Texas Bicycling News Digest April 5th 2016

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Another Serving of Texas Gravel, The Castell Grind 100k – Race report, Photos and 100k Full Results

www.cxmagazine.com


Riders can choose between the 100k Full Grind, the 75k 3/4 Grind or the 50k Half Grind, with the 100k field being the deepest. When asked about the field size, Drost told us that “[q]uality versus quantity has always been our focus so the race will probably never be huge. We want to maintain a manageable roster and the town has limited resources so we are very careful to grow slowly and preserve the integrity of the course and feel of a small town, grassroots event. I would say roughly 400 is an amount we are comfortable with at this time.”
The largest Castell Grind field to date took to the start and faced a course that is essentially a figure 8, a south loop and a north loop that nearly intersects at the start/finish and neutral feed area in the tiny town of Castell. Like …

https://www.instagram.com/p/BD0emR0Hu0N/

A Spring Ride at Dinosaur Valley State Park (DVSP)

Cleared2land forums.mtbr.com

Perfect weather this weekend to re-visit one of my favorite trails. I think I covered every trail at least once. 20.5 miles Nice spring ride.

Fort Worth bicyclist killed on North Freeway

By Domingo Ramirez Jr. www.star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH – A bicyclist killed near Interstate 35W during the weekend has been identified as Jacob Waganer, authorities said Sunday.
Waganer was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:17 a.m. Saturday, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s website on Sunday. He died from blunt force injuries to his head and neck, but the manner of death is pending, according to …

Cycling studio expands, other pushes back opening date

by Laura Furr www.bizjournals.com


Ride Indoor Cycling plans to open its second Houston-area location this summer.
The indoor cycling gym will open its new studio in The Woodlands’ Hughes Landing this June at 1950 Hughes Landing Blvd., Suite 1500.
The gym will host full-body workouts for all fitness levels through 45-minute cycling sessions. It will also sell its own line of activewear.
Ride opened its first Houston location at 548 W. 19th St. in the Heights last year. The Austin-based company also plans to …

Program Update – Spring racing and leader’s summits are in full swing!

NICA www.nationalmtb.org

Nearly 3,000 student-athletes from over 200 schools across NICA’s NorCal, SoCal, Texas, New York and Alabama Spring Leagues are all competing now and will complete their season by mid-May. Gearing up for Fall seasons, 12 (yes, 12!) Fall leagues are hosting Leaders’ Summits.
High school and middle school mountain bike racing is in full swing! As winter begins to thaw in some parts of the country, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) spring leagues are …

I am including this article because it opens our eyes to how the media may be influenced by advertisers. Should we not take what we read as the real news?

Staff Opinion: VeloNews, Shimano tangle over media control

by Marc Sani www.bicycleretailer.com

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif. (BRAIN) — It’s been quite a clash pitting the industry’s most powerful company, Shimano, against what is arguably the best competitive cycling magazine and website in the U.S. market, VeloNews.
That clash stems from an article written several days ago by Dan Cavallari outlining what VeloNews readers could expect from Shimano’s newest upgrades for Dura-Ace. And those upgrades are substantial.
But for those of us in the media — whether consumer or trade — dealing with Shimano is a challenge.
Shimano’s most frequent comment to almost all questions or issues of substance is “no comment.” Or it’s a carefully crafted statement generally devoid of substantive information that would directly address a question of substance.
And so when Cavallari asked Shimano to comment about his research on the changes in Dura-Ace, he was …

Lawson is a Texan hitting the big time in Europe. He rode well today in the Tour of the Basque Country. I watched the race.

