Gold Car in a Ditch Bike Ride

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I had to wait for the Milan – San Remo road race to finish before getting ready for today’s ride. They were in the saddle over 7 hours starting in the rain. No such weather here when I rolled out at l12:19 pm on the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Extended” route. I chose this one for a little variety and to get an extra mile or two to set up the week to finish with 200+ miles. I biked 36.09 miles putting the week’s total at 181.59 miles. March is up to 476.49 miles leaving 108.5 miles to reach my March goal. With Sunday’s weather looking like today but slightly warmer I hope to bike enough miles to get to 200+ miles for the week.

The weather for today’s bike ride: start 78 (82% humidity), mostly cloudy. Finish 83 (72% humidity), mostly cloudy, wind S 10 mph.

No need to bundle up like earlier in the week. I selected shorts, long sleeve jersey with a short sleeve jersey over top. I was comfortable though towards the end of the ride a bit too warm.

Other cyclists must’ve went earlier than I did since I didn’t see anyone.

Wind wasn’t much of an issue today so my average power and heart rate were lower.

The surprise of the bike ride was when I approached the E. Lake Houston Parkway intersection at FM 1960. Over to my left in the strip center entrance three vehicles were sitting with flashers on. I couldn’t see around them until I got passed the pickup truck closest to the road. three people were gathered in the grass beside the deep ditch with one of the gesturing a lot. That was when I noticed a gold car down in the ditch. If I hadn’t been sitting on my bike I probably wouldn’t have been able to see the car because the ditch is deep. No skid marks that I could see so I wasn’t sure how the car got there. I am guessing the man gesturing was the driver explaining what happened to the other people. I am not sure how they will get the car out of the ditch with steep sides and concrete culverts on each end. I should have taken a picture. Other than that the bike ride was normal.

Riding on from the excitement at the intersection I was thinking about the free ice cream cone Dairy Queen will give on the first day of spring Tuesday. The Dairy Queen is about 100 feet from where the car was in the ditch. I will try to bike that direction on Tuesday. With the thought of ice cream I made my way to the end of the ride stopping at 2:55 pm.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary (click on the image to see more)

Bike Ride Summary

Texas Bicycling News Digest March 16th 2018

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I rode the Spindletop Spin two times. It was a well organized ride over the flat terrain around Beaumont. I hope it will continue.

Annual ‘Spindletop Spin’ bicycle ride may be rolling to a stop after 12 year run in Southeast Texas

Author: Jordan Foster | www.12newsnow.com

BTX Peloton Cycling Club, made up bicyclists from around Southeast Texas, is considering funding the event but so far those plans are unfinished.

A popular bicycle ride that has been has been a part of the Beaumont community each year for the past 12 years may be rolling to a stop.

Unless another local group is able to take over the Spindletop Spin, which can cost from $23,000 – $34,000 to put on, may be gone for good.

A March 9, 2018, post on the Spindletop Spin’s Facebook page says “the ride has simply outgrown us to the point where it is no longer feasible for us to continue holding the event.”

BICYCLE SHOP HAS FOCUS ON FITNESS

BY: MCKENZIE MOELLERING | www.fredericksburgstandard.com


A desire to own a business and a passion for cycling led Jack & Adam’s Bicycles owner Josh Allen to return home and expand the cycling community.

Having worked at a Jack & Adam’s shop in Austin, Allen carried the name to Fredericksburg once the Austin location closed.

“I grew up here and we have a family ranch in Doss, so I thought it was the perfect place to cycle and start a business,” Allen said. …

This weekend’s rides: Triple Bs! Red Horn!

by Thomas | steinerranchcycling.com

Saturday let’s go visit the sisters again. The route is about 61 miles and can be found here: https://www.strava.com/routes/4732205. After the ride we meet up at Lakeside for some discounted burgers and beer!

Sunday is our usual Coffee Shop ride to Red Horn. It is 50 miles and is at an endurance pace …

Driveway Austin Season Opener – March 15, 2018

cyclingfan1981 | www.youtube.com

“The race is on” Tour of Corsicana Bike Race returns next week

By Patrick Sparks | www.corsicanadailysun.com


Next weekend, expect to see most of downtown’s roads closed off, as well as hundreds of bikers zooming down those streets as they compete in Corsicana’s biggest bike race of the year. The seventh annual Tour of Corsicana will be held on March 24 and 25 in partnership with the Corsicana & Navarro County Chamber of Commerce. …

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgXcJmNhxBP/

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Texas Bicycling News Digest March 15th 2018

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69-year-old Vietnam vet cycling across country for Wounder Warriors

www.fox4news.com

PLANO, Texas – A North Texas Vietnam veteran has one big item on his bucket list — a cross-country trip for charity.

But the catch is the 69-year-old U.S. Marine veteran from doesn’t plan on using a plane, a train or anything of four wheels. Instead, he will rekindle his love for biking.

Ron Davis calls himself one of the lucky ones when he talks about his time in Vietnam. It’s the reason why he wants to bike across the country to raise money for those who weren’t as lucky. …

Gravel bike race success in Leesville, Bebe

TERRY FITZWATER | www.gonzalesinquirer.com


Approximately 168 bicyclists registered for the second annual Come and Grind It bike race on Saturday, March 10 with the stated goal of conquering the gravel rounds that surround the communities of Leesville and Bebe, Texas.

