Texas Bicycling News November 30th

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Avoiding the Mud

Bike Noob


A beautiful fall day. It’s hard to imagine that on November 30, the temperature reached 80 degrees (26C). Who wouldn’t go biking in that weather? I sure would.
For the second ride in a row, I took out my mountain bike. Usually, Sundays are reserved for longish rides on the road bike, but it’s been giving me problems in the shifting department lately, and I’ll have to take it to my mechanic. So, the mountain bike it would be.
That raised a new concern — the condition of the trails. We had two solid days of rain a week ago, which was a blessing for our drought-afflicted area. But the ground became saturated, and standing water in the area has just begun to disappear. The best mountain biking trail close by …

Go for an easy beginner ride

Performance Bicycle Great Ride Series: W. Houston

Saturday, December 6, 2014    9:00 AM
Performance Bicycle
7549 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX
You’re invited to join our Saturday morning, beginners group ride starting from and ending at our W. Houston, Performance Bicycle store. The ride is for beginners and those getting back on the saddle. The average pace will be between 10 and 14 miles per hour and the ride will last approximately one hour. We’ll …

Christmas Lights Viewing Bike Ride

Easy Riders Cycling Group

Sunday, December 14, 2014        5:15 PM to 8:45 PM
Central Market
3815 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX
We will be looking at the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations around the River Oaks subdivision. Front and rear lights are required with a fresh set of batteries. In case of very …

Upcoming Rides and Events

San Antonio Wheelmen

Saturday, 12/6:            Bullis County Park Ride
Saturday, 12/6:            Holiday Party (new location)
Sunday, 12/7:              Toutant-Beauregard Ride

Sugar Land trail leading out of Hodge’s Bend Cemetery

thenextword

Mountain Biking Memorial Park

Cycling Space City


One of my goals for this past Fall season was to ride as many of the Houston area mountain bike trails as I could.  Then I crashed hard at the Anthills in Terry Hershey Park and spent a solid 4 weeks off all bikes.  Now almost three months later and still have some pain in my elbow, in particular when I hold my mountain bike handlebars.  There is something about that angle when on my MTB that makes my elbow pain flair up.  Aside from the physical recovery there is also the psychological factor.  I had been pretty gun shy about getting out on the trails, but I new I needed to get out there, so I went to Memorial Park the Saturday after Thanksgiving and had a great time.
Memorial Park has seven mountain bike trails, five of them (purple, orange, yellow, blue, and red trails) are together in …

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

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Event Reminder

Great Bike Ride to End November

Texbiker.net Posted on by

The Houston Chronicle weather guy, Eric Berger, wrote that today would probably be the last chance of reaching 80 degrees this year. I am not sure if it got there officially but in Huffman the sign company’s banner said 82 degrees. This sign has been known to show some fictitious temperature but maybe today it was close. At my home weather station the high was 80 degrees.

Wind was back again today. It is a big difference starting the ride with a tailwind versus a headwind. Riding the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route for the 57th time this year the wind present lots of resistance riding south. When I left home at 11:47 it was from the SSW at 12 mph with 20 mph gusts. Checking when I got home at 2:15 it was from the S at 9 mph but the 20 mph gusts were still there. My legs were not as powerful as yesterday over the 31.31 mile route. While I was able to get close to a 16 mph average speed the best I could do today was 15.3 mph and it took me 15 miles to get up to 15.0 mph.

This route has some places where the wind is blocked with houses and trees. I was able to ride strongly during those times but riding across Lake Houston on FM1960 there is nothing to shield me except the concrete guardrails and I sit above them on the bike. East bound traffic is not much help but I had the wind at my right rear quarter and I stepped up my pace then. Riding west was into the wind and the traffic sometimes helped though sometimes the gaps between vehicles setup a big gust when they moved past. I managed to keep the average speed at 15.3 mph from Huffman to Kingwood Drive. At that point all of the stops and starts took their toll and it dropped down to 15.2 mph which was the final value.

The clouds moved across the sky frequently blocking out the sun. I was glad I wore a long sleeve jersey even with the warmer conditions. Riding over Lake Houston was chilly with the wind picking up the cold water temperature like a radiator. I could tell the difference when I reached the west side of the lake and the wind was off the warmer land.

Stopping at the Chevron station in Huffman I sat in the sun. At first I thought this might not be warm enough but after I dried off some the wind was not so chilly. This is where the sun went behind the clouds several times removing the warmth. I didn’t want to stay there too long and cool off too much. I knew the ride over the lake would be chilly. Just west of the station I saw a glimpse of another rider going east on FM1960. I didn’t see him in time to wave. FM1960 is 6 lanes wide at that point.

The body was able to put out so strong effort when I called on it. Surprisingly not riding as much as not erased all of my fitness.

Now that November is almost over ride wise I biked 224.94 miles for the month. I expected I would ride 200 miles. The up and down weather did not put too big of a crimp in riding. I might have done better if I would have rode the Spirit Ride in Livingston but the weather was too cold and wet. The total for this week is 82.95 miles and for the year it is 6396, 104 miles away from my goal of 6500 miles.

