Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for November 23rd

Texbiker.net Posted on by

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Photo of the Day: Nicolas Teichrob
by Vernon Felton            Bike Magazine

Coast, BC

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YouPedal: Tom in Fort Worth
Tom Johanningmeier is an avid cyclist, writer and sports editor in Fort Worth, TX. He recently published “Bicycle Texas: The Lone Star State’s Best Rides” with Barry Shlachter of Great Texas Line Press. I give the book a big thumbs up. The little book packs in a lot of useful information in an easy to read format. It’s the perfect size to fit in the pocket of a bike jersey, or any cyclist’s Christmas stocking.

…I was sent a copy to review, but first I thought we’d get to know the local cyclist and author a little bit better.  Plus, I love any reason to ask people for photos of themselves with a bike – old photos are especially the best.  Tom is the focus of this…

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Intermediate/Advanced Mountain Bike Ride
Houston Cycling Club
Saturday, December 1, 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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Bicycle Sport Shop Road Trip to Pace Bend
Sunday, December 16, 2012 – 10:00 – 13:00
Road Trip! Beginner & Intermediate MTB ride at Pace Bend Park

Sun, December 16, 10am – 1pm
Join Bicycle Sport Shop for a fun ride at Pace Bend Park. Perfect for intermediate riders. Beginner loops available. $10 per car. Wheels down at 10am Holiday Potluck after ride. Bring your favorite post-ride food to share. BSS will provide snacks, sodas and water.
RSVP:

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Fast and dry. New trails are bedding in well.
by chardog            Austin Ridge Riders
Condition: Dry/Packed
Rode PB about a week ago.  Everything was in great shape.  The Austin Ridge Rider / TMW crews were out last weekend maiking a few finishing touches (trimming, etc.) in anticipation of Cranksgiving Saturday.

The new NXNW trail is bedding in nicely.  NXNW is another great “relentlessly intermediate” trail that’s not a killer, but requires your constant…

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Conditions are superb
by chardog                Austin Ridege Riders
Condition: Dry/Packed

Happy Thanksgiving!

I took a riding buddy out to RPR yesterday.  His first time out there.  Even though I have been to RPR many many times, it is always inspiring to ride there.

The ranch crew has recently trimmed back the grasses along all the main trails including Race Loop and Reveile Loop.  The conditions are dry, but the soil at RPR packs well even when bone dry.  There are only a few loose spots but they won’t kill your momentum if you power through them.  The ubiquitous rock is…

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A Bike Commuter Deals With Surgery
by Darryl                lovingthebike.com
What do you do if you’re a bike commuter and get sick or injured?  Well, our Loving the Bike friend Malachi Doane shares the story of his abdominal surgery and getting back on the bike.

A Bike Commuter Gets Surgery
by Malachi Doane
I’m a full-time bicycle commuter who recently had my gallbladder taken out through Laparoscopic surgery.  I also had to endure a sever rash as no-one thought to tell me that ChloraPrep (Chlorhexidine) can cause one, and they used it on me. Further complicating the whole thing was a pre surgery fall that bruised my ribs all around my right side. …

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Parade of Lights 2012
www.star-telegram.com

The Fort Worth Bicycling Association rides in the Parade of Lights on Friday, November 23, 2012. (Star-Telegram/Joyce Marshall)

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https://twitter.com/JAYTEE_TX/status/272085235779391488

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for November 22nd

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Triple Threat MTB Time Trial
9:00am, Sunday, 25 Nov, 2012
(1st race of 3 races)
7.5 mile off road TT
Location: McAllister Park Pavilion 2
The 2012 Triple Threat Time Trial is an 7.5 mile off road time trial challenge through McAllister Park. This Challenge will test your endurance and mountain bike skills. Riders without a valid USA Cycling MTB license must purchase a one day license available onsite for $5. Online reg closes 24 Nov 6pm. Onsite registration opens at 8:00 a.m. add $10 for late fee. The first rider will start at 9:01 a.m. It will be an official timed event using…

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https://twitter.com/bkindtocyclists/status/271743947301343232

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Walnut Creek Workday – 12/1/12
by John                www.AustinBike.com
A trail work day is sceduled for Saturday, December 1st.

If you ride Walnut Creen on a regular bases, this is a great opportunity to give back to the community.  The work will include armoring the creek crossing by the maintenance shed.  There will be food and drinks for the volunteers.

Work begins at 8AM, for more info, check out the thread on BikeMojo.

