Texas Bicycling News – October 13, 2023

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Lone Star Circle of Life Bike Tour makes last stop in Tyler and brings stories of awareness about organ and other donations

By Raquel Villatoro | tylerpaper.com

Lone Star Circle of Life Bike Tour finished its five-city tour with a stop in Tyler on Thursday morning. The tour aims to educate Texans about the need for donations of blood, marrow, stem cells, organ and tissue.

“We just want to increase the awareness that everyone knows about it so they can make better informed decisions,” said Debbie Mabry, Lone Star Circle of Life Coordinator. “You can’t tell your family if you can’t make that decision.”

Eleven cyclists from Tyler, Houston, Waco, Corpus Christi and other areas in Texas biked together along with one cyclist from Wisconsin. They started last Thursday in Dallas. Some rode …

Brownsville Adopts First Citywide BTX Mobility Plan

texasborderbusiness.com

The BTX Mobility Plan pulls together elements to make the City’s approach to transportation growth planning and goals more cohesive.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas– The City on the Border, by the Sea, and Beyond, now has its first Mobility Transportation Plan as Brownsville continues to nurture its thriving community. The Brownsville CityCommission recently unanimously adopted the Brownsville Mobility Plan (BTX Mobility Plan) in an effort to support the City’s continued growth and enhance mobility including Bike, Pedestrian, Bus Transit, Airport, Road and intelligent infrastructure systems for the benefit of its current and future residents and businesses.

The groundbreaking BTX Mobility Plan is designed to serve as a roadmap for the City, guiding the development of safe, efficient, and effective transportation systems that promote the welfare of our community. …

… Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure: Prioritizing safety and accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians, the plan promotes the development of bike lanes, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, and multi-use paths. …

Round the Block: The last leg

By Curtis Stoker | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 21 – Fort Hancock to Van Horn, TX: Along I-10

Friday October 13, 2023 It was kind of a fitful night. Probably just too warm. I slept inside and should have just put up the tent. Things cooled down sometime during the night but sleeping on your mat with a bag is just too warm for indoors.

It was a nice morning. It was plenty cool and that’s quite nice to start out the ride. It was again not anything other than West Texas desert and some farm ground. We had to ride on Interstate 10 today and when we were not on the interstate their was a frontage road that was very close. It was better than the interstate for the trash on the side, but it was still quite noisy all day. The scenery was pretty boring. Just gills covered in scrub brush (I’m assuming mesquite) and not much else.

We had to cross over the Quitman Mountains. It was a nice grade and didn’t seem to be too much of an issue but did slow us down today. Also for much of the day there seemed to be a small headwind. Coming down the other side, it slowed you down to where …

Road Construction Drama On The Kingwood – SH 242 – Kingwood Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Another exciting bike ride with good fall weather. After riding south and east the last two bike rides I turned to the north on a route I haven’t done since August 7th, Kingwood – SH 242 – Kingwood. Aboard my Cervelo Caledonia I set off at 10:28 AM, much earlier than yesterday. The previous ride was 37.01 miles and I wanted ride at least that far to improve the week and month totals. I rode farther today, 38.23 miles. This was the 5th time on this route in 2023. I’m not sure why I don’t ride it more often. Maybe the road construction at SH 242 dissuades me? The road construction is still there with the frontage road down to one lane on the north and south bound roads. Today I saw people working though not many. This project has been ongoing for years. Another road project, the Loop 494 bridge over Caney Creek, is almost finished and today I rode across it (see the video). Later on Loop 494 north of Kingwood Drive the new lanes that had not opened are now open. Traffic might be an issue on these lanes at certain times during the day such as the Kings Manor school dismissal hour.

10-13-2023 SportTracks 2023 Rides Kingwood-SH242-Kingwood
10-13-2023 SportTracks 2023 Rides Kingwood-SH242-Kingwood

I haven’t included the gear usage charts in a while from the AXS.SRAM.com ride report. Here are the charts from today’s bike ride.

10-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Gear Usage by Time
10-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Gear Usage by Time
10-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Gear Usage by Distance
10-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Gear Usage by Distance
10-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Avg Power in Gear
10-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Avg Power in Gear

I like to look at my cadence for the bike ride from the Stravini Chrome extension on Strava. I don’t consider turning the pedals 9441 times during the ride.

10-13-2023 Strava Cadence Chart Kingwood-SH242-Kingwood
10-13-2023 Strava Cadence Chart Kingwood-SH242-Kingwood
10-13-2023 Strava Ride Summary Kingwood-SH242-Kingwood
10-13-2023 Strava Ride Summary Kingwood-SH242-Kingwood

Texas Bicycling Happenings – October 12, 2023

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Round the Block: The last leg

By Curtis Stoker | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 20 – El Paso to Fort Hancock, TX: WIND – pushing is along!!

Thursday October 12, 2023, 64 miles (103 km) – Total so far: 1,077 miles (1,733 km) It was nice to sleep in a bed last night, but dozed off sooner than I should have and woke up at about 5:00 and felt that was all the sleep this body needed. I needed to get up a bit early anyway to get breakfast ready for the group. It was just the normal breakfast. Nothing needed to be cooked or anything, just water heated up, coffee made and stuff put out for breakfast and for lunch preparations. Beth and I were in charge of breakfast today and because of all that, we were the last ones leaving the hotel this morning. One of the leaders always tries to stay in the sweep position, so it was the three of us getting out of town together.

There was a bit of a climb getting out of El Paso, but after that climb was done, the rest of the route was slightly downhill. We rode about 30 miles just getting out of El Paso and it’s suburbs. Another thing we had in our favor today was …

Video: Bicycle donation

Courtesy of Temple ISD | www.tdtnews.com

‘Care and support for our kids’: 50 Garcia Elementary students receive free bicycles and helmets

Fifty students at Hector P. Garcia Elementary School had broad smiles on their faces Thursday …

Bridgeland @ Craft Beer Cellar – 10/12/2023 Harris County, Texas

Marjoe Q. Borromeo | strava.com

Slowly Warmed Up. Biking Atascocita – Walden – Indian Shores Road

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I waited to start today’s bike ride until 11:50 AM because the temperature was slow getting out of the 60’s but was supposed to go up to the low 80’s. I didn’t want to wear too many clothes if that happened. It was 73 degrees when I rode my Canyon Endurace to start. I needed to make up some road miles after riding Zwift yesterday due to rain so I chose the Atascocita – Walden – Indian Shores Road route, a longer version of the route I biked on Tuesday. I wore a light long sleeve jersey and a short sleeve jersey which kept me comfortable once I warmed up. The shade was chilly at first though. The hardest section of the ride was on FM 2100 from Old Atascocita road to Indian Shores road into the headwind. After making the u-turn at Indian Shores road the tailwind helped me build up my average speed to 14.2 mph which held until I was back in Kingwood. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, no cyclists but me. I finished at 2:50 PM with 40.22 miles. That put me ahead of the pace to reach my 700 mile goal for October with 288.8 miles or 41% of the way there. The week total is 135.41, road plus Zwift miles. Weather: Start 73 degrees, humidity 77%, dew point 65.0, partly cloudy, wind SE 9 mph; Finish 79 degrees, humidity 68%, dew point 68.0, partly cloudy, wind E 12 mph.

10-12-2023 SportTracks 2023 Rides Atascocita-Walden-Indian Shores Road
10-12-2023 SportTracks 2023 Rides Atascocita-Walden-Indian Shores Road
10-12-2023 Strava Ride Summary Atascocita-Walden-Indian Shores Road
10-12-2023 Strava Ride Summary Atascocita-Walden-Indian Shores Road