Texas Bicycling News January 20th 2017

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Why Liz Schasel, a Plan II Student at UT, Is Biking from Austin to Anchorage

Riley Heruska | studybreaks.com


A member of the group Texas 4000, Schasel and 80 others will travel more than 4,000 miles this summer to raise money to fight cancer.
A Marketing and Plan II at the University of Texas at Austin, junior Liz Schasel is going to be having a busier summer than most.
In addition to being the president of Texas Spirits, a member of Camp Kesem and a mentor at KIPP Austin College Prep School, Schasel is also on the Texas 4000 team, which means she will …

Big Bend: A much needed dose of desert solitude

by Pam LeBlanc | fitness.blog.mystatesman.com


Thank you desert, for the solitude. I needed that.
I just wrapped up a West Texas road trip that included solo tent camping, a look at the new dinosaur exhibit at Big Bend National Park, mountain bike riding through the desert, hiking in the Davis Mountains and more.
I’ve visited the Big Bend area at least 20 times over the years. It grows on …

Examining the best places to run, bike around town

Brett Hoffman | www.gosanangelo.com

The hills are alive with the sound of … heavy breathing?
Yep, that’s heavy breathing, not music, that you’re hearing in the hills and it’s the sound of cyclists and runners working hard as they climb up to the top of hilly roads in and around San Angelo.
Although many athletes have a love/hate relationship with hills, serious cyclists and runners seek out hills because they know that biking or …

Southern Tier Winter Tour

By David Hayes | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 26 – Alpine to Marfa TX: It Finally Happened
Friday January 20, 2017
It is just before 10pm this past Christmas Eve. Daniel, my fabulous LBS mechanic, has just completed building my touring bike and I’m there to pick it up. In amidst things like making sure I have some spare innertubes, etc., he shows me the completely-not-like-my-regular-road-bike process for changing the tube on my bike’s rear tire in case I get a flat. Because of the Rohloff hub and carbon belt drive, there is no derailleur. And at one point, you need a quarter. And it has disc brakes. Etc.. In short, totally different.
So I’d dreaded…for now nearly 4 weeks…experiencing a flat on my rear tire. While my class was done perfectly in the short time we had that evening, I’d never actually done it. Just watched it done. Moreover, I was pretty certain that I’d forget some tiny, yet crucial detail when the time actually came for me to remember everything perfectly.
And if you can’t change the …

This weekend’s rides: Oatmeal Road Race! Red Horn!

by Thomas | steinerranchcycling.com

Saturday most of the regular ride crew will be racing in Oatmeal Texas http://drivewayseries.com/oatmeal-road-race/ so there will not be a ride from Steiner. Spectators are welcome, so come out and cheer us on!
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 make great efforts to keep the group together, this …

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Rain Ended Bike Ride

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My last bike ride was on January 14th. I stayed off the bike due to weather most of those days. Monday started out wet and rainy but dried out around noon. I had a meeting that day and didn’t finish in time to ride. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday it rained keeping me inside. Today the weather changed and after the overcast sky burned off the bike ride started at 12:24 on the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route for a total of <strong>33.39 miles</strong>. The weather at the start and finish:

Three other bicyclists crossed my path during the bike ride, all west of Lake Houston. I waved at them and two acknowledged me but the third rider was not looking my way.

Nothing out of the ordinary on today’s ride. The light breeze was not that chilly coming off the lake when I rode over it on FM1960.

I am closing in on my January mileage goal of 300 miles with 265.69 miles so far.

Tomorrow the weather looks good to ride the Bike Through the Forest and Hills ride in Coldspring. Usually it is cold and/or raining but it looks like a high of 74 and mostly clear sky. It might be in the 50’s at the 8 AM start time but i can work around that. First organized bike ride of 2017.

Links to RideWithGPS.com map and metrics and Strava.com metrics.

Texas Bicycling News January 19th 2017

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Construction to begin soon on “University Connections” Bridge on Brays Bayou Greenway

Rachel Compton | houstonparksboard.org


HOUSTON, TX – January 18, 2017 – Construction will soon begin on a new pedestrian/bike bridge across Brays Bayou as an extension of the Brays Bayou Greenway hike-and-bike trails. The new bridge will connect the University of Houston across Brays Bayou to MacGregor Park.
The pedestrian bridge will run parallel to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and the METRO Rail Purple Line. Construction of the pedestrian/bike bridge is funded through a Texas Department of Transportation grant matched with City of Houston bond dollars. Construction is expected to be complete fall 2017. Brays Bayou Greenway is just one of nine bayous being transformed through Bayou Greenways 2020, one of the most …

Trek issues recall of 720 disc and 24h Bontrager Approved TLR Disc wheels due to spoke breakage

By Zach Overholt | www.bikerumor.com


You know how this goes, if you happen to have a 2015, 2016, or 2017 Trek 720 disc, you should stop riding it and head to your local Trek Dealer. The same goes for the wheels that were on the bike, the Bontrager Approved TLR Disc 700c 24h wheels. The reason for the most recent recall is a higher rate of spoke breakage on those wheels which were sold on the 720 or sold separately. Spoke breakage doesn’t usually lead to …

Austin B-cycle adding more bikes and stations, increasing free ride time

Pam LeBlanc | fitness.blog.austin360.com


Hot off a record year for ridership numbers, Austin B-cycle is adding more bike docks, more bikes and more no-charge bike time for users. It’s also changing the cost of a 24-hour pass.
The bike share service is adding capacity to its busiest stations, and installing four new stations in the next two months. Look for the new stations at 13th and San Antonio streets, Henderson between 6th and 9th streets, Congress Avenue at …

