Texas Bicycling Daily News Roundup for March 25th

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Spring Six Pack MTB Race Series – Race 1
Location: Amarillo, TX
Contact: Sun Adventure Sports Amarillo
Details: Spring MTB race series @ Girl Scout Trails. Cat 1,2,and 3 with age groups. $ payouts in each cat and age group, $ for end of series top finishers in each cat and age group. 25$ entry and you can drop one race in series standings, only five races count towards series totals.
Sun Adventure
Here is a list of whats going on this week.
4/1 Race #2 of the Sun Adventure Spring6Pack race series @ Palo Duro Canyon @ 10am, registration starts @ 8:30am. Call Sun Adventure 4 details.

Monday-OTC No Drop road ride from Gander @ 6pm
Tuesday-Hammerfest road ride from Hollywood theater @ 6pm
Wednesday-OTC Road ride from Gander 6pm

FREE Repair clinics at 10am, every Saturday Sun Adventure. Bring your bike in and learn how to work on it. No question to big or to small

March 31st Chilly Hilly Half Marathon and 5K
9:00AM at Wildcat Bluff On-Line Registration

March 31st 5K Bustin’ for Justin and The Perryton Preemies Run/Walk
10:00AM at Whigham Park Perryton, TX

El Paso Bicycle Club Ride
Saturday, April 7
Easter Hop-8:00 am
Description:     Meet at Rio Plaza (6205 Upper Valley Rd at Artcraft) for holiday ride to La Union and Border Crossing. 30 miles, moderate to fast pace. Rick Rivas, 8915-67-7199.

Tyler Bicycle Club / East Texas Triathletes 2012 Time Trial series*
First Series (Spring):
Dates: March 29,  April 12, April 26, May 10, May 24, and June 7 (Thursday evenings–2 weeks apart)
Time: First rider starts at 6:30 but please arrive at 6 PM for registration and warm-up.
Cost: Free to Tyler Bike Club and East Texas Triathletes members.  Dues must be current and paid in advance!  Insurance regulations do not allow for joining either club at the…

Manor Road Race Day 1 Results
teambrainandspinecycling.com
Great turn out by the team today at the J. Lorraine Ghost Town for some Manor racing!  Here are some of the results.
Women Open: Kim Ciolli – 2nd, Celina Richardson – 4th, Lindy Alton – 7th, Tiffani Harkrider – 8th
Women Cat 4: Kelly Martinez – 3rd
Men Cat 3: Jeromie Payne – 6th
Men Cat 4: Mark Moze – 19th
Masters 40+ 1/2/3/4: Mark Jansen – 2nd, Larry Blanchard – 7th, James Murff – 19th, Rob Eason – 20th, Jorge “Part Timer” Martinez
Masters 50+ 1/2/3/4: Will Visser – 7th, John Collins – 12th, Jason Newman – 14th, Charles “Attack Dude” Bippert
Masters 35+ 4/5:  Barry Conlan – 28th,  Rance Ivie  – 40th, Phil Durham – 42nd, Gary “Dang Hill” Obernalte, Grant “There goes the hamstring” Woolf

A&MCHS Mountain Bike Team Race #1
by ajpwilkerson            Brazos Valley Mountain Bike Association

The inaugural Texas High School Mountain Bike League race took place at Rocky Hill Ranch this past weekend, 24-25 March. Our own local team, the A&M Consolidated High School Team, was one of 7 teams that participated in this ground-breaking event, and man, did they earn their stripes at this one. Between the 6 racers, they had a jersey-eating tree encounter, a lost shoe incident, a couple of wayward chains, a front wheel come loose on a downhill, a corner collecting a skidmark and a tumble, a disintegrating headset, and a flat requiring an…

Big Event wrapup
by ajpwilkerson            Brazos Valley Mountain Bike Association

Big Event happened this weekend – thanks to the Masters of Real Estate, 3 trail runner class participants, one mountain bike class participant, and one volunteer (sorry, I don’t have the list for the names), as well as Barry, James, Christopher, Kerry, Gina, Brad and Will, Colin and Dina, Ali, and Mike for coming out and putting muscle to the trail! We fixed the Munnerlyn uphill, the Game Trail downhill, and moved a bridge. The trails were still…

Bessies Creek 24 – Texas Ultra Cup Challenge
bikebrookshire.com
The 2012 edition of Bessies Creek 24 cycling races will be held over the weekend of April 14/15. Spring riding is a wonderful time of the year to be cycling in southeast Texas.

