Texas Bicycling News Digest February 23rd 2018

Texbiker.net Posted on by

College Station city plan update to begin this year

By CAITLIN CLARK | www.theeagle.com

College Station’s comprehensive plan — a statement of the city’s vision for the future and how to achieve it — is due for a 10-year update, a long process that is expected to kick off later this year.

Adopted in 2009 after three years of work by the city and citizen volunteers, the plan helps strategically guide growth while also aiming to maintain the community’s quality of life. It also serves as a foundation for decision-making, including all decisions made under the Unified Development Ordinance. The City Council received a presentation during its workshop meeting Thursday on the process for the update. …

… – The council voted unanimously to amend the city’s Code of Ordinances related to bicycle parking requirements. …

Thousands of Brazos Valley kids receive free bicycle helmets

By Tennyson Guthrie | www.kbtx.com


COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (KBTX) – For the tenth year in a row, about 3,500 bike helmets were given to second graders across the Brazos Valley at the Hard Hats for Little Heads event Thursday morning at Reed Arena.

Members from Aggie football, baseball, softball and equestrian teams spent time with the kids to show how important it is to wear a helmet. …

Cedar Park working on bike-friendly lanes, traffic lights

By Caitlin Perrone | communityimpact.com


Cedar Park has been pedaling forward with projects that may make it easier for cyclists to move about the city. Two of the city’s projects include identifying routes for dedicated bike lanes and testing out bike-friendly traffic signals.

Stephen Hanuscin, a Cedar Park senior engineer, said the city has been programming signal cabinets, or the technology that operates traffic signals, to distinguish between vehicles and bicycles. City staff is testing the technology …

ARR – Trail work at Slaughter Creek Trail – Paydirt Eligible

Saturday, Mar 17, 2018, 9:00 AM

Slaughter Creek Preserve Trail
9901 RM 1826 Austin, TX

20 Mountain Bikers Went

• What we’ll do The weather looks like it will cooperate! We are ON for trail work. If anybody has a truck they don’t mind hauling dirt and taking off-road, we can use it. We will be moving dirt & rocks to fill cupped sections of trail. We need a second truck that does mind getting dirty (load dirt and rocks into bed). Wear closed toes shoes and wo…

Check out this Meetup →

San Antonio traffic deaths spiked in 2016 — but dropped in 2017

By Bruce Selcraig | www.expressnews.com

Traffic fatalities in San Antonio declined by 26 percent last year compared to an especially deadly 2016 — 53 fewer deaths — but while relieved city officials and traffic engineers are crediting a number of programs for the improvement, few could venture a clear cause-and-effect for the numbers. …

… “I definitely think this decline is due to a collective effort, involving things like better engineering, dedicated bike lanes, improvements in crosswalks and better lighting,” said District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales. An avid cyclist herself, Gonzales said some features such as bike lanes have unexpected traffic-calming effects — the more bikes present, the more drivers seemingly obey speed limits, she suggested. …

Dallas, bike companies can do more to curb bicycle clutter, and here’s how

Dallas Morning News Editorial | www.dallasnews.com

“What’s up with the bikes?”

That may be a refrain we all hear in our minds as we buzz through downtown these days, and it is also the first thing we heard blurted out while taking an infrequent visitor on a tour of Dallas the other day.

Big D is awash in green, yellow and orange two-wheelers scattered across sidewalks, a level of disarray that makes it seem as though a magical force suddenly snatched bike riders from their saddles. …

Texas 2018

By Mike Booth | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Wednesday February 21, 2018
It is easy to pedal around the many historic streets in Downtown. The traffic is never too heavy and sidewalks empty. However ,many of the suburbs have tree lined roads where the roots crack concrete road surfaces , so you have to keep your eyes on the road & not get distracted by the many beautiful historic houses, e.g along Swiss avenue. …

This weekend’s rides: Pace Bend Road Race! Southwest Parkway Dam Loop! Lamppost!

by Thomas | steinerranchcycling.com

Saturday’s weather looks… interesting. Hopefully things work out for us all! Some of us will be racing Pace Bend and the rest of us can do a 52 mile Dam Loop twist that includes Emma Long and Southwest Parkway. The route is …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

Fog Then Sun Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Fog hung around until after 10 am today delaying my ride start until 11:57 am. I set off on the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route heading south into a stiff breeze. Later I found out the “stiff” breeze was from the SE at 17 mph. No wonder it was hard to pedal into the wind. The plan was to ride at 32 miles to set my miles left to reach my February goal to 70 miles or less. I rode 34.3 miles doing even better leaving 68 miles to reach my goal.

Weather: Start 79 (82% humidity), finish 80 (75% humidity), partly cloudy, wind SE 17 mph.

After riding through Elm Grove Village and into Sherwood Trails Village I passed the house where a former church member lives and he was in the front yard so I stopped and we caught up on our lives. I have been on the look out for him but the timing never matched us up. It was a great visit. After that I rode back to Hunters Ride Village where I spotted another cyclist ahead going south on Woodbridge Drive about 1/4 mile in front of me. Our speeds matched so I didn’t get close enough to say hi. We passed Bear Branch Elementary school and our paths diverged. I made a loop back to the Bear Branch Park and saw another cyclist coming towards me. We exchanged hellos as we passed.

