Texas Bicycling News August 23rd

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August Social Ride around White Rock Lake

by k80ann        www.reddit.com/r/dfwbike

For everyone not partaking in the Hotter than Hell 100 the day before, or if perhaps you just want a nice recovery ride afterwards!
Sunday, August 30 at 9:30 AM
We will be meeting up at The LOT (near the back trail entrance) for a casual no drop cruise around White Rock Lake and then grabbing some brunch and drinks after.
We will be doing two laps around the lake for a total of about 23mi at a 13-16mph pace. (we’ll split the group in 2 if necessary).
It’s hot so please bring plenty of …

Border Patrol On Hunt For More Female Agents

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times        swtimes.com


ROMA, Texas — Border Patrol Agent Erica Sanchez was stalking immigrants on the banks of the Rio Grande, her long brown hair pulled back in a knot, her foundation and eyeliner intact despite the sweat running down her face in the 100-degree heat.
She picked her way down treacherous trails full of obstacles — downed trees, thorny branches, muddy holes. She watched for snakes too. …

… The work is solitary, physically demanding and dangerous. Training includes an obstacle course with an 8-foot wood wall, a considerable challenge for many women. Those who pass training and want to join specialized units such as mountain bike, boat or ATV patrols have to pass additional physical tests. …

Society Cycle Works Shop Ride

Saturday, Aug 29, 2015, 7:00 AM

Society Cycle Works
13425 University Blvd., Suite 100 Sugarland, TX

4 SH!FT starters Went

Let’s ride Saturday with the Society Cycle Works bike shop in Sugarland, TX. I believe they have three groups so there should be a speed and distance for anyone.I prefer the 30 something mile ride that stays in Sugarland and keeps at about 18mph. We can throw in our own sprints if we need to. A LOT of this route is in the shade so it is VERY enjoy…

Check out this Meetup →

Vado to Las Cruces Foothills

Saturday, Aug 29, 2015, 7:00 AM

Texaco station
Vado exit I-10 Vado, NM

9 Cyclists Went

Meet at the Texaco station at I-10 Vado Exit at 7 a.m., roll out at 7:15. Ride the I-10 rollers to Tellbrook, east into foothills, north to Dripping Springs, turnaround and return via NMSU campus, The Bean in Mesilla and NM 28 to Vado. 30+ miles, 14-17 mph, with lots of flat road and easy to moderate roller climbs. Larry Reid,[masked]

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Saturday Beginner Ride

Saturday, Aug 29, 2015, 9:00 AM

Performance Bicycle
4750 Fm 1960 Rd W Houston, TX

4 Bicycle Enthusiasts Went

The ride starts from the Performance North Houston store location.  We do not ride on 1960 but go through the neighborhoods to start the ride.  The ride is approximately 10 miles and pace is based on participants for the day.  It is a No Drop Ride.Please bring a helmet, spare tube, waterbottle, positive attitude 🙂

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12th Annual Conquer the Coast

cccycleclub.com


The 12th Annual Conquer the Coast is just around the corner!
I wanted to send along some updates as we are poised to have the best Conquer ever.
RIDER NUMBERS – As of yesterday afternoon we already had 432 riders signed up for this year’s event. Last year on the same date we were at 310 total riders, and in 2013 we were at 84. Here’s how this year’s rides break down so far:
65 mile- 322
25 mile- 84
10 mile- 26 …

Today Bicycles Inc. Confirmed I Am An Unobservant Mechanically Challenged Moron

by Durango Texas        durangotexas.blogspot.com


It will take me a few words to get to the part that explains what you are looking at here.
In March of 2012 I bought a cheap bike at Walmart which has turned out to be the best bike I’ve ever had.
But, after three years of rolling the bike’s wheels, it looked to me like it was time to get …

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Tweets About Texas Bicycling

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/635603798736666624

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/635441781992222720

Texas Bicycling Upcoming Event Reminders

Seven Weeks in a Row

Texbiker.net Posted on by

A recovery ride today after 49+ miles yesterday. I rode the “Atascocita – Huffman” route for a total of 29.34 miles. I started off easy but I was riding well so I upped the pace some and built my average speed up to 15.4 mph at the break at the Huffman Chevron. The ride was shorter and the break was at 17.4 miles into the ride. I didn’t stay too long but enough to cool down some and dry off a little. The weather has warmed back up per the screenshots below.

No flat tire issues today. The new tube solved the problem. I tried to patch the punctured tube again at home last night. I sanded the ribs down and applied lots of glue before putting on the patch. I pumped the tube up and it held air but this morning when I went to the garage to go to church it was limp as a dishrag. I put it in the trash.

Today’s ride put the week’s total at 242.41 miles. Seven weeks in a row over 200 miles per week. The month is now at 786.72, leaving 169.28 miles to reach my goal. Year to date is 4909 miles.

Next week will be different. I plan on biking Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I will take off Thursday to go to the medical center with my wife. No biking Friday driving to Wichita Falls. Saturday I will ride the Hotter’n Hell 100 and drive home on Sunday. I think I can get enough miles to reach my goal for August but I need to bike Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to be sure.

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Texas Bicycling News August 22nd

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Teen crashes bicycle, waits hours for help

www.foxsanantonio.com


SAN ANTONIO – A teenager is recovering after he crashed his bicycle on the Far Northeast Side.
Police say the 16-year-old was cycling along Higgins around 10:24 p.m. Friday, when he lost control of bicycle and crashed. He was able to make his way to a nearby utility pole near Stahl Road and waited about …

Cyclists attend expo ahead of today’s ride

By Frank Garza        www.brownsvilleherald.com


Raúl Alcalá, the first Mexican cyclist to ever compete in the Tour de France, attended the International Technology, Education and Commerce Center Expo on Saturday to present jerseys to community leaders as a thank you for their help in putting together today’s Raúl Alcalá Bike Ride Challenge for Brownsville .
Texas Soutmost College President Lily Tercero, City Commissioner Rose Gowen and Rodolfo Quilantan of the Mexican Consulate in Brownsville were in …

Tweets About Texas Bicycling

https://twitter.com/SolangellCruz/status/635220811369041920

https://twitter.com/thejurgy/status/635139538336268288

https://twitter.com/bicyclesplus/status/635108109342502912

A Piece of Glass Interrupts this Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

The goal today was ride enough miles to reach 756 miles for the month. This would leave 200 miles to reach my goal. I couldn’t ride to the south because of the Kingwood BridgeFest 5k/10k run this morning which was okay because I needed some variety. I decided to ride the “SR242 – FM1314” route. This route with some minor today was 49.42 miles long. I rode this route 4 times this year and this is the longest of the 4. (click on the image to enlarge it)

8-22-2015 Route Rides Comparison YTD

I saw one other biker during the ride on SH 242 about a mile west of US59. I almost missed him behind the passing cars. He was riding east and I was going west.

My planned stops were at the Chevron station at the FM1485 and SH 242 intersection for ice and water. I made that one in good shape. The next stop was at the Stripes station on FM1314. I got there in good shape too. This one was a rest break. I ate and drank while cooling down in the gas canopy shade. It took some paper towels and breeze to dry up all of the sweat by the time I was ready to leave. While I was sitting a man walked over to me to ask about my helmet mirror. He said he and his wife just started biking and he wanted to be able to see the traffic coming from behind. He asked where to get a mirror like mine and I told him and he said he would check them out. The stop was at 37.7 miles into the ride and I got there at 12:37. As I was getting ready to leave two ladies pulled up to the pump where I was at in their Jeep Grand Cherokee (same color as ours). After one lady finished filling up she told me to be careful as she got in to leave. They had a Texas A&M sticker on the back.

I left riding across FM1314 to Briar Tree towards home. I didn’t get too far though. At 38.5 miles I got a flat rear tire. It wasn’t hard to see why, a piece of glass was sticking out of the tire. Fortunately I was at Ben’s Branch Elementary School and I walked over to the front entrance where there was shade and a bench. I removed the tube from the rear tire and located the hole. It was in the section of tube with some ridges on it. I thought this would not help the patch stick but used the sandpaper to rough the area up and lower the little ridges. If the hole had been an inch to the left it would be out of the only section with ridges. I applied the patch and waited a couple of minutes to see if the patch would hold before putting it back in the tire. I aired up the tire and put my stuff away. I made it to 40.5 miles and could feel the rear tire going flat. The patch did not hold over the ridges. I found a shady spot and removed the rear tube and put my spare tube in. Before the street I was on, Rock Creek Drive, did not have much traffic. Once I set up to fix the flat I think every car in the area decided to drive on Rock Creek. Before doing that I ran my finger around the inside of the tire to be sure there wasn’t something else causing the problem. Nothing else found. I aired up the tire, put my stuff away and put the tire back on the bike. While I was sitting there working on the tire a foursome of golfers was playing the hole on the other sie of the street. I heard someone yell from the tee but I didn’t give it much attention. A few minutes later one of the golf carts stopped across from me to look for a ball. That’s when I noticed a ball in the street about 25 feet to my left. I pointed to the ball and one of the golfers came over and picked it up, moved it to the esplanade beside me and took a shot towards the green. He didn’t get there but he was back on the fairway. One of the other golfers said I would have been safer if I was sitting in the fairway rather than the street. I laughed.

I got back home at 2:45 without any further trouble from the rear tire. I reached my goal with 757.38 miles for August. Now I am only 198.62 miles from my goal of 956 miles.

Up to the rest stop and flats I was averaging 15.4 mph but the stops to fix the flat dropped my average to 15.1 mph and riding through Kingwood dropped it down further to 14.9 mph by the time I got home. Once I was home I checked the weather and was surprised the wind was 9 mph from the south with 22 mph gusts. This explained why I had trouble getting back up to speed after the second stop to fix the tire. I didn’t see that when I took these screenshots at the Stripes station earlier.

The next three days look fantastic for biking. Next Saturday I will in Wichita Falls for the Hotter’n Hell 100. Not sure what the weather will be there yet. A few days ago a front came through and it was in the 70’s for the high. Today their forecast is clear and 94 degrees on Saturday August 29th. I hope that holds.

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