Craddock gets chance to fly at Basque tour

By Andrew Hood velonews.competitor.com


GENT, Belgium (VN) — Lawson Craddock is hoping to be a major protagonist this week at Spain’s Vuelta al País Vasco (Tour of the Basque Country). Getting chances to lead in races like the Basque tour is why he switched to Cannondale in 2016.
Still only 24, Craddock is already posting impressive results in his third year at the WorldTour level. The Texan was sixth at Critérium International and rode into the top 20 in every European stage race so far this season, including 16th in a hotly contested Paris-Nice.
“It’s a brutal race that takes absolutely no prisoners,” Craddock said in a team release. “It’s been a …

Meeting tonight for bicycle, walking master plan

By RICK KELLEY www.valleymorningstar.com


HARLINGEN – Whether it’s on bike or on foot, metro planners in Cameron County want to know how we get from Point A to Point B when we’re not driving.
The Harlingen-San Benito Metropolitan Planning Organization will hold two open houses to solicit public input to help determine the direction of its Bicycle and Pedestrian master plan.
Tonight’s meeting is in La Feria at Bailey H. Dunlap Memorial Library, 400 S. Main St. It begins at 6 p.m. and will last until 8.
Wednesday’s meeting is …

Driver charged in bicyclist’s death after collision

By Dale Lezon www.chron.com


A woman has been accused in the death of a bicyclist following a traffic collision last month in south Houston.
Elvia L. Coronado, 44, is charged with intoxicated manslaughter in connection to the death of Mollie Walker after the crash about 7:50 p.m. March 22 at 8900 Almeda Road
Police said Walker was critically injured in the …

SicloVerde

www.greensatx.org

Saturday May 7, 2016
SicloVerde is an urban bike ride and walk event that tours several of San Antonio’s community gardens. Everyone may choose from various tour options. The 2016 routes are still being mapped. The 2015 SicloVerde offered a 5k walk or ride, a 10-mile ride, and a 17-mile ride.
Participants will gather at …

Long Promised Road

By Bob Elias www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day twenty nine – Bracketville to Del Rio: How do you spell “Del Rio”?
Tuesday April 5, 2016, 30 miles (48 km) – Total so far: 1,536 miles (2,472 km)
Cheryl has a different (higher) standard of what constitutes minimal acceptable lodging than me, so we stayed in Del Rio (pop. 44,000) rather than Bracketville (pop. 1,700) vs. last night. She found a very nice reasonably priced motel, the Whispering Palms Inn. The owner is a bicycle enthusiast named Bob. I opted to ride back to Bracketville on my old friend US 90. Flat, but a bit of headwind (character builder), and nice wide shoulders paved with lousy chip seal. Just another day not in the office.
We met for lunch in Bracketville at Mamacita’s. Local, but just okay. I had planned to ride west out of Del Rio for a ways this afternoon, but by the time we got back to Del Rio, it was after 2, and on the warm side. Looking ahead, it is 2 days ride to Sanderson, the next town with any realistic lodging options. We discussed and decided to …

Pop-pop T Goes West – Then East

By David Tatman www.crazyguyonabike.com

Fort Davis To Marathon: Does The Wind Ever Stop?
Tuesday April 5, 2016, 53 miles (85 km) – Total so far: 1,269 miles (2,043 km)
This morning started out as one of the 2 or 3 most gorgeous mornings yet. The sky was clear, no haze, no breeze and the temperature was in the low 50’s. – just about perfect riding weather. The road though still rough was basically flat with only small rises. Another one of those mornings were its just a great feeling to be alive and enjoying nature.
The first 24 miles into Alpine was uneventful but as the morning went on the winds began to increase. Luckily into Alpine the wind was a crosswind. Alpine is a nice small college town with about 5600 people. Sul Ross State University is located here, named after former Texas Governor and Civil War General.
Stopped at the local bike shop, first bike shop since El Paso. Picked up a …

Escaping Winter : The Other Half of the Southern Tier

By Zandra Bainas and Steve Marsh www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 27 – Amistad Lake to Fort Clark Springs (Bracketville): Slowing Down
Monday March 21, 2016, 76 km (47 miles) – Total so far: 2,264 km (1,407 miles)
Zandra really has no voice at all today, but in the morning is otherwise feeling fine enough to go on to Del Rio. Incentive for today is a hot breakfast when we reach town, as we start off our morning with a single cold “Cool Mint Chocolate” Clif bar each. We unfortunately do not get very far from our camping spot, maybe oh, 10 feet or so, when Steve checks his rear tire. It’s flat. Very flat. But…it’s probably a slow leak, so he just pumps the tire up and we go to pay the camp fee. The tire is still inflated after leaving the nice warm office (12°C at 8:45 am), so we head out on the road into the …

