Facing North Was Chilly Bike Ride

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The “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” route today was a good choice but a chilly one. I rode north to Roman Forest Blvd. with the front of me in the shade. Because of the chilly north wind the front of me was cold while my back was comfortable from the full sun in the clear sky. As I was getting ready to leave home I made several wardrobe changes: added a second long sleeve jersey, added leg warmers to my shorts, changed to full finger windproof gloves. These were good choices with the temperature in the low 60’s. When I turned south at Roman Forest Blvd. the wind was from my left but the sun warmed my front side. This was much better.

I modified the route at the beginning as I exited Kingwood and again in Oakhurst. This shortened the ride by a couple of miles to 29.77 miles. This was enough to put me at 401 miles for February, 55 miles over my goal. Also I rode through Valley Ranch without going under the Grand Parkway.

When I reached FM1314 on Valley Ranch Parkway I took a break at the Stripes station. I was at the 18.84 mile point. I thought it might too chilly to sit on the concrete but I went ahead. It was in the sun and it felt great, warming me up. The weather while I was at Stripes.

The humidity is very low again but this will increase over the next several days as will the temperature if the forecast is correct.

Nothing out of the ordinary on today’s ride other than being 10 degrees cooler than yesterday. I will bike tomorrow (Saturday) but I should ride on Sunday and Monday if the the weather permits.

[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/7965434/embed 45% 500px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/502981233/embed/f7dbc4f2f4e06794c9ab35a1ec92dd4a46b04df0 45% 500px]

Ride comparison of the last 3 rides on today’s route.

2-26-2016 Ride Comparison Today's Route

Texas Bicycling News Digest February 25th 2016

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Where the sidewalk ends

By Amy Denney communityimpact.com

City, advocates weigh options for funding sidewalks, bike facilities

As Austin City Council weighs options for the next mobility bond election, bicycle and pedestrian advocates are urging the city to include funding in the next bond for carrying out the bicycle and sidewalk master plans.
Advocacy group Bike Austin launched a petition Jan. 22 calling for the city to completely fund its Bicycle Master Plan and build most critical missing sidewalk segments and urban trails. The group …

Grand Parkway Ride

www.thegrandparkwayride.com


Would you like to have the chance to ride on a brand new major roadway in the greater Houston area with no traffic on the road except bicycles? Through a unique partnership that includes the Texas Department of Transportation, Zachry-Odebrecht Parkway Builders, the United Methodist Church, and the YMCA, in connection with the celebration of the opening of the Grand Parkway on the north side of Houston, that opportunity is coming on Saturday, March 19th! Funds generated by this ride will go …

The Fate of Houston’s New Bike Plan Is Pretty Much in the Hands of Drivers

By Meagan Flynn www.houstonpress.com


Judith Cruz Villarreal has heard some version of “Get your ass on the sidewalk!” countless times while biking through Houston, in the bike lane. Despite the fact that drivers are protected by a ton of metal, they’re often the ones yelling, Cruz Villarreal said, often unaware that bicyclists are just as entitled to use the road as they are.
“They always want to push us onto the sidewalk,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know that we’re allowed to be on the streets, that it’s illegal for us to be on the sidewalk.”
That’s the attitude from drivers that Cruz Villarreal and hundreds of other bike commuters like her …

TX: Houston Bike Plan Will Take Shape Slowly, Supporters Say

by Dug Begley and Mike Morris www.masstransitmag.com

For the first time in more than two decades, Houston has a detailed strategy to improve bicycling — an ambitious but mostly unfunded plan to enhance bike culture in one of the nation’s most car-focused cities.
The Houston Bike Plan identifies $300 million to $500 million in improvements aimed at encouraging cycling and bringing more accessibility to every corner of the city via new paths, off-street trails and safer lanes where cyclists share the road with drivers.
A key goal of the plan is to …

Buoyed by support, Giant-Alpecin’s Chad Haga looks ahead

By Pat Malach www.cyclingnews.com

Four weeks after head-on collision, American is thinking about 2016 Grand Tours
Just over four weeks on from needing to be airlifted from the scene of his head-on crash with an automobile while training with Giant-Alpecin teammates in Spain, Chad Haga is training on a limited basis and thinking about which Grand Tour he’ll get to ride this season.
The 27-year-old from Texas has been racing with the Dutch WorldTour team since 2014, when he finished his first Grand Tour at the …

