Texas Bicycling News Roundup March 15th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Fort Worth joins national challenge on pedestrian, cycling safety

By Caty Hirst        www.star-telegram.com


FORT WORTH – Cycling enthusiast Mayor Betsy Price has signed Fort Worth up for a national challenge to create safer environments for pedestrians and cyclists — a project that will include collecting usable data on cyclists.
The Mayors’ Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets, announced in February by the U.S. Department of Transportation, calls for the 85-plus participating cities across the nation to tackle seven challenge activities, including improving local cycling and pedestrian laws, educating and …

Hello Bike Community from North Texas

by GDawg88        www.bikeforums.net

Hello everyone,
I’ve recently spent time on the forum researching an old Specialized mountain bike and got some great information. Like most of you, my love affair with the bike started as a child. To me, it is the next step in evolution, from crawl, walk, run, ride. My parents said I even went through 3 tricycles because I kept wrecking them. As a kid, we always had bikes. It was freedom and we rode them everywhere. We moved to Europe in my adolescent years and I discovered a entirely different perspective on cycling. Before then, I never realized that it was actually a sport. Well, life intercedes, you go to school, get a job, begin a family and the cycle continues (pun intended). After college I began taking bike travel vacations and fell in love with cycling all over. I rode across …

Tour of Corsicana – Crit • Mar 14 2015 Results

www.road-results.com

Categories
» Men 1-18 Cat 4/5     » Men 35+ Cat 4/5
» Men Cat 3     » Men Cat 4
» Men Cat 5     » Men MASTERS 40-49
» Men MASTERS 50-59     » Men MASTERS 60+
» Men PRO/1/2     » Women 1-18 Cat 1/2/3/4
» Women 40+ Cat 3/4     » Women Cat 4
» Women OPEN

Tour of Corsicana – TT • Mar 14 2015 Results

www.road-results.com

Categories
» Men 1-18 Cat 4/5     » Men 35+ Cat 4/5
» Men Cat 3     » Men Cat 4
» Men Cat 5     » Men MASTERS 40-49
» Men MASTERS 50-59     » Men MASTERS 60+
» Men PRO/1/2     » Women 1-18 Cat 1/2/3/4
» Women 40+ Cat 3/4     » Women Cat 4
» Women OPEN

HBC Hempstead Melon Trail Ride

Houston Bicycle Club

April 4th, 2015        8:00AM
Distances: 23(C), 37(C), 41(C), 50(C) miles
Meandering flat to rolling country roads, some long grades, little traffic but for State Highway 6. Few stores! Produce stands outside Hempstead. …

Ride Calendar

Corinth Cycling

Sat Mar 21 – 8:00am – Harden Dental Team Ride
Sat Mar 21 – 8:00am- Corinth Cycling Group Rides
Sun Mar 22 – 8:00am- Sunday Group Ride
Sat Mar 28 – 8:00am – Harden Dental Team Ride
Sat Mar 28 – 8:00am- Corinth Cycling Group Rides

Let the Training Begin!

Bike Noob

Finally, I’m back in the swing of things. It’s Spring Break, and I have a week off! I got on the bike Friday, and have ridden each day since then.
It’s important that I do so, because I’ve committed to a bike ride at the end of the month that will involve some challenging hills. It’s not a race or anything — just a semi-organized ride over some roads in Northwest Austin that I’ve never ridden, but have always wanted to.
But my lackadaisical attitude this winter has set me back, fitness-wise. If I’m going to ride hills — and on a ride whose mileage is not a challenge — I need to start training for hills.
Today, I did. I headed out through my immediate neighborhood and worked my way over to Convict Hill, a place I’ve written about before. I used to …

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Tweets

https://twitter.com/joeyTWOwheels/status/577255512267452418

https://twitter.com/VILLARREAL_14/status/577241541556641792

https://twitter.com/BBQ44/status/577219095382212609

Event Reminders

Biking In Pine Pollen

Texbiker.net Posted on by

My lips felt dry as I was riding and I started to lick them when I remembered pine pollen was everywhere. I saw it on the road in low spots where the water probably washed it during the recent rains. The front edge of my Garmin 510 rubber case was a greenish yellow from it too and when i got home my water bottle felt powdery where it was moist from the cold condensation. So far it has not impacted my breathing that I know of. The pollen usually disappears in a week or two. Dark cars and trucks get a yellow dusting which might increase the car wash business though I wait until it is gone.