Day 28 – Fort Clark Springs to Camp Wood: An Easy Day
Tuesday March 22, 2016, 79 km (49 miles) – Total so far: 2,343 km (1,456 miles)
Waking up at Fort Clark Springs is the first morning that we have seen dew on the ground since last year! So far this trip it’s been either too dry or too cold for dew. We’ve decided to go out to Subway to have breakfast and possibly pick up a sandwich for lunch.
As we pack the bikes, it turns out that everyone’s bicycle had a flat – 5 flats and everyone dealing with them differently! We decide to defer fixing the issue by just pumping up our tires, since we know from yesterday we both have a slow flat which makes the tire flat overnight. Ramsay, the young man cycling west, has both front and back tires flat, and is resorting to a soap bath on the tube to try and find the problems. He would really like to ride a Surly, but can’t afford one at this point, but certainly eyes Zandra’s bike wistfully. The other two young ladies are riding identical …

Day 29 – Camp Wood to Leakey: Up One Hill and Down the Other Side
Wednesday March 23, 2016, 50 km (31 miles) – Total so far: 2,392 km (1,487 miles)
It’s a pretty relaxed morning, with enough time to let the sun dry off the tent fly and make a quick breakfast. We head into Camp Wood which is only a few miles away to suss out a spot for a second breakfast. We find a small Mexican restaurant open, and enter in to find murals decorating the walls. Mexican breakfast plates make excellent cycling breakfasts, being on the large size, tasty, and fairly inexpensive.
We head out for the main part of today’s cycle ride. We are thinking of another short ride today, where we will do one hill – an up, a ridge, and a down – and stop in Leakey. As we leave Camp Wood we start seeing a lot of motorcyclists coming into town, presumably for their breakfast as well. It turns out the road we are on, #373, is a …

Day 35-37 Austin and Return
Tuesday March 29, 2016, 13 km (8 miles) – Total so far: 2,779 km (1,727 miles)
Day 34 The next morning, we struggle awake to find that Michael has made us morning coffee and oatmeal – truly a touring cyclist’s breakfast! He even offers his car if we need it to get ourselves organized as we need to get bike boxes and some boxes for our gear for the plane! We thank him, but since Zandra is a bit concerned about the insurance coverage, we decline the use of the car :(. We do stay a bit longer getting ourselves organized by using the wifi to set up our destinations. Zandra was a bit reluctant to stay more than one day at Michael’s as we only made a request for one day and thought it would be a bit off to switch our request so late though Steve thought Michael would be fine with it. In the end we decide to stay at an AirBnB place not to far from the downtown, which is also on the way past both …

Southern Tier eastward 2016

By Luba Agranovich www.crazyguyonabike.com

Luba: beautiful Hill Country
Wednesday April 6, 2016, 47 miles (76 km) – Total so far: 1,492 miles (2,401 km)
Today we really rode in Texas Hill Country! Cheryl warned us about hills being, actually, mountains. I thought: we did mountains in California and New Mexico, so this would be nothing to us. Well, it was not nothing. There were three steep climbs that were going up and up and up. But the downhill… This could only be compared to roller coaster ride. But we were smarter today and left early, so we managed to do most of the ascent before getting too hot. The road surface was super rough only in the beginning, but then it became smoother until Bandera County that …

An Englishman in America

By Rob Lee www.crazyguyonabike.com

Apr 5: To Fort Davis
Tuesday April 5, 2016, 83 miles (134 km) – Total so far: 2,883 miles (4,640 km)
Today was a day of two halves. Quite literally the morning and afternoon were completely different!
I managed to get an early start, away from the motel at 7.30 AM. It was a steady climb out of Presidio. You could look over your shoulder and see the (far larger) city of Ojinaga just over the Mexican border. The climb went on and on. I knew I had to climb from Presidio at around 2’600 feet to Fort Davis at around 5’000 feet. And indeed the climbing was …

