The last 2 Mondays I rode in Watopia but today I rode in the real world. This was fitting to close out October biking. I waited later for the temperature to get to 70 and at 11:17 AM the bike ride began as I headed out on my Cervelo Caledonia bike. Making my way through Kingwood to the US59 northbound frontage road I stayed on it until Community Drive. Community Drive delivered me to Loop 494 where I continued north through a short construction zone passed the FM 1485 railroad crossing. The bridge over Caney Creek is still closed causing me to ride Payne Road back to the frontage road. Over Caney Creek I turned right onto Via Principale Parkway and into Tavola. Normally on my Kingwood – SH242 – Kingwood route I ride a short loop through Tavola but today I made it longer to get to Lilliput Farms. Lilliput Farms took me to N. Linnwood Drive so that I could connect to Railroad Ave. But on N. Linnwood a mid size black and brown dog spotted me and the chase began. There was a drainage ditch between him and as he ran through the grass but it became shallow enough for him to come across into the street. I saw him make the transition to the street and he was almost beside me. I pedaled faster in the 35×13 gears and he stayed close for about 100 feet until he stopped chasing. I knew this dog might be in the area from an earlier encounter on another ride on Railroad Ave. On that ride he ducked under the fence to chase me. No other dog sprint on this ride.
With the dog sprint done I headed to the frontage road again and to the SH 242 overpass over US59. No apparent change in the construction from what I could see. The work area is not very large and traffic flows through it smoothly. The southbound frontage road took me to Valley Ranch Parkway which I rode to Azalea Blvd. Azalea Blvd. was the way back again to the southbound frontage road which crossed through the FM 1314 intersection to the Auburn Trails entrance where I left the frontage road to the quiet space away from US59. Auburn Trails and then Oakhurst kept the quiet going. Through Oakhurst and onto Northpark Drive where I rode west for a few 10ths of a mile to Kingwood Place Drive. Kingwood Place brought me to Kellington and back to the noisy frontage road and the u-turn at Kingwood Drive. A short ride on the northbound frontage road and a right turn onto Kingwood Parc and I was again getting to a quiet place. From there I rode through Kings Manor into Kingwood and finished the ride at 2:22 PM riding 38.74 miles. Today was the second longest ride of the eight previous rides during 2022.
10-31-2022 YTD Bike Rides Kingwood-SH242-Kingwood Route
After seeing the temperature get above 70 before starting the ride I went back and changed my long sleeve jersey from thermal to regular keeping a poly long sleeve T-shirt underneath. On the road the first couple of miles was chilly but as I warmed up the jersey change was a good thing. Weather conditions: start 72 (humidity 65%, dew point 59), mostly cloudy, wind NW 5 mph; finish 77 (humidity 49%, dew point 56), mostly cloudy, wind variable 6 mph. The light wind helped me pedal strongly to SH 242 and back.
10-31-2022 Strava Ride Data Summary Kingwood-SH242-Kingwood
October bike rides closed out today with a total of 957.98 road and virtual miles. 841.9 of those miles was on the road leaving 116.08 virtual miles. I was on a bike 30 of the 31 days. October 2021 I was on a bike for 30 days for a total of 958.27 miles. I exceeded my 651 road miles goal for October, passed my 800 mile virtual riding goal for the year with 35 miles extra and 2 more months. I need 37 miles to reach my 7,900 road mile goal for the year. October was a good biking month. My only organized ride in October was the Pineywoods Purgatory in Lufkin on October 1st. My goal for November is a modest 360 road miles. Weather changes and daylight saving time ends.
10-31-2022 October Bike Rides Recap10-31-2022 Stravini Year Progressions YTD Miles
Bicyclists participate in the annual Volks Ride fundraiser earlier this month at Barrow Brewing Company in Salado.
Photo courtesy of Kaylee Berrier/ Rein Photography
Hundreds of cyclists joined forces on Oct. 15 to raise more than $20,000 for the Salado Volunteer Fire Department during the Third Annual Volks Ride.
Saturday October 29, 2022, 71 miles (114 km) – Total so far: 1,938 miles (3,119 km)
We went out last night to Mama’s Place which was in a corrugated steel building, it was more or less full when we sat down at our table for 11. It was a great atmosphere and better than the campsite which was cold and damp when we left. I had all you can eat fried catfish which was very nice, I didn’t need to have any second helpings.
I was up before daybreak to get ready for a long cold day. It didn’t help that my cycling gear from yesterday was still damp which made the first hour shivery until the damp had heated to body temp. It was like I had woken up in a northern state, Nebraska.
