40 Degrees Outside, 70 Degrees Inside. Zwift Dust In The Wind

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UAE Tour and Gran Camiño bike races enjoyed much warmer temperatures as I watched on GCN+. 40 degrees outside at the 12:15 PM start of today’s Zwift ride. Maybe it warms up to the 60’s by Sunday. In the meantime Zwift is my biking location. I created a meetup riding the Watopia Dust in the Wind route but I shortened the distance to 15 miles rather than the full 33 miles. I thought this would be the first time on the route but after the ride I check my SportTracks log and found I rode the full route March 5th, 2021 as a solo ride. That took over 2 hours.

At the end of today’s ride it was 44 degrees outside, well below my 60 degree threshold.

The 15 miles today included 2 large climbs and numerous small ones. The total climbing came in at 1,017 feet. I think my Wahoo Kickr Snap smart trainer wasn’t adjusting the resistance for the climbs. I was pedaling at 90 rpm going up hill at 4 to 6 mph and around 130 to 150 watts. The effort didn’t feel like it was changing. About 9 miles I stopped and changed from connecting through the companion app to my desktop computer using the ANT+ dongle. I don’t know if that made a difference because the rods were mostly downhill from there. After the ride I turned the power off and back on for the trainer. I will see how it works tomorrow.

No problems with the live stream today using the OBS Studio program.

I’m waiting for my new glasses to get here. Without them and using a pair of reading glasses I can’t see the small print on my monitors while Zwifting. But I know where the buttons are.

It looks like I will fall short of my 300 road miles for February. Zwift miles looks good considering the days I took off for 2 cataract surgeries. I rode each day starting February 17th through today.

Strava reported two personal records: PR on Jungle Circuit Reverse Lead-In (13:49), PR on Jungle CCW Descent (5:18).

2-25-2022 Strava Zwift Watopia Dust In The Wind Summary
2-25-2022 Strava Zwift Watopia Dust In The Wind Summary
2-25-2022 Strava Zwift Watopia Dust In The Wind Map
2-25-2022 Strava Zwift Watopia Dust In The Wind Map

Texas Biking News February 24th 2022

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Completing unfinished business.

By Claus Ovesen | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Johnson City Texas to Fredericksburg Texas 31 miles 1224 ft of gain: BURR !!! What a difference a day makes!

Wednesday February 23, 2022, 31 miles (50 km) – Total so far: 81 miles (130 km) I had a great sleep last night in my tent. The wind blew and it was cold but I stayed warm and slept well. It was 30° with snow flurries when I woke up. A drop of 50 deg from yesterday! I checked the weather app and it said it was only gonna get colder. The next two days don’t look promising so I made a decision to get to Fredericksburg 30 miles away and hold up in a hotel for a couple days. It was cold windy and miserable trying to pack up. I finally got my tent put away and got rolling about 830. I stopped for a warm cup of coffee and a quick snack at the only place open in town. The wind never stopped but the snow did. After a while it turned to freezing drizzle and I end up with ice build up on my clothes and gear. I was wearing many layers of clothes but my …

Modified Southern Tier Winter 2022

By Dean Mitchell | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Kerrville, TX

Wednesday February 23, 2022, 50 km (31 miles) – Total so far: 1,819 km (1,130 miles) What a difference a day makes. Yesterday this time it was 29c, today it’s -2c. A cold front moved in overnight and I woke up in the tent to freezing temperatures. I was warm inside as I’m set up for freezing temperatures to -5c at least.

Made coffee and oatmeal, packed up and left. There was a huge climb to what I believe to be the last big hill in this area. I rode along atop of this for over an hour with occasional light drizzle. I was soon coated in a thin layer of ice as it was just below freezing and the winds were fairly strong.

The rest of the day was …

Lost bike from 3rd floor apartment in River Oaks area from bikehouston

Houston MTB at its finest. from MTB

Public asked to weigh in on design for new bicycle, pedestrian bridge near Lady Bird Lake

www.fox7austin.com

AUSTIN, Texas – The City of Austin is asking the public to weigh on the designs for the brand-new bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the eastern edge of Lady Bird Lake.

Austin Public Works’ New Longhorn Dam Bridge 30% Design Virtual Open House, launched on Thursday. It reveals updated plans for the new bridge’s overall design and amenities. The open house focuses on three key project areas: the bridge and its plaza, a new underpass under Pleasant Valley Road and parkland improvements near Canterbury Street.

