Texas Biking News July 15th 2020

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Houston lawyer loses ‘valiant battle’ to coronavirus after bike accident

Mark Curriden, The Texas Lawbook | www.chron.com

Steve Susman, a legendary trial lawyer who pioneered the litigation boutique movement in Texas and fought vigorously to protect the right to trial by jury, died Tuesday. He was 79.

Susman’s family announced his death on the CaringBridge website.

“Our gallant Steve left us today," Ellen Susman, his wife, wrote Tuesday evening. "He fought a valiant battle, from his accident to rehab, but the combination of COVID-19 and his weakened lungs were finally too much for his body. We are brokenhearted, but at peace with the fact that he is free and whole at last. He went peacefully, and we were by his side.” …

Profession Loses Steve Susman To COVID

By JOE PATRICE | abovethelaw.com

Susman Godfrey founder Stephen Susman has passed.

The famed trial lawyer was in a coma earlier this year after a cycling accident and later contracted the coronavirus. His wife announced yesterday that “the combination of COVID and his weakened lungs were finally too much for his body.”

Susman founded the legacy firm in the 70s and over time the shingle grew into a 150 attorney firm securing over a billion in verdicts a year. The megaboutique — because you can’t just use “boutique” after a …

Henderson County Sheriff’s Office looking for missing man

by: Mintie Betts | www.easttexasmatters.com

HENDERSON COUNTY, Texas (KETK) – The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a missing man.

Troy Brandon Cole, 41, of Athens was last seen heading towards Anderson County riding a blue Trax bicycle.

Cole stands 6’1″ tall and weighs 145 pounds. He also has brown hair and blue eyes.

If you have any information about his location, you are asked to contact the sheriff’s office at (903)675-5128.

MarySS Double

Kevin Highfield | www.strava.com

Lubbock man completes 950+ mile bike tour across Texas to raise funds for business, non-profit

By Julie Castaneda | www.kcbd.com

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A Lubbock father has completed his bicycle tour from one end of Texas to another. A couple of weeks ago, KCBD first shared Bruce Bussell’s story, who was riding more than 930 miles across Texas to raise awareness about his business turned nonprofit.

Tuesday night, 64-year-old Bussell, said he completed a 962-mile bike tour across the state. He finished the tour by being escorted across the South Padre Island Bridge by Port Isabel Police Offers and a DPS Trooper. …

Texas Biking from Twitter

https://twitter.com/BikeATX/status/1283401876378128385

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Heat Lets Up, GoPro Mount Lets Down On Bike Ride to Tavola

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The bike ride began at 9:57 AM, a little later than the previous rides this week. I chose the Canyon Endurace CF SLX bike and rolled out to follow what I call the “New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch” route. Today I biked 35.18 miles, about average for this route and enough to move the week’s total to 106.34 miles and July to 487.31 miles, 61% of the way to my 800 mile goal. This was the 15th time to ride this route in 2020. A summary of the rides in 2020 on this route.

7-15-2020 YTD Bike Rides Summary Today's Route

For a change no heat advisory for today. The temperature was about 5 degrees cooler than Monday and Tuesday at the start of the bike ride. I could feel difference for a few minutes until I warmed up. The wind helped me get to Tavola and tried to slow me down on the way back but I managed to keep my average speed at 14.2 mph or higher. Weather at the start and finish of the bike ride: start 85 (84% humidity, 79.2 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SW 8 mph. Finish 95 (57% humidity, 77.7 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SE 10 mph. Sahara dust round 2 is supposed to arrive but I didn’t notice it today.

In the video I said the GoPro mount was working better today and that was true until I got back into Kingwood. The camera started vibrating making me think one of the bolts worked loose. I stopped and tightened what I thought was the problem. As I rode to the 12:50 PM finish the camera started moving strangely. At the end of the bike ride I looked closely and saw one of the GoPro mount pieces cracked and ready to let the camera fall on the ground. I held the camera moving it forward some and the mount broke off. So much for my new mount engineering. Now I need to devise a new solution. Holding the GoPro Hero7 Silver in my hand works except for the audio is drowned out by wind noise. I use a mic adapter with the Hero7 Black complicating storage and hand holding. So far at least 3 mount setups cracked from vibration. A photo of today’s failure.

Tomorrow I plan on riding the Lynskey R300 with the GoPro handlebar mount that resisted cracking so far. If the Canyon Endurace handlebar shape worked with that mount the problem might be solved but it has an aero shape.

With the mount appearing to work for most of the ride I concentrated on pedaling. Strava says my ride was consistent with my usual effort.

7-15-2020 Strava Bike Ride Summary
7-15-2020 SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

Texas Biking Action July 14th 2020

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Texas A&M Police Chief Retires

Chelsea Reber | wtaw.com

Texas A&M Police Chief J. Michael Ragan is retiring next month after serving the university and Aggie community for more than 40 years.

Chief Ragan devoted his career to making one of the largest universities in the country a safe and welcoming place for students, faculty, staff, and visitors.

Chief Ragan, Texas A&M Class of 1982, led our department with distinction and honor. Over the last four decades, he worked in a variety of positions, including: …

… Established a “bait bike” program to reduce bicycle theft with dramatic results …

Texas Biking from Twitter

GoPro Mount Flight Test Takes My Attention Off The Pedals Biking to Huffman

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I thought I might start earlier on today’s bike ride but it didn’t happen. The Canyon Endurace CF SLX bike and I began the ride at 9:38 AM on the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route. This is the route I ride the most and today marked the 22nd time this year. I added a couple of extra streets to the ride and ended up covering 34.06 miles. I want to get to at least 70 miles for the week and this ride put me at 71.16 miles and 452.14 miles for July.

Heat was the headline for today’s weather with another heat advisory. While the heat doesn’t bother me that much I wanted an early start to get back before the hottest part of the day finishing the ride at 12:25 PM. Weather at the start and finish: start 88 (74% humidity, 78.5 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SW 9 mph. Finish 95 (57% humidity, 77.1 dew point), partly cloudy, wind variable 5 mph. wind wasn’t much of a factor in the ride except when I rode west over Lake Houston.

My new GoPro camera setup got a test and issues surfaced. I concentrated my attention on the setup rather than maximizing my biking effort. Some things that came up: the GoPro kept falling forward because the bolt was tight enough. I stopped and tightened it twice. The mount started rattling until I noticed the screw on the T-bracket was loose, once I tightened it the rattle left. A side problem I did not notice until I stopped to tighten the bolts was the GoPro was on waiting for me to push the record button rather in the QuikCapture mode running the battery down. I caught it in time so the battery lasted the whole ride. Another thing to check before riding. Next ride I will use the GoPro wrench to tighten the bolts to keep the camera from falling forward. The new position removes the brake levers from field of view and the camera turns a few degrees right and left. Hopefully on tomorrow’s ride I can concentrate on biking and not fixing the GoPro.

Even with my concentration on the camera Strava reported “This was consistent with your usual efforts.”

7-14-2020 Strava Bike Ride Summary

This graph compares mileage biked over 2011 through 2020.

7-14-2020 Strava Year Progressions YTD Mileage
7-14-2020 SportTracks Bike Ride Summary