Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for May 27th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

@dkcholo        via Twitter
Photo: Five stitches near my elbow, mildly concussed, road rash on back & glut, crushed helmet & iPhone ~…

@dkcholo        via Twitter
Photo: Dead iPhone ~ from today’s accident ~ gonna have a wicked rectangular bruise on my backside (Taken…

@CyclingATX        via Twitter
Last “Lend Your Legs” ride from Social Cycling Austin coming up this week. Seriously, if you haven’t done this,…

@bikedenton        via Twitter
DK200 tip: zip tie rear light on.

@bikegeek        via Twitter
Great ride but not forgetting the significance of this weekend.

@331miles        via Twitter
Felt weak and cut ride to 20 miles. Realized after ride that rear hub needs work. Worse than brake rub.

Memorial Day Ride
LMRA Bicycle Club Message Board
Post by LarryFS
Some of the many folks who turned out for the 2012 edition of the Honey Tour expressed interest in a ride on Memorial Day, Monday May 28th. So here is a relaxing 34-mile route from west side of Weatherford to Garner to Millsap to Weatherford: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1180902. Rest stops available in Garner and in Millsap (assuming gas station stores are open). Route starts from Tx DoT parking lot on southwest corner of Hwy 180 and west Bankhead Hwy. Start time is 8:30 AM. Post ride lunch is planned for Skinny’s Hamburgers which opens at 11:00 AM. I’ll be there and will have a few paper copies of the route map.

Mesquite Rotary Ride 2012
LMRA Bicycle Club Message Board
Post by LarryFS
David was spotted at the Mesquite Ride:

Honey Tour 2012
LMRA Bicycle Club Message Board
Post by LarryFS

The 2012 Honey Tour started from a new location (Centennial High School) and used slightly modified routes. Cheers to both changes – plenty of parking now and I liked going outbound initially on the routing we came inbound on in prior years. I think almost everything about this ride was excellent. Very good roads and scenery, excellent traffic control at intersections, well-stocked rest stops (they even had honey sticks this year), courteous drivers, enthusiastic and helpful volunteers. Only negative comment I have is the 15 minute interval between staged starts. Wendy and I might have waited for the actual 46-mile route start if it was only going to be…

River Legacy to Fort Worth and Back
Lone Star Cyclists
Pace: Touring
Date: Saturday, June 23, 2012 – 8:00am
Location: River Legacy Park, 703 NW Green Oaks Blvd, Arlington
Pace: Touring
Denise will be leading the club on a fun ride from River Legacy Park to downtown Fort Worth. If you know Denise, you can bet she will be making a rest stop at a coffee shop downtown. Hope they are ready for a swarm of hungry and thirsty cyclists. …

How to Recover from Muscle Soreness Caused by Intense Exercise
by Dr. Gabe Mirkin        Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin
Muscle soreness should be part of every exercise program. If you don’t exercise intensely enough on one day to have sore muscles on the next, you will not gain maximum fitness and you are also losing out on many of the health benefits of exercise. The benefits of exercise are much greater with intense exercise than with casual exercising.

You must damage your muscles to make them grow and become stronger. When muscles heal, they are stronger than they were before you damaged them. All athletes train by “stressing and recovering”. On one day, they take a hard workout in which they feel their muscles burning. Eight to 24 hours after they finish this intense…

What do cyclists deserve from the rest of us?
Courtney Barry, Local Contributor        www.statesman.com
So the other day, I almost killed a cyclist. It was not out of malice or anger or negligence. I was following the rules of the road as they apply to automobiles and bicyclists. He was not.

As I signaled to turn right driving down South Congress Avenue, following the “yield” sign heading onto Barton Springs Road, he came out of nowhere on my right, speeding out of control down South Congress. Because I was turning, and he was going so fast, he had to…

Cyclist urges area’s drivers to share road
By JESSICA COOLEY/The Lufkin News

Living to tell about the accident that could have killed him, avid Lufkin cyclist Mark Dunn has but one message to spread after being hit by a car two weeks ago: “Share the road.”

Dunn and biking buddy, Marc Lishewski — or “Lew, ” as Dunn calls him — sat down with The Lufkin News last week to express how blessed Dunn feels to have survived, and to share tips to keep others from…

Bike Friendly Denton     @bikedenton        via Twitter

50 mile bike ride to Roanoke with 4 beer tasting stops long the way. June 23:

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for May 26th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Create a Bicycling Jacket with Turn Signals
www.instructables.com

If you like to ride your bike at night you know that visibility to motorists is extremely important. For around $50 of materials and a little electronics experience you can add turn signal LEDs to any jacket or sweatshirt.

