Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for April 8th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Lake Georgetown Ride – 4-7-13
AustinBike.com

Once a year everyone should do a lap around the lake.  Once.

We had great weather, it was cool, overcast and windy, perfect if you are planning to spend the next 4 hours putting the pain on while you do a lap around the lake.  Lake Georgetown is one of the most technical trails in the Austin area because there is easily 2/3 of the trail where you are fixated on trying to…

Tires for Texas hill country?
by chef7734
I am in the Killeen area and wondering what tires work best for Texas hill country. Currently using Kenda Nevegal. I have been thinking about Hans Damf or Trail King.

Reply by h20-50
I have a set of Trail King 26×2.2 black chilli compound on my rig now, Nevegals before that. Here’s my comparison, Nevegals are gonna offer you more grip but they don’t give much rider feedback and when they slip they just washout, and they have high rolling resistance.

The trail kings have slightly less grip, SLIGHTLY, but they give much more feedback and the slip is pronounced and predictable and doesn’t just…

Texas Bicycle Racing Association
www.txbra.org

 April 9 Tue Tuesday Night Crit (r) Dallas
10 Wed Valley View Criterium Series (r) Dallas
10 Wed TBi/TRP Wednesday Night Crits (r) Fort Worth
11 Thu KingRacingGroup Thursday Night Crits (r) Dallas
11 Thu PURE Driveway Series One (r) Austin
12 Fri Superdrome Points Series (v) Frisco (Superdrome)
12 Fri ATRA Friday Night Omnium Series (v) Katy (Alkek)
13 Sat Texas Cup King of Rockwall Crit (r) Rockwall
13 Sat Texas Cup The Sprints (v) Katy (Alkek)
13 Sat Texas State Ultra Road Race (r) San Marcos
14 Sun Texas Cup Rockwall Criterium (r) Rockwall
14 Sun Texas State Ultra Road Race (r) San Marcos
16 Tue Tuesday Night Crit (r) Dallas
17 Wed Valley View Criterium Series (r) Dallas
17 Wed TBi/TRP Wednesday Night Crits (r) Fort Worth
17 Wed Bear Creek Crit Series (r) Houston
18 Thu KingRacingGroup Thursday Night Crits (r) Dallas
18 Thu PURE Driveway Series One (r) Austin
20 Sat Texas Cup Matrix Challenge (r) Dallas
21 Sun Texas Cup Matrix Challenge (r) Dallas
23 Tue Tuesday Night Crit (r) Dallas
24 Wed Valley View Criterium Series (r) Dallas
24 Wed TBi/TRP Wednesday Night Crits (r) Fort Worth
24 Wed Bear Creek Crit Series (r) Houston
25 Thu KingRacingGroup Thursday Night Crits (r) Dallas
25 Thu PURE Driveway Series One (r) Austin
27 Sat Texas Cup Samurai Keirin Cup (v) Katy (Alkek)
28 Sun Texas Cup The Madison (v) Katy (Alkek)
28 Sun Texas A&M San Antonio Circuit Series (r) San Antonio
30 Tue Tuesday Night Crit (r) Dallas

Bike The Woodlands Day
Ride for Fun – Ride to Work – Just Ride!
Friday  +  May 17, 2013  +  7-9 am
A few of us will be hanging out at Starbucks for a couple of hours at Research Forest Drive and Technology Forest to celebrate the first ever Bike The Woodlands Day. Stop by and say “hello” or send us an email letting us know what you’ll be doing.
3000 Research Drive
Bike The Woodlands Coalition is a loosely organized group of folks who enjoy all kinds of biking and cyclists. We are interested in a more bicycle friendly community that serves the needs of all types of riders.

Austin Rattler 100K
West Texas Cycling Association
Date: April 13, 2013
Location: Austin, TX
Contact:
Details: Just east of Austin is Rocky Hill Ranch, known as one of the first and best mountain bike ranches in Texas. This 1,500-acre playground played host to the inaugural Austin 100 mountain bike race, the first Leadville Qualifying Series event. Whether you’re interested in qualifying for the Leadville Trail 100 or just looking for an amazing MTB event, the Austin Rattler 100 is sure to challenge your…

Greater Dallas Bicyclists
Rides April 20th
7:51am» DFW Airport Ride – FAST GROUP – Spring/Summer

8:00am» DFW Airport Ride – Spring/Summer
8:00am» Distance Builder – Spring/Summer

9:00am» Easy Going Ride
9:00am» Best of the Northwest – Fall/Winter/Spring Schedule

