Texas Bicycling News October 4th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

The Racing Post – October 2015 Edition

theracingpost.us

Hundreds of cyclists from around state ride in Pineywoods Purgatory

By SHEMEKA THOMPKINS/The Lufkin News        lufkindailynews.com


The 24th annual Pineywoods Purgatory cycling event hosted by Mark Dunn was on Saturday at the George H. Henderson Jr. Exposition Center.
Subscription Required

Day 24: Camp Wood to Vanderpool: Let the hills begin!

By Judy Gamble        www.crazyguyonabike.com

No Tears on the Southern Tier

Saturday October 3, 2015, 46 miles (74 km) – Total so far: 1,450 miles (2,334 km)
46 miles, 2901′ climbing
Last night the Big Oak Campground was a-flitter with religious activities lasting pretty late into the night…late in the eyes of two riders who tend to lay down for shuteye at dark, when camping, and rise with the sun. There was singing, dancing and generally just good old fun. Nonetheless, we both slept well and the sun awoke us around 7am.
Our destination today was Lost Maples State Park, about 4 miles north of the town of Vanderpool. Lost Maples is known for the Big Tooth Maple tree that is only found in two places (in Texas or the USA, not sure??) Late in the year, November, the park turns into a blaze of red, yellow and orange, making it one of …

Day 25: Lost Maples/Vanderpool to Kerrville: A beautiful ride through the hilly country
Sunday October 4, 2015, 50 miles (80 km) – Total so far: 1,500 miles (2,414 km)
50 miles, 1689′ climbing
At dark, in most campgrounds, the world goes silent. That’s what happened last night at Lost Maples. Our touring friends, Robert and Connie, stopped by for a chat and headed back to their bike ranch at campsite 30 shortly after the sun set and we headed to the tent. It was cold overnight and if you have followed our journal you know that we sent our sleeping bags home. Temps got down to 52 degrees. We both put on all of our warm clothes over the course of the sleep, the whole time our crinkly mattresses working their crinkly …

Central Texas Digest: Authorities preparing for National Night Out

www.mystatesman.com

… WILLIAMSON COUNTY
CEDAR PARK
Free bicycle helmets for children
The Texas Medical Association’s annual giveaway of nearly 4,000 bicycle helmets to children, Hard Hats for Little Heads, is coming to Central Texas this month, starting Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon, at Cedar Park Pediatric & Family Medicine, 345 Cypress Creek Road.
A giveaway in …

EDITORIAL: Traffic Control: Motorists must make a conscious effort to watch for cyclists and adjust for them accordingly

lufkindailynews.com

With the weather turning gorgeous in just these last few days, more and more people are getting their bicycles out of the garage to ride on the highways and byways of the Texas Forest Country. That means those of us who are driving our gas-powered vehicles need to be more alert to our surroundings — especially in the early morning and evening time, when the harsh light of the sun makes it harder to see.
Subscription Required

MSU’s Ross thriving in new sport

by Donny Victory         www.timesrecordnews.com


Endurance was once the name of the game for Hannah Ross. And she used her legs to glide through the water and over land, instead of only pushing a pedal round and round.
But Midwestern State cyclist Hannah Ross is showing she can sprint with the best of them, too. She won the national championship in the …

Tweets About Texas Bicycling

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/650667459326935040

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Texas Bicycling Event Reminders

Oakhurst – Valley Ranch For The Legs

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I decided to take some Advil when I got up this morning as a result of yesterday’s 41+ mile ride. I needed just 24 miles to reach 100 for the shortened riding week so I picked a northerly route: “Oakhurst – Valley Ranch”. This totaled 29.6 miles bring the week to 106.23 miles. My legs were sore and the north wind (7 mph) did not help when I increased my speed i trying to move my average speed to 15.0 mph. I did improve the average speed to 15.3 mph and held it until I was nearing home in Kingwood where I slowed down to cool down some. Once I was warmed up my leg muscle soreness went away and I could ride at 18 to 20 mph unless the wind was in my face. Then I dropped down to 16 to 17 mph.

Speaking of cooling down, it was a few degrees cooler than I prefer but still many degrees above my lower limit. It was 74 when I left home at 12:36 and 83 when I returned at 2:37. The problem was riding through shade areas. There the wind lowered my comfort and made wonder if I should have worn a long sleeve jersey. After 6 or 7 miles I moved out of the shady areas and also warmed up from pushing the pedals to not notice the chill.

Its been three weeks or so since I rode this direction but I wasn’t close enough to check on the Grand Parkway overpass construction on FM1314. I suspect it is still moving slowly. One think I did see was low gasoline prices. While on our trip the lowest price we paid was $1.869 per gallon. I saw $1.839 in Porter when I was riding south from Valley Ranch on the US59 service road. The Stripes station west of Porter on FM1314 showed $1.829 but that required a Sunoco card.

No other bikers on the route today. I didn’t take a rest break so no weather screenshots. This is the weather at home at the end of the ride. 42% humidity meant not much sweat and I did not wear wrist bands.

10-4-2015 Home WEather Finish 247PM

This is the third time I rode this route in 2015.

Activity Name Activity Type Start Time Distance Elevation Gain Avg Speed(Avg Pace) Max Speed(Best Pace) Calories Total Strokes
Oakhurst – Valley Ranch Cycling Sun, Oct 4, 2015 12:36 PM 1:57:59 29.6 184 15.1 21.4 1388 7528
Oakhurst – Valley Ranch Cycling Sun, Sep 13, 2015 12:05 PM 1:56:56 28.51 554 14.6 20.7 1568 7702
Oakhurst – Valley Ranch Cycling Sun, Jan 18, 2015 11:43 AM 1:43:20 25.25 351 14.7 20 1344 6943

[iframe https://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/918646331 465px 500px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/406450204/embed/68e5fdb77a582858c777c64917cbac32e986f016 590px 500px]

Texas Bicycling News October 3rd

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Chile Pepper Challenge 2015

Rick Moya

Cat-B Peloton turned into a great ride for many cyclists. This had to be a record number of cyclists that joined into this group!! Great event for a very worthy cause!!! Thanks to El Paso Bicycle Club!!

Things to Come

by Ray Garza

Just a quick post to write down some cycling ideas for the coming months.
I ordered a new power meter from PowerTap the C1 model. I hope to have consistent power data when I ride on chip seal roads. It was an issue at Conquer the Coast ride in September. I’ll have to have Bicycle World RGV install it for me as I don’t have the tools.
Some rides that I’ve been mulling around in my head are A) Mission to Rio Grande City and back , B) Mission to …

Cycling quickly becoming a popular mode of transportation in Texas cities

drivekindridekind.org

According to a report from the League of American Bicyclists, Texas is ranked the 30th most bicycle friendly state in the country1. While many of the reasons for this low ranking are still in effect, a variety of factors have lead to an increase in cycling culture in Texas. From a growing desire to decrease our carbon footprint, to simply trying to avoid rush hour traffic, or just to be more fit, cycling is more prevalent in Texas than ever before.
One of the main reasons for the increase in cycling culture is people trying to avoid the headaches that …

Rudolph’s Revenge, December 19 2015

by Shawn McAfee        www.texasmountainbiketrails.com


Come join in on all the reindeer fun on December 19 2015!
Rudolph’s Revenge is a 30 and 40 mile race on December 20th that takes place in Denton Texas around Lake Ray Roberts. Riders will sprint up the Lake Ray Roberts Greenbelt, to Isle Du Bois State Park and then finish 1 or 2 laps of the most challenging trail in DFW.
Prepare to suffer while trying to match the breakneck speeds on …

