Two Rest Stops on a Hot Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

This was the first time riding the “SR242 – FM1314” route this year. I rode portions of it this year but have held off because of the Grand Parkway construction crossing FM1314. I braved passing through the work zone again with better results than Monday’s ride. I still didn’t get to ride through the actual work zone but this time when I was biking the narrow east bound lane no cars or trucks were behind me. I got through the narrow section with time to spare before any cars came through. The last time I rode this route was July 28, 2014.

45.35 miles helps me get closer to June’s 968 mile goal. This ride puts me at 781.79 miles leaving 187 miles to go. I am taking Thursday as a recovery day which will leaves 5 possible riding days. I will need to average 37.4 miles per ride to reach my goal. Doable if the weather cooperates.

It was hot today but the light breeze actually had a coolness to it, thank goodness. It was 91 when I left home at 10:19 and 100 when I got back home at 2:29. These are from my home weather station which was higher than the Houston IAH airport weather station. I took an extra break at 19.5 miles when I reached FM1485 and SR242. The gas station has small cubed ice and a nice shady spot. I got a Greensheet newspaper and sat in the shade. As I was arriving two of the giant windpower turbines were leaving with their wide and high load caravan of trucks and police motorcycle officers. My timing was good so I didn’t need to watch for them on SR242 on the way to FM1314. The sweat dampened the concrete below my elbows as I slowly cooled down. This week I started wearing wrist bands to keep the sweat from soaking my gloves as much. It works. Over time the sunscreen stains the bright white bands though.

From that rest stop I estimated it was 14 miles to the next stop at Stripes on FM1314 and Valley Ranch Parkway. It turned out to be 15 miles. With the variable breeze I maintained a steady 16 to 17 mph pace (my legs couldn’t pedal any harder or faster which is why tomorrow is a recovery day) getting my average speed up to 15.2 mph. Arriving at Stripes at 1:00 I got some paper towels to soak up some sweat, parked the Stradalli in the shade and got a 32 oz Gatorade. The ice machine is still not working on the Gatorade dispenser but the one next to it worked. Sitting in the outside shade I ate and drank and slowly cooled down. I was there almost 45 minutes, longer than I usually stop but I wanted to be hydrated and rested for the push home on the last 11 miles.

Weather when I stopped at Stripes in Porter

[iframe https://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/813870154 465px 500px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/332211009/embed/f44a0d6f8ec73e2519cf22985844c64523a8986a 590px 500px]

Texas Bicycling News June 23rd

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Texas: Bicycle Safety patrol officer hit by car in downtown Dallas

www.respondersafety.com

A member of the Downtown Safety Patrol in Dallas was hit by a car as he was riding his bike Friday night. Just before 9 p.m., a call came out for an officer hit at the intersection of Ross Avenue and Lamar Street. The person was a member of the Downtown Safety Patrol, one of 50 who often work on bikes outfitted in yellow polo shirts who assist Dallas police.
At the scene, the bike helmet belonging to the officer and a single shoe were in the northbound lanes of Lamar. Dallas police confirmed the …

The Columbia Tap Trail: Biking through change

By Mike Snyder        www.houstonchronicle.com


Neighborhoods in flux, as seen from the bike trail
The Columbia Tap Hike-and-Bike Trail extends from east of downtown to the Brays Bayou Trail near the Texas Medical Center. (For more photos, scroll through the slide show.)
A bicyclist riding the Columbia Tap Trail will notice an abrupt change after passing under Interstate 45 just west of the University of Houston. To the rear is EaDo, a stumbling toddler of a neighborhood emerging in the no-man’s land of warehouses and train tracks just east of the central business district. Ahead lies the venerable Third Ward, where mostly African-American people have been working, worshiping, partying, protesting and raising families for generations.
To continue reading this story, you will need to be a digital subscriber to HoustonChronicle.com.

Inaugural Summer Bike Rodeo – @TheMesquite

The Mesquite

A small group of children learned about bicycle safety June 12, at the Inaugural Summer Bike Rodeo given on campus. Campus police teamed up with officers from the University of Texas San Antonio, Alamo Colleges and Northside Independent School District to teach bike skills, safe riding techniques and bicycling laws.

