Texas Bicycling News August 24th 2017

Texbiker.net Posted on by

New research provides clearer picture of fatal bike crashes nationwide

By Dick Uliano | wtop.com


WASHINGTON — A study by State Farm for the Governors Highway Safety Association warns about the rising number of bicyclist deaths and offers recommendations to improve safety when cars and bikes share the road.
“We’ve got fatalities going up after a period of decline,” said Chris Mullen, director of technology research at State Farm. “In 2015 (the latest year data are available), over 800 bicyclists were killed, and that’s up over 12 percent from the previous year.”
Percentage-wise, bicyclists had the largest increase of fatalities among all the …

Cyclist hit nearby

by KD5NRH | www.bikeforums.net

Not much in the way of details yet, but it appears to have been a 12 year old boy, riding home from school. US281, about a mile NW of Hico TX. Air evac, but not sure if he was taken to D/FW or Waco. He’s awake and alert, but they’re waiting for CT scan results.
75mph highway, but that section has a wide, and usually rideable shoulder. No word on whether he was trying to cross, avoiding an obstacle, or if the car veered onto the shoulder.
Just saw an update that he has no broken bones, and may be discharged tonight if there’s no indication of concussion or serious soft tissue injury. …

Bike MS: Valero Ride to the River

radionb.com

SAN ANTONIO, TX — More than 1,600 cyclists are expected to raise over $1.5M to help people affected by MS at the 28th Annual Bike MS: Valero Ride to the River Presented by H-E-B, a 2 day, up to 161-mile journey. The ride takes place on October 7 – 8 when cyclists pedal from San Antonio to New Braunfels, including fun and interactive rest stops along the south Texas and hill country route.

Bike MS, hosted by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, attracts nearly 100,000 participants nationwide in more than 80 rides. To date, Bike MS cyclists, volunteers, …

Video: Vendors set up for HHH Consumer Show

Torin Halsey | www.timesrecordnews.com


The 37th Annual Hotter’N Hell Hundred began coming to life Wednesday afternoon at the Ray Clymer Exhibit Hall as vendors began setting up their booths offering a wide variety of cycling gear, clothing, accessories and other merchandise. …

Cooler weather to make Saturday less than Hotter’N Hell

John Ingle | www.timesrecordnews.com

Cyclists expecting to test their mettle against the typical blazing North Texas heat during Hotter’N Hell this Saturday might be a little disappointed, but not by much.
The region has been pitched in a period of cooler temperatures and sporadic rainfall for several days now, and that trends will continue over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma.
Matthew Day, a NWS meteorologist, said rain chances and cooler-than-average …

Bike ride “Tour de taco:#47” Crucial Matter Un-hosted

Friday, Sep 1, 2017, 7:00 PM

Market Square Park
300 Travis Street Houston, TX

1 Outdoor Adventurers Went

Un-hosted, I have to work early the next day. Post comments when you arrive to meet others. Ride 15 miles, give or take. We will meet at Market Square on the corner of Milam and Congress. In the ground is a sign in tile “Hat Store” next to the dog park across from Barnaby’s Café. Parking option? City of Houston Lot “H” next to Fonde’ recreation cen…

Check out this Meetup →

August Humid’N Hell Social Ride

by Shwimp | www.reddit.com

When: August 27th
Time: 9:30am
Where: The LOT ( 7530 E Grand Ave, Dallas, Texas 75214 )
Did you ride Hotter’N Hell on Saturday and think “man my legs need a break?” Well think again! It’s recovery ride time!
We will be meeting up at The LOT (near the back trail entrance) for a casual no drop cruise around White Rock Lake and then grabbing some brunch and drinks after.
Wheels down and ready to roll by …

2017 Rockstacker Challenge 10/28

Permian Basin Bicycle Association | www.pbbatx.com

The 2017 Rockstacker Challenge is scheduled for October 28th at the Odessa Mountain Bike Park. Please add it to your schedule. We hope you will come out and participate as a racer, volunteer, or spectator. We plan to start the race around 9 am and will have divisions for all skill levels. Stay tuned for additional information.

OMBP Work Day 8/26

Permian Basin Bicycle Association | www.pbbatx.com

For those of you staying local this weekend, a group of us are having a work day at the Odessa Mountain Bike Park to get the trails back into shape. We will start at 8:30am Saturday (8-26-17) morning and work for a few hours. Planning on riding after that as well so bring your bike. We will probably start making this a monthly thing so stay tuned for the next one. Please join us and bring friends!

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/900795454237048833

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Love Bugs, Aston Martin, Hurricane Harvey Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I took a chance on the route for today’s bike ride by going the usual way past Kingwood High School. I ran into the sidewalk construction as soon as I turned off Valley Manor Drive onto Kingwood Drive. The sidewalk was gone with dirt, concrete forms and rebar remaining so I made a loop back around the esplanade to cross Kingwood Drive and try the east bound sidewalk. It took forever for the traffic light since it doesn’t recognize a bike, especially a carbon fiber one. Finally a big pickup pulled up and eventually the light tripped for us to go. Riding on the new east bound sidewalk/greenbelt it was obvious that there is some work to be done. At one street crossing a crew was sweeping dirt off the sidewalk. Not long after that I caught up with a crew installing street lights and had to move to the street to get around them. Another crew was working on something and then I made the right turn into Town Center finally free of the work.

All of this to ride the “Stroker Road – Huffman” route. Once I got past the work areas the ride went smoothly. Hopefully with school starting next week the sidewalks will be done. As I rode south traffic on W. Lake Houston was biker friendly and I exited onto January Drive to make my way to FM 1960 and through Walden before riding back to FM 1960 to cross Lake Houston. No problems doing that. I stopped at the Chevron station on the west side of the lake to top off my water bottle and then onto FM 1960 east bound. Within a couple of hundred yards the “love bug” swarms appeared. I could feel them hitting my arms and hear them hitting my helmet. I kept my mouth closed to avoid eating or inhaling any but it was hard. I am not sure why they are thick at that point but not west of Atascocita Shores Drive. Off of the causeway they thinned out some and stayed that way on Fairlake Drive and Old Atascocita Road until I crossed FM 2100 where they increased again but not as heavy as when I rode over Lake Houston. I began to wish for vehicles to drive to collect the bugs on their bumpers and grills. Thin the herd. I stopped just before the Ramsey Road intersection with Old Atascocita Road and took these pictures with the bugs flying around.

Except for the pesky “love bugs” the loop on Ramsey Road and Stroker Road was good with the light NE 7 mph breeze at my back or left rear quarter. At the 11:02 am start the temperature was 90 degrees under a mostly cloudy sky. Making good time thanks to the tailwind I came back to FM 2100 and turned right to ride to Huffman. Now the wind was coming at me from the right front quarter and I had to pedal harder but thanks to the number of trees on the fence lines the wind was not too bad. A quick stop at the Exxon station at Saddleback and I was back on the road to Huffman where I stopped at the Chevron station. This was 30.8 miles into the ride at 1:27 pm. I bought a 32 oz blue PowerAde fountain drink and came back outside to drink it and eat the two fruit & grain cereal bars I had. When I leaned the Stradalli against the glass store front the pile of “love bugs” on the concrete and clinging to the glass made me think I would be pestered but it wasn’t too bad. After I finished eating a strange car pulled up for gas and I couldn’t identify what make it was. While the driver filled it up with gas I walked over for a closer look and eyed the new car license tag which answered my question: an Aston Martin. I chatted with the driver, an older man, and asked if he was James Bond. He said know and I replied at least he had the car. This time I remembered to take a picture unlike the time I saw the cobalt blue Jeep JKU at Stripes.

Bike Ride Aston Martin

He was filling it up with Chevron Supreme which the sign shows at $2.779 per gallon and he spent several minutes doing it.

After resting about 30 minutes I got back on the Stradalli for the ride back to Kingwood. With the wind behind I made good time to the Lake Houston causeway expecting the same “love bug” swarms I experienced riding east but they weren’t there. A few bugs hit me as I rode across the lake but I wondered why the difference from only a hundred feet away. After the lake I rode through Atascocita and onto W. Lake Houston Parkway. I had a hard time crossing Kingwood Drive by Fuddruckers because the sidewalk construction crews had the traffic moved to one lane. Eventually a pickup stopped to let a car and me cross and I waved a thanks. I finished the ride at 2:50 pm. The temperature had increased to 94 but the humidity had dropped to 55% and it didn’t feel quite so hot.

Hurricane Harvey is moving around the Gulf of Mexico and might come ashore below Corpus Christi late Friday or early Saturday. I don’t know what our weather will be but it could keep me at home. I am 95 miles away from my 800 miles for August. I hope to get a 20 to 25 mile ride in Friday morning before the rain arrives. Depending on how long any rain sticks around I might have trouble hitting my goal.

Strava.com Ride Summary

Strava Bicycle Ride Summary

Texas Bicycling News August 23rd 2017

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Hike and bike trail extensions coming to four bayous

By Rebecca Elliott | www.houstonchronicle.com


Hike and bike trail extensions are coming soon to four of Houston’s bayous, after City Council on Wednesday agreed to spend $12.5 million for the next phase of Bayou Greenways 2020, a public-private initiative to expand local parks.
The 13 miles of new trails will put Houston a third of the way to its goal of adding 80 miles of trails along the city’s nine bayous.
“We can barely get the trails in the ground before people are using them … so there is a real hunger for …

Video: HHH volunteers help fill rider pickup packets

By Jack Carney | www.newschannel6now.com

Thousands of riders are heading to Wichita Falls for this weekend’s Hotter’n Hell Hundred, but it’s not able to happen without the dedicated work from the volunteers that help with prep work to ensure the ride goes smoothly and won’t hit any bumps in the road.
“We stuff about 12,000 ride packets to give to the riders. All the coupons, maps, everything that they could use for the ride. We …

Video: Volunteers Prepare Rest Stops for Hotter N’ Hell Hundred

By: Marievel Santiago | www.texomashomepage.com

WICHITA FALLS (KFDX) — As the Hotter N’ Hell Hundred gets closer, it’s all hands on deck for the thousands of volunteers preparing for one of the largest bike rides in the nation. For many of those busy volunteers, they’re focused getting rest stops ready.
Whether a rider needs to repair a bike, seek medical attention they need a quick snack, rest stops are on the map to keep cyclists up on their bikes and moving toward the finish line.
A day before the big ride, rest stop volunteers are on their toes getting their spots ready to roll. …

Bicycling sometimes has natural distractions

Lynn Seman | www.timesrecordnews.com

This is my 10th year to ride in the Hotter’N Hell bicycle race. This amazing event is an experience like no other.
Because I suffer from what I call “Nature Distraction Disorder,” there is no way that I could complete the legendary 100-mile route. Nature distracts me; I could never stay focused long enough to make Hell’s Gate by the cut-off time. (Note: For the 100-mile route, you must meet certain speed requirements.) Instead, I slow down to look at the …

Rice applies to be first Texas Bike Friendly University

Jaecey Parham | www.ricethresher.org


Rice University’s Transportation Demand Management department submitted an application on Aug. 6 for Rice’s designation as a “Bicycle Friendly University,” following a years-long effort to improve biking at Rice.
The League of American Bicyclists will announce new designations this fall. The organization created the Bike Friendly University program as a way to support schools that wish to become better cycling environments.
Rice could be the first university in Houston to become a Bike Friendly University, joining fellow Texas …

It’s Time: #HH100 2017

www.biketexas.org


For over a decade, BikeTexas staff have made the six-hour trip from our home base in Austin to Wichita Falls to attend one of the oldest and largest cycling events in the country: the Hotter’N Hell 100. Now in its 36th year, the event routinely draws around 15,000 riders. And for nearly as long as we’ve been going there, HH100 has been a BikeTexas Event Member, making a generous donation to bike advocacy efforts in Texas, as well as providing us with …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/900536481198026753

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/900487625362087936

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Approaching Harvey Animates Today’s Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I thought a bike ride to the north would take me away from the “love bugs” but they flew around during most of the ride today. I chose the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” route to ride 40+ miles and ended up biking 42.2 miles. The ride start was delayed until 11:30 as I handled some issues on my “side gig”. My original plan was to leave around 10 am so that I would be back in time to take my niece to get her haircut but with the late start I asked my wife to fill in for me. While I was resolving the issues I watched stage 5 of Vuelta a Espana with a hard uphill finish in the last 2 or 3 kilometers. No hills on my bike ride though.

While I waited I learned that a storm named “Harvey” that had crossed the Yucatan peninsula earlier this week gained strength over the Gulf of Mexico and might come ashore in Texas. If so, lots of rain may be here Friday through Sunday and cause me to not ride which in turn might keep me from reaching my 800 mile goal for August. That is why I lengthened today’s bike ride to 40+ miles. With today’s ride I am up to 662 miles and I plan on riding 40+ miles tomorrow (Thursday) and that would leave 98 miles to hit my goal. It depends on how long the rain stays in the Houston area if at all. Not biking this past Sunday may come back to bite me.

In the meantime today’s weather has no hint of upcoming rain though I rode on a damp Appian Way in Roman Forest near the new Dogwood Elementary school (probably a stray rain cloud). This school has a lot of blue/green sprayed grass covering the dirt which might wash away if we get the amount of rain some weather people are throwing around.

On the way out of Roman Forest I stopped at the Shell station for a water bottle refill to carry me to the Stripes station on FM 1314 where I stopped for about 20 minutes. This was 30.5 miles into the ride at 1:45 pm. I bought some fruit punch Gatorade which tasted weak which is okay because sometimes full-strength can be difficult to handle. The two fruit & grain cereal bars I brought gave me enough energy for the 11+ miles to complete the ride. While I was at Stripes the “love bugs” made a nuisance of themselves flying around and landing on me and anything I had nearby. I will be glad when their “season” is done. The possible heavy rain might wash them away if the cars and trucks with the bugs splattered on the front don’t wipe them out first. When I pulled into the Stripes station a lady had some spray cleaner and paper towels cleaning the bugs off her car. Other people were not as industrious as she was.

Leaving Stripes I rode south through Briar Tree past the soon to be in session elementary and middle schools. Next week I will need to move up the time I ride by them to miss the traffic. Oakhurst doesn’t have any schools so nothing to worry about there but Kings Manor is the next place where I need to keep the school dismissal time in mind. I made my way through Kingwood and finished at 3:02 pm.

Thursday weather looks to bike ride friendly.

RideWithGPS.com map and metrics

Strava.com Ride Summary

Strava Bicycle Ride Summary