The Gloomy and Overcast Sky Would Not Leave – February 28th Bike Ride

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The promised sunny sky by 1:00 or 2:00 did not happen. Instead the gloomy or overcast sky would not leave. As I got ready to bike I at first grabbed my mountain bike shoes because I thought staying close to home would be wise with the clouds but at the last minute the sky seemed to get brighter so I switched to my road shoes and it became a road bike ride. It turned out to be a good decision with no rain but maybe a couple sprinkles along the route. The temperature at the start showed 71 degrees and bumped up to 73 at the finish. Both of these are above normal for February but I accepted them. I dressed a little warmer than necessary with a long sleeve jersey and a windbreaker. The windbreaker provided more of a rain protector than a coolness covering. The 14 mph south wind slowed me down on the return leg. The splits in the slide below show how much I slowed down after the 12 mile mark when I headed south.

As February winds down today I biked 29.46 miles. Other statistics: average speed 14.7 mph, max speed 20.9 mph, average cadence 77.7 RPM, February miles 336.01, YTD miles 603.26. Other looks at today’s ride: Garmin Connect data, RideWithGPS.com data.

2-28-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

2-28-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

2-28-2012 Home Weather Station End

2-28-2012 Home Weather Station End

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for February 27th

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RIDE SCHEDULE – MARCH 2012
Georgetown Cyclopaths Club

Blue Star to Mission Espada Ride
Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club
Sunday, March 4th: Meet at 8:00 at Blue Star Brewery off at Probant and South Alamo for a leisurely 18mile ride from the Blue Star Brewery over the newly opened trail along the San Antonio River and then on local streets to Mission Espada and back again to the Blue Star.  Ride should end in plenty of time for interested riders to join in the fun of Siclovia on Broadway and to beginners. See www.siclovia.org for information about this event.   For more information…

When does all of this effort show results? I am still waiting for it to kick in for me.

Exercise Makes You Smarter
by Dr. Gabe Mirkin
People who exercise regularly are far less likely to suffer dementia and had less than half the risk of death during the 17-year study period, compared to those who do not exercise (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, February, 2012).

Researchers followed 45,000 men and 15,000 women, ages 20 to 88 years, in the United States for an average of 17 years. Six times as many people in the low fitness group suffered from dementia, compared to those who exercised regularly. While deaths in the United States associated with heart disease, breast cancer and stroke…

Walburg Reversed – A
49.6 miles A bike ride in Georgetown, Texas 78626, US, +1951/-1952 feet elevation gain/loss. Created by: C Man — Walburg Reversed.
[iframe http://ridewithgps.com/routes/960305 85% 400]

Regional Weeknight Races
by League Director            Texas High School Cycling League
Regional Weeknight Crits.
For the first time ever the Texas High School Cycling League will be offering some regional races in the form of scholastic weeknight crits. This is THE PERFECT WAY to get your friends and classmates to try racing for the first time. The races are inexpensive, local, fun, and super friendly. They also offer all four of our league categories so there will be…

Road Series Starts Saturday at Texas A&M
by League Director            Texas High School Cycling League
Our 6th annual race series starts this next Saturday at the races at Texas A&M. This series will be bigger and better than ever. Scholastic cycling for kids of all ages and grades. Organized teams and individual racers are welcome alike.

Overall leader’s jerseys… high school teams with team vans and trailers…it’s getting pretty big. …

Mavs owner seeks million-dollar idea on ‘Shark Tank’
by CASEY NORTON            www.wfaa.com
Mark Cuban says the Dallas Mavericks aren’t his only passion. He considers business a full contact sport, and he’s always looking for the next big deal