Texas Bicycling Daily News Roundup – December 1st

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Bicyclist killed on N. Side (San Antonio)
By Ana Ley            www.mysanantonio.com
A bicyclist was struck and killed by an SUV on a dimly lit North Side road Thursday night.

A westbound Ford Explorer on Basse Road near Treeline Park rear-ended the bicyclist about 10:30 p.m., police said.

The bicyclist, 44, was riding on the right edge of the street with bags of groceries on his handlebars. The…

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Sylvan Avenue Bike Lanes proposed
Bike Friendly Oak Cliff

On December 10th at 6PM, the City of Dallas will hold a public meeting to review plans for converting the six lane Sylvan Road to four lane, with bike lanes and sidewalks. Currently, the street has no sidewalks, and a blind curve near Colorado that increases accident potential on the roadway. Be sure to head out to show your support for the proposed alignment. The larger the turnout, the better chance…

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Brazosport Bicycle Club
BBC Christmas Party, December 8th at 5:30.  Bring a dish to share and a $10 wrapped gift if you want to play the gift exchange game.

December Club Rides
12/4/2012     8:00 AM     Tuesday Morning Ride     Meet at Abner Jackson Park and Ride on 2004 near Lake Road.
12/7/2012     8:00 AM     Friday Morning Ride     Meet at Abner Jackson Park and Ride on 2004 near Lake Road.
12/8/2012     8:00 AM     Saturday Morning Ride     Meet at Lake Jackson Recreation Center.
12/8/2012     5:30 PM     Christmas Party     Bring a dish to share.
12/9/2012     8:00 AM     Sunday Morning Ride     Meet at 288 and 35 Park and Ride in Angleton.
12/11/2012     8:00 AM     Tuesday Morning Ride     Meet at Abner Jackson Park and Ride on 2004 near Lake Road.
12/14/2012     8:00 AM     Friday Morning Ride     Meet at Abner Jackson Park and Ride on 2004 near Lake Road.
12/15/2012     8:00 AM     Saturday Morning Ride     Meet at Lake Jackson Recreation Center.
12/16/2012     8:00 AM     Sunday Morning Ride     Meet at 288 and 35 Park and Ride in Angleton.
12/18/2012     8:00 AM     Tuesday Morning Ride     Meet at Abner Jackson Park and Ride on 2004 near Lake Road.
12/21/2012     8:00 AM     Friday Morning Ride     Meet at Abner Jackson Park and Ride on 2004 near Lake Road.
12/22/2012     8:00 AM     Saturday Morning Ride     Meet at Lake Jackson Recreation Center.
12/23/2012     8:00 AM     Sunday Morning Ride     Meet at 288 and 35 Park and Ride in Angleton.
12/28/2012     8:00 AM     Friday Morning Ride     Meet at Abner Jackson Park and Ride on 2004 near Lake Road.
12/29/2012     8:00 AM     Saturday Morning Ride     Meet at Lake Jackson Recreation Center.
12/30/2012     8:00 AM     Sunday Morning Ride     Meet at 288 and 35 Park and Ride in Angleton.

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Intermediate/Advanced Mountain Bike Ride
Houston Cycling Club
Saturday, December 8, 2012        10:00 AM
This will be a medium to fast pace ride through Memorial bike trails! Bring WATER, spare tube/tire, snacks, etc…Helmets required. Call if you are going to be late so we can wait for you. Wheels rolling by 10:00 am! See you there.
Here’s my info.     Robert H.

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Sunday All Level Ride time change to afternoons in effect December 2
by Il Pirate        Austin Ridge Riders
Please be advised that the popular Sunday All-Level Ride at Walnut Creek will be transitioning to the Fall/Winter hours effective December 2.  Wheels down will move to 1:30 p.m. from 9:30 a.m.

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Corinth Cycling

Jason Phillips racing RCP today and leaving a mark somewhere on the trail. Nice!

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Our Saturday Morning Rides: 25 years and still going strong!
North West Cycling Club
No other city in the nation can boast a cycling club like NWCC. And no other city has anything approaching NWCC’s famous “Saturday Morning Rides”.

For over 25 years, 52 Saturdays a year, rain or shine, cyclists numbering from 75 to well over 200 converge on the parking lot at Zube Park in far northwest Harris County. Many are club members; and many are non-club members who are always welcomed guests.

