Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for May 25th

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@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…

More Wind in My Face – May 25th Bike Ride

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My route selection turned south into some stiff wind. Today’s wind should have generated an advisory since it was as strong as yesterday. At the start of the ride the wind was SE at 12.7 mph. When I finished the wind came from the SE at 17.3 mph with 23.0 mph gusts. Riding into the wind pulled my average speed down and then I needed to recover the lost time to meet my 15.0+ mph goal. I sometimes dwell on the weather but since I ride alone almost all of the time I battle it. Mostly cloudy skies and 91 degrees with 51% humidity increased my sweat production to the point I dripped whenever I turned my head and soaked my gloves.

I went a long south route at 31.65 miles. I hit my goal of 15.0 mph average speed. Max speed of 21.7 mph and 79.2 RPM average cadence exceeded my expectations given the wind. Miles this week total 161.94, May miles total 704.61 and YTD miles total 2640.28. Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com links.

5-25-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

5-25-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for May 24th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Head for the Hills Rally
A great big THANK YOU to all our riders, volunteers and sponsors. Here’s a link to all the photos Rotary can provide, shot by 2 professional photographers and a couple of volunteers.

Ft Worth Bike Routes and Bike Law
by Doohickie        www.bikeforums.net
The city issued a little pamphlet. The first page shows bike routes in the city core; the second page is a summary of cyclists’ rights and Texas and Fort Worth bicycle law. Handy for those in the DFW area. Most of the rights sheet applies to the whole state (except where Ft Worth law is explicitly cited).

It’s official: Dallas is still the (one and only) worst city for bicycling in the entire country
By Robert Wilonsky            cityhallblog.dallasnews.com
Um, Mayor Mike, you may wanna see this …

An old friend of the show wanted to make sure we didn’t miss this note from Bicycling magazine dispatched earlier this week, which — yet again — names Dallas among the worst cities for bicycling in the country. Which comes as no surprise to those following City Hall’s inability to roll out The 2011 Dallas Bike Plan — because, ya know, those bike lanes are just too expensive. …

Austin Bike Culture Calendar Events: 5/24- 5/30/12
by elliott        Austin on Two Wheels
Bike Month way be winding down with Memorial Day weekend, but there is lots to do bike bike including Austin Bike Zoo’s latest theater production by bike, a comedy bike benefit, and a special Thursday Night art ride. Get out and ride!

Here’s a quick run down of recommended events for the coming week from our comprehensive calendar of all cycling events. As always, if there is an event you know about that’s not on our calendar contact us, and we’ll add your event on and possibly add it to the weekly round up. …

I Bike Richardson – Bethany Sauls
by dickdavid        Bike Friendly Richardson
It’s time for another installment of the I Bike Richardson series, where we put a face on Richardson cyclists. We’d like to introduce Bethany Sauls. She took the time to answer a few questions about biking. Enjoy:

Name:
Bethany Sauls

How long have you been riding?
I have been riding for 5 years. I got into a car accident back then and realized how scary cars are. When I ride I am alert, aware, appreciative, and more alive than I ever was behind the wheel.

How often do you ride?
I ride everyday. My bike (chi chi) is my transportation. If I need to go…

Bike the Bricks brings heart-racing thrills to downtown McKinney
By City of McKinney
Third annual bicycle race offers entertainment for everyone

McKINNEY, TEXAS – McKinney Main Street is teaming up with local cycling organization McKinney Velo once again to host the Third Annual Historic Downtown McKinney Bike the Bricks Criterium race on Friday, May 25.

Bike the Bricks features several interval races, food, spirits, festivities and a purse worth more than $20,000. Warm-up laps begin at 4 p.m. and the races kick off at 4:30 p.m.

