Texas Bicycling Daily News Roundup May 12th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

2nd Annual Fort Worth Fat Tire Festival
by MoJo Neophyte        www.bikemojo.com
GOOD MORNING! I don’t know about you, but it looks like a great Sunday for a bicycle party! Sunny skies, cool weather and low humidity – the complete opposite of last year’s Fat Tire Festival weather (except for the sun!). Below is more info on the 2nd Annual Fat Tire Festival . . .

– Yes, Virginia, it did rain at Gateway Park and (as of Saturday morning) the trails are closed to riding. However, I was at the trail Thursday night and to be honest they needed some rain. With some sun, wind and time things should be much better later today and tomorrow. Keep checking the forum for updates on Gateway Park trail conditions throughout the day.
– Speaking of the Gateway Park trails I don’t think that I’ve seen them in better shape. Gateway has the perfect mix of elevation, flow and rhythm. Matt and Andy, as well as, the whole FWMBA gang really do have to be commended for…

Cyclists flock to FrankenBike swap meet
Pam LeBlanc, Fit City
Take a cycling fanatic to FrankenBike and watch his eyes spin like bike wheels.

Cranksets and derailleurs spread on tabletops. Bike seats and handlebars heaped on blankets. Racks of used cycling jerseys. And did we mention beer?

Open to anyone who wants to buy, sell or trade bicycles and bicycle-related gear or parts, Austin-born FrankenBike takes place monthly at rotating sites across the city. Part bike swap meet, part keg party and all bike-geek-o-rama, the latest edition unfolded on the lawn of University Cyclery on North Lamar Boulevard. “It’s a lot cheaper than buying new parts, and you can get really cool stuff,” says…

Corsicana Stage Race debuts Saturday
By Michael Kormos Corsicana Daily Sun
Corsicana — It wasn’t cars or chili or a parade filling downtown Corsicana streets Saturday — it was high performance racing bicycles speeding through the streets.

And it’s an event that could place the city on an important bicycle tour competition each year.

The Corsicana & Navarro County Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Dallas Racing Club and Corsicana Convention & Visitor Bureau hosted its inaugural…

Bike helmets, other safety/health ideas covered during Helo’s Health and Safety Day at Capp Park
By BRITTNEY BENNETT        FOR THE AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Josiah Mendoza, 4, is fitted for a new bicycle helmet by Martha Howell at the Lubbock-Crosby-Garza County Medical Society Alliance and Texas Medical Association booth during the Hero’s Health and Safety Day at Clapp Park on Saturday. The group gave away 100 free helmets. …

Ride of Silence
May 16 event to promote safe biking, driving
By Stuart Frohm        for the Midland Daily News
A silent ride by bicyclists is planned for 7 p.m. May 16 in Midland. It will be in honor and memory of cyclists injured and killed in accidents with motor vehicles on public roadways.

The Ride of Silence will be the eighth annual event in Midland.

Such rides began 10 years ago in Dallas, Texas, and are planned for more than 250 other sites around the world.

Local and area participants are asked to arrive by 6:30 p.m. at the Midland Civic Arena, 405 Fast Ice Drive off Bay City Road. Cyclists may make the entire 12-mile round trip — to H.H. Dow High School and back to the…

Walk Versus Talk
by Steve A            Dallas Point-to-Point
This Scene Captures a Sense of What FW is About – Strictly IMO
I Might as Well Have Used the PANTHER PIC – Foisted on FW by D OR “A Tale of Two Cities”

To the outside world, “DFW” is all one place. However, it really isn’t. Like many metropolitan areas, DFW has many individual cities within in it. To my “Yankee” eyes, the DFW Metroplex has a more, distinct, bipolar nature than other places I’ve lived or visited extensively. While Seattle, Everett, and Tacoma are all distinct to those that “know,” they are clearly birds of the same species. Ditto for Los Angeles and the South Bay cities – or even Anaheim. In DFW, sometimes it reminds me of an echo of life on either side of the Berlin Wall. I was reminded of this yesterday when I happened to have to go into Downtown Fort Worth on the same day I checked…

CyclingATX        @CyclingATX        via Twitter
Today we posted our 1st cyclingatx.com Featured Partner Video of the Week from Bicycle Sport Shop. Check it…

What Hemerocallis? – May 12th Bicycle Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Today’s ride got a late start at 2:18 PM. The original plan called for us to go to the area cycling competition for the Special Olympics at Memorial Park in Houston. Our niece was scheduled to ride in several events. But overnight some rain storms rolled in and dumped an inch or more in some areas around Memorial Park. So the competition got modified and we did not go. With the change in plans my wife wanted to go to a day lily show and sale on Watonga Drive in Houston. So off we went to the Houston Hemerocallis and Houston Area Day Lily Society show and sale.