Racers will be treated to a profusion of brilliant wildflowers inhabiting the lush verges bordering the  course; bluebonnets, Indian paintbrushes and cornflowers are just a few of the dozens of varieties of wild flowers which bloom this time of the year in southeast…

Denton bike riders aim to beat rare disease
by DEBBIE DENMON        www.wfaa.com

DENTON — Earlier this week, we introduced you to Natalie Newman, a 13-year-old girl with a rare disease. She’s hoping to beat the odds, and her dream is inspiring hundreds of other people — many of whom hit the road Saturday in Denton. The Ride for Ataxia is a rare race for a rare disease; only the second bike ride of its kind in Texas to raise money and offer education about…

Visit the link to Don’s blog to see some unusual animals enjoying the wildflowers.

Cycling – 61 miles of Wildflowers on March 24, 2012
by donbynum            Don Bynum’s Blog

On Saturday 24 March, Don Senzig and I made a pilgrimage to enjoy the great wildflower show on some favorite back-country roads out west of Lake Buchanan in northeastern Llano County.  Don did it on his road bike and I rode my Catrike Road.  My Garmin Heart Rate Monitor/GPS thinks I burned just under 4,000 calories.  For folks not in as good a shape as the two of us (average age about 72!) you can drive this route in your car.  If you do choose to drive, for Pete’s sake roll down all the windows and enjoy the smells of spring as well as the sights. …

RIDE of SILENCE, MAY 16 @ Potter County Courthouse
Old Tascosa Cycling Club
Amarillo’s 8th annual participation in the internationally observed memorial bicycle RIDE OF SILENCE is May 16 (Wednesday) at Potter County Courthouse, Taylor St @ 6th Ave. Assembly is at 6:30 PM with rollout at 7 PM. A post-ride social gathering will be held on the beautiful new lawn so pack your lawn chairs, etc. This is a free, slow-paced ride without talking, open to all riders and hosted each year by OTC in conjunction with Share the ROAD!. APD police escort service is provided for our 6-8 mile ride at 10 MPH.

Steam N Wheels
by Roy and Christine        Pedal Pushers

Steam-N-Wheels is the one race per year that Christine and I participate in. Located in Abilene some 90 miles up the road from San Angelo, it is a popular event for the San Angelo cyclists. One person stated he counted 25 from San Angelo, I found a few. …

Bob Simonette (@bongo_bob)    via Twitter
89 Miles yesterday, 43 tomorrow, enjoying perfect cycling weather in Central Texas!

Marshall Glasgow (@MGlasgow)    via Twitter
Rode out to Washington on the Brazos on this beautiful Texas morning with @alisonzs.

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for March 24th

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5th Annual LBJ 100 Bicycle Tour
The organizers of the 5th LBJ 100 Bicycle Tour would like to express their heartfelt thanks to all the volunteer helpers, who put in endless hours of patient work, mostly behind the scenes, but also at the early packet pick-ups and on the day of the tour itself, helpers without whose efforts this great event would not have been possible, and – of course – we would like to thank all our generous sponsors, too.

A special and heartfelt thank you to all the Rangers of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, without whose invaluable and tireless help this event would not have been possible.

And last but not least we’d also like to thank all of the nearly 1,400 the riders  for their attendance as it is only them that make such an event a real success. And we’d especially…

Levi’s Commuter Jeans Launch Parties
urbanvelo.org
Levi’s is throwing a series of launch parties again this year, with the first coming up on March 29th in San Francisco, with other parties in Austin, LA, Philadelphia and New York coming up throughout the spring. Look for another round this summer in Chicago, Portland and Minneapolis.

 South Llano River State Park – Junction, TX
by creativepart            forums.mtbr.com
Spent part of the week at South Llano River State Park in Junction. It’s a really nice little State Park 7 miles South of Junction. It’s quiet and Junction is a pleasant little town.

I took my Santa Cruz Tallboy and on the last day things had dried out from the big storm on Monday so that I could ride the trails around there.

