Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for August 21st

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Garland Designated Bike Routes
by brewrider www.bikeforums.net
I’m trying to find some information on Garland’s designated bike routes. I’ve seen some sparse signs on Duck Creek Dr. and Glenbrook, but that’s about it. I’m wondering if there are other streets with this designation, and if there is a map somewhere. The city has nothing at all about it on their site. Anybody know? …

STOLEN BIKE ALERT: black Fuji track
Bike Friendly Oak Cliff

Jack Christie‘s black Fuji track with velocity wheels was stolen from Northpark Center Saturday evening, August 18. If found, please lock up bike and contact us at 214-452-1727. Please spread the word.

Why I cycle alone
Author: Ray Garza RGV Cycling
I have cycled on off since the early 90′s when Nancy and I went shopping for a bike for her. Being the Dallas area, this meant a trip to Richardson Bike Mark, the premier bike shop in the Dallas area. She ended up with a Cannondale road bike while I, being spontaneous, picked up a Bianchi. Thus began my cycling adventures with my first and only partner to date.

We were training for the Hotter’n Hell 100 in Wichita Falls held every August in the heat of Summer. We rode often encouraging each other to keep going. The rides were fun with lots of talk of riding at this event or traveling somewhere to ride. It was a…

The following is from an email Don Bynum sent to me and others. He has a blog but sometimes his adventures don’t make it there.

Ride #1
I got in a 22.8 mile ride yesterday morning (Monday 8/20) down to Fall Creek Vineyards on the north end of Lake Buchanan and back.  My rear shifter cable broke about half way through and with help from my very experienced riding chum, John Chalmers, we adjusted the shift limiters and were able to get it to lock into 7th on the rear, to avoid having to live through the climbs with it in 9th.  The 15%+ climb out of Tow up to the Paradise Point cutoff of RR2241 was pretty brutal, but I lived through that and found the average 3-4% for the next 2 miles to be pretty easy.  I may have been delerious after the 15% climb but I was really fast on that 3-4% section!  For the full ride my numbers were MaxHR 151bpm, AvgHR 111, calories burned 1,470 with an average speed of 13.7mph.
John loaned me a shifter cable when we got back to his place and showed me how to install it properly, then I rode on home.
Ride #2
Then yesterday afternoon I hauled the Catrike over to Kingsland a met local solar power magnet and music personality Richard Golladay for a 22.8 miler from the corner of FM1431 and FM2900 via town streets to River Oaks Drive then over to Slab Road (Ranch Road 3404) and then out to TX71, and back.  With all the gears available my MaxHR was much lower at 132 but the average was a little higher at 114.  There is about a 300 foot elevation gain from where Slab Road crosses the LLano River to TX71.   After the morning ride, I was struggling a little with “Tired Leg Sysdrome” (TLS).  Average speed was only 13.4 mph.
Ride #3
This morning John Chalmers picked me up and we drove over to Doug Miller’s Place on Lake LBJ from whence we, with lots of help from Doug, abused my increasing alarmed legs with a ride that went from 840 feet msl at its low point to 1,630 feet msl at our turnaround,  The route is shown on the map below.
Blue Lake to Smith Ranch Road highpoint and back.
Blue Lake to Smith Ranch Road highpoint and back.
Elevation Profile

Elevation Profile

While we did experience a whopping 790 feet of elevation change, we did it all more than twice (going up and down a bunch), giving us a total ascent of 1,775 feet.  My poor old feeble laigs wuz pretty well used up by the time we arrived back at Doug’s refridgerator (beer storage!).  In the course of the 31.4 miles my MaxHR was kept at a modest 136 bpm by my exhausted legs.  The AvgHR was only 109bpm.  Calories burned showed 2,080.  My average speed was 12.3 mph.
This is a really spectacular route through beautiful Texas Hill Country ranches and I recommend it for anyone with the legs to do it unless they are troubled by encountering the occassional very large and curious bovine critter or any of his wonderfully prolific and organic leavings in the road.  To be honest, I could not figure out if today’s large bull was curious or disgruntled, so being exhausted and considering getting out of my misery, I chose “curious” and rode on past him.  I usually do not do this ride the day after riding 45 miles with a good bit of climbing with the rear shifter locked in 7th gear.  It was however most manly and heroic and all and besides Doug has a great beer collection and said I had to make the ride if I wanted any of it.
What’s the point if your friends can’t enjoy watching you suffer?
Don
Local resident’s granddaughter participates in Texas 4000
Special to the Courier            www.winfieldcourier.com
Leah Horsch, granddaughter of Dr. Kenneth McCanon of Winfield and the late Norma McCanon, recently participated in the “Longest Annual Charity Bike Ride in the World,” peddling more than 4,000 miles.

