Three months of biking are in the records now. For the week of March 27th through April 2nd I rode 5 days totaling 221.87 miles. The longest ride was April 1st at the Zuhne Education Expedition ride starting in Iowa Colony. Wednesday the weather and my biking desire weren’t good so I stayed off the road. Sunday was a recovery day from Saturday’s ride plus I watched the men and women race the Tour of Flanders replays after church. The average distance per ride was 44.374 miles, bumped up by 2 rides over 40 miles. 4 rides on my Cervelo Caledonia and 1 on my Lynskey Helix. 2 rides went southeast and 2 went north.
March bike rides was a mixture of Zwift and road with weather the driver for riding Zwift. I canceled/paused Zwift late in March which means all rides will be outside weather permitting. I rode 6 Zwift rides and 19 road rides. The average distance per ride was 31.18 miles. The average is lower than I like due to the shorter Zwift rides. Road rides totaled 725.5 miles and Zwift totaled 116.37 miles. Two maintenance events, one on my Cervelo replacing the rear tire due to a flat and one on my Lynskey also replacing the rear tire due to a flat.
4-2-2023 March Rides Summary
2023 continues to outpace my previous years in total miles to date with 2,288 miles. This includes Zwift and road miles. 2020 is the closest trailing by 169 miles.
4-1-2023 Strava Year Progressions YTD Miles 2011-2023
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The popular 10-mile-long Ann & Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail that wraps around Lady Bird Lake and attracts 5 million people a year is showing signs of erosion.
“The water is one of the biggest draws that we have in the city, right? said Grady Reed with The Trail Conservancy. “It’s hot, people want to get out, they want to get on the water.”
But it’s how some people are getting to the water that has eroded parts of the trail said Grady.
“We don’t think it’s intentional, right? You’re on the trail, you see the water you want to get in, or …
Fort Worth mountain bikers have a new reason to celebrate.
Four miles of new trails will open to the public at 10 a.m. April 1 at North Z Boaz Park.
The project is a partnership between the city, which owns the land, and the Fort Worth Mountain Bikers Association, whose members built and will maintain the trails. …
I waited until yesterday to register for the FISD Zuhne Education Expedition bike ride in Rosharon. Last year I made the decision earlier, drove to Alvin the evening before to not get up so early. Today I left home around 5:45 AM and drove to Freedom field in Iowa colony where the ride started. I got there about 6:40 AM with the start rolling out at 7:30. This gave me time to walk around handing out Texbiker.net business cards. I gave out all that I brought with me. It was warmer this year compared to last year but foggy. I got my number and pins, attached it to my Texbiker jersey and got the Cervelo Caledonia bike out of the Jeep.
Riding to the start area about 5 minutes before the start I found a spot to wait. The riders were going to start in groups of about 100. When I got my number I asked how many registered and the lady said a little less than 500. I was in the second group to roll out when the time came. It was 73 degrees so I wore shorts, arm sleeves, and a short sleeve Texbiker jersey. I hit the start button when we rolled up to wait our turn but the actual ride didn’t happen until 7:32.
Weather conditions: start 73 degrees, 94% humidity, dew point 71, fog, wind calm; finish 85 degrees, 21% humidity, dew point 42, partly cloudy, wind NE 10 mph.
(Update 4/3/2023) After registering for the ride on Friday I went to RideWithGPS.com and downloaded the route map to sync with my Wahoo Bolt computer. Prior to the start I selected the route and followed the turn-by-turn directions. I think there was only one time when the turn-by-turn got confused on some turns in Liverpool but was on route the rest of the ride. The route was well marked with ride signs.
The road was damp from the fog but not enough to cause a problem though later I looked at the Cervelo and knew I would need to wash it when I got home. The roads were smooth except for the first 1/2 mile which had some big cracks. The route headed southeast and the wind felt like a light tailwind making pedaling not too hard. To pace myself I used the 35×15 gears for 62.6 of the 66.16 miles. My average speed increased to 15.4 mph and I held it there until the route turned into the wind. Then my average speed slowly went down to 14.4 mph at the 12:41 PM finish. Link to my AXS.SRAM.com ride report.
Around halfway into the ride the roads dried off as the sun peeked out and the fog lifted. Sadly this was about where the route turned back towards the finish into a headwind. Sometimes my speed was around 12 mph but improved to 13 mph when the road curved away from the full headwind. I pedaled steady sometimes passing other riders and sometimes getting passed by faster ones.
The only climb was on FM 523 over railroad tracks and a road. To add to the misery the climb was into a headwind. The other bumps were over some irrigation canal bridges.
I got Strava top results on all but two of the segments in the ride. The image is below.
Last year I rode 65.18 miles and this year I rode 66.17 miles. I’m not sure where the extra mile came from.
4-1-2023 SportTracks Bike Ride Overview4-2-2022 SportTracks Ride Overview
I stopped at the rest stops except for the first around 7.2 miles into the ride. They were well stoked with food and the volunteers were friendly. I ate 2 ubar cookies at 2 different rest stops. I had not seen them before and they were good. The last rest stop was about 5 miles from the finish and I drank 2 cups of orange sport drink to get me to the finish.
Day 26: Sanderson to Seminole Canyon, TX: Headwind Hell
Thursday March 30, 2023, 82 miles (132 km) – Total so far: 1,316 miles (2,118 km)
It was nice to wake up in a church classroom and not have to break camp. Kathy made breakfast of bacon and fresh eggs from the pastor’s chickens. Delicious! That would be the best part of this day.
On bikes at 8:15 to try to get ahead of the anticipated 20mph afternoon headwinds. The first 30 miles to the van water stop was pleasant even with the mild 7mph headwind. Inhaled a PB&J and back on route in 14 minutes. And then the wind gods spoke to us. The terrain was not all that bad with undulating sections of Hwy 90, but each climb that might have been enjoyable was a struggle and what should have been a fun 25mph mile descent, was a fast peddle to get to 14mph. The ride was …
Day 27: Seminole Canyon to Del Rio, TX: Scrubland Relief
Friday March 31, 2023, 42 miles (68 km) – Total so far: 1,358 miles (2,185 km)
Finally a warm wake-up:60° at sunup. Stopped at Visitor Center for view of canyon and inside dioramas depicting history of the area. On route at 9:00. Good fast peddling on rolling roads through canyon walls. Water fill at Comstock gas station at mile 10. Not much scenery; they call this area Scrubland. Slight headwind about 7mph. Passed through Amistad National Recreation Area and the beautiful Amistad Reservoir provided some needed relief to the dry landscape. The water looks so inviting as the full sun now is high and it’s 80°. Sailed over the two lane bridge over the reservoir. Lots of RV Parks – must be …
They added a barrier and an orange sign. It’s kinda pushed off to the side, pedestrians and cyclists were going around it. I didn’t, out of respect for the person who passed away a week ago. RIP pic.twitter.com/LOYeBzPJd7
