Texas Biking News December 27th 2020

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Wahoo Frontiers: Colin Strickland

Wahoo Fitness | www.youtube.com

When faced with the decision to take racing to the next level Colin Strickland chose his own path as he has always done.

"World tour racing is the dream for some and may even be the dream for most cyclists but it was not my dream."

The life he has created for himself in Austin, Texas and the type of racing he gets to do means more to him than any world tour race. This does not mean that there is anything wrong with …

New trails to connect parks, greenways in Humble, Kingwood

By Andy Li, Kelly Schafler | communityimpact.com

Harris County and Houston officials said several long-awaited parks and recreation projects in the Humble and Kingwood area will break ground next year.

Dennis Johnston, parks director of Harris County Precinct 4, said Phase 1 of Edgewater Park, a 19-acre site, will include a detention basin, fish-cleaning station, trail and boat launch. A timeline is not available for Phase 2, which is east and north of Phase 1.

Construction on the $2.3 million park will begin in …

New trail system designs coming to Pearsall Park for people living in southwest San Antonio

Author: Jordan Foster | www.kens5.com

SAN ANTONIO — After months of fundraising, new mountain biking trails at Pearsall Park are ready to be designed.

“Our main mission and goal is to get more people on mountain bikes and also trail access,” President of the South Texas Off Road Mountain Bikers Jeff Jordan said. “We’ve been trying to get more of these types of trails, these natural dirt trails, and mountain biking trails in all parts of the city.”

Jordan says right now most of the natural trails in San Antonio are located on the northern parts …

Sinton Highway Patrol Troopers gift new bike to DPS employee

Author: KIII Staff | www.kiiitv.com

SINTON, Texas — Sinton Highway Patrol Trooper Crowley and Trooper Cook along with Academy personal picked out a new bicycle for a part time DPS employee, who’s only means of transportation was his older bicycle.

Troopers took up a collection and academy donated …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2S3CeHJMps

Texas Biking from Twitter

Dashing Through The Forests Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by
https://youtu.be/FoJIR_Fv7V8

Thinking of potential bike ride routes today I came up with a different one utilizing roads used previously. I call it the “Forest Cove – Oakhurst – Forest Colony” route. Searching my ride history in SportTracks I didn’t find a route that traveled this particular street and roads combination all the way back to 2012. One reason I chose going through Forest Cove was the construction on Kingwood Drive at Loop 494. Kingwood Drive west of Loop 494 has concrete barriers along the right curb constructing the lane about half way to US59. Traffic can be heavy in that spot while going through Forest Cove and biking west on Hamblen Road I was passed by 3 or 4 cars. Heading north on Loop 494 from Hamblen Road to the US59 overpass again almost no traffic and on Sorters McClelland Road only 3 cars passed.

The wind from the south felt stronger than 9 mph when I rode into it. Maybe the chill it brought added to it. I dressed lighter than I should’ve with shorts, a long sleeve jersey, and a light jacket. I never got warm during the ride with the mostly cloudy sky minimizing the sun warming me. I started at 12:10 PM with a 9 mph south wind and finished at 2:07 PM with a 12 mph south wind. Temperature stayed at 70 to 71 degrees contributing to my feeling chilly. But it was warmer than yesterday’s bike ride.

I modified the Saramonic mic setup for my GoPro Hero 7 Black camera by adding a dead cat muff. Listening to the video the dead cat muff helped filter out the road noise. I think the Saramonic mic is the best setup since my lapel mic died. Photos of the new setup.

  • 12-27-2020 Saramonic Mic with Dead Cat-1
  • 12-27-2020 Saramonic Mic with Dead Cat-2

Now if I can figure out how to stop the video jarring when I ride over a sharp bump.

Today’s ride covered 26.17 miles boosting my week’s total to 155.26. Not a bad total considering one short ride in Zwift and not biking on Christmas Day. December now totals 451.65 miles. If the weather allows I may get to 500+ miles for December. I will miss my Zwift miles goal most likely.

After several rides where Strava reported my rides were harder than my usual effort today’s biking came in as easier than my usual effort. Not sure how Strava determined that because I thought I worked hard. My average speed hit 14.2 mph and stayed there for several miles, going up even while riding into the headwind on the US59 southbound frontage road from Forest Colony to Northpark Drive.