Abilene men ride bicycles for the health of it in National Bike Challenge

by Carl Kieke         www.reporternews.com


ABILENE, Texas – About 35 years ago, Jim Reeves, now 59, was a young coach beginning his career, coaching football and track at Lincoln Middle School in Abilene. Among his students was Clemente Morales, a seventh-grader.
Fast forward to a few years ago, when both showed up for a bicycling event, recognized one another and became friends over their shared interest.
Both became participants in the National Bike Challenge, sponsored …

Tweets About Texas Bicycling

https://twitter.com/trentstephens/status/650317481429630976

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Fabulous Weather for Biking with Sore Muscles

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Normally on the first Saturday of October I ride the Pineywoods Purgatory but since I biked once since we returned from vacation I did go to Lufkin this year. Instead I waited for it to warm up some (it was 52 degrees at 7 AM) and rode the “Walden – Stroker Road – Huffman” route for 41.96 miles. I left home at 12:26 with a clear blue sky and 75 degrees. The wind was brisk and cool in the shade but in the sun I felt just right. I wore a short sleeve jersey. Celebrating the University of Cincinnati’s football win over the University of Miami Hurricanes I wore my UC Bearcat jersey.

I was sore from yesterday’s ride but once I warmed up the soreness disappeared. I suspect it will take a few days to get accustomed to riding from the layoff. During our vacation I walked some days but that isn’t the same as biking.

As long as I was riding east, south or west the wind wasn’t a problem but going north was like hitting a wall. Going south on Ramsey Road I hit 20+ mph with the help of the wind. This enabled me to get my average speed up to 15.5 mph. I kept it there until I was riding west on FM1960 where I nudged it up 15.6 mph. I was inspired going over Lake Houston when two bikers whizzed past me while I was riding 18 to 19 mph. I sped up some but they left me behind. I caught up with them at the Atascocita Shores Drive traffic light where they waited to turn left. I turned right there. It was a young man and woman wearing Richardson BikeMart shorts but I did figure out which jerseys they had on.

Earlier I saw two other bikers on Old Atascocita Road east of FM2100. We exchanged waves as we passed going the opposite direction.

Since I was close to Crosby I took the weather screenshots at Stroker Road and FM2100.

In the sun it felt warmer than 77 degrees. Later when I stopped at the Huffman Chevron for a break I sat in the shade and was comfortable so I think it was warmer. At that point I biked 30.29 miles with 11+ to reach home. Sitting under the pump canopy my legs needed the rest from riding the 4+ miles into the wind from Stroker Road. I ate some powered donuts for some extra fuel to power back home thinking the wind would be tough once I reached Atascocita Shores Drive and turned north and northwest. It was. Riding in and out of the shade I still felt comfortable. When I got home at 3:53 it was 83 degrees with the same brilliant blue sky. It is supposed to be like this for several days warming up some each day.

This was the 4th time biking this route this year. I added Walden streets to the “Stroker Road – Huffman” route which pushed the total miles to 41.96. I if ride 24 miles or more I will pass 100 miles for the week with 3 days biking.

[iframe https://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/917448609 465px 500px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/405653200/embed/b61e207f1ab561a3aabe73349c03f2f2e01c46c4 590px 500px]

Summary of the rides on this route during 2015.

Activity Name Activity Type Start Time Distance Elevation Gain Avg Speed(Avg Pace) Max Speed(Best Pace) Calories Total Strokes
Walden – Stroker Road – Huffman Cycling Sat, Oct 3, 2015 12:26 PM 2:45:43 41.96 279 15.2 21.3 1981 10996
Walden – Stroker Road – Huffman Cycling Thu, Sep 3, 2015 11:46 AM 2:50:44 41.47 577 14.6 19.8 2206 11081
Walden – Stroker Road – Huffman Cycling Sat, Aug 8, 2015 9:46 AM 2:50:16 41.3 709 14.6 20.4 2272 10276
Walden – Stroker Road – Huffman Cycling Fri, Apr 3, 2015 11:20 AM 2:57:16 43.05 600 14.6 21.4 2334 10879