Ride Like An Eagle – Atascocita High School

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This morning I got up early (for me) and drove to Atascocita High School for the Ride Like An Eagle bike ride. The sun wasn’t up yet as I pulled into the parking lot but it wasn’t long before it was. I preregistered for the ride and walked over to get my ride number and packet. On the way I saw Chris and his wife that I met at Houston Jeep People many months ago. We talked about the ride and caught up since our last meeting.

This was the first time for the ride and I wasn’t sure how many people would attend. I got number 23 and looking at the preregistered sheet at the table I guess 60 to 70 people signed up. How many showed up might be different. It was chilly (62 degrees on the Jeep’s thermometer) but the worst part was the NE wind. I estimate the wind was 12 to 15 mph.

At 8:00 we got our instructions and lined up behind the Harris County Precinct 4 cruiser and rolled out to Will Clayton Parkway to begin the ride. Prior to the start a young man on the PA mic lead us in the Star Spangled Banner a-Capella and then a prayer for a safe ride. The cruiser lead us all the way to FM2100 and Old Atascocita Road. From there we were on our own. I forgot to take weather screen shots at the start but at the first rest stop I grabbed these.

Don’t believe the wind speeds. It was gusty and I rode hard on Old Atascocita Road east of FM2100 to stay at 16 mph. Once I reached the turn and the rest stop the wind was from my back left side and much friendlier.

One of the challenges organized rides have is marking the route. Today the route was marked with orange (52 mile) and blue (40 mile) tape arrows on the road and signs at turns. This worked good but there were a few times when I would have liked to see arrows between route changes or intersections to reassure I didn’t make a wrong turn. I was familiar with many of the roads we were on but south of Crosby I have gotten lost on another bike ride because I missed a turn. Not today though. I stayed on the route all of the ride.

Traffic was friendly and gave me a wide berth. I encountered 2 dogs but I rode away from them. Other riders said they had more dog encounters than that. Chris said he had 8 dog chases. Before the ride I told a Texas National Guardsman about a particular house on Ramsey Road and Lord Road with a big German Shepherd and he radioed a person who said they would check it out. When I got there the dog wasn’t outside.

I was in and out of the wind as the route progressed. A nice stretch was on US90 from Crosby to Pineland Road. I sped along at 20+ mph but I was passed by another biker on his aero bars. He didn’t have a number so I think he was on his own. Along the route I saw a number of other riders who were probably on their own as well. Generally they were going the opposite direction and I didn’t see any ride numbers. These roads are popular to ride on.

Once I passed Sheldon Road on US90 it was new roads to me until I reached Aqueduct Road. Riding through Eisenhower Park was a first time for me. The roads were good and the traffic nonexistent. I stopped at a rest stop just before exiting the park and chatted with the people there. At that point I had about 7 miles to the finish. By then I was warmed up and the wind wasn’t quite the problem it was earlier. I finished at 11:45 at Atascocita High School.

Pictures I took at the start and along the ride.

The weather at the finish.

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Texas Bicycling News Digest October 16th

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Free bicycle helmets for small children

by The Independent, Liberty Hill        lhindependent.com


Bicycle helmets will be provided to children (ages 4-11) on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 9am to 1pm at the front of Liberty Hill Junior High School, 13125 W Hwy 29. Any child can receive a helmet until the supply is exhausted.
The helmet giveaway is part of a statewide effort – Hard Hats for Little Heads – which was launched by the Texas Medical Association (TMA) in 1994. The program promotes fun exercise and teaches kids and parents about the …

Denton bicycle lover creates customizable ‘Caboose’

by Chad Robertson        ntdaily.com


After pulling a scrapped Mount Shasta Legacy bike from a dumpster and revamping it back to life in 2011, Hayden Davis fell in love with the world of bicycles.
Davis, a 22-year-old printmaker and biking aficionado, has innovated a way for people to carry whatever they can comfortably fit into a cubic foot of space on the back of their bicycles.
Davis’ new product is called The Caboose, and it …

