Texas Bicycling News Digest July 5th

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3136-01-174 Construct Bicycle & Pedestrian Bridge

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Road races for para-cycling and juniors mark day 4 of 2014 Amateur Road Nationals

www.usacycling.org

Rockdale, Wisconsin (July 5, 2014) — Stars-and-Stripes jerseys were awarded in 28 road race categories Saturday at the 2014 USA Cycling Amateur & Para-cycling Road National Championships. Competitions began in the morning with para-cyclists taking to the six-kilometer course in Rockdale, Wis. …
…Junior Riders Conclude the Day
The 9-10 year old races kicked off the afternoon session with two laps (12km) of the Rockford course. In the men’s event, it was Luke Swan (Alpine, Calif./Strive Racing) taking the victory by just over a second ahead of Stephen Heath (Alpharetta, Ga./Frazier Cycling). Zayk Cronyn (Tucson, Ariz./Rock Creek Velo) finished eight seconds back of Swan to claim the bronze medal, while Ryan Hoppenfeld (Atlanta, Ga./Frazier Cycling) and Christiano Migliaccio (College Station, Texas) rounded out the top five. …

Rolling My Wheels In Fort Worth’s Gateway Park Before Getting Peppered At Town Talk

Durango Texas


I went rolling on the Gateway Park mountain bike trails today for the first time since the rains of June.
In times past at my favorite Gateway Park photo opportunity location my inferior photographic skills have thwarted my attempts to successfully capture on film, I mean, digitally, the steep precipice the mountain bike trail suddenly comes to without warning.
Today I took video of my favorite Gateway Park photo opportunity location. That video is…

Welcome New Members – Special Edition

Plano Bicycle Association

Please extend a big welcome to our 41 new members who joined the PBA in the month of June. This is a record number of new monthly additions to our club. At the end of June 2013, our total club membership was 573. At the end of June 2014, our new members bring the total membership to 685.  Compare this to our total membership in 2002 of 110 members. Come Ride With Us! …

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Very Loud Horn on My Left

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I watched stage 1 of the Tour de France live today and it delayed starting my ride until 11:41. Tomorrow I will record the stage and ride after church but before I watch it. This requires avoiding any news which can difficult but not impossible. Sometimes the coverage on NBCSports Network can be  BORING. The commercials can go on for ever it seems, the sidebar stuff can be maddening simple or nothing to do with the Tour and the commentators say some strange things. At one point I switch to my laptop to watch Eurosport on the internet. One thing I noticed is the NBCSports feed is about 4 seconds behind the Eurosport feed.

With the later start I thought I would be in the heat of the day but it didn’t feel that hot. I don’t know if the rain in the area (we didn’t get any) helped or what. It was 86 degrees (59% humidity) when I began and 90 degrees (50% humidity) at the end. The wind was from the East or NE about 10 mph. This direction tends to be cooler than from the SW. The sky was scattered clouds.

Mixing the route up a little I left Kingwood on Mills Branch Drive and Ford Road. I don’t ride these as often as my other exits from Kingwood. The traffic was not very heavy while I was riding the 3 miles from where I got on Mills Branch until I turned onto Loop 494 to ride north. I set a good pace with the help of the wind most of the time. When I reached New Caney I turned west on FM1485. Normally I only stay on FM145 until Gene Campbell Road but today I went all the way to SR242. FM1485 is a good road with only two places where the shoulder goes away thanks to adding a left turn lane in the middle of the road. These sections are short and the few cars that pass always partly move over into the left turn lane area.

At SR242 and FM1485 I made a quick stop to refill my water bottle. My sweat output was much lighter today. I appreciated the sweat not running down onto my glasses. The ride on SR242 from FM1485 to FM1314 is a smooth and rather straight with a shoulder all the way. There are places where the added left turn lane reduces the shoulder but does not take it away entirely. Traffic can be heavy but I have not had any problems. I did have an encounter while I was on FM1485 about a miles before SR242. A gold color Chevy or GMC pickup with a white refrigerator standing up in the back passed me and decided to blow his horn, one of those very loud train or 18-wheeler types. It startled me but I didn’t swerve or anything.

I wanted this route to be 40+ miles to help make up for not biking on July 4th and I was jazzed from watching the Tour too. It ended up at 42.06 miles so I accomplished my objective. I was pleasantly surprised as I was riding on the speed I was able to go and the average speed for the ride was 16.4 mph. I knew from the riding time I should be over 16 mph but not sure how much. Sometimes my average speed comes down when I ride back into Kingwood due to the many stops and residential traffic.

