Today I biked 36.22 miles under a clear blue sky. The string of days with this sky could end after today so I wanted to bike a little further than a typical weekday ride. The generally northerly route put the wind behind me for the first 15 miles. After I got out of the residential area and could maintain a steady speed with the tailwind I made up the 1:57 I needed to get the average speed up 15.0 mph.From then on the 5 mile splits’ average speed exceeded my goal of 15.0 mph until the last 6 miles when I returned the start and stop in the residential streets in Kingwood. Overall my average speed was 15.3 mph. I spent 1:32:02 (64.8% of the total ride time) at 17.1 mph to get that average speed. The max speed hit 21.5 mph.
With the cloudless sky and 83 to 86 degree temperature the day was my idea of a perfect biking day. Throw in the low humidity of 37% and that just added to the pleasure. There was one point as I neared Riverwalk Drive on FM1314 the wind seemed to pickup and I stood on the pedals to keep my speed up. There with 16 mph gusts but I think that one time must have been higher. It could have been affected by the passing traffic on FM1314. My 80.4 RPM average cadence confirms that my legs powered me into the gusts when needed.
Some of the numbers:
2:21:59 biking time
38:40 stopped time (at the FM1314 Valero station eating Kettle chips and a Diet Pepsi)
May is National Bike Month
League of Amercan Bicyclists
National Bike Month is an opportunity to celebrate the unique power of the bicycle and the many reasons we ride. Whether you bike to work or school; to save money or time; to preserve your health or the environment; to explore your community or get to your destination, get involved in Bike…
On tour: Is Houston the next bicycle capitol of the US?
Author Elly         takingthlane.com
“Houston is the sleeper — the next big bicycle city that nobody knows about yet,†Tom McCasland told us on Thursday.
I was, of course, skeptical. My impression of Houston so far was all potholes, unpredictable driving, the chaotic geography of a city without zoning, and only a few sightings of hardy bicyclists. A conversation the night before with our host, a bike advocate, hadn’t altered that impression much. Besides, aren’t…
HBC Sealy West Ride
Sat 05/05/12
Distances: 32(A), 43(B), 48(B), 60(C) miles
Ride rolling pasture land to Bernardo, and Cat Springs. Long route visits New Ulm. Stores in Bernardo and New Ulm. 53 miles W on I-10 to Sealy (45 miles west of 610 loop), north on TX-36 to 2nd light, left to Abe and Irene Levine Family Park. Park on 4th Street, South side of the park.
Waco Bicycle Club Ride
Eastland Lakes Ln, Waco
When: Monday 06:00 PM
What: Road/race
Contact: Spencer Jewell
Phone: 254-644-3803
Distance:Â 10.6
2nd Monday of every month.
Bullis County Park Ride
San Antonio Wheelmen
Date: Â Â Â 05/05/2012
Time: Â Â Â 08:00 AM-11:00 AM
Location: Â Â Â San Antonio, TX
Details: Bullis Park Ride (N) [R to H]. Routes of 21, 34, 48 and 66 miles.
Ride some familiar roads from a great starting spot. Meet at Bullis County Park on Blanco Road between Borgfeld and Old Blanco roads. From Loop 1604, take Blanco Road north about 8 miles. Inside the park, please park only on paved areas. If parking inside is full, park outside along the road.
Did you buy a used bike?
Study: Used bike owners ride more, buy more
ALLENTOWN, PA (BRAIN) Monday April 23 2012 11:45 AM MT—Owners of bikes they bought used ride more, buy more, and visit bike shops more often than owners of bikes they bought new, according to a new study.
Used-bike owners also ride their bikes to work more often than owners of new bikes, and, in what the researchers called a big surprise, they are wealthier: 22 percent of owners with household incomes of $200,000 or more own a bicycle they purchased used, compared to 12.5 percent that own a bicycle they purchased new, said Elliot Gluskin, managing partner of The Gluskin Townley Group, which…
Austin Rattler 100 2012 results
by Singletrack.com
Brief results
1 Tristan Uhl in 4:43:27
2 Kristoffer Nielsen
3 Adam Gaubert
4 Tracy Martin
5 Robbie Robinette
6 Alec Petro
7 Paul Dalton
8 Eric Hess
9 DeBoisblanc/Duncan…
2012 State Championships
by League Director         Texas High School Cycling League
Make sure that you are going to be at the upcoming TXHSCL High School State Championships May 5th & 6th in Coldspring and Houston, Texas.  Our H.S. state championship RR will be great and is on a beautiful course amidst scenic pine trees and the high school state championship crit is along a neat parkway right in downtown Houston. The crit is super spectator friendly and is a big party atmosphere all day long. It is also put on by one…
The Austin Flyers 5-part Skills Series for Women starts Tuesday
by elliott         Austin on Two Wheels
Ladies looking to start road racing/riding or improve your skills, take note: The Austin Flyers are hosting a 5-part Skills Series for Women starting this Tuesday, April 24, out at the Driveway, 8400 Delwau Lane,, and will be continuing these once per month through August.
