With summer officially arriving in about 2 weeks the temperature now seems like it arrived today. As I write this at 3:30 the home weather station reports 98.4 degrees outside. During my ride it range 87 to 95. The weather forecast shows a 30% chance of rain but the partly cloudy sky does not appear to agree. With the chance of rain increasing to 60% tomorrow I thought I should go for a little longer ride today so I visited the grass farms north of Crosby and south of Huffman. This ended up at 37.19 miles. Some of the roads do not have stores or places to get water so I took my CamelBak and with the heat and sun it came in handy. I enjoyed cold water until I got to Huffman around 25.7 miles into the ride.
The calm wind did not factor into the ride but I would have liked a little to help cool. Also this route has some long stretches without much shade, particularly when the roads split the grass farms. Along FM2100 going south I think I saw what looked like a young coyote, a victim of a car or truck. The ride went as planned without any incidents. I did stay a little longer at the Huffman Chevron enjoying the shade and light breeze.
Overall I averaged 15.5 mph with a max speed of 19.9 mph. I double checked this at Garmin Connect and it agreed. I thought I went faster than that but maybe I held a steady speed rather than a high one. 79.1 RPM was my average cadence. Mileage: 102.39 this week, 176.48 for June, 2966.86 YTD. Link to RideWithGPS.com.
Double Lake Re-Opening Progress
Hazard tree removal is underway by the USFS at Double Lake with a few miles of the original loop being cleared so far. This process is expected to take at least a few weeks to complete and all trails will remain closed until further notice. We’d all much rather be riding on Double Lake this time of year and we will need your help in the final stages of re-opening the trail. Work parties will be held to clean up debris and complete other tasks on the trail.
Remember, Double Lake and all other trails in the SHNF are closed until further notice due to a Forest Supervisor order regarding falling trees. GHORBA is working closely with the USFS to both expediently re-open and minimize impact to the trails.
Flintridge Trail Steward Needed
Is Flintridge your Home Trail? Are you interested in helping maintain the trail? GHORBA is in need of a volunteer trail steward for the Flintridge trail. Duties include organizing and leading work parties on an as-needed basis, maintaining volunteer hour records, and acting as liaison with the local Land Manager. Support such as tools and materials are provided through GHORBA. Contact the VP Trails if you are interested in learning more.
New trail Steward at Carl Barton
David Duroy has joined the ranks of GHORBA Trail Stewards by volunteering for the post of trail steward at Carl Barton. If you ride at Carl Barton and want to help improve and maintain the trail, you can reach David via our website. Sign up for the Carl Barton trail work mailing list at carlbarton-trailwork+subscribe@ghorba.org to receive information on upcoming work parties.
Group Ride – Lake Bryan June 16th 10 AM
An official GHORBA group ride will be held at Lake Bryan on June 16th at 10 AM. For more information, View the Event on the Calendar. As always GHORBA will provide cold water, Gatorade, and light snacks for all riders free of charge. This ride is open to all riders and is not limited to GHORBA members. All riders must bring a bike and a helmet. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. We hope to see you there!
@CyclingATXÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â via Twitter
Great vid from the folks behind Austin’s future Green Lane Project:
@CyclingATXÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â via Twitter
Mark your calendars for Reveille Peak Ranch Roubaix presented by Bicycle Sport Shop Sept. 29 for a new twist on…
@BSS_Austin         via Twitter
From Sunday’s Research store intermediate & advanced road ride. See all our great road rides here!
@WheelBrothers      via Twitter
One of our newest Wheelbrothers decided to ride across the United States. Take a look at his new column and…
Late August – Houston
by ky_ace      forums.mtbr.com
I’ll be flying into Hobby and staying in the Westchase area from 8/26-8/29 (flying out Thursday AM) Are there any evening rides/ events (MTB or not) around that area? I’d have to look into renting/ borrowing a bike to ride mtb/ road activities, but I’d be interested in anything sports related that’s going on that week. …
June Meeting Minutes
by salsaTopp         Brazos Valley Mountain Bike Association
An update on the levee work reveals that the trails are safe for the most part (for now) despite a little tree mulch.
James has spent an unbelievable number of hours out mowing. Recent work includes Munnerlyn, Loop de loop and Rat Maze. Enjoy the clear trails and give James a HUGE “Thanks!!†next time you roll past him as he works!
Tuesday, June 6 at 6 p.m. will be the Time Trial pre-ride. The purpose is to give everyone a preview in order to prevent wrong turns Thursday evening.