Mountain biking, Greenbelt, Austin, TX

by Gordon Wood

Mountain biking around Barton springs, TX

Gordon Wood

2015 Mountain Biking at Lindsey Park in Tyler TX

Fractured Pixel

Mountain Biking – Cameron Park’s Kite Trail

Mike Schmoyer

Lubbock Mountain Bike Trail Ride With Massive Weeds

Steve Williams

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Tweets About Texas Bicycling

https://twitter.com/GWCChuck/status/613315914260307968

Texas Bicycling Upcoming Event Reminders

New Route Exploring to May Park

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I was trying to think of a different route to ride today. A place I drove to but biked to is the May Park and Community Center north of Huffman. I biked past the road that takes you there so today I looked up the area on Google Maps to look at the roads. I knew there was a road from the park to Hargrave High School on Huffman – Eastgate Road but I wasn’t sure of the name and where it went to get there. The goal was to ride 40 miles or more but since this was a first time for this group of streets and roads the mileage was a guess. To help I added some extra streets in the early part of the ride and that was a good idea. I ended up biking 39.83 miles so the goal was almost reached.

Before leaving on the ride I installed my Father’s Day present DT Swiss RWS skewer. Removing the old skewer I inserted the DT Swiss one and turned the lever clockwise like the instructions said. The left chain stay got in the way of tightening as tight as it needed to be. Looking at the instructions I couldn’t see how to engage the ratchet so I went to Youtube. There were a couple of videos showing how to tighten the lever. I needed to pull the lever away from bike and then turn it clockwise. Silly me, why wasn’t this clear? After watching the videos the instruction graphic made sense. I tightened the lever and checked the wheel position between the chain stays. It was in the center. At the Huffman Chevron rest stop I checked the wheel again and it was right where it was supposed to be. Success!!! To loosen pull the lever away from the bike and turn counter clockwise.

It was hot again today. I left home (11:27) earlier than yesterday but I was delayed trying to figure out the skewer. My home weather station had it in the upper 90’s at the start and 94 when I got back home at 3:00. The wind was from the ESE at 13 mph. This made the headwind tough and slowed me. Until about the 25 mile point it was about all headwind. Once I got back on FM1960 near the Liberty County line the wind was from the left rear quarter. I picked up my speed at that point and my average speed started going up. I never did get it very high (15.2 mph was the highest average speed) maintaining it at 15.1 mph until the 37.6 mile point.

The weather forecast calls for 94 degrees and partly cloudy. Just like today. I hope to start earlier then.

Huffman weather
Huffman weather

[iframe https://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/812956128 465px 500px] [iframe https://www.strava.com/activities/331520650/embed/64912da04de12ea136d0029bad6a98473f50a510 590px 500px]

Texas Bicycling News June 22nd

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Transportation officials planning a bike lane for SPI causeway

by Ron Whitlock        riograndeguardian.com

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, RGV – Pete Sepulveda, Jr., executive director of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority, says it is “extremely doable” to build a dedicated bike lane on the South Padre Island Causeway.
Speaking to SPI economic development leaders on Tuesday, Sepulveda said he will make the case for such a project at CCRMA’s July board meeting. He pointed out that there was a lot of support for a bike lane to be built on the planned second causeway to SPI.
“We had a lot of bicyclists attend the (July, 2012, public) hearing and they requested a bike lane on the second access. We looked at that. It was cost-prohibitive. But, at our July board meeting I will present the board of directors with an option,” Sepulveda said.
“We have got a very, very, rough, preliminary study for adding a bike lane on the …

Bicycle Die-in at Houston City Hall

facebook.com


Tuesday, June 23 at 1:00pm in CDT
Houston City Hall
901 Bagby St, Houston, Texas 77002
In the past three weeks, there have been 4 bicycle related fatalities in Houston. Three of those deaths were at the hands of someone driving a car. The fourth one was caused by debris leading to a crash on the Elysian Bridge.
I am asking each and everyone one of you to please join me at City Hall on Tuesday – June 23, 2015 at 1pm. At 1:15pm we’ll lie down with our bicycles in a silent protest for 4 minutes.
Together we will show our solidarity and …

Texas 4000 Rides Into Laramie

By David Settle        kowb1290.com

The 2015 Texas 4000 ride will be stopping in Laramie Monday.
This is day 24 of their 70-day journey from Austin, TX to Anchorage, AK. Seventy-two riders are pedaling more than 4000 miles in the fight against cancer. They are divided into three separate rides in the Rockies, Sierra and Ozarks.
After 18-months of leadership development training, volunteering, fundraising, and cycling, riders are put to the test throughout their summer ride to Alaska. Along their journey, they will visit with cancer survivors, patients, caregivers, and communities to make educational …