9:30am» Plano East Side Ride – Fall/Winter

Old Corpus Christi Road Ride
Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club
Saturday, May 4th :  Ride starts at 8:00 a.m.  Meet at Harlandale Memorial Stadium on Roosevelt Road. The scenic ride will follow Old Corpus Christi Rd. toward Floresville. It will be 44 miles of mostly flat to gentle rolling terrain at a 12-14 mph pace through cattle country and old farm communities.  For the first 20 miles this is an out and back ride, so you can turn around at any point for a less strenuous ride..  Directions:   Exit 410 at Roosevelt Road and head north, pass Stinson Field, go several blocks and Memorial Stadium is on the right.  This ride is also a training ride for the Tour de Cure.  For more information, contact ride leader Ann Caldwell at…

Do we need more police for hike and bike trails?
bicycleaustin.info
Today’s A A-S letter to the editor spurred me to action on this:  why do we need 100 more police just because we are opening the trails at night?
1.  The letter writer asked, in essence, aren’t they patrolling these areas already, especially since they were, until being opened, “deserted” and therefore perhaps more subject to crime?

2.  My knowledge of police strategy is that random patrols have pretty much been discredited as an effective means of crime prevention (see http://library.npia.police.uk/docs/hors … df#page=73, http://www.popcenter.org/library/readin … sGuide.pdf and many others), which is why so many PDs have adopted COMPSTAT–including AFD!–on the theory that crime and disorder are heavily concentrated, and…

Race update: Solavaca Cat Claw Challenge 2013
By myles        Cycle Progression
The domination continues…

Podiums, Podiums, Podiums seemed to be the theme for us this weekend out at Solavaca.  Mason O’neal came into the shop with a very big smile on his face, having redeemed himself with a 1st place win for a crash at the last race.  Johnathan Pattie was not far behind coming in at 3rd place.  Conrad has been holding it down in the single speed this season. Just about EVERYONE who raced was on the podium this weekend.  Here are your results: …

Honor Ride rolls through Texas
Group will stop in Austin on Tuesday
www.kxan.com
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Hundreds of cyclists are making their way through Texas as part of the Ride 2 Recovery Honor Ride.

The group is spending Monday night in San Marcos after starting the trip in San Antonio earlier in the day.

The group will stay in Austin Tuesday night and finish the trip in Fort Worth on Sunday.

Ride 2 Recovery Honor Rides raise funds and…

Biking Across U.S.
A Daily Gazette community blog
Schenectady resident reports on cross-country trip
www.dailygazette.com
The happiest, most sublime bike ride I have ever made was on this tour.

An exaggeration, you say? You’ve been whining about heat, cold, headwind, dust, the desert, cold rain, the hills.

Yet, on a cool, overcast day in West Texas, coming out of the Davis Mountains, flying downhill and slowly cycling up, through some of the most beautiful mountain scenery, I experienced what some call “flow.”

Flow is effortless, with a sense of being at one with space and time. It is a precious and a rare experience, possible…

Not Solavaca
by TC        Turnin’ Cranks
Another race is in the books, and another race I was forced to miss. It’s not a huge surprise and was expected although I had been hoping for some miracle to manage to make the race.

I did however manage to get away for a long, local ride. I again headed for Barton Creek Greenbelt, riding to the trail from the house to get some added miles in.

We had gotten some rain this week, but it had been a few days so I expected the trails to be in pristine, ‘hero dirt’ shape. Unfortunately, I was a little wrong and in for some mud, downed trees and…

 Tweets

https://twitter.com/JuliaBikes/status/321325286157344768

What A Wind – April 8th Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

A big surprise on today’s ride was the strong wind. I should have realized it was so strong when I watched the trees sway in our backyard before I started my ride. Looking at wunderground.com the wind showed to be almost calm but on the bike riding south it was anything but calm. The temperature fluctuated from 79 to 81 so I was thinking finally a warm riding day but the strong wind made it feel 5 degrees cooler especially in the shade. I was glad I wore a long sleeve jersey. I am not sure how strong the wind was from the SSE but the gusts had to be 25 mph or more. Riding across Lake Houston on FM1960 east took a lot more effort than the return ride going west. Some gusts pushed my bike around.

Once I reached Huffman on the return leg the wind finally became helpful and I managed to increase my average speed significantly. My mileage at Huffman was 22.8 meaning all but the 2 miles riding north on FM2100 was into the wind. While I stopped at the Huffman Chevron to recover from battling the wind sitting in the partial sun was cool due to the wind blowing through the station’s fuel cover. Action Sign’s temperature board showed 80 degrees dropping to 79 a couple of cycles. Looking at the average speed for the 5 mile intervals in the slide below reflects the wind affect. The last two 5 mile laps were the only ones I average 15 mph or more.

