Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for October 25

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What I Fear When Cycling
by Ray Garza            RGV Cycling
I’ve been riding bikes since my high school years on my first ten-speed bike (SEARS), then up in the Dallas area when I moved up there, again here in the Valley and any city that I went to go cycle at (Austin, Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio). I’ve cycled on long country roads, neighborhood streets and mixed in with the cars on busy city streets and I do consider myself and experienced cyclist. But, that doesn’t lead to complacency, in fact my experience tells me to heighten my sense of surroundings. Does that make me fearless? No, not at all. I have fears just like any one out there. What I fear the most when I’m out cycling is not the car…

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The Rusty Chain Gang Romp
Fort Worth Bicycling Association
Event Details
Club Weekly Ride
Every Thursday from January 05, 2012 to December 31, 2012 at 9:00 am
Next Ride: Thu Nov 1, 2012 9:00 am
Location
Benbrook: YMCA
Meet at the ball fields behind the YMCA in Benbrook. Exit off I-20/820 (Exit 29) at Winscott Road. Go south about 1.5 miles.
All skill levels are welcome! Please arrive early enough to get you and your steed ready to pedal at the start time. An additional start of 8:30am is available for early risers wanting to beat the heat.
Contact Information: Sherwin Rubin

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FLO recalls rim tape sold with wheels
by Steve Frothingham        Bicycle Retailer & Industry News

WASHINGTON, DC (BRAIN) — FLO Cycling is working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall about 800 sets of rim tape sold with the company’s FLO 60, FLO 90 and FLO Disc aero road wheels earlier this year.

The tape can fail, allowing the inner tube to leak or burst. The wheels with the affected tape were sold consumer direct from May through June 2012. The company has identified the invoice and order numbers of consumers who bought wheels with the affected rim strips:
– Order # 129 thru 859
– Order # 1049 and 1050
– Invoice 1 thru Invoice 25
Consumers should contact FLO Cycling to receive a $5 refund for each wheel purchased.

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No Country for Old Men (383 Mile) Race Report
by Darryl            lovingthebike.com

Marko Baloh, of Slovenia, is the champion of the inaugural No Country for Old Men bicycle race.  Marko blistered the 383 mile extremely challenging course in 20 hours 59 minutes, averaging 18.23 mph.  Dave Elsberry of Mission Viejo, California finished 2nd with a time of 29 hours 30 minutes.  David Disney of Loveland, Colorado finished 3rd in 30 hours 21 minutes.  Dan Driscoll and Pam Wright of Ft. Worth, Texas captured the two person mixed team division with a time of 27 hours 15 minutes. …

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Costume Ride this Friday (10/26)
by bikedenton
The Denton Green Mile, a new ridership and safety community group is kicking itself off with a costume party and ride this Friday, October 26 at 5:30 on the Square.

Neal P – who, if anyone has been by Querencia in the last few months, would know him as the older gentleman who has kicked the shop into high gear – let us in on the goings on for this cool party.

Three musical acts, a costume contest and an easy-going one-mile family ride will be capped off by joining in on…

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Recent ride – west of Denton
by bikedenton

Nearly any ride, in any direction, shows you things you’ve never noticed before. We wandered out Jim Christal, up Masch Branch, and found some fun things off smaller roads.

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Lone Star Cyclists present Italy IISD with $2,500 raised from Tour d’ Italia
by Barry Byers             www.italyneotribune.com

During the Italy School Board meeting on Monday, October 15, 2012, Paul Tate and Pat McGennis were recognized by the board who presented Certifications of Appreciation to Larry Eubank (Board President), Curtis Riddle (Board member), IHS Principal Lee Joffre and to Judi Rowe with Wells Fargo Capital Financing of Dallas. Tate is president of the Lone Star Cyclists, hosts for the…

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Old Weyco bikes will get second life at shelter
By Amy M.E. Fischer / The Daily News

When Santos Galvin inquired about a bike mechanic apprenticeship at Highlander Cycling a few weeks ago, shop owner Scott Forbes had the perfect project to get him started.

Weyerhaeuser Co. recently donated about 25 old, cruiser-style bicycles and parts to Community House, and the homeless shelter’s director asked Forbes if his Commerce Avenue bike shop could store them or make a few rideable. Although dirty and rusty, the bikes clearly…

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Texas APA Conference Full of Biking and Walking
BikeTexas

Veronica Soto, Executive Director of the Downtown Management District and Past President of APA Texas, during the mobile workshop.The Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA Texas) held its annual conference in Fort Worth on October 3-6, 2012. BikeTexas was an Annual Sponsor of this year’s event, with an in-kind donation of bicycles for the mobile workshop “Fort Worth Bike and Pedestrian Planning.”