This series is not just for ladies who want to race. The series will work on a range of skills that will not only help you be a safer, more competitive racer, but also a safer, stronger, and smarter rider. Pace lines, group…
Seen at the Deep Ellum Bike Co-op Fundraiser
by Christopher Curnutt         Biking in Dallas
Switching Gears Cyclery hosted a fun raiser to help the Deep Ellum Bike Co-op. There was a group ride and then party where beer and BBQ was served mixed with sunshine, Frisbee, and some of us played in the on-site photography studio. This occurred after the Dallas Cycle Style Cyclist Census…
Cyclist Census – Excitement and Apology
by UrbanPedal
We just looked through all the photos from yesterday’s Cyclist Census and are blown away at all the great shots! So many of our friends and lots of complete strangers to us had their photos taken – we laughed and cried…. (no we didn’t really cry.) We had some really great photographers shooting this year.
So a big thank you to our photographers who spent their Saturday with all of you. And a big thank you to all the cyclists who either took the afternoon to take a photo (or visit multiple photographers in some cases) or got…
GHORBA Greatness
www.imba.com
The Greater Houston Off Road Bicycle Association (GHORBA) has been doing big things to improve mountain biking opportunities around Houston. One thing they have been doing lately is taking on an increased roll in getting important work accomplished in the design, review, construction, and maintenance of new and proposed trails. The group’s earlier hard work and successes on other trail projects has helped area land managers come to view GHORBA as a source of…
Bicycle Polo surges across Texas
by Charles Scott of The Daily Campus   www.pegasusnews.com
Take a little bit of bike dork, mix it in with a pinch of jock, and what do you get? A “hardcourt†Bicycle Polo player.
Dallas is home to more than 100 of them. Hardcourt Bicycle Polo has reached a new level of popularity in recent years, says Dylan Holt, a veteran of the sport and a founder of the Dallas Bicycle Polo club. …
Palo Duro Canyon destination for Bush, site of next wounded warrior bicycle ride
KAREN SMITH WELCHÂ Amarillo Globe-News
Presidential wheels rolling through Palo Duro Canyon could create some positive spin for the state park’s rugged mountain-biking trails and other features, according to those involved in events related to the The Bush Center Warrior 100K Ride.
Former President George W. Bush will bring the three-day, 100-kilometer ride to Palo Duro Canyon State Park Thursday through Saturday.
The ride is designed to draw attention to the service and sacrifice of military men and women wounded in the war on…
…Once clocks struck 8 a.m., a ringing bell signaled the beginning of the criterium races. It also signaled the end of any momentum the cycling Tigers hoped to carry over from Saturday. Cyclists from the University of Texas at Austin swept the men’s D podium. The growing crowd’s enthusiasm remained high, carrying LSU to a third-place finish in the men’s C category. …
Texas/Texas State Race Report
by Nicole      cyclesharp.com
Leading the pain train
On the eve of the team’s departure for the Tulane race, I discovered a cyclist’s worst nightmare. My Cervelo’s carbon fiber frame was cracked around the seat tube, rendering my frame un-rideable. Instead of racing that weekend, I went back to the shop where I’d gotten the bike, and, thankfully, they took care of me. It took awhile to get the new frame in, though, so I rode the following race…
Riding My Bike Easy
texasbaptists.org
Riding my bike is easy. Riding from San Antonio to Dallas… easy.
I get to rest every 20 miles. I am off my bike by 2:30 p.m. (usually). The view is incredible. The conversation is rich. I get plenty to eat and drink along the way. Texas Baptist churches love and feed us every night. I sleep in a comfortable bed every night. Easy.
