Who Said Summer Can’t Happen in November – November 1st Bike Ride

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Another summer like day in southeast Texas, just right for biking. The ride started at 12:08 as I rolled out the driveway with 80 degrees, partly cloudy skies and a light breeze of 3.5 mph. A great beginning for November I just hope it hangs around longer. with daylight savings time ending Sunday morning the evening sun will disappear quickly so I will need to start my rides a little earlier. No need for a long sleeve jersey today. In fact the sun called for sunscreen. when I pulled into the driveway at 2:17 the temperature showed 86 degrees with 43% humidity. With this level of humidity I thought I would perspire more but the wrist bands were barely damp and my bandana was not dripping. No rain in the forecast for several days out. Tomorrow is an off day with a trip to the Texas Medical Center with my wife.

After going south yesterday I thought the opposite direction offered some variation in the scenery. So I went up US59 to New Caney then north on FM1485 turning left onto Gene Campbell road past the giant WalMart Distribution center. Before WalMart build here this road did not exist and now several companies located nearby. There must be some expansion ahead because the water utility spent all summer putting in water mains along Gene Campbell Road. Today a man walked in the construction area throwing out what looked like deer corn. Not sure what the purpose was.

My Garmin Edge (Garmin Connect agreed) reported an even 33.0 miles (SportTracks says 32.93 miles and RideWithGPS calculated 33.0) for the route. This moves me closer to the 6000 mile mark for the year. I checked my average speed at 26 miles and saw 16.3 mph. I kept most of that with the final average speed of 16.0 mph. My max speed hit 21.3 mph with 81.0 RPM average cadence. With this nice average speed the riding time was a little lower at 2:03:30 plus 5:34 time stopped. The time window was close today so no stopping except for traffic lights and one convenience store to blow my nose.  I sneezed in New Caney and my nose would not quite running despite the warm weather. So I stopped at the Texaco station on FM1314 just after I turned from Gene Campbell Road. I tired another store back in New Caney but they did not have any towels at the pumps. This helped me keep a high tempo all the way to Old Sorters Road and thus the 16.0 mph average speed

Riding through the Briar Tree subdivision I changed my normal route by turning left on West Wallis Drive and going to the southbound US59 service road. This avoids a number of stop signs which slow me down and lowers the average speed. All of the 5 mile splits were 14.3 mph or faster with 3 at 16.0 + mph and 1 at 17.0 + mph. This table shows the time and distance I rode in different speed zones. Notice how much time I rode in Zone 3.

With a new month today’s ride mileage is all there is so far. The week’s mileage totals 83.62 and 5973.16 miles YTD. Some October monthly statistics: riding time 41:31:16, 3:45 pace per mile, 79.4 RPM average cadence, 15.5 mph average speed, 19 riding days.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for October 31st

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Three ingredients for a world-class bicycling network
People for Bikes Blog
When it comes to making the bike a safe and comfortable choice for everyday transportation, no place on the planet has had more success than the Netherlands.

There are a lot of reasons why the Dutch are world leaders in getting people on bikes for everyday trips. The history, cultural context, and political decisions that led to bicycling being a rational and mainstream mode of transport in the Netherlands offer many relevant lessons for American cities, and the Green Lane Project is helping to share those lessons.

In my opinion, the biggest reasons for Dutch success are physical. The land use arrangement of cities creates short trip distances ideally suited to bicycling. The terrain is relatively flat. And the continuity of the network and design choices on the street makes a trip by bike a very inviting, safe choice. I’m not talking about cultural…

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Looking for the Perfect Ride? Become a Hosted Ride Leader!
www.austincycling.org
Austin Cycling Association’s Hosted Rides have proven to be a great way to meet people and share the joy of cycling. The key to their success? The Hosted Ride Leaders!