Club members volunteer to be the Saturday “Ride Starter”. By megaphone the Ride Starter welcomes everyone, gives a few Club announcements, then calls out the pace groups. Pace groups include “New Riders”, 14-16 mph, 16-18 mph, 18-20 mph, and 20+ mph.

Pace groups will cover distances from 20 to over 80 miles, riding on well-paved, quiet country roads in Harris and Waller Counties. Hours later, as the riders return, the Ride Starter sets out coolers of Gatorade and.

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The Pedaler Newsletter – December 2012
San Antonio Wheelmen
This month’s edition of The Pedaler has a couple of articles about bike safety.  Do you ride with a cell phone?  If so, do you have an “ICE” entry in your phone’s address book?  “ICE” stands for “In Case of Emergency”.  The ICE entry in your cell phone should include the numbers for the person or people to be contacted if you are unable to make a phone call after a cycling accident.  If you don’t have an “ICE” entry, I would recommend that you create one.

Of course, if you have a smart phone that requires a password in order to access anything on your phone, you’ll have to become a little creative.  Why?  Because…

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Look Who’s Loving the Bike: December 2012
by Darryl                lovingthebike.com
As we head into our last month of 2012, here’s a few people who are sharing their Loving the Bike stories with us.

At the top of each month we like to feature the amazing stories and memories of people who are loving the bike.  Please take a look at what these lovers have to say.  Hey…..and we’d love to hear from you as well….feel free to submit your “Look Who’s Loving the Bike” story to us at any time.
Stacey Hanna – Houston, TX…

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8:00am – Harden Dental Team Ride
by scottfranklin        Corinth Cycling Club
When: Sat Dec 15, 2012 8am to 11am  CST
Where: Ronny Crownover Middle School
Event Status: confirmed
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.

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Tar Sands Blockade and Allies Host Community Bike Ride and Teach-In to Highlight Threats of Keystone XL
by Brett Collar            www.kltv.com
Released by Tar Sand Blockade:
NACOGDOCHES, TX – SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012 1:00 PM – A community coalition hosted a family-friendly community bike ride and educational event this morning to raise awareness of the dangers the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline poses on Texas communities’ water and land and to support local landowners in the pipeline’s path. The groups comprising the coalition include Tar Sands Blockade, Nacogdoches County S.T.O.P. (Stop Tar sands Oil Permanently), Stephen F. Austin State University student environmental group T.E.A.M. (Texas Environmental Awareness Movement) and the Nacogdoches Rat Skulls, a local…

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Tweets

https://twitter.com/BikePaulie/status/274851788019097600

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Keeping It Warm – December 1st Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Great weather for today’s ride. If this weather happened where I grew up there would be all kinds of records set. But for the Texas Upper Gulf Coast 79 degrees on December 1st is not unheard of. Scattered clouds and a stiff south 17.3 mph wind (20 mph gusts) offset some of the warmth especially when I rode over bodies of water. Coming back home on FM1960 over Lake Houston the sun decided to hide behind the clouds for the whole crossing. Up to that point I was just about the perfect temperature but the wind blowing off of the lake put a definite coolness so I tried to ride faster to both get to the west bank and stay warm by working harder. I don’t know if I was successful in either one.

Unlike yesterday’s roaming rain clouds the sky showed many patches of blue and if you looked at the clouds on an angle to the horizon they appeared to be darker than when I was underneath them. While I stopped in Huffman at my usual Chevron station Action Sign’s moving message board said 84 degrees and sitting on the milk crate drinking my Diet Pepsi I felt nice and warm. Tomorrow could be slightly warmer. The warmth brought out two other bicyclists on my route.