The ride to Huffman came in at 32.47 miles at 14.8 mph average speed. April miles increase to 199.92 and 1514.56 miles year to date. Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com maps and stats.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for April 7th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Flat Creek Crossing Ride Pics – 4-6-13
AustinBike.com

Even though we had a bit of rain this week, the trails were in good shape and we were able to get 2 laps completed in the morning with a little grilling in the afternoon.

A light showing from the San Antonio crowd.  As a matter of fact, there was very little chatter except “I’m gonna give him a little more space, I don’t trust small block 8’s.”  Funny, the 26er with…

ARR April Club Ride
The Austin Mountain Bikers Meetup Group
Saturday, April 13, 2013    10:00 AM
Pace Bend Park
2011 Pace Bend Rd N, Spicewood, TX (map)
drive past Bathroom 11 and look for the ARR Banner

This is the weekend before the big Bicycle Sport Shop Pace Bend Race & MTB Festival so we are expecting lots of riders out to pre-ride the course. We’ll break into our ride groups as usual and then hit the trails. ARR will host a post ride lunch.

CARPOOLING is strongly encouraged and everyone is invited to bring a dish to share. (Cookies, chips, dips, salads, fruit, drinks, ICE!!)

We will set up the picnic area north of the Main Trail head on Grisham Trail and…

Mayor & Council Survey – Amir Omar
Bike Friendly Richardson sent a questionnaire to all of the Mayor and City Council candidates for the May municipal elections. We requested this information not to make an endorsement, but to gather knowledge of where the candidates stand on bicycling issues and provide this information as a service to our members. We will publish all responses here on the BFR blog.

The first response we have received to date comes from current Place 7 council member and mayoral candidate Amir Omar:
1: Do you (and your family) ride a bicycle on Richardson roads or trails? For what purposes do you ride?

Amir Omar: Although I am primarily a runner, I do ride my Cannondale hybrid on streets and trails from time to time. The primary reason I ride is either as cross training or as an…

Corinth Cycling Group Rides
Sat, April 20, 8am – 11am
Weekly on Saturday
Where    Ronny Crownover Middle School
Description        Corinth Cycling Saturday morning group rides.

Spokes N Spurs
Pedal Pushers

It was a cold, dark, stormy night–no, it was a cold, cloudy day as Brian, Christine, and I prepared for the Spirit Reins Ranch ride called Spokes N Spurs.

…Close to starting time, we began to line up. The announcer stated that over 900 riders had registered and they expected the final count to be a record 1,000 riders. …

Upcoming Rides and Events
San Antonio Wheelmen

Saturday, 4/13:        La Vernia-Floresville Ride
Sunday, 4/14:          Krueger Canyon-River Road Ride

 ATC Racing Club
WheelBrothers
1. Who founded the club and how did it come to life?
Owners and friends of Austin Tri-Cyclist came together in 2012 to found the women’s racing team Snapple-ATC Racing, co-sponsored by the Snapple Triathlon Team. In 2013, the team was renamed ATC Racing and now includes a men’s road team and triathlon team in addition to the women’s road team.

2. What is your cycling club’s mission?
The members of ATC Racing are dedicated to growing the sports of road cycling and triathlon through competition and volunteering. The women’s road team is particularly focused on improving the quality and…

Tweets

https://twitter.com/bikenoob/status/321074390437613569

https://twitter.com/bikenoob/status/320965110120194048

Yellow Wildflowers – April 7th Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

After yesterday’s ride I wanted to ride a different route than my usual ones and ride around 32 miles. I delayed the start until after lunch for several reasons: went to church, watched Paris-Roubaix and to get the temperature a little warmer. I left home at 1:36 under mostly cloudy skies, 77 degrees, a SSE 15 mph wind and 21 mph gusts. The wind was my friend until about mile 16 when I turned onto Gene Campbell Road. From there to home I rode into the wind now with 25 mph gusts.

I rode the reverse of the New Caney – Gene Campbell Road route. This ended up at 32.19 miles with a 15.8 mph average speed. Riding north and west on FM1314 the wind was a full tailwind so I rode at 20 to 21 mph until the turn I mentioned. On FM1314 I stopped near Porter High School to take two pictures of the bright yellow wildflowers below. I’ve been meaning to get some pictures so I acted on it today.

Once I was on Gene Campbell Road I knew the wind would fight me all the way back. I managed to hold my own but riding on the southbound US59 just before FM1314 there was a slight incline near Andy’s Auto Sales that slowed me down with help from the wind. By the time I got to FM1314 I stopped at the Exxon station for rest before riding the last 6 miles home. The rest helped and I was able to keep a good pace into the wind.

April miles are now 167.45 and year to date I stand at 1482.09 miles. Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com maps and stats.

Tomorrow’s weather looks good for riding with partly cloudy skies and 77 degrees.

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