The open house is available in English and Spanish 24 hours a day, seven days …

‘Late to the party’ naysayers tried to have their day, but 11th Street road diet, bike lanes will move forward as planned

Jay R. Jordan | www,chron.com

Construction on the redesign could start in summer 2022 once schematics are finalized.

Mayor Sylvester Turner on Wednesday pledged to move forward with the city’s plans to give 11th Street a road diet despite a last-minute effort to oppose the project from a small but vocal group of Houston Heights residents who admitted they were "late to the party."

The sudden outcry against the redesign came after nearly three years of public meetings and forums hosted by the city’s transportation planners to gather input from community members on the project, which city leaders say will reduce speeds and make the road safer for everyone. Opposition to the redesign propagated on Nextdoor this past weekend and blossomed at a …

The Circuit of The Americas’ Bike Night set to return March 15

By Zacharia Washington | communityimpact.com

The Circuit of The Americas announced starting March 15, Bike Night powered by Ascension Seton will return and continue throughout the spring and fall.

“Ascension Seton is excited to continue to support COTA Bike Nights,” said Adam Bauman, the vice president of orthopedics, sports and rehabilitation services for Ascension Texas, in a press release. “The popularity of this event and the year over year continued growth and community engagement is in direct alignment with our focus on supporting activities that facilitate health, wellness and family engagement.”

The event is hosted every week on Tuesdays for cycling enthusiasts, and it allows riders to …

New pop-up photography exhibit gives a human face to San Antonio bicyclists

By Jack Morgan | www.tpr.org

There’s a new pop-up photography exhibition going up for just two evenings, and it’s got an interesting backstory. Jeff Moore said the pop-up comes from biking group SATX Social Ride.

“We’re a kind of a grass roots cycling organization that gets people out on the road each Tuesday,” Moore said. “So people who haven’t ridden in a long time or just have a casual ride, they come out and enjoy it on Tuesday nights.”

You may have seen them downtown, riding …

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Second Try Worked Riding Spirit Forest in Zwift

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Creating a meetup in Zwift for today’s bike ride went smoothly. When I opened the desktop program the usual screens came up and after pairing I chose Ride. The “Join Event” link was there and I joined the meetup I created. No problem today. The ride went as planned although there was a lot of climbing, for me anyway. The live stream was not as successful. I use OBS Studio to send the stream to YouTube. Around 41 minutes in OBS Studio stopped sending the video to YouTube and it closed the live stream. Thus the video above is not the complete ride.

This one of my longer Zwift rides this year at 1:23:56. I wasn’t sure how many times I would go up the big climb but I thought 3 was plenty. One of the features of a meetup is all of the other Zwifters on the route. When I opened the companion app over 26,000 people were in Zwift. I was there because it was 44 degrees outside and I didn’t want to ride outside.

The route for today’s Zwift meetup followed the Makuri Islands Spirit Forest Route. This was the first time for me on this route producing the badge. I set the distance to 15 miles, longer than one lap. Checking ZwiftInsider.com the route basics looked good, “Length: 8.4 km (5.2 miles), Elevation: 134 m (440‘), Lead-In: 4 km (2.5 miles). Based on that riding 15 miles took me up the 300 foot climb 3 times. With all of the dirt/gravel surface I probably should’ve switched to the gravel bike in my Zwift garage but I didn’t. Overall I climbed 1,322 feet and at times my speed dropped to 3 or 4 mph grinding up the hill. The profile for a lap looks like this at VeloViewer.com.

Strava includes two segments for this route and I garnered a top result on each one: PR on Spirit Forest (28:25), 2nd fastest time on Spirit Forest (29:22). Not sure why there are 2 segments with the same name.

2-24-2022 Strava Zwift Makuri Islands Spirit Forest Summary
2-24-2022 Strava Zwift Makuri Islands Spirit Forest Summary
2-24-2022 Strava Zwift Makuri Islands Spirit Forest Map
2-24-2022 Strava Zwift Makuri Islands Spirit Forest Map

Texas Biking News February 23rd 2022

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Baylor cycling team preps for Baylor Bear Classic race

By Luke Araujo | baylorlariat.com

Baylor University’s cycling team will be competing in three Baylor Bear Classic cycling races on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. The team will be competing against teams from University of Texas Arlington, Midwestern State University, Texas A&M University, University of North Texas and University of Texas San Antonio.

