Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for August 10th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

National Bike Challenge logs 10 million miles
DENVER, CO (BRAIN) Friday August 10 2012 4:21 PM MT—As of Thursday, the National Bike Challenge, a nationwide initiative to inspire Americans to ride, has engaged nearly 30,000 bicyclists and has surpassed its goal of logging 10 million miles. The competition, which kicked off in May, ends August 31.

“We knew 10 million miles was an ambitious goal but… we knew it was possible,” said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. “Reaching this milestone is a true testament to the many benefits of biking and the growing number of Americans who are riding their bikes for fun, fitness and transportation.” …

Race Week Preparation, with Grayson Keppler
by Shawn McAfee            Texas Mountain Bike Trails
Race Week Preparation – How do you prepare your body the week leading up to a race?

I had planned on a great post about the type of clothing to wear when riding. (What you wear when riding is really important, especially in the heat we have here in Texas.)

But then I got a great message on the Texas Mountain Bike Trails Facebook page, it was a question about race preparation. The question is listed below, and I edited out the readers name with some really sweet looking…

Summer TT #8 – Aug 2, 2012 / TT #9- August 9, 2012
by msrarkitex            Brazos Valley Mountain Bike Association
Time Trial #9
Name     Time
Joel Reyes     0:48:57
Justin Fylnn     0:45:45
James Munnerlyn     0:45:39
JP Rheault     0:37:21
Jonathan Lidbury     0:46:30
Travis Prochaska     0:43:31
Patrick Farnsworth     0:50:35…

Puddle Formed Below Me – August 10th Bicycle Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Went out on the road again today. While Texas to the north of us is supposed to get a “cool” front (temperatures in the 60’s at night) our weather continues hot. The range of temperatures while I biked: 86 to 98 at the end. Humidity dropped to 44% which is low compared to days earlier in the week. With a 11.5 mph SW breeze I could feel the heat coming in. My experience is that whenever the wind is from the west to southwest it gets hot and dry. Today was no exception. As I write this (3:03 PM) my home weather station shows 101 degrees. The sky was clear blue today. I did not notice that until I stopped in Porter for a Diet Pepsi break at The Star Stop Exxon station. One thing I did notice though was the soaked gloves. I wrung them out at the Exxon station and when I started riding after the break I made it almost 3 miles before the gloves started dripping water again. By the time I got home the perspiration flowed freely. Whenever I stood still a small puddle formed below me.

My route selection took me north to New Caney and the northwest to Gene Campbell Road before turning west and then south to Porter. From there I rode south back to Kingwood. Lately I rode a shorter version of this route but today I wanted to get a few extra miles in since I will not be able to ride Saturday and Sunday. The miles will help me prepare for the Hotter’N Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls on August 25th. Until I heard about this supposed “cool” front I expected it to be very hot at the Hotter’N Hell Hundred but maybe this coolness will stick around or come again. Many years ago I can remember the start line temperature being in the low 50’s and the high only got up the mid-80’s. I think that was the year I rode the fastest 100 miles. Now I ride shorter distances. With the route changes I plan on riding the 66 mile route.

I like this route because it does offer some long stretches without stops, places to stop for water and ice, and no dogs. The shoulders are wide on FM1485 and FM1314. The US59 service road is usually 3 lanes or more.

During the ride I noticed my left brake lever shows some damage from all of the sweat. There is a piece that sticks out when I use the inside lever that shows some rust. Also when I shift to the smaller crank ring sometimes I must move the lever two or more times. I will investigate more. The Ultegra levers are expensive to replace.

So today’s route ended up at 36.48 miles, about 3 miles longer than the shorter route. My average speed ended up at 15.0 mph but one time when I checked it showed 15.6 mph. I lost most of that when I rode in the Kingwood residential streets with all of the stops and starts. I rode a strong max speed at 24.1 mph so I had the ability. Average cadence was 78.9 RPM. This table shows my speed and time for each 5 mile section.

The 16+ mph sections were not enough to overcome the ones below that level. The column that shows the speed versus the average tells it all. Total riding time was 2:26:05 plus 40:53 time stopped.

Miles for this week: 125.55. August miles: 247.76. YTD miles: 4182.72. Link to RideWithGPS.com data and map.