Tom Goes West 2016

By Thomas King www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 37 – Leakey to Bracketville, TX: Leaving the Hill Country and beginning the Rio Grande Valley
Tuesday April 5, 2016, 70 miles (113 km) – Total so far: 1,665 miles (2,680 km)
We passed the 100th Meridian the traditional demarcation, to the west evaporation exceeds precipation on an annual basis. So the rivers just carry runoff from mountains faraway otherwise they are seasonal or dry washes. In other words its getting hotter down here, but still spring.
58% of the distance through Texas! I had a mile long 10% grade, about 700′ of elevation right out of the town Leakey. I managed to pedal all the way up. Speaking of Leakey, Deb and I had fun looking at the signs in Leakey such as the Leakey Motel – I wouldn’t want to stay there.
Then the route dropped down with hills up and down all day so it took me almost 6 hours on the bike to get the 70 miles in …

Hillacious Bike Tour Coming This Weekend

www.lampasasradio.com

Third weekend in-a-row for a big county event.
Coming up Saturday, it’s the bicycle crowd coming to town. Lampasas will be the start and finish site of the (almost) all-in-county bike tour. Vision Lampasas, along with the Chamber of Commerce and LAFTA are planning their SECOND annual bicycle tour. It’s not a …

WALDEN RIDE: What a difference a day makes

By ROBIN WALDEN www.whig.com

http://www.whig.com/assets/walden-flat-new.jpg
Monday, April 4: Kerville-Schreiner State Park to Pedernales State Park, Texas
90 miles
4,500-foot climb
1,737 total miles
This greeted me this morning as I walked out of the bathroom at the State Park. It was going to be a great day!
We had a bit of trouble getting out of Kerville and then Michael had a flat, his ninth.
Michael gets the prize for the most flats. To …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/717432483462180864

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Technology Battles on the FM1960 to FM686 – Back Bike Ride

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Oh technology! Today I battled it on two fronts. First my Acer Chromebook updated to Chrome OS 49 and my Bluetooth mouse quit working. I figured that would be the end of my technology problems. No, my Garmin Edge 520 decided to give me fits. It has been acting up lately but today was the worst. I rode the “FM1960 to FM686 – Back” route and wanted to be sure to record the ride since it was a longer one. Since I have been having issues with the 520 I installed the RideWithGPS app on my phone as a backup. It is a good thing I did. I got ready and rolled out the driveway at 12:31. This was about the only good part of the start. Before I rode 1/2 a mile the 520 said the phone was disconnected. This happened several times and when I got to the Town Center Park I decided to do a factory reset to see if this would fix the problem. It took many minutes to enter my information back into the 520 after the reset. I resumed the ride and got 1.75 miles further and the 520 froze. I couldn’t turn it off so I had to look at the frozen screen until I could find a place to stop and turn it off.

If the technology wasn’t working at least the weather was perfect: 84 degrees, clear blue sky and a light breeze from the south. Other than the aggravation I had a good ride on the second ride on this route this year. I ended up riding 42.36 miles. There were a couple of things to overcome though. first the greenbelt trail was closed east of Kingwood High School and I had to lift my bike over the railing to get off the bridge. Next along FM1960 before the Liberty County line workers were trimming tree on the side of the road and I had to make my way around them. Traffic was normal and I didn’t have any other problems. I was reminded that fully inflated tires running on chip’n seal is rough riding. The almost 1 mile section after I crossed the county line was jarring on both trips over it. It was interesting riding without a computer to tell me the time and distance but I guessed when to change hand positions.

After turning back to the west at FM686 and the Dayton Food & Fuel store I stopped there for a quick water bottle refill. The longer rest stop was the Huffman chevron about 6 miles from FM686. I got there a little after 3 pm, got some Powerade and sat under the canopy but in the sun. I checked the RideWithGPS app on my phone to be sure it was recording the ride, it was, and ate two trail mix bars. The weather screen shots while I was there.