Mile markers

  • 192.12 miles this week
  • 142.85 miles this month (573 miles to reach my goal of 716 miles)
  • 3518 miles this year

Tomorrow’s weather: clear, 91 degrees and 10 mph wind. I plan on biking after church and Sunday School. Could be warmer then than today’s ride.

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Texas Bicycle News Digest July 4th

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Were you ‘Seen’ at the conversational bike ride?

By Jake Daniels        www.beaumontenterprise.com


Joe Scheurich, left, and Sheri Baden talk as they get ready for Wednesday’s ride. The weekly “conversational bike ride” started out from Bicycle Sports in Beaumont on Wednesday evening. Photo taken Wednesday 7/2/14 Jake Daniels

Thursday Nights Under the Lights with TCW

Thursday, Jul 10, 2014, 6:00 PM

Texas Cycle Werks
5446 US-290 #103 Austin, TX

2 Mountain Bikers Went

Texas Cycle Werks, proud sponsors of the ATX100K endurance race series, hosts weekly shop rides each Thursday leaving from the shop in south Austin and heading out to the Barton Creek Greenbelt.  Rides vary in length and difficulty based on who all shows up and wants to do what.These rides happen every Thursday with wheels-down at 6pm, weather pe…

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Upcoming Events

Northwest Cycling Club

Saturday, July 12
Ride Starter-Kip Othold & Craig Angaroni
Sunday, July 13
8:00am
Mountain Bike Flintridge
Saturday, July 19
Ride Starter-Tony Crabtree
Sunday, July 20
KATY FLATLAND CENTURY
Tuesday, July 22
7:00pm
Board Meeting
Saturday, July 26
Ride Starter-Rick Chandler
7:30am
Traffic Skills 101
8:00am
Adopt-A-Highway Workday
9:00am
Adopt-a-Highway Trash Pick up

Hotter Than Hell Simulation Ride

Sunday, Jul 6, 2014, 11:00 AM

Cycling Center Dallas
1373 West Campbell Road Richardson, TX

1 Members Went

To anyone doing the Hotter than Hell we are having a Hotter then Hell simulation ride on Sunday at 11am at the Cycling Center Dallas using the 100k course. We are riding the course on the indoor Computrainers and the goal is to see how far you can get on the course in 3 hours. You will be able to ride the course in a fun safe environment, and get a…

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Ride Around Ovilla

Lone Star Cyclists

Pace: Touring with a Fast Pace Option (Touring is a varied pace with frequent stops averaging 12-15 mph)
Date: Saturday, July 19, 2014 – 8:00am
Location: Cotton Patch Café Parking Lot, 124 W Beltline, Cedar Hill
GPS 32.588966,-96.946149
Distances: 26 and 50 miles
Park in the lot alongside the US-67 service road (next to the Cotton Patch Café sign).
This popular ride will take us on some little-traveled country roads south of Dallas. The forecast calls for lots of laughs with cycling friends.
The short route will go southeast to Ovilla, then north from Midlothian back to Cedar Hill.
The long riders’ route will travel southeast of Lancaster, then to Ovilla before returning through Midlothian.
Lunch: To be determined
Exact ride details subject to change based on weather, road conditions, etc.

A 4th Of July Mountain Bike Ride In Arlington’s River Legacy Park With No Bobcats

Durango Texas


A year ago today I drove to downtown Arlington to watch Arlington’s 4th of July Parade.
A year ago seems so recent I really could not muster the desire to drive to downtown Arlington to stand in the sweltering heat to watch a parade roll by today.
Instead I drove to Arlington to…

Star-Spangled Pfssst!

by Bike Noob

“Want to ride on the Fourth?” asked Maggie.
“Sure,” I said. “Road or mountain?”
“Hmm, your choice.”
“I feel like a trail ride,” I replied. We agreed to meet at 8:30 at Starbucks.
I’ve mentioned the choice of mountain biking trails around here. Instead of going to the Slaughter Creek Preserve Trail, to the west, we opted to ride the singletrack through the Circle C Ranch metro park. We could cover some ground that way, and Maggie hadn’t seen some of those areas before.
After a tentative start, we found our legs. I glanced off a boulder and fell, but didn’t get hurt, and we made good time through the…

Campers put a spin on Fourth of July at Lake Texoma

www.kten.com

KTEN.com – No One Gets You Closer
GRAYSON COUNTY, TX — Locals and out-of-towners took to area lakes and rivers to enjoy the holiday weekend.  A group of families on lake Texoma who wanted to make this 4th of July celebration one to remember.
For a few families in the east burns run camp site — fireworks and food don’t even begin to describe the tradition.
“Just camping, having fun with all our friends and family,” Brittany Lancaster said. “We’ve been doing this for many years now — probably about thirteen years coming here.”
This year the six families decided to try something new — a parade to…