On Saturday, Baylor cyclists will attend two races at McLane Stadium: a criterium race and a time trial. The next day, cyclists will compete in an extended road race in Speegleville, near Lake Waco.

The event is being helped and funded by the Greater Waco Sports Commission, an independent nonprofit organization that works to help with local sports events.

Andrew Telep, adviser for the team, said its …

A journey through the Wild Wild West

By Kenneth Welch | www.crazyguyonabike.com

First Long Training Ride: Too Much Sun

Sunday February 13, 2022
Yesterday I went on my first long training ride. About 30 miles. With my E-assist, it was like nothing. I’m sure I will be able to get 50 or 60 miles a day while touring the Wild Wild West. It was also training for my good eye. Last week, lost my left eye to a stroke. Not the cerebral kind. The kind in your eye.
I felt good starting out. Getting out of town and to the Hike and Bike trail was not very exciting, but after I got to George Bush Park, it was great riding. Perfect weather. Sunny. I wore a long sleeve tee and some camo shorts. I was going to go out and enjoy the …

Completing unfinished business.

By Claus Ovesen | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Austin Texas to Johnson City Texas. 50 miles. 3000 ish ft of gain: Marathon complete, one more night of partying and then hitting the road

Tuesday February 22, 2022, 50 miles (80 km) – Total so far: 100 miles (161 km)
I had a great time hanging out with my running friends. Finished my first marathon and got some good parting with quality live music. For about a day and a half after the marathon I had a difficult time walking. It really tore my legs up. But when I woke up this morning, I felt decent. My running friends had a late flight out so I decided to give myself a little more recovery time and I didn’t take off until about 1230 on the bike. I dialed down the mileage to 50. That was enough. I am in Texas Hill country so the ride to Johnson City was up-and-down but nothing too terrible as far as hills. The legs didn’t …

Modified Southern Tier Winter 2022

By Dean Mitchell | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Langtry, TX

Friday February 18, 2022, 95 km (59 miles) – Total so far: 1,492 km (927 miles) The strong winds yesterday stopped overnight. They brought in a cold front which dropped the temperature to a bit below freezing. It recovered during the day but still it felt cool.

I’ve entered hill country today, many long climbs, then down, then up, and repeat all day long. Absolutely nothing again today between towns, still very remote. I did see a cow today chewing on a prickly pear cactus, I don’t know he did that, the thorns on those are stiff and nasty.

When I got to Langtry the only store had some snacks. The colorful old …

Del Rio, TX: + Rest day on 20/02/2022

Saturday February 19, 2022, 93 km (58 miles) – Total so far: 1,585 km (985 miles) Simply put, it was a tough day. Headwinds and hills. The hills and winds the past two days have my body yelling at me to take a rest day, so I will remain in Del Rio for another day. It is a good sized town to get any supplies I need. Mostly desert scrub all day with a pit stop in Comstock for lunch. Again, other than Comstock nothing at all till Del Rio.

Sunny, windy, 24c

Camp Wood, TX

Monday February 21, 2022, 121 km (75 miles) – Total so far: 1,706 km (1,060 miles) One thing I have noticed since getting to Del Rio and eastward is that grass has shown up and more trees. I looked on the map and found that the desert I was in for weeks ends a bit west of Del Rio. Today was Texas hill country, so lots of up and downs. I had a good headwind to slow things down but also it kept the heat at bay. Last hour was a tail wind and it got really hot. Staying at a county park (Wes Cooksey) in the tent by the Nueces river.

Hot, sunny, 31c

Vanderpool, TX

Tuesday February 22, 2022, 63 km (39 miles) – Total so far: 1,769 km (1,099 miles) Even though it was a short milage day (63 km), it was by no means an easy day. There were three long, curvy, steep climbs scattered amongst the hilly ups and downs in this part of Texas hill country.

To the cyclists reading this, if you take this route (337 from Camp Wood to Vanderpool), do some hill work beforehand. You will be tested.

The day got a bit hot and it was a few degrees cooler at the tops of the climbs. Very light traffic and lots of quiet. Lots of motorcycles as this is a favorite scenic ride.

I’m in the tent again tonight at Lost Maples RV and Camping, wifi, showers and a store right next to it.

Sunny, light wind, 29c

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