Texas Bicycling News October 26th 2016

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First Solar Lumniscent Bicycle Pathways in the U.S. Installed at Texas A&M

www.texasbids.net

Family Friendly Bike Ride Honoring Veterans – November 12th

Marissa Fuqua

huntersridgetx.nextdoor.com


ToppHevvy is having their 4th Annual bike ride to honor Veterans Saturday, November 12th –
This is a family friendly bike ride throughout the greenbelt trails that benefits the Humble Area Honor Garden in front of Creekwood Middle School (you know, that AWESOME tribute to our veterans that we all drive by but hardly ever stop to soak it all in??)
Register at www.topphevvy.com by November 1 to make sure you get a t-shirt! 🙂 Children ride FREE with the purchase of 2 adult entries. …

The Austin Mountain Bikers Meetup Group

Austin, TX
3,937 Mountain Bikers

Meet other local mountain bikers to organize rides, review trails, gear and trade tips. All skill-levels welcome. We’ll try to organize rides that fit all experience levels. M…

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Tuesday: Intermediate/Advanced Mountain Bike Ride at the Ant Hills

Tuesday, Nov 1, 2016, 6:15 PM

15200 Memorial Dr
15200 Memorial Dr Houston, Te

1 cyclists Went

This will be a medium to fast pace ride through the Ant Hills of Hershey Park! Bring WATER, spare tube/tire, snacks, etc…Helmets required. Call if you are going to be late so we can wait for you. Wheels rolling by 6:30! See you there

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Casual Tuesday Evening Ride (B.I.G)

Tuesday, Nov 1, 2016, 5:30 PM

River Run Plaza
1071 Country Club Rd El Paso, TX

2 Cyclists Went

Casual Tuesdays are a continuation of the Beginner Intermediate Group (B.I.G.) program that began in May. No more lessons! Just a friendly, easy ride of 15-18 miles through the Upper Valley. Meet at 5:30 p.m. headlights and taillights are required! Will leave as soon as everyone is ready, so we may be gone  if you show up late. Pace is 14-16 mph de…

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Ride a bicycle safely or don’t ride at all

By David Rodriguez

www.theshorthorn.com

Take some time to learn the fundamentals and rules of bicycling.
While biking can be a great way to save time and money on campus, it can be dangerous if you don’t take the time to learn some basic rules of the road.
When I first moved to Texas in 2009, I began riding bicycles out of necessity because I didn’t have a car. At first I used my bike to ride around neighborhood parks and bicycle paths.
Before long, I learned my way to navigate through traffic and ride side-by-side with cars. These days, I primarily use my bicycle to get to class or work at the library. While riding around, I notice other student riders on …

Houston, imagine doing your work in the car, while riding to your job in a self-driving vehicle

By Dug Begley

www.houstonchronicle.com

Five-year-old Caryn Price wants to be a doctor like her mother Cathy when she grows up. At least that’s what she wants to be the recent day she’s asked outside a local grocery store, as her mother loads their haul into their station wagon.
If she stays in Houston, however, how Caryn gets to her possible future office in the Texas Medical Center probably won’t be like her mother’s commute, especially through Houston’s growing urban …

… That could mean things like Houston’s long-range bicycle plans fill in the missing links between trails and benefit from promising research, such as a pilot in College Station that is testing paint markings for bike lanes that glow at night, using stored solar power. …

Ride over the Kemah bridge.