Instructables user leahbuechley (Dr. Leah Buechley) used this device to test out her Lilypad – an Arduino designed for wearables and…

Monday, July 2 BCGB – 360 Access
Monday, July 2, 2012 – 18:00
Austin Ridge Riders
Ride Like A Girl is a series of women-led, all women mountain bike rides scheduled from May to September. Women learn differently from men so instruction is designed to help women build confidence while having fun and experiencing nature. Each participant chooses which group to ride with based on skill level, experience and speed. New riders are always welcome…

Bicycle Tour to Chicken Paradise
by Bike Geek        www.bikegurus.com
Problem:  Bicycle tourist wants to take his 71-year old father on his first bike tour
Solution:  The Chicken Paradise Bike Tour

Dad rides an Electra Townie bicycle and a few years ago did his longest ride – the 25-mile route of Conquer The Coast.  I wanted to share the bicycle touring bug with him and started planning a weekend, overnight bicycle tour.  Each time I mapped out a route, the distances were usually well outside his range.

Then the idea formed in my mind about doing a bicycle tour right here in my hometown of San Antonio.  After doing a little research, the Chicken Paradise Bike Tour was born! …

Bike Friendly Denton     @bikedenton        via Twitter

Recycled at least 3 truckloads of bicycle frames from old @QuerenciaDenton shop.

Querencia Bike Shop     @QuerenciaDenton    via Twitter

Anywhere in D/FW that rents recumbents?
by DISCDS            www.bikeforums.net
The wife is having back issues and I think that a ‘bent might be an option. Since she is not big on trying new things, there is NO WAY we are buying one without her trying it out first (and not just around the parking lot at the LBS). I know that RBM rents bikes but not recumbent. Any suggestions?

Girlfriend is moving to Dallas. What is the riding like near Dallas?
reply by By StephenH        www.bikeforums.net
I don’t ride that much in Dallas proper (I live in Garalnd), but I do get plenty of riding in. This weekend, I’ll be doing a couple of rides that start in Italy, Texas, down south of here (300k and 200k). Some of the other randonneurs are riding out of Mineral Wells this weekend on a 600k. In the last couple of months, I’ve done one ride in the Austin area (which is noted for cycling) and one in the Houston area (which is not), and the one in the Austin area actually had more traffic than the rides I do here or the Houston…

Bicycle Point Of View Takes A Look At Richardson
by dickdavid        Bike Friendly Richardson
We all know how awesome Richardson is to ride. What’s really nice is when you get unsolicited praise from somebody who doesn’t live here. The folks over at the blog Bicycle Point Of View did just that. My favorite quote from them: …

UT students will bike 4,700 miles for Livestrong Texas
UT students will participate this summer in a Livestrong charity biking group in order to help raise awareness and money for research to combat cancer.
Author:     Christina Woodard        www.readthehorn.com
43 University of Texas students will cover around 4,700 miles for a 70-day record trip from Austin to Alaska on June 2. Known as the Livestrong Texas 4000 for Cancer, the cyclists will raise awareness and money for research as they trek the distance.

Texas 4000 is a charity biking group made up of those whose lives have been touched by cancer. The UT riders are at the heart of the organization and handle training, fundraising and safety education. Guiding them through the process are…

Monte Bella Bike Trails Mountain Bike Trail
Brownsville, Tx, Texas
www.singletracks.com
Description: On the east side of parking area, there is a warm-up loop that goes around the big field. On the west side, the main trail goes back along a resaca (ditch) – follow this all the way until it ends and that’s where the main trail starts. There is nothing very technical in Brownsville, but the trails offer a fairly high speed course. There are a lot of tight switchbacks that you have to hammer the brakes going in to, then put the power…

Fire-Ant 100K Tour in Gatesville, TX
by WB admin            The Wheel Brothers – Cycling in Texas
The 17th Annual Fire-Ant 100K Tour benefiting various scholars invites you to join their upcoming ride happening on June 9, 2012 at Coryell County Activity Complex
We were lucky enough to be granted an interview with Laura White of Fire-Ant 100K Tour to ask some questions about their upcoming ride.

