Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for August 23rd

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Dallas to Waco
by DeanB        www.bikeforums.net
So I’m flying into Dallas on september 18th and need to get down to Waco. I’m considering bringing my bike and riding down to Waco. I haven’t done my century yet so I’m wondering how realistic it would be. …

Carrollton Cycling Club Rides
The Irving Bible Church rides will start at 6:00 pm beginning Monday August 27 due to lack of daylight to finish before dark.

The Andy Brown Park rides will be starting at 8:00 am on Saturdays effective September 1

Racing in Waco
Corinth Cycling

Darrell Hull, the newest member of the Corinth Cycling/Harden Dental Racing Team, placed in the top 10 in the Bicycles Outback Twilight Criterium last weekend in Waco.

The team will be traveling to Wichita Falls, TX this weekend for the biggest race of the year at the Hotter N Hell.  Racing in Wichita Falls will be Hull, Chris Eddy, Paul Wells, Adam Koble, Russ Fagan, Roland San Miguel, James Krahula, Orlando Gonzales and Mike McCrary.

Texas Cyclocross Races
C: Bicycle Sport Shop CX

C: Bicycle Heaven CX

San Antonio

C: Spooky Cross Weekend

C: Cross Houston

C: Georgetown Cyclocross Festival

Georgetown

C: Colonels/ShoAir Cross

C: King Cross

C: Crazy Water Cross

C: TerraX

R: Bikesport Cyclocross Challenge

C: Cyclocross Shuffle

C: Webberville CX

Webberville

C: Outback Cross

C: Norbuck Park CX

C: Fair Park CX

C: State CX Championships Tough Cross

Free Bike Safety Classes for Arlington
by marc            BikeDFW
The City of Arlington is providing free bike safety classes for its residents.  Participants must complete the online registration form and an online training course prior to each adult class.

Residents may choose from one of the following adult classes.  Please note these classes will be conducted at City Hall, 101 W. Abram St: …

Hotter ‘n Hell tips from the Wheelbrothers!
The Wheel Brothers – Cycling in Texas
HHH is this weekend and here are some last minute tips and tricks before the race:

1. SLEEP!!!! Make sure you get plenty of sleep from Thursday/Friday night.  The day before folks usually have a hard time sleeping.  So make sure you give your body the maximum amount of rest you can.

2. Pack your gear the night before:  Logical right?  You’d be surprised how many riders freak out in the morning because they realize they left that extra tube at home. …

Shake Down Ride #2 – August 23rd Bicycle Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I could not make up my mind on which route to take today until I reached the decision point at FM1485 and Loop 494. The goal was to ride at least 33 miles so that I have 140 miles for the week (now at 140.81 miles including today) and then ride the 66 mile route at the Hotter’N Hell Hundred to get over 200 miles for the week. As I arrived at the decision spot I opted for the New Caney – Gene Campbell Road route which totaled 33.58 miles today. My other options might get to the goal but I wasn’t sure (should have checked before I left home) and the light 7 mph east breeze would have been a headwind if I went FM1485 east and then to Roman Forest. Another option was to stay on Loop 494 to Roman Forest Blvd. and then into Roman Forest, take Tram Road to FM2090 and then to US59 south. The last route probably would meet the 33 mile goal but I thought it was longer and when I looked it up at home it was 38 miles. The 38 miles would work but take longer than I wanted.

Today was shake down ride number 2 of the lever/cables/adjustment changes made on Tuesday. After yesterday’s ride I waxed the chain. All of the parts continue to operate smoothly. The chain runs quietly and shifts quickly. The Lizardskin tape looks sharp and repels my sweat so far. It finally donned on me where all of the sweat is coming from: my arms. Whenever I stop for a extended rest period I notice water runs down my arms and I use paper towels to sop it up. If I stop long enough the sweat stops. So my plan is to get some wrist sweat bands to see if they will help keep my gloves drier and the sweat out of the levers. Once I get the bands I think I am ready for Wichita Falls on Saturday. Now we just need to drive there tomorrow. The hotel room awaits.

Speaking of sweat, I stopped three times today to wring out my gloves. Each time I left a big wet spot on the road. I wash my gloves after each ride to freshen them up but I notice they develop an aroma near the end of the ride. Anti-bacterial soap must not be the right one or the sweat is strong. The water that I wring out is cloudy. Surprising the many washings have not hurt them except my red pair faded to a pale red. I thought the milder temperature today (80 – 89) might reduce the moisture production but not so. Even the mostly cloudy sky did not help. When I turned onto FM1314 from Gene Campbell Road I could see the dark clouds far to the south and wondered if that moisture might also get me but it did not.

