Texas Bicycling News Digest January 28th 2018

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Mini Tour out of Austin, TX – Pace Bend / Pedernales Loop

by 5btg | www.reddit.com

Hey everyone,

Last summer I did a mini-tour out of Austin Texas. Two nights (3 days) and 120 miles. I did research before my trip and didn’t see anyone talk about this exact loop so I thought I would post my route. Here are some photos. Overall I had a great time on my first multi-night trip.

Day 1: Austin to Pace Bend. …

https://www.instagram.com/p/BegdCJ7Hx99/

https://youtu.be/bmGUcRaQKJM

Video: Arlington Pedaling Forward With Fort Worth to Dallas Bike Trail Connector

By Tim Ciesco | www.nbcdfw.com

For years, the leaders of five North Texas cities have shared their dreams of a bike trail system that would connect downtown Fort Worth to downtown Dallas.

But with a price tag of $16 million and a lot of other projects competing for public funds, there hasn’t been a whole lot of visible progress on it — that is, until now. …

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Texas Bicycling News Digest January 27th 2018

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Construction Begins On Ninth Mobility35 Project

smcorridornews.com

I-35 from Rundberg Lane to US 290 East Project to add three new flyovers at I-35 and US 183 interchange

Construction is starting on the I-35 from Rundberg Lane to US 290 East project in Travis County. Today, the Texas Department of Transportation was joined at the ceremonial groundbreaking by state and local officials, including Texas Transportation Commission Chairman J. Bruce Bugg Jr., State Representative Celia Israel, Travis County Commissioner Jeff Travillion, and members of the community.

… The project also includes adding extended entrance and exit lanes, reconfiguring and improving ramps and shoulders, adding intersection bypass lanes at St. John’s Avenue, and improving bicycle and pedestrian sidewalks and paths. The $124.2 million project is expected to be complete in summer 2021, weather permitting. The project contractor is J.D. Abrams, L.P. …

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The SA Wheelmen ride is on 1/28/18

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Texas Bicycling News Digest January 26th 2018

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LimeBike pledges to change placement of its shared bikes in Dallas

By Teresa Gubbins | dallas.culturemap.com


espite some minor online whining, bike sharing is proving to be an increasingly popular amenity in Dallas, according to figures released by LimeBike, one of the half-dozen bike-sharing companies that have descended on the city in the past eight months.

Since launching last August, LimeBike has helped roughly 70,000 residents and visitors take more than 180,000 trips. …

Arlington TX

by Doofus | www.velocipedesalon.com

To what degree does Arlington suck or not suck for road riding?

Bear in mind, I’m used to rolling ten low-traffic minutes out my door to be in rural Pickens County….

… by BSA Spokesperson
Argh. Texas is better than all this. First, you need a Stetson.

Here’s the riding culture in Texas: Tons of clubs (one major shop sponsors, at my last count, 28 different clubs, a majority of them racing). There are groups everywhere to ride with, so scenery isn’t as much of an issue anyway.

Most riders are acclimated to driving to the start of rides. Arlington is at the epicenter of the Metroplex and crimped on the north by DFW Airport. But you can drive past the airport and be in Grapevine in minutes and then Flower Mound, which are beautiful. There are large lakes everywhere with perimeter loops that make for daily rides and some ferocious Strava battles. You can drive south just a few miles and be in some beautiful rural country, or ride right to the Trinity River which, in Arlington and Fort Worth (not Dallas) is a beautiful development that goes forever and takes you right out into the hill country towards Weatherford. If someone is solely riding access roads, they aren’t trying hard.

There’s lots of racing. You can literally race every day of the week, or get in on a fast group ride or a long gravel race every day. It’s an area where people ride in groups. It’s always safer and it’s more social. Plus, remember that north Texas has wind. A 15-25 mph isn’t that bad when you have a dozen riders to share it with.

Austin likes to diss Dallas, but frankly, you can get to nice riding in Dallas more easily than in Austin. I’ve lived in Austin and live in Dallas. No, it isn’t the country roads right from your front door. But I lived in Seattle and as nice as the riding was, I was on city streets or one or …

Video: 50-mile hike and bike trail planned for El Paso County

By: Stephanie Guadian | www.kvia.com

EL PASO, Texas – The Paso Del Norte Health Foundation has a plan to help El Paso County residents get moving and get healthy while having fun.

