Texas Bicycling News July 14th 2017

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Who uses that new bike bridge over Barton Creek? Terry Bowness, for one

Pam LeBlanc | fitness.blog.austin360.com

Since we’re still talking about that new bike and pedestrian bridge that crosses Barton Creek and Highway 290 alongside MoPac Boulevard (we are, aren’t we?), I tracked down someone who is using the bridge to ride to work. …

Thursday Morning Cruise

Thursday, Jul 20, 2017, 7:15 AM

Starbucks
7049 S Desert (Outlet Mall) Canutillo, TX

5 Cyclists Went

Meet at 7:15 am at Starbucks at the Outlet Mall in Canutillo. Ride out at 7:30. 20-25 miles at 14-16 mph pace. Mostly flat, a few hills. Breakfast someplace after the ride. Bob Clark,[masked]

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Texas Brotherhood Ride makes 500 mile journey by bike to honor slain law enforcement officers

www.telemundoamarillo.com

bike ride
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – A group of cyclists set out on a special ride to honor law enforcement officers who were killed or wounded during the 2016 ambush shootings.
The group set out from Dallas, Texas on July 9 and arrived at the headquarters for the Baton Rouge Police Department on Friday, July 14.
“The ride is not about us. It’s …

City presents transpo plans to WISD

By Christin Coyne | www.weatherforddemocrat.com

The City of Weatherford detailed its transportation plans for Weatherford ISD Thursday night and asked for the school district’s input and help in planning for future road projects.
City of Weatherford Director of Capital Transportation Projects Terry Hughes described some of the ongoing transportation projects in the Weatherford Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone.
One of the major projects important to Weatherford, according to Hughes, is the extension of frontage …

… A group is helping form a bicycle and pedestrian master plan for the city, Hughes said.
“With that, I think it would be appropriate for us to not only to use the transportation advisory board for that bicycle master plan but it would also be nice if we could develop a safe routes to school program,” …

Share the road: cyclists and drivers vigilant on Waco streets

By Rhyan Henson | www.kwtx.com

WACO, Tx Are some Central Texas bike lanes confusing? Believe it or not cyclists have all of the same rights to the roads as drivers according to TXDOT.
Despite close quarters on some Waco roads, one cyclist said he’s had nothing but good experiences riding in different parts of town.
Joel Allen has been an avid cyclist for eight years.
“For the most part my experience has been really, really positive …

Cyclists embark on 150-mile trek to battle MS

www.mrt.com

bike ride Midland
Cyclists from around West Texas are preparing for a two-day trek covering 150 miles in an effort to raise money for those affected by multiple sclerosis. This weekend’s Bike MS: Cactus & Crude is expected to raise more than $400,000, with 300-plus cyclists participating.
The local presenting sponsor is Apache Corp.
“We are honored to be able to partner with Bike MS for their 28th annual Bike MS Cactus and Crude. This is always an event …

Texas Cycle Werks South Austin Trail Rides

Thursday, Jul 20, 2017, 6:00 PM

Texas Cycle Werks
5446 US-290 #103 Austin, TX

2 Mountain Bikers Went

Texas Cycle Werks, proud sponsors of the ATX100K endurance race series, hosts weekly shop rides each Tuesday and Thursday leaving from the shop in south Austin and heading out to the South Austin Trail Network and/or Barton Creek Greenbelt.  Rides vary in length and difficulty based on who all shows up and wants to do what.Location:Texas Cycle We…

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Austin Cycling Meetup

Austin, TX
3,503 Austin Cyclists

Welcome to Austin Cycling Meetup, your friendly neighborhood “low key” recreational cycling group!Austin Cycling Meetup group is not a hard core anything. We’re a little bit …

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Tour de Paris fueled by volunteers

By Jen Phillips | www.kxii.com

PARIS, Texas (KXII) — Cyclists are hitting the streets Saturday for the 33rd annual Tour de Paris.
Lamar County Chamber of Commerce and over 650 volunteers have been working since March to put on one of Paris’ most iconic events.
It’s an event that put the City of Paris on the map.
Its secret to success lies in servitude.
“It’s our volunteers and our city of Paris workers. We couldn’t do …

Cyclists to take over Paris Saturday

www.kxii.com

bike ride
PARIS, Texas (KXII) — One of the most exciting weekends of the year for Paris is here with the 33rd Annual Tour de Paris.
The rally begins at 8 Saturday morning on Jefferson Road just west of the Love Civic Center. …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

https://twitter.com/bicyclesplus/status/885915921319161856

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Too Much Carbonation and Chat With A Cyclist Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

For a change no wet roads or rain, not even dark clouds in the distance. I left at 11:20 after watching stage 13 of the TdF with more mountains and lots of spectators. No spectators along the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” bike ride where I rode. I biked 40.8 miles pushing July to 403 miles, past the halfway point to my 800 mile goal. So far I rode 153 miles this week so 200 miles is within reach weather permitting.

It was hot during the ride with temperatures ranging from 91 at the start to 95 at the 2:51 pm finish. Scattered clouds meant plenty of sunshine and the humidity was 53% and the north 5 mph wind was not a big problem most of the time.

Biking east on Roman Forest Blvd. once you ride over the Peach Creek bridge the road slowly points up gaining 40 to 50 feet over a mile. This is a slow grind but thankfully the nice 3 foot wide marked shoulder gives enough room to not slow down the light traffic. Nothing like the hills of East Texas but for a flat lander like me it is a challenge. The return leg riding west doesn’t seem to propel me downhill fast enough to compensate for the work getting up the incline though.

A stop at the New Caney Mobil station at FM 1485 and I-69/US59 for ice and water was short. Back on the bike I looked forward to stopping at the Strips station about 5 miles away for a rest break and some Gatorade to wash down the Clif bar I brought along. At the Stripes station I went inside to buy the Gatorade fountain drink 32 oz cup and found the beverage machine was putting too much carbonation in drinks. After pouring out the Gatorade fruit punch I drew some blue PowerAde but it had the same problem. I should’ve poured it out too and drank ice water but I didn’t. Walking out to the pumps I sat on the concrete too cool down and try to enjoy the carbonated PowerAde. While I sat there a man walked by and told me he like the Stradalli bike. I thanked him and he went into Stripes. When he returned to his pickup truck we chatted about my bike, his Cannondale bike, places where we ride (he lives in The Woodlands) and the Bike Lane store in The Woodlands. He went to his truck and waved as he drove away. I finished the Clif bar and PowerAde and got ready to ride the 11+ miles to finish the bike ride. It was 29.5 miles into the ride, like yesterday when I stopped in Huffman.

I thought the carbonated PowerAde might bother me but I think I shook enough out of the drink and burped once or twice after starting back on the ride. No problem after that. I finished the ride going through Briar Tree, Oakhurst, Kingwood Place and Kings Manor before getting back into Kingwood.

The plan is to ride 32+ miles on Saturday and 20+ miles on Sunday to put the week over 200 miles if the weather permits. Maybe an early start tomorrow?

Link to Strava.com ride summary

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Texas Bicycling News July 13th 2017

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Bike ride from Dallas to Baton Rouge honors fallen first responders

www.katc.com

EUNICE, La. – A group of policemen, firemen and EMS workers are honoring first responders who have died in service.
The Texas Brotherhood Ride made a stop in Eunice today on their way to Baton Rouge from Dallas. The ride will take participants 6 days and 500 miles to finish. Organizers say the …

City commission votes to review gas proposal

By KAILA CONTRERAS | www.brownsvilleherald.com

During Tuesday’s Brownsville City Commission meeting, commissioners approved to suspend the July 20 effective date of the statement of intent of the Teas Gas Service to increase rates. …

… The commission also approved to execute an advanced funding agreement between the city and the Texas Department of Transportation regarding bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements. …

8 AM start: Tour de Southern Walnut Creek Trail

Tuesday, Jul 18, 2017, 8:00 AM

Govalle Park
5200 Bolm Rd. Austin, TX

2 Austin Cyclists Went

We’re riding out at 8 AM for summer coolness.A moderate C-pace ride (roughly 11 to 14 mph) on The Southern Walnut Creek Trail from the trailhead at Govalle Park to the Abrupt End and return. Round trip is about 20 miles. The trail is paved for the entire distance, with a 1/2 mile hill on the outbound. We’ll regroup at the top of the hill on the ou…

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90 for Dad Bike Ride still raising money for Hospice of Wichita Falls

The Archer County News

The route will take Dail Neely and the cyclists past his late parent’s former home in Archer City, Texas while raising money for Hospice of Wichita Falls.