My average speed held up good today. I checked at 17, 25 and 30 miles and it was 16.2 mph. The final average speed was 15.8 mph, slowed by the residential stops and starts in the last 5 miles. If you look at the Splits-Time picture below you can see that all of the 5 mile splits averaged 15 mph or more except the last one. Riding time totaled 2:07:41 plus 8:36 time stopped. My other goal this week: no long rest stops. I met this one as well. My max speed was 20.4 mph at 81.0 RPM average cadence. August miles total 558.00, YTD miles stand at 4492.96. See the ride map and data at RideWithGPS.com.

8-23-2012 Bike Ride Data and Map
8-23-2012 Cadence-Distance
8-23-2012 Elevation-Distance
8-23-2012 Home Weather Station End
8-23-2012 IAH Weather End
8-23-2012 Speed-Distance
8-23-2012 Splits-Time

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for August 22nd

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Macallister Trail conditions TWITTER
by ernestojgarcia        forums.mtbr.com
i created a twitter account @mactrails on twitter for Macallister park MTB trails and will retweet any trail conditions i receive from riders and myself.

Any slow pokes in Plano looking for a early morning, after work or weekend ride pal?
by matthewk459                www.bikeforums.net
I’m usually good for about 30 – 50 miles at a time, but I’m fat, well not that fat, and slow. All my friends are 20+mph average riders and it’s just more than I’m capable of at this point. …

Bikes, burgers and beer make for a great day @ Pace Bend
by Il Pirate             Austin Ridge Riders
Monthly Club Ride Saturday August 11
The August Austin Ridge Riders Club Ride at Pace Bend was hot.  Really hot! But the post ride burgers, sausages, beer and other beverages made it all worth it. Over 60 riders turned out at Pace Bend for the August ride and the trails were in tip-top condition. We staked our claim under the shade of a nice clump of trees and Board Member Jeff Daugherty fired up the little propane grill for a few hours of heavy grilling. Earlier in the week, Jeff laboriously hand formed 70 beef patties with roasted green chilies and shredded cheese. Yummy!  There were a few minutes of anxiety until the hamburger buns arrived and in addition to burgers Jeff somehow managed to also grill up over 40 fancy-schmacy sausages. It was foodie heaven at Pace Bend as in…

CapMetro unveils first bike shelter Friday
By Pam LeBlanc            Fit City
Capital Metro will inaugurate the first MetroBike shelter — a fully enclosed, secure bike storage facility — at Kramer Station on Friday.

Austin City Council member and Capital Metro Board member Chris Riley, Capital Metro President/CEO Linda Watson and City of Austin Bicycle Program Manager Annick Beaudet will cut the ribbon on the new shelter at…

Rotary bike race runs smoothly
Terry Cookston Herald-Banner Staff        Rockwall Herald-Banner
ROCKWALL — The 26th annual Rockwall Rotary Club Hot Rocks Bike Ride ran with no problems under cool weather conditions on Saturday through the Rockwall-area countryside.

The event, which features three races of 13, 43 and 57 miles, drew over a 1,050 riders from children to aggressive for the competition.

Each of the three rides started and ended at Wilkerson-Sanders Stadium, with top aggressive riders leading the way.

Check-in time was at 6 a.m. at WSS for those who didn’t pre-register and the start went off on…

Racing in Louisiana
by GCCA
By sitting out last weekend’s race?, I got bumped from 3rd to 4th place in the Texas Cup standings for the 50+ category.  So, this weekend’s race in Louisiana would not normally have been on my schedule, but I needed the points.  This races were being hosted by Team LaS’port out of Shreveport: a hilly 41 mile road race in Rocky Mount, and a crit the next day in Bossier City.  Ned, who had just completed the Leadville Trail 100 the previous Saturday, agreed to…

Cleaning Shorts Follow Up
by Roy and Christine        Pedal Pushers
Last August I wrote about a problem I was having with my cycling shorts’ fading and wearing out after just one year.
Then I bought a pair of Boure’ shorts and they faded after three months, so I complained to the company and was assisted on the proper care of shorts. It worked!! The first two pictures are of the shorts I was going to replace as they were fading. …

Where Did All of That Salt Come From? – August 22nd Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

