Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for October 6th

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San Marcos Prospect Park & Purgatory Creek.. It really grows on you. Pictures!
by XRaptor            forums.mtbr.com
All the trail pictures I’ve found shows you that this place is rather tamed. Yes there are some smooth sections. I would like to highlight the more technical knee injury rocks! Enjoy!

The EB
www.enchiladabuffet.com
Fill your plate with Austin trail goodness!

The Enchilada Buffet is the annual measuring stick for Austin mountain biking. The EB is a self supported ride covering five local trails and ~85 miles of awesome Austin biking badassness.

When: November 3rd, 2012 (Rain date 11/17/12)
Start Time: 6:30AM Rollout
Where: Walnut Creek Parking Lot

WE decided to go with November 3rd because who doesn’t love a killer halloween ride.
WE are doing the same route as last year because why mess with a good thing.
WE advise you get to the Walnut parking lot early because it will fill up, plus we will have…

Cycling Around The Globe: East Texas
by Rudy Pospisil            blogs.theprovince.com

Headed east out of Van Horn Texas and I decided (against my better judgement) that if I hugged I-10 instead of quieter roads south I would save 140 miles in 5 days. That’s a long way on a bike. Its proving to be a bad choice.

Leaving camp today the weather had deteriorated rapidly. The temperatures had dropped from 90F to 54F and a strong headwind of 30 mph almost dead against me from the northeast. Making headway was brutal if you stopped pedaling the wind…

Wish 100 Rally in McKinney, TX
by WB admin                                     The Wheel Brothers – Cycling in Texas
The Wish 100 Rally benefiting the Make a Wish foundation invites you to join their ride on October 6, 2012 starting at 111 N. Tennessee St. McKinney, TX 75069
We were lucky enough to be granted an interview with Bryan Perkins of Wish 100 to ask some questions about their upcoming ride.

Wish 100
Why join this year’s Wish 100 Bike Rally?
There are two reasons to join this year’s bike rally. First of all it’s a great cause that provides the opportunity for ill kids to do something special and take their minds off of their struggles. Secondly, the city of McKinney rolls out the red carpet for this ride and provides a great course in the country with rolling tree line roads and lots of livestock. So it’s great for people who want to experience the countryside!

How long has the event been around?
This will be the 4th year for the event but the first year that we (McKinney Velo Club) along with the Matrix Cycling…

https://twitter.com/motopixie/status/254524103925592064

https://twitter.com/MitchellGSides/status/254675349189836800

https://twitter.com/grandpajerald/status/254770794570330113

Overcast Pineywoods Purgatory – October 6th Bicycle Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I got up at 4:30 this morning to drive to Lufkin for the Pineywoods Purgatory Bike Ride. After getting ready I actually left the garage around 5:35 AM. The weather forecast called for partly cloudy skies, a light NE wind and a high of 79 degrees. When I got to Lufkin about 7:30 the sky was overcast with a light NNE breeze. The temperature was around 65 degrees and it did not move far from that the whole ride. Fortunately the cool front wind did not arrive while I rode either because it probably kick up to 10 to 15 mph from the NW. I almost made a mistake on my riding attire based on the forecast by not wearing a long sleeve jersey but thankfully I put it on thinking I can always take it off if I get too hot. That problem did not happen. I felt cool at the start of the ride and whenever I stopped at a rest stop but while I rode I needed the short sleeve and long sleeve jerseys. Going down hills I wished for a light jacket as well.

The Lufkin Civic Center starting location looked strange when I got there because of a big construction project to expand the facility. Since I did not ride the Pineywoods Purgatory last year I would see some other changes as well. I stopped to ask a policeman where the parking lot was and he pointed me in the right direction. Along with an expanded building the parking lot moved and grew. Because the weather can be iffy this time of the year I did not preregister but it did not take long once I found the entrance. After registering I stood at the entrance to hand out Texbiker.net business cards. Not one person refused a card.

People gathered at the start line and the ride started after a rifle blast from the Lufkin mayor at 8:04 AM. We rolled out safely with no crashes that I saw. Later at the finish line when I ate lunch some riders from Beaumont talked about two people they knew that crashed. One ended up going to the hospital. The video shows some highlights of the 72 mile route I rode.

