Texas Bicycling News December 12th

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Bike Parking!!! (Part 2 of ???) – A Bike Parking Wonderland

bikeabledallas.com

Several weeks ago, I took a few days off and traveled to Chicago and Seattle. Just because. I took Amtrak from Chicago to Seattle and the 49-hour train ride provided plenty of fall scenery– highly recommended.
While on this autumn adventure, I also had a chance to take pictures of lots and lots of bicycle racks in both cities. I’m working to create a quick reference guidance document for the selection and placement of bike racks, and I needed pictures of a variety of bicycle racks. I didn’t want to deal with copyright infringement or other legal snafus from borrowing photos from the interwebs, so …

West Texas and the Big Bend

By Jim Powers        www.crazyguyonabike.com

A series of short overnighters from a base camp.
Alpine to Davis Mountain State Park
Thursday December 11, 2014, 28 miles (45 km) – Total so far: 28 miles (45 km)
The rabbit and beaver hats are $400.00. The all beaver hats are $700.00. My measurements are; 22 7/8 OLO according to John Davis, the proprietor of Limpia Creek Hats in Ft.Davis, TX. OLO means oval, long, oval and Mr. Davis’ practiced hands and eye sized me up in about a minutes’ time. I can have any crown height and any size and shape brim. I don’t want a “rancher” style brim, because I’m not a rancher, but the “campaign” style could work with a couple modifications. All the materials for these custom hats are sourced in the …

Dallas contractor to remove meters near bike lane

www.brownsvilleherald.com

DALLAS (AP) — Dallas officials say parking meters that were erroneously installed next to a downtown bike lane will quickly be removed.
The city’s bicycle and transportation planner told the Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/1x6xbEP ) on Thursday that the meters will be removed before the weekend. Pictures of the meters and of a parked vehicle blocking …

Lockheed Martin hands out bicycles, donations

By Sarah Bahari        www.star-telegram.com


FORT WORTH
Cooper Little bent his head in examination, searching for the perfect bicycle.
As Cooper, 7, vacillated among the many blue, pink and green bicycles, he spotted the one — a red and black Huffy. Cooper, a student at the Child Study Center in Fort Worth, hopped on board and took a few wobbly strides.
“This is touching. It’s unbelievable,” said his mother, Susan Little. “It’s hard not to tear up.”
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics employees donated more than 300 bicycles and $100,000 to Fort Worth-area charities Thursday at its …

Peer-to-Peer Bike Share Market Heats Up in Austin

by Brandon Mulder        www.austinpost.org


Biking seems to be growing more popular in Austin for recreation and commuter transportation. The City-sponsored B-Cycle has taken off, the City is regularly laying paint for new bike lanes, and monthly bike events abound. With all this activity, Austin has become a destination for a new kind of cycling business.
Peer-to-peer bike sharing is most easily understood as “Airbnb for bikes.” Users can use an app to lease their own bikes for use by others. Visitors who come into town wanting to get around free or on the cheap can connect to people with bikes they’re not using. The advantage of these companies over, say, B-Cycle is that riders can …

Bikes, cars and Chelsea Norman’s death

By Dug Begley        www.chron.com

Will Houston drivers ever change the way they think about bikes?
As Friday’s story noted, the decision to sentence Margaret Mayer to prison for 15 years was a conclusion to a trial, but it hardly brought relief, either to Mayer’s family or to the family of Chelsea Norman, the cyclist who died after Mayer’s car hit her.
As Randy Norman, Chelsea’s father, said shortly after Mayer was led from court, neither side won anything.
“The one winner out of this is the city of Houston,” Norman said, after crediting local cyclists for making sure his daughter’s death didn’t go unnoticed. “If people can’t respect bicyclists for being humans, they’ll know there are penalties to not stopping.”
What got lost in the debate surrounding the trial is …

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

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Ho Ho Ho Riding to Huffman

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I wasn’t the only bike rider to think this afternoon was the time to go for a ride. The first two bikers I met were approaching FM1960 on Fairlake Drive as I turned from FM1960 onto Fairlake. Not too much further on Old Atascocita Road I met the next rider as he was going west while I was headed west. Later on the way back home on Kings River Drive the next ride passed me going the opposite direction.

