Texas Biking News November 19th 2020

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TxDOT puts down signs to help pedestrians, bicyclists find walkways in construction zones

By: Joel Lopez | www.kxxv.com

WACO, TX — Construction downtown and along I-35 has made it dangerous for pedestrians to get by in Waco. So the Texas Department of Transportation is stepping in to help make the roadways safer.

"If we all obey traffic laws, we can work together to make sure we’re all safer," said Jake Smith with TxDOT Waco District.

The department launched the "Be Seen, Be Safe" campaign after road …

Houston’s Bike Share Begins Rollout Of New Electric Bicycles

GAIL DELAUGHTER | www.houstonpublicmedia.org

Houston BCycle says the e-bikes give riders an added boost. They’re hoping the new bikes will get more people interested in bike share as Houstonians seek recreational opportunities during the pandemic.

The city’s bike sharing nonprofit will begin the rollout of new electric bikes on Houston streets Thursday, ultimately planning to launch 200 e-bikes by March of 2021.

Houston BCycle rolled out several e-bikes during a pilot program last year and riders eagerly sought them out at bikeshare stations. Now the nonprofit is pushing out 100 new e-bikes by the end of the year, 25 of which will be stationed at kiosks starting Thursday.

And Houston BCycle Interim Executive Director Frank Karbarz said if you want to try …

Houston BCycle rolls out new e-bikes in Midtown

By Matt Dulin | communityimpact.com

Houston BCycle will debut its first batch of electric rental bikes for rent in Midtown on Nov. 19, the nonprofit announced.

The battery-powered bikes assist riders up to speeds of 12 miles per hour, though riders can set their own pace beyond that.

E-bike availability will be …

Ep. 60 – Aaron Chamberlain, Tour de Texas

Patrick Farnsworth | bikesordeath.com

I caught up with Aaron 4 days after he finished becoming the *first person to circumnavigate Texas on a bike! In total he rode 3,014 miles in 58 days and he wrote weekly articles about his journey that you can read on Texas Monthly. In 2019 he rode every street in his hometown of Austin, TX, but towards the end of that project he started thinking bigger. Like the whole state of Texas bigger! In the fall he started planning a route, starting first by connecting …

Suspect steals bike worth $9K from Austin Bike Farm

By Amanda Ruiz | www.fox7austin.com

AUSTIN, Texas – Early Wednesday morning, Austin Bike Farm was burglarized with the suspect taking one bike worth $9,000.

Owner Owen Weber says he got a disturbing email telling him someone broke into his business. “We had a good Samaritan live cross street witness someone smashing in the window with a brick,” he said.

The witness told Weber they spotted the suspect in the midst of breaking into …

Cycling in Brownsville helping the community and the economy

by: Brice Helms | www.valleycentral.com

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (KVEO) — Getting residents and visitors out and about on the many cycling paths has been a goal of the city of Brownsville for years now, and the cycling community is taking notice.

Cyclists say it’s the best way to get to know an area.

“Cycling you can see something that you don’t really see on the street. and it’s more up close and personal,” said Uma Philbrook, a tourist out for a …

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New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Partially Unique, Swapped Koobi for Fabric, Humidity Back Bike Ride

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I came up with another partially unique route for today’s bike ride. Checking my SportTracks ride history I couldn’t find the same route going back to 2011. I added Forest Cove to another route I ride creating what I call “Forest Cove – Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch”. When I started the ride I wasn’t sure how many miles it covered. As I rode I added the Cumberland portion to what would’ve been the “Forest Cove – Oakhurst – Valley Ranch” route. With the Cumberland leg the ride covered 34.31 miles. This moved my week’s total to 101.53 miles. If I ride the next three days I could record another 200 mile week.

Yesterday I wrote about the Fabric saddle making popping sounds. After a chat with BikeTiresDirect.com they sent me a return label. Before today’s ride I installed my Koobi PRS Century saddle for the ride. It performed well and the popping sounds are gone. Because finding the perfect saddle is the Holy Grail of cycling I began looking online for a replacement in case the Koobi doesn’t work out or wears out. It has many miles on it and shows signs of wear on the nose where my shorts rub against the leather. I found the BiSaddle, watched several videos and read some reviews. They offer a 90 day return policy so I ordered one. I will see how it works.

The ride today began at 11:32 AM as I rode away on my Canyon Endurace bike. The weather started changing this morning. The blue sky gave way to some clouds and the early morning temperature only dropped to 49 and moved up to the mid 70’s by the time I began the ride. Wind was from the east at 13 mph at the start and eased up to 9 mph by the 2:14 PM finish. More weather details: start 74 (75% humidity, 66 dew point), partly cloudy, wind E 13 mph; finish 77 (67% humidity, 65.6 dew point), partly cloudy, wind E 9 mph. I wore shorts, long sleeve jersey, and a short sleeve one over that. I was comfortable the whole ride.