Why join the Ride?
This is a ride that’s early enough in the summer to be a “warmup” for Wichita Falls’ “Hotter’N’You Know What” ride, so we’re a lot cooler. One of the attractions to many of our riders is that it’s not hampered by lots of city traffic, which is a challenge in some of the larger metropolitan areas. Our county roads are paved and…

Giro, Blueberries and Sun – May 26th Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

After living in Kingwood for almost 22 years I need to get creative to come up with new routes to ride. Today I think I found a new one. While I ride these streets I varied the direction and threw in two I avoid because of the narrow road and traffic. I figured riding on Old Sorters Road to Sorters Road north to FM1314 the distance and time on the narrow roads would be short. Traffic did not cause a problem either. The only thing tough about the ride was the 16 mph SE wind and the 22 mph gusts. Once I made it to the US59 south bound service road the headwind called for strong effort on the pedals. This route ended up at 26.46 miles.

Earlier today I watched stage 20 of the Giro d’Italia. While I may complain about some wind the pro riders went up and down several mountains that I would walk up. To ride 219 km in just over 6 hours. It took me 1:44:30 to ride 26.46 miles today.

After watching the Giro we went blueberry picking. Braving the crowd and the sun we ended up with about 8 pounds, not counting all of the ones I ate while picking.

Summer does not arrive for three weeks or so but it is warming up. With the ride starting at 3:13 the heat and sun pushed the temperature up to 93 degrees at the start but it did come down to 90 when I finished. Scattered clouds did not offer much protection so the sunscreen was required.

As of this ride:

  • 188.4 miles this week
  • 731.08 miles in May
  • 2666.74 miles YTD
  • 12:17:36 riding this week
  • 46:58:06 riding this month
  • 15.3 mph average speed this week
  • 15.6 mph average speed for May

    5-26-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

    5-26-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route May

Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com

 

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for May 25th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

@CyclingATX        via Twitter
P1/2/3 podium last night at Driveway Bike Race Series: fb.me/uYSEZBcS

@CyclingATX        via Twitter
Keith Byrd shot this at last nites Social Cycling Austin TNSR. I was going to count at first..but quickly… fb.me/28kOYvl90

@Texas4000        via Twitter
Tomorrow is Hope Day! Grab lunch @ Whole Foods and then head to the roof for live music, games, inspiring stories. on.fb.me/tx4k_hope

@DrivewaySeries        via Twitter
1st Masters 35+ race and Gilbert comes out the Winner!! fb.me/1m7p5jHSy

@BSS_Austin        via Twitter
We just added a bunch of pics to our Real Ale Ride 2012 album! Thanks to Susan Beth Photography for the great images

Girlfriend is moving to Dallas. What is the riding like near Dallas?
by chrisvi05        www.bikeforums.net
I’m scared now after reading the article about being the worst city in the country for riding. I’ll be moving down in the next year when I’m done with school. Is there any good riding outside of the city? Maybe a short drive into the country side? I’m moving from Nashville and we have some pretty decent riding both in Nashville and within a couple of hours of here in Chattanooga. I’ll be bummed if I can’t get out into the countyside and go.

Reply by Doohickie
I live in nearby Fort Worth. I’m sure some of the Dallas folk will be by presently to give you the skinny.

A lot of those surveys have to do with bike infrastructure (lanes, trails, routes), and Dallas had a guy in charge of bikey things that was a hardcore Vehicular Cyclist and felt bike lanes were for wimps and everyone should just learn how to ride in the…

Fort Worth Skunks Dallas on Bike Plan
By Eric Nicholson         blogs.dallasobserver.com

It was shortly before or not long after I read Robert Wilonsky’s post from earlier this week about Dallas retaking its rightful crown as the country’s worst major city for cyclists that I wiped out, in suitably humiliating fashion, as I rode my bike to work down Hillcrest Road. I would blame the fall on the city’s reluctance to lay down bike lanes as called for in last year’s bike plan, but this was in University Park, and it had more to do with the water…

Bear Creek Crit, May 23, 2012
by Ken        Texas Racing Life
Another Bear Creek Crit!  Each week I do this course, it grows on me a little bit more, and I find out how to take the 130 degree curve a little bit faster. I love how you can take the curve at 30+ mph. Every time, it looks like I’m going to roll off the road to the outside, and I scream inside my head, “no brakes!!” Then the road widens in front of me, with plenty of room to spare.

This week, with the temperature heating up, started out fast and slowed some in the middle. Riders were less motivated to jump off the front at first, and the Garmin kids were keeping the pace high with a 1-2 punch of attacking. I felt it was too soon in the 1 hour crit, and chose to…