Join us for our next Hosted Ride Leader Training and celebrate the cooler weather by hosting a ride. We are looking to add all types of rides to the schedule – fast rides, slow rides, training rides, social rides, family rides, commuter rides, weekend rides, weekday rides, in-town rides, suburban rides, whatever kind of riding you like to do! No lengthy riding resume required, just a…

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GHORBA riders in Austin this coming weekend!!!
by Il Pirate            Austin Ridge Riders
Ride Leaders needed!!

Some of our neighbors from Houston have decided to head north for a weekend of mountain biking. On Saturday they plan to ride Pace Bend at 10:00 a.m. and on Sunday they will join the masses at Walnut Creek.

Ride Coordinator Mike Strawn is looking for a few ride leaders to help showcase Pace Bend at an Intermediate or Advanced pace.

If you know you way around and are willing to help our, there will be…

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Sunday All-Level Ride at Walnut Creek
Austin Ridge Riders
Repeats every week until Tue Nov 27 2012 .
Sunday, November 4, 2012 – 09:30
Sunday, November 11, 2012 – 09:30
Sunday, November 18, 2012 – 09:30
Sunday, November 25, 2012 – 09:30
Cooler weather hours are in effect starting on December 4th but we’ll still be hitting the trails early on Sundays in November.

We meet under the trees in the parking lot near the swimming pool. Look for the ARR banner.

We will switch to 1:30 pm start times on december 2nd. We know that this time change doesn’t work for everyone so we hope you considering hosting a ride for yourself and those who might want to ride at a different…

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Cyclocross Cup Race 1 of 5 – Toad Hall
Date: November 4, 2012
Location: Amarillo, TX
Contact: Sun adventure Sports 806-351-2453

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The Oasis to Venus
Lone Star Cyclists
Pace: Touring (varied pace with frequent stops averaging 12-15 mph)
Date: Saturday, November 3, 2012 – 8:00am
Location: The Oasis / Lynn Creek Marina, Joe Pool Lake, 5700 Lake Ridge Parkway, Grand Prairie
Pace: Touring (varied pace with frequent stops averaging 12-15 mph)
Distances: 38 and 58 Miles

Join your club members for a ride down to Venus and back this Saturday. The weather forecast is for a beautiful Fall day with temperatures peaking in the low 80’s. …

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The next generation of great mountain biker
by Il Pirate            Austin Ridge Riders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX-Bla8QGHk
Watch little Elan on his strider bike and then a year and a half later on his bike with pedals!  Thanks to Elan’s parent for letting us share the video. He is an inspiration to mountain bikers of all ages!!

A year and half later and he’s on a pedal bike. For anyone considering a balance bike for their kids, get one, they’ll be pedaling without training wheels before you know it. I can’t help but brag and promote balance bikes any chance I get. My son will be 4 in December and he’s already pedaling around at Walnut. He started on a balance bike a few months before he turned two. He’s taken some falls and struggles pedaling up most inclines with rocks, but he’s coming along. Thanks to the other riders at…

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Walnut Creek Workday: “Let the Armoring Begin!”
Austin Ridge Riders
Saturday, December 1, 2012 – 08:00 – 14:00
After bringing in 10,000 lbs of stone, we are finally ready to begin armoring the creek crossing.  And Saturday, December 1st is the day.  We will start at 8:00AM and go until 2:00PM.  We will meet at the creek crossing where there will be a waiver for you to sign.

You will need to bring:  gloves, pants, shovel, pick, and any digging tools you might have.  This is going to be a lot of hard work and we will need about 7 to 10 people to complete the project.

If you have any photography skills, we would love to have someone there for the majority of the time to…

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El Paso Bicycling Club Rides
Saturday, November 3
Half-Century Challenge-8:00 am

Sunday, November 4
Goodbye DST-8:00 am

Saturday, November 10
Bean and Back-8:00 am

Sunday, November 11
Veterans Day Ride-8:00 am

Saturday, November 17
Westside Fingers-8:30 am

Sunday, November 18
Pre-Thanksgiving Calorie Burn-8:30 am

Saturday, November 24
Vamos a Vado-8:30 am

Sunday, November 25
Valley Rally-8:30 am

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Cycling Drops in North Texas
by Steve A            DFW Point-to-Point
I read a lot of cheery stories around the USA how cycling is UP, UP, UP. Well, looking back to just three years ago, I can tell you that really isn’t true, at least in North Texas. THIS house led me to the horrific discovery.