Around 10 AM the weather started to clear up for our trip to the show and sale. This held while we looked, shopped and drove back home. After a lunch stop at Whataburger I got ready for the ride. The temperature during the ride was 81 to 82 degrees. The light NNW wind at 10 mph had a coolness to it that negated the warmth from the partly cloudy sky enough to make it very pleasant. Starting out north I wanted to get a longer ride in since I did not ride yesterday. The route I chose was a good fit with a headwind for the first 20 miles becoming a tailwind for the majority of the ride after that point. This favorable scenario allowed me to kick up the speed to the point I averaged 16.2 mph. This was so good the 25 to 30 mile split averaged 19.6 mph. To go along with this my max speed hit 25.1 mph. I was feeling good once the wind came from behind. Before that I did not think these speeds would come to pass. The slideshow shows the breakdown of the time and distance for each speed zone. The riding time totaled 2:41:11 with 30:46 stopped.

Mileage numbers:

  • today 43.54 miles
  • this week 168.08 miles
  • May 333.74 miles
  • year to date 2269.41 miles

[iframe http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/177503522 500 560]

Alternate data view at RideWithGPS.com

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for May 11th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Bicyclist dies in crash with Galveston school bus
By Harvey Rice, Houston Chronicle
GALVESTON — A Galveston school bus loaded with Ball High School students struck and killed an adult bicyclist on Friday, police and school officials said.

The bus struck the bicyclist about 4:10 p.m. as it turned east onto Broadway Boulevard from 51st Street, Galveston police Lt. Michael Gray said. Gray said emergency medical personnel declared the bicyclist dead at the scene. He…

BSS_Austin        @BSS_Austin        via Twitter

Don’t mess with Texas!

TourduRouge        @TourduRouge    via Twitter

Snappy our handsome #TourDuRouge mascot goes up for auction. He brings in $275 for the #RedCrossRide.

TourduRouge        @TourduRouge    via Twitter

#TourDuRouge Thanks to our top fundraiser, Jose!

GeorgetownGrand        @GeorgetownGrand    via Twitter

Lovin’ the schwag! The first 750 criterium or Grand Tour participants get this awesome drawstring bag & pint glass

TMA to Give Away More Than 2,000 Bicycle Helmets to Texas Children
Contact: Pam Udall
phone: (512) 370-1382
cell: (512) 413-6807
Pam Udall
Contact: Brent Annear
phone: (512) 370-1381
cell: (512) 656-7320
Brent Annear
WHAT: To protect children from head injuries and encourage fitness, the Texas Medical Association’s (TMA’s) Hard Hats for Little Heads program will give away more than 2,000 bicycle helmets in May, which is Bike Month.
WHEN: May 3-23, 2012
WHERE: Communities statewide, including yours (see schedule below)
WHO: TMA physicians, medical students, TMA Alliance members (TMA physician volunteers and TMA members’ spouses), and county medical societies (CMSs)

Texas physicians want to ensure Texas children are doing all they can to stay safe. Wearing a bicycle helmet, and wearing it correctly, is a simple way to prevent injury. Head injury is the most common cause of death and serious disability from bike crashes. …

Meeting Minutes – May 7
by salsaTopp        Brazos Valley Mountain Bike Association
J-P shared with the adventures of the Colorado Bend camping weekend. If you missed the meeting, you can catch up via Mike’s written account.
Trail Maintenance

will be this Saturday at 8am. The WEST side is currently caked in poison ivy. If you are coming out to help be sure to wear long pants/sleeves. The powerline stretch has very high grass and a large crack running along it that is large enough for 2? tires to get caught in. If you are choosing to ride the west side, please ride with…

Bike fashion, bike theater and more!
By Pam LeBlanc            Fit City
It turns out some people can ride a bike while wearing stilettos. Also, some actors can pedal a bicycle across a stage while performing their lines.

You can witness both of these amazing feats for yourself, as Austin celebrates Bike Month. All kinds of cool and wacky bicycle-themed events are popping up around Austin.

Here are a few you shouldn’t miss: …

Travel Picks: Top 10
by Reuters


Austin, Texas Austin is famous for its music scene and breakfast tacos, though not so well-known for its bike scene. Since one of cycling’s greatest celebrities, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, calls Austin home, it’s understandable …

ARMY ENGINEER RAISES $10,000, CYCLES 350 MILES IN HONOR OF WOUNDED VETERANS
www.militaryaerospace.com
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., May 8 — The U.S. Army issued the following news release:
A U.S. Army veteran turned engineer raised more than $10,000 cycling across Texas for wounded veterans.