First Aid While Biking on the Trail

By Darryl        lovingthebike.com


Accident happens anywhere. We need to take precautionary measures at all times. In this article, we will discuss first aid while biking on the trail.
Biking is a good hobby but we cannot deny the fact that there’s also danger in it. Well, that also applies in all hobbies and activities both outdoors and indoors. It is best to prepared so we know what to do when someone meets an accident.
Among the most common injuries that can happen on the trail includes: …

http://www.meetup.com/Come-Ride-With-Us-Meetup-Group/events/226115869/?a=me2_grp&rv=me2&_af=event&_af_eid=226115869&https=off

October Ramblings and a Little Bit About Everything

Johnny Guzman        bicyclepointofview.blogspot.com

October Rambings: It’s still summer in Texas, back to mountain biking and why
I’ve been riding a fixie lately.
In a few days, the weather pattern will change and then we will be complaining why it’s so freakishly cold here in Texas. For now, we are still getting high’s in the 90’s, although mornings are a lot cooler than they were a few months ago. Texas weather changes in an instant. Many times trees here do not get to show off their fall colors before a cold snap comes and shakes all the leaves off of them. Winters in Texas are very hard. They are as cold as up north but usually without the snow and the general wintertime ambience. What we do get in the winter here in texas are strong winds, cold winds, howling winds. Wind gusts that can easily knock someone off of …

10/17 & 10/18 rides! Dam Loop! LIVESTRONG!

by Thomas        steinerranchcycling.com

This is the LIVESTRONG weekend (the ride is actually Sunday)!
Saturday John Nadolksi will be leading the famous Dam Loop ride! Show up at the usual place and time (Cups & Cones @ 7:30am) for some Dam fun!
Since Sunday is the LIVESTRONG ride attendance for the coffee shop ride may …

Ride in the 43rd Annual BikeHouston Moonlight Ramble on Oct 24th!

bikehouston.org


BikeHouston Moonlight Ramble is in it’s 43rd year! This event has been coordinated by BikeHouston for the past 10+ years and is our largest ride and fundraiser. This year, it’s happening the night of Saturday, October 24th.
Last year, there were about 1500 riders of all ages and backgrounds that took to the streets of Houston in this late Saturday night ride. This year, we added the ability for registrants to fundraise leading up to the event, just like other rides that benefit nonprofits (think MS150, Tour de Pink, Park to Port, etc). If you would like to fundraise with friends, there are also …

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Texas Bicycling Event Reminders

Don’t Fence Me In With Parkway Construction Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

The excellent biking weather continued for today’s ride. The blue sky and 90 degree temperature called me to the roads on the “Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch” route to the north. The wind when I left home at 12:19 was strong from the NE at 13 mph with 18 mph gusts but this died down to 6 mph from the east by the time I got back home at 3:33. Depending on which direction I rode the wind helped or hindered, of course. I added a few extra streets to get the mileage up to 36.15, a couple of miles longer than usual for this route. I soaked up the enjoyable weather as I rode. My timing was pretty good to miss the school dismissal lines except for the Valley Ranch Elementary and Elm Grove Elementary schools.

Riding northwest on FM1314 to Cumberland Crossing I stopped at the Grand Parkway overpass construction and took these pictures. (click on the image to enlarge it)

Construction is moving along. In the first picture you can see the pads draped over the guardrail where new concrete has been poured to slow the curing. With the super dry weather we have moisture does not stay around long.

From there I rode back towards Porter to the Stripes station for a rest break. This was 23.95 miles into the ride. I went inside and got a Diet Peach Snapple and headed to the pump canopy to enjoy a trail mix bar and a granola bar. I enjoyed sitting under the canopy so much I delayed getting back on the bike.The weather while I was at Stripes.

When I got on the bike I rode north on Valley Ranch Parkway into the Grand Parkway construction and took these pictures. (click on the image to enlarge it)

The middle picture shows two diggers. They were making loud noises as they tried to dig into the hard dirt. The left picture shows the road going east. It looks like there might be a service road connection to US59. Turning around I rode to US59 and took the southbound service road to Northpark Drive and then back into Kingwood.

14 times I have rode the”Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch” route this year. See the summary comparison below.

Tomorrow I bike the Ride Like An Eagle Bike Ride from Atascocita High School, about 10 miles to the south of my home. The weather could be slightly cool at the start (60 degrees) but warming to the low 80’s by noon. A long sleeve jersey and short sleeve jersey may be my wardrobe. No leg warmers, I will tough it out until it warms up.

[iframe https://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/929548959 465px 500px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/414283567/embed/65c1d1d1516650ade3238c01baaaefe864d718e3 590px 500px]

Activity Name Start Time Distance Elevation Gain Avg Speed(Avg Pace) Max Speed(Best Pace) Calories Total Strokes
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Fri, Oct 16, 2015 12:19 PM 2:30:01 36.15 243 14.5 20.2 1658 8738
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Fri, Oct 9, 2015 2:29 PM 2:19:48 34.71 151 14.9 21.3 1626 8212
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Fri, Sep 4, 2015 12:27 PM 2:25:15 35.15 525 14.5 20.2 1862 9092
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Thu, Aug 13, 2015 11:14 AM 2:26:13 35.15 479 14.4 19.9 1889 8759
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Fri, Jul 10, 2015 10:56 AM 2:19:15 34.75 509 15 19.9 1857 8765
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Tue, Jun 30, 2015 12:17 PM 2:15:45 32.9 463 14.5 21.5 1772 8354
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Mon, Jun 15, 2015 9:59 AM 2:20:53 34.82 528 14.8 27.3 1905 8491
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Wed, Jun 10, 2015 11:04 AM 2:27:33 35.28 417 14.3 19.7 1857 8679
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Wed, Jun 3, 2015 9:30 AM 2:11:51 33.04 407 15 21.3 1775 7962
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Thu, May 28, 2015 11:07 AM 2:12:14 32.76 482 14.9 20.5 1780 8365
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Sun, May 3, 2015 11:19 AM 2:03:04 31.53 709 15.4 21.7 1805 7891
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Wed, Apr 22, 2015 12:25 PM 2:13:56 32.78 646 14.7 21.2 1818 8275
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Wed, Apr 8, 2015 11:06 AM 2:14:18 32.53 919 14.5 21.1 1889 8192
Oakhurst – Cumberland – Valley Ranch Wed, Apr 1, 2015 11:57 AM 2:10:08 32.32 692 14.9 21.4 1843 8096

Texas Bicycling News Digest October 15th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

McKinney Police Looking For Special Needs Bicycle Thief

dfwliving.com


McKINNEY (KRLD) – The McKinney Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating a stolen special needs child’s bicycle.
The three-wheeled bike (pictured above) was taken from the front yard of a home on Mountain Ride Lane earlier this month.
A neighbor describes the possible suspect’s car (seen below) as a …

A Great Ride For A Great Cause (Breast Cancer Awareness)

Saturday, Oct 24, 2015, 9:00 AM

Performance Bicycle
4750 Fm 1960 Rd W Houston, TX

1 Bicycle Enthusiasts Went

Check out this Meetup →

Wednesday Night Ride

Wednesday, Oct 21, 2015, 5:15 PM

River Run Plaza
1071 Country Club Rd El Paso, TX

2 Cyclists Went

The leaderless rides of 18-22 miles begin at 5:15 p.m. (some riders may leave earlier or later) from River Run Plaza, 1071 Country Club; and at 5:30-5:45 p.m. from Rio Plaza, 6205 Upper Valley Rd (at Artcraft). The favorite route is a loop to Gadsden H.S. Optional dinner afterward at Hello Pizza, 1071 Country Club Rd. Start time varies later in sum…

Check out this Meetup →

Wind In My Wheels- A Journey Across America

By Richard Ostrowski        www.crazyguyonabike.com

Riding on the LBJ Highway: Fredericksburg to Johnson City, Texas
Thursday October 15, 2015
Breakfast was served at our Super 8 Motel this morning. I had toast, tea, and orange juice then headed down to the McDonalds for more breakfast. Bob and I were on the road by 7:00AM to our destination of Johnson City a distance of 30 miles. I averaged 10.8 mph. The shoulders were very narrow for the first 10 miles on route 290 but got wide after that.
Our ride today took us past probably at least a dozen wineries. Several had restaurants and B&B attached to them. A few were names I recognized. Of course the most interesting name was Fat Ass Winery. As I approached the entrance I saw a picture of a donkey.
We passed by the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park but decided not to stop.
We stopped at a gas station convenience store in the town of Stonewall for refreshments. It had a few tables that were occupied by 8 locals for their mornig coffee and discussion.
Bob and I arrived in Johnson City at 10:45 AM. We visited the Tourist Information office and found out about local restaurants, motels and campgrounds. Bob wanted to have lunch so we headed to the Pecan Brewery for beer and food. I had fish burritos which consisted of salmon , lettus and a spicy sauce. They were very tasty. While I was …

Ride Across Texas (RAT)

By Jason Reynolds        www.crazyguyonabike.com

Road trip to Texarkana
Friday October 9, 2015
Since my last post, I have continued training. Two weeks ago, Jeff and I rode a 90 mile route that started in Morgan, TX. The gravel was good and the scenery was even better. We saw a few buffalo and some deer that looked like elk on steroids. We thought the deer might be imported red stag for an exotic game ranch but their antlers don’t match the pictures of the red stag I have seen.
The next day, Jeff and I did a 65 mile road bike ride with our friends Tom and Don. I was pretty tired after two hard riding days, so I set the remaining training at 3 rides of 30-35 miles since then.
For the RAT, I wanted mountain bike tires that would be provide a smooth ride while on good roads but have enough tread to provide traction on the rough gravel sections. Last year while riding the mini-RAT, I met James Kennedy who works at a Bicycles Plus in Coppell. He used Vittoria Mezcal tires and highly recommended them. I ordered a pair from him and had installed one on the front a couple weeks ago when my front tire developed a bulge in the tread. I wanted to install the rear tire as close to the start of the RAT as possible so I tried to …

Day 1, Excited and hoping experience helps.
Saturday October 10, 2015, 138 miles (222 km) – Total so far: 138 miles (222 km)
Up at 5:45 am, showered and down to breakfast at 6:00 am and spent a little time meeting and greeting other riders who were also staying at the Hampton Inn, which is our official starting point of the ride. Got dressed, bike loaded and went outside to await the 7:00 start.
I know that there were approximately 70 riders who had registered for the RAT, but it appeared that maybe around 50 of them were at the start line. It appears that several had to cancel due to various family, training or other scheduling issues.
We took a few pictures and Annette Jensen suffered the first failure of the ride, when her clear lens glasses snapped as she put them on. Good thing she also had a pair of sunglasses ready, even thought it was still fairly dark.
7:00 am and we were off. It didn’t take very long for me to decide that my new Vittoria Mezcal tires were awesome on pavement as we headed out of Texarkana. My bike was also handling better because I had replaced the shock with a rigid fork and I also replaced the Thudbuster seat post with a rigid seat post. I also installed Profile Designs T3+ aero bars. This reduced the …

Day 2, This is going to be a great day
Sunday October 11, 2015, 80 miles (129 km) – Total so far: 218 miles (351 km)
I let us sleep in until 7 today because we rode so awesomely yesterday and today would be an easy 80 miles from Paris to Farmersville if we took the NETT trail from Ladonia to Farmersville. The official route was 91 miles from Paris, but it would be fun to ride on the trail if conditions permitted. Lesson learned, never assume an 80 mile ride is going to be easy unless you are 100% sure of the ride conditions. I was soon to find out that fatigued legs, heat and headwinds would make the 80 mile day just as hard as the 138 miles on the first day.
We left our hotel and cycled to downtown Paris, passing several unique buildings and stopped for breakfast at Nancy’s Café. My cousin and I found this place last year and as many cyclists know, if the owner’s name precedes the word Café, then you are likely to get great food. We had great …

Day 3, Starting the need for strategic stops
Monday October 12, 2015, 101 miles (163 km) – Total so far: 319 miles (513 km)
Suzee woke Jeff and I up at 5:30 and she had prepared a fantastic casserole for breakfast. Suzee is a big cycling advocate in Farmersville and volunteering to host us and fix breakfast shows how strong she works to promote cycling in her area. She has also hosted a Caught on the NETT event to help promote the trail and is planning another one next year.
We left Farmersville around 6:45 and had 50 miles until the first town that we would actually ride through. At mile 36 we elected to go 3 miles off route to find food and water in the town of Melissa. Jeff and I bought Ultimate Meat and Cheese burritos at the Sonic and refilled our water bottles at the gas station across the state. The proprietor in the store couldn’t believe how far we were riding today, let alone our plans for the week.
A few miles down the road, we caught up with Roland and Dave. We rode with them into …