Finishing the snack and Powerade I was back on the rode by about 3:30 for the last 11+ miles to home. The hardest part of the 11 miles was riding over Lake Houston. That 7 mph breeze felt a lot stronger out over the lake without any wind break. Once I was off the bridge and among the houses the rest of the way home was smooth. I got home at 4:20.

While I was biking I thought to call Garmin when I got home. I did and spoke with a man in Customer Service. We went over my problems and he asked some questions. It boiled down to hime sending me a replacement head unit and for me to return the one giving me all of the problems. I hope this fixes the Edge 520. Otherwise I will need to find another solution.

April miles bumped up to 153 heading towards my 772 mile goal for April. Four riding days out of 5 days and I am about 1/5 of the way to my goal.

[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/8406612/embed 500px 500px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/536936969/embed/69104c88a1a5b06fa298725cdb9ac8b51c06cc8e 590px 405px]

Texas Bicycling News Digest April 4th 2016

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April Epic

Bat City Cycling www.facebook.com

Saturday, April 16 at 8:00 AM in CDT
Red Horn Coffee House and Brewing Co.
13010 W Parmer Ln, Ste 800, Cedar Park, Texas 78613
Details
125 miles of fantastic Texas roads. We’re still fine tuning the route so we’ll post it when we get it finished. Show up early for coffee at Red Horn and hang after for post-ride beers.
++We will have a SaG vehicle. Bring $10 cash to chip in for gas and costs.++ …

Head for the Hills – Ride Report

by EthanHawley www.bikeforums.net

I just rode the Head for the Hills Ride in Chappell Hill last weekend. I enjoyed it quite a bit thanks in large part to the absolutely perfect weather. The ride offered terrific scenery, with the exception of a few short sections on Hwy 105. While the wildflowers seemed to be past their prime (or was it too early?), we rode past some beautiful patches. There were also some tremendous vistas of the surrounding countryside from the top of some of the hills. True to the ride’s name, there was very little in the way of flat sections. The roads were rolling with a few Texas-steep hills, but they …

An Englishman in America

By Rob Lee www.crazyguyonabike.com

Apr 3: To Terlingua
Sunday April 3, 2016, 48 miles (77 km) – Total so far: 2,735 miles (4,402 km)
I tried to be pro-active and set an alarm for 6 AM this morning. That was fine except that for some reason more or less everyone in the campsite wanted to speak to me this morning. Some motorbikers were interested in my trip. Another camper wanted to thank me for using a dim red headtorch rather than a blinding white one. The campground host was keen to give me helpful tips regarding a route through Arizona. So all in all I was about an hour later leaving than I expected!
The first 25 miles were a repeat of yesterday, climbing back along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive towards the Park’s main road. The climbing was all in the first 14 miles, so that took a couple of hours. The climbing was steady and fairly pleasant though, not too steep. I stopped at the top for an early lunch (same spot as yesterday’s lunch!). Of course then a …

Apr 4: To Presidio
Monday April 4, 2016, 65 miles (105 km) – Total so far: 2,800 miles (4,506 km)
Posted via email Mon Apr 4 19:53:02 2016 PDT
There was a good sunrise this morning. In fact the past few days in the Big Bend area have spoiled me with great sunsets and sunrises. The air is clear and the skies have generally been cloudless.
It was a few miles along the road to Lajitas, really a resort town where an upmarket golf resort has been developed. A bit of an odd fit in the surroundings! There was a reasonably stocked shop, for some reason I craved fruit juice so I stopped and bought a small bottle. There were lots of resort employees buzzing about on …