All four routes start together with each distance eventually turning off from the others. I rode the 72 mile route with the 102 mile route leaving us after the second rest stop. The 50 mile route soon separated from the 72 mile group.

Normally I do mention elevation gain or loss but today’s ride included lots of up and down. SportTracks reports 6169 feet of climbing and 6231 feet descending. Garmin Connect shows significantly different elevation gain of 2736 feet and elevation loss of 2734 feet. RideWithGPS.com comes closer to the Garmin numbers with Elevation:   + 2688 / – 2669 ft. I know my legs pedaled up hill a lot. This is the first time I rode the Motobecane Le Champion CF bike on this ride but the compact crank and rear gears had not been tested on the hills. I can say that the gearing matched the hilly terrain although my speed going up at times was 7 mph. On the descents I had a problem with my front wheel making some wild sounds on rough surfaced roads. Riding on a smooth surface seemed to not cause the problem. I don’t know if the front wheel bearings need replaced or if the blade spokes cutting through the wind cause the problem. More investigation to follow.

I was surprised at how fresh I felt at the end. In year’s past the Highway 7 stretch always seemed to go on forever but today I could believe how fast I rode it. Going up and down the hills around Lake Nacogdoches also did not overpower me either. I geared down and pedaled slowly up the hills sometimes passing fellow riders. There were times when I could not see other riders but it usually did not take too long for me to catchup with some or they caught up with me. Even with all of the hills I still averaged 15.5 mph and recorded a 38 mph max speed. With the slow pedaling up hill I averaged 771. RPM cadence too. The 72 mile route turned out to be 70.56 miles which I appreciate; it might have been more than 72 miles. The riding time totaled 4:32:58 but I only stopped 37:29. The time stopped came from four rest stop visitations.

Other changes from previous Pineywoods Purgatory rides include the first wooden one lane bridge replaced by a wide concrete one (the second one remains) and fajitas replaced by hamburger and chicken sandwiches for lunch. Overall I enjoyed the ride despite the cooler than expected weather thanks to the correct gearing on my bike. I look forward to next year’s ride.

Mileage standings after the ride: 198.9 miles this week and for October; 5495.74 miles YTD. Alternate views of the ride metrics at Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for October 5th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Spinistry Bike Project Part 5 – Cyclocross “Racing”?!
www.spinistry.com/
Okay, it’s cross season. I have a cyclocross bike in my possession. I am reviewing said bike for the betterment of mankind as a whole. Therefore I am obligated to race cyclocross on it right?

First off, I am NOT a racer. I have entered the occasional cross country mountain bike race as well as a couple of endurance races where I participated as a rider. I’m more into riding to see what’s around the next curve in the road or the crest of the next hill instead of trying to get from point A to point B faster than as many other people as possible. My unracing issues aren’t about me not being competitive by nature but more that I’m too competitive by nature. I don’t want to be “one of those guys” who can’t…

Mapping Bicycle Routes in the Rio Grande Valley
RGV Cycling
One of the things I wanted to do with this blog is to share bicycle routes here in the Rio Grande Valley, specifically the Mission-McAllen-Edinburg metroplex area. I started out with individual routes of rides I have taken and those can be found in the Routes tab at the top. Initially, I thought I would just add a whole bunch of rides of me going to various places in the area and just build up a collection. But after some thought and laziness I came up with a better idea, …

Supporting a Super Bike Box Initiative in Edinburg
by Ray Garza
Edinburg was the first valley city to pass a three-foot passing ordinance and now they are on the verge of leading by example with a creation of a Bike Box. With the planning of a new intersection in front of the University of Texas – Pan American, many cycling advocates including Cicilistas Urbanos (CU) want to take advantage of it and propose a Bike Box to the Edinburg City Council at their next meeting.