Riding my bike gives me an opportunity to worship God. The wind breezes past my body and it reminds me that God is near. The road reminds me that I am on a journey and must submit to what’s ahead. Looking too far ahead can crush your spirit. You must focus on the immediate. The breeze hits and reminds you that God is near. The moments after cresting a hill…
FIELD NOTES
By Pam LeBlanc      www.austin360.com
Desert adventure worth the stings, stabs, sears, scrapes
The best part about my latest adventure in the Big Bend?
Between nights spent snoozing in a tent under star-packed skies, cacti blooming with flowers so purple they looked like colored tissue paper and rock-strewn trails that twist through the prickliest scenery in Texas, it’s hard to choose.
We started our three-day, two-wheeled scramble through Big Bend Ranch State Park at the Barton Warnock Visitor Center, where I met a two-day-old orphan javelina (more below).
By noon, I had 16 rugged miles under my drawstring cycling shorts. Before the trip ended, our mangy group of six bicyclists (and a couple of very fine support drivers) had passed an old mercury…
Secret Service studies trails
By Kevin Welch          amarillo.com
…“There’s definitely a lot of preparation work on the front end,†Palo Duro Canyon State Park Superintendent Cory Evans said.
Bill Clinton will speak at 8 p.m. Tuesday at West Texas A&M University’s First United Bank Center. Then George W. Bush will bike the trails of the state park Thursday through Saturday with 20 “wounded warriors†picked for their bravery and sacrifices in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The Secret Service advance teams have been coming in looking at the routes,†Evans said. “It’s gone really smoothly. Folks with security have come out and ridden the trails and become…
Presidential ride could enhance Palo Duro Canyon’s popularity
By KAREN SMITH WELCH Â Â Â Â Â Â amarillo.com
Presidential wheels rolling through Palo Duro Canyon could create some positive spin for the state park’s rugged mountain-biking trails and other features, according to those involved in events related to the The Bush Center Warrior 100K Ride.
President George W. Bush will bring the three-day, 100-kilometer ride to Palo Duro Canyon State Park Thursday through Saturday. The ride is designed to draw attention to the service and sacrifice of military men and women wounded in the war on terrorism, spokeswoman…
Runners, walkers, cyclists celebrate new Colleyville trail
By Nicholas Sakelaris      www.star-telegram.com
COLLEYVILLE – A new section of the Cottonbelt Trail officially opened in Colleyville, linking Hurst, North Richland Hills and Colleyville along the railroad.
The April 19 ribbon cutting drew avid cyclists, City Council members and city officials to celebrate the opening of phase 2 of the Cottonbelt Trail expansion.
Mayor David Kelly called the 10-foot-wide trail a “low tech” way to connect with friends in a high-tech world.
“It connects us to each other,” Kelly said as he addressed the crowd. “Not as videos, or as holograms or as avatars or other animated images in this high tech landscape, but as living human beings – face to…
@SCCCCÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â via Twitter
Men A road race sprint finish (from UT Cycling)
The topic for today was the BP MS150. I stopped at a restaurant in Kings Harbor and a couple coming out asked me if I rode the MS150 and then talked about their ride. Saturday the head wind made for very slow biking. They said at times they moved at 5 mph or less. Sunday they saw many people getting in the SAG wagons not because of the Sunday weather but the after effects of Saturday. According to them the wind dropped off a lot on Sunday and the weather was perfect if you had strength left. I told them about my last time to ride the MS150 in 1988 and the high wind we faced on Sunday (it happened in March back then). I am afraid I sounded like an old timer. They ride with a group from Better Bikes in Atascocita on Saturdays.
Later I stopped at the Family Dollar store in Huffman and while I ate some crackers & cheese an older man going into the store asked if I rode in the MS150. I said no and he replied he didn’t think he could do it either.
The last time I biked to the south I thought I would try a different route into Atascocita the time. So today I checked Google Maps before leaving on the ride to see which streets I should go on. Since I do not go on the streets I made a note of the streets to take but when I got there I could not remember which one to turn onto from Lonesome Woods Trail in Atascocita. So I winged it and made my way to Aerobic Ave. (a fitting name) which I knew would take me across W. Lake Houston Parkway into Walden at Lake Houston. From there I wandered around until I got back on my normal route headed to Huffman. This route ended up at 32.16 miles, a nice variation on my typical Huffman loop.
