83 Degrees in the Fall – November 26th Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

What can I say about the weather today? This is one of the reasons I like living in the upper gulf coast area of Texas. Mostly cloudy skies, 83 degrees (yes, it is November 26th) and a strong SSW wind of 12 mph with 18 mph gusts pulled me out onto the road. Not really, I wanted to go and this was icing on the cake. As I rode by Atascocita High School the message board showed 84 degrees and later in Huffman the sign at Action Signs repeatedly said 83 degrees while wishing everyone happy holidays. The weather is supposed to turn cooler tomorrow with a front and a small amount of rain.

With such nice weather I decided to ride a little longer route than yesterday. I thought the route would end up around 33 miles but I got lost in Walden at Lake Houston so I rode 36.03 miles. I upped the average speed to 15.6 mph from yesterday even though I battled the wind going west on FM1960 over Lake Houston. I think I was tired from riding fast with the wind that the reserve was used up when I turned into the wind. The radiator effect hit whenever I rode east of Lake Houston and on FM1960 over Lake Houston. The cooler water lowered the wind temperature enough that I could feel the difference. Riding on Fairlake Drive east and parallel to Lake Houston I could feel the coolness though there were houses and about 200 yards of land to the lake. My top speed was 21.9 mph at 79.2 RPM average cadence. Riding time was a little longer than usual at 2:18:35 and 25:02 stopped time. November miles now total 290.61 and YTD totals 6230.84 miles.

Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for November 25th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

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Cranksgiving 2012 Ride Pics
www.AustinBike.com
It was a beautiful day today out at Pace Bend. Rumor had it that there were over 100 riders – I even saw a tandem (and not Jay).

The trails were in great shape, but Leif left them a little dusty for us. Only managed to get in two laps before I had to head out, but at almost nine miles and 650 feet of climbing per lap, that was a respectable day.

If anyone wants full sized pictures of themsleves, ping me and I can toss them up on the server for you to download.

Location: Pace Bend – Spicewood

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A BIG drop in the bucket!
by drsduve            Austin Ridge Riders
Hello All,

I had an awesome and empowering day riding in the 2012 Cranksgiving Race at Pace Bend!  This “bucket list” first mountain bike experience was a life affirming moment in time for me…I know I can do this and more!  As it turns out, I’ve got the bike bug and will come better equipped next event.I met some great people like Laura and Jeff who greeted me and thankfully withheld their trepidation when I approached the registration table as a naive…

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A Tale of Two Cut Corners
by Steve A            DFW Point-to-Point

Ian Brett Cooper, in his blog, here, wrote: “Woman on cellphone turns left, cuts corner, nearly kills my daughter She turns left onto our road, narrowly misses the curb, travels towards us in her left hand lane (our lane)…”

Four days later, riding home from work without considering the irony, Steve A turns left, cuts corner, considers how doing so violates the “Land Rover Rule” and how he’s got no regrets.

Of course, Steve A does not advocate cutting corners, nor riding the wrong way, not even when visibility is great. OTOH, Steve IS a fan of physics and of going where no motorist can go in preference to trusting a lady with her…

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Tweets

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Escaped Thanksgiving Without Gaining – November 25th Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

First ride after Thanksgiving waited until Sunday. Friday featured sporadic rain and Saturday slowly warmed up to 67 degrees. I had my doubts about the temperature reaching the 75 degree forecast but it got close at 73 when I finished at 2:31. When I left home at 12:31 the sky lacked any clouds but as I rode some wispy clouds started to move in from the south and southwest. I dressed like it was going to be cool with a long sleeve jersey over a short sleeve one. I am glad I did because in the shade the 10 mph breeze made it feel cooler than you would expect. I think the pavement cooled down with two nights in the 40’s so when the wind goes by it cools down. I notice a similar effect when I ride over Lake Houston and the water is cooler than the air.

Fortunately Thanksgiving did not add any to my weight. In years gone by I have been known to add 7 or 8 pounds. I would like to drop a couple of pounds but that is not such a big deal.

