Texas Bicycling News Digest March 23rd 2019

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Where to see beautiful bluebonnets in the Texas Hill Country in 2019

By Melissa Gaskill | fortworth.culturemap.com

Spring is wildflower season in Texas. While bluebonnets enjoy the most fame — and the title of official state flower — Texas Hill Country landscapes offer a number of other abundant blooms, including Indian paintbrush, Indian blanket, pink evening primrose, Mexican hat, winecups, black-eyed Susan, coreopsis, and more.

Andrea DeLong-Amaya, director of horticulture at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, predicts bluebonnets peaking this year in late …

Texas RAAM 200 Challenge: 1st Place (all categories)

Kenneth Petersen | www.strava.com

This was a really hard one. I used the small chainring more than I have in the last 35 years! Sign of weakness, or bcs some hills were close to 20% incline…..

Tour de Galveston again. Mandatory stop in Texas City for my old fashioned chocolate donut.

Bill Rowe | www.strava.com

First Century: A mix of everything!

Ryan Tiffin | www.strava.com

Houston to Galveston #26

JON BLAZE | www.strava.com

Houston to Galveston #6- The Best one so far…..

Rosa Guerrero | www.strava.com

H2G++ [Extended Edition]

Nate Eguia | www.strava.com

3.30 AM rollout. 7-man deep. Awesome route, stellar group 🤘 small ring Saturday — until we hit Hwy3 and a delicious tailwind brought us home, then

Company Man

Said Assali | www.strava.com

Head 4 the Hills Ride and we had Bluebonnets

Jovito Herrero Emmanuelli | www.strava.com

Siklista Monaville ride

Eddy Moreno | www.strava.com

Science: UTA civil engineer would fuse knowledge strategies to find out extra correct numbers [Report]

by Denis Bedoya | infosurhoy.com

A University of Texas at Arlington civil engineering assistant professor is exploring data fusion techniques that will provide planners with better data on potential bicycle volumes for a city. Kate Hyun, assistant professor of civil engineering, is one of the researchers on a $200,000 grant from the National Institute for Transportation and Communities at Portland State University. Hyun is getting about …

Honeoye Riders Reverse the Southern Tier 2019

By jim kersting | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 24: Flatonia -Seguin, Tex. Saturday March 23, 2019, 60 miles (97 km) – Total so far: 1,356 miles (2,182 km) Close to San Antonio we are, but still very much in the country. The ride today was quite enjoyable with cloudy skies and pleasant temps. Plenty of cattle, wildflowers, hills and small towns to keep us from staring down at the road all day! …

Two Retired Amigos on Winter Tour

By Douglas Wood | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 26: LaGrange to Lockhart Thursday March 21, 2019, 57 miles (92 km) – Total so far: 1,363 miles (2,194 km) When bicycle touring plans change daily and sometimes hourly. Yesterday we decided after discussion to bypass the City of Austin where the route would have taken us. Jim has a friend in San Marcos and a son in San Antonio. San Marcos is between Austin and San Antonio. The plan is to visit both. Using Google maps since we are off route we planned a route to San Marcos that took us first to Lockhart. The ride started on a major road then after 5 miles were in the country on Old Lockhart Rd. We were in the countryside much of the morning that for 5-6 miles we traveled on hard packed gravel roads. It was peaceful and the scenery was stunning with all of the ranches.

Like the past few days the …

Day 27: Lockhart to San Marcos Friday March 22, 2019, 21 miles (34 km) – Total so far: 1,384 miles (2,227 km) We walked over to McDonalds this morning before sunup for our traditional fare including senior coffees. After breakfast we returned to pack our gear and load the bikes. We opened the door and it was completely foggy out. That happened within 20-30 minutes after returning. Fortunately we took backroads out of town, of course, with our safety front and back flashers on aiming to San Marcos. The ride was on a road with a nice wide shoulder for …

Day 28: Rest Day Saturday March 23, 2019 What do we do on a rest day? The plan is to do laundry, sort out gear and perhaps send some items home and relax to get ready for our return to San Marcos to continue our tour. …

Pace Bend Race Volunteers

By Moc 5 | austinmountainbiking.com

The ARR Pace Bend Race is in two weeks and they still need a lot of volunteers. It’s a fun way to give back to the organization that does so much for our local mountain bike scene. Come out, camp, and be a part of the fun!