With a third day in a row of brilliant blue sky and 80 degree temperature biking felt great even though the NW 7 mph wind jumped up to 18.6 mph at times with the gusts. The wind direction seemed to move around sometimes so I would hit patches of road where I thought the wind would not be a problem and I would bog down. My average speed ended at 15.1 mph, 24.8 mph max speed and 80.2 RPM average cadence. At the end of the ride I did notice a few wispy clouds in the western sky trying to make their way in.
My legs recovered from yesterday’s ride nicely so I felt some power which I needed going west across Lake Houston on FM1960. The wind tried to slow me down. I should be ready for more biking tomorrow.
To celebrate the great weather I put the top down on my Jeep Wrangler and added the bikini top for some shade.
Some ride statistics:
2:07:45 riding time
40:48 time stopped (talking to people,eating at Family Dollar and my son-in-law on the phone, tech support)
Today I listened to the The Outspoken Cyclist podcast. One of the segments the host interviewed Jock Boyer, the first American to ride in the Tour de France. Jock spends a lot of his time helping Team Rowanda. He talks about the difficulties of a bicycle team coming together in a country that suffered a huge crisis. This is worth listening to. The next time you want to complain about biking in the US think about Rowanda.
Updated! Gallery: Austin Rattler 100
singletrack.competitor.com (75 photos)
Mountain bikers from throughout the United States raced Saturday for a chance to compete in the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race. The Austin Rattler in Austin, Texas, was the first event of the six-race Leadville Qualifying Series. Photo: James Cassimus
Seen at the Dallas Cycle Style Census Shoot
by Christopher Curnutt      Biking in Dallas
These are some of the images we saw on Saturday when we were shooting photos from Main Street Garden. None of the images you see her are the ones submitted to the project, those will be up for viewing soon at Dallas Cycle Style. Once again a big thanks to Susan Reeves for spending much…
Cross-State Bike Ride Supports Injured Veterans
by Sharrie Williams         dfw.cbslocal.com
Arlington (CBSDFW.COM) – Smiles could be seen on the faces of more than 200 cyclists as they rode into Arlington today.
It marks the end of a week long journey that could make a lifetime difference for Unites States veterans.
Hundreds took part in a cross-state cycling event called Ride 2 Recovery.
The seven day Texas Challenge task began at Brooke Army Medical Center’s Center for the Intrepid in San Antonio with a route that carried the cyclists through central Texas with overnight stops in San Marcos, Austin, Ft. Hood, Waco and Cleburne and concluded in…
Specialized Womens Ride
APRIL 28, 2012
Richardson BikeMart
Richardson Location Ride -Â RBM Richardson Location ride will leave at 9:30 am. The ride will depart from the shop and head to Custer Park and back, totaling about 9 miles in all. This ride will be mostly on the paved bicycle path and some roads. There are no fees associated with this ride, just show up with your bike and helmet and enjoy the ride. If you have no bicycle or have questions please email Anne at ablankenship@bikemart.com.
Dallas Location Ride -Â RBM Dallas Location ride will leave at 9:30 am. The ride will depart from the shop and head to White Rock Lake for one lap around the lake, totaling about 10 miles in all. This ride will be on the paved bicycle path around White Rock Lake and…
Road Bike Rides
San Angelo Bicycling Association
Monday Group Ride:
Intermediate/Beginner. All levels welcome. Starts at 6:00 PM from Mary E. Lee Park. Just under 14 miles. Moderate pace, designated rest/re-group spots. Flat to moderate hills.
Tuesday-Loop Group. Starts at TxDOT at 6:00-6:15 PM. 20, 25, and 30 mile options. Groups ride continuous, NO designated rest/re-group spots. All levels are welcome. It is a San Angelo ride versus a SABA ride. If you are Intermediate or below, it is best to let the Fast/Advanced riders lead out to…
@TAMUCycling      via Twitter
AMCT wins the SCCCC 2011-2012 Team Omnium! Points are combined from the road, cyclocross, track and MTB seasons.
Fiesta Wildflower   @grandpajerald      via Twitter
Great day
Fiesta Wildflower   @grandpajerald      via Twitter
Fiesta WildFlower 2012 very hot after 12 .80 Miles with group then 20 miles slow,great ride.next to the last rest stop
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