Cycling Research at the University of Arizona

Greater Dallas Bicyclists

The club received this request from a graduate student at the University of Arizona. She would like people to fill out a survey on long distance bike touring. This research may help identify better cycling routes. GDB members with this type of cycling experience are encouraged to take the survey.
To Whom it May Concern at Greater Dallas Bicyclists:
I am a PhD student at the University of Arizona conducting research on cycling and cycling tours.  As part of my dissertation, I am evaluating a method of categorizing the difficulty level of given paths based on their length and changes in elevation.
I am contacting you because it would be extremely helpful and informative to have avid cyclists rate the level of difficulty of paths online, if you would be willing to give club members the opportunity to contribute their knowledge and understanding of path difficulty.
The paths can be found at the following URL:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1717659/Bicycle-Tour-Route-Evaluation-Questionnaire
It would be great if you would be willing to share the paths with your members.  If you have questions about the research, please feel free to reach me by email or phone at (520) 222-5812.
Thank you for your consideration.
Katherine Carl
kcarl@email.arizona.edu

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Texas Bicycling News Digest July 3rd

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– Did You Know ? – Boys and Girls Club

www.bccourier.com


The Boys & Girls Clubs of Bandera County really enjoy partnering with other organizations for success in our future. This past week, the Boys & Girls Clubs partnered with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service for our second annual Bicycle Rodeo! Through this awesome event, we are able to bring state troopers in from across Texas to have our youth learn how to safely ride their bicycles anywhere they go! Youth first learn through a presentation about the importance of bicycle safety and…

Spring Trail Work at River Bend

GHORBA.org


A GHORBA trail team was out early Saturday morning to begin work in a new section of trail at River Bend. A trail network built on land managed in partnership with the Boy Scouts, GHORBA, and the City of Sugar Land Parks Department.
Dead wood was cleared, fallen trees removed, undergrowth trimmed back and…

Bicycling across the U.S.

By Sylvie Belmond         www.toacorn.com

The Old Kranks are at it again

Cycling through rain and shine across the rural South and Texas hill country, and through western mountain ranges and deserts, a local group of cyclists pedaled 3,073 miles over 50 days from April 23 to June 11.
The journey—spanning eight states from St. Augustine, Fla., to San Clemente, Calif.—was spearheaded by Newbury Park resident Earl Magpiong and his son Glen.
“It’s an adventure. Kind of pushing the envelope, taking a risk and something…

Wednesday Night Ride

Wednesday, Jul 9, 2014, 5:45 PM

River Run Plaza OR Rio Plaza
1071 Country Club (River Run) or 6205 Upper Valley (Rio Plaza) El Paso, TX

1 Cyclists Went

These are leaderless rides of 17-25 miles leaving from River Run Plaza 1071 Country Club Road or Rio Plaza, 6205 Upper Valley Rd (at Artcraft).Ride options vary — most involve going up Upper Valley to Borderland to Strahan to Bosque Rd to Vinton Road. Various options include taking N. Vinton to Westside Dr. to Washington to Gadsden High, then re…

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Wednesday Walnut Creek Social – NEW TIME 7:00pm

Wednesday, Jul 9, 2014, 7:00 PM

Location details are available to members only.

8 Mountain Bikers Went

We will be meeting at 6:45 pm to air up, tune and hit the Walnut Creek trail wheels down at 7:00 pm for a 10 to 12 mile circuit, this will be an Advanced Beginner ride for folks who want to ride Walnut at a group pace and we will do a varying loop of the trails.HELMETS AND LIGHTS ARE REQUIRED, NO HELMET NO LIGHTS NO RIDE!This is for your safety a…

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AUTUMN IN BONHAM BIKE RALLY

Bonham Area Chamber of Commerce

28th ANNUAL AUTUMN IN BONHAM BIKE RALLY Has Been Postponed to 2015

Wednesday Ride with Photos

by Jean Marie Linhart         Brazos Valley Cyclists


It was wild having a bystander photograph the start to the Wednesday ride tonight. Normally I’m taking the pictures, so I’m not in any of them.
The Wednesday ride is an intermediate pace, intermediate difficulty ride about 36 miles long. Speeds vary — about 16-18 mph to start, and I suspect that slows a bit on the hills. I can’t keep that pace up for long, so I’m usually dragging behind by the time we get through Traditions and out to the Expo Center. I ride my slow and steady pace, occasionally cutting a rest short to get ahead for a…

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