Texas Bicycling News Digest August 8th 2018

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Great ride with the gazelle

Ron Gunnels | www.strava.com

Morning Ride

Jim Storey | www.strava.com

Haardvarks Kemah Tues, 1st group ride with Factor O2

Troy Serrano | www.strava.com

Video: Houston man gets around without car and saves thousands of dollars every year

By Katherine Whaley | abc13.com

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — If you are sick of getting stuck in Houston traffic, have you ever considered giving up driving altogether? Take a cue from James Llamas, a professional who lives in Midtown, and rides his bike 10 minutes to downtown every day.

“Most days I Bcycle because I can pick up a bike near my home and …

Pedal power: Bike-sharing program on a roll in The Woodlands

By Jeff Forward | www.chron.com


After more than seven months of operation, officials with The Woodlands Township say use of the dockless bicycle sharing program Mobike is going well and has met expectations.

Nick Wolda, president of Visit The Woodlands Texas, said township officials are happy with the Mobike service in the community and he added the township is at the moment keen to keep the arrangement between the …

Video: Local team prepares for MS Bike ride in San Antonio

By: Isabel Albritton | www.conchovalleyhomepage.com

SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – Randy Rangel opened “Randy’s Bike and Run Shop” about 10 years ago. He says about a year later he learned his friends were going on MS Bike rider and wanted to become involved as well.

“I didn’t know about multiple sclerosis or how it existed. I had a lot of friends that has spouses that had multiple sclerosis and so I started doing a little bit of research, started reading, got online and found out a …

Southern Walnut Creek trail riders from BikingATX

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Three Ducks in the Tavola Pond Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I chose the “New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch” route for today’s bike ride. I wanted to add 30+ miles to the week and month totals and I biked 34.47 miles accomplishing those goals. This puts the week at 107.8 miles and the month at 265.33 miles.

Start time was later than yesterday coming at 10;22 am. The delay was because I watched the finish of the Tour of Poland stage 5 and the opening stage of the Vuelta a Burgos. After I finish writing this I will watch the Tour of Utah and then the Volta a Portugal. Lots of bike racing going on. With the later start the weather was warmer but the sun continues to shine. There was .27″ rain yesterday afternoon which was okay since I already finished my bike ride. Weather during today’s bike ride: start 89 (69% humidity), partly cloudy, wind S 6 mph. Finish 93 (55% humidity), partly cloudy, wind W 5 mph.

When I rode into Tavola I stopped and took these photos. In the first photo there were three ducks swimming near the edge closest to me but when I took the photo they went behind the cut off cattails. The third photo shows land being cleared in the background. Smoke can be seen in the trees as the brush is burned.

Nothing out of the ordinary on today’s bike ride. The wind was light which allowed me to build my overall average speed to 14.2 mph and hold it there from about mile 9 until mile 32 when I got back into Kingwood. The Canyon Endurace Cf SLX now has 4,570 miles. I finished the bike ride at 1:00 pm.

Contrary to what Strava.com shows my average power was 131 watts with a max of 385 watts. I am not sure what formula Strava uses.

More typical August weather on tap for Thursday. I will bike on roads that I haven’t been on in many years on Thursday.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

Texas Bicycling News Digest August 7th 2018

Texbiker.net Posted on by

The Rise and Fall of Dockless Bike Sharing in Dallas

Leif Reigstad | www.texasmonthly.com


The controversial dockless bike-share experiment in Dallas has met its symbolic end. After a long saga that saw the car-friendly city resist a bike-share initiative that was deeply flawed from its rollout one year ago, most of the bikes are now off of the streets, as seen in this recent photo of hundreds of bikes stacked at a recycling center in Dallas, which was first reported by KXAS on Sunday: …

Bid on El Camino Real Park Trails in San Marcos

www.texasbids.net

Bid Date & Time: 08/30/18 2:00 PM Prebid: 08/14/18 2:00 PM
Solicitation Title: El Camino Real Park Trails
Owner Solic Number: IFB 218- 343 Status: bidding Report: 8822679
Country : United States State: TX County: Hays Location: San Marcos
Scope: Work includes Site grading, flatwork concrete, drainage crossing, pavilion and slab, and install of select park amenities, and demolition and removal of select existing items. Your bid is deemed to include all costs associated with mobilization, insurance, and bonding.
Notes: A non-mandatory pre-bid conference for this Project will be held …

‘Terrible,’ mayor says of hundreds of Ofo bikes piled up at Dallas recycling plant

Dana Branham | www.dallasnews.com


A photo of Ofo bikes piled up at a Dallas recycling center has drawn some ire on social media after the bike-share company decided to leave the city.