For those that are not even more observant than Sherlock Holmes, I made a post about the above house, located on Pecan Street in Bedford as Halloween approached in 2009.  The post is HERE. The photo below was from that post. This year’s display is completely different at this house than it was three years ago. Somehow, these people (if that is what they really are) put up a bigger and new display every year. …

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Recreational sports calendar – Oct. 31, 2012
Camps and clinics, calendar and sign-up sheet.
San Antonio Express-News
Bicycling: Today, 9 a.m., Wednesday Wheelers Seniors Ride, 30 miles, Floore’s Country Store, Helotes. 210-643-0314.

Bicycling: Saturday, 8 a.m., Tour de Gruene Cycling Tours, Gruene, active.com

Bicycling: Saturday, 9 a.m., Boerne Ride, 25 to 70 miles, city hall, Boerne. 210-325-2500, 210-524-9393. …

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After a Week Off the Road Bike – October 31st Bike Ride

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After a week since my last road bike trip I relished the warm weather returning and getting back on my road bike. The morning temperature dipped to 54 degrees (10 more than Tuesday) and by the time I started riding at 11:52 it went up to 76 degrees. When i returned back home at 2:07 four more degrees showed up on the weather station. I must have been skeptical of the warmth because I wore a long sleeve jersey and it felt comfortable the entire ride. The scattered clouds interrupted the sun enough for some coolness in the shade aided by a light 5.8 mph north breeze. The fall weather moved into southeast Texas but the wind shifting to the southwest brought warm weather back for at least a few days. Tomorrow (Thursday) supposedly will repeat today. I plan on another road ride tomorrow as well.

My route decision was more automatic than any great reasoning. I did not even pay that much attention to the wind direction since I was so happy to get back on the bike. I rode my mountain bike Monday but it is not the same. The tried and true route totaled 32.30 miles at a 15.6 mph average speed which agreed across all three of my route software/websites. At the 30 mile point my Garmin showed a 15.8 mph average speed so I only lost .2 mph riding the residential streets for 2 miles. The max speed had some small variation among the three with two of them showing 22.4 mph. Average cadence was 79.2 RPM.

At the Atasca Oaks Drive and Atascocita Road intersection I waited through two signal cycles because I could not trip the light to change. I could have sit through more except for the school bus waiting behind pulled up and tripped the light. Sometimes I ride through the intersection but this one is very busy. As a result my time stopped (11:23) is more than it should be. My total riding time came in at 2:04:05, not counting the time stopped. The two online route services: Garmin connect and RideWithGPS.com.

With today ending October riding I will move into November where I average 300 miles per month. Last year I bumped this up to 387 miles. Mileage standings after today’s ride: 50.68 miles this week, 643.38 miles for October and 5940.23 miles YTD. Only 60 miles away from 6000 for the year. I never been this high before.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for October 30th

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Outback Fallout
By Catherine            bicyclesoutbackracing.net
Well another edition of the Bicycles Outback Fallout is in the books, and we are all experiencing the post race feeling of being completely beat down. All in all it was a fantastic race with many new and exciting changes for 2012. First was the new course, two short loops with riders coming through multiple times every lap. Cat three racers got to experience a multi lap race and cat one and two racers got to experience the rule #5 loop. Most everyone had a great day even with four times up highlander for the cat one racers, great friends, great food and…

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Angela Hunt Speaks Loudly About Bold Bike Plan Steps
Bike Friendly Oak Cliff

Angela Hunt isn’t afraid of calling out city manger Mary Suhm and city staff for their “namby-pamby steps” to date on implementing the 2011 Dallas Bike Plan.  So far, we’ve got around 5 miles or so of on-street infrastructure in place, but much of that is shared bike lanes, not the buffered or barrier cycletracks Angela and Bike Friendly Oak Cliff is…

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Spring bodybuilder charged with manslaughter in teen’s death
By Erin Mulvaney            www.chron.com
A Spring man is accused of striking and killing a 14-year-old girl and hitting a cyclist while on a drug used for bodybuilding, court records show.