Sometimes new bike gear or reconnecting with older gear revitalizes a ride. I think that was the case today with the Koobi saddle back on the Canyon. I pedaled strongly pushing my overall average speed up to 14.5 mph and holding there for a bunch of miles until I rode into Woodridge Forest and slowed by stop signs. Looking at the bike ride summary data in Golden Cheetah I saw my power in zones 6+7 totaled 16% of the 2:24:19 moving time. This is 4% higher than yesterday which a big change. Would changing to a different saddle make that possible? Strava says today was consistent with my usual efforts but I don’t think so.

  • 11-19-2020 Strava Bike Ride Summary-1
  • 11-19-2020 Strava Bike Ride Summary-2
11-19-2020 SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

Texas Biking News November 18th 2020

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Big Spring police arrest truck driver in hit-and-run that killed bicyclist

www.reporternews.com

BIG SPRING — The Big Spring Police Department announced in a news release Wednesday that a Corpus Christi man was arrested in connection with an October hit-and-run that left one woman dead.

Glen Earl Wilson According to the release, Big Spring detectives arrested Glen Earl Wilson, 58, at about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday in Corpus Christi on a charged of second-degree felony accident causing death. The arrest …

Time to completion of Brays Bayou path near BW-8? from bikehouston
Houston Bike Tag, Chase Edition – Set #3 from bikehouston

Death March 2021

By DesertNomad | austinmountainbiking.com

DEATH-MARCH 2021 (DM2021) update! The DM2021 is a go for the first weekend in March of 2021. This will not compete with TMBRA’s schedule.

It will be a Covid-friendly nav-point based challenge this year.

12-24 hours prior to the event, you will receive an email with a PDF list of GPS lat/long nav-points with elevation, their rough location on a map, and a photo of their immediate surroundings. You can print these out and/or use your phone to navigate with. There are also good land-nav apps out there to help you I like GPS-Kit personally.

At each nav-point will be a scannable QR code which you scan with your smartphone which will then send an email to an EnduraRace inbox with a time-stamp announcing that you have achieved that nav-point. I will watch the …

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New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Too Many Distractions, Saddle Popping Sound, Zones 6+7 = 12%. Will The Weather Return to Fall?

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Too many distractions before today’s bike ride kept me from starting earlier. I needed blinders. Finally at 12:00 PM I rode my Canyon Endurace bike onto the street to begin the “Atascocita – Walden – Smith Road North” route. After finishing the ride at 2:22 PM I searched my ride history in SportTracks which goes back over 10 years to see if I biked this route before. I couldn’t find any previous rides. The route consists of streets and roads I bike frequently but not in this combination. I wasn’t sure how many miles it would be so I guessed 30 to 31. It turned out to be 31.35 miles long. FM 2100 construction south of FM 1960 in Huffman pushes me to find some different routes to bike. Today’s route.

Different weather favorably encouraged me to go biking today. Checking my ride history for November 18th, 2019 the weather looked like this: 67 (53% humidity, 49.9 dew point), fair, wind variable 5 mph. Finish 70 (48% humidity, 49.9 dew point), fair, wind NW 6 mph. Today it was start 72 (33% humidity, 41.1 dew point), fair, wind E 13 mph; finish 75 (27% humidity, 38.7 dew point), partly cloudy, wind E 7 mph. The temperature, humidity, and dew point today was much better than 2019. When I woke up this morning it was 43 degrees but it started warming as the sun moved higher. I changed my wardrobe from yesterday to shorts, a thermal long sleeve jersey, and a short sleeve jersey on top. I figured the jacket would be too much and it turned out I was right. For the first 15 minutes as I warmed up riding in the shade had a chill to it (I’m a temperature wimp) but after that I didn’t notice the change. The sun added some heat when I rode out of the shade. The 13 mph wind at the start looked like it might be a problem since the route went east for several miles but I think it slowed before I turned to the east.

Monday I aired the tires up on both bikes. The Canyon tires carried just over 85 psi after I added air and I could feel the difference going over rough patches of road. Lately I am hearing a popping sound from my Fabric saddle on the Canyon. Until today I didn’t know where it was coming from but after the ride I pushed on the left side of the saddle and it made the sound. I don’t know if there is something loose or broke because I have the same saddle on my Lynksey and it doesn’t make the sound. I ran my fingers over the underside of the saddle but I couldn’t detect anything. I don’t know how many miles I’ve ridden the saddle. Checking their website they have a 1 year warranty. I purchased the saddle from BikeTiresDirect.com and will check with them.

With the fall weather my power output improved some over yesterday’s bike ride. Golden Cheetah broke down power output over 7 zones. Below is the bike ride summary data. I improved zones 6 + 7 riding time percentage to 12%, up 1% from yesterday.

  • 11-18-2020 Golden Cheetah Bike Ride Summary Data-1
  • 11-18-2020 Golden Cheetah Bike Ride Summary Data-2