“Spectators of all ages will enjoy a free Friday night in Historic Downtown McKinney with cycling, festivities, food and drinks. We are estimating up to…

Real Ride 2012
fairdalebikes.com

This is by far the largest collection of Fairdale kits every assembled and I’m not even in the picture! Texas summer bike rides requires a thorough group sunscreen coverage session. Here the Full Factory/ OTX office and Sandy Carson prepare for the 85 miler. …

Monday, June 4 6:00pm Walnut Creek
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…

Coldspring by Michael Haney
www.violetcrown.org
Coldspring Road Race, May 5, 2012
John Bartle, Rick Hall, and I drove to Coldspring Friday afternoon, stayed in a very nice “Sunday house” about .5 miles from start, and showed up bright eyed and bushy tailed, which has not always been my experience going to Coldspring. Bartle continued demonstrating his good form, getting second in the 60+ race (and 7th on the 50+ 60+ race).

Last half of the last of 3 laps, I got into what seemed a promising 3 man break (I thought there was another 6 man group up the road). It turned out the earlier break had been reabsorbed, so we were brought back by the main field maybe 5 or 6 kilometers from the finish, as they were not…

Alkek Velodrome
We are down to the last Friday Night of the Spring Mini-Series! Who is going to take it all on the last night?

In the Cat 1/2 race, Andrew Carlberg (Spincycle) doing an internship in Seattle leaves the door open for Robert Bodamer (Matrix) to claim the top spot, with a tough battle for third between…

Loose CamelBak Straps – May 24th Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

When I got up this morning I saw a wind advisory from the National Weather Service. An excerpt:

The National Weather Service in Houston/Galveston has issued a Wind Advisory… which is in effect from 10 am this morning to 7 PM CDT this evening.
* Event… high southerly winds of between 15 to 25 mph… gusts to 35 mph.
* Timing… late morning through the afternoon hours.
* Impact… strong Crosswinds could impact high profile vehicles… blow around lightweight objects and cause isolated minor tree damage.

No mention about bicyclists but they should. Today my route goes north as I try to rotate them to avoid boredom and to see different scenes. With the high wind my guideline calls for riding into the wind at the start and with the wind on the return trip. I overruled that today thinking I could build up enough speed on the north bound route to offset the headwind on the south bound leg. With 90 degrees and scattered clouds the only tough side of the weather would be the wind.

The ride delayed some while I watched stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia. For a change the sprint winner was not Mark Cavendish. I never see the pro peloton riders eat bananas but today the overall leader, Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), had one in in his hand as he rode the stage. It was worth the wait but I figured I would pay a price if the wind kicked up early.

I left the house at 10:47 and it didn’t take long to notice the wind blowing from the southeast but with all of the trees in Kingwood I did not feel the full brunt. With the first 13 miles going north the wind would be my buddy. As I rode along when I got to Porter at FM1314 I could see the US flag over WhatABurger standing straight out and not too far away the flag above WalMart strained against the pole as well. On this stretch I pushed my speed up to 20+ mph to build up the extra time when I turned south at FM1485 in New Caney. This table shows the speeds before the turn at 13 miles and afterwards.

When I made the turn south in New Caney at first I thought maybe the wind died down some but it didn’t take long to prove that wrong. Within a mile the wind started whipping my loose CamelBak straps against my back like a jockey riding a race horse. The only problem was I did not have much reserve to overcome the headwind. I was able to keep my speed at 15 to 16 mph for most of the time until I got some relief when I turned into Valley Ranch. For about 1.5 miles I had a tailwind which ended once I moved to Valley Ranch Parkway and headed south. My speed took a hit right away because Valley Ranch Parkway has no trees at first to break the wind. I put my head down and kept pedaling.

By now I thought my overall average speed would fall below 15 mph but for the last 3 miles of the 30.28 mile route the wind came from my back or right rear quarter. I finished with a 15.0 mph average speed, riding 2:01:10 with only 4:52 time stopped. My max speed hit 21.7 mph and average cadence was 77.1 RPM. Now this week’s mileage totals 130.28, May totals 672.96 miles and YTD is 2608.63 miles.

I decided the SportTracks program will be my main data record with alternate data views at Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com.

5-24-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

5-24-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map