https://www.bikereg.com/pbr-volunteers

Dripping Springs Ranch Park

By ATXZJ | austinmountainbiking.com

Found this trail on MTB project and decided to check it out. Overall, it’s your basic hill country flow (ish) trail that is a great place to just get some miles in or could be an awesome practice XC race loop. Lots of hardpack, a few stream crossings, surprisingly few rocks and a bit of horse sh*t thrown in for good measure. Check it out if you’re in the area. …

FrankenBike Austin # 162: SATURDAY, March 30, 2019, 10am-4pm at Austin Bike Farm

333 by Chris | frankenbike.net

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

https://twitter.com/allynwest/status/1109285387715923968

Out Battling The Wind Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Blustery wind awaited me as I began today’s bike ride. For I chose to ride the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route. I needed to ride at least 30 miles to push my total for the week to 200+ miles. I rode 33.15 miles and the week’s total stands at 203.68 miles. If I ride tomorrow (Sunday) it add to that total. This is the first week in 2019 with 200+ miles. In 2018 my first 200+ mile week was February 26 to March 4th with 226.26 miles. So I am several weeks later this year. This partially explains why this YTD trails 2018 YTD miles. As far as my reaching my March goal of 585 miles I am 93% of the way there with 545.9 miles so far.

Speaking of the wind, choosing a route with 20 out of 33 miles into the wind probably wasn’t the best idea. Starting the ride at 12:18 PM after watching the finish of the Milan-Sanremo race on Flobikes.com I took screenshots of the weather like I normally do. The temperature was about 9 degrees cooler than Friday and the wind was much stronger: SE 10 mph with 18 mph gusts. I waffled on what to wear a couple of times landing on shorts (of course), a regular long sleeve jersey with a BikeTiresDirect.com thin jacket over the jersey. With the lower temperature and strong wind I never was comfortable during the ride. The jacket has breathing mesh on the inside of each arm and the cool wind seemed to zero in on that keeping my arms chilly.

At the 19.8 mile point I finally turned left onto FM 2100 putting the wind at my back for the ride to FM 1960 about 1.4 miles to the north. For most of the ride back to Kingwood the wind stayed in that position. This enabled me to work on improving my average speed from 13.3 mph to 13.8 mph by the time I got back into Kingwood. I finished the ride at 2:58 PM glad to get out of the wind and indoors.

Sunday weather should warm up to 78 with no rain and partly cloudy skies. I plan on biking to add to this week’s miles.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

Strava Year Progressions Miles Graph

I am not narrowing the gap between 2019 and 2016, 2017 and 2018 YTD miles. Still about 60 miles behind 2016 and 2018 and 130 miles behind 2017.

Strava Year Progressions Graph Bike Ride Miles Comparison

Texas Bicycling News Digest March 22nd 2019

Texbiker.net Posted on by

New trail segment under construction along the Franklin Canal

pdnhf.org

Soon, individuals will have access to a new trail segment that will connect safe routes to neighborhood destinations and provide greater opportunities for increased physical activity.

This new trail segment will run along the Franklin Canal from Presa Place to Loop 375 in the Lower Valley and is part of the overall Paso del Norte Trail that will stretch 60-miles along El Paso County. TXDoT, El Paso County Water District, and …

—

Big Spring State Park to introduce new multi-use trails

By Kirsten Geddes | www.newswest9.com

BIG SPRING, TX (KWES) – Big Spring State Park will soon be introducing new multi-use hiking and bike trails.

Construction on the four-phase project began March 1 and was approved by Texas Parks and Wildlife in August 2018. Trails will include beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.

According to Stephanie Ledford, secretary for the West Texas Trails Alliance, there should be a …

Bike Index launches free Lightspeed and Ascend POS integrations and crests over $7 million in bicycle recoveries.

www.bicycleretailer.com

We’re Bike Index. Haven’t heard of us? Well, it probably won’t be too long before you do. With almost 150,000 users, over 600 partner organizations, a quarter of a million bicycles registered, and over $7 million in stolen bikes recovered, we’re the most widely used bicycle registration service in the U.S.