Breakfast over and just post sunrise most of the group were leaving camp and on the road. It took a while to get up to operating temperature but once achieved I was comfortable. I also had a friend over my left hand shoulder, a tailwind which was very welcome.
It all seems to be cattle country with some very nice looking working ranches. I was impressed by some of the older buildings that must have dated back to the first settlers. I tried to imagine what this land was like before westerners arrived. The live oak trees must have been everywhere and …
Day 36 Shepherd: After the thunder
Sunday October 30, 2022, 50 miles (80 km) – Total so far: 1,988 miles (3,199 km)
Well, I awoke this morning all nice and warm in my down sleeping bag and then I looked at the little airtight bag containing my cycling gear. With a grimace I thought they are still probably damp and cold but I had to exchange my comfort for discomfort. I could hear the words in my head of one of my dearest friends from the Transam ride, Cpt Pete, ‘suck it up boy’. I’m sure he will be grinning when he reads this.
After a while it didn’t feel all that bad and I slowly packed up the inside of my tent. I like to get everything ready for just pulling out as I leave the tent. The only thing could not bring myself to put on was my damp merino socks, but I had a plan for that. I slipped away to the restroom block and dried them with the hand dryer, worked a treat.
I always have to get up in the night and water the grass, it’s a pain but I would not sleep otherwise. Last night when I looked up the …
Thursday October 27, 2022, 55 miles (89 km) – Total so far: 1,691 miles (2,721 km)
After the rest day, we left the hotel around 8:30 am and wound our way out of Austin. About 15 miles into our trip, we ran into a pack of dogs that wanted to chase us. Thanks to our trusty air horn, we made it through the pack. A little later on we encountered a couple more dogs and the air horn worked again. Just after the second dog encounter, we stopped at a gas station/grocery and had a breakfast taco that really hit the spot.
Further down the road, we saw the high school football stadium for Bastrop independent school district. It was huge! I think it even had a jumbotron. Then we came upon the town itself which had a really nice grocery store. We stopped to have …
Day 34: Smithville, TX to Somerville, TX
Friday October 28, 2022, 65 miles (105 km) – Total so far: 1,756 miles (2,826 km)
The rains were predicted to come this morning. Fortunately they held off for a while so that we could get a ways down the road. We left the campsite around 8:15 after setting out breakfast for everyone and cleaning up after everyone was done. We figured we had at least an hour of riding before the rains would catch us. We stopped in Winchester to check the radar about 10 miles out. We decided that we could make it 8.5 more miles to a restaurant on the route.
We arrived at Burgerz and Beerz just damp from a few raindrops and then the skies opened up! Soon the other riders in our group arrived as well. Fortunately we were under the canopy out front and stayed dry. We got there before they opened but the cook arrived about 30 minutes after we did and said we could come inside. We hung out in …
Day 35: Somerville, TX to New Waverly, TX
Saturday October 29, 2022, 72 miles (116 km) – Total so far: 1,828 miles (2,942 km)
Got up this morning around 6 am and started breaking down our campsite. It was chilli outside and quite breezy. Breakfast was a group effort since we had eaten out last night. We ate breakfast in the dark as its not getting light until about 7:45. Everyone was trying to get out of camp at a decent time because we knew it was a 70+ mile day. The breeze was blowing in a good direction today out of the Northwest and we would be travelling primarily East!
We were all advised to look for the Weiss store sign about 10 miles in to the ride. We found it and took some pictures. Not that remarkable but it has some amusing mileages to interesting destinations.
We then rode another 5 or so miles to Independence which is apparently the birthplace of Texas. There was an interesting historic site which included the original site of Baylor University (now in Waco). We found out when …
Day 36: New Waverly, TX to Shepherd, TX
Sunday October 30, 2022
Got up a little later than normal today as we have a short day ahead. 49 mile and not a lot of climb. We were surprised that everyone else got up at the normal time even though breakfast was scheduled for 30 minutes later than normal. We packed our gear which was wet from the humidity and sprinkles last night. We set off from camp around 9:00 knowing it was a short day.
We stopped in New Waverly around 7 miles in to have a cup of coffee. Unfortunately the coffee shop was closed but the grocery store had coffee and it was pretty good. After that we headed out and made our way through dog country. We didn’t have any really aggressive dogs but its always unnerving when the dogs join us in the road and run along side us barking. One particular dog ran with us for about 1.5 miles or so. We knew …
Day 27: Sanderson to Seminole Canyon State Park (Oct. 29): Many Miles before We Slept
Sunday October 30, 2022, 81 miles (130 km) – Total so far: 1,366 miles (2,198 km)
(This entry was written the day after, because we did not have signal at our camping site that evening.) Our longest miles day so far. Beautiful day, sunny and cool (high 60s). The wind was mostly out of the north, pushing us gently on our way. The terrain varied. First half of the day, high open plains desert. Second half, we are getting into rolling hills and canyons.While the maps indicated NO SERVICES on this …
Day 28: Seminole Park to Del Rio: Short ride to our resting destination
Monday October 31, 2022, 41 miles (66 km) – Total so far: 1,407 miles (2,264 km)
Today we planned to be a shorter ride, leading into our first 0 miles rest day (Halloween Monday) since Silver City ___ days ago.