Fighting the wind heading south kept my speed lower than I usually ride but the power was higher. The clouds started to thin out and the sun came through. It rained the last two days (Wednesday and Thursday) so sun and warmth is much needed.

With the overcast sky as I got ready to ride I chose a long sleeve/short sleeve jersey combination in case the temperature and wind were cooler than I liked. With the sun coming out I probably was overdressed some but that was okay. Maybe I burned more fat.

Still seeing Hurricane Harvey construction work along the route. Some offices are starting to get fixed and a few houses.

Saturday weather should be like to day and I plan on taking the Stradalli out. I bought a new hose nozzle and when I finished today’s ride it was good to hose the bike off and not get sprayed by the frozen cracked one.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

Bike Ride Summary

Link to Strava Ride Summary

 

Texas Bicycling News Digest February 22nd 2018

Texbiker.net Posted on by

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfXNam0Bluc/

GRAVEL Ride Saturday March 3rd

by TonyW | www.planobicycle.org

Inaugural GRAVEL ride!

If you have been waiting to join your PBA buds on an adventure, come join us for the inaugural GRAVEL ride Saturday, March 3rd. Be ready to roll at 8 am!

We will be meeting at Celina Elementary School, 550 S Utah Dr, Celina, TX and riding a course of approximately 33 miles with an estimated average speed in the 10-12 mph range.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26864628

Bring your Gravel/Cross/Mountain bike out and join the fun! For those who have never ridden gravel before but are curious here are a few tips: …

Tour de Houston removing 70 miler for 2018

by gerunk | www.reddit.com

Anyone else sad that the Tour de Houston this year doesn’t have the 70 mile option? They shortened the longest option to 60 miles for 2018.

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Texas Bicycling News Digest February 21st 2018

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Say goodbye to BCycle as SA bike-share program rebrands

By W. Scott Bailey | www.bizjournals.com


San Antonio Bike Share is ditching its BCycle brand.

The local program has struck a multiyear naming-rights deal with Steward Health Care’s Southwest General Hospital. As part of the agreement, BCycle now becomes SWell Cycle.

All 542 BCycle bikes will be rebranded to reflect the new name. The program’s 63 bicycle stations will also be rebranded to reflect the South San Antonio hospital’s commitment to the bike-share program. …

Yellow bicycle box opens nostalgia in Houston

By Dana C. Jones | thedailycougar.com


Sitting in the parking lot next to the vegan bakery, Crumbville, on Elgin St., there is a large street-light-yellow box with “3rd Ward Tours” written on the outside. “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye is playing. Every weekend, the company LetsDoThisHouston engages with the community through one of the first activities you learn in childhood.

LetsDoThisHouston gives tours of the city with rides on bikes with light-up wheels. In …

Remembering Andrew Tilin: The Rider, The Writer, & His Call For Road Safety

Ian Dille | www.flobikes.com


The four of us were at a mid-ride store stop in Lockhart, Texas, when we got the news.

On a Saturday morning, sitting on a cold, concrete curb, our snacks and drinks spread around us, Jordan looked up from his phone and said, “Oh my god, Andrew died.”

It was February 17, 2018.

There’s no right way to react, or perfect thing to say when you hear that your friend has been killed in a crash with a car, and so we all just kind of sat there, stunned. …

Volunteer spotlight: Suzanne Wheatall

bikehouston.org


Suzanne Wheatall is our volunteer of the month. Suzanne puts in between 15 and 20 hours every month helping with tasks around the office, freeing up staff time to make Houston better for cyclists.

“We really appreciate her dedication to BikeHouston and her cheerful attitude,” says Bowen Roberts, Volunteer Coordinator. “It’s not easy to find a volunteer that is willing to come into the office on a regular basis.”

We talked to Suzanne about what motivates her to help out, and to ride. …

Missing bikes an issue for popular bike share company

By Chelsea Torres | www.kristv.com


Zagster, the bike share company in Corpus Christi, has been a great addition for the community to enjoy.

From a report in August, Zagster ranked the Sparkling City number one for the bike share program throughout the country. However, since the start of the program two years ago, there have been over 40 bikes that have gone missing. …

Highland Park calls new bike share ordinance a success

By: FOX4News.com Staff | www.fox4news.com


HIGHLAND PARK, Texas – One upscale suburb of Dallas calls its anti-bike share law a success.

Highland Park’s new ordinance allows city workers to confiscate bicycles that are left on public property overnight. Bike sharing companies must then pay to get them back.

Currently, those companies own the city $800 for bikes that were recently confiscated. …

Texas 2018

By Mike Booth | www.crazyguyonabike.com


We take the Katy trail south this morning almost to the city centre, then the roads are surprisingly quiet or we can pedal on the empty sidewalks.The vast bronze sculpture of a cattle drive is spectacular at Pioneer Plaza.
There are friendly …

How to Survive as a Local Bike Shop in the Digital Age

Johnny Guzman | bicyclepointofview.blogspot.com

The local bike shop, or LBS, has been a long standing staple of the cycling community ever since bicycles have been around. It can be argued that they were some of the first service centers of any kind, since the automobile came after the bicycle and it was probably sometime afterwards that the concept of a auto shop became established. Since it’s inception, the modus operandi for shops has been the same. The focus has been on retail and service, with retail slowly becoming the emphasis of where a bike shop tries to profit. Service has been steadily …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar