A Very Good Man Exuding Kindness From Every Pore Bicycle Ride

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Back on the bike today after a day off yesterday while we went to the medical center and then to Conroe so my wife could visit her brother, Loyd Lockhart, who was in the ICU at Conroe Regional Hospital. He was injured in a tractor accident on 8/16/2017 and was not doing well. While I was out riding today my wife sent me a text message that he had passed away this morning. That is so sad because he was a very good man exuding kindness from every pore.

The ride started got delayed by my side gig (selling promotional products) answering emails from a customer so I didn’t leave until 11:06 am on the “May Park Community Center – Huffman” route. Due to the sidewalk construction, which I remembered after starting, I altered the route to reach Kingwood Drive and then south to Atascocita. The sidewalk work continues making this a wise choice. I was concerned this might shorted the ride but I rode 40.4 miles boosting the week to 133.4 miles and August to 517 miles. I am 283 miles away from my goal for August.

About a mile into the ride I spotted an older Ford Explorer sitting at a strange angle almost in the Speedy Stop store entrance from Northpark Drive. The closer I got I saw the front bumper and other parts were missing and in the middle of the street where it and another vehicle collided. Some people were standing in the shade looking at Ford and around. I altered my route and cut through the Jack in the Box to go around the scene.

After that the ride went as planned through Kingwood, Atascocita, Walden and across Lake Houston. The weather was hot with mostly cloudy skies, temperature around 94, 55% humidity and a light breeze.

When I got to the May Community Center I refilled my water bottle and sat on a bench at the doors to call my wife to talk about her brother’s death. From there I rode to Huffman for a rest break at the Chevron station. This was 28.1 miles into the ride. I stayed there about 25 minutes drinking ice water and eating two fruit and grain cereal bars for energy to ride the last 11+ miles to finish the ride. Riding a few extra streets to be sure I rode at least 40 miles altered the route some more. I finished the ride at 2:47 pm.

More nice bike ride weather on Saturday so I plan on riding. I might start very early for me to get finished in time to watch the Vuelta a Espana stage 1 team time trial.

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Texas Bicycling News August 17th 2017

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Matthews Park opens for residents, offers splash pad, trail and ADA equipment

By Andrew Branca | www.waxahachietx.com


WAXAHACHIE — Before the ceremonial ribbon was cut to open Matthews Park on Tuesday, children were already hard at work forging memories under the Texas sun.
Matthews Park is the city’s newest park and is located on the corner of Garden Valley Parkway and Harvest Grove Drive. It features a half-mile hike-and-bike trail, farmed themed splash pad, pavilion and playground.
Splash pads are mini water parks where children can jump through jets of water, fountains or even spray water at each other. The park also features an American with Disabilities Act approved swing that can be utilized by …

Elevate to Give Away 100 Bikes to Celebrate Its Pro Cycling Team’s Successes

www.businesswire.com

Podium finishes at major races in Colorado and Utah for second-year pro racing team
Bike giveaway aimed at health, self-reliance among underprivileged kids

FORT WORTH, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Elevate Credit, Inc. (“Elevate”), a leading tech-enabled provider of innovative and responsible online credit solutions for non-prime consumers, today announced it is donating 100 KHS Free Agent bikes to local schoolchildren to celebrate its pro cycling team’s successes, including podium (top three) stage finishes this month at the Tour of Utah and the Colorado Classic, both of which are major achievements for the second-year pro team. …

Bid on Bicentennial Hike & Bike Pedestrian Bridge at Lark Blvd. Re-bid in McAllen

www.texasbids.net

UPDATED Bicentennial Hike & Bike Pedestrian Bridge at Lark Blvd. Re-bid
Prebid: 08/23/17 11:00 AM
Solicitation Title: UPDATED Bicentennial Hike & Bike Pedestrian Bridge at Lark Blvd. Re-bid
Owner Solic Number: 05-17-C22-479, 08-17-C38-516
Status: bidding
Report: 7737237
Country : United States State: TX County: Hidalgo Location: McAllen
Est. Low Value: $190,900 Est. High Value: $245,199
Scope: Purchase and installation of a 100-ft span pre-fabricated pedestrian bridge and construction of associated concrete flatwork.
Notes: A non-mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on May 09, 2017 10:00 AM the City Hall-conf Room 2A on the Second Floor of the Mcallen City Hall. Bid tabulation available. A Pre-Bid Conference will be held August 23, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. in Conference Room 2A (2nd floor) of McAllen City Hall. All prospective bidders are encouraged to be in …

Step-Up Ride for August 19th, 7:00 AM Start

by jtotaro | www.planobicycle.org

At this writing (Thursday, 10:20 AM, Aug 17th) the weather forecast for the riding area on Saturday morning, Aug 19th is very good — The Weather Channel has it at 0% chance of rain, and temps for 7 AM are predicted to be 77 deg with light winds. It’s not likely, but should rain develop overnight into Saturday morning, check this space for a cancellation notice at 5:45 AM Saturday. If you don’t see a cancellation notice by 5:45 AM, then I’m planning to be at the start area and we’ll call a go/no-go from there.
Please meet at …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

https://twitter.com/CycloBia/status/898292989860220928

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Texas Bicycling News August 16th 2017

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Two Texas medics go ‘above and beyond’ to brighten one little girl’s day

by Nicholas Zamora | www.khou.com


SAN ANTONIO — Two San Antonio medics went “above and beyond” to brighten the day of one little.
A post on Facebook shows a group of San Antonio firefighters delivering a bicycle purchased by two medics from Fire House 18 for a little girl named Hope.
Rene Bocanegra and Barry Uhr responded to a call for Hope, who had fallen down the stairs but …

Letters to the editor: Aug. 17, 2017

GARY PREUSS, AUSTIN | www.mystatesman.com

Re: Aug. 11 article, “Austin answered: Yes, Austin police do ticket bicyclists”
I was intrigued that the percentage of traffic tickets issued to bicyclists is much lower than one would expect, given the percentage of bicycle trips. Although a bicyclist is not required to carry a drivers’ license or identification, lying to a …

Leon Creek — Intermediate MTB Slow Pace

Monday, Aug 21, 2017, 8:00 AM

2 Bikers & Hikers Went

Check out this Meetup →

Novice Ride 08.19.2017 @ 7 am

by nadiac1015 | www.planobicycle.org

Novice riders are you ready? Truly ready? Meet us at the same place (NW corner of SC&C) by 6:45 am for announcements and the pre-ride speech. We’ll start at 7 am sharp! Bring your helmet, a drink (preferably water), a spare tube, and your wonderful self. After the ride, we’ll enjoy some coffee/tea along with an assortment of snacks from my trips abroad – Idaho is like another country. 🙂
Do you know the population of Wyoming? What do you do if a brown bear …

PRT Update: Winder keeps women’s lead; Mannion takes over for men

www.usacycling.org

The USA Cycling Pro Road Tour (PRT) completed a four-state slate of racing in the western U.S. to see a shakeup in the men’s individual standings. The women’s individual standings saw minor changes in the Top 5, with Ruth Winder continuing her dominance. In the team standings, Rally Cycling and UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling gained points to secure top positions. …

… Through the conclusion of the Tour of Utah, held July 31-Aug. 6, Gavin Mannion (Austin, Texas) of UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling jumped into the lead of the men’s individual standings. Since late June, Mannion doubled his points total with two second place finishes in the General Classification at the Cascade Cycling Classic and the Tour of Utah. …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

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Sidewalk Construction, Wet Road and Hot Bicycle Ride

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“Kingwood – Hare Cook Road – Kingwood” route covering 44.5 miles was where the bike ride went today. I rolled off at 10:31 am under a mostly cloudy sky (not as much blue as yesterday), 90 degrees, 66% humidity and a 8 mph SW breeze. I wanted to ride at least 42 miles to reach 90+ miles for the week and move closer to my goal for August.

Getting out of Kingwood I ran into a problem along Kingwood Drive by Kingwood High School. Work crews are replacing the greenbelt sidewalk in both directions but they are not very good about telling you where the work is until I came around a bend on the west bound side to see a sign saying the sidewalk was closed ahead and no place to ride around it. I turned around and rode back to the traffic light to cross to the east bound lanes hoping the sidewalk there would be open. Portions of it are fixed but the entrance ramps at the side streets’ intersection are not poured and I couldn’t get on the sidewalk so I rode on Kingwood Drive. Fortunately the traffic was light and when someone came they passed in the other lane. Looks like I need to find another route until they are supposed to finish before school starts on August 28th.

The ride went as planned until I turned right onto Ramsey Road east of FM 2100 when I bogged down biking into the wind which seemed to be stronger than 8 mph. It helped cool me down but the extra energy required to pedal took its toll. I continued pedaling and looking for a shady spot to get out of the sun for a few minutes. I found one on Stroker Road a hundred east of Peters Road. Standing the shade the breeze felt good and my legs recovered somewhat. I was glad I stopped at the Chevron station on the west side of Lake Houston and topped off my water bottle because I needed the cold water.

Resuming the ride I was back into the headwind going south on Miller – Wilson Road. For some reason there was more traffic on this road than usual but I appreciated it because they broke up the headwind as each car or truck passed me. Making the right turn onto Hare Cook finally came and the wind eased up some. At FM 2100 the route changed to the north but before I rode too far I stopped at the Valero station for more water and ice. After that I set out for the Huffman Chevron with a nice tailwind helping me as I hit 18+ mph. But I started to notice the pavement looked damp from a recent rain. The closer I got to Spanish Cove the wetter the road got until I was getting sprayed from passing cars and trucks. No rain, just spray messing up the clean Stradalli. At the railroad crossing by FM 1960 the road dried off some and I rode to the Chevron station. Their driveway had some puddles but I found a dry spot to sit on under the canopy. With some blue Powerade I sat on a newspaper and tried to cool off but the rain upped the humidity and I continued to generate lots of sweat, soaking a bunch of paper towels and the newspaper. This 32.8 miles into the ride and I arrived about 1:08 pm. After eating a couple of fruit filled bars I had and thinking about leaving I saw rain drops hitting the puddle out from under the canopy but they only lasted a few minutes. With the sun out the pavement started to dry quickly after a 30 minute stay I headed out.

FM 1960 was wet but within a couple hundred yards I was on dry concrete but I could see a dark cloud off to the northwest where I was headed. I almost wanted the rain to come to cool me off but it didn’t. As I rode on Atascocita Shores Drive and Kings River Drive to W. Lake Houston Parkway I sped up some thanks to the wind getting held back by the trees and terrain. At W. Lake Houston Parkway I saw those dark clouds to the north again. No rain though as I rolled to the finish point and stopped the ride at 2:35 pm ready for some shade and more ice water. I washed the bike off before heading inside.

No ride on Thursday but I should be back on the Stradalli on Friday.

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