Texas Bicycling News November 9th

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In Houston, Bike Sharing and Parks Form a Perfect Pair

Kyle Shelton, by Kinder Institute        urbanedge.blogs.rice.edu


The grand opening of Houston’s revamped Buffalo Bayou Park in October is the latest success in a string of greenspace improvements that mark Houston’s ongoing parks renaissance.
Since the opening of Discovery Green in 2008, the city, its residents and its philanthropists have doubled down on their political and financial commitment to parks. From the Bayou Greenways 2020 initiative, to the master plan development for Memorial Park, to the recent passage of a plan that aims to …

Race Recap: Cranking Gears and Drinking Beers

By Adam Spears        texasbikeracing.com


This weekend was a race new to the North Texas scene. Cranking Gears and Drinking Beers, presented by Cadence Cyclery and hosted by the fine folks of Tupps Brewery in McKinney.
As I rolled up to the event, I saw the familiar sight of stakes and tape throughout a wide- open field. This was where more than half the race would be contested. I had heard and read that the race itself was going to go right through the brewery, so I hopped on my bike for a pre-race lap to check things out.
As I rolled into the rhythm section behind the brewery, it didn’t take but a few hundred yards for the bike to be completely bogged down with mud and sawdust. I actually had to pick my bike up and carry it out to the start-finish area. I grabbed a stake and started trying to clear the grapefruit-sized ball of mud from …

Cranking Gears & Drinking Beers

Chris Jennings

Texas A&M Recognized Nationally As A “Bicycle Friendly University”

today.tamu.edu


Texas A&M University has been designated a “Bicycle Friendly University” by the League of American Bicyclists, an honor based on initiatives by Transportation Services and other parts of the institution in serving the needs of the cycling community while also reducing the campus’ carbon footprint, officials note.
“This recent recognition is yet another example of how our Department of Transportation Services works to …

Remaining Cross Races

Texas A&M Cycling Team        amct.tamu.edu

Below are the remaining cross races for the 2015-2016 season:
November 14/15 Georgetown Cyclocross Festival – Georgetown, TX
November 21/22 Mellow Johnny’s Cross of Ages – Austin, TX
December 5/6 Cyclocross State Championship – Houston, TX …

Bike Hutto Launches New Share the Road Campaign

BikeTexas.org


Share the Road campaigns have been utilized across the country in order to caution motorists that other forms of transportation utilize and cross roadways. The phrase, “Share the Road,” is applicable to both motorcyclists as well as bicyclists depending on the campaign. Whichever the focus, these campaigns are meant to improve safety conditions for entities by raising awareness and encouraging these segments of the population to watch out for one another. Bike Hutto is now working to build bicycle/car safety awareness in Hutto through their new …

Texas Bicycling Tweets

https://twitter.com/danielcurtin/status/663796704542486528

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Texas Bicycling Event Reminder

Texas Bicycling News November 8th

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The Betsy Price Selective Fort Worth Wellness Bar

by Durango Texas        durangotexas.blogspot.com


I saw this a few days ago in the Star-Telegram, an opinion piece alleging that somehow Fort Worth is setting the bar.
Short version, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce picked 10 U.S. cities to host a health forum through the C of C’s national Better Health through Economic Opportunity campaign.
The Star-Telegram took this being one of ten towns and being a …

Policies are blind to ‘invisible’ cyclists

By Andrew Keatts        www.chron.com


Misidentification of bike community hampers efforts to promote safety
Houston resident Veon McReynolds rides his bicycle everywhere he can.
Through his nonprofit Tour de Hood, he leads weekly bike ride groups through neighborhoods many Houstonians would never otherwise see. On his own, he’s taken long-distance rides that crisscross the country.
Everywhere he goes, he says, he sees a particular type of cyclist: a working-class person – usually a minority and often a recent immigrant – riding to work on whatever type of bike he can get his hands on. For them, cycling isn’t an environmental cause or a response to an urban trend but a means of transportation that’s cheaper than a car and faster than …