For those not familiar with the concept of a Bike Box they are designated areas at an intersection that is devoted to cyclists, a safe zone. There are several variations to this. The simplest version is a box at the front of the intersection in line with a shoulder or bike…

Board of Directors Election Results
by bobdole            GHORBA
Board of Director elections have completed and the winners of each position are listed below. The Board remains unchanged as all winners currently hold the office which they ran for. To learn more about each Board Member visit our bio’s page and as always feel free to contact the board via email or forum. Come out and meet the board at our next general meeting being held on October 15th, details in this link.
President – Bill Rustam
Vice President – Justin Dunn
Treasurer – Russell Adams
Secretary – Marcus Jennings
Membership Director – Ashley Dunn
Director At Large-Bill Begnaud
Director At Large-Chris Brown
Director At Large- David Cervera
Director At Large- Eric Dickson

Cycling Around The Globe: Texas (Alabama Joe and Mamma)
blogs.theprovince.com

After the restless sleep in the highway rest area last night I came across a Border Patrol guard parked under the freeway. He told me the canyon I slept beside was a route the Mexicans take to jump the border into the U.S. at night. I’m glad I was out of there and headed east away from El Paso and Juarez.

Looking far down the lonely side road I was cycling along in Texas I could see a movement on the horizon. It was either one of the cars that passes every hour or an animal judging by the size of it. But it was neither of those. Closing in behind I could see it was another cyclist loaded right up pulling a trailer and a dog running along…

Crit Course Land in Houston
by Ken            Texas Racing Life
Racing Land in Houston
If you have lived in Houston at all, there is usually one word to describe it most accurately: sprawling. It is one of the most un-dense big cities in the nation. I believe this makes it hard on weekday crits for us racers. A local crit on a weekday must be in a location where most people can reasonably get there without driving too far. Houston will always have this problem. The solution is to find a criterium location that is centrally located. This allows people that work in the city to stay in the city for the crit.  Also, people who work in the burbs can reverse commute into the crit, skipping the hellish traffic. This is why Memorial Park Crit always flourished but we had a lot of problems with the Moving Periodically Series. It wasn’t that people didn’t want to race, it was that they…

Off With the Old, On With the New – October 5th Bicycle Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

This morning I walked my wife to the garage as she left for a “girls day out”, crushed some aluminum cans and started to walk back into the house. As my normal custom I pasued to squeeze the rear tire on my Motobecane Le Champion CF road bike. Oops! It felt soft. This tire accumulated iver 4,000 miles and I wanted to get a few more but I took the wheel off the bike, walked out into the sun and began to inspect the tread for the cause of the leak. Nothing showed up as far as a puncture but I found two spots where the casing threads peaked through the tread. This means the tire needs to be replaced. I am riding the Pineywoods Purgatory tomorrow and I want to avoid any reason for a flat. Some of the roads are not that smooth and the 72 mile route goes on some low traffic roads. There are two wood surfaced bridges that would like to grab a weak tire.

So I reached into my inventory of reserve tires and tubes. The tube on the rim contained 5 patches so figured replacing it would be a good idea. I had a Qtube 700c x 23-25mm tube with a 32mm stem in my reserve. The patched tube had a very long stem for aero rims so the shorter stem will look better. The replacement tire is a Continental Gatorskin 700 x 25mm. Based on the performance of the old tire these survive the shoulder debris better than any other tires I used so far so why go with the tried and true. I mounted the new tire and tube, pumped it up and started to put the wheel back on the bike but I stopped. I saw a section where the tire bead did not catch the rim probably because it was on the back side of the wheel as I moved the tire bead on the front edge of the rim. I let the air out, moved the bead onto the rim and aired it up. The shiny new tire looked great so I could now get ready for today’s ride.

My original plan called for a 45 to 47 mile die today but my wife reminded me of the Pineywoods Purgatory tomorrow so I changed the route to a shorter one going up US59 to New Caney, west on FM1485 turning onto Gene Campbell Road. At the End of Gene Campbell Road I went south on FM1314. I ride this route frequently so I know pretty well what to expect. No surprises today except the speed. The first 5 miles averaged 13.5 mph but this covers the streets to get out of Kingwood and on the open roads. From then on until I got back to Kingwood the 5 mile splits impressed me. The splits-time slide in the gallery shows the breakdown of each 5 mile leg. The 10.0 to 15.0 mile leg averaged 19.0 mph. This might be a record for me.

Today’s route covered 35.66 miles at 16.0 mph average speed. My average speed at these points during the ride:

  • 20 miles = 16.2 mph
  • 24 miles = 16.4 mph
  • 32 miles = 16.4 mph

Hopefully I my ride tomorrow moves along like this. The 72 mile route contains several hills so I will go slower some of the time.

October and this week’s miles now total 128.34. YTD miles total 5425.19. Links to today’s ride at Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.

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