I was thinking I would need to change the tires on my Stradalli road bike before the end of the year but with 5310 miles on it I should be able to wait until January at least. I don’t want to try to ride too far on them though. I had a problem a few years back on another bike when I didn’t notice the threads showing on the Baytown YMCA Gator Ride and I had a flat during the ride. I improvised with duct tape (that stuff fixes about any problem) and got to the finish line barely. The front tire on the Stradalli has 5310 miles and the rear has 4310 miles. No flats for a long time but I don’t want to push that.

The weather is supposed to get wet and cooler the next few days and biking will not happen then. Thursday through Saturday could warm up to the 70’s and I will be back on the bike then. This is why I live here. In my hometown in Ohio I would not even think about riding; way too cold and snowy.

Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS maps, charts and metrics. For a change those two and my local programs all agree within a very small difference on the metrics today.

Ride Route Today – Google Earth
Ride metrics for today
Huffman weather
Home weather at the end of the ride
All rides on this route for the year
Week to date recap
November Rides Recap
Year to date ride data

Texas Bicycling Digest November 29th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Moutain Bike Rides?

Houston Cycling Club

Friday, December 5, 2014
7:00 PM
You didn’t get enough Mountain Bike training with Tommy? He rides and teaches outside of Houston Cycling Club. Please contact Tommy directly via email if you want to schedule a ride.
What does the class cover?
• Fundamental Riding …

Biking Houston 11/28/14

by thenextword        www.reddit.com

Saturday Wheel Rolling In Gateway Park Before Town Talking Texas Grapefruit

Durango Texas


For the first time in a long time I was back at my favorite Saturday photo op location in Gateway Park, prior to a visit to Town Talk.
Damage from a windstorm way back in late September, or was it early October, was the start of a long Gateway Park bike riding drought.
I saw the remains of …

Christmas Lights

by Bill Cullins        Team San Angelo


For most of the year, cycling and running events are highly competitive activities with participants maxing out their heart rates as they battle for finishing positions during races.
That all changes after Thanksgiving as the holiday spirit takes over and Christmas lights start to appear at businesses, homes and along the downtown Concho River.
The two remaining cycling and running events on the local 2014 schedule have a completely different focus with the attitude of participants shifting to enjoying the seasonal festivities with family and friends.
Both of these events are part of the 2014 Concho Christmas Celebration which …

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

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Blown By the Wind Bike Ride

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I knew it was going to be windy for today’s ride when I was driving back from the post office and a tree at a corner I stopped at gave a big shower of leaves as the wind raced through the branches. After seeing the large group of riders yesterday I was looking forward to biking today. Not riding as often meant my legs should be rested but the musces might not remember what they are supposed to do when the going gets tough.

Leaving home at 11:33 the wind was from the SW at 12 mph and the temperature was 75. As I was getting ready to leave I decided to add a short sleeve jersey over the long sleeve on I had on. Good idea. The strong wind went right through even those two and the shade was still cooler than I prefer. I zig zagged around Kingwood before getting into Woodbridge Forest and on to US59 to go north. I have been favoring the southern and eastern routes because they seem easier to get going. I rode my second most frequent route, the “New Caney – Gene Campbell Road”. Going north was easy with the wind pushing me along on the frontage road. I got a taste of the wind riding the short leg on FM1314 from YS59 to Loop 494 where I rode north again to New Caney.

As I neared the 10 mile point I looked at the Garmin 510 and was somewhat surprised to see that I recovered the lost time from getting out of Kingwood to get my average speed up to 15 mph. Once I got to New Caney I was again riding perpendicular to the wind on FM1485 but I still kept my speed high enough o increase my average speed to 15.5 mph. By the time I got to Gene Campbell Road I was ready to get buffeted by the wind on the ride to FM1314. The wind was there but not holding me back so much. At FM1314 I saw my average speed was up to 15.9 mph. That would be the high for the ride. I maintained the 15.9 mph average all the way to the Stripes station at Valley Ranch Parkway and FM1314 where I took a break.

While I was at Stripes I ate some snacks and drank Gatorade. With the coolness I probably don’t drink enough during the ride. 32 oz. of Gatorade plus 2/3 of my water bottle should have helped get me hydrated some. For some reason my Garmin 510 lowers my average speed while I am sitting at Stripes but only 1/10 of a mph. After a 25 minute break it was back on the bike and into the wind riding south through Briar Tree and Oakhurst streets. The wind seemed stronger than 12 mph and at home the weather station agreed: SSW wind 14 mph with 21 mph gusts.

I made it home at 2:24 with the temperature up a couple of degrees but the stronger made it feel cooler than when I started. I think the clouds increase as well.

The miles for November (193.63) are more than I expected with all of the cold weather we have had. The weather for Sunday is supposed to repeat today’s so I should get a ride in. This would put me over 200 miles for November. Year to date I stand at 6365 miles, 135 miles from my goal. Today’s ride was 35.25 miles long. This was the 26th time I rode this route this year out of 185 rides.

No other bikers were spotted today.

Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS metrics, charts and maps.

Ride Route – Google Earth
Today’s ride metrics
Porter Weather while at Stripes
Home Weather at the end of the ride
Route Rides Comparison
Rides this week
November Rides
Year to Date Rides