The workshop was led by Julia McCleeary, AICP, City of Fort Worth and Jeff Whitacre, AICP, Kimley-Horn and Associates. The route was a rigorous 12 miles, with a few good hills, but even though there were…

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for October 24th

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2013 Racing Club Team
By Andrew            bicyclesoutbackracing.net
We have a lot of exciting things happening here at Bicycles Outback. As many of you already know, we are all really stoked about the expansion and reorganization of our racing team. We are still finalizing details so you might see some minor tweaks before the beginning of the year, but we want to make sure the word gets out in time for our members to order kits, ask questions and get psyched about racing for us this next year!

Details about what we are expecting of members and the basic outline of the team can be found here: 2013 Team Details…

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Cyclesomatic 2012: Spooky Cross Race Day II, October 28th
Bike Friendly Oak Cliff

It’s another full day of Cyclocross Racing at the Dallas Heritage Village, along with a beer garden and many of the best food trucks in the Metroplex!  Also, be sure to catch a shuttle to and from the Texas Custom Bicycle Show happening at Club DaDA in Deep Ellum or just ride on over. …

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Good roads – Bandera, TX
by ctpres            www.bikeforums.net
Will be RV camping in Bandera TX early Nov and would like info on good roads for 20 to 50 mile rides.
reply by Werkin
If you are looking for a challenge, 337 from Medina to Camp Wood has very steep climbs with tremendous views http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/p…?pic_id=163013

For a decent road surface, light traffic, and gradual climbs, 173 North of Bandera past Ranch Road 2828 and past Camp Verde toward Kerrville, or take a right at Camp Verde (FM 480), or on the return do…

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Mellow Swap 11/3 (Swap Meet) Flat Creek Ride 12/1
by teoteoteo            forums.mtbr.com
Mellow Swap is back! This year’s event will take place at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop on November 3, 2012 from 9am-4pm.

The swap is open to reps, individuals, teams, or anyone with a box of old bike goodies that need a new home. For shoppers its a chance to buy great sample and demo product from industry reps and we use it as a chance to sell scratch-n-dent product, take-offs, and clear out the basement.

The 2012 event will be our fourth year hosting the Mellow Swap, continuing to build on the popularity of the past four editions. Spaces…

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The latest email from Don about his riding exploits in the Hill Country.

October 22 Ride Report – A commemoration the noble senselessness of old men
by Don Bynum
A year ago yesterday, my high school classmate, now cycling buddy, Gil Jones and I set out on a grand cycling adventure.  We headed off into the wilderness west of Lake Buchanan, Gil on his Snazzy Scattante Prostate Crusher bike and me on my trusty, since deceased, Catrike Road.  Our goal was to make the 101.5 mile trek to Junction Texas.  A refresher on that saga can be found on my Blog.  We did it!  This year, Gil has had some neck surgery (possibly aggravated by the contortions required to ride a bike in an aerodynamic position and still be able to see a rattlesnake crossing the road just ahead) and could not ride for the several months during recovery.  Subsequently Gil upgraded to a Catrike Expedition, but has not had time to get his condition back up to what would be needed to undertake another great senseless challenge.  So I had to find another way to do something crazy.

My old friend Doug Miller provided such a challenge in ride around a common route we all ride out here where Austinites think dragons live, west of US281, but with a 5 mile extension through the western edge of Kingsland Texas.  The total mileage was not a big deal, nothing like riding across the hill country to Junction.  What made this a challenge is that Doug and I get really, really, competitive and though he is a couple of years older (70 vs my 68) he is only 140 pounds soaking wet and what is there is muscle, gristle, bones and/or hightech body part replacements (not quite a Six Million Dollar Man, but chasing him on uphills does make me wonder).  Route map below.

So we set out on our route and it was a blast.  We did the 38.4 mile loop at a pretty amazing pace for a couple of certified (and maybe certifiable) geezers.  Doug finished only 5 minutes ahead of me.  At various “catchup” spots one or the other of us would be ahead, but at 28.5 mile point we began a 6 mile segment in which we climbed from 871 feet above sea level to 1071 feet, with total ascending being closer to 300 feet than 200, due to ups and downs.  On that stretch Doug opened up that 5 minute gap as he hauled his 140 pounds plus about 20 pounds of machine up those hills while I hauled my 215 pounds plus 35 pounds of machine.

