A Short String Broken – May 17th Bike Ride

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I returned to my southerly route today which means my 40+ mile string comes to an end. It’s not that I did not want to keep it going but I like to vary the routes and this one came up. The route totaled 33.59 miles at an average speed of 15.6 mph so my string of 16+ mph average speeds ended as well. The weather could not have been better: scattered clouds, 37% humidity, 83 – 90 degrees, and a light 4 mph breeze. My max speed was only 21.3 mph but I maintained it for long stretches. According to my speed – distance data I biked at 17.5 to 20.6 mph for 70.9% of the ride. This took 1:31:38 of the total 2:09:12 riding time. Miles as of today’s ride: 124.18 this week, 483.35 for May, 2419.02 year to date.

Not much different from the rides before on this route although according to a message board at the west entrance to the FM1960 causeway over Lake Houston the right lane is supposed to be closed from May 17th to August 21 but there was no sign of any lane being closed. Today is May 17th. At the 27 mile mark another biker caught up to me. We chatted for a second as he went by. From the looks of his bike and outfit he was a triathlete. Later on I caught back with him at the Kings River Drive and W Lake Houston Parkway traffic light. He said he was out for a 20 mile ride. He turned left at the light while I went right.

Tomorrow my ride will be an afternoon event because my wife and I are going to Bush Intercontinental Airport to welcome back about 250 wounded warriors in the morning.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for May 16th

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MOUNTAIN BIKER NEWBIE? ADULT BEGINNER MTB CLINICS ARE COMING SOON.
by Il Pirate        Austin Ridge Riders
Beginner MTB Clinic
Recently invested in your first mountain bike? Not sure how to get started? We have just the opportunity for you to replace your apprehension with exhilaration. Three of our Bicycle Sport Shop mountain bike coaches will be teaching a three-part skills clinic for beginners on three consecutive Saturday mornings during the month of…

NTC: Track calendar off to strong start after Matrix Track Cup
www.usacycling.org
SPRINT


The sprinters contested only the time trial over the weekend. Daniel Gay (Temecula, Calif./Get Crackin’ MS-Society) tops the NTC men’s sprint standings after winning the men’s race ahead of Zack Carlson (Plano, Texas/Matrix-Richardson Bike Mart) and Bobby Unverzagt (Torrance, Calif./Get Crackin’ MS-Society). Gay collected 15 points for his win, …

Bike Friendly Dallas, Er, Richardson
by Steve A        Dallas Point-to-Point
I’m going to celebrate “Ride Your Bike to Work Day” this year with more fervor than ever before. Really, riding my bike to work is something that I do every work day, and I’m under no illusions that such events will result in some groundswell of cycling support around DFW, much less the world. However, I send flowers on Valentine’s Day and on Mother’s Day and those holidays don’t change things much either. Instead, they remind us of things we ought to remember anyway. In my case, I DO appreciate the ride to work, despite less than…

Only at The Omni Dallas Can You Get a Pimped Out Bicycle As Seen on ‘Shark Tank’
by juliana        www.hotelchatter.com
Where there’s a reality show, there’s bound to be a hotel connection. And that’s just what we found while catching up on some old episodes of “Shark Tank” this past weekend.

Villy Customs is a high-fashion bicycle designer that lets you customize your ride from the seat to the wheels right down to the bell that you put on the handles.

While Villy Customs is mainly an online business (and a pricey one too with full bikes costing about $500+) we did some research and saw that they have a partnership with Omni Hotels. As it turns…

Cycling notebook: Houstonian coasting out West
By Dale Robertson        Houston Chronicle

Before heading west for his first significant stage race as a pro, Lawson Craddock said the Amgen Tour of California represented a whole new level of competition. He conceded that winning, for him, might be “just finishing.”

Seems he was being overly modest. After all, Craddock was coming off a victory in the SRAM Tour of the Gila in New Mexico, a significant accomplishment – and “morale booster” – for the 20-year-old Houstonian, who rides for…

Georgetown Grand Race Preview With Andrew Willis
by Keith Hutchinson            news.georgetown.org
The Subaru of Georgetown Grand, the state championship criterium race, will be held in downtown Georgetown this weekend on May 19 – 20. The event is organized and sponsored by Holland Racing, a bike race promotion company in Austin.