She left Austin, Texas, on June 1 and arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, with 41 teammates of the nonprofit organization LIVESTRONG TEXAS 4000 on Aug. 10. The mayor greeted the group as they arrived in Anchorage and celebrated their raising of $315,000 to date.

The TEXAS 4000 is dedicated to fighting cancer by sharing hope, knowledge and charity. They cultivate the next generation to lead the fight against cancer through this cornerstone event. They share hope by letting those touched by cancer know that…

Jared Haney wins Time Trial Series II Prize
Tyler Bicycle Club

Jared Haney won the GoPro Camera donated by Farris Machine, the East Texas Triathletes, and the Tyler Bicycle club.  He also won a free bicycle make-over from Simpson Fitness and Sports.
https://twitter.com/BikeLeague/status/237903373427408896

https://twitter.com/dkcholo/status/237882388728926211

https://twitter.com/TexasMTBtrails/status/237918880947920897

Some Swamp Flies – August 21st Bicycle Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I forgot to mention yesterday that I encountered a patch of swamp flies (aka love bugs) shortly after I turned onto FM1314 from SR242. These little black flying bugs can be a nuisance if there are enough of them. Thankfully they only lasted for a few hundred yards until I rode out of them. Today I came upon another batch of them on Smith Road east of FM2100. They were few in number but a little more of a pest today. I almost forgot about these bugs this year since the weather seemed to keep them down. I suspect last year’s drought probably helped to keep them in check if their name has any true meaning. Not many swamps kept their water last year. This year with the increase in rain the swamps filled up and I guess the swamp flies came back to life. So far I have not seen any trucks or cars with the front covered in black bugs. Along with the flies I saw a couple of other riders going the opposite direction.

The cooler weather continued today with 79 degrees as I left home to start the ride at 9:47. It got up to 89 by 12:04 when I finished. I could feel a coolness in the air especially when I rode in the shade. Once I got heated up though the cool was a distant memory. The blue sky looked good and the light 6.9 mph breeze was appreciated though not very cooling. According to the weatherman the temperatures will probably inch upward the rest of the week. The weather forecast in Wichita Falls for Saturday is 90/72 with partly cloudy sky. This will be a pleasant ride if that sticks.

Today I took my south/southeast route to Huffman. The mileage was less than yesterday totaling 33.55 miles at 15.2 mph average speed. I wanted to go a shorter route today for a recovery day and then plan for a 40+ mile ride tomorrow. Today’s max speed was 21.1 mph and a 78.8 RPM average cadence. I did not push it hard today but I did skip the rest stop I normally take on this ride. Riding time was 2:12:11 plus 4:45 time stopped for traffic lights and such. This week’s mileage totals 76.62, August miles are 493.81 and 4428.77 miles YTD. Zone 3 time and distance was 65.4%, down from yesterday’s 76.4%. See today’s ride data at RideWithGPS.com.

Construction continues on the causeway over Lake Houston on FM1960. East and west bound shoulders have work with the east bound section being shorter with just big plastic markers versus the concrete on the west bound shoulder. Supposedly the work will finish by the end of August.

8-21-2012 Bike Ride Data and Map
8-21-2012 Cadence-Distance
8-21-2012 Elevation-Distance
8-21-2012 Home Weather Station End
8-21-2012 IAH Weather End
8-21-2012 Speed-Distance
8-21-2012 Splits-Time

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for August 20th

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VIdeo from TAPATIO SPRINGS TX
by pebblehoppertj        forums.mtbr.com

This group will ride through Texas during the month of October. Look for them.

Cycle CROSS America
from Nolan Kuehn
A friend of mine, John Cartmill, from Belfast, Northern Ireland is part of a church group that will be cycling across the US in Sept./Oct.  They hope to raise funds that will go toward a center on the border with the rest of Ireland, that will work toward bringing peace to the region.  Their web site is www.CycleCROSSAmerica.com.

