Texas Bicycling Daily News Roundup May 13th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

City Bike Designer, Linus Bike, Releases a Statement on Austin’s Efforts to Becoming More Bike-Friendly
www.watchlistnews.com
Bohemia, NY (PRWEB) May 08, 2013
On May 8, city bike designer Linus Bike releases a statement on a KUT News article that discusses the city of Austin’s efforts to becoming more bike-friendly.
According to the KUT News article, more than two percent overall of Austin residents bike to work. In certain parts of the city, more than eight percent of residents commute to work on their bikes. This number is due to the steady flow of money that the city has allocated for bike advocacy projects.

Annick Beaudet is an avid cyclist and is the Manager of the Bicycle and Urban Trails Program with the City of Austin. She hopes that one day Austin will be as bike friendly as Portland, Oregon which is said to be the biking mecca of the United States. Beaudet told KUT News that Austin…

Send a pro-bike letter to your local newspaper
People for Bikes
This week is officially National Bike to Work Week. However, we’d like to encourage you to think of it as National Bike to Anywhere Week. Half of all trips Americans make are three miles or less—an easy biking distance. Imagine the good that would come if more people in your community tried biking for some of these short trips. Wouldn’t it be nice?

We have an easy way for you to tell your community why bikes are a great way to go. Use this simple tool to send a pro-bike letter to your local newspaper that encourages and inspires your neighbors to give…

Share The Road invites all out to Ride of Silence
by Shannel Douglas        www.connectamarillo.com
AMARILLO, TEXAS — Share The Road invites riders to take part in this year’s Ride of Silence Wednesday night.

Ride of Silence is a silent ride where riders on their motorcycle, bicycle, etc. ride along a planned route in silence for all of the rider’s lives lost by being…

LDS missionary in Texas recovering after being hit by vehicle
Deseret News
An LDS Church missionary serving in the Texas San Antonio mission is recovering from injuries today after being struck from behind by a vehicle as he was walking with his bicycle.

“Elder Michael Garver, 19, from Tooele, Utah who has been serving in the Texas San Antonio Mission was struck by a vehicle while he and his companion were walking their bikes on the side of a road on 2 May 2013,” Ruth Todd, spokesperson for…

On the Lege: Update, May 13
BikeTexas.org
The Safe Passing bill, HB 2225, failed to make it to the House floor before the midnight deadline on Thursday, May 9, for introducing bills originating in the House.

There was hope that Safe Passing would be heard on the floor when HB 2225 was voted out of Calendars committee on May 7, but the agenda was so backed up going into Thursday morning that lawmakers were still finishing up the Tuesday list. In each session, …

Tenth Annual Ride of Silence on Wednesday, May 15th
www.bikehouston.org

This Wednesday, May 15th, BikeHouston will host the Tenth Annual Ride of Silence from Memorial Park to City Hall.

On May 15, 2013 at 7:00 PM, the Ride of Silence will begin in North America and roll across the globe. Cyclists will take to the roads in a silent procession to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. Although cyclists have a legal right to share the road with motorists, the motoring public often isn’t aware of these rights, and sometimes not…

Terry Hershey/George Bush Park Road Ride
Houston Cycling Club
Saturday, May 18, 2013        8:00 AM
Terry Hershey Park Trail
5 West Sam Houston Pkwy S, Houston, TX (edit map)

I’m thinking about riding through both George Bush and Terry Hershey Park Saturday morning. I would definitely be interested in making it a group ride though. The link below shows the route.

http://www.mapmyride.com/us/bunker-hill-village-tx/terry-hershey-bush-park-route-175898786

Starting and ending points are at the Terry Hershey parking lot, underneath the Sam Houston Tollway. Total distance is about 36 miles…

Tweets

Vulture Shadow – May 13th Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

The weatherman delivered the goods today. In the slide show below the clear blue sky stretches in almost every direction. The one photo on Gene Campbell Road with some clouds was only looking in that direction and they spread out. The other photo on Gene Campbell Road looking back where I came from shows the brilliant blue. On FM1485 I took two pictures to show off the picture perfect riding weather. I was west of US59 about to turn onto Gene Campbell Road. (I took the photos with my phone)

82 to 84 degrees accompanied the clear sky and the wind was calm. Even with a calm wind I still could feel a headwind whenever I turned south though. For the first 13 miles the wind helped but as I rode on Gene Campbell Road the wind started to slow me down. While I rode on that stretch I had my head down when this rather large shadow of a bird crossed the road on my left. I looked up to see what was making the shadow and it probably was a vulture gliding on the wind currents. I guess I was moving so the bird did not consider me as food.

My speed dropped while I headed southeast into the breeze on FM1314 but I still managed a 15.7 mph average speed over the 34.25 mile ride. I was not able to start biking until 1:41 PM and I finished at 4:44 PM. I did have an unexpected stop in New Caney for a “nature break” as they like to call them. I always wondered what the pros did when they had a serious nature break requirement. I know what I did: find a convenience store with good restrooms.

