/fall weather was great: clear sky, 87 degrees (11:24 AM start) with a light south 5 mph breeze. The legs felt great putting out some solid power. I hope I left some in reserve for tomorrow’s Heroes Ride in Conroe. Riding south from SH 242 I still kept the power and built the overall average speed to 14.9 mph.

Stopping at the New Caney Mobil station just long enough to refill my water bottle I got back on the bike. A longer stop (10 minutes) came at 27 miles at the Valero station on Northpark Drive. I needed to eat the two fruit and grain bars for energy to make it to the finish about 8 miles away. Washing those down with cold water I refilled the water bottle and headed for the finish.

The greenbelt work is still in process along Kingwood Drive so I took the alternate route like Wednesday. They looked like they are ready to pour concrete so maybe next week the greenbelt will be open.

Finishing the ride at 2:12 PM it was a little warmer (91 degrees) and I was perspiring. My wife makes fun of my “sweat rag” in the garage but it helps to dry off before I go inside.

Weather for The Heroes Ride looks picture perfect; low 72, high 91, clear sky and light wind. There are some hills but I think I can handle them.

Strava Ride Summary (click the image to go to Strava.com)

Strava Bicycle Ride Summary

Strava Segment Efforts

Strava Segment Efforts