David A. McClung rode 350 miles alongside wounded warriors and their supporters in the Ride 2 Recovery, or R2R, Don’t Mess with Texas Challenge, April 16-22.

McClung works for the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s communications-electronics center, or CERDEC, as an engineer in the Command, Power & Integration Directorate. He serves as the U.S. Army Electronic Proving Ground director for the…

Joint Reserve Base bike ride to bring out cyclists with ‘the right stuff’
fortworthtexas.gov
Fort Worth is used to hearing F-16s, F-18s and other military aircraft, but this Saturday at the Fort Worth Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, it will be Mayor Betsy Price’s bike roaring down the runway.

Join military reservists and other experienced cyclists from around Cowtown for a fast-paced ride around the base. The ride, part of the mayor’s rolling town hall series, will give participants a chance to ask the mayor questions while touring one of Fort Worth’s most…

Tour of Places Named after Sam Houston
by mattivonkessing
Our adventure went something like this: on Saturday we raced around in (adjacent to?) the expansive Sam Houston National Forest.  After spending the remainder of the day relaxing in said forest, we broke camp in the morning and loaded the bikes onto the car to drive to the city of the same namesake to race around another park named after the chap.  Somewhere in between A and B, we passed up an opportunity to drive on his highway.  After the race on Sunday, we even had supper with…

Dehydration While Mountain Biking
by Shawn            Texas Mountain Bike Trails
Last weekend was the Bicycle Plus Blowout cross-country race here in Dallas Texas. It was a great race and I had a ton of fun racing, but I watched as racer after racer began to suffer from dehydration and heat related issues. I even watched as one man had to be carried the last 2 miles of the course by another rider, he was so worn down from the high heat that he couldn’t stand up. This was the first really hot day this year in Dallas with…

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for May 10th

Texbiker.net Posted on by

@bikegeek        via Twitter
Threaded the needle thru waves of storms. Dry bike commute to/from the office. Whew!

@AustinCycling        via Twitter
Volunteering for the #Armadillo has its advantages! ow.ly/aLDaw Positions still available!!

Guy Finds Stolen Bike on Craigslist, Steals It Back
via Newser by Evann Gastaldo
When Danny Lesh found his stolen bike listed for sale on Craigslist and police couldn’t help him right away, he decided to take matters into his own hands. The $600 Cannondale hybrid, which had a prominent identifying sticker on it, was listed for sale for $100 and Lesh arranged to…

Concrete BMX park in Cedar Park? Parks Advisory Board Meeting Monday, May 14th at 6:30pm
by Il Pirate        Austin Ridge Riders
Cedar Park riders……
There is going to be a meeting in Cedar Park to discuss a concrete BMX park. This could be an opportunity to get something really big going in Cedar Park. There has been discussion regarding a progressive trail system as well. My wife and I have already scouted close to 20 miles of piece-meal existing trail (game trails, walking trails, jeep trail, etc.) on 4 connected tracts of land. The meeting is Monday May 14th. …

Austin Downtown REI — Yellow Bike and REI Bike Drive
by Il Pirate        Austin Ridge Riders
REI Austin Downtown will host a bike drive on Saturday, May 26th. Austin’s Yellow Bike Project (YBP) will be accepting bikes and parts at any level of completeness and disrepair. Donated bikes will be fixed up by YBP volunteers, who’ll learn while they work, and put back into action on Austin streets. All bikes are welcome, but in an effort to help kids get…

San Antonio Residents – Vote Saturday May 12 for Better Roads for Biking
www.biketexas.org
On May 12, 2012 San Antonio voters will have the opportunity to vote on $596 million in capital improvements – better streets, safer sidewalks, reduced flooding and new and improved parks, libraries, fire stations and museums – all over the city. This is an opportunity to invest in San Antonio’s future, but only if voters step up…

Mother’s Day Weekend Special – Pantego to Lillian
Pace: Touring with a Fast Pace Option
Date: Saturday, May 12, 2012 – 8:00am
Location: Pantego Christian Academy, 2201 W Park Row Dr, Arlington (between Bowen and Fielder)
Join Connie for a fun morning of cycling on this Mother’s Day weekend. You already got a card for Mom, right? If not, you may be doing the short route!

Park in the Pantego Christian Academy High School parking lot. For those of you who remember back that far, it’s where the old Stripling & Cox store used to be. It’s the Park Row West shopping center…

BikeTexas Continues Innovation Streak with Groupon Grassroots
Alliance for Biking & Walking: People Powered Blog
Only weeks after receiving their Alliance Advocacy Award for Innovation, BikeTexas is at it again. As part of their campaign to promote safe cycling, the organization is providing complimentary bike lights to Texas riders. To raise funds for this outreach, they have turned to a unique new source for good.