Alexander Scott Wray, 26, an aspiring bodybuilder, has been charged with manslaughter for the fatal collision on May 28 at the 5000 block of Louetta, according to court documents from Harris County District Court.

Wray, driving his black Dodge Charger, told deputies that he had been driving to a 24 Hour Fitness when he struck Ana Sanchez, 14, and a cyclist after…

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Help Plano See the Light
by bergerandfries            Bike Friendly Richardson
All, Plano is looking at putting in a traffic signal at Preston Road and Commonsgate where Bluebonnet Trail could cross Preston. In order to do that, they have to do a traffic signal warrant study. Both vehicular traffic on Preston and bike/ped traffic on Bluebonnet at Preston will be counted. A signal can be warranted based on the volume of vehicular traffic (which we easily have), and/or volume bike/ped traffic. Get the picture?

When?
Wed 10/31 from 1 pm to 7 pm
Thurs 11/1 from 7 am to 1 pm…

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Upcoming Events!
by bobdole                GHORBA
GHORBA has an event for everyone in November. Skills Clinics, Group Rides, and Work Parties come on out and join in with us.

Group Ride
November 3rd and 4th – Now that the weather is cooling off it’s a good time for us to head up to Austin for a weekend road trip! With all the excellent mtb trails in the area it’s hard to decide which ones to ride so our group rides leader Mike Strawn has selected two of the most popular that are easy enough for most beginners but still challenging for more experienced riders. Saturday November 3rd features Pace Bend at 10 AM and with a side ride at Muleshoe later in the day. Sunday November 4th features a joint ride with the Austin Ridge Riders at…

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Drops Of Rain Dampened Bike Riding Today Before The Northern Front Invaded North Texas
Durango Texas
Today around noon my handlebars were on the paved trail in the Bob Findlay Linear Park, which trails past Arlington’s Interlochen neighborhood.

To get to the Bob Findlay Linear Park one pedals the paved trail which runs through the Village Creek Natural Historical Area. …

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North Texas Mountain Biking GoPro HD Hero2
by CrazyChinchilla3

Shot at Northshore and Big Cedar. Riding a 2012 Trek Rumblefish.

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CHeWing ThE PHat: Bicycle Wheels
by JaredS                Texas Mountain Bike Trails
As I was cleaning off my mountain bike yesterday I was thinking just how important wheels are to make the bike work.  Let’s face it, without wheels your bike is not going anywhere for sure.   The wheels of a bike are probably the most “taken for granted” part on the bike with more attention given to the air in the tire or tube.

Bicycle Wheel PartsWhen I was working in a bike shop my favorite thing to do was build up a set of bicycle wheels, the more custom the wheels the better.  To take a hub, some spokes…

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CyclingSavvy Workshop
Cycling Savvy DFW
Through our interactive and engaging workshop, you will learn strategies for safe, stress-free cycling. You will have the tools to read and problem-solve any traffic situation or road configuration. This isn’t a boring, waste-of-time, forgetful workshop. You will cycle away excited, empowered, and ready to enjoy cycling anywhere in Dallas/Fort Worth. Don’t take our word for it, read reviews of what our Savvy Cyclists have to say about the class.

The workshop consists of three sessions: Truth and Techniques of Traffic Cycling, Train Your Bike, and Tour of Dallas. The entire program is provided in one weekend, but each…

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