Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for December 3rd

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Sylvan Avenue Bike Lanes Proposed
Bike Friendly Oak Cliff
Public meeting December 10th, Salon Las Americas, 1004 Ft. Worth Avenue, 6pm

Bike Friendly Oak Cliff needs every able bodied person to attend a public meeting December 10th at Salon Las Americas, 1004 Ft. Worth Avenue, 6 pm to review plans for converting the six lane Sylvan Road to four lane, with bike lanes and sidewalks.

A group ride to the meeting is planned for 5:30 pm at Oddfellows in the Bishop Arts District.

Real momentum is finally starting to build for the 2011 Dallas Bike Plan, especially here in Oak Cliff.  In late summer we opened the first buffered bicycle lanes in Dallas on Mary Cliff near Rosemont Elementary, last month we opened the first complete street on a stretch of Bishop Ave, we’re only days away for the…

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Madrone Ride Pics – 12-2-12
www.AustinBike.com
While the day started off grey and misty, the trails were in excellent shape and we had a large group of riders who came out to sample the trails. Tobin did a great job of leading the ride and even though we had a few long regroups, the group managed to stay together for the length of the ride.

At the end of the ride, cold beer and grilled sausages were a welcome finish.
Location: Madrone Trail – Canyon Lake

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HBC Brenham Ride
Houston Bicycle Club
Saturday 12/08/12     9:00am
Distances: 33(B), 40(B), 50(C), 59(C) mile
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.

Meet: About 75 miles from Houston. Take Hyw. 290 north past Hempstead, Chappell Hill, and go about another 10-12 miles to Brenham. Follow signs to Blinn College. Park in the lot at College.

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2012 Ride Like A Girl Build @ Bike 4 Kids at Mellow Johnny’s
Austin Ridge Riders

During what has become an annual tradition, ladies and friends from the Ride Like A Girl Program participated in the JB and Sandy’s Bikes for Kids Christmas Program hosted by Mellow Johnnys. (More photos)

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December Newsletter Published
Dallas Area Tandem Enthusiasts
The December edition of the DATES-Line Newsletter is published and available for download from the newsletters page. This month’s edition includes the following:

The Hilly Chili Ride
DATES Annual Meeting
Calling All Potential Ride Leaders
Halloween Ride
Southern Tandem Rally

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Alamo Christmas Tree Ride
Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club
Start:  December 23, 2012 5:15 pm
End:   December 23, 2012 7:00 pm
Venue:  Jim’s Restaurant
Address: 4108 Broadway, San Antonio, TX, 78209
Get in the Christmas spirit by joining us on this ride to see the Christmas tree on Alamo Plaza and enjoy the downtown Christmas lights on the way.  Decorate your bikes to add to the light displays.  Also, please make sure you have good front and tail lights on your bike, since part of this ride will be at night. This 15 mile ride starts at 5:15 PM from the parking lot of…

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Lancaster Loops
Lone Star Cyclists
Pace: Touring (varied pace with frequent stops averaging 12-15 mph)
Date: Saturday, December 8, 2012 – 8:30am
Location: Lancaster, on the Square (NE corner of Dallas Ave/Hwy 342 and East 1st Street)
The Lancaster Town Square address is 159 East 1st Street (Google 32.593194,-96.756222).
We’ll re-visit some of David Chamberlain’s routes although some roads have changed since he did his maps 10 years ago.
Distances: 31 and 54 Miles
Ride Leader: Determined on-site

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Houston Vistas
by Ken                Texas Racing Life
“We swore we’d never take pictures, pictures only prove you can’t convince.”  -The Format

Long 5 hour rides used to scare the pants off of me.  The slight but enduring pain of tempo always made me feel self conscious of my ability to complete these marches.  They are vital to competing at road races, and I would begrudging drone through them weekend after weekend. Yet I’m always amazed at how the body can condition itself, and now it’s what I crave and look forward to after a week of 2 hour interval rides.

Last week Bill Fiser and I traveled 20 minutes south to Pearland, and met up with Michael Pincus for a 5.5 hour soirée.  In doing this, we saved ourselves the trouble of riding from downtown through decreasingly urban roads to the open countryside.  In Houston, this can take up to an hour each way.  He said he knew good roads, and putting all my trust in him, we embarked, me not having the slightest clue where we were…

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Tweets

https://twitter.com/MarcHSchroder/status/275339500979355648

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New Handlebar and Stem – December 3rd Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

The warm weather continues to hang around with some localized rain showers. Kingwood received some rain which is badly needed. This delayed my ride today to 2:57PM. While I waited for the rain to leave I removed the handlebar and stem from my Motobecane 700HT MTB. These were no name products and the rise on the stem angled at a strange slant so that I could not mount my Garmin Edge 500 there and still be able to read it. I also added bar ends that I had from my previous MTB. I missed these because of the limited hand positions. Now I can move my hands around and avoid some pain. I installed Easton EA30 handlebar and a EA50 stem. These now offer a normal look and rise. The hardest part about the change out was removing the handlebar grips. I twisted them off eventually. I used some soapy water to put them back on.