Step Up Ride for January 21st 8 AM Start

by jtotaro | www.planobicycle.org

Looks like last few weeks sequence of rain activity might line up just right for us to get a Saturday AM ride in this weekend. Weather channel has it mostly sunny Friday to dry out the roads (and the trail through the park) and, as of Thursday noon, only a 15% chance of rain starting at 9 AM Saturday. Mid 50s temps …

3 things to know about the new Central Texas bike, pedestrian plan

By Amy Denney | communityimpact.com


Formation of the Central Texas region’s active transportation plan is underway, and residents are invited to provide their feedback at 10 upcoming open house events.
1. This is the first Regional Active Transportation Plan for Central Texas.
Active transportation involves using one’s body to get around, including walking and biking. …

Best Ideas Contest gets thumbs-up from IBD Summit attendees

by Marc Sani | www.bicycleretailer.com

TEMPE, Ariz. (BRAIN) — It was billed as the Best Ideas Contest. Five dealers offered attendees at the annual IBD Summit their best ideas to improve their operations and profitability. And the winner as selected by the audience in a secret ballot was . . .
Hill Abell. He shared financial data from his stores, Bicycle Sport Shop in Austin, Texas, on the success of his Trade In/Trade Up program. A quick synopsis: Last year his staff sold $345,000 in …

Southern Tier Winter Tour

By David Hayes | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 25 – Marathon to Alpine TX: Vini Vidi Vindy
Thursday January 19, 2017
I know I had an entire post about the wind coming out of Austin. And while it was pretty serious, it was wind made by a weak weather god, because the wind today came straight from Thor. Headwind so strong there was one point where I was pushing my rig up what couldn’t have been more than a 1% grade. Gusts up to 25mph with steady winds in the 15-20 range. Headwinds. But, luckily, it was at least sunny all day and it warmed up by mid-morning so I didn’t have rain or bitter cold in the mix.
I knew, of course, that the forecast called for this kind of wind. And I knew I would be, STILL!, riding uphill all day. Without overstating things, I was dreading the day ahead. I contemplated just staying in Marathon, but I also knew that these winds are supposed to last a FULL WEEK. And while anyone, including me, might question my courage in facing what I thought would be a riding day from hell, no one should question my desire to leave the terrible WiFi of Marathon. Even Langtry…lowly Langtry…had pretty good WiFi in that visitor center I could pirate at night. But Marathon…well, ’nuff said.
So, off I want not long after breakfast at dawn. And it was just as …

Public Hearing on the Bike Plan Brings Many Supporters

Mary Blitzer | bikehouston.org/


A big thanks goes out to the many (we packed the house to standing room only) people who showed up on this bleak Thursday, 1/19 at 2:30 pm, to voice their support for the bike plan and tell decision makers why people on bicycles need safe places to ride and why Houston needs to develop better bikeways.
Watch the full testimony here: http://houstontx.city.swagit.com/htv1/ (The video feed should be uploaded to this link shortly, just click Planning Commission Jan 19 and then agenda item …

Ride to the Monument

Saturday, Jan 21, 2017, 7:00 AM

Bay Area Park
7500 Bay Area Blvd. Houston, TX

1 Cyclists Went

NOTE:  A chance of rain for the event.  If it’s raining, I’ll stay home.  I really don’t like riding in limited visibility.  Cars have a hard enough time noticing us and rain or drizzle make it much worse.A 30-ish mile route, from Bay Area park to the monument. Not many bail-outs along the way.  We will take 2 short breaks, one at the monument or …

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8th La Porte Social Ride

Wednesday, Jan 25, 2017, 7:00 PM

La Porte Municipal Court
3005 N. 23rd St La Porte, TX

1 Cyclists Went

Join us for the 8th La Porte Social ride! That’s right, still young enough to be counting’em. Should be a nice pace with something in the middle. Like an Oreo with bikes and no innuendo.The weather should be positively balmy, which is great because we’ll have an excuse to stop off and refresh ourselves with ice cream or adult beverages.  Even both…

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Texas Bicycling News January 18th 2017

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Comanche Cross bike race gets rolling Saturday

Odessa American | www.oaoa.com


The City of Odessa Parks and Recreation has scheduled the fifth annual Comanche Cross Bicycle Race presented by Peyton’s Bikes from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at McKinney Park, 625 W. Pool Road.
Registration starts at noon on site. Racing starts at 1 p.m. …

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Southern Tier Winter Tour

By David Hayes | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 24 – Sanderson to Marathon TX: Transition or Transformation
Wednesday January 18, 2017
Today was pretty much thoroughly uneventful. Which is why I’m going to talk mostly about a conversation I had yesterday with Don Potter of Antarctica fame.
I was up early, had some not-very-tasty breakfast tacos at the local convenience store and was out on the road not too long after dawn. The key element today’s journey was that it was steadily uphill…and by steady I mean “relentlessly”…uphill for the first 40 miles of the 55 miles I rode today. Not anything like the rolling hills of days past, just a steady grind. Wasn’t too bad really although it meant I was in a pretty low gear all day. And low gears mean less speed and a longer day. And while the day began quite chilly and overcast, there was little wind and by noon the sun was out and it was pleasantly warm. I really like days where the weather isn’t a major factor!
I ended up having a pleasant lunch by the side of the road after roughly 30 miles (which took me …

Balance Bicycle Practice Continue

by Matthew | bike4heck.com

I decided to stop my son’s progress on the balance bicycle a few months ago because he wasn’t mature enough to stop riding it. It became a fight every time he was on it. So we re-introduced it recently and he is doing well. Here are some photos. …

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