Pop-pop T Goes West – Then East

By David Tatman www.crazyguyonabike.com

Fort Davis to Fort Davis: One Dryer Town
Monday April 4, 2016, 3 miles (5 km) – Total so far: 1,216 miles (1,957 km)
Today is layover day in Fort Davis. We all needed R&R after the last 2 days of riding. Fort Davis is a very nice small town which has grown up around Ft. Davis. At first the town was where the civilians lived who worked at the fort. Now it’s a tourist community supporting the Ft. Davis National Park. For a small town has a couple of very nice places to eat.
I call this a “One Dryer Town” because the model doesn’t offer a laundry service so we had to go to the local laundromat. Of the 6 washers, only 2 work. On the 4 dryers, only one partially worked. For 14 people suddenly showing up with a bunch of sweaty dirty clothes, not a fast process. Luckily the sun was out today and with the low humidity everything dried quickly hanging on the front of the motel.
Went to local Mexican Luncheonette for lunch. Not sure how to spell, let alone pronounce what I ate for …

Southern Tier eastward 2016

By Luba Agranovich www.crazyguyonabike.com

Luba: entering Texas Hill Country
Monday April 4, 2016, 48 miles (77 km) – Total so far: 1,406 miles (2,262 km)
Bought sandwiches in Subway in the morning for lunch on the road. The local road to Camp Wood, prescribed by the ACA maps, is a very rough chip seal. Still, the pretty landscape with mountains on the horizon and absence of traffic made for an enjoyable ride for a while. We stopped to talk with Cheryl that was driving a support vehicle for her husband Bob. Bob rode from Florida, where they live, to DeRidder LA alone but got stuck there due to bridge closures. Cheryl then decided to join him. She offered us drinks and ice that we accepted with gratitude. Later on …

For the best bluebonnet show, bike the Willow City Loop

by Pam LeBlanc fitness.blog.austin360.com


Midway up the giant hill near the end of the Willow City Loop, my quads whimpered and I wished, ever so briefly, that I was flopped on a hammock somewhere instead of pedaling up a twisting Hill Country road.
Then I turned and looked down into the valley, where so many bluebonnets clustered together that I thought I was looking at a stream of blue water.
Thousands of tourists head to Willow City northeast of Fredericksburg each spring, where they spend about 30 minutes motoring along the 21-mile route, admiring wildflowers. That’s fine, but I prefer to take …

2016 Bent Wheel Bash Mountain Bike Race – Abilene, Texas

by TC www.turnincranks.com

My Cat2 40-49 mountain bike race video from the 2016 Bent Wheel Bash Mountain Bike Race held at Buck Creek Trails in Abilene, Texas.
The 4th race of the Texas state 2016 series.
After a 2nd place finish at Comfort, I was feeling pretty good and hopeful of another good showing in Abilene.
Buck Creek Trails can be technical enough to give me a bit of an edge and I was hopeful of …

2016 Ouachita Challenge

wilbloodworth www.bigpigracing.org


The 2015 Ouachita Challenge was a blast! I had a wonderful time and the weather was superb but I temporarily lost my Garmin on the top of Mauldin Mountain which caused me to lose about an hour and a half of time trying to find it. After that, I vowed to not let stupid things like that happen again so I got a Garmin tether from Matt Malone and haven’t ridden without that tether ever since.
Fast forward to the 2016 Ouachita Challenge. 2016 marks my 2nd year as a participant in the Ouachita Challenge; both years on a single speed. While the OC is amazing and I love coming up to Arkansas, visiting my relatives, eating great food, and …

Tom Goes West 2016

By Thomas King www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 36 – Hunt to Leakey, TX: Halfway Today
Monday April 4, 2016, 47 miles (76 km) – Total so far: 1,595 miles (2,567 km)
I reached the halfway point across the Southern Tier Route either on late yesterdays ride or early today. Half of the 3100 miles, of course is 1550, however I get a few extra miles riding to our lunch or overnight stops. The route doesn’t take the shortest connections as it tries to avoid the busier roads, include more interesting destinations, and tries to route through areas with more services. I’ve been very pleased with the locales visited and the many scenic roads.
I wanted today’s ride a bit shorter because there was quite a bit of climbing. I don’t have a Garmin for my bike that counts every foot of elevation gain as a brag point and I’m okay with that. But the Adventure Cycling maps include elevation profiles for the route. So I knew I’d have a gradual climb ending up …