The weather wasn’t as nice as yesterday with a mostly cloudy sky, 65 degrees according to most of the personal weather station on Weather Underground. My PWS was the only one with 71 degrees as I got ready to leave on the ride. I dressed based on the other stations with shorts, leg warmers, short sleeve jersey, long sleeve jersey, regular gloves and a jacket. It was a good choice as I was comfortable but not overly warm. It was chilly in the shade and when I stopped it didn’t take long to get cool. It did warm up by the time I got back home to 71 or so, depending on which PWS you looked at.

In a bid to take advantage of the weather I chose a longer route headed to Huffman and east. I call this the “FM2100 – Huffman Eastgate – Huffman” route. The roads are good and traffic is not too heavy. I did have another dog chase me on Huffman-Eastgate Road where I don’t usually even see dogs. I guess they are bored and need the exercise. This dog had a long run from the house to the road. By the time he got to the road I had a 50 to 60 foot lead on him. He chased for a few seconds and then sat down in the road.

The rest of the ride was normal. I saw the first other rider on FM1960 over Lake Houston. I was riding west and he was going east. I noticed him too late to wave. The next one was on Atascocita Shores and we waved. The last one was on Tree Lane in Kingwood. I wasn’t the only rider getting some miles in. Today’s route was 35.8 miles long. My maximum average speed was 15.7 mph. Riding on all of the residential streets makes it hard to get going fast enough to have an average speed like yesterday. My legs felt good though and when I got on the long uninterrupted roads I pedaled at 20 mph or so. This overcame the slower speeds at the start. My final average speed was 15.6 mph.

This ride is the fourth one for March. My mileage is not great but I am making progress: 69.13 miles this week, 131.12 miles for March and 566 miles year to date. I haven’t set a goal for March since the ones I set for January and February were missed so badly. Tomorrow the forecast is 78 degrees and mostly cloudy. No rain so I plan on riding again.

RideWithGPS map, metrics and charts.

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Texas Bicycling News Digest March 14th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

U23 Development Team

Pre TT at Tour of Corsicana #latergram

U23 Development Team

Pre TT at Tour of Corsicana #latergram

Getaway to nature in the middle of Texas

www.dallasnews.com


Junction: 280 miles southwest of Dallas
The beautifully clear water of the south prong of the Llano River bubbles out of the ground near Junction and flows through South Llano River State Park. It meets the north prong and eventually they join the Colorado River near Lake LBJ.
Visitors come to the park to canoe, tube, kayak and swim in the South Llano, as well as to camp and hike. You’ll spot animals such as white-tailed deer, jackrabbits, beavers, bobcats and wood ducks, plus hundreds of wild turkeys. Bring your mountain bike, your hiking boots and your swimwear. You can …

Exploring Waco on two wheels

By Robin Soslow, For the Express-News        www.mysanantonio.com

Trails go from downtown to scenic vistas

Midway between Austin and Dallas off I-35 lies my kind of amusement park, one filled with terrific trails running along rivers, around limestone cliffs, even atop a massive dam. They pass one-of-a-kind attractions from Texas Ranger memorabilia to Victorian treasures to mammoth fossils from the Ice Age. In March and April, surrounding fields explode into seas of brilliant wildflowers.
No wonder Waco is a popular destination; it offers something for everyone. Everything’s easily reachable by bicycle, and many …

Start pedaling

By Melissa Wylie, Staff Writer        www.dentonrc.com


New bike shop has its grand opening
Spring is right around the corner and Denton cyclists emerging from hibernation now have another resource for their biking needs.
Velo Republic Bicycle Co. and Service had its grand opening last Sunday at 219 Fort Worth Drive, previously The Bicycle and Run Path. Velo Republic owner Gabe Aguilar purchased the building and the old store’s inventory in November.
“The fact that a shop was closing down made it a little bit easier for us to start a new shop,” Velo Republic general manager Nic Bagherpour said. “We didn’t want to do it unless we thought it would make sense to open a shop that could offer …

Fitness information can be hard to come by

by Bill Cullins        www.gosanangelo.com

During the past week I had dinner with several cycling doctors who were considering relocation to San Angelo, rode with a group that included a service member new to Goodfellow, talked to some out-of-town visitors about good routes for trail running and responded to multiple emails and Facebook messages from people asking about local cycling and running activities.
The common thread during all of these ‘new to San Angelo’ encounters was that although information is available on websites, Facebook pages and from local bike shops, some newcomers to …