The 2022 FallsTown Cycling Halloween Circle trail ride from last night
Today (Sunday, Oct. 30) there'll be a 20 & 40 mile road ride at 3 p.m. leaving from 502 Wichita St. (Berend's Landing). Helmets are required, and everyone' welcome. There will be grilled food afterwards!!! pic.twitter.com/Pun1VKUzNH
New bike, who dis? Took it on its maiden voyage this morning on the SATN trails. First ride since the Moab trip, where I just happened to rent a Rocky Mountain bike. Liking this one so far. pic.twitter.com/d21VrZvi6a
This morning before leaving for church and while I ate breakfast I watched the first 21 minutes of the women’s 2022 UCI Cyclocross World Cup Maasmechelen, Belgium. After getting home from church and before I started today’s bike ride I finished watching the women’s race while eating a snack. It was about the same weather there as here, partly cloudy and the temperature in the low 70’s. I’ll watch the men’s race after today’s ride.
Nourished and enthused from the race I set out on my bike ride at 1:54 PM riding my Lynskey Helix bike. I decided to ride the Kingwood Streets route after a two week break. I added a couple of streets and got lost in Kings Point Village which increased the mileage slightly compared to other recent bike rides on this route. Finishing at 3:33 PM I rode 21.09 miles, a couple of miles more than the average for this route. This closed out the week with 183.64 miles breaking my 7 week streak of 200+ mile weeks. 200 mile weeks will be harder to get with the changing weather and end of daylight saving time next Sunday. I rode every day this week, 2 days in Zwift, 1 day in Wahoo RGT, and 4 on the road.
10-30-2022 Week Bike Rides Summary Week Ending 10-30-2022
Some of what I saw during the bike ride: a man riding a bike with his dog (in the video), many booths at Town Center Park (in the video), Kings Harbor (in the video), and cars around the 7 eleven store that has been under construction forever.
WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) – It’s been nearly a week since the tragic death of 64-year-old Jose Guadalupe Medina Martinez in Wichita Falls.
He was hit by a vehicle while out riding his bike, and as Chief Photojournalist Joseph Saint reports in Friday’s crime of the week, the Wichita Falls Police Department is still searching for the person responsible.
READ: GoFundMe created for family of bicyclist killed in hit-and-run
During a normal Monday morning for Martinez, he rode his bike near Martin Luther King Blvd. and flood street before the unthinkable happened.
“Some vehicle hit the bicyclist and then left the scene,” WFPD PIO Sgt. Charlie Eipper said.
Officers arrived to find Martinez lying in the street unresponsive.
Brothers Frank and Bob Hurley made a stop in Austin as part of their cycling journey.
AUSTIN, Texas — Brothers Frank and Bob Hurley are cycling across the country to raise awareness and support for nonprofit K9s For Warriors, the nation’s largest provider of service dogs to military veterans suffering from PTSD, TBI and/or military sexual trauma.
The duo, who made a stop in Austin, are also taking donations for the Greensboro Pantry, which serves the underprivileged people of Greensboro, North Carolina.
The brothers began their nearly 3,000-mile journey in San Diego on Sept. 29.
Bob credits Frank for giving him the motivation to start the ride. About two years ago, Bob had a bad accident that left him bedridden for three months.
"My brother was reminded by his daughter that he …
Yes, it was EXTREMELY windy, but I am just grateful period. Thankful to be able to live and actually ride a bike again, as well as for a great faithful friend like Jeff who has ALWAYS remained by my side and NEVER quit believing in me. It was also wonderful to meet a group in Fair Oaks Ranch which had awesome friends like Bryant Willett, Chad Christian, Robert Dickerson, & David Fluchel in it. I absolutely love to ride, and to ride with friends makes it even more enjoyable. Most of all, and as always, I am thankful to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for healing me and enabling me to return to this sport that I love, and for yet another safe ride with some awesome fellowship!?
Lovely site visit today morning along Hawthorn Street to find the contractor repping bikeway pavement marking. ?@hcpct1? and #MontroseTIRZ partnership creating safety and accessibility improvements for people walking, biking and driving #VisionZeropic.twitter.com/Jy8bntytbj