So I figured with these installed I better go for a test ride to see how they work. The Kingwood trails were still damp in many places but since they are paved it did not cause a major problem although I did slow down several times to ride through some puddles. I rode 17.1  miles in 76 to 78 degree temperature range under mostly cloudy skies. Since I was among trees almost the whole ride the 9 mph south breeze was not noticeable. December miles now total 74.68 and YTD miles are now 6351.83.

I am trying out another workout program, Golden Cheetah, so the slides below are from that program.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for December 2nd

Texbiker.net Posted on by

How to Replace a Cassette
by John             WWW.AustinBike.com
Replacing a cassette is pretty straightforward as long as you have the right tools.

Keeep in mind that the chain, crank rings and cassette all wear out over time. Typically the chain wears the fastest (it stretches) and the crank rings are next, so if you are replacing the cassette make sure you are checking the other two for wear. If you are replacing the cassette because you find your chain slipping, just know that the cassette is typically not the problem.

To do the job you need two things:  a cassette unlocking tool and a chain whip.  The cassette unlocking tool should correspond to the brand of cassette that you have, however most use a Shimano pattern (the one I am using is a SRAM, but it still uses the…

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Recap and Pics From The Richardson Christmas Parade
Bike Friendly Richardson

This is exactly the direction we want Bike Friendly Richardson to head. We want Richardson cyclists to have organic and spontaneous group rides that are organized by anybody interested in setting one up.

A few weeks ago, a couple of folks on the BFR Facebook page were wondering if there will be a BFR participation in the annual City of Richardson Christmas parade. With our busy schedules and efforts put into setting up our annual Black Friday Ride, we just didn’t have the…

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ATX100k “6-Pack” Series. Walnut, Muleshoe, Reimers, Pace Bend, BCGB, Emma Long!
by baconismidog                forums.mtbr.com
Show up and support a fledgling grassroots effort. It’s free, it’s 6 100k races over the course of the year, it’s scheduled to NOT conflict with any established race/series and if you finish 3 of the 6 (including the 100k of Emma Long) you get to wear the jersey!

First race is next SUNDAY, December 9th. Walnut creek, wheels down 8:30am for 6 laps of flow and fun. Texas Cycle Werks will have a wrench and tent on site to fix what ails ya.

Follow us:
Web: Austin 6-pack Series
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ATX100k
Twitter: @atx100k or http://twitter.com/ATX100k

Register at meetup or just show up and ride.
100k of Walnut – http://www.meetup.com/mountainbikes-…ents/89440362/
100k of Muleshoe – http://www.meetup.com/mountainbikes-…ents/93341782/

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Houston Bicycle Club
Upcoming Rides
Ride Date    Ride Name    Start Time    Starter
Sat 12/08/12     Christmas Lights Ride     5:30pm     Paul Choppin
Sat 12/08/12     Fulshear Trash Ride     9:00am     Ben & Marika Will

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Tweets

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No Snow Here – December 2nd Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Is this really December? A new record temperature of 83 was reached yesterday at the official Houston weather station replacing the previous high of 82 in 1970. When I left on my ride today it was 78 and by the time I finished it was 81 degrees at my home weather station. The scattered clouds were fewer today than yesterday and thankfully the wind was not as strong registering 9 mph from the south. According to the Houston Chronicle man on the weather page this could be with us for the next 10 days or so. This looks great for biking but we could use some rain.

Today’s 28.15 mile route went north to Community Drive and then through the Valley Ranch subdivision. I can see some site preparation for the soon to Grand Parkway extension just north of Community Drive. This will probably affect my biking routes while the construction takes place. The construction is supposed to take 2 to 3 years. My average speed was 15.5 mph, just like yesterday, 24.2 mph top speed and 78.2 RPM average cadence. Riding time was 1:49:01 and 5:58 stop time.

Mileage standings:

  • 140.25 this week
  • 57.9 for December
  • 6335.05 YTD

With this warm weather I might get some extra riding this month. In previous years December looked like this:

  • 269.41 in 2011
  • 228.85 in 2010
  • 123.18 in 2009
  • 177.9 in 2008

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