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Corinth Cycling

Photo from tonights ride out at TMS. Great evening ride. Derek Whisenhunt took this pic, impressive since we were probably doing about 30 at this point. If you are looking for a good place to train/ride this winter, TMS is great. It’s safe and if you…

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Hell’s Belles roll!
Plano Bicycle Association

A contingent from the Hell’s Belles Sunday ride met on Thanksgiving day to commemorate that special American holiday and to have the honor to ride with Lori Maucieri on one of her “between-treatment” rides.  Enjoy your day ladies!

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Training Update
by Ken                Texas Racing Life
My work must be trying to torture me. I just moved desks, and now I have a window view of sun and trees. I have trouble not thinking about biking in the beautiful weather that Houston Novembers serve up.  It’s also the time of the year where any sun time is used in doors in front of a computer. Ick.

As far as riding and fitness goes, I always love to compare how I’m riding this year versus last year. It’s amazing how my endurance has gone through the roof.  In November of 2011, I was hesitant to ride over 4 hours, and would usually have to take at least one day off after that type of workout. Last year, with the help of a coach, I focused hard on getting in longer rides.  Over the 2012 season, 5 hour rides slowly went from being extremely taxing, to hard, to routine. This November  I have been prescribing myself with at least one 5+ hour ride per week…

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Texas Bicycling Daily News Roundup November 21st

Texbiker.net Posted on by

2012 CC Cycle Club Christmas Party
Good friends and good cheer, It’s that time of year!
Please be our guest at the 1st Annual Corpus Christi Cycle Club Christmas Party on Saturday, December 1, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.  This party will serve more as a fund raising benefit, benefiting the cycle kids program.

LOCATION:
Vietnam Restaurant
701 N. Water St.
Corpus Christi, TX 78401

Buffet style dinner will be served. Please bring your favorite dessert to share with the group. A Silent Auction to be held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The silent auction will raise funds for our club benefiting such charities as the cycle kids program. Auction items have been generously donated by members of our club and the community.

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Tuesday: Intermediate/Advanced Mountain Bike Ride at the Ant Hills
Houston Cycling Club
Tuesday, November 27, 2012    6:15 PM
15200 Memorial Dr, Houston, Te (map)
Look for group and ask if it’s us! call me, Jeff @ [masked] if you have any questions or are going to be late.

This will be a medium to fast pace ride through the Ant Hills of Hershey Park! 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 6:30! See you there

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Weekly Road Bike Ride-Fast Paced
Houston Cycling Club
Wednesday, November 28, 2012    6:30 PM
Terry Hershey Park
15200 Memorial Dr, Houston, TX (map)
Look for a silver Nissan Titan. Robert Hopper [masked]

This is a weekly road bike ride.  The total distance will be between 20-23 miles.  The ride is a straight shot to Katy’s Fry Rd on a well paved path.  No need to worry about red lights or traffic because there aren’t any.  The pace will be 20 + mph.

Don’t like pulling?  No problem, just draft and enjoy the ride!
C’mon out and join us ! …

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Holiday Party!
www.bikehouston.org
2012 has been a great year and all the hard-working elves on the board of BikeHouston invite you to celebrate with us at our annual BikeHouston Holiday Party!

The party is FREE and open to all members and non-members. We’ll provide pizza and beer, and some great door prizes for some lucky cyclists.

The party will be held at Karbach Brewing Co. (see map below) from 7 to 9 pm on Thursday, December 6th. Just show up, or ride over with the group from Blue Line Bike Lab in the Heights at 6:30 pm (be sure to bring your helmet, bike lock and lights!). We’ll also have a group ride back to…

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B-Cycle expands South Side reach
By Mark D. Wilson            www.mysanantonio.com
v
San Antonio’s newest B-Cycle bike sharing stations opened Friday at six new locations around South San Antonio.

The new stations — located at Roosevelt Park, Concepcion Park, Mission Concepcion, Mission Road Street Connection, VFW River Trail Access and Mission San Jose — provide yet another way for residents and visitors to explore the ever-expanding Mission Reach and the San Antonio missions.

Mayor Julian Castro said San Antonio has a vibrant cycling community, and hopes to make the city the friendliest city for cyclists in the nation. “We want to…

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Portland’s cargo bike love and expertise spreads to Texas
by Jonathan Maus            bikeportland.org

There are few things I love more than to see bike culture spread. It happens so frequently, I think, because people are passionate about bicycling and they can’t help but share it with others.

For southeast Portland resident Tom LaBonty, his passion is cargo bikes, and he just got back from Texas where he gave two-day workshop on how to build them. LaBonty was invited to Texas by Bike Friendly Oak Cliff (BFOC), a group of advocates based in Dallas (as part of their Cyclesomatic event). They learned about LaBonty after…

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Learning to ride: Joining the Street Riders
by Elly                    takingthelane.com
This is the third post of three outtakes from Volume 8 of the quarterly Taking the Lane series, Childhood. (Read the first one here and the second one here). This story is by Brigette Brown.