My route selection today took me north to Porter where I turned east on FM1314. This was my first time into the wind and I could feel the coolness even in the full sun. This alternated as I turned back north on Loop 494 to Community Drive where I went west for a short distance and then took the US59 south service road to Valley Ranch. Once I crossed over US59 on Community Drive (the high elevation point for the ride) it was into the wind most of the time. This route totaled 28.37 miles at 15.4 mph average speed, 22.9 mph top speed and 78.4 RPM average cadence. With this less than 30 mile distance the riding time came to 1:50:40 plus 9:05 time stopped. Mileage totals: 75.94 miles this week, 254.58 miles in November, and 6194.8 miles YTD.

A sad point on the ride happened when I got to the Old Sorters Road and FM1314 intersection. About 200 feet west of the intersection a full size pickup and a small pickup collided. I stopped at the traffic signal as a Porter fire truck, Montgomery Country Sheriff and a Montgomery County Hospital District ambulance all arrived at the scene. There were several people standing around the big pickup. I could not see the damage from where I stopped. With the traffic backed up I waited until the green light to cross over FM1314 and continue my ride.

Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com data views.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for November 24th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

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Tweets

https://twitter.com/BikePaulie/status/272473624617832448

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I added the National Weather Service Enhanced Radar Mosaic for Texas under the Texas Weather menu. This shows weather activity and you can zoom into a specific location by clicking on the map.

To help you plan your ride I added the NWS Graphical Forecasts – Southern Plains page. This active graph shows a multitude of weather information for a 12 hour ange backwards and forwards. By mousing over the table to the left you can see the various weather activity. This link is in the Texas Weather menu at the top of the home page.

I updated the Bike Shop Map to consolidate all of the zip codes into one map. The map can be moved around and zoomed in and out. Each bike shop shows as a red dot. Click on a dot for the bike shop information.

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Post Thanksgiving Ride Pics
www.AustinBike.com
What started as potentially rainy morning became perfect – upper 60’s and overcast.  We started out with ~25 riders, but the surprising part was that we did not end up breaking into smaller groups unitl we got to the dam at about the 15 mile point.

There were a few mechanicals and a few lost people, but overall it was a great ride.
If anyone wants full sized pictures of themsleves, ping me and I can toss them up on the server for you to download.

Location: Barton Creek Greenbelt

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New Ride Dates Are Pending For 2013
TexSun Randonneurs
Randonneuring in the Rio Grande Valley
March 23
200KM ACP Brevet
April 20
200KM ACP Brevet
300KM ACP Brevet

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Upcoming Violet Crown Club Rides:
Saturdays: The Bagel Ride, Einstein Bros Bagels, 12400 N. IH35. Two groups:
50-60 miles, 70-80 miles. 8:00am.

Sundays (3-4 hours)
Nov 25: Freewheeling Ride. 8:15am
Dec 2, Dec 9, Dec 16: VC Mellow Johnny’s ride, 400 Nueces St. 8:15am

Special Holiday Rides (3-4 hours each):
Sat Dec 22: Bagel Ride (see above for time & info)
Sun Dec 23: Thunderbird Coffee, Koenig & Woodrow. 8:30am
Mon Dec 24: Thunderbird Coffee 8:30am
Wed Dec 26: Thunderbird Coffee 8:30am
Thu Dec 27: Thunderbird Coffee 8:30am
Sat Dec 29: Bagel Ride (see above for time & info)
Sun Dec 30: Thunderbird Coffee 8:30am
Mon Dec 31: Thunderbird Coffee 8:30am
Tue Jan 1: Thunderbird Coffee 8:30am

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Recap and Pics From The 4th Annual Black Friday Ride
by dickdavid            Bike Friendly Richardson

What an amazing day and what an incredible group of riders who came out for Bike Friendly Richardson’s 4th Annual Black Friday Ride. When I arrived early to the starting point at East Side, folks were already waiting to go. Eventually, the group grew to over 30 riders. Even City Councilman, Amir Omar, stopped by to see us off and applaud our efforts.

We also had a pretty large variety of bikes, from a stretched-frame cruiser, a cargo bike, a tandem, some classic refurbs, a few mountain bikes, to some super light road bikes. With so many different styles of riders, my first concern was how I was going to…

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Tweets

https://twitter.com/BikePaulie/status/272315486845419521

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