Hundreds of the yellow bikes were seen at the CMC Recycling facility in South Dallas, a company that works with businesses and individuals looking to sell scrap metal. …

Dallas Mayor Blames Bike-Sharing Company for Recycling Bikes After City’s New Fees Killed Bike-Sharing

Eric Boehm | reason.com

New permitting and registration fees have killed off at least one bike-sharing company previously operating in Dallas, Texas.

Which means that instead of helping people commute, run errands, or visit friends, thousands of yellow bikes previously operated by Ofo, a Beijing-based bike-sharing firm, are now heaped in a city recycling center like a massive modernist monument to poor civic policy. …

Lite Bike with the Crew

JON BLAZE | www.strava.com

Tuesday with Cyclones.

Eduardo Salas (Cyclones) | www.strava,.com

SCWs Modifed

Virgil Skinner | www.strava.com

Little bit rain and extra hills because I can

Dina Wooten | www.strava.com

Volunteer George Ganak Helps Keep Houston Rolling

BikeHouston.org


George Ganak learned to love cycling on the rolling hills of West Virginia.

The New York State native got the biking bug there, while he was working as a civilian employee of the first the Army, then the Navy.

“West Virginia is all about hills and mountains. So I lost 40 pounds, and got into biking.” George says.

George and his wife Jacqueline retired to Houston in 2015 to be near their daughters. “When we got to Houston I thought I was in …

Word From The New Director

BikeHouston.org

This is my first BikeHouston Progress Report. Over the past 33 years, I have been practicing urban design and planning for Central Houston, Uptown Houston, the City of Houston, HNTB, and the Energy Corridor District. In all, bicycling has been a factor to make Houston a better place.

I love bicycling in Houston – especially in August when the days are long and schools are on vacation. Since I moved here in 1985, we have experienced tremendous …

Top 10 Dangerous Intersections: Getting Started

BikeHouston.org

During the City’s Bike to Work Day in May, Mayor Sylvester Turner asked BikeHouston to help identify the 10 most dangerous intersections for people on bikes. We asked for your input and compiled them into a list. We presented this list to Houston Public Works. LINK Houston also provided a list based on crash data for both bicyclist and pedestrian incidents. Below are both lists.

Bolded intersections are locations approved by …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Small Time Window Bike Ride

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I had a small time window to bike this morning so I was on the bike and rolling at 8:38 am. I chose the “Atascocita – Walden – E. Lake Houston Parkway” route and biked 28.67 miles. Weather during the bike ride: start 79 (91% humidity), a few clouds, wind calm. Finish 88 (71% humidity), partly cloudy, wind SE 6 mph.

Not long after starting, around the 1/2 mile point, I felt a sharp stinging pain on my scalp. It felt like a bee sting but sticking my finger in a helmet hole I couldn’t feel any foreign object. The pain continued with a throb every so often. All of my thought on other things went away as the pain consumed my thoughts. I found a shade spot and stopped, taking my helmet off but nothing was there except the stinging pain. I decided to get riding and after a couple of miles the pain melted away to just noticeable. When I got back home my wife inspected my scalp and saw a small red bump but no stinger or other object.

As I was about to exit Kingwood Greens onto W. Lake Houston Parkway I saw cyclist zoom by heading south. As I got onto WLHP I could see a red flashing light about 1/2 mile in front of me and I sped up. I closed the distance a little but at the Kings River Drive traffic light the red light disappeared and I didn’t see him again. Later on the way back to Kingwood on WLHP I saw another biker riding south as I was going north. He was on the sidewalk/trail while I was on the road. I figured I wouldn’t see any other cyclists but at Bank of America on WLHP two cyclists crossed WLHP and into the bank parking lot. I followed them about 30 feet behind. They were busy talking and didn’t notice me i guess. I trailed them to Deerbrook Drive where they went straight and I turned right.

I finished the ride at 10:45 am within the time window.

More fine biking weather on Wednesday without the small window of time.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

portTracks Bike Ride Summary