Texas Bicycling Daily News Roundup February 10th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Beginner Mountain Bike Ride at Hershey Park
Houston Cycling Club
Saturday, February 16, 2013        9:30 AM
Terry Hershey Park
15200 Memorial Dr, Houston, TX (map)

This will be a beginner\ introductory mountain bike ride through the Hershey Park mountain bike trails. We will ride for an hour or two on easy trails and jeep roads. Please make sure your bike is in good working order and bring your helmet! I will be there at 9:30 AM to answer questions and plan on starting the ride at 10. I will bring an air pump for low tires. You should bring water, Gatorade or whatever you want to drink. We will meet by the gazebo/restrooms. Look for my red Jeep or call me, Jeff, at [masked] if lost or have any questions. REMEMBER YOUR HELMET! Hope to see you there!

HBC Brenham Ride
Houston Bicycle Club
February 23, 2013    9:00AM
Distance: 33(B), 40(B), 50(C), 59(C) miles
Varying hills, some require low gears. Quite a nice ride, particularly in the spring when the wildflowers are blooming. Stores at Long Point and Burton. In Brenham, stop at Must Be Heaven (113 W. Alamo) for Blue Bell.

Upcoming Rides – Lone Star Cyclists
Dallas Urban Ride III
Bishop Arts District, 419 N Bishop Ave, Dallas
Saturday, February 16, 2013 – 8:30am
David’s Alvarado Adventures
Alvarado High School, 1301 S Parkway Dr, Alvarado
Saturday, February 23, 2013 – 8:30am
Pantego to Lillian
Pantego Christian Academy, 2201 W Park Row Dr, Arlington (between Bowen and Fielder)
Saturday, March 2, 2013 – 8:30am
Dennis’ Irving Itinerary
To Be Determined
Saturday, March 9, 2013 – 8:30am
The Alligator Ride
Lowe’s Home Improvement, 4444 N Galloway Ave, Mesquite
Saturday, March 16, 2013 – 8:30am

Woman Hollering Creek Ride
San Antonio Wheelmen
Date:     02/17/2013
Time:     09:00 AM-12:00 PM
Location:     Judson High School
Converse, TX
Details: Woman Hollering Creek Ride (E) [F to R].  Route of 26 to 70 miles.
This popular` ride features the rolling farmland east of Bexar County, fresh hot pies at the stop in New Berlin and, of course, the famous Woman Hollering Creek. Meet at Judson High School in Converse. From Loop 1604, turn right (west) on Rocket Lane at the stop light. When Rocket Lane merges to Schaeffer, continue straight to the parking lot on the right across from Norris Drive.
Contact:  Bill Blackford

Garmin Edge 810 – Review (Part 1)
by Justin        Bike Geek

Garmin’s new flagship cycling computer, the Edge 810, arrived on my doorstep on January 15th.  Since it’s arrival, I’ve been putting the 810 through its paces.  Time to share my impressions of this new offering from Garmin…

Let’s get through some technical specs first.  Most of these first impressions were with the unit using firmware 2.20 which is how the unit arrived (I’ve since upgraded to 2.30) and pairing the unit with an iPhone 5.

Display

I’ll be honest – there has been a lot of whining about the 800’s screen being difficult to read in sunlight.  As a result, I was a bit concerned when I learned that the 810 shared the same display (both in backlighting and resolution).  Imagine my surprise then as I did ride after ride in daylight conditions and found the display quite readable, especially with lit directly by the sun.  In fact, my experience was…

El Paso Bicycle Club Rides
Saturday, February 16
• 8:30 am : La Mesa Turnaround Meet at River Run Plaza, 1071 Country Club Rd, and ride to La Mesa. 44 miles, 16-18 mph pace (may break into moderate/fast groups depending on who shows up). Rick Rivas, 915-867-7199.

Sunday, February 17
• 9:00 am : Love that Lava! Meet at La Union Station and drive (on unpaved roads) to Hunt’s Hole on the mesa, then ride mountain bikes 8 miles to Kilbourne’s Hole. Find peridot lava bombs! Snack back at cars after ride. Must have slimed tires. Chuck Turner, 915-204-4831.

• 2:00 pm : Kids Bike Clinic Meet at the Sandoval Apartments, 5353 Ridge (north of Thorn and east of Doniphan). Help with fixing flats, minor repairs and adjustments for kids living in the housing project. If you are interested in volunteering, call Randy Limbird, 915-328-4110.

Saturday, February 23
• 8:00 am : Vamos a Vado Meet at the Bagel Shop, 985 N. Resler, for a ride up the rollers to Vado, then across the valley to La Mesa and return via NM 28 and Vinton Road. 45 miles, 16-18 mph pace. Rick Rivas, 915-867-7199.

Sunday, February 24
• 9:00 am : Horizon Loop Meet at the hospital parking lot next to the McDonalds at Loop 375 and Edgemere and ride to Hueco Tanks and back. 30 miles. Joint ride with EP Cyclists. Moderate (15-17 mph) and fast (18 mph-plus) pace options available. Dan Post, 915-526-8364.

Tweets

https://twitter.com/bikenoob/status/300728044862197760

https://twitter.com/JuliaBikes/status/300717222425415680

https://twitter.com/clairerouty/status/300696256286703616

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for February 9th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Flat Rock Ranch Ride Pics – 2-8-13
AustinBike.com

Nothing better than a free day off at work.  And, how to spend it?  On the best singletrack in the Hill Country. We took a day off and headed out to Flat Rock Ranch to ride the lower loop (plus the extra) and ended up with 1500 feet of climbing and 16 total miles.