I can say with great confidence that few our age could ride that route at all and very few could have stayed anywhere near our blistering pace through the hills of the area.  So a different type of endurance ride was celebrated on October 22 of 2012.

Gil “retires” at the end of this year and swears that he wants to raise our senselessness level with me on October 22, 2013.  I will work on getting us to raise the bar much sooner than that.  Fear creeps into my gizzard as I realize that Doug will, no doubt, join us on whatever testosterone fume (hey, we are old men) powered craziness we can dream up.  I gotta get out and build up my ability to maintain a 2-3 mph higher average.  Gotta get stronger faster than old age makes me weaker!

At the end I showed 38.4 miles in 2hrs 35min 26 seconds at an average speed of 14.8 mph.  I burned an estimated 2,590 calories with a maximum heart rate of 150 and an average of 127. This performance is well above anything I ever was able to squeeze out of my Catrike Road, though I miss its better high speed cornering a little.  Clearly my new Catrike 700 is going to be a huge boost for my ability to cover increasingly insane distances in a single day… that’s pretty cool to be contemplating at age 68!  The graph below shows my heart rate and the elevation profile for the ride.  Note the long periods well above 120bpm.  WHEEEW!

I suppose wheel chair races are gonna be there in my 90s!

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Great Fall Cycling Events This Weekend
by Marc Mumby             BikeDFW

There are loads of cycling events in North Texas this weekend. The forecasts is for beautiful fall weather. The events are free and open to the public. There’s absolutely no reason not to get out there and have some fun on your bike! Here’s the run-down.

Fort Worth
October 26 –Mayor Betsy Price’s 2012 Tour de Fort Worth, 6pm – , T&P Tavern, 221 W. Lancaster Ave
The final ride of Mayor Betsy Price’s 2012 Tour de Fort Worth series takes on an eerie twist with a ride to one of Fort Worth’s oldest cemeteries—Pioneer’s Rest—where members of Historic Fort Worth Inc. will re‐enact scenes involving notable figures from Cowtown’s early years. …

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Sign the Petition that seeks to bring a Bike Skills Park to Austin
by Il Pirate            Austin Ridge Riders
Austin has a great reputation in the mountain biking world, and it needs to meet the demand for progressive and legitimate places to develop riding skills for riders of all ages.

Mountain biking, as a sport, has become increasingly popular in recent years. Austin’s fair climate and expansive green spaces have allowed for a culture to develop around mountain biking. While there are several sanctioned areas for traditional cross country mountain biking, there are no legitimate areas for building the rider skill set. There is overwhelming demand for this opportunity locally and it has not been met.

Many communities around the United States have recognized this need and are moving forward with bike skills park construction. Great examples of such established parks are…

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Fund manager Finds Common Ground As A Competitive Bike Racer
by Juliette Fairley         www.fa-mag.com
Accomplished track cyclist Ryan Crane has won multiple U.S. National and Pan-American championships, all while managing the Stephens Small Cap Growth Fund and the Stephens Mid Cap Growth Fund out of Houston, Texas.  On the bike track, Crane specializes in timed events.

“There’s a meritocracy in both biking and mutual fund managing. Whoever rode the fastest in a race wins, and performance numbers of a fund defines who among managers are winning,” says Crane, who in 2011 won the national championship in team sprint, second place in match sprints and fourth place in the one kilometer track race.

The registered investment advisor (RIA) employs the same skill set of focus and determination to win a bike race as he does in his duties as a mutual fund manager…

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Cyclists ride in honor of organ donors
by Kim Hilsenbeck            haysfreepress.com

Twelve non-professional cyclists with The Circle of Life bike tour rode nearly 600 miles in eight days throughout Texas to promote organ, tissue, bone marrow and blood donation. Each cyclist has a personal experience with one of these life-saving donations and rides in honor of a person who has given or received the gift of life.

The tour to encourage the public to be life-saving donors began in Beaumont and ended eight days later in Houston. The riders were in San Marcos on Oct. 17.

This year’s honorees include Jackson Norris, who died in June 2011 after doing what he loved most – skateboarding. After skating with a friend, the 15-year-old…

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Spectacular Weather – October 24th Bike Ride

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Spectacular weather for today’s bike ride. I started at 10:41 under a partly cloudy sky with 79 degrees, light SSE 11.5 mph breeze and 74% humidity. It felt so comfortable that I did not mind riding into the wind when I turned back south at SR242. There is a Flying J truck center at SR242 and US59 and what caught my eye was the $3.299 price for unleaded gasoline. I haven’t seen a price this low since 7/23/2012. Back to biking, by the time I got back home at 1:03 the partly cloudy sky still held but the temperature bumped up to 88 degrees with 49% humidity. Again the ride produced low perspiration so I might consider not wearing my wrist bands on the next ride. My gloves showed no signs of moisture either but I will continue to wear them. The weather forecast shows a front coming through on Friday with cooler temperatures and maybe some rain.