USA Cycling Announces Spring 2017 Academic All-Star Class

www.usacycling.org

USA Cycling is pleased to announce the Spring 2017 class of Collegiate Academic All-Stars! The Spring 2017 class of students contains 56 athletes, all of whom competed at a USA Cycling National Championships while maintaining a high academic standard. Many of the riders in this class of All-Stars not only competed at a National Championship but also achieved a podium finish in the process. …

… Road
Erica Allar – Piedmont College
Bill Ash – Midwestern State University
Peter Behm – Fort Lewis College
Evan Blankenship – Lindenwood University
Joshua Buchel – Midwestern State University …

TX Trails & Ponytails (TTP) Women’s Skills Clinic

Saturday, Jul 29, 2017, 8:00 AM

7 Bikers & Hikers Went

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Robin Camp intersection plan to illuminate bike lanes

by Jack | bicycleaustin.info

Interesting idea: [http://movabilityaustin.org/2017/07/new … his%20year](http://movabilityaustin.org/2017/07/new … his%20year) Lighting for bike lanes at intersections; triggered by riders.

by Red Falcon
Yes, this looks like a good idea. I followed the link and left this comment:

“Good idea, but the elephant in the room is unsafe motorists. Yes, let’s add these kinds of safety features, but how about we start taking drunk driving/hit and runs/ car aggression a whole lot more seriously. How about instead of people getting a slap on the wrist for hitting a cyclist/pedestrian/other driver we put these reckless drivers in prison for 10 years hard labor (first offense)? Let’s quit acting like …

This weekend’s rides: El Diablo! Russell’s!

by Thomas | steinerranchcycling.com

Saturday is Bicycle Sport Shop’s annual El Diablo ride! This will be the planned SRC ride this weekend. Check out the details (and the lovely face on the front page) here: https://goo.gl/HrGoi9 See you all at the Lamar store for the 7:30am departure!
Sunday we will head to a NEW coffee/pastry destination: Russell’s! The route is the same as …

BSS South to Mountain City and Back – 47 Miles

Saturday, Jul 15, 2017, 7:30 AM

bicycle sports shop
517 S. Lamar Blvd Austin, TX

1 Austin Cyclists Went

PLEASE NOTE: The El Diablo Poker Dash & Bash is today, so don’t get confused and ride with them by mistake. I will be under the big Bicycle Sport Shop sign next to the street in front of the shop. They won’t roll out until 8:00am. Also, there will be a lot more cars in the parking lot.This route is the standard South Austin Out-and-Back with a few…

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Cycling team on 3,600-mile journey makes stop in Fort Worth

www.fox4news.com

bike ride biking bicycling
FORT WORTH, Texas – The city of Fort Worth welcomed a philanthropic cycling team that made a stop in ‘Cowtown.’
Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity’s philanthropy, The Ability Experience, funds the ride known as the Journey of Hope.
Cyclists ride cross country to raise funds and awareness for people with disabilities. The team started in Long Beach, California, and will cycle all the way to Washington, D.C., a 3,600-mile journey. …

Drivers not respecting new bike lanes

By Michelle Pedraza | www.kgns.tv

bike ride bike lane
LAREDO, Texas (KGNS) – It’s been about three weeks since the city added some new bike lanes on San Bernardo for the cycling community to enjoy.
However, even though cyclist are proud they have new lanes they are also concerned about the safety of the lanes.
In just a short amount of time, cyclists have been …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

https://twitter.com/tourdegap/status/885602755020300289

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Wet Roads But No Rain Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

No rain today but the roads were wet when I got to FM 1960 and the Liberty County line. An 18 wheeler coming from the east raised a big spray as it drove through the puddles in the road but the spray didn’t reach me on the east bound shoulder. The road stayed wet until I reached the May Community Center riding past Hargrave High School. Biking the “May Park Community Center – Huffman” route to the south and east I rode 41.7 miles boosting July to 362 miles with 438 miles left to reach my goal for July. For the year I moved to 4027 miles with a 6800 mile goal for the year.

At the Liberty County line turn around I saw road construction signs and a “fresh” coat of chip and seal. I guess TXDot wanted to rough the road up for biking. Hopefully they stopped at the smooth asphalt approaching the railroad overpass. The short time I rode on the new coating to turn around reminded me how bad it is to ride on chip and seal.

With the wet roads the Stradalli got dirty again so when I stopped at the Huffman Chevron for a 25 minute rest break I wiped off the dirt. Maybe it will stay clean for a couple of days. July is wetter than usual or I am getting caught by rogue showers. The rest stop came at the 29.5 mile point at 1:25 pm. I started the ride at 11:15 after watching all of stage 12 of the TdF with Chris Froome losing the yellow jersey. Those mountains are killers. No mountains around Houston or on today’s ride so I was safe. I ate some snack crackers and drank lots of water during the break and refilled my water bottle for the 11+ miles to the finish.

Leaving the Chevron station I saw some dark clouds in the west but they stayed away and other than lots of sweat I finished the ride dry at 2:45 pm. No bikers along the route today.

Weather during the ride: 87 to 96 degrees, mostly cloudy sky, 65% humidity, south wind at 8 mph.

A chance of rain again for tomorrow but I plan on biking.

Link to the Strava.com ride summary

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