On Earth Day, the online daily deal site Groupon marshaled its resources to promote community benefits and re-launched their support of nonprofit initiatives in Groupon Grassroots. As with other Groupon…

QBP recalls Salsa Minimalist racks
WASHINGTON, DC (BRAIN) Thursday May 10 2012 10:00 AM MT—Quality Bicycle Products is recalling about 1,100 Salsa Minimalist racks because the mounting straps can break.

QBP has received reports of two racks failing, resulting in minor injuries due to falls, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The recall involves all Salsa Minimalist bicycle racks sold after January 2011. The racks are made of tubular aluminum with a black or silver finish, and can be installed on either the front or rear of a bicycle. The recalled bicycle racks have steel mounting straps with a single hole in the…

Bikerumor Bike Shop Video Challenge: Jack & Adam’s Bicycles – Austin, TX
by Kristibee        www.bikerumor.com

President George W. Bush joins in on W100 Wounded Warrior ride
by AdamNewman        DirtRag
No matter which end of the political spectrum you fall on, you have to respect former President George W. Bush’s ability to tear up a trail. It’s quite possible he was the most physically fit president we’ve ever had.

On April 26-28, 2012, 19 servicemen and women wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan joined President Bush for the W100, a 100 kilometer mountain bike ride in Palo Duro Canyon State Park. As part of the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s Military Service Initiative, the W100 highlights the bravery and sacrifice of the warriors…

Changing Judy Into Madeleine
by Steve A            Dallas Point-to-Point
I’m in no real rush here. Part of the enjoyment of a new bike is changing it into what you wish it to be. In many ways, it is very akin to what James Stewart did when he asked Judy to change into Madeleine.

The Mercier, when it arrived, was both pretty complete, but strangely lacking at the same time. A couple of photos illustrating the situation, follow. Definitely not something you’d get from a bike show. Also not something…

Review – Solo Classique Cycling Jersey
by Christopher Curnutt        Biking in Dallas
Dave Patterson wearing the Solo Classique Cycle Jersey

I recently got my hands on a Solo cycle jersey for review.  Solo Cycle Clothing (“race-bred cyclewear) is based in New Zealand and only entered the USA market recently.  I don’t typically get excited about sport cycle wear but…

Omni Fort Worth Hotel plans to help its guests hit the bike trails
By Barry Shlachter, Scott Nishimura and Sandra Baker
Star-Telegram Staff Writers
Cowtown is building a cycling culture. And the Omni Fort Worth Hotel eagerly announced last month that it would offer guests free use of bicycles around downtown or along the Trinity beginning May 1.

May Day came and went, however, and more than a week later, Omni marketing executive Larry Auth said he’s still in talks with a local bike shop to set up what the hotel is calling the Trinity Trails Bicycle…

Corsicana, chamber prepare for debut of bicycle racing weekend
By Paul Hooper Corsicana and Navarro County Chamber of Commerce
CORSICANA – The Corsicana & Navarro County Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Dallas Racing Club and Corsicana Convention & Visitor Bureau will be hosting our first annual Corsicana Stage Race this weekend, May 12 and 13. The race, part of the Texas Bicycle Racing Association Texas Cup Series, will attract competitors from all corners of Texas and beyond. Racers will descend on Corsicana for a weekend of action packed racing. Like the Tour de France, racers will take part in several stages…

Common Terms and Signals on a Group Ride
by sooner1            Shawnee Trail Cycling Club
Below are some of the common verbal signals expected on Shawnee Trail Cycling Club rides.  Being consistent in your communication is essential in a group ride.  Using unexpected commands leaves those cyclists behind you clueless and can lead to an accident. Don’t make up signals because you think they may be…

25th Annual Cross Timbers Classic in Fort Worth, TX
by WB admin            The Wheel Brothers – Cycling in Texas
The 25th Annual Cross Timbers Classic benefiting Northwest Metroport Chamber of Commerce and Flower Mound Rotary invites you to join their upcoming ride happening on May 19, 2012 at Texas Motor Speedway

We were lucky enough to be granted an interview with Jill Burns, Event Coordinator of Cross Timbers Classic to ask some questions about their upcoming ride.

Why join the this year’s ride?
To meet friendly volunteers and enjoy the beautiful North Texas countryside.

How long has the event been around?
It’s our 25th anniversary this year! Every rider who crosses the finish line will receive a…