The group is looking for public input on the Paso del Norte Trail master plan. The 50-mile hike and bike trail would run from the New Mexico state line to Tornillo. Organizers say it would loosely follow the …

SAPD: Bicycle theft ends with police fatally shooting teen on Loop 410 near North Star Mall

By Jacob Beltran | www.mysanantonio.com


A teenager accused of stealing a bike and riding it onto Loop 410 is dead after pulling a knife during a struggle with officers Thursday evening, police said.

San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus said the man, who was 19-years-old, had stolen the BMX bike at about 6:30 p.m. from the Target at the Park North shopping center. …

North Texas suburbs cautious about bike-share programs after watching Dallas

Nanette Light and Elvia Limón | www.dallasnews.com

Some North Texas suburbs have their eyes on Dallas and its bike-rental litter.

They don’t want to clean up the same problem.

For a couple years, McKinney officials have talked about a bike-share program. Carrollton city leaders are considering it, too. What they eventually decide is still up in the air. …

Staying safe: Students fitted with bicycle helmets

BY JANICE GIBBS | www.tdtnews.com


This week, members of the Bell County Medical Alliance fitted hundreds of bicycle helmets on a bunch of 4-year olds.

The alliance held a Hard Hats for Little Heads event at Meridith-Dunbar Early Childhood Academy on Thursday.

Bike helmets reduce head injuries by 85 percent, brain injury by 88 percent, according to Safe Kids. …

Bike-share companies peddle excuses, apologies after Dallas’ clean-up-or-else demands

Robert Wilonsky | www.dallasnews.com


LimeBike and Ofo, the leading bike-share operators in Dallas, have two very different responses to Dallas City Hall’s clean-up-or-else demand letter sent last week.

In a missive sent this week to Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax, LimeBike CEO Toby Sun and other officials vowed that the company would begin changing how and where it distributes its …

This weekend’s rides: Pflugerville Loop! Lamppost!

by Thomas | steinerranchcycling.com

If it isn’t raining Saturday we will do a fast lap around Pflugerville! It is a 66 mile ride and the route is https://www.strava.com/routes/3955052. After the ride we meet up at Lakeside for some discounted burgers and beer!

Sunday is our usual Coffee Shop ride, but this time we will be trying out a new route (thanks Brad!). It is almost 50 miles and takes us to Lamppost Coffee in Round Rock. The …

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Overcast Sky, 18 Mph Wind Bike Ride

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An overcast sky awaited as I rolled out the driveway at 12:01 pm headed to the “Kingwood – SH 242 – Kingwood” route for what I hoped would be a 33 miles bike ride. It turned out to be 34.42 miles which got me a little closer to my 300 mile goal for January. As of now January biking totals 144 miles.

Riding to SH 242 got a boost from the 18 mph SE wind but that meant I would battle it on the way back south. This early in the riding season my legs were complaining as I reached FM 1484 headed south. Fortunately the traffic light was red there and the few minutes waiting helped them to recover some. Then riding the service road south to Valley Ranch Parkway was hard again but Valley Ranch Parkway put the wind more to my back until I came to the Grand parkway underpass. From then on to the finish (2:35 pm) the legs were put to the test as this is the longest ride in 2018 but I have been on the road 5 times.

Temperature was 67 at the start and 71 at the finish. I donned my cool weather wardrobe: shorts, leg warmers, long sleeve thermal jersey and windbreaker jacket. This was a good choice at the beginning but towards the end of the ride the build up of sweat helped the wind chill to make me feel cooler than it should’ve. I plan on biking on Saturday but rain might be in the area and the temperature forecast call for mid 60’s.

Before the ride I adjusted the Elemnt out front mount lowering it a tiny bit to make it flatter; you know to lower the wind resistance. Ha, ha! What this did was move the PowerPod to where the air intake was not positioned properly but I fixed that by moving it up slightly. Later on I adjusted the PowerPod again raising the air intake a tiny bit more. This increased the watts which made sense because I was pedaling hard into the wind. Hopefully this will be correct.

During the ride I could hear the chain squeaking so it is time to wax it. I think riding on wet roads got to the wax which is not as effective in the wet.I will wax the chain before Saturday’s ride.

Link to Strava.com ride summary

SportTracks Ride Summary

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary