Texas Bicycling News August 18th

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Major bike lane overhaul could come to W. Alabama Street

Author: Mark Boyle        www.click2houston.com

Video

HOUSTON – West Alabama is one the city’s busiest surface streets in the Montrose and Upper Kirby area.
Cars buzz down the road all day and when you add in bicyclists, some say it can be downright dangerous.
“The drivers need to be considerate but so do the cyclists. I’ve come close to some cyclists in the …

Johnny’s Mobile Bicycle Repair

by Johnny Guzman        bicyclepointofview.blogspot.com


Readers of my blog already know that I’m an experienced bike mechanic. For the past 6 years, I have been in and around bike shops building bicycles and doing everything from changing flat tires to advanced services like hydraulic disc brake bleeds. The truth is, I live, breathe even bleed bikes. Is that all I’m good at? Readers who follow my blog know the answer to that also. Although I have done photography as a business and have an affinity for drawing, repairing bicycles is the thing that I currently enjoy the most, the thing that I can focus my attention on. I have always been a hands-on kind of guy. I have had office jobs that I have hated and know myself well enough to say I rather work standing up and moving around than …

Support Mountain Biking at the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve Meeting

Friday, Aug 21, 2015, 10:00 AM

Travis County Commissner’s Court
700 Lavaca Austin, TX

1 Mountain Bikers Went

The Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan is the body that manages the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve (BCP). The oversight committee meets Friday morning.  In particular the Scientific Advisory Committee submitted a report that mountain biking has an adverse effect on birds.  That report was found to be flawed during the first field trip on 5/12/20…

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Performance Bikes Intermediate Barton Creek Ride

Saturday, Aug 22, 2015, 8:00 AM

Barton Creek Greenbelt – 360 Access
3755 S Capital of Texas Hwy. Austin, TX

7 Mountain Bikers Went

Meet at the 360 entrance and wheels down 0800. This is a true intermediate ride and there will be some tough stuff with some tough climbs. Bring plenty of water and electrolytes or shot blocks.

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New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Tweets About Texas Bicycling

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/633846375432720384

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https://twitter.com/jamesaka2/status/633639987196489728

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Texas Bicycling Upcoming Event Reminders

10,017 Miles in The Book

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10,017 miles. I reached that milestone on my Stradalli RP-14 Carbon bike with today’s ride on the “Kingwood – Hare Cook Road – Kingwood” route. The first ride on the Stradalli was March 19th 2014. Back then I rode the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route, my most frequently used route. One memory about that first ride; I had a flat tire before I left for the ride at mile 0. Not the problem now. My current set of tires have almost 4,000 miles on them. Today I biked 44.62 miles and the 6th time I biked this route in 2015.

The weather continues to be slightly cooler than last week with 94 degrees when I go home at 2:06. It was 88 degrees when I left home at 1:24. The sky to the southeast looked a darker gray but no rain on today’s ride unlike yesterday’s last 2 miles. When I was riding south on Ramsey Road (east of FM2100) I thought I might be getting closer to the rain but I turned west on Stroker Road and moved away. Later at the Huffman Chevron the clouds to the east looked heavy but still no rain where I was. I got to the Chevron station about 12:45 and stayed until 1:18. This was at the 32.9 mile point of the ride. The weather screenshots while I was at the Chevron station.

I am up to 634 miles for August leaving 322 to reach my goal of 956. Out of 18 days in August I biked 17 at an average of 37.3 miles per riding day. The weather has cooperated so far this month. Wednesday and Thursday weather forecasts show rain probability over 50% for part of the day. I hope to bike during the dry parts.

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8-18-2015 Route Rides Comparison Summary YTD

Texas Bicycling News August 17th

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Ask the new TXBRA Coordinator – Melanie Black

joeyTWOwheels        texascx.com


2015 is going to be a banner year for #TXCX, that is if new TXBRA Cyclocross Coordinator, Melanie Black, has anything to do with it.
Melanie has more than 15 years of experience running races as she and her husband, Will, were big parts of the Houston and Asheville, NC scenes. Plus, she’s a bad-ass Cat 1 Mountain Bike / Cat 2 Road / Cat 1 CX racer, and more importantly a proud mom and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA: she puts people to sleep for surgery).
The role of CX Coordinator for TXBRA is to help establish the schedule, to ensure the quality of our races and to act as a liaison between riders and promoters. As you can imagine, satisfaction for all groups is no easy task with so …

Training for Conquer the Coast

by Ray Garza        rgvcycling.com

It’s been quiet on my blog the past month or so. It has been a busy two months for me. I’ve had some health issues to take care of, super busy at work as we complete the merge of two universities into one and finally I have been busy training for the Conquer the Coast (CTC) ride. I’ll save my health issue for another time, but I did want to go over how I am training for the CTC ride.
Conquer the Coast is held every September in Corpus Christi, Texas. It’s certainly not a hilly ride but rather is flat and very windy. You do have some large bridges to cross especially near the end of the route at a point when you are really tired. The route starts and stops at Whataburger field. The first thing you do is cross the bay bridge heading over to Portland and work your way to Aransas Pass. From there you cycle to the ferry at Port Aransas. Did I say ferry? From there it’s a windy ride along Mustang Island to …

Tour de Tolerance

Sunday, Aug 23, 2015, 7:00 AM

No location yet.