Soldier Ride Coordinator – Bike Coach/Technician – San Antonio, TX at Wounded Warrior Project

www.jobs.net

Job Description
Assist with program coordination/logistics for Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) Soldier Ride, a program that provides adapted cycling opportunities across the country for wounded warriors. The rides are typically 3-5 days long, are geared for warriors of all abilities, and both adaptive and standard cycling equipment is provided regardless of injury.
Estential Job Functions: …

Tour of Corsicana


U23 Development Team
Stage 2 Tour of Corsicana! #u23developmentteam #eyeofthetiger
Photo Cred Lisa Day Blanton

Corsicana Stage Race 2015 draws 370 entries

www.corsicanadailysun.com


The 2015 Corsicana Stage Race bicycle event is the biggest yet.
The race has drawn over 370 cyclists, said Debbie Wilson, president of the Corsicana and Navarro County Chamber of Commerce.
Here are some photos of the event taken by …

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Tweets

https://twitter.com/landondfisher/status/576841701039468544

https://twitter.com/BBQ44/status/576913543150211072

https://twitter.com/vhuckaba/status/576890882592407552

https://twitter.com/BBQ44/status/576850080159793152

https://twitter.com/thejurgy/status/576803257194061824

https://twitter.com/joeyTWOwheels/status/576773767726112768

https://twitter.com/txbikeracing/status/576755223957413888

Event Reminders

Tram Road Dog Chase on This Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

It’s been 10 days since my last ride. I wanted to ride to the north for a change but to make the ride possible I drove to New Caney and parked in the Brookshire Brothers parking lot. Driving there I was wondering if I dressed warm enough (short sleeve jersey over a long sleeve jersey and shorts). The thermometer in my Jeep insisted on 68 degrees while I had 74 degrees on my home weather station. By the time I got to Brookshire Brothers the Jeep increased to 71 degrees plus the sun was shining nicely and I was warm enough once I got moving. I got out and started to unload my bike and another biker rode by on the service road and I waved. He waved back. A good start to riding.

There wasn’t anything new on the route I took except I have not started at New Caney in many many years. I planned the route in my mind but I wasn’t sure how many miles it would be. It ended up at 33.33 miles. When I was in Roman Forest I decided to take the long way to Tram Road by Appian Way, Country Club Drive (no country club along the road though; la ong story) and Roman Forest Blvd. Where Appian Way crossed over Galaxy Blvd. it narrows to two lanes and the road surface goes to pot. Most of the other streets in Roman Forest have been resurfaced but not here, Country Club Drive or Roman Forest Blvd east of Tram Road. It was bumpy and I had to dodge bad spots.

Once I was on Tram Road I watched for the dog that chased me the last time but he wasn’t around. Instead another one waited for me at Rio Blanco Road on my right. He was big with a strong bark. Thankfully he couldn’t reach me by running from the porch to the road but had to run beside the water filled ditch giving me time to speed up to 23+ mph. By the time he got to a driveway to get to Tram Road I was beyond his desire to chase and he turned back. I was hoping the Montgomery Precinct 4 Constable that was stopped at Rio Blanco would notice the dog chasing me but not happening.

The rest of Tram Road to FM2090 was free of dogs but I needed to recover from the sprint effort. My unused legs are not up to these sprints. I had built up my average speed to 16.2 mph by the time I turned west on FM2090. On FM2090 I rode into the 9 mph WSW wind and my speed dropped down to 13 or 14 mph except for an occasional burst of speed or slower when I went up an incline. I looked forward to FM3083 in Grangerland where I would turn left and hopefully have a tailwind. At FM3083 my average speed was down to 15.5 mph. With the help of the somewhat tailwind I picked up my speed and moved my average speed up to 16.0 mph.

With all of the effort I took a short break at the Valero station at the corner of FM3083 and FM1485. I ate a trail mix bar and a fruit bar with the last of my water. I refilled the bottle and headed back to New Caney on FM1485. The wind continued to help me and I rode 19+ mph. East of Firetower Road I saw three Montgomery Deputy Sheriffs on the shoulder with lights flashing. They were looking over a small car and a Jeep JK Unlimited. Not sure what was going on. The Jeep driver was talking on his cell phone. From there to Brookshire Brothers was about 3 miles. I missed the turn into the parking lot but was able to get back through Walgreens and Chase Bank. I started riding at 12:29 and finished at 2:52.

The weather was great compared to what we have had lately. It was 75 when I finished under partly cloudy skies. Driving home my Jeep showed 82 at one point. Sunday could be slightly cooler but no rain. I hope to ride again.

RideWithGPS map, metrics and charts.

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