7-Year-Old on Bicycle Struck by Vehicle

www.kiiitv.com

A 7-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital Sunday night after he was involved in an accident. The accident happened in the 900 block of Rambler place, in a neighborhood near Leopard and Corn Products road. According to Corpus Christi police, the boy was riding his bike when a vehicle crashed into him. The child was …

Police: Central Texas driver dragged cyclist for 2,000 feet even though she was screaming

By Joshua Fechter www.mysanantonio.com


An Austin cyclist suffered serious injuries after a driver allegedly hit her and dragged her for 2,000 feet with his vehicle last week, according to Austin police.
Artemio Gomez Avila, 41, has been charged with failure to stop and render aid for allegedly driving away after striking Elizabeth English with his truck.
Avila could spend up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the third-degree felony. …

WTCA Post to Gail Ride

West Texas Cycling Association www.bikewtca.org

Date: April 9, 2016
Location: Post, TX
Contact: Steve Crowell281-793-4480
Details: The Post to Gail ride will leave from the Post courthouse parking lot at 9:00 AM. Steve Crowell is hosting. Cost is $5 for club members. Non-Club Members must join the WTCA and pay the membership fee to ride. Please RSVP to Steve so he can plan for supplies.

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

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New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Kingwood to Splendora to Kingwood Bike Ride

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I wanted to go for a long ride today with the beautiful weather. I rode the “New Caney – Splendora” route riding north along US59 to Splendora and then back to the south. I think this is the first time to ride to Splendora this year. The route is an extension of when I ride to Roman Forest Blvd. I biked 40.47 miles today. The perfectly clear sky and high 70’s temperature propelled me along and the light 5 to 7 mph breeze was just enough to challenge me but not really slow my speed down. The trip to Splendora was with a tailwind and I built up my average speed to 15.7 mph. The south bound leg was slower but I still kept my speed at 17 to 18 mph and the average speed at 15.6 mph.

There was some traffic entering the west bound entrance to the Grand Parkway as I rode to Community Drive. I had to move to the middle lane on the service road because the right lane was blocked by some construction trucks. I couldn’t tell what they were doing but there were a lot of hoses coming out of tanker trailers with compressors running. I didn’t see any workers; maybe the robots have arrived. I rode to Loop 494 at Community Drive and stayed on it until it merged with the northbound US59 service road. After passing the right urn into Patton Village I turned right at Ipes Rd. crossing the railroad tracks to ride the rest of the way to Splendora. I did this for the silly reason of spreading the route out on the map plus it avoided a tight lane where the service road bears left and old Loop 494 goes into Splendora.

From Splendora I stayed on the US59 south bound service road all the way to Valley Ranch Blvd. where I turned right to go to FM1314. At the Grand Parkway intersection I learned that the west bound traffic from US59 runs on the service road to the entrance just west of Valley Ranch Blvd. The traffic light there did not change when I rode on the sensor. After waiting for several minutes I crossed the road and under the overpass where the east bound exit ramp did the same thing for traffic going to US59 south. Again the traffic light would not change when I rode on the sensor and I rode through the intersection when the traffic was clear.

I arrived at the Stripes station at 2:07. If I hurried eating and refilling my water bottle I could beat the Briar Tree school traffic. My Edge 520 when I got to Stripes.

4-4-2016 Stripes Porter

Porter Weather at Stripes station

I quickly ate two trail mix bars and drank some water. I was backing riding at 2:18 and made it past the schools without the traffic. The next school was at Kings Manor and I got there in the thick of the traffic but made it through without an incident. I was now back in Kingwood when at 35.78 miles the Garmin Edge 520 decided to freeze up. I pulled over and mashed on many button combinations until it shut off and restarted. Fortunately the ride data was still there. I pushed the start button and it was back working. I did have several phone disconnect messages during the ride so maybe that had something to do with the 520 freezing up. I am wondering what can be so hard for a computer to work and crash. I saw a review of the new Wahoo GPS computer last week, maybe that would work better.

April miles are moving towards my 772 mile goal with 111 miles so far with 3 rides. tomorrow and Wednesday the weather should be as good so more biking in the works.

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