8-10-2012 Bike Ride Data and Map
8-10-2012 Cadence-Distance
8-10-2012 Elevation-Distance
8-10-2012 Home Weather Station End
8-10-2012 IAH Weather End
8-10-2012 Speed-Distance
8-10-2012 Splits-Time

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for August 9th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Want hot weather cycling tips?
BikeDFW Hydration Station

Waco Bicycle Club – Thursday Rides
Thursday Beginning Cyclist Ride
Thursday 06:00 PM
Road/beginner More

Thursday Hewitt Park Road Ride
Thursday 05:30 PM
Road/all levels More

Greater Dallas Bicyclists Annual Fall Fiesta
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Flag Pole Hill Pavilion north of White Rock Lake
Bike Ride: Rolling out at 9am
Lunch: 11:45am
Greetings, Fellow Riders! Make plans now to attend the GDB Fall Fiesta on October 14th at Flag Pole Hill. The Fall Fiesta will take place instead of the Sunday Roll with Ride Leader Ken. The ride will proceed at the usual Sunday Roll pace. If you feel the need for speed, please step up and become a Ride Leader for the event. Contact Princess at…

Easter Hill Country Tour 2013
San Antonio Wheelmen
As many of you know, the Wheelmen are sponsoring the 40th annual  Easter Hill Country Tour next year on Easter weekend, Mar 29-31.  This is a huge undertaking and the main money maker that allows us to accomplish the many programs that benefit our community.  To have another successful EHCT, we’ll need upwards of 75 volunteers to make it happen.  We ask you to consider volunteering for one of the committees, whether you can do it for one day…

Children’s bike ride slated for far north Fort Worth
fortworthtexas.gov
Join Mayor Betsy Price for the next in a series of children’s bike rides at 9 a.m. Aug. 11 at Northpark YMCA, 9100 N. Beach St.

The ride will be less than two miles, and any child or teen 4-16 is encouraged to join. Training wheels are welcome. All young riders must be accompanied by an adult and must wear a helmet. Water and snacks will be available. …

The River Legacy Mountain Bike Trail Took Me On A Gut Wrenching Roller Coaster Ride Today
durangotexas.blogspot.com

Wood Bridge Over Log
I went to River Legacy Park today to get my daily endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation on the River Legacy Park Mountain Bike Trails.

I may have overdone it and got myself way too…

Sport Club Day and MSC Open House
Texas A & M Cycling
Are you interested in learning more about the Cycling team? Yes? Great!

There are many opportunities to do so once the school year comes around all leading up to our first meeting.

First, Sport Club Day hosted by RecSports. It will be Wednesday, Aug 29th, from 3-6 pm, in the lobby of the Rec Center.

At Sports Club Day, we along with all the other recSport clubs, will have people at tables to meet and talk to about what our club is all about and…

My Road Bike Called – August 9th Bicycle Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Ulysses had his sirens and I have my road bike. After three days riding my mountain bike I gave into the call from my road bike from the other side of the garage. To be honest I tried to stay with my plan to ride my mountain bike but I saw the mileage for three days and realized that one good road bike trip would equal that effort. So to get that mileage I decided to ride the New Caney – FM1485 E – Huffman route again and not get lost this time. I can report I was successful. This time I turned on Hargraves Street where I should have and then took the streets to get me through the Commons of Lake Houston without one wrong turn. The route rode correctly now totaled 41.81 miles instead of the 47 some miles when I wandered off course the last time.

Just to show how my return to the road went I checked my average speed a few times towards the end: 35 miles = 16.2 mph, 38 miles = 16.2 mph and the ending average 16.0 mph. I am not exactly sure why I maintained this average speed but I will take it. Supposedly a “cool” front could approach southeast Texas this weekend but during the ride the air felt cool compared to my other rides. Max speed was 22.3 mph. When I got home and checked the temperature it wasn’t that cool though at 96 degrees. I could have started earlier than 10:26 AM but I took care of some small chores and double checked the Google map for the Commons of Lake Houston to get the streets I needed to turn on. Scattered clouds over top of me meant the sun kept me warm and the light 8.1 mph SW breeze helped a little but I still seated up a storm. When I got to the Huffman Chevron station I wrung out my gloves to create a puddle on the concrete that was still wet when I left about 30 minutes later.

I thought my ride heading west over Lake Houston on FM1960 would be the usual one but when I got there the repair crews moved from the south side of the causeway to the north side so I rode the east bound should going west until I got past the construction barriers on the north side. So Now my rides to Huffman will need to jog to get around this repair work.

Other ride statistics:

  • 2:36:44 riding time
  • 41:14 time stopped (mostly drinking a 32 oz Diet Coke in Huffman)
  • 80.9 RPM average cadence
  • 89.07 miles this week (today almost doubled the first 3 days combined)
  • 211.28 miles for August
  • 4146.24 miles YTD
  • link to RideWithGPS.com data and map
8-9-2012 Bike Ride Data and Map
8-9-2012 Cadence-Distance
8-9-2012 Elevation-Distance
8-9-2012 Home Weather Station End
8-9-2012 IAH Weather End
8-9-2012 Speed-Distance
8-9-2012 Splits-Time

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