Bike Index started in 2013 when two cyclists passionate about registering bicycles and recovering stolen bicycles merged their services. Today, we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the aim of registering and recovering as many bikes as we can to eliminate bicycle theft.

We’ve recovered over $7 million in stolen bicycles through the Bike Index platform and we are thrilled to recover even more though deeper work with independent bicycle retailers in …

Weekend Rides: Bee Creek & Red Horn

by Brad Weaver | steinerranchcycling.com

Saturday training rides leaving from Cups & Cones:

7:30 am the ride on the menu is Bee Creek with Bob Wire. Get the route here: https://www.strava.com/routes/3985679 Track progress here: https://www.wahooligan.com/users/live/0SMVmji6alCkLzYxOg7mTw Endurance Pace Group leaves at 8:30 am. Attendee’s choice on route whoever shows up. After the ride, we meet up at …

Bruce and Robert’s Southern Tier Adventure

By Bruce Cline and Robert Goss | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 26 Johnson City to Austin, Texas: The Flat Day That Wasn’t Friday March 22, 2019, 52 miles (84 km) – Total so far: 1,627 miles (2,618 km) Distance – 52. Climbing 3400 WooHoo we made it to Austin and boy are we happy to be here. Time to have some fun in this music city with our brides. Sing it David…

This is our 26th day with one day off the bike, back in Phoenix. Bodies feeling good, but ready for a break.

Our stay at the Roadrunner RV park was great. Very nice owner, set us up with a nice tent site away from the road, picinic tables, market and good Mexican food next door…what more could two guys want for $15? Well…to be in Austin. Breakfast stop at the donut shop, right on …

Honeoye Riders Reverse the Southern Tier 2019

By jim kersting | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 23: Bellview-Flatonia, Tex. Friday March 22, 2019, 69 miles (111 km) – Total so far: 1,296 miles (2,086 km) We made a quick exit from our overnight accommodations to Newmann’s Cafe for breakfast. We rode in dense fog for a few miles and in layers before the hot sun broke through. A contrast in road experiences today for the pedalers. First, typical flat ranchland then onto the frontage road running parallel to Rt. 10, next hopping onto Rt. 90, veering off and back into ranchland, although no longer flat, and finally ending our day, once again with a few more miles to add to the total. We were able to …

Morning Ride

Megan Stevens | www.strava.com

PLANETARY THURSDAY

MARIA THOMAS | www.strava.com

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Basketball Loss, Blue Sky, 81 Degrees Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

A rather late start on today’s bike ride at 1:54 PM due to watching my UC Bearcats play the Iowa Hawkeyes and losing in the NCAA tournament. Sadly I began the ride on the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route. Weather during the bike ride was gorgeous: start 79 (27% humidity), a few clouds, wind S 9 mph. Finish 81 (29% humidity), partly cloudy SE 12 mph.

With that beautiful weather I dressed accordingly: shorts, long sleeve jersey, and a short sleeve jersey on top. This comfortable choice was just right and the wind was low enough to not create any wind chill.

The blue sky looked great when I stopped in Kingwood Greens before crossing the San Jacinto River and took these photos.

The golf course is behind the azaleas and beyond that is the river. When Hurricane Harvey hit this place there was 8 feet or more of water.

Back on the bike I rode south along the ride slowly building up my average speed. At FM 2100 and Old Atascocita Road I went north putting the wind behind me. That enabled me to increase my speed from that point improving my average speed to 14.4 mph and holding that until the 29 mile point back in Kingwood.

I got caught in the Creekwood Middle School traffic at Sandy Forks Drive which caused my average speed to drop to 14.1 mph and by the time I finished at 4:21 PM with all of the stops and starts the average speed was 14.0 mph.

Some ride data points:

  • average heart rate: 131 (75% of my max)
  • max heart rate: 154 (88% of my max)
  • average watts: 138
  • max power: 494 watts

Saturday weather forecast shows a high of 75, 40% chance of rain in the AM. I should be able to ride after watching the Milano-Sanremo race in Italy.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

SportTrack Bike Ride Summary

Strava Year Progressions Graph

Still trailing 2016, 2017 and 2018 YTD miles. 2016 and 2018 are around 60 miles ahead but 2017 is 130 miles ahead. I really rode in 2017.

Strava Year Progressions Graph Bike Ride miles