Saturday, Oct 29, 2016, 7:30 AM

Bay Area Park
7500 Bay Area Blvd. Houston, TX

3 Cyclists Went

Meet by the duck pond at Bay Area park, close to the exit.  Plenty of parking there along with restrooms.A longer ride (33-36 miles) with a bail-out at around 29 miles total (turn right on Bay Area Blvd from Space Center). Some short cuts are available if you decide you need a breather. We have a great route set up, with the bridge in the first th…

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Southern Tier, October to December 2016

By Jared Keeman

www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 15: Las Cruces to San Elizario: Easy day apart from El Paso
Tuesday October 25, 2016, 72 miles (116 km) – Total so far: 962 miles (1,548 km)
I made a late start today, spending the morning doing laundry and sleeping in. I had got in touch with David Cantu last night regarding staying at his place tonight. He has an awesome setup in his backyard where cycle tourers can camp complete with bathroom and shower. So my plan became 70 odd miles to San Elizario rather than 107 to Fort Hancock. I’ll make up the distance with a bigger day tomorrow through to Van Horn.
Today’s riding was easy. There were a couple of brief showers this morning which was the first precipitation I’d seen while biking. That kept the temperature down a …

TranAm Southern Tier – CA to FL

By David Hui

www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 19 – Alpine to San Antonio: by bus
Wednesday October 19, 2016
Posted via email on Wed Oct 26 10:41:01 2016 PDT
Wednesday, October 26th 2016
This poster is all over TX …

This weekend’s rides: Armadillo Classic! Red Horn!

by Thomas

steinerranchcycling.com

Our regular weekend routine has been disturbed off and on for quite a while as we participate with an unusually dense distribution of organized rides. This weekend we get the chance to continue that disturbance with the Armadillo Classic (https://bikeaustin.org/events/armadillo/). This is a very important fundraiser for Bike Austin — the folks that work hard to improve cycling access and safety for all of us. They have a wide range of …

The Yoga Ride’s Season End Savasana Party

by Melissa Lorraine Hagen

www.facebook.com

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

Patient Truck Driver Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Today’s bike ride followed the “New Caney – Gene Campbell Road” route for a total of 36.36 miles with a riding time of 2:28:04. High noon is a great to bicycle with the great weather we are experiencing: 79 at the start and 84 at the 3:04 PM finish. The wind was only 5 mph from the SE and the sky was almost totally blue. This is a picture I took while stopped at the Porter Stripes station on FM1314.

Blue Sky at the Porter Stripes

Nothing unusual about the route today. The surface on Gene Campbell Road seems to have a few more rough spots as the asphalt takes a beating from all of the 18 wheelers traveling to the businesses in the industrial park. One of these days I expect (hope maybe is better) to see road work signs go up and new asphalt going down. Not long after I turned onto Gene Campbell an 18 wheeler came up behind me but the oncoming traffic would give him enough time to go around me. I kept my speed around 17 mph to not bog him down too much. After about a mile or more the traffic stopped and he went around me leaving plenty of room. I was glad he was patient.

I thought about taking a rest stop at the Sorters Road Valero station but kept biking to the Stripes station at Valley Ranch Parkway and FM1314. I rode into the shade of the the pump canopy about 1:42 after biking 25.0 miles.

Porter Stripes Ride Data

The great weather while I was eating at the Stripes station.
Porter Weather 10-26-2016 Bike ride
I wasn’t able to refill my water bottle with ice at the Stripes station because the ice machines were broken. Tap water washed down the granola bar and Kashi Trail Mix bar. If it had been full summer weather I would’ve missed the ice but today it wasn’t too bad. I kept my stay short and left about 2:10 to avoid the school traffic at the Briar Tree schools. The school buses followed me to the elementary school so I didn’t have a problem with the traffic there. When I got to the Kings Manor school cars were lined up but I stayed in the left lane to get around everyone before the classes let out. I thought this would put me at the Bear Branch elementary school in the thick of dismissal but when I rode by the school only a few cars were there. They must’ve dismissed early today.

October’s mileage is now 125% of the goal I set. With a few days left and the weather looking great I should continue to add miles. Last year on this date I did not bike. I think the weather was 20 degrees cooler and wet.