First off, it was a lot of fun. It’s not very technical and almost all of it is 2-track. They say they have 18 miles of it, but it’s really just a big loop with multiple links. I rode up the main “fawn trail” which was mostly one long climb — about 3 miles. Most of it wasn’t too steep, but all the way up I…

Wounded warriors supported in Beauty and Beast bike ride
PBy Courtney Friedman – CBS19.tv Web
BULLARD (KYTX) – For an injured soldier returning home, getting back in the swing of things can be close to impossible, but local organizations are helping one wounded warrior stay active after losing his arm in Afghanistan.

Houston native Sebastian Gallegos is only 22-years-old, but he’s been in the U.S. Marine Corp. for almost 5 years.  After an injury, his arm was amputated, but that hasn’t stopped him from living an active life – now that he’s home in…

Dan Perkins, Carey Jung, and Dan Piercy at the front of the 2012 La Primavera at Lago Vista Sunday 35+ 4/5 race
Violet Crown Cycling | Violet Crown Sports Association | Austin, Texas

 

LBJ 100 Stonewall, TX – March 24th Bike Ride

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The weather man forecast sun, partly cloudy skies and low 80’s. When I looked out the window of the hotel before we left for the LBJ 100 start at the LB Johnson National Park the clouds covered the sunrise. Walking out to the Jeep the fog and mist covered the windows. Driving to the park the fog collected on the windows. The fog looked like it might leave as we turned into the park but within a few minutes the fog overpowered the sun. Once we entered the park the long line of cars winding their way to the airstrip parking area meant the 9:00 AM starting time probably would be missed. As we parked a long way from the start line and got the bike out of the Jeep the chill of the fog and clouds made their presence felt.

I made a different choice about my attire for the ride on a wild hunch: a long sleeve cotton bike shirt with my Texbiker.net short sleeve jersey over top. Thinking the temperature would start cool but warm up to the low 80’s I did not bring leg warmers. The temperature on the Jeep’s thermometer showed 53 just before unloading the bike. I thought the ride would be chilling especially with no windbreaker and leg warmers but it did not feel that cold as I rode. The sun did not appear until I finished the ride shortly after 2:00 and the light breeze during the ride did not feel so cold. I doubt the temperature got above 70 degrees during the ride.

The picture gallery shows the starting area on the airstrip as we moved to the start line.

According to the LBJ 100 website about 1,400 bikers took to the start line. The start was slow because of a cattle guard in front of the LBJ Texas White House. A small piece of plywood covered the center of the cattle guard and bikers attempted to walk over the guard but the narrow space restricted the bikers. Once we passed that point the ride speed picked up. Moving along the route the bikers spread out some.

I planned on riding the 62 mile route and many other bikers stayed on the route too. I skipped the first two rest stops because of the crowds, not stopping until Willow City. The folks at the Willow City rest stop were so friendly and helpful. The restrooms were in an old school house dating from 1905.

On Ranch Road 1323 (see the video) a Porsche car club drove the opposite direction looking at the flowers. I guess there were 30 to 40 cars with a stray BMW every once in a while. A bunch of motorcycles also moved along the road as well. Everyone headed to Willow City. The road got a little crowded for about 2 miles or so.

My next rest stop was at the 40.3 mile point. Again the Bluebonnet wildflowers covered the field at the stop. The people were very friendly. I asked the lady handing out Pickle Juice drink where they got all the pickles, She laughed and said they had their ways. After leaving this rest stop the routed turned south for a while with some more rolling hills and plenty of wildflowers. The wildflowers should be even more abundant in about two weeks. As I moved along Ranch Road 2721 I looked ahead at a large hill looming in the distance and dreaded climbing that one but just at the base of the climb the route turned to the left onto Ranch Road 1623. Thank goodness. I did realize it but the finish was not too far away.

Because of the large crowd I phone my wife to meet me at the LBJ State Park Visitor Center on Ranch Road 1 instead of biking back to the start line. As it turned out we ended up driving back to the start line thinking we would take the ranch tour. The tour though was on bikes so we decided not to do that since my wife does not bike. Lucy Baines Johnson led the tour from a electric cart with the bikers.

Overall I liked the organization of the LBJ. Nolan Kuehn, the ride chairman, did a great job organizing. (Disclosure: I received a complimentary ride entry.) The Friday packet pickup in Fredericksburg was handy and easy to get to at the Hill Country Bicycle Works on E. Main. The only thing I would suggest to improve is the start. The different ride mileage groups should start with intervals between them. This spreads the bikers out which would help with the cattle guard crossing. Other rides I attend do this with a group of Ride Marshals. The SAG vehicles moved around the route I traveled on but I did not see that many people needing assistance. This could be a result of the cool weather. I am glad the start time was 9:00 AM but because of the large turnout I did not roll out until 9:13. In the video you can hear part of Lucy Baines’ send off words for the bikers. The LBJ 100 contributes a significant amount to the park projects.