Thursday, June 7th starting at 6:45 p.m. will be the FIRST SUMMER TIME TRIAL! Riders will be going off at 1 minute intervals. The course starts off down the switchbacks and shoots straight into Turbo road. This will be a Great area for giving your legs a “heads-up†for what they are in for. Careful not to burn too big of a…
Austin writer pens book about cyclist Marty Nothstein
By Pam LeBlanc      Fit City
The first book by Austin cyclist and freelance writer Ian Dille (you may have seen his byline in the Austin American-Statesman) officially goes on sale today. The book, “The Price of Gold: The Toll and the Triumph of One Man’s Olympic Dream,†chronicles the life of cyclist Marthy Nothstein (that’s him in the photo above). To…
Eleven NOLA cyclists begin riding for a fossil-free future today
by Laurie Wiegler      www.examiner.com
New Orleans: Today, a team of eleven young adults kicked off “Ride for the Future†here, a summer-long project designed to raise awareness about taxpayer subsidies to fossil fuel companies, and to build the movement to eventually transition from dirty fuel.
According to a press release issued today by the group, the Ride for the Future team will bike this summer from NOLA to ExxonMobil’s Dallas HQ. Organizers say that along the way, the riders will stop in communities to “partner with, learn from, and…
AUSTIN, Texas, June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — MapMyFITNESS, a health and fitness technology company powering the Internet’s largest and fastest growing community of fitness enthusiasts, today announced $9 million in Series B funding led by Austin Ventures and Milestone Venture Partners. Strategic business…
CYC is an indoor group cycling concept that is an intense, fun, full-body workout. Enthusiastic, world-class trainers will welcome riders of all levels as they guide them through an efficient 45 to 60 minute workout, burning up to 700 calories per class. Innovative social media apps will allow riders to track and share results, challenge each…
CU’s 2012 Tour d’Italia
by Ray Garza         ciclistasurbanos.org
Last weekend was CU’s first ever Tour d’Italia covering anything related to Italy in the McAllen-Edinburg area. Turnout was greater than expected with about a dozen or more cyclists. There were lots of new faces as well as some old ones that we haven’t seen for a while. We gathered at the Echo Hotel parking lot in Edinburg and wait for the mug shot to be taken before heading on out.
First stop, the Kolache Factory. What does that have to do with Italy? Absolutely nothing, but we wanted breakfast! Some of us went next door to Starbucks but either there was a long line of bikes resting against anything that would hold them up. People were eating…
Back in the 1980’s one of my most traveled routes included Roman Forest. I lived in New Caney at the time and the roads seemed in primitive condition compared to now. East of US59 the roads are not as smooth or extensive as the west side is what Jerry Turner, owner of Bicycles Etc., told me when I asked about where to ride. But I found some back roads off of FM1485 one of which took me to the back entrance of Roman forest. Lately this area sprung up in some local controversy involving the East Montgomery County Improvement District and developers of a pie-in-the-sky dinosaur park. The Tribune (Atascocita, Humble, Kingwood, Lake Houston one) reports on the latest news in almost every weekly issue. Money, costs and taxes weave throughout the events. There ought to be a movie about this. There is mystery, money, hidden agendas and more.
My route today took me either through or along the far east edge of the much talked about dinosaur park and I can safely say I did not see one dinosaur. I did see a bunch of overgrown weeds and some streets that once belonged to a housing development gone bad. This route is unique in the combination of streets and roads I put together. I ended up biking 33.3 miles. The first 9 miles made up the unique part of this particular route because I used my new Kingwood exit path. On FM1485 east I went past the new entrance to Lake Houston Wilderness Park. This large park is owned by the City of Houston and the new entrance makes the park much more accessible than the winding back roads going to the original entrance. The park offers biking trails but I have not ridden them.
After passing the new entrance I traveled further east on FM1485 to Casey Ridge. One of my former riding buddies told me stories about this area. I will leave it at the East Texas woods hides some secrets better forgotten. Turning off of FM1485 I went through rough streets, not so much in texture as in houses and yards in need of some up keep. Thankfully the dogs all reside behind some good fences. Deer Run Lane is the street that took me to the dinosaur park area which changed to Galaxy Road when I entered into Roman Forest. Roman Forest has some history of its own too as a development that almost became a ghost town. More on that on another bike ride.
My 33.3 mile route took 2:05:21 to complete at an average speed of 15.9 mph with a max speed of 22.1 mph and average cadence of 81.6 RPM. The wind stayed calm most of the ride but it was warm at 86 to 95 degrees. Fortunately the humidity stayed low at 44% but I still lost a lot of water. Mostly cloud skies and lots of tree shade along those back roads moderated the heat. Something I don’t mention much is the elevation gain and loss. This route did not include any climbs but I did accumulate +1887/-1925 of elevation change on the route. This might sound like a significant amount but when you look at the chart below it occurred over the whole route.
Mileage as of now: 65.19 this week, 139.29 for June, 2929.66 YTD. Starting tomorrow the rain chance increases for several days so I may get some rest days. For other ride data views visit these links: Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.