I didn’t even think of any other route than going to Huffman and back. My late start (12:10) was going to push me to get back home by 2:30 (made it at 2:28) to watch the University of Cincinnati football game with the University of Connecticut. I figured 28 or 29 miles would be about as far as I could go and make the kickoff. This route ended up at 29.74 miles at 15.5 mph average speed, 26.2 mph tops speed (SportTracks) while Garmin Connect says 21.4 mph and RideWithGPS.com agrees 21.3 mph is closer to the Garmin speed. Riding time was 1:54:46 and 22:23 stop time. Mileage for the year now totals 6306.89.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for November 30th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Retro Ride & Picnic 2012


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AT&T wants to boost GrowSouth initiative
by Candace Carlisle            Dallas Business Journal
Dallas-based AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) wanted to get involved with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ GrowSouth initiative. The company found a way through a $2.5 million hike-and-bike trail that’s roughly three miles long through the woods of Trinity River Audubon Center. The area is adjacent to the proposed 400-acre Trinity Forest Golf Course project. The hike-and-bike trail will be named AT&T Trail. Along with that commitment, AT&T will help raise the needed funds for the project, said Ron Spears, senior…

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Former Flower Mound residents biking to Alaska for cancer research
By Chris Roark,             www.scntx.com
It’s going to be hot, cold, wet, dry and hilly.

But two former local students are willing to endure all 4,000 miles of it to help find a cure for cancer.

Jay Shah, who attended Marcus High School from 2006-2008 before transferring to the Texas Academy of Math and Science, and Caroline Suh, who graduated from Flower Mound High School in 2010, are part of the 2013 Livestrong Texas 4000 team, a group of about 75 University of Texas students that bikes from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska to raise money for cancer research.

This is the organization’s 10th year to make the trek, and different students go each year. The group leaves Austin on June 1 and arrives in…

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Hundreds of cyclists take to streets saying enough is enough
by SHELTON GREEN / KVUE News and Photojournalist DATHAN HULL
khou.com
AUSTIN – Downtown Austin was filled with close to 1,200 cyclists Thursday night. The cyclists rode from Austin City Hall on Cesar Chavez to Congress Avenue heading to the Texas State Capitol with a message.

“What do we want?” chanted a cyclist in crowd. “Safer roads!” replied dozens of others on their bicycles as they headed toward the Capitol in a ride to promote road safety in Austin.

The ride, sponsored by a group called “Please be kind to Cyclists” was one of two events in Austin Thursday evening galvanizing the cycling…

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Best Mountain Bike Trail in Dallas Fort Worth
by Shawn McAfee                Texas Mountain Bike Trails
Best Mountain Bike Trail in Dallas

I’ve debated this for a long time. But now it’s time to put an answer to the question “What is the best mountain bike trail in Dallas Fort Worth?”

You may recall that I previously asked what makes a good trail. I got several answers left there as comments on the page, but I also got  a TON of emails with people telling me why they thought a trail was the best.

Today, let’s all cast our vote for the best mountain bike trail in Dallas Fort Worth. Fill in the survey with your vote for your favorite mountain bike trail. I kept it pretty simple and easy, just 2 questions and it shouldn’t…

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Tweets

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Roaming Rain Clouds – November 30th Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

With rain clouds roaming the area I switch my planned route several times. Finally after answering the phone a number of times I got out the door at 1:50 PM heading on a northerly route to Community Drive. I kept a wary eye on some darker clouds moving around the somewhat blue sky as I rode through Kingwood on the way to US59 but no rain drops hit me. Earlier the radar showed some of this area might be getting rain and I saw some evidence in low spots in the pavement but the road surface was dry.

When I first got out my biking clothes I included a short sleeve and long sleeve jersey. I watched the temperature slowly limb to 74 so I left the short sleeve jersey off. As I rode I wished that I kept the short sleeve jersey and the long sleeve one. Despite the 74 degrees the wind chill (if there is one at 74 degrees) made it seem cooler than it should have. The 20 mph wind gusts did not help this any either. Hoping the exercise heat would offset the wind chill I continued riding. At some point the cloud cover got heavier and the temperature dropped to 72. The wind gusts went away but the steady wind went from 13 mph to 17.3 mph so the wind chill effect stayed active.

This route ended up at 28.36 miles at a 14.8 mph average speed, 22.4 mph top speed and 77.1 RPM average cadence. My average speed dropped some because I was in a school bus line on Community Drive slowly moving through the stop sign. At that point I also turned into the wind but I thought I was making up the lost time. riding time totaled 1:54:35 and 5:55 stop time. Other than the wind and school buses I did not run into any obstacles. The ride stats vary slightly on Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com. The last slide below shows the November summary fom RideWithGPS.com.

The next two days could be several degrees warmer than today. A good start for December. We still need rain.

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