Texas Bicycling News Digest April 10th 2019

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Peddlers Pass – Major Building

By HoneyBadger | austinmountainbiking.com

The City of Cedar Park has approved KOM Trails to bring their machines and expertize to Peddlers Pass at Brushy Creek. The service agreements are signed and work is scheduled to start on April 22nd. In case you don’t know who KOM Trails is, they’re a local trail building company that’s had a hand in the amazing work done in Bentonville, AR and many other trails around Texas. The Brushy Creek trail system is their home trail which they helped build and are still trail stewards of it.

I’ve been working closely with KOM on a plan of action, you guys are going to love the changes. Once completed, Peddlers Pass will be the first Machine Built Flow Trail for Mountian Bikes on Public land in …

Hotter’N Hell Hundred Pace Group

www.bikereg.com

Sat August 24, 2019 Wichita Falls, TX The Official Pace Group

The Hotter’N Hell Hundred Pace Group is the premier VIP Experience for Hotter’n Hell.

You’ll start first, in front of the crowd. At the finish, you’ll relax in air conditioned comfort at the Finish Line Lounge. Additionally, riders receive a special edition jersey and professional level support throughout the ride.

Ever wondered what it’s like to be a team leader in the Tour de France peloton? This is your opportunity to experience the royal treatment like Contador, Froome, or Cavendish!

Join us for our 7th year as we ride a controlled pace to help you break the coveted 5-hour mark. To help you in your quest, you will have a premier starting spot, support vehicles, and a team of experienced coaches and elite racers leading the way – your own personal domestiques!

Farewell, Tito: Death of Entrepreneur and Activist Creates Moment of Reflection for San Antonio Cyclists

By Chris Conde and Lea Thompson | www.sacurrent.com

The death of a cyclist, especially one struck by a motorist, has become an all-too-common story in San Antonio lately.

But with the death of Tito Bradshaw, who was fatally injured last week by a suspected drunk driver, the sting was even worse. Many viewed the 35-year-old entrepreneur and activist as one of the pillars of the local cycling community. …

Easy Evening Ride

JON BLAZE | www.strava.com

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

https://twitter.com/BBQ44/status/1116061324365193217

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Spring Creek Greenway Sand Trap Bike Ride

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I am not a golfer but I think the sand trap is not one of their favorite obstacles. Today while biking the Spring Creek Greenway I encountered my own sand trap. At the far west end of the trail just before the barrier sand flowed across the asphalt. On the right a puddle of water stood so I moved to the left into what I thought was a shallow pile of sand. Quickly my Canyon bike bogged down and as I tried to pedal harder I veered to the left and went into a deeper pile of sand and came to a complete stop. As I tumbled to my right I couldn’t get my foot out of the pedal in time and landed on my right side in the sand. No major injuries but my elbow is sore around the same spot I hit back in November in another crash. On my right knee I felt a small cut that burned from the salt in the sweat. 28mm tires are no match for deep sand. This is the scene of the event.

Sand trap Spring Creek Greenway bike ride

After getting up I brushed all of the sand off that I could, rested a few minutes, and got back on the Canyon to ride back to Dennis Johnston Park where I stopped at the water fountain by the pond and washed the sand off. From there I went to the main building planning on refilling my water bottle but they had no water so back to the fountain and I refilled it there.

Up to the sand trap episode the ride was going great. Weather during the bike ride: start 86 (44% humidity), a few clouds, wind S 13 mph. Finish 88 (37% humidity), a few clouds, wind S 22 mph, gusts 30 mph. The blue sky was stunning as was the wind but thankfully the trees blocked the big gusts. I started at 11:42 AM and finished at 4:10 PM.

Photos during the ride.

On the ride to the west I stopped at Pundt Park for a few minutes. On the return ride I again stopped at Pundt Park to rest from the sand trap and eat some cheese crackers. Back at Jesse Jones Park I refilled my water bottle for the rest of the ride back home. I didn’t stay there long.

When I exited the east trailhead I immediately felt the wind and was glad it would be a tailwind most of the way home from there.

Traffic was busy on Hamblen Road until I got to Forest Cove Drive. From there I was usually alone on the streets. Back in Kingwood I usually ride one of the greenbelt trails from Foster Elementary School to avoid traffic on Woodland Hills Drive but today they patched a number of places on the trail so I moved back to the streets. It took several traffic light changes to cross Kingwood Drive.

With today’s 48.07 miles my April mileage is up to 290.44 miles, 48% of the way to my 600 mile goal. This is three days in a row where the ride is over 40 miles. Tomorrow that will end because I have an errand to run and may not be able to ride or if I do it will around 25 miles.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

Strava Year Progression YTD Miles Graph

Turned miles around and now 2019 is ahead of 2016 and 2018 but still trails 2017.

Strava Year Progression YTD Miles Graph

Texas Bicycling News Digest April 9th 2019

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Bicyclist Struck At Texas And Harvey

by Bill Oliver | wtaw.com

A bicyclist who was struck by a vehicle Monday night at Texas and Harvey in College Station was taken to the hospital with injuries that are incapacitating but not believed to be life threatening.

College Station police report the bicyclist did not yield the right of way and the vehicle had the green light when the collision occurred.

According to a CSPD news release, while the bicyclist did commit a traffic offense, he was not issued a …

Just how many bike shops are there, anyway?

by Ray Keener | www.bicycleretailer.com

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared in the April 1 edition of BRAIN.

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. (BRAIN) — It’s a frequent, obvious, and frustrating question from anyone trying to get a handle on our industry: "Just how many bike shops are there in the U.S.? And how fast is that number shrinking?"

Our answer to the first depends on how you define "bike shop." But no matter your definition, the number is almost certainly larger than those that many industry pundits have been tossing around in recent years.