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Texas Bicycling News October 25th 2016

Texbiker.net Posted on by

2016 Enchilada Buffet Ride Reports

by Tree magnet

www.bikemojo.com

Just in case anyone cares and wants to pile on, I’m going to capture my EB 2016 experience. I enjoy going back and reading these just to relive the experience.
EB vibe this year was much more grass-roots than 2014 but still very well organized and put on. I rolled into the parking lot around 6 am and it seemed like there were a few less riders than I remembered from 2014 but still easily 100+ riders milling about. I was riding with a few guys this year and we had some late registration going on so we didn’t roll out with the main pack. About 2-3 minutes after AB took off leading the group, we hit the concrete path and headed out. As predicted, there was some congestion on the backside of powerline (RIP). In retrospect, we could have taken the other path running parallel to this section but it wasn’t that big of a deal.
The ride down to the greenbelt was uneventful but we never caught the main pack. The different tolerances of riders willing to run lights, stop signs, etc. really shows up on this section. Personally, I expect the cars to follow the rules of the road so I generally lean towards following them. However, …

The Woodlands modifies Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan

by The Woodlands Township

www.woodlandsonline.com


THE WOODLANDS, Texas — During its regular meeting on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2016, The Woodlands Township Board of Directors received a presentation from Jones and Carter regarding the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan which was revised to incorporate feedback provided during the public input process in September.
To address concerns brought forth by community members, the Board of Directors made the decision to remove all recommendations that would have …

Ride over the Kemah bridge.

Saturday, Nov 5, 2016, 7:30 AM

Bay Area Park
7500 Bay Area Blvd. Houston, TX

7 Cyclists Went

A 30 mile ride over the Kemah bridge.Meet by the duck pond at Bay Area park, close to the exit.  Plenty of parking there along with restrooms.A longer ride (33-36 miles) with a bail-out at around 29 miles total (turn right on Bay Area Blvd from Space Center). Some short cuts are available if you decide you need a breather. We have a great route …

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Let’s Meetup and Ride the Mountain Bike trails of Memorial Park

Monday, Oct 31, 2016, 6:00 PM

Memorial Park – Soccer/Rugby Pitch Parking lot
6501 Memorial Dr (29.765522, -95.444994) Houston, TX

2 Members Went

Intermediate MTB Ride – Every Monday at Memorial Park. 6pm until Danny gets tired or it gets too dark. (Usually about an hour) Join us every Monday for a fun, moderate pace ride through the Memorial Park Trails. We can do skills training or just play in the dirt.Meet at the parking lot by the Soccer/Rugby field. Bring your helmet and water. Add li…

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Race Across Texas 1000 riders make end of line

By Steve Hansen

www.qcsunonline.com


For the third straight year, Tucumcari has marked the end of a long, hard journey on dirt and gravel roads for hardy cyclists who have pedaled their way to town from Texarkana, Texas.
The ordeal is called the Race Across Texas 1000, RAT 1000 for short, and actually bumps its way along mostly unpaved roads through parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma. Riders make …

Pedal Power: Cyclists ride to City Hall to support bike plan

By Dug Begley

www.chron.com


Houston cyclists took their message to City Hall on Tuesday, holding a bike ride and rally, urging city leaders to approve a proposed bike plan that would add on-street lanes and trails over the next 20 years.
Dozens rode from BikeHouston’s headquarters to City Hall around noon, in support of the ride organized by the local cycling advocacy group. BikeHouston and others helped to develop the bike plan, led by the city’s planning department.
The plan lays out a two-decade goal of more than tripling the mileage of bike lanes in Houston, with a focus on high-quality …

Tweeter Ride 10/29- 8:00am Start

Gstiebling

www.planobicycle.org

Please meet by 7:45 so we can sign in and roll by 8:00. Bob, Peg and I will be there if we need to form 3 groups. We plan to have at least 2, so we can have the 42 and 48 mile routes. Each group speed will be about 15.5 – 16.5 mph. As we have done in the last couple of weeks, there will be separate clip boards for each ride so check with the Ride Leaders for their route. Each group will follow the normal route through …