Viral Video Shows Brusque, Forceful Arrests in Austin, Texas

By Paula Mejia        www.newsweek.com


A harrowing video that appears to show several bicycle police officers from the Austin Police Department using questionable force to arrest three people who had allegedly jaywalked early on Friday morning was posted online and is now being reviewed by the organization’s “chain of command,” reports NBC News.
It’s unclear what events preceded the violent turn depicted in the video, but the alleged jaywalking arrests were captured by a friend of the …

North Texas bike ride drops friendly bombs on bees and butterflies

By Teresa Gubbins        dallas.culturemap.com


Those who love bees and bicycling will want to sign up for t​he Great Seed Bomb on November 14, a 15-mile fundraiser and bike ride that benefits bees, monarchs, and other pollinators at Clear Fork Food Truck Park in Fort Worth.
Riders will participate in a practice called “throw and grow.” They’ll toss “seed balls,” containing seeds for milkweed and wildflower plants, to bloom in the spring.
Ride founder Jillian Jordan says that the goal in …

Go for an easy beginner ride

Saturday, Nov 14, 2015, 9:00 AM

Performance Bicycle
7549 Westheimer Rd Houston, TX

9 Cycling Enthusiasts Went

You’re invited to join our Saturday morning, beginners group ride starting from and ending at our W. Houston, Performance Bicycle store. The ride is for beginners and those getting back on the saddle. The average pace will be between 10 and 14 miles per hour and the ride will last approximately one hour. We’ll explore some of the local bike paths a…

Check out this Meetup →

Lets take our first night light bike ride!

Saturday, Nov 14, 2015, 5:00 PM

Hailey Elementary
12051 Sawmill Rd, The Woodlands, TX 77380 Spring, TX

16 Night Riders Went

Hello everyone!I am thrilled that there has been such a big response to this meetup.For our first ride we will be heading to the Woodlands outdoor mall! There we can congregate at “Central Park at Market St.” and hop over to Starbucks for a coffee or Potbelly’s for ice cream.I am so excited to meet everyone and share with you our family traditio…

Check out this Meetup →

2015/2016 Brevet Ride Schedule:

Hill Country Randonneurs        www.hillcountryrandonneurs.com

Distance     Date     Start Time     Start Location     Brevet Type     Name
100K     11/14/2015     7am     Belton     RUSA     Range Rover 100K
300k     11/21/2015     7am     West Austin     RUSA     Pedernales sans rt 150
200k     12/5/2015     7am     Steiner Ranch     RUSA     Lake Travis Loop
600k     12/12/2015     6am     Georgetown     RUSA     CDB 600
200k     1/2/2016     7am     Downtown Austin     ACP     No Return to Fitzhugh
200k     1/9/2016     7am     West Austin     ACP     Johnson City
300k     1/23/2016     7am     Downtown Austin     ACP     Mueller Double Century
400k     2/13/2016     7am     Downtown Austin     ACP     Burnet Cameron 400k
200k     2/20/2016     7am     West Austin     ACP     San Marcos Stretch
300k     2/20/2016     7am     West Austin     ACP     Pedernales Double Century
600k     2/27/2016     7am     Downtown Austin     ACP     Old Dime Box 600k
200k     3/5/2016     6am     West Austin     ACP     San Marcos Stretch
300k     3/5/2016     6am     West Austin     ACP     Fredericksburg 300k
400k     3/5/2016     6am     West Austin     ACP     Come and Take it 400k
400k     4/16/2016     6am     North Austin     ACP     Luling 400k
600k     4/16/2016     6am     North Austin     ACP     Luling 600k
200k     10/1/2016     7am     Georgetown     RUSA     Rock Dale and Ice
1000k     10/8/2016     7am     Downtown Austin     ACP     Burnet-Kendilia-Burton
300k     10/15/2016     7am     Georgetown     RUSA     Rock-burn 300
400k     11/5/2016     7am     Georgetown     RUSA     Stampede Redux
200k     12/3/2016     7am     Lakeway     RUSA     Loop Around Lake Travis
600k     12/10/2016     7am     Georgetown     RUSA     Rock the Stampede