The sky was mostly cloudy when I rolled out the driveway at 1:18. The temperature was 72 but had been 73 shortly before I left. I decided I wouldn’t need leg warmers or the jacket but wisely wore a short sleeve jersey over a long sleeve one. The wind had a chill to it whenever I was in the shade and the extra coverage was needed. At the beginning the wind was about 7 mph but by the time I got back home at 3:36 it had stepped up to 15 mph with 18 mph gusts from the SSE.

It was good to be back on the Stradalli RP-14 road bike riding my most used route to Atascocita – Walden – Huffman. With the wind I expected I wouldn’t ride as quickly as I did averaging as much as 15.7 mph before settling at 15.5 mph when I got home. This route totaled 31.97 miles today bringing within 18 miles of reaching my 6500 miles for the year. REaching my goal looks like a sure thing but I don’t want to count it before it happens.

As I rode I saw numerous homes decorated for Christmas. Several had piles of deflated things laying in the yard waiting for nighttime to return to full size. On Atascocita Shores Drive there was very large white sled in a front yard with two equally large white reindeer waiting to pull it on its rounds. There were a few homes with people putting up outside decorations as well.

Before I crossed Lake Houston going east I thought it would be chilly with the wind coming off the water but it wasn’t too bad with the sun warming me as I rode. Going west was not bad either. The wind was coming from a good angle that did not slow me down so that I could ride at 20+ mph.

I was hoping the Kingwood High School traffic would be gone by the time I needed to cross Kingwood Drive going north but the cars kept coming in a steady stream. One pickup in front of me got impatient and pulled out in front of a car squealing tires in the process. In the past I have tried crossing with the traffic lights at W. Lake Houston Parkway and Kingwood Drive but the timing is slow and can take 5 minutes or so to get across. The street by Fuddruckers is usually quicker but not today.

Looking forward to another ride soon but Saturday is busy with other commitments. Sunday and Monday may be rainy.

Garmin Connect and RidewithGPS metrics, charts and maps.

Today’s route on Google Earth
Today’s ride metrics
Home weather at ride end
Rides on today’s route YTD
Week to date ride summary
December to Date ride summary
Year to date rides summary

Texas Bicycling News Digest December 11th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Woman sentenced to 15 years in prison in hit-and-run bike death

By Dug Begley        www.chron.com

Jurors sentenced a Houston woman to 15 years in prison Thursday for failing to stop after fatally injuring a bicyclist with her truck.
The decision on punishment for Margaret Mayer, 36, came after 38 minutes of deliberation. She could have been sentenced to probation or up to 20 years in prison. She was convicted Wednesday in the death of Chelsea Norman, 24, on Dec. 1, 2013.
In his closing argument, defense attorney Guy Womack returned to the theme that Norman’s failure to follow …

A West Texas Winter

by Devon Balet        www.pinkbike.com

As Old Man Winter begins to set a strong hold on my home state of Colorado, I have been needing to adjust to the cold weather again. Growing up in Colorado, snow and winter was always a major part of my life. The past few years however, I have been following the nice temps and weather to continue riding my bike year round. This past January three friends and I traveled to West Texas to see what the riding had to offer. After 12 days and far too much driving we got a great insight into the people, culture, food and mountain biking in West Texas.

Tweets

https://twitter.com/BSS_Road_Club/status/543109495699042304

https://twitter.com/txbikeracing/status/543074405983612928

Event Reminders

Texas Cycling News December 10th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Soon USGS Topo maps will have mountain bike trails

dirtragmag.com


As part of the continued US Topo maps revision and improvement cycle, the USGS will be including mountain bike trails to upcoming quadrangles on a state-aligned basis. The 2014 edition of US Topo maps covering Arizona will be the first maps to feature the trail data, followed by Nebraska, Missouri, Nevada, California, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Vermont, Wyoming, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Florida, Alaska (partial), and the Pacific Territories in 2015.
The mountain bike trail data is provided through a partnership with the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) and the MTB Project. During the past two years, the IMBA has been building a detailed national database of mountain bike trails with the aid and support of the MTB Project participants. This activity allows local IMBA chapters, IMBA members, and the public to …

Trial in bicyclist’s hit-and-run death resumes

By Dug Begley        www.chron.com


Testimony resumed Wednesday in the trial of a Houston woman accused in the hit-and-run death of a young bicyclist a year ago.
Margaret Mayer, 35, is accused of failing to stop after her car struck Chelsea Norman, 24, as she cycled along Waugh Drive en route home from her job around 10:20 p.m. on Dec. 1, 2013. Authorities contend Mayer was likely intoxicated after a social gathering. They believe she became disoriented on her …