FrankenBike to mark 10 years of free swap meets on Saturday

by Pam LeBlanc        fitness.blog.austin360.com


Halk up 10 years in the books for FrankenBike.
The free monthly event – part bike swap meet, part keg party and all bike-geek-o-rama – will celebrate its anniversary with a special event from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 27 at Independence Brewing Company, 3913 Todd Lane, Suite 607.
Besides the usual tabletops spread with cranksets and derailleurs, bike seats, handlebars and used cycling jerseys, FrankenBike officials will unveil their very first FrankenBike video, new websites and …

Ride Interview – Heart of Texas Recumbent Rally and Rodeo 2016 – Austin, Texas

www.wheelbrothers.com

It may be far off, but the HOT Recumbent Rally and Rodeo taking place in February 2016 has a limited number of spots, and they’re filling up fast! The original HOT mama Jane Knight tells all below and encourages participants to grab their spot for a one-of-a-kind experience!
Why join your ride?
The HOT (Heart of Texas Recumbent Rally and Rodeo) is a three day celebration for those who like to ride reclined! The Hot is NOT an “organized ride” where you arrive, wave to a few people, eat a couple of bananas and a cereal bar and go home.
The HOT consists of three days of being in the recumbent culture. There is a Laid Back Social for everyone to bring a “pot luck” snack and meet and greet the other Bent riders. During the Social, there will be trikes and bikes to test ride, as well as several neat “gizmos” that will …

Austin’s planned “Dutch” interesections

by Jack and Darron        bicycleaustin.info

A pro-Dutch cyclepath blogger has an interesting take on Austin’s plans for “Dutch” intersections.  [http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/20 … tejune2015](http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/20 … tejune2015)  It is part of a larger discussion.  Comments about the Austin plans can be found with scrolling down.

His comments on the Riverside and Lamar intersection should be taken with a grain of salt as his biggest complaint is “In this example there is no safe way of exiting the junction to head East or North”.  He assumes up is North but it is actually West, so he says there is no way of heading West on Riverside or North on Lamar, which is true but that is not where the majority of the cycle traffic would be here.  Northbound traffic is much more likely to take the pedestrian/cycle bridge and westbound traffic is more likely to take the hike and bike trail under Lamar (why would you wait at the light if you can just go under …

Houston deserves better: get involved with the Houston Bike Plan

BikeHouston


The City of Houston is making a new Houston Bike Plan. Get involved, go to a public meeting or give your opinion online. Go to www.HoustonBikePlan.org. Houston deserves better. Also consider to become a member of BikeHouston and fight together for cyclists’ rights. Go visit www.BikeHouston.org and become a member.
There are two public meetings coming up:
Tuesday June 23rd at Baker-Ripley Neighborhood Center, 6500 Rookin, Houston, TX 77074. Meeting  starts at 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Look at the Facebook event page for the latest update.
Tuesday June 30th at …

Handlebar Cyclery Group Ride – 37 Miles in Fulshear

Saturday, Jul 4, 2015, 7:00 AM

Handlebar Cyclery
26440 Fm 1093 Rd Ste A100 Richmond, TX

3 SH!FT starters Went

Let’s go meet up with Handlebar Cyclery. It’s a great shop right on the edge of Houston’s best cycling locale. They have a few different speeds. I think most of us (the usual group that actually shows up lol) will be fine in the B Group… if they stay at the posted speed. If anyone wants to jump on with the faster group they are welcome to. We can…

Check out this Meetup →

Pearland Ride – 43 miles – Most Popular Route

Sunday, Jun 28, 2015, 7:45 AM

James’s House
Cr 89 Pearland, TX

2 SH!FT starters Went

Let’s ride Pearland on Sunday morning. Rollout at 8am.We will take a break at CR99 and Hwy 6 at a gas station at mile #15.We will take another break at the gas station in Brookside Village at mile #35.Take a look at the route. Let me know if you want changes.Ice cold Dos Equis at the finish line.https://www.strava.com/routes/2643243

Check out this Meetup →

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Tweets About Texas Bicycling

https://twitter.com/thejurgy/status/612972138346246144

Texas Bicycling Upcoming Event Reminders