Southern Walnut Creek Trail System

AusTexMurf

bicycleaustin.info


May be old news for many of us but this is a very high quality Urban Trail and bicycle facility in COA.
Southern Walnut Creek Trail Sytem. Can connect to to the Mopac Trail currently being built by the Regional Turnpike Authority.or head through Manor pointing to Houston on Old State Route 20. Eventually it will also connect to the Northern Walnut Creek Trail System, shown here : https://austintexas.gov/sites/default/f … L_PH2_.pdf
Photo gallery, here : https://www.flickr.com//photos/69651241 … 09470/show
Encompassing more than 7.3 miles of multi-use trail running by trees, flatland, soft hills and …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

https://twitter.com/vhuckaba/status/791126109249208325

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Sensors and Falcon Stadium Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

On October 15th I replaced the Garmin non-magnetic sensors on my Stradalli RP-14 road bike with Wahoo Fitness Speed and Cadence non-magnetic sensors. The I replaced them was the erratic speeds the Garmin sent to my Wahoo Elemnt computer. These happened in the same spots on certain routes. Riding at 18 mph and not changing my pedaling all of a sudden the speed would drop to 6 mph and stay there for a few seconds and then return to about the speed before the drop. One of those places was when I rode east on FM1960 and moved from the asphalt road to concrete on the Lake Houston Parkway. Since replacing the Garmin sensors the problem went away. Today on the “May Park Community Center – Huffman” route I passed through this trouble spot and I watched the Elemnt screen to see if the speed dropped. The speed stayed the same and the other spots where I noticed this happened in the past also went away.

I moved the Garmin sensors to my Motobecane 700HT MTb so now I may have the same issue but since I ride it infrequently it will not nag at me as much. Plus I don’t ride it in the same places.

Today’s bike ride traveled 39.56 miles (I should’ve found someplace to ride so I could have hit 40 miles) with a riding time of 2:40:29.

Weather conditions continue to be Indian Summer like. It was 79 degrees when I started the bike ride at 11:56 and 82 when I finished at 3:09. A couple of times when the sun went behind the clouds and my wet jersey caught the wind I felt cool but overall it was warm enough.

Stopping at the May Community Center on Wolf Road I went inside to see if the pumpkin display was still out to report back to my wife. But the pumpkins and fall display was gone and boxes of Christmas decorations were on the floor waiting to be put together and put up.

On the way to the May Center I passed Hargrave High School and took this picture to share with my daughter and grandson. His school has the Funky Falcon as their mascot and Hargrave also are Falcons.

Hargrave High School Stadium

Football stadiums can be large even at smaller schools. Hargrave HS is the only high school in the Huffman ISD.

Leaving the May Community Center I rode to the Huffman Chevron for a rest stop. With the longer ride and noon start the rest was going to place in the Kingwood High School traffic time period. The Elemnt screen shows the ride data when I arrived at the Chevron. The weather is later while I ate animal crackers and a Kashi Trail Mix bar.

Elemnt Bike Computer

Huffman Weather Conditions

I stayed less than half an hour rolling out around 2:18 riding west on FM1960. The East breeze helped me get up to speed and stay there. My overall average speed improved to 15.1 mph by the time I turned right onto Atascocita Shores Drive off of the still new and smooth asphalt on FM1960. Winding through Atascocita to W. Lake Houston Parkway I decided to stay on W. Lake Houston Parkway rather than go by the Kingwood Library where the early voting crowd pushed the parking onto the streets and might make riding dangerous. I crossed Kingwood Drive at the traffic light and rode on the greenbelt north past the new HEB grocery store. It will open tomorrow but there are many workers wrapping things. Traffic will shift from the west side of W. Lake Houston Parkway (the old HEB location) to the east side. I am not sure how this will impact biking.

The warm weather continues. The lack of rain is pushing several counties around Houston into a near drought state. While I enjoy biking a little rain would sure help things out but no rain is in the forecast over the next week or so.

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