Texas Bicycle News September 7th

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Cycling with Shimano Ultegra Di2

by Ray Garza        rgvcycling.com


My local bike shop had a bike on display last year that had electronic shifting on it. I recall seeing the external battery pack on it and thought how cool to have. I knew of the benefits of the electronic shifting such as precise shifting all the time. Gone are the days of cable stretch and skipping shifting. I knew I wanted it but didn’t have the funds to buy it. It was not until recently that the same bike shop had another bike on display. What really struck me was the paint job on it! I loved it. I then noticed that it too had the electronic shifting system as well. Icing on the cake I felt. A few days later I had the bike in my home. The bike that I got was the Specialized Roubaix SL4 Comp Ultegra Di2 (see Bike Upgrades).
This being my first electronic shifting system I started to read up on it. The first thing I realized that the …

Sunset Biking at Brushy Creek Trail

hillcountryoutdoors.com


The trail runs along Brushy creek. Most of the trail is tree-lined so you can really get a sense of seclusion. Along the trail are at least 5 parks – a skate park, water-sprinkler park, canoe rental, dinosaur sand park, and plenty of playgrounds for the kids. The trails are wide and great for biking.

Get Smart Bike Ride

Sunday, Sep 13, 2015, 7:45 AM

Location details are available to members only.

9 Cyclists Went

Campus Tour Get Smart Bike RideAKA: “Get Smart Bike Ride”Houston is home to several beautiful educational campuses, and we are touring them in hopes of gaining a bit of knowledge just by being there…Feeling the need for a little “after school” education?Interested in an IQ update?Let”s hit the campuses and see what we can learn! We will mee…

Check out this Meetup →

Rules of the road

www.dentonrc.com


The start of the school year brings more motorists and bicyclists to Denton streets. Consider these three important facts from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2009 data: The greater Dallas-Fort Worth area is considered the 10th deadliest metro area for cyclists and pedestrians; 70 percent of bicyclist fatalities are in urban areas; and 13 percent of bicyclists killed were children.
TOP 5 RULES FOR BICYCLISTS
• Be visible, even conspicuous. Wear bright clothes. When it’s cloudy or foggy, turn on a white light in front, and red in back (And it’s the …

Pedernales Cycle Track Nearing Completion

austinonabike.com


The Pedernales cycle track, which we have admitted having ambivalent feelings toward, is nearing a completion this month. After having ridden this path more and more over the recent months, my reservations have waned somewhat, though the section between 7th and Cesar Chavez remains…problematic for me. Anywho.
According to Nathan Wilkes, who I ran into along the trail the other day, the trail will likely be complete in the coming weeks, with the lanes already painted and the …

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Last Swim at the Village Pools Bike Ride

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A change of pace on today’s ride. I rode my Motobecane 700HT on the Kingwood greenbelt trails. The trails I chose took me by most of the Kingwood village pools where a few people were getting the last swim in before they close for the season. I rode 20.38 miles among trees with darting squirrels every so often. The squirrels managed to avoid my spinning wheels thankfully.

Summer only lasts another 2 weeks so I thought it would be cooling down at least a tiny bit but when I got ready to walk to the garage (12:22) I looked at my home weather station and 100 degrees. It dropped to 99 as I watched but that is still hot. BY the time I got back home (2:23) it had “cooled” to 98. Riding on the trails in the shade helped to keep me somewhat cooler but I still drank a full water bottle and stopped at the Greentree Village pool to top of the water.

Earlier I rode through Kingwood Park at the southern end of Woodland Hills Drive. A bunch of cars and trucks were parked with empty boat trailers with the occupants out on San Jacinto river and Lake Houston enjoying the sun and heat. I took these pictures.

9-7-2015 Bike Ride Kingwood Park 1

9-7-2015 Bike Ride Kingwood Park 2

In the second picture there is a boat moving beyond the sandbar with some people and their dog on the sandbar.

I circled through the park and headed north back onto the trails. As I rode the trails there were a number of walkers and other bike riders. One group coming towards me on the trail near the Kings forest Village pool had 5 or 6 riders in jerseys. A couple were on road bikes and I could hear the leading woman telling the other people about the trails. Later as I rode along side Kingwood Drive east of W. Lake Houston Parkway I caught with a man and woman riding the same direction. I waited for a place to announce “on your left” but the traffic drowned out my voice. As I rode behind then I couldn’t help but notice the rear wheel of the woman’s bike had a severe wobble. I rode behind them for about a mile until I turned into a church parking lot and circled around it to give them time to get further ahead of me. I got back on the trail but I caught up with them at one of the traffic lights. After going through the intersection I found a spot to yell “on your left” and startled the woman. They moved over and I passed. After that there weren’t many encounters with other riders. A couple of times i came around curves in the trails to greet other bikers coming. Fortunately we were keeping to the right and passed without issues.

The Motobecane has disc brakes and the front disc was not adjusted correctly. When I squeeze the lever the brake engages but does not slow the bike by itself. This was a problem when I exited a trail to cross the street to continue the trail. I saw a car approaching from the right and slowed to let him pass but on my left the trees blocked my view until I was at the street. The brakes would stop in time if I rode straight so I turned to the right along the curb as the car passed on my left. They slowed down as the passed which helped. When I got home I looked at the disc brakes and figured out how to tighten the action. Now the brake lever stops the front wheel from turning.

Tomorrow I am back on the road bike riding to reach my 340 mile goal for September. As of today I am at 206.67 miles.

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Texas Bicycling News September 6th

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Cycling club is on the moo-ve

by Ronald Erdich        www.gosanangelo.com

No bull on Heart of Texas Cyclists’ rides

BROWNWOOD — You might like beef, you might like chicken. But playing chicken? Probably not, especially with a bull.
About a month ago, Matthew Hinman was enjoying himself on a typical bicycle ride down Indian Creek Road. Hinman is a member of the Heart of Texas Cyclists and this street on the south edge of town, where it turns into County Road 237, is a favorite among the group. It offers light traffic and somewhat challenging terrain, all with a scenic, country ride.
Hinman had already ridden most of the route and was on the return leg where the pavement had narrowed. Looking up, he spotted …

Submit Results/Points

www.texashighschoolcycling.org

Team Leaders, submit the team points HERE no later than the Tuesday after the race date by 9pm. No results will be accepted and applied after the cut off date and time.
The top FOUR highest placing finishers for each team will determine the team’s total score for each race event.  The team’s best THREE out of FOUR race events will count for the overall team standings and an …

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A Sunny Sunday Ride

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No rain in sight today. Being Sunday I rode an easy route: “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman”. The later start time of 12:29 gave the temperature time to get to 93 but at least there was no rain in the view of the local radar.

I rode 32.49 miles taking a break at 20.3 miles in Huffman at the my favorite Chevron. The shade is handy and a little girl came out of the store and waved at me as I sat on the curb. I only ate one snack today the cold Powerade made the temperature feel not quite so hot. Screenshots of the weather while I was there.

Nothing really special about today’s ride. I did follow another rider going west over Lake Houston on FM1960. I never got close enough to see any details about him though.

This route is the one I ride the most because it is easy to get started and the bike almost goes on autopilot. This is a summary of the times I rode this route in 2015. 31 times on this route.

Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Sun, Sep 6, 2015 12:29 PM 2:11:32 32.49 489 14.8 20 — — 1729 8410
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Fri, Aug 21, 2015 2:37 PM 2:10:45 32.97 591 15.1 20.5 — — 1796 8319
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Sun, Aug 2, 2015 12:12 PM 2:07:04 31.71 689 15 20.4 — — 1783 7864
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Fri, Jul 31, 2015 11:04 AM 2:10:29 31.72 673 14.6 21.1 — — 1797 7939
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Fri, Jul 24, 2015 11:39 AM 2:16:00 33.68 568 14.9 22.1 — — 1830 8607
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Thu, Jul 23, 2015 11:28 AM 2:17:37 33.58 604 14.6 21.1 — — 1853 8326
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Tue, Jul 14, 2015 11:04 AM 2:15:57 33.24 656 14.7 20.5 — — 1837 8043
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Sat, Jul 11, 2015 8:54 AM 2:22:56 34.74 482 14.6 19.4 — — 1829 9148
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Sun, Jun 28, 2015 12:26 PM 2:06:30 31.41 479 14.9 20.4 — — 1672 7719
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Thu, Jun 18, 2015 12:27 PM 2:15:01 34.2 633 15.2 21.6 — — 1905 8532
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Sun, Jun 7, 2015 11:21 AM 2:04:21 31.33 486 15.1 21.3 — — 1692 7414
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Mon, Jun 1, 2015 10:34 AM 2:15:19 33.35 505 14.8 20.1 — — 1799 8611
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Sat, May 16, 2015 11:09 AM 2:18:09 33.12 1004 14.4 21.1 — — 1966 8213
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Tue, May 5, 2015 2:12 PM 2:10:58 31.93 1296 14.6 21.1 — — 2050 7869
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Sat, Apr 25, 2015 1:46 PM 2:19:42 34.26 732 14.7 21 — — 1939 8451
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Sun, Apr 19, 2015 12:03 PM 2:02:15 30.55 817 15 21.3 — — 1767 7846
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Wed, Apr 15, 2015 11:59 AM 2:13:52 33.85 574 15.2 20.6 — — 1829 8573
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Mon, Apr 13, 2015 11:45 AM 2:16:16 33.81 810 14.9 22.3 — — 1905 8395
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Sat, Apr 11, 2015 12:23 PM 2:19:10 34.41 538 14.8 24 — — 1864 8483
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Mon, Apr 6, 2015 12:10 PM 2:13:18 32.86 751 14.8 21.3 — — 1900 8251
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Tue, Mar 31, 2015 11:49 AM 2:12:36 32.6 679 14.8 21 — — 1826 8105
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Fri, Mar 27, 2015 1:48 PM 2:11:50 32.32 955 14.7 21.9 — — 1885 8307
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Wed, Mar 25, 2015 2:12 PM 2:10:22 32.19 912 14.8 21.7 — — 1853 8142
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Fri, Mar 20, 2015 12:11 PM 2:04:13 31.41 614 15.2 21.7 — — 1717 7998
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Wed, Mar 18, 2015 2:11 PM 1:59:20 30.31 594 15.2 22.2 — — 1687 7697
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Mon, Mar 16, 2015 1:16 PM 2:10:40 32.14 568 14.8 21 — — 1743 8442
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Wed, Mar 4, 2015 11:21 AM 2:10:53 32.66 702 15 21.6 — — 1841 8203
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Tue, Mar 3, 2015 3:27 PM 1:59:27 29.34 659 14.7 21 — — 1641 7645
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Sun, Feb 8, 2015 12:17 PM 2:15:02 33.07 879 14.7 22.3 — — 1923 8234
Atascocita – Walden – Huffman Tue, Jan 27, 2015 12:17 PM 2:16:36 32.09 469 14.1 19.7 — — 1684 9011
Atasacocita – Walden – Huffman Sat, Jan 17, 2015 1:55 PM 2:02:54 29.84 686 14.6 21.2 — — 1686 8118

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