Austin Bike Thefts

encodingpixels.com

This visualization takes a look at bike theft data for Austin in 2014. KXAN News recently did a story on how the Austin Police Department is using a bait bike to help reduce the number of bike thefts this year.
I wanted to see when and where that bait bike might do the most good, so I put together this interactive visualization. I was looking for a good way to show clusters of thefts, so I decided to try hexbins. I think they do a good job of showing the concentration of thefts around the city. You can use the slider below to adjust the bin size to …

Come Ride With Us Meetup Group – 12-14-14 – Houston

by 68venable        www.bikeforums.net

Hey everyone! We are riding with a different group this week. It’s a really inviting and helpful bunch. It starts over by the heights and is only about 29 miles long. More details if you follow the link.
“Welcome to one of our monthly favorites – The Urban Bridges Ride! We love it and know you will too! This is a short and sweet route but don’t underestimate it – you’ll get your heart pumping with 11 bridges/underpasses (we counted ’em). The roads and scenery are good and the company is too. Afterwards, we’ll do brunch at Dry Creek Cafe, not far away. Join us!” …

Hangover Hundred K New Years Day 2015

Hangover Hundred K

Thursday, January 1, 2015 at 9:30am in CST
7-Eleven (1010 Ross Ave, Dallas)
This year we are going to team up with our besties Transit Bikes and Spinistry for a great New Years Day ride with a shorter gravel option and a road option as well. Ride that champagne off and start your year off on a good note with some good folks! This is also the day for all the R.A.T. participants looking to see who wins the Salsa Fargo we are giving away so come on out Ratters!
We will meet at the 7-Eleven gas station on …

Don’t forget the bicycle helmet this Christmas

www.yourglenrosetx.com

Bicycles are always a popular gift at Christmas time, and many parents are shopping now for that perfect new bicycle for their child – maybe even their first bicycle. This is an excellent opportunity to teach children about the importance of wearing a helmet to protect their head.
According to National Safe Kids, helmets can reduce the risk of severe brain injury by up to 88 percent, but only 45 percent of children wear bike helmets. Safe Kids also reports that bicycles are associated with more injuries in children than any other product except automobiles. Other studies from the organization found that nearly half of the hospitalizations related to bicycles are from traumatic injury to the brain. Helmets should be …

Terra-X Pro Men Race Video

by Alan Charley        woodlandscycling.org

More fun at last month’s Terra-X Cyclocross Race promoted by The Woodlands Cycling Club.
Click the link below and see some of the Professional Men struggling up a wet and steep incline – Check it out!!!

Saturday 12/13 [Modified Dam Loop] & Sunday 12/14 [Coffee Shop] Rides!

steinerranchcycling.com

SATURDAY: Meet at C&C at 8:30am for the Modified Damn Loop (57 miles) Please see route at – http://connect.garmin.com/course/embed/8487971
SUNDAY: Meet at C&C at 8:30am for the best Coffee Shop Ride in the United States. Lead by everyone’s favorite cyclist Thomas Lea.

Auditorium Shores Trailhead reopens to the public

fitness.blog.austin360.com


From the City of Austin:
The Austin Parks and Recreation Department would like to announce that as of Wednesday, December 10, 2014, the Auditorium Shores Trailhead is open to the public. This includes an expansion of the parking lot, new restroom facility and associated utility upgrades, trail realignment and widening, shoreline restoration, improved bicycle and pedestrian connectivity, exercise and stretching area enhancements, landscaping, lighting, site furnishings and signage.
Funds for the project were made …

How bike friendly Abilene becomes depends on money

by Scott Kirk        www.reporternews.com


ABILENE, Texas – If it was up to the 20 people who showed up at the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s meeting on bicycling Wednesday at the T&P Depot, Abilene would probably be well on the way to becoming one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country.
However, all it takes is money, as Jon James, city director of planning and development services, pointed out.
“We’re wanting to find out what the city wants,” said James, who made two presentations during the two-hour come-and-go meeting.
Or, perhaps more accurately, what people are willing to …

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Tweets

https://twitter.com/BSS_Road_Club/status/542757026187587584

Event Reminders