A maxim of biking is do not make major changes in your equipment or riding style before a big ride or race. Well I broke that maxim yesterday since I am going to Wichita Falls for the Hotter’N Hell Hundred Saturday. As I wrote several times about my Ultegra ST-6700 shifters performance problems. Yesterday my replacement shifters arrived and I started to replace them last night around 8:30 PM. Why I waited until the bike shops closed is a sad story. I started with the left lever and did I get a shock as I unwrapped the handlebar tape. Underneath the tape a huge buildup of green salt like residue lurked. The left lever is the one that has the most problems and now I know why. As the tape came off around the shifter attachment clamp the salt buildup filled nooks and crannies between the brake and shift cables. I started to remove the salt and finally got down to the handlebar metal. Water did not do much to remove the salt so I tried some vinegar which did remove some but not all. Some soap remove a little more but finally I scraped the remain salt off. The plan was to reuse the old tape but at this point I figured new shifters deserved new tape. Once I removed the salt I coated the handlebar with Phil Wood waterproof grease to help combat future salt invasions. This presented a small problem when I installed the cables and needed to use tape to hold them in place to wrap the new tape but my wife helped and we got the cables installed. This picture shows some of the salt.

Left Lever Salt Buildup

Previously I examined the left lever and could see the rust in the mechanism. The “B” lever (small inside lever) refused to return the closed position unless I did it. After seeing all of the salt I am surprised the lever worked at all. Finally I got the new lever on the handlebar and the cables in place. Next I worked on the right lever. I expected the same condition as the left one but the salt buildup was strikingly less but still there. The cleanup did not take near as long. This picture shows the right lever ( I didn’t think to take pictures of the left lever when I found the salt).

Right Shift Lever Salt Deposits

Fortunately installing the new ST-6700 lever went smoothly and the cables secured to the handlebars easily with electrical tape. Around midnight I got things up to the point of installing the handlebar tape that I need to buy in the morning.

New Levers Installed, Ready for the tape

New Levers Installed, Ready for the tape

This morning I went to Bike Werks in Kingwood to get the handlebar tape to finish the job. I thought I would get the Cinelli cork tape but talking to the store manager he showed a bike with Lizardskin tape. I liked the feel and the fact that it might keep the sweat and salt from forming under the tape again. The tape was not cheap but I figured if it saved from spending $300 on another set of St-6700 levers it was a good purchase. Now the fun began installing the tape. My main problem is I am too finicky about how it looks so I spent about an hour and a half putting it on and taking it off. It took so long that I was able to watch all of today’s stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana while installing the tape. (I recorded the stage while I went to Bike Werks.)

With the tape installed (I did not put the Lizardskin closure tape on yet in case I needed to make some adjustments) I got ready for a ride to test all of my handy work. Yesterday I said I wanted to go on a 40+ mile ride today but I changed to a 30.62 mile ride incase I need to stop and make adjustments. I am happy to say not one adjustment was necessary. The new ST-6700 levers worked perfectly shifting to each gear when asked both up and down the rear cassette and the front chainrings. The handlebar tape felt comfortable to the grip and stayed in place. So I think equipment wise I am ready for the Hotter’N Hell Hundred this Saturday. The only work left is to wax the chain. I don’t think that will take until midnight like the levers did.

The weather felt like a fall coolness arrived during the night. With the handlebar tape installation I did not start riding until 12:23 and returned home at 2:33. The temperature ranged from 89 to 92 while I rode. The sky varied from partly to mostly cloudy not really making up its mind. The 45% humidity probably helped make it feel somewhat cooler than it was. I still sweated up a storm but I checked the handlebar tape when I got home and it seemed to roll off. I did stop just before I turned onto Sorters Road to wring out my gloves. I put a big wet spot on the pavement.

Ride Statistics:

  • 1:59:58 riding time, 10:18 time stopped
  • 15.3 mph average speed, 21.8 mph max speed, 79.5 RPM average cadence
  • 107.23 miles this week
  • 524.42 miles for August
  • 4459.39 miles YTD
  • Link to RideWithGPS.com map and data
8-22-2012 Bike Ride Data and Map
8-22-2012 Cadence-Distance
2-2012 Elevation-Distance
8-22-2012 Home Weather Station End
8-22-2012 IAH Weather End
Right ST-6700 lever with salt buildup
Right Lever Salt Buildup
New Levers Installed, Ready for the tape
8-22-2012 Speed-Distance
8-22-2012 Splits-Time

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