Where are the best places to watch? Who should you look for to win? And what’s a prime?

Andrew Willis, president of Holland Racing and a former professional bike racer himself, sat down at Roots Bistro with Keith Hutchinson from the City of Georgetown to answer these questions. As a veteran of the pro cycling world, Andrew gives you an insider’s view into the sport of…

Ride of Silence is TONIGHT! Ride, Baby, Ride!
By Chris Phelan / Contributor            healthblog.dallasnews.com
It’s here. This is THE day when all the world cycles, when the globe is united if only for a little while. Besides Christmas, this is the only time this occurs.

The Ride Of Silence kicks off at, that is leaves at 7 pm. You want to arrive before then (6:30) to line up and prepare your heart and mind.

Race, religion, economic status, what kind of bike you ride, how often or far you ride or what you ride it for won’t be questioned. Tonight we as part of humanity will join together to in silence memorial for those killed…

Recreation calendar, camps, clinics
www.mysanantonio.com
Bicycling: Today, 8 a.m., Wheelers Senior Ride, 30 miles, Floore’s Country Store, Helotes. 210-643-0314.

Running: Today, 6:15 p.m., SARR Wednesday Night Zoo Run, Brackenridge Park. 210-286-6291.

Bicycling: Saturday, 7:15 a.m., South Texas Tour de Cure, 18, 30, 61 and 104 miles, Champion High School, Boerne. 210-829-1765. …

Tram Road Goes Smooth – May 16th Bike Ride

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As predicted I biked today. I wanted another route over 40 miles with a northerly direction. I biked this route before but not for several months. The change from my typical north route added Roman Forest and then up Tram Road to Splendora. Tram Road is a paved road but not a smooth one in many places. Today I got a surprise because Tram Road has been resurfaced. It was so recent that the workers were putting down the center stripe when I started on it today. The ride to FM2090 even going into the wind had a new feel to it. I worked a little harder headed into the wind but once I turned west on FM2090 and then onto the southbound service road along side US59 my speed increased. I rolled along so well that I went to a smaller rear cog (12 x 34) to keep the speed at 20 mph or more.

The weather improved from yesterday with the rain clouds leaving and scattered clouds ruling the sky. A favorable NE wind at 10 mph and gusts to 16 mph kept everything very comfortable. Temperature ranged from 77 at the start to 84 at the end. When I rode in the shadows the coolness helped. With 45% humidity I did not perspire enough to get my jersey very damp.

With the wind assist from the 23 mile point until Kingwood Drive my average speed end up at a nice 16.4 mph while my max speed topped out at 22.9 mph. I don’t believe I reached this average speed for quite some time. The previous ride averaged 16.1 mph for two in a row. The route today came in at 42.46 miles. Average cadence moved up to 84.1 RPM even with the higher gear. It took 2:35:25 to bike this route with 30:37 stopped for a refill and snack in Porter. Mileage now stands at 90.58 for this week, 449.75 for May and 2385.42 year to date. So far my average speed for all of May stands at 15.7 versus 15.1 for April. Link to another data view at RideWithGPS.com.

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Texas Bicycling Daily News Roundup May 15th

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No biking today. Light rain fell most of the day until about 3PM. No rain for Wednesday (my prediction) so I should be back on my bike.

BikeEdinburg        @BikeEdinburg        via Twitter
I posted 4 photos on Facebook in the album “Celebrating Bike Month/Life”

BSS_Austin        @BSS_Austin        via Twitter
A photo set from @CycleCampUSA & their Marble Falls camp!

Commuter Energizer Station in Richardson for Bike to Work Day!
www.bikedfw.org
BikeDFW and Bike Freindly Richardson are partnering with DART and Richardson Bike Mart to host a bike commuter energizer station at the Arapaho Center Station on the DART Red Line to celebrate Bike to Work Day.