Crispy had to bail so he missed the great riding.  Maybe next time he’ll spend a little more time on the trails and less time with his fruity apricot beer.

8:00am – Harden Dental Team Ride
Corinth Cycling Club
by Scott Franklin
When: Sat Feb 23, 2013 8am to 11am  CST
Where: Ronny Crownover Middle School
Event Description: This is the weekly training ride for the Corinth Cycling/Harden Dental race team. This is a 62 mile loop on an established route. Expect a fast pace and be prepared to fix your own mechanicals. There are no stops on this ride. -8:00am

Riding the Trails in Kingwood TX

I took this series of video clips while riding my Motobcane 700HT mountain bike on the Kingwood Trails. This was an experiment using a new handle bar mount for a RCA video camera. The ride video is a little shaky as I hit bumps on the trails. I could probably lessen the bumps by lowering the tire pressure. The big problem is the noise from my WTB knobby tires. This buzz is from the tires.

Tweets

https://twitter.com/bikenoob/status/300398397175787520

 

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for February 8th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Gonna be in Temple / Killeen area in March. What trails?
akaHector            forums.mtbr.com/texas
Hey, guys and gals! Coming to visit family next month and hoping to hit the trails some. I’ve ride BLORA in the past but don’t remember it being anything special. Any other recommendations? Bringing the singlespeed hardtail 26er, so no dh action or anything crazy like that on this trip. Thanks for the replies!

Thursday Ride at Walnut Creek – Beginner/intermediate ride level
The Austin Mountain Bikers Meetup Group
Thursday, February 14, 2013        4:30 PM
Walnut Creek Park
12138 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, TX (map)
This will be a beginner ride and will be doing around 8 -10 miles.

If someone is willing to lead a faster group then we can have an intermediate group also.
Please be there and be ready to roll by 4:30 pm. We meet in the parking lot near the pool in the middle of the island.
Any question please call/text  me at…

Corinth Cycling/Harden Dental Team Introductions

Mike McCrary (The Closer) Broad shoulders and massive thighs throw that carbon SL4 back and forth as he sprints to the line at 40 miles an hour, his breathing in perfect sync with his pedal strokes. Mike is our strongest sprinter; he closes races just like he does your next home mortgage.

Very possibly our fastest CAT 3, The Closer is a jack of many trades…cyclist, mortgage lender and owner/operator of Elements Nursery in Crossroads Texas; Mike also does…

Training Ride #6: Levine Park (downtown Sealy) arrive at 7:30am
Schlumberger Cycling Club
3 Routes Available: 29, 41, and 46 miles

We are riding from Levine Park in downtown Sealy. PLEASE CAR POOL as parking is limited. Arrive early (7:30am) to to insure enough time to get your gear ready and to hear the safety and ride announcements. We will roll out at 8am. This ride offers 29, 41 and 46 mile routes. This will be our first introduction to some rolling hills.

Fort Worth Bicycling Association Rides
The Rusty Chain Gang Ramble
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 9:00 am
Fort Worth: Columbus Trail City Building

Burleson and Beyond
Thursday, February 14, 2013 9:00 am
Burleson: Commerce Street

The Rusty Chain Gang Romp
Thursday, February 14, 2013 9:00 am
Benbrook: YMCA

Joe Pool Lake
Saturday, February 16, 2013 9:00 am
Grand Prairie: Lynn Creek Marina

Lipan to Milsap
Saturday, February 16, 2013 9:00 am
Weatherford: TXDOT Parking Lot

Beginners and casual ride
Saturday, February 16, 2013 10:00 am
Benbrook: Art’s Park Trail Head

Tweets

https://twitter.com/BikePaulie/status/300056920931303425

https://twitter.com/thejurgy/status/300020388451201024

https://twitter.com/BikePaulie/status/299879280475779072

 

A Change of Pace Ride – February 8th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Today was a change of pace ride on my mountain bike. I wanted to try a camera mount to see what the video looked like and how the mount worked on the handle bar. Also I only had a short amount of time to ride because we are going to the Arena Theater later this afternoon to see the Gaither Vocal Band and Friends in concert. I rode the trails in Kingwood for 11.8 miles under a blue sky with 69 to 72 degrees and a light 6 mph variable breeze. The breeze was barely noticeable among the trees. One thing I noticed quickly was that my road bike legs do not transfer to mountain bike legs. Maybe the extra weight slowed me down. I squeezed the tires before I left and they seemed to be the right pressure but I labored up the smallest incline. On the road I have no problem with similar changes in the elevation.

The camera mount held the RCA pocket camera perfect and I started and stopped the clips easily. In the bright sun it was a problem to see if the red “record” light was on or off so a couple of the clips ended up a lot longer than I wanted. I like to keep the clips under 15 seconds and some exceeded that 3 or 4 times. When I got home and watched the videos on the camera the loud noise from my tires over powered the natural background sounds. My goal is to spend as little time as possible editing the videos so the sound is an issue. I used this camera in Coldspring but without the mount while riding my road bike with minimal noise. This leads me to think the tire noise is not tied to the mount but just the noisy MTB tires. They are rather knobby. I don’t know if I will include the video or not.

Tomorrow I will not be able to ride due to a meeting. Sunday and Monday show a 50% chance of rain in the forecast. I want to ride the Humble Lions Bike Ride on Saturday February 16th subject to the weather but I have not preregistered in case the weather is bad. One ride I have preregistered for is the Baytown Gator Ride. Last year the Gator Ride got rained out but I am optimistic this year. I may end up with a $30 T-shirt and no ride. I always enjoy the Gator Ride because we ride over the George Hartman Bridge and then go on the Lynchberg Ferry. Other than the bridge it is a flat ride.

Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.

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