Some ride statistics:

  • 15.0 mph average speed (considering the hills this surprised me)
  • 32.9 max speed (going down the hills)
  • 72.2 RPM average cadence (pedaling slowly up the hills)
  • 4:05:17 riding time (only 2 rest stops)
  • 61.7 miles

[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/trips/559502 98% 600]

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for March 23rd

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March Chillin’& Grillin’
by George            www.bikemojo.com (San Antonio)
Sorry for the late notice everyone.

STORM Chillin’ & Grillin’ for the month of March will be tomorrow, Saturday, March 24, 2012 9AM-3PM at McAllister Park.

We were heavily contemplating postponing until April due to the heavy rain earlier this week, however Bike World and Trek will be out with their demo bikes so we figured we would go ahead and team up with them so as to also be able to mitigate people riding on trails that are still too wet.

Meet at the Dog Park Parking Lot, we’ll break into groups and hit the rideable trails* in groups of various speeds/abilities. Afterward, we’ll fire up…

Dorba Frozen Endurance Series Race Erwin 3-24-2012

Losing that sense of safety
by katiejo            Austin on Two Wheels
Early Sunday morning, the dwindling hours of South by Southwest combined with Saint Patrick’s Day, in addition to the last official night of Spring Break.

I awake in the darkness, the birds are still sleeping, but this poor baby is awake.

To shake of the sleepiness in the morning I read the latest news. I read articles news that come in short paragraphs: small portions that my half alert brain can chew on. The first article I see is, “Increased number of auto-pedestrian fatalities in Austin arouses concern.” It seems to jump off the…

Student road cycling races coming to Driveway
By Pam LeBlanc            Fit City
First, the Texas High School Mountain Bike Racing League offers off-road racing. Now an Austin-based cycling team is offering a pair of road races specifically for middle school and high school cyclists.

Why didn’t they have this when I was a kid?

Jen McRae of 787 Racing contacted me to let me know about the 18-and-under races scheduled for March 27 and April 3 at The Driveway, a closed circuit just east of…

Uncomfortable on Bike? Check Handlebars
Low Handlebar Position May Spell Discomfort
By Salynn Boyles        WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD
March 23, 2012 — Cycling is great exercise, but if the handlebars are too low, it might be more uncomfortable.

People who spend a lot of time on bicycles or in spinning class often complain of genital numbness, and now a new study in women suggests that low handlebars may be at least partly to blame.

Low Handlebars, More Numbness
The study gauged genital sensation in a group of female cyclists. Women whose handlebars were lower than their bike seats experienced more pressure as they…

Second Free Bicycle Repair-and-Ride Event in North Laredo
Bernie Chapa and the Laredo Bicycling Association will once again host a Repair and Ride event this Saturday, March 25 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., at Shiloh Trails, located at the intersection of Shiloh and Livingston.
By: Special to The Laredo Sun
Cyclists can enjoy the trail ride during that time, or immediately following at 6:30 p.m.

The event – free to the public – will provide training and free parts to owners of non-functioning bicycles so that they could participate in this and future trail rides.

Ciclo-Mania and members of various riding clubs will serve as volunteer bicycle mechanics. The clinics – including free…

What is Cadence?
by Shawn        Texas Mountain Bike Trails
Cadence is the number of revolutions your crank and pedals make each minute. In short and simple terms, it’s how fast your feet are moving as you ride.

Most cyclists gained a lot of familiarity with what cadence is after Lance Armstrong took his Tour De France wins. Lance blew away the competition with a high cadence that helped him to maintain a fast and consistent speed through climbs and time trials. Most of the TDF riders rode at a cadence of 60-80 RPM. Lance, on the…

LBJ100 Bike Ride – Stonewall, TX
I will ride the 62 mile route Saturday. First time to ride in this event. In fact this will be the first organized ride this year. The weather looks to be clear sky, mid-80’s and a light breeze. If this happens the drive from Kingwood made every mile worthwhile.

HOLLANDRACERS    via Twitter
Proud to be a sponsor of the Texas Cycling collegiate and high school road race and time trial at Pace Bend park…