Stop by and visit us!
Bike Commuter Energizer Station
7:00 – 9:30 AM
May 18, 2012
Arapaho Center DART Station
Greenville Avenue near Arapaho Road
1051 N. Greenvill Ave., Richardson, TX
FREE stuff…

A Century in Italy
Lone Star Cyclists
by Dan Ford

On the morning of Friday, May 4, 2012, my determined wife, Nancy Ford, got on her little blue bike intent on completing her first ever century ride! Riding 100 miles on a bike in a single day had not been on Nancy’s “bucket list” until a recent conversation with LSC’s own RAAM Riding Randonneur, Mark Metcalf, who had told Nancy he was surprised that such a capable rider as herself had never done a century. And Nancy knew that riding 100 miles in a single day would be child’s play compared to the endurance she had developed during her 28 year teaching career. What better way to…

The Joys of Finding a Riding Partner
by Darryl        lovingthebike.com
If you haven’t noticed, I don’t have a lot of posts about cycling with partners or groups.  I’m primarily a solo cyclist, so when Mike Neifert came to me with a guest post on “The Joys of Finding a Riding Partner” I was stoked to get it up and include some content on this subject.

We’re giving Stevie the day off and felt that this post by Mike would fit in quite nicely for our #bikeschool series.  I invite you all to read Mike’s story of a solo rider who found riding partners and how it changed his cycling. …

Salado: Memorial Bike Ride Honors Cyclist Killed In Accident
Reporter: Brittany Semadeni         www.kwtx.com
SALADO (May 14, 2012)–A memorial ride, scheduled Saturday, will honor Terrence Alan Mack, an experienced bicyclist who was killed earlier this month when a pickup truck struck him.

Mack, a retired soldier, was riding with three other cyclists in Nolanville at the 900 block of West Central Texas Expressway when a silver Ford F-150 pickup came up behind the group and struck his bicycle.

Mack suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, Nolanville Police Sgt. Dave Lacroix said.

The ride will get going at 8:30 a.m. heading west on…

Ride Reaches All 50 US States!
By Chris Phelan / Contributor        healthblog.dallasnews.com
The Ride Of Silence reached up and over 300 locations world wide this morning!! Yesterday morning, about 10 am, they secured a ride location in the 50th US state. It’s going to be a good ride, tomorrow evening, 7 pm, everywhere, in silent protest and memorial.

…There are several locations taking place simultaneously in the Metroplex. Frisco, Plano, Coppell, and Ft. Worth, as well as Dallas, are all hosting Rides Of Silence to raise awareness of bicycles on the roads, their legal right to the road, and motorists legal obligation to share the road.

The rest of Texas is also participating with rides in Amarillo , Austin, Beaumont , Corpus Christi, Houston, McAllen , Midland-Odessa, Paris, San Antonio , and Sherman. …

Beaumont Ride of Silence honors cyclists killed or injured on the road
By Sarah Moore            www.beaumontenterprise.com
Southeast Texas cyclists will don black or red armbands Wednesday and take to the streets for a somber ride in memory of cyclists hit or killed while riding.

This “Ride of Silence” is one of many being held worldwide that day.

“The ride, which is held during National Bike Month, aims to raise the awareness of motorists, police and city officials that cyclists have a legal right to the public roadways,” said a statement posted on the Ride of Silence website. “The ride is also a chance to show…

Ride of Silence honors fallen riders, urges awareness
By KAREN SMITH WELCH        amarillo.com
A Ride of Silence to honor bicyclists killed or injured by motorists on Wednesday will serve as a stark reminder for drivers to be mindful that riders of bikes and motorcycles are also out on city and county roads.

This week’s ride and other events are scheduled in May as part of designated “awareness months” for bicycle and motorcycle safety.

The eighth annual Ride of Silence, sponsored by Old Tascosa Cycling and Share the Road!, will begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Potter County Courthouse, Southeast Sixth Avenue and Taylor Street. …

Moneyball for bikes: Can we use data to win the transportation game?
Author Elly            takingthelane.com
Here’s a new kind of Bikenomics — What if we could increase bicycle ridership not through general encouragement or infrastructure or culture change, but through strategic, targeted tweaks aimed at identifying potential bicycling demographics and tipping them? Or, to put it inversely, what if we could quantify barriers to bicycling and use that data to kick holes in them?

On the train on the way home from tour, we watched Moneyball. It’s a movie about the revolution in professional baseball management. The old way of picking players for teams was to try to choose the ideal player for each position; the Oakland As hired a Harvard economist who shifted their strategy…

Gator Ride
by Ken            Texas Racing Life

I saw this guy on my ride yesterday in George Bush Park.  With all the rain we have been getting in Houston, I’m sure he’s got plenty of things to eat. Even so, I was sure to keep my bike between him and I.  I was glad to stop…