Day 4, Now this makes the training worthwhile
Tuesday October 13, 2015
We got up at 5:15 and we were on the road at 6:45. We crossed over I-35 in the dark and had a nice quiet ride on a road that was surprising flat. We road 15 miles to Era where we found a very new gas station/convenience store/Subway. The people there were very friendly and we had great breakfast sandwiches.
After leaving Era, we started to encounter some more hills, but nothing major and 17 miles later arrived in Muenster with plans to eat some good German pastries at a local bakery. We found the bakery and overloaded on our sugar intake, but we couldn’t help it. The pastries made us eat them. There was a Dollar General store right across the street from the bakery. I was able to buy a 10 pack of large band aids for $3.00 and thus solved the “bad stitching rubbing me the wrong way problem”. Thanks Dollar General. …

Day 5, The end is near and I didn’t know it.
Wednesday October 14, 2015, 50 miles (80 km) – Total so far: 369 miles (594 km)
Jeff and I had made plans to get up at 4:30. Because the ants caused me to get up at 2:30, I decided to break down my campsite at 4:00. I moved most of my things quietly over to the restroom area, so I had lighting to pack and wouldn’t disturb the other cyclists. When Jeff got up, he was surprised to see that I only had a few things left to pack.
We drank breakfast shakes and rolled out of the campground at 5:45 on our way to Holiday which was the first potential stop for real food and drink. About 2 miles from the campground we ran into a newly graveled road. For about 8 miles we battled a dangerous/hazardous/crappy bike riding road that had about 3″ of loose rock across the whole road. There were no packed track areas to ride in and consequently it took a lot of effort to ride and avoid wiping out. This segment was absolutely awful.
It took about 2 1/2 hours to get to Holiday where we met 4 RAT riders from Amarillo that we had seen off and …

The Latest Useless Bike Lane

by Daniel Day        bikesanantonio.blogspot.com

The latest Useless bicycle lane is now open.  Has been open for almost a month now and you can use this latest uselessness on Arsenal along the HEB headquarters.

To understand why this was built, you’re going to have to listen to a awesome podcast called 99% Invisible, episode name Arsenal of Exclusion.  It talks about how infrastructure can be used to funnel and control human behavior.  In the case of this useless protected bicycle lane, it is used to encourage people on bicycle to not ride down S Flores, but to choose S Main instead and connect with the protected …

Cyclist sues after APD vehicle right-hooks him & city denies fault

bicycleaustin.info

[http://kxan.com/2015/10/14/cyclist-file … ved-crash/](http://kxan.com/2015/10/14/cyclist-file … ved-crash/)
(The video has a lot more information than the article itself, including surveillance footage of the crash.)
KXAN wrote:
A man has filed a lawsuit in Travis County against the City of Austin, for an alleged officer-involved crash that occurred last October. The plaintiff alleges negligence and negligence per se.
According to court documents, Mark Collins was riding his bicycle the morning of Oct. 24, 2014 on East 6th Street when an officer made a right turn onto Sabine Street, “careening their vehicle directing into the path of Plaintiff Mark Collins and his bicycle, causing the severe injuring and damages hereinafter complained of.”
The lawsuit claims Collins lost consciousness, suffered a knee sprain, abrasions, and other injuries. …

Jack & Adam’s is now Bicycle World

by Corey Carter        www.cycleaustin.com

Okay, so maybe I’m a little late to the game here. According to this bicycleretailer.com article, Austin’s premier triathlon shop Jack & Adam’s merged with Texas Endurance Sports, owners of Houston-area Bicycle World, in March. In the article Jack & Adam’s owner Jack Murray states “There are no plans to rebrand Jack & Adam’s”, but that must’ve changed based on the ad below from the October issue of …

Longhorn Cyclocross Race #2

www.webscorer.com

Wednesday, October 14, 2015 6:28 PM (GMT-5) – Final results
Sport:     Cycling – cyclocross
Location:     San Angelo, TX, United States
Start type:     Mass start
Racers:     32
Laps:     6
Race winners …

Tweets About Texas Bicycling

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