I used to ride most of today’s route before I started using a Garmin 305 and Edge 500. The reason I reduced my frequency comes from not wanting to ride out and back on the same roads. That is why I tweaked the route when I got to Roman Forest Blvd. going north by turning onto Roman Forest Blvd and then taking a left onto the side road that parallels the railroad tracks to Woodbranch where I got back on the north US59 service road for the short ride to my turnaround point at SR242. Up to that point most my ride was with the wind. Taking the overpass to the southbound US59 service road put me into the wind from there to almost the finish. Surprisingly I still maintained a decent speed so that when I checked my average speed at 30 miles it showed 16.1 mph.

To further distance my southbound trip from the northbound one I turned into Valley Ranch around the 22.3 mile point. This took me west for about a mile and then back south across FM1314, through the Briar Tree subdivision and then to Oakhurst before getting back on the southbound US59 service road. I ride this part of the route several times a week but not as part of this whole route. My ride ended at 35.16 miles with a 15.7 mph average speed, 21.9 mph max speed (SportTracks shows a generous 26.2 mph) according to Garmin Connect and 21.5 mph from RideWithGPS.com, and 79.6 RPM average cadence.

Normally I take a rest stop on a ride this long but today I only stopped for a few minutes in New Caney at the Chevron station to refill my water bottle. The riding time totaled 2:14:10 plus 6:56 time stopped. Mileage totals after today’s ride: 69.79 miles this week, 592.7 miles in October, and 5889.54 miles YTD. There are enough riding days left in October that I could reach 6000 miles for the year by the end of the month. No other serious bicyclists today but three casual ones crossed my path.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for October 23rd

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GHORBA Beginners Only Skills Clinic!
by soccerdude                forums.mtbr.com
You asked for it so you got it! Come join us at the Cypresswood trail located in Collins Park on Saturday November 10th at 10:00am for our GHORBA Beginners Skills Clinic sponsored by Bike Barn –Champions!! We’ve been hard at work creating our new skills clinics and we figured the best place to start was…well, at the beginning! If you’ve just bought your first mountain bike or have been riding for less than a year then these classes are perfect for you. Let us help you get started or give you the extra skills you need to move up to the next level. Our instructors have been teaching people how to mountain bike a long, long time and now it’s your turn to learn from these professionals! Don’t miss out!

Our sponsor, Bike Barn – Champions will have mechanics on duty to check out your bike before we start the clinic and will do so free of charge! Make sure you arrive early to take advantage of this excellent service. Please make sure you take the time to thank the employees of Bike Barn for volunteering their time and…

Girl Scout Ranch, Amarillo mtn biking?
by m_dub007                forums.mtbr.com
I travel out to Amarillo fairly often from albuquerque for work and am contemplating bringing my mountain bike this next trip. It looks like there are some trails on a girl scout ranch in Amarillo… was wondering if these trails are worth lugging my bike out to check out? …

2012 Tour de Fat Photo Gallery
Austin Ridge Riders

Afternoon Ride in Honor of the Dead
Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club
Roosevelt Park Trailhead
642 Lone Star Blvd, San Antonio, TX
Sunday, November 4th:  On November 2nd, there is a tradition of honoring the dead by decorating gravesites.  On this ride we will respectfully cycle through San Jose Cemetery and see these decorations on our way from Roosevelt Park to Mission Espada.  This will be an afternoon ride for 18 miles along the Mission Reach trail and then along  quiet city streets.  Ride starts at 2:00 p.m. at the Roosevelt Park trailhead.  For more information, contact ride leader Ann Caldwell…

Can You See Me Now Ride
San Antonio Wheelmen
Date:     10/28/2012
Time:     08:00 AM
Location:     Alzafar Shriner Center
901 North Loop 1604 West
San Antonio, TX
Details:
Many have asked….Who is Monica and what is this all about?
Thank you for your interest. Monica is a local triathlete that was involved in a horrible accident on Wednesday while on a training ride for an upcoming Ironman triathlon. She was hit from behind by an elderly woman driving an full size pickup truck on the I-10 frontage road. She suffered a severe spinal injury and has already undergone extensive surgery to stablize her vertebrae. Her life was changed in an instant and she has many many months of recovery ahead. Cyclists as a community are coming together in support of Monica and to raise awareness in an effort to make riding on the roadways safer. …

The Tyler Bicycle Club Rides
Cranksgiving—Saturday, Nov 17, 4 pm from Elite Bicycles
The TBC in conjunction with Tim McCellon will be bringing can/dry good donations to PATH.  We will be traveling by bicycle to PATH to make our food donation.  Bring what you can carry.  Everyone is welcome and this is a family-friendly ride, so bring your kids!