The Racing Post – November Issue

The Racing Post        theracingpost.us

Texas Bicycling Tweets

https://twitter.com/danielcurtin/status/663530613085855744

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/663516970944471041

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/663416601081982978

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/663387354279858176

Texas Bicycling Event Reminders

Texas Bicycling News November 7th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

State park sees invasion of Cyclocrossers

by Bill Cullins        www.gosanangelo.com

If you happened to be in the state park on any Wednesday evening in October you probably saw it — a seemingly frenzied mob of spandex-clad cyclists pedaling madly around a serpentine off-road course near the Chaparral pavilion, slowing to dismount at various points and then running with their bikes to jump over obstacles, remount and sprint back up to speed.
Relax — the state park was not experiencing an invasion of crazed zombie cyclists. What you saw was one of the …

Registration open for 2016 BP MS 150 bike ride

by Pam LeBlanc        fitness.blog.austin360.com


Want to pedal your bike from Houston all the way to Austin next spring?
Registration has opened for the 2016 BP MS 150. The two-day ride, a fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, is scheduled for April 16-17.
The ride resembles a rolling party, with a nearly non-stop stream of cyclists pedaling for a good cause. When I rode a few years ago, I spotted folks in costume, bikes equipped with …

Streetfilms- Austin, TX -3rd Street Cycletrack & Connection to East 4th St

from STREETFILMS


While at the NACTO Designing Cities conference at end of October, I was able to get a lot of nifty shots of Austin’s new-ish, still-under-construction 3rd Street Cycletrack (both sides of street). As usual, there are many cities with protected cycle tracks starting to do it the right way using concrete curbs instead of flimsy bollards and paint on the street. Let these continued “inspirations” prod other cities to not waiting any longer and do it the way that works.

5 Steps to biking safely on the Texas Tech campus (updated)

Matthew Bell

Streetfilms- Austin, TX -3rd Street Cycletrack & Connection to East 4th St

Streetfilms


While at the NACTO Designing Cities conference at end of October, I was able to get a lot of nifty shots of Austin’s new-ish, still-under-construction 3rd Street Cycletrack (both sides of street). As usual, there are many cities with protected cycle tracks starting to do it the right way using concrete curbs instead of flimsy bollards and paint on the street. Let these continued “inspirations” prod other cities to not waiting any longer and do it the way that works.

Gateway Park

Tyler Wiggins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As1D39CzOPI
Part of my trail ride at Gateway Park. This is the first video I’ve uploaded to YouTube. Sorry if quality isn’t great.

Mountain Biking at Flat Rock Ranch

RIPBiker13


MY friends and I hit the trails at Flat Rock Ranch in Comfort, Texas. First time on the trails. We did our best…

Texas Bicycling Tweets

https://twitter.com/wsbhtx/status/663213194677248000

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/663171345375711232

https://twitter.com/WSS_22/status/663048414343499776

https://twitter.com/joeyTWOwheels/status/663143030854131712

Texas Bicycling News Digest November 6th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Cranking Gears and Drinking Beers

texasbikeracing.com


Cyclocross and Beer: Some things are just better together and this weekend’s race north of Dallas puts a race course right through a brewery.
We like beer here at TexasBikeRacing.com, especially Texas beer. And we happen to really like bike racing. So this cyclocross season, we decided to start using the hashtag #willraceforbeer in our various social media posts.
And it seems like this weekend’s race is the prime time to gleefully overuse that number-sign-thing: a cyclocross course is going to go through a brewery. This takes …

Brief Cycling Survey from Rice U Design Team

by boojel        www.reddit.com/r/bikehouston

Organized rides, bike travel, tours offer opportunity to grow flat industry

by Lynette Carpiet        www.bicycleretailer.com


SAN DIEGO (BRAIN) — Chris Speyer, CEO of Accell North America, told attendees at the National Bicycle Tourism conference Thursday morning that they play a major role in helping grow the pie in an otherwise stagnant bike market.
For the last decade, the number of bike units sold to specialty retailers has remained between 2.4 and 2.6 million, Speyer noted. “At the end of September, we’re showing a flat result compared to last year in terms of units sold in. We will maintain our consistency as an industry and we will sell between 2.4 and 2.6 million units,” he said. “When you have a pie that’s one size for a long time, on the wholesale side we’re fighting each …