And our answer to the second question is … no one’s really sure how fast the number is shrinking — there’s even some evidence the number is going the other way. …

Is the number of shops shrinking?

by Ray Keener | www.bicycleretailer.com

Editor’s note: A version of this piece appeared as a Guest Editorial in the April edition of BRAIN.

As described in a separate BRAIN article, Christopher Georger is “pulling back the kimono,” as he puts it, offering his dealer list of 7,000-plus names to the industry through his company, Georger Data Services. This sheds new light on an accepted reality for a couple decades: That there are fewer than 4,000 bike shops in America, and their numbers are declining.

That’s not to say that the “conventional wisdom” hasn’t been questioned before. I wrote an opinion piece for BRAIN a few years ago repeating the (at the time) 3,950 NBDA retail store number, and got a call from Pat Cunnane of ASI. “Ray, that dealer number is way too low. Talk to Christopher.” I did. …

STOLEN YETI SB150 – RECOVERED

By Seths Pool | austinmountainbiking.com

stolen SB150 recovered last night by my good bros at Lakeline mall.

local social media platforms had been flooded with the shared news of this bike having been stolen, and the dumbass who stole the bike posted it on craigslist the same day for sale WITH HIS PHONE NUMBER to text him. $3000. look at the ad. so another friend of ours started texting him as an interested buyer last night around 8:30PM. by 10:00 pm they arranged a meet up at Lakeline mall in north Austin to do the transaction, (im waiting on more specific details today from my two buddies who were there)and actually had the police intercept the buyer at the meeting point instead of meeting themselves. the idiot was arrested and my buddy Steven got his beloved brand new warranty replacement SB150 back. hadn’t even been ridden! …

Rails to Trails event scheduled for Saturday in Highland Village

by Mark Smith | www.crosstimbersgazette.com

People across the U.S. will kick off the spring trail season on Saturday by visiting their favorite trails for a walk, run or ride in observance of national “Opening Day for Trails,” and Highland Village is joining in on the spring fun.

The city is partnering with the Denton County Transportation Authority and the cities of Denton, Lake Dallas, Corinth, and Lewisville to host a “Rails to Trails” event on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon to get residents out and moving on its A-train Rail Trail to kick off the spring season, according to a …

Addicks Bike Ride – Houston, Texas Cycling

bryantx.org

Texas freeride! Smithville, Tx is home to Freeride512 and it’s growing more all the time. Shameless plug, my friend is the one in the red helmet and I’m following him. from MTB

CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Police searching for the thief that fled with a young boy’s bike

abc13.com

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POST 📎: VARKS SCRAMBLE

Paolo Margio | www.strava.com

Circuit of the Americas

Virgil Skinner | www.strava.com

Northeast Texas Trail celebrates opening day on April 13 || Activity-filled day in Lamar County

by Trent Reed | eparisextra.com

Friends of Trail de Paris is hosting Opening Day for Trails, Trail de Paris Trail Fest set for April 13 in conjunction with the city of Paris.

Kelly Whitley, NETT Coalition Board Secretary, said the Northeast Texas Trail Coalition’s strives to have an event in “all of the trail towns to encourage folks to get out and enjoy this wonderful asset of Northeast Texas. …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

88 Degrees + Blue Sky = Gorgeous Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

After yesterday’s stiff wind it felt great to ride with a light breeze and clear blue sky. I chose the “May Park Community Center – Huffman” route and biked 42.12 miles, exceeding my goal of 40 miles. These miles improved myt April total to 242.37 miles, 40% of my 600 mile goal for April.

The ride began at 11:41 AM with gorgeous weather. This probably is the first bike ride of the year where all I needed to wear was shorts and a short sleeve jersey. Weather during the bike ride: start 85 (53% humidity), fair, wind SW 9 mph. Finish 88 (31% humidity), fair, wind 6 mph. After I finished biking I saw on Tweeter that the high for the day at George Bush IAH was 90. According to Space Weather this is the first 90 degree day since October 14, 2018. I will take it!! It should repeat on tomorrow, Wednesday.

On this route I ride into Liberty County to the east of Harris County although just for a couple of hundred of feet before I turn back to the west. I don’t ride very often in Liberty County but I hope to this weekend on the Liberty Bike Ride that starts in Liberty, TX if the weather permits. As of today the forecast shows rain but that may change by Saturday. The last time I biked this route was September 20th, 2018.

At the county line I took these photos. Behind my bike leaning against the pole, covered by grass was a very large fire ant mound. I did not disturb it. The flowers were on the other side of FM 1960 as I rode back to Huffman – Eastgate Road where I turned right.

To the right of the photos with my bike is the railroad track and as I started to take photos a freight train went by.

From there I went past Hargrave High School to the May Community Center where I stopped for a few minutes to drink water and then refill my water bottle. That’s where I took these photos.

The blue sky was beautiful as rode west to FM 2100. Just east of the intersection a work crew was pouring asphalt to widen the road. Normally at the traffic light I wait a long time but today the green light came quickly thanks to the cars and trucks behind me.

Riding south on FM 2100 I made good time to FM 1960 to begin the trek to the west over Lake Houston and into Atascocita. My legs weakened from no real rest breaks as I went over some rolling streets in Atascocita and Kings River. At W. Lake Houston Parkway it felt good to coast down the incline onto the bridge regaining some of the speed I had before. Stopping at the bank for a quick errand I resumed the ride and finished at 3:06 PM. For the week I am at 86.33 miles.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

Strava Year Progressions YTD Miles Graph

With 2019 YTD miles at 1,727 I am ahead of 2018 but behind 2016 and 2017.

Strava Year Progressions YTD Miles Graph