I am making some progress on May mileage moving up to 140.17 miles and 2233.7 miles year to date.

Tomorrow’s weather looks favorable for biking with partly cloudy and 84 degrees. I plan on riding after I watch the Giro d’ Italia on BeIn Sport.

[wppa type=”slideonlyf” album=”147″ size=”auto”][/wppa]

[iframe http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/312428221 465px 650px]

[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1317994/embed 95% 650px]

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for May 12th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Bike Lock from Laptop Security Cable
by chunkyhampton        www.instructables.com

This is a simple and short instructable to make a cable bike lock/bike lock extender from a disused laptop secutiry lock cable, like this.
A number of these laptop security cables were donated to my local hackspace in Nottingham UK (www.nottinghack.org.uk).
I needed a cable extender for my bike lock, which can be used to lock all…

If you love bikes look at this collection you will love it!
by dean saffron            www.bikeforums.net

I simply had to make this video after meeting “James” a very enigmatic man who has taken it upon himself to collect one bicycle from each developmental epoch for future generations to enjoy , a kind of time capsule if you will !

Beginners Ride
Woodlands Cycling Club
Wednesday, May 22, 2013, 06:00pm
Location : 8100 Ashlane Way, Spring, TX 77382
Contact : Renee O’Neal

New Cyclist in Dallas
by TucoSupreme        www.bikeforums.net
Hey all,
I’m a relatively new cyclist here in DFW (Dallas, specifically), I bought my bike from a local shop a little over a year ago, and hadn’t really ridden since I was a kid (I’m 28 now), and just rode casually around the neighborhood until a few months ago when I started Bike/Light Rail commuting to work out in Hurst. The bike I’m riding is a green All-City Nature Boy complete I bought from the good folks at Transit. I bought it fixed, and rode it that way for a while, but when I started commuting, I converted it to an SS for coasting since I’m not in amazing shape, but I’m working on that.

My commute isn’t super long, about 4 miles to the train, then 5 miles to work, and back again, but it is better for me than driving to work is. I intentionally bought a cross bike as an all-around bike, but also entertain the idea of cyclocross races when I get in a bit better shape (more for fun than anything). I got my fiancé into riding too, around the same time I did. We bought her a Linus Dutchi 1, though…

DART wants to give your bike a downtown tune-up
dallas.culturemap.com

If you’ve ever tried to cycle to work in downtown Dallas, you know the old aphorism is true: Biking ain’t easy. But DART wants to ease the pain of pedaling. On May 17 — National Bike to Work Day, mind you — DART will host bike energizing activities at three DART stations as well as the intersection of the Bluebonnet and Chisholm Trail in Plano.

Downtown Garland station, Arapaho Station in Richardson and Akard Station in Dallas will be transformed into a biker’s paradise from 7 to 9:30 am. The aforementioned Bike Energizer Stations will have information about the host cities’ bike…

Organization demonstrates bicyclist safety awareness
www.myfoxlubbock.com
The West Texas Cycling Association promoted awareness Saturday for bicycle safety month. The group set up at the South Plains mall.

The cyclists also promoted the ‘Ride of Silence’ that will be going on Wednesday night. The ride honors fallen…

MPD Ride to Remember Fallen Officers 5/12/13
CBS 7 News
Midland – The annual bicycle ride to honor officers in Texas is underway in downtown Midland.

The 20-mile ride is in memory of the peace officers who have been killed in the line of duty in the past year.

The last three miles will be in honor of the three Midland Police Officers who have been killed while protecting our city.

Tweets

Mother’s Day Squeeze – May 12th Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Thanks to my wife for giving up some of her Mother’s Day so that I could go riding before we go out to lunch.

In a constant search for some route variety today I tried a few back streets I have not used before in today’s route combination. I wanted to ride 25 miles or so and ended up with 26.26 miles at 15.5 mph average speed. Looking at my route map today shows an usual shape with the spike over Lake Houston standing out. I chose this in order to get finished around 1:30 so we could get lined up for lunch. My wife wants to go to Spring Creek BBQ and I am not sure how many people will have the same idea. We always wait until mid-afternoon in an attempt to avoid some of the crowd. We will see how that plan works.

Mostly cloudy skies and 80 degrees made for a comfortable ride. The wind had a cool edge to it and my short sleeve jersey was the right wardrobe. I thought it might warm up a few more degrees but not so. Apparently the weather was attractive to the casual bikers as I saw several couples out on the greenbelt trails beside the streets I was on. I did not see any “serious” bikers though.

Since my ride over Lake Houston yesterday someone collected the window screen that was on the shoulder but there was plenty of other obstacles to watch for.

May miles total 105.92 and year to date increased to 2199.45 miles.

Tomorrow’s weather looks perfect for riding with clear skies and 84 degrees in the forecast.

[wppa type=”slide” album=”146″ size=”auto”][/wppa]

[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1314428/embed 95% 600px]

[iframe http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/311825360 500px 650px]