Nolanville applies for federal funds for Main Street sidewalks

Rachael Riley | Herald staff writer        kdhnews.com

NOLANVILLE — Council members approved submitting a resolution Thursday night seek funding for sidewalks along Main Street.
The total cost of the project is about $551,300 and requires a 20 percent match from the city, said Gandolf Burrus, a grant writer with Austin-based Grant Development Service.
Engineering fees are eligible for the project, and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad and Hill Country Transit District, or HOP, are making contributions, which would account for about 5 percent of the project, Burrus said. …

… According to preliminary project plans, 10-foot-wide sidewalks for biking and walking would go be on both sides of Main Street, from …

A&M Is Texas’ Newest Bicycle Friendly University

www.biketexas.org


Texas A&M University is renowned for its school spirit and many traditions. After this week, the Aggies can add one more tradition to the list: being a great place to ride a bike.
maroon bikes cats biketexas bicycle educationThe League of American Bicyclists announced the latest round of Bicycle Friendly Universities on November 5, and A&M entered the list for the first time with a Bronze-level award. A&M joins Texas Tech University and the University of Texas at Austin as Texas’ three …

Texas Winners: Saris 5th Grade Poster Contest

www.biketexas.org


We’ve found the secret for ensuring intense discussion in the BikeTexas office: ask us to judge a poster contest. After the entries to the Saris 5th Grade National Poster Contest arrived, we had the hard work of choosing the top three. This year’s submissions were excellent!
This year’s poster contest theme was #LongForTheRide, and submissions had to include the …

Nov 5 Sea Rim State Park

Peg and Jan Bicycle tour 2015        cassh015.com

They made it t o the gulf after 42 days. Not bad really for two gals in their 70’s. We decided to come to Sea Rim Park and sort of beach because Galvaston is full of motorcyclests this week. We will now edge closer to Galvston tomorrow because P&J want to see galvaston.

Nov 6 One last thing

Peg and Jan Bicycle tour 2015        cassh015.com

We were at Sea Rim last night and the mosquitos were so bad you could not step outside the camper. This morning the fog was so thick you couldn’t see anything and evrything was covered with moisture. We let …

Eastbound from California

By Kevin OLeary        www.crazyguyonabike.com

Photos

Day 33: Johnson City to Austin, TX
Thursday November 5, 2015, 58 miles (93 km) – Total so far: 1,595 miles (2,567 km)
Expecting a not-to-difficult day I slept in an extra half hour before getting out of bed. When I peeked out the window I saw that it had rained overnight; everything was soaking wet and there were lots of puddles in the parking lot. On TV I got the weather forecast for Austin; while it was raining currently they expected it to stop in mid-morning and not resume until the evening.
I began cycling at 8:30am in the rain. Fortunately it quit after about a half hour. Because the sky had been overcast overnight it was surprising warm — in the low 70s — so getting wet wasn’t too bad.
The first leg of my trip took me from Johnson City to Pedernales State Park, a distance of …

Day 34: Austin
Friday November 6, 2015
My warmshowers hostess was kind enough to allow me to stay an extra day so I’m in Austin today.
In the morning we went to the LBJ Library which is on the campus of the …

A Ride to Remember

By Ken Kuntz        www.crazyguyonabike.com

Epilogue: End of the first leg of the journey
Thursday November 5, 2015
Epilogue: Comments at the end of the first leg of the journey
Quote for the day: “Maybe it’s not about the happy ending. Maybe it’s about the story.” — Unattributed
On Wednesday evening I was writing my post for the last day of the first leg, and as I was finishing it occurred to me that I should include some final comments. After all, this was the end of the first leg. Well, I was too tired, so I promised an epilogue.
How do I sum up the first 1,400 miles of my journey? I don’t know, but I have some observations.
First, I loved traveling through this country. Every day I found beautiful things – a small creek, a stand of trees, a big hay field, deer crossing the road. I hope the …

Texas Bicycling Tweets

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Texas Bicycling Event Reminders