Starting Saturday 22 September in Santa Monica beach CA
When the Cycle Team will dip their back wheels in the Pacific Ocean and will then cycle to the Dream Centre. Pastor Jack will walk with the cross along a section of Sunset Blvd. where Arthur Blessitt began his Cross Walks and where he Pastored his church.

Saturday 11 am “Wheel Dipping Ceremony” on Santa Monica Beach, Los Angeles
2 pm Cross Walk from Sunset and Carol, along Sunset through West Hollywood to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and ending at Hollywood and Vine

Sunday 11 am Service at Angelus Temple when Pastor Jack will share for 10 minutes
1 pm Formal “Send Off” from the Dream Centre Parking Lot, 2301 Bellevue Avenue
Ending Wednesday 24 October in Jacksonville FL…

Houston Bicycle Club – Zube Park Ride
August 25th        7:30AM

DORBA 2012 North Texas Mountain Bike Race Series at Marion Sansom Park
Fort Worth Mountain Bikers’ Association
On behalf of the Fort Worth Mountain Bikers’ Association I’d like to welcome everyone to attend the September 9, 2012 round of the DORBA 2012 North Texas Mountain Bike Race Series at Marion Sansom Park. Stay tuned to the DORBA Meetup site at: http://www.dorba.org/events/69058892/ as well as www.FWMBA.org for all of the official updates regarding the race.

http://www.fwmba.org/events/expo.pdf
The link above features the MSP Expo and Junior Race Loop. Check out the map to make yourself familiar with the layout of the event expo and parking. As always all event vendors and race teams have access to the MSP Expo free of charge. Arrive early as the expo spots are…

Georgetown – Rockdale 208K RUSA Brevet
Hill Country Randonneurs
Date: October 20, 2012
Start Time: 7:30 am
Starting location: Berry Creek Food Mart (Shell) 301 SH 195 , Georgetown, TX

This is a loop that starts in Georgetown, TX. It goes along some remote country roas and at times there are 32 miles between services.

The course is mostly flat, with rolling hills on either side of I-35. It goes out to Rockdale and then swings back to Andice. Check-in will be from 7:15-7:30 am. If you want more information send an email to…

The Bike Butler Awaits H ‘n H Finishers
by Chris Mathews        Plano Bicycle Association

Look for the PBA trailer (The “Bike Butler”) just past the finish line at the H ‘n H on Saturday. It will have drinks, snacks, shade, ice, Mr. Mister, and a few surprises for all.  Enjoy your ride!

Non-Stop Riding – August 20th Bicycle Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Today’s weather fit the ideal profile for a bike ride. When I started at 9:43 AM the temperature registered 79 degrees with 79% humidity. By the time I finished at 12:31 the temperature increased to 91 but the humidity dropped to 43%. I could tell when I started that the air felt a touch cooler than my last ride on Saturday. Since then a cool front moved through with over 3″ of rain falling at my house. The clear blue held no clouds today. As a sign my gloves got wet from sweat from not as soaked as usual. The extra dry air dried them out as I rode.

An unusual ride today in that I did not take any rest stops. I rode straight through other than stopping for stoplights and traffic at stop signs.Riding time totaled 2:43:10 plus only 4:30 time stopped. It seemed like I stopped at almost every traffic light I passed through but near the end of the ride I made it through several without stopping. The 6 mph variable direction breeze did not slow me down much so I managed a nice 15.8 mph average speed. At the 40 mile point my average speed showed 16.1 mph. I just started the residential street part of the ride at that point so my speed slowed due to stopping and starting. The short section of greenbelt trail also slows me down.

The 43.07 mile route mostly followed my usual US59 to SR242 to FM1314 direction but I changed a few streets after leaving FM1314 to go through Auburn Trails, a new subdivision under construction along US59 on the south bound service road. The number of houses under construction shows the housing problems probably does not exist here. When I rode on FM1314 the pace enabled me to improve the average speed more so than on SR242. The table below shows the time and distance breakdown:

With 76.4% of the distance in Zone 3 this is what enabled the 16.1 mph average speed at 40 miles. August miles now total 460.26 and YTD miles are 4395.22. Hopefully this weather hangs around for tomorrow’s ride.

Link to RideWithGPS.com data view and map.

8-20-2012 Bike Ride Data and Map
8-20-2012 Cadence-Distance
8-20-2012 Elevation-Distance
8-20-2012 Home Weather Station End
8-20-2012 IAH Weather End
8-20-2012 Speed-Distance
8-20-2012 Splits-Time

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