The bikers had to traverse 33 miles of county gravel roads in order to complete at least one loop of the race event. More adventurous and seasoned gravel pounders did two laps of the 33-mile course in order to compete in the 66-mile format. Last year, racers took to the Gonzales County roads in brutal July heat, but this time Mother Nature cooperated and her colors blazed brilliantly on Saturday. …

Step-Up Ride for Sat, March 17th, 8:00 AM Start

jtotaro | www.planobicycle.org

At this writing (1:30 PM Thurs) the weather for Saturday show’s only a slight chance of rain with light winds and temps in the upper 50’s at ride time. Should the weather come in much worse than that, any delay or cancellation notice will be posted by 6:15 AM Saturday morning if it’s obvious enough to make the call at that time. If you don’t see any update notice by 6:30 AM, then I’m heading to the start area and we’ll call a go/no-go from there.

The Step-Up start area will be changing in the near future. Look for update on PBA website or Facebook page. (The new area, when it is effective, is reported to be the …

LBJ 100 Bike Ride Preserves and Supports National Park Named After Hometown President

www.101highlandlakes.com


STONEWALL — “Ride to Preserve History” — and see history along the way. The 11th annual LBJ 100 bicycle ride is Saturday, March 24, and takes cyclists through Lyndon B. Johnson country and past presidential landmarks.

The ride starts and finishes at LBJ Ranch, part of the LBJ National Historical Park, near Stonewall at 9 a.m. (Gates open at 7 a.m., and breakfast will be available for purchase.) Choose from routes of 10, 30, 42, and 62 miles. Registration fees are $50 per person. Family rates are available. …

Video: Transportation tech such as autonomous vehicles and dockless bikes critical to Austin, Texas

By Teena Maddox | www.techrepublic.com

“Automated technologies are really important to Austin,” Robert Spillar, director of transportation, City of Austin, tells TechRepublic’s Teena Maddox at SXSW.
Transportation via autos or bikes is critical to the city of Austin’s traffic flow, and Robert Spillar, director of transportation for the city of Austin, Texas, spoke to TechRepublic Senior Writer Teena Maddox at SXSW about the future of life on the Austin roads. …

2018 Southern Enduro Tour Round 3: Camp Eagle – Photos & Results

by Dustin Slaughter | www.pinkbike.com


For the third round of the Southern Enduro Tour, we are back in Texas. We’ve already started in the hill-country southwest of Austin for Round 1, went to the LovIt trail in Arkansas for Round 2, and brought it back for the third of six races that commenced in Texas last weekend. We are now officially half-way through our season, that’s just crazy. …

9:00am – Lambent Wheels Rolling to Buda – 32 Miles @ 14ish MPH

Saturday, Mar 17, 2018, 9:00 AM

Bicycle Sport Shop
517 S Lamar Blvd Austin, TX

1 Austin Cyclists Went

• What we’ll do This is the standard South Austin route to Buda and then returning. This ride is no-drop and the pace will average 14ish mph so be sure you can maintain that ride pace. No drop means that we regroup periodically and will stop as a group for minor mechanical problems such as flats or thrown chains; major problems will require AAA or …

Check out this Meetup →

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

New Longest Bike Ride of The Year

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The longest bike ride of the month from yesterday got bumped by today’s 41.48 miles which also is the longest ride of the year by .16 of a mile. I didn’t plan on riding this far on the “May Park Community Center – Huffman” route which usually totals less than 40 miles. But today I added a couple streets at the beginning biking through Elm Grove Village and Sherwood Trails Village in Kingwood before getting back to the normal route. Starting at 11:51 am the weather was different from yesterday: start 72 (61% humidity) partly cloudy, finish 74 (58% humidity) mostly cloudy, wind S 15 mph, gusts 23 mph. The wind and clouds were the major difference.

I counted on it being warmer than Wednesday’s bike ride but it wasn’t much warmer. I dressed lighter with shorts, long sleeve jersey, short sleeve jersey, windbreaker jacket, and half finger gloves. I was okay but sometimes when the sun went away I was cooler than I prefer.

This was the first time biking this route this year. Nothing out of the norm along the route. I stopped at the May Community Center to refill my water bottle but was there only a few minutes before resuming the ride.

When I crossed the railroad tracks on Old Atascocita Road a train was parked not very far to my left. At the time I thought it was a very long train but when I rode over the tracks on FM 2100 at FM 1960 the train was parked way down the tracks. Looking to my right parallel to FM 1960 another train was stopped on the siding which made me wonder why the train on the main tracks was waiting. As I rode east on FM 1960 I watched the tracks to my right to what might be going on. After passing the engines of the train on the siding I saw what was holding things up: a Union Pacific crew was working on the switch and rails. Once they finished I expect the main train would move by.

Wind was a problem until I turned to the west in Huffman and got on FM 1960. From there to the finish the wind was mostly a tailwind. I kept my average speed at 14.6 mph until I crossed the river and turned into Kingwood Greens where I stopped and took a couple of photos. Later I took another in Hunters Ridge before finishing the bike ride at 2:54 pm.

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Friday’s bike ride may not happen. 60% chance of rain. UC Bearcats play first game in the NCAA tournament and the Handzame Classic bike race in Belgium is in the morning. It will probably be rest day.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary (click on the image to enlarge)

Bike Ride Summary