9 Cyclists Went

The 10th annual Tour de Tolerance bicycling and running event, benefiting the El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center, is Sunday, Aug. 23, at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino, 1200 Futurity Drive in Sunland Park, with 100K at 7:30 a.m. and 50K ride at 9 a.m. and 5K run/walk at 8 a.m. Information:[masked], ext. 24 or elpasoholocaustmuseum.org.  …

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A&M Extension Service agent reminds community of back-to-school driver, bike and pedestrian safety

www.themonitor.com

Just when summer is really starting to heat up in Texas, it is almost time for children to go back to school. Soon motorists will be sharing the roads with school buses, pedestrians, bicycle riders, and lots of new teen drivers taking their first car to school. According to the National Safety Council, teen car crashes spike in September when they are driving to and from school.
Drivers young and old need to be vigilant because child pedestrians can be very unpredictable. They’re easily distracted and can often run into traffic or out from behind parked cars. Looking out for children rather than expecting them to look out for us is our best defense as drivers.
Distracted driving is always dangerous, but it is especially dangerous in and around school zones. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, crashes in school zones are most commonly due to driver inattention, failure …

Austin B-Cycle unveils new stations, $5 memberships for low-income residents

by Pam LeBlanc        fitness.blog.austin360.com


Austin B-Cycle today announced new $5 memberships for low-income residents, and unveiled several new stations at affordable housing communities.
The $5 annual memberships are part of the bike share system’s new “B-cycle for All” program. Residents who make $25,000 or less and are not full-time students can get the reduced rate memberships by calling 512-954-1665. Four hundred of the low-cost annual memberships will be available.
Austin B-Cycle also unveiled four new stations, including three – one at Sata Rita Courts, Second Street at …

REI campaign ends, Violet Crown Trail nets $74,215

by Pam LeBlanc        fitness.blog.austin360.com


Well done, Austin.
The REI Every Trail Counts campaign hit its funding cap less than three days after it began, and Austin’s Violet Crown Trail netted just under $75,000.
The competition featured 10 trails around the country. The public was asked to vote online for its favorite trail. For each vote received, REI donated $5 to that trail – with a cap of $75,000 per trail and $500,000 total.
The Violet Crown Trail received 14,843 votes – worth $74,215. That’s just a …

Biking With The Indian Ghosts In Arlington’s Village Creek Unnatural Historic Area

by Durango Texas        durangotexas.blogspot.com


Today in the noon time frame the outer world was chilled to a temperature somewhere in the 80s. That’s about the same temperature I have my interior A/C set to.
What with the chilly fall-like air it seemed to me to be a good idea to drive to Arlington to roll my …

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Tweets About Texas Bicycling

https://twitter.com/1_Mad_Madone/status/633466655801110529

https://twitter.com/bicyclesplus/status/633309345921372160

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Texas Bicycling Upcoming Event Reminders

Drop In Temperature Equals a Long Ride

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It’s been awhile since the temperature was in the 80’s at the start of a ride. It looks like the 97 to 100+ degree days are taking a rest. When I left home on today’s ride at 10:26 it was 88 degrees. I could feel the difference riding on the streets in Kingwood as I headed to Mills Branch Drive and Ford Road to get on Loop 494. Leaving home I had one route in mind (New Caney – Gene Campbell Road) but as I rode west on Ford Road I changed to the “SR242 – Old Houston Rd – FM1314” route to get more miles (45.13 miles today) and a change of scenery. I only rode this route 2 times this year but a large chunk of the roads are part of other routes. I went past the Grand Texas site but still do not see much activity. The work is on the south side of SR 242 opposite the Grand Texas site. The Valero station at SR 242 and US59 construction continues too.

I avoided Loop 494 over the weekend due to the Grand Parkway construction closing the service road and parts of US59. I didn’t ride yesterday (Sunday) to take a rest day. It was a great day off with some rain in the late afternoon.

Except for Mills Branch Drive and Ford Road the roads include shoulders for biking on. The residential streets do not have shoulders but traffic is sparse on them since school will not start until the 24th. Most of this ride was in Montgomery County after leaving Kingwood.

With the cooler temperature and airing up the tires to 110 PSI I rode at a good pace building my average speed up to 15.5 mph at one point and the drifting down to 15.4 mph. I stopped at the Valero station at FM1485 and FM3083 for a few minutes to refill my water bottle before heading south on Old Houston Road to FM1314. That was at 24.4 miles into the ride. The rest stop came at 33.9 miles when I pulled into the Stripes station on FM1314. I got some Gatorade and sat under the gas pump canopy in the shade to eat my snacks and drink. I stayed there about 35 minutes before leaving for the 11+ miles to home. The weather screenshots at the Stripes station.

Look at the temperature! 88 degrees at 1:00 in the afternoon. For late July and all of August so far it has been 95+ degrees with a bunch of days over 100.

The ride went well until the 42 mile point when I ran into some light rain in Kingwood. The streets were wet with a few rain drops falling. Riding under tree limbs blocked the rain. As I got closer to home the streets weren’t as wet and the rain stopped. I took this opportunity to wash my bike after I got home at 2:09. The home weather when I came inside.

8-17-2015 Home Weather Finish

Not enough rain to register. Tuesday the rain probability drops and the temperature forecast goes up to 94. More biking.

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