  • 12-27-2020 Strava Bike Ride Summary-1
  • 12-27-2020 Strava Bike Ride Summary-2

Texas Biking Action December 26th 2020

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Cyclones Century Ride.

Esther Barrientez | www.strava.com

BREAKFAST CLUB : SAFARI B ROUTE, ATX

Jessica Danielle | www.strava.com

Def missed a few turns (1 mi errors) but got to scare some chickens and see a fluffers. Windy afaaaaackkkkkk

Part two after my double flat Ride now totals to triple digits!!!!

Nicole Volek | www.strava.com

Got my century in today the hard way. Between the wind and the double flats maybe I should use horsepower next time

Gravel Locos Gravel Bells

Eric M | www.strava.com

Sam Houston Century w/ Guv… Forgot to Restart Garmin, DOH!!

LJ Mtbr | www.strava.com

Sam Houston Century 2020

Kevin Highfield | www.strava.com

etter late than never. Perfect conditions, apart from the first 30 minutes freezing on the road to Huntsville. Sandy was awesome and she had a fine old time at DL and Huntsville trails. Just LJ and me, but we worked great together.

Lunch Ride

Carlos Flores | www.strava.com

trail tool setup

By mack_turtle | austinmountainbiking.com

What’s working for you? I avoid carrying a backpack as much as possible, so strapping tools to my bike has been useful—but challenging sometimes.

  • Lezyne Alloy Drive pump strapped to the seat tube using a TwoFish bike block
  • spare tube, tire lever, bacons, a few inches of Gorilla tape, plug tool—strapped under saddle using a Granite Rockband (fancy velcro strap). I need the item smooshed into a cotton sack to protect the tube from grit and sunlight.

The trick now is carrying a multi-tool that fits comfortably in a pants pocket or can be strapped to the bike somehow. are you using something like this?

I am thinking about …

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

After 3 Months Returned To A Favorite Route

Texbiker.net Posted on by

After a 3 month hiatus today I returned to the “Atascocita – Huffman – Walden” route. This was the 15th time biking this route in 2020; 12 times on my Canyon Endurace bike and 3 times on my Lynskey R300 bike. Starting at 11:23 AM I began the bike ride on my Lynskey R300 bike under a sunny sky and cool temperature. The construction along FM 2100 reached a point where I thought riding north on FM 2100 from Old Atascocita Road to FM 1960 no longer pushed me to biking west on Old Atascocita Road. The distance came in at 30.98 miles (I should’ve bike a tiny bit farther). December road miles total 244.49, passed my goal by 94 miles. I still need 77 miles to reach my Zwift goal which probably will fall short. My mileage goal status.

12-26-2020 MTD Mileage Goals Status

I wanted to start biking earlier but I waited for the temperature to get to 66 degrees. I took a chance leaving my leg warmers at home and counting on the sun to minimize the chill on my legs. Generally that worked except for biking in the shade in the early part of the ride. The rest of me covered up with shorts, a long sleeve thermal jersey, and windbreaker jacket. I wore half finger gloves to push the GoPro buttons. Weather conditions: start 66 (58% humidity, 50.8 dew point), fair, wind S 10 mph gusts 17 mph; finish 69 (43% humidity, 45.7 dew point), a few clouds, wind S 6 mph. Fortunately the wind calmed from the beginning of the ride.

For Christmas I received a new Saramonic microphone to use with my GoPro Hero 7 black camera and today I tried it out. Unlike my Comica mic the Saramonic is omnidirectional. I wasn’t sure how the sound would be. As you watch the video the mic picks up some road noise but my voice comes through above it. The mic setup on my Lynskey R300 bike.

The left side of the mic is shielded by the GoPro. Maybe this reduces passing traffic pick up? It was windy during part of the ride and I don’t hear that in the audio.

Since replacing the Fabric saddle with the Koobi PRS Century saddle my sitting comfort has improved. I don’t remember what prompted me to remove the Koobi.

After not biking outdoors since December 23rd it was good to feel the road moving under the wheels. Strava again said the ride was harder than my usual efforts. I saw my power output in zones 3 to 7 hit 57% of the ride time which is good. Zones 6 and 7 totaled 14% of the ride time. Average watts was 114 and I reached 458 watts maximum. No Strava medals on this ride. Ride summary data from Golden Cheetah.

  • 12-26-2020 Golden Cheetah Bike Ride Summary Data-1
  • 12-26-2020 Golden Cheetah Bike Ride Summary Data-2