Local doctor gives away nearly 4,000 bike helmets

kagstv.com

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS – Today, almost 4,000 area students get to ride their bikes a little safer thanks to a local doctor, Andrew de Jong, because of his 8th annual Hard Hats for Little Heads event.
On average, 250 children in the United States under the age of 14 die each year because of a bicycle crash. Another 300,000 are treated in emergency rooms for …

TJC to start 90th anniversary celebration with bike ride

Betty Waters www.tylerpaper.com


The yearlong campaign will include students, alumni, past and present employees, board members and supporters.
TJC President Dr. Mike Metke, an avid fitness proponent and cycling enthusiast, will get the celebration rolling with the “90 for 90th” – a two-day, 90-mile bicycle tour spanning the length of TJC’s enrollment district, from …

This weekend’s rides: Reverse Triple Bs! Red Horn!

Thomas steinerranchcycling.com

This weekend while some of our crew (Andrew, Steve, Stuart, John, and Justin) are out kicking ass in back-to-back races (Bat City Classic on Saturday and Pace Bend on Sunday) we will be having some very enjoyable rides.
Saturday we will do the Triple Bs ride in reverse. This takes us out Anderson Mill to Parmer, and from there down Park street across Lakeline to the …

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Out of the Ordinary Bike Ride

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When I started today’s ride at 2:30 I didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary to happen. The weather was beautiful with a blue sky, 73 degrees and a stout 13 mph wind with 16 mph gusts. I rode the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route with the wind from the west the pedaling wasn’t too hard until I reached Huffman.

On FM2100 as I approached Huffman the ride changed from ordinary to unusual. There were flashing lights as I rode toward the railroad crossing. Three Harris County Precinct 3 cruisers were there along with the Acadian Ambulance Service and a Huffman VFD truck. Two vehicles crashed with a SUV into the side of a pickup truck. As I made my through the backed up traffic I could see people gathered on the driver’s side of the pickup truck. Later at the Huffman Chevron across the railroad tracks one of the clerks said a driver was drunk.

Pulling into the station I leaned my bike up against the store window and walked out to the pumps to get a couple of paper towels. As I stepped up on sidewalk at the front of the store I noticed a biker with a loaded Fuji mountain bike getting ready to lift it down onto the driveway. I started talking with him. I learned he was on his way to Buenos Aires in Argentina. I asked if he was going to the Olympics and he said no. He started in New York City, riding through Philadelphia, Baltimore, South Carolina. He talked about the roads in Louisiana and Texas. He averages 40 to 50 miles per day but today he was not going that far because of two long conversations. Today he was riding from Liberty to Humble, about 35 miles. His next destination was Austin asking me if there were many bike shops there. I said yes saying he should go see Lance’s Mellow Johnny shop. I handed him a Texbiker.net business card but when I tried to take his picture he asked me to not do that. He didn’t want to be on Twitter or Facebook. I wished a safe trip and he pedaled off to Humble. He preferred roads with shoulders. He said there was a 5 mile long bridge in Louisian he crossed without much room which was why he had two spare tires on the back rack. He did not want to have a flat on that bridge with no place to fix it. He talked more about Spain and living there, one year in Barcelona. I told him my wife and I were going to Spain later this year.

After this I took a rest break to eat a couple of trailmix bars before riding to home. Today was the first ride since last Saturday’s Bulldog Ride in Waller. The weather screenshots at the Chevron station. By the time I got home at 4:51 the wind had picked up to 14 mph from the NNW with 20 mph gusts. The temperature had dropped to 69. I was glad I wore a short sleeve jersey over my long sleeve one.

With today’s 31.73 miles I surpassed my February goal of 346 miles with the total now 371 for the month. I plan biking tomorrow (Friday) so I should increase the miles even more. The weather should be repeat of today.

[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/7957260/embed 640px 650px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/502328230/embed/83ae7c82bddfac123906d482040ac325d8cc60a2 590px 405px]

A comparison of the last 4 rides on today’s route.