Santa Sleigh Ride—Saturday, Dec. 15, 4 pm from Elite Bicycles
The TBC in conjunction with Tim McCellon will be bringing toy donations to the Tyler FD downtown.  We will be traveling by bicycle to bring the toys to the TFD.  Bring what you can carry.  Everyone is welcome and this is a family- …

Pics From The BikeDFW Fall Meetup
by dickdavid        Bike Friendly Richardson

Last night BFR attended the BikeDFW Fall Meetup at REI in Dallas. It was a room full of bike fans and advocates, who came to listen to some great presentations from Dave Carter, from the City of Richardson and Julia McCleeary from the City of Fort Worth. Both cities are leading the DFW Metroplex with strong bike plans that are actually underway.

You can read more about the event on the Bike Friendly Garland Blog. …

Deer Park Rotary to host 4th Annual Texas Independence Bike Tour
www.yourhoustonnews.com
The Deer Park Rotary Club will host hundreds of Houston-area bicycle riders for the Fourth Annual Texas Independence Bike Tour Jan. 27, 2013.

The event will take place atClyde Abshier Stadium, 710 W. San Augustine in Deer Park.

The bike tour has quickly become one of the Houston-area’s most popular rides and is a BP MS150 official recommended practice ride. The tour takes its participants on their choice of a 30-, 45- or 62-mile journey…

Foundation to give bicycles to needy, abused children
By Heather M. Goodwin,     starlocalnews.com
If the proverb is true and it does take a village to raise a child, then Southlake and Keller are doing their part to give needy North Texas children a leg-up.

The Spokes4Hope Foundation, a nonprofit organization, will host the annual Keller and Southlake Police Motorcycle Rodeo benefiting children of North Texas who are in need or have suffered abuse. The event will be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 10 at Cabelas, 12901 Cabela Drive in Fort Worth. The rodeo begins with a motorcycle practice run from 7 to 9:30 a.m. The event opens to the public at 10 a.m. followed by…

Wounded veterans take part in coastal Ride 2 Recovery bike ride
More than 200 bicycle to Carmel on way to Santa Monica
By KEVIN HOWE, Herald Staff Writer

Juan Carlos Hernandez of San Antonio, Texas, has been cycling for the cause of rehabilitating his fellow wounded veterans for the past three years.

Hernandez, 25, is one of more than 200 veterans, many of them bearing wound scars, some of them missing limbs, who are taking part in Ride 2 Recovery’s seven-day, 450-mile Golden State Challenge bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

The riders left San Francisco on Sunday, stopped overnight in Santa Cruz, and rolled into the Carmel Mission Inn on Monday evening. They will launch the third leg of their journey Tuesday morning, heading for…

2012 Bike MS: Alamo Ride to the River
by Justin            Bike Geek

Let me quickly think of five words to describe my Bike MS experience:
Amazing – because there is an undeniable sense of accomplishment – pushing your body past its limits, going well beyond your comfort zone, pedaling past mileages that make you grin even when you’re exhausted….60 miles…70…80 miles…90.

Grueling – because there was discomfort, soreness and outright pain in some cases.  The hills we encountered on River Road after 70 miles of riding proved to be formidable adversaries to already tired and psychologically challenged riders.

Long – at the end of day one we’d ridden 101 miles and had spent 7.5 hours in the saddle.  Then we hopped (ok, we didn’t hop…we were incapable of hopping…

The Crash
by Roy and Christine        Pedal Pushers

“People who think laughter is the best medicine apparently have never had morphine.” So says a get well card from my in-laws. My laughter did indeed rapidly stop as Velma and Rick Ogan lifted me up, and I tried to put weight on my left leg. …

One Day: Two Different Races. Waco’s Cameron Park & Garland’s RCP
by League Director in News            Texas High School Cycling League
This next weekend our Scholastic North Series will count results from two different races happening on the same day. Series points will be awarded at both the DORBA race at RCP in Garland AND atthe TMBRA race at Cameron Park in Waco. Both races were originally on our series schedule and due to a rain make-up and some permitting issues they are now both happening on the same day so we’ll go ahead and award…

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