Sweat drips down my forehead, tears of exasperation well up in my eyes. I struggle under the hot afternoon sun. Rays of light beat down on as if I were under a spotlight in a grand theater.

Grunt. Struggle. Fall.

Grass, rocks and dirt move aside as my wheels struggle to find a steady, fluid rotation beneath me. I grunt, as I attempt to pedal without falling over. The bike leans to the right, my foot lands on the ground.

My eight-year-old twin sister — who learned to ride a bike three years ago — rides in circles around me, complaining about having to stay in the backyard. It’s my fault.

You can do this. Riding a bike is fun… and easy. It’s a mantra I repeat over and…

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On Beyond Texas Tour
By Andy Janz            www.crazyguyonabike.com
How the trip came to be….
Another 30 year old pipe dream which looks like it is coming to fruition…. And another spinoff from last year’s trip…. Last year we started in New Orleans and headed east to Florida…. This year we will again be starting in New Orleans, but this time we will be riding in the other direction, namely west into Texas.

Who is Going?
So far I am going on this trip (Andy “Please!!… No more Headwinds!!”)…… And Bob “Hill??!!…That ain’t no stinkin’ Hill!!!” will be making this journey. Bob will be riding to Austin and then will have to depart home.

In Austin, I will make the decision whether to pull the plug and also go home… or continue further west for awhile… possibly beyond Texas and then into New Mexico and Arizona….. And thus the name for the trip (“Beyond Texas”).

Will this trip happen as planned? Will we get beyond Texas???… It’s always good to set goals and aspirations high and hopefully achieve them!…. What adventures and tribulations await us?… Headwinds?…. Short riding days? …. “Stinkin’ Hills??!”… Cold Nights and frozen toes???…. Will Halt work on javelinas???…. I’m sure we’ll find the answers to some of these questions which have been going through our minds lately… The list could go on and on… We will just have to dwell on the positive instead and keep riding towards the setting sun!!!…..

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Tweets

https://twitter.com/nattydreadg/status/271248388161433600

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Not Like Fall – November 21st Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

On my first trip into my closet I brought out my mountain bike shoes, a long sleeve jersey and bike shorts. I thought the temperature would not get much higher than the 71 degrees or so at 10:30 but by the time I got free to go riding around 11:30 the temperature moved up to 78 degrees. So the second trip to the closet I switched to my road shoes and a short sleeve jersey. The forecast called for 79 to 80 degrees so I took the forecast at their word. I pulled out of the driveway at 11:55 with the intent to ride 30 miles or more. This would be my first road bike trip since November 9th. I was ready to hit the streets and roads.

There wasn’t a whole lot of thought in selecting my route so I chose one that I travel frequently: Atascocita – Walden – Huffman. I figured this would get me the 30 mile goal with a mile or two to spare. I ended up biking 32.28 miles at a nice 15.8 mph average speed, 25.9 mph top speed (SportTracks), 21.2 mph according to Garmin Connect, 21.1 mph RideWithGPS.com. Average cadence came in at 81.2 RPM. The riding time totaled around my typical time for this distance at 2:02:11 plus 32:39 stopped time.

Traffic wasn’t a big deal except for a couple of spots where I need to cross heavily traveled streets. The trip wire at Atasca Oaks and Atascocita Road did not sense my wheel so I motioned for the car behind me to move closer to trip the signal. After one missed cycle this solved the problem. Later on the next delay did not involve a traffic light but just a stop sign as I came out of Kingwood Greens onto north bound W. Lake Houston Parkway. Earlier when I rode north on W. Lake Houston traffic was very low but once I turned into Kingwood Greens they must have let the gate open. The next bottleneck was getting across Kingwood Drive. Again as I approached the crossing point there wasn’t any traffic but as I got to Kingwood Drive a flood of cars came out of the trees. I finally got across Kingwood Drive with about 2 miles to home. I finished at 2:30. Total time gone: 2 hours and 35 minutes.

Even though we are deep into November the weather does not feel like fall. Partly cloudy skies at the start the ride faded to mostly cloudy at the end. At Huffman I stopped at my usual Chevron station and sat on a milk crate in some sun to not cool off too much. The wind moved from north at 7 mph to east at mph by the time I got home. The home weather station registered 2 mph wind from the southeast when I finished. With all of the trees and houses the wind does not usually agree with the official weather station.

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