2-25-2016 Comparison Last 4 Rides Today's Route

Texas Bicycling News Digest February 24th 2016

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An apology to ‘Man on Bike’

Kyle Shelton, Kinder Institute www.houstonchronicle.com

In Montrose, a handwritten sign shows how much Houston is changing

The pink tagboard sign caught my eye as I passed it while taking a run on Mandell Street in Houston last week. Addressed to an unidentified biker from an unidentified driver, it had the ring of a Craigslist missed connection post – really, more of a “missed collision.” It was a public apology from a driver to cyclist.
I don’t know what the circumstances of the near miss were. Was the driver on her phone or going too fast? Was the cyclist in …

Bicyclist hit, killed in NE Harris County

By Dale Lezon www.chron.com

A bicyclist died early Wednesday morning when a car hit him in northeast Harris County.
The incident happened about 5:40 a.m. in the 19700 block of Crosby Eastgate Rod near Load Road, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said a person called 911 to report the man had been hit by a vehicle. The driver stopped.
No other information was available.

Discover the Many East Texas Trails

by LouAnn Campbell www.countylinemagazine.com


Spring is in the air in East Texas. It’s the perfect time and place to lace up some hiking boots or sneakers and head outside.
There are some amazing trails in the region to spend some time with nature and a good place to start is the North East Texas Trail (NETT).
The NETT trail encompasses 130 miles of recycled rail banked corridor. This unique piece of Texas history stretches from Farmersville to New Boston. It winds through 19 towns and seven counties.
“We come out here when it’s …

Ride the Brays Bayou Trail

La Porte Cycling Meetup www.meetup.com

Mason park
541 S 75th St, houston, TX (map)
This is an exploratory posting, just to gauge interest. The trail goes from Mason park in Harrisburg all the way to Brays Bayou park by Bissonnet/Gessner. It’s probably about 25 miles each way and a mix of dirt, asphalt and concrete trails with the occasional bit of road connecting sections. We’d have to come up with a decent plan for …

Sat 2-27-16, 51 Miles, 8:00 AM start

www.planobicycle.org

We’re baaaack!
Miles – 51
Pace – 16-16.5 computer avg
DROP Ride – be sure to have a sag plan, we don’t drop riders who are in distress, have mechanicals or get caught at traffic lights
Start time – 8:00 am be there by 7:45 for sign up, I’ll be in a red Ford Fusion parked along the playground area between Tweeners & DB Lite
Route (no cue sheets provided – you can print your own from RWGPS):
Fully Extended Tweeners Route If you have been riding Tweeners, you should be comfortable on this route as 90% of it will be familiar roads so come on out!
If we don’t get enough riders (at least 6) we will combine with another …

Bike drive for local veterans

by Sharon Brooks www.theexaminer.com


Kelly High School’s Youth-Leadership Southeast Texas (Y-LSET) Team has partnered with Leadership Southeast Texas and West Brook High School’s Y-LSET Team to collect used bicycles for veterans. The program was designed to fulfill …

Upgraded the “Motta”

Pit’s Fritztown News pitsfritztownnews.wordpress.com

This afternoon I did some more work on the “Motta” and did what I had wanted to do for quite a long time: fit it with Cinelli Spinaci handlebar extensions. I had had them sitting here for a long, long time, as they didn’t fit over the handlebars with tape. Finally today I decided to take the tape off in the area where the extensions were to go, that is where the handlebar tapers off a tad, between the stem and the brakes. Well, I’m …

2016 Texas Team Preview : Matrix Elite Cycling

texasbikeracing.com


Matrix Elite Cycling Team
Roster:
Andrew Armstrong
Chris Carlson
Colt Trant
Davis Dombrowski
Evan Bausbacher
Hugo Scala Jr.
Jake Ingram
John Ryan
Rob Sandusky
Tyler Cloutier
Sponsors: Richardson Bike Mart, Trek, Bontrager
Bikes: Trek Emonda SLR with SRAM Red 22 + Bontrager Aeolus Wheelsets
Goals: Our main goal is to work as a team in every race and …

Treat of the Day: Hard Hats for Little Heads

www.kbtx.com Video


COLLEGE STATION, Texas– Texas ENT & Allergy, Aggie Athletes Involved (AAI), Texas A&M Athletics and Texas Medical Association, along with supporting sponsors want to encourage child safety
by giving away free bicycle helmets on Thursday, February 25.
The program will be held on the Texas A&M campus at Reed Arena and will begin at approximately 9 a.m.
For the eighth year in a row, approximately 3,500 bike helmets will be presented to surrounding area second graders.
This year’s event will include …

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