Texas Bicycling News June 17th 2017

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After fiance’s death, Texas A&M student raising money for scholarship fund

By Jessica Gruenling | www.kbtx.com

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (KBTX) – Clayton Niemietz and Alannah Ritch were high school sweethearts and engaged to be married.They were also students at Texas A&M.
Last September, Ritch died after being hit by a College Station garbage truck while riding her bike.
Ritch’s family has created the “Alannah Ritch Memorial Scholarship Fund.” The hope is to award $1,000 a year to a scholarship recipient in her honor.
“It takes …

Brownsville school district police hosts bike safety expo

By JASON HOEKEMA | www.brownsvilleherald.com


According to safekids.org, 242,931 children were treated in emergency rooms for bike-related injuries in 2014 and an estimated 26,000 suffer from traumatic brain injuries.
A bicycle safety expo hosted by the Brownsville Independent School District and city police department hopes to help protect community children by promoting safety.
In the parking lot of Sams Memorial Stadium, children rode their bicycles through an obstacle course, while …

New law could make trails cheaper for cities

By Marina Riker | www.victoriaadvocate.com


Susannah Porr said she chooses to bike through Victoria whenever she gets the chance.
It’s great exercise and an eco-friendly way to get around town, she said. But biking can turn from fun to dangerous when trails end and Porr is forced to bike in busy streets with cars, she said.
“You simply can’t ride a bike safely around the community,” said Porr, 48, who works …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

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Many Other Cyclists on Early Start Bike Ride

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Starting today’s bike ride at 9:09 am I thought I might see some other cyclists and I did. Before I could stop to take photos I saw about a dozen cyclists in Kingwood and Atascocita but when I rode onto the FM 1960 Lake Houston causeway I looked to the east to see if any bikers were headed my way. In the distance I saw a few and took these photos as they rode on the west bound shoulder.

Of course when I stopped to take the pictures the traffic increased and with the bright sunshine I couldn’t see if the picture was good or not. On the east side of Lake Houston as I made the right turn onto Fairlake Drive a group of cyclists approached and took this photo.

I did see a couple of other cyclists later in the ride when I returned to the west side of the lake.

In order to vary the ride some I decided on the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Extended” route for a total of 32.8 miles. This increased the week to 187.5 miles leaving 14 miles to reach my 200 mile goal. So far I rode 524 miles in June with 276 left to hit my 800 mile goal.

The only stop was at the Huffman Chevron to refill my water bottle with ice and water at the 19.8 mile point. From there I rode north FM 2100 to Smith Road to extend the route.

With the earlier start the weather was 83 to 90 degrees, scattered clouds with a SW 13 mph wind. I finished the ride at 11:45, before many of my rides even start.

My wardrobe included another new Primal Wear jersey, Onyx Black Label, I bought on clearance.

The plan is to ride 20+ miles tomorrow and the weather forecast looks great.

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Strava extended statistics

Strava Extended Statistics

Texas Bicycling News June 16th 2017

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Teen accused of shooting cyclist with shotgun was ‘blowing off steam’

By Dave Byknish and Alyssa Goard | kxan.com

AUSTIN (KXAN) — On June 7, when 42-year-old Alonso Solis was bicycling down the 6300 block of East Riverside Drive, he was hit by a random shotgun blast that has caused irreparable damage.
When he was rushed to the hospital, medical staff said pellets entered his brain stem, which could have killed him. But after one surgery and one more coming up, Solis survived, but the road to recovery will be a long one.
“Yeah, I’m pretty down right now, I feel pretty sad, I didn’t do anything to …

Family of teen cyclist killed in crash file lawsuit against Austin, driver

www.kvue.com

AUSTIN – The family of a 14-year-old boy, who was struck and killed by a vehicle while walking his bike across a street in Northwest Austin, filed a lawsuit against the accused driver for alleged negligence and the city of Austin for allegedly failing to maintain traffic signals.
According to court documents, Alexi Bauereis’ parents are seeking $1 million in damages. They blame both parties for contributing to the death and injuries their son endured on June 7, 2016. On that date, Bauereis’ lawyer claims the light signal at the …

Those yellow bikes in downtown Dallas? A Garland company hopes they get bike-sharing on a roll

Melissa Repko | www.dallasnews.com


As cities across the country roll out bikes that people can borrow and ride to brunch or a business meeting, Dallas has largely stuck to four wheels. It is the only major Texas city without a bike-share program.
Its only attempt is a private system with two stations tucked away and rarely used in Fair Park.
Garland-based VBikes wants to change that. …

Patrol Mountain Bike Units and Spares in Fort Worth

www.texasbids.net

Owner Solic Number: 17-0381 Status: bidding
Report: 7853901
Country : United States State: TX County: Tarrant Location: Fort Worth
Scope: Patrol mountain bike units and spares for the police department.
Plans: From owner. See attached file.
Owner Type: Public
Buyer: Fort Worth Police Department
Address: 505 W. Felix St.
City: Fort Worth State: TX Zip/Postal Code: 76115
TEL: 817-392-1789
Website: …

Riders raising money for cancer research make overnight stay in Vicksburg

By Brandon O’Connor | www.vicksburgpost.com


While much of Vicksburg was just getting their day started Friday morning, 21 students from the University of Texas at Austin were jumping onto their bicycles with a hard day of riding ahead.
Friday was a challenge day for them and they had 105 miles to look forward to on their route from Vicksburg to Greensville.
The 21 riders are participants in the Ozarks route of the Texas 4000, an annual bike ride across the country from Austin, Texas to …

Bike rental now available in Denton with VBikes

Jenna Duncan | www.dentonrc.com


With unmistakable bright yellow wheels, VBikes are now in downtown Denton.
The bike share service, based in Garland, dropped off six bikes in Denton this week to begin testing the market and allow people to ride rental bikes around town. …

Meet Inge, Education Director for BikeHouston

bikehouston.org


What did you do before BikeHouston?
Before joining BH I have been traveling the globe and residing in Egypt, Kenya and spending time in S. India. I was teaching, practicing oral health care, and just taking in some phenomenal culture!
What are you going to be doing at BikeHouston?
I’ve joined BikeHouston to expand and formulate the education component of the organization. I will be working with everyone –community, government, and academics to …

Weekend Rides: Southern Hills & Red Horn

Brad Weaver | steinerranchcycling.com

The weather looks nice for Saturday’s ride with 9-11mph south winds, thus the proposed route is some Southern Hills for ~50 miles. Route is here: https://www.strava.com/routes/9049353 . After the ride, we refuel at Lakeside for some discounted food and beer!

Happy Fathers Day! Sunday is our usual Coffee Shop ride to Red Horn. It is 50 miles and is at an endurance pace typically finishing around a 17mph average speed overall. While we …

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings wants to ‘dream no small dream’ on mobility, bicycling in city

Tristan Hallman | www.dallasnews.com

MONTREAL — With only two years left in his tenure as Dallas mayor, Mike Rawlings is still trying to “dream no small dreams.”
Rawlings, on a trade trip to Toronto and Montreal this week, invoked the quote of one of his inspirations, J. Erik Jonsson, the mayor who led Dallas forward after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, during a panel discussion on mobility and transportation at the International Economic Forum of the Americas.
The current Dallas mayor told Canadians that Dallas hopes to correct “some …

Denton gets $1.5 million grant for sidewalk, bicycle improvements

www.dentonrc.com

The North Central Texas Council of Governments announced Friday three grants totaling $1.5 million to help Denton pay for bicycle lanes and sidewalks.
One grant will help pay for bicycle lanes along Sycamore and Welch streets between the University of North Texas and the Downtown Denton Transit Center. The lanes, which are part of the city’s 2012 bike plan, will cost about …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

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https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/875753223927345152

https://twitter.com/FWMBA/status/875722160303747072

Late Start, 98 Degrees Bike Ride

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A late start on today’s bike ride (3:32 pm) and it was hot, 98 degrees. Sometimes plans do not come together. Yesterday was a scheduled rest day and I planned on bicycling today but yesterday when I took my wife to the medical center the treatment center forgot to order one of her drugs so we went back today for the treatment. I wanted to ride 200+ miles this week and if I didn’t ride today it would be very difficult to get that many miles. So after her treatment we stopped at McDonald’s in Kingwood and then I got ready to ride. Usually I am finished riding by now so I selected a route I thought would be 25 miles or more. Today’s route, “Kingwood-Community Drive-Valley Ranch”, turned out to be 27.3 miles long boosting this week to 154.6 miles. The last time I rode this route was 3/28/2012.

Riding through Woodridge Forest in  section under construction I took these pictures. I rode my Blue Norcross AL bike for variety and because the ride was shorter than normal.

The house are along the new streets added in the western end of Woodridge Forest creating the new exit from there. They don’t show up on my Elemnt computer when I look at the map screen. On a ride I need to write the street names down and add them to the maps. One name is Broad Turtle Drive.

Besides being hot the scattered clouds didn’t block out much sun, glad I wore sunscreen. I wore a new Primal Wear jersey, “Bike Print Red”, that I bought on clearance.

I bought two other jerseys and will rotate them into the wear cycle.

If I ride 35 miles tomorrow and 25  miles on Sunday I will reach my 200+ mile goal for the week. Now if that plan comes together June miles will be ahead of schedule for my goal. The weather will be hot and dry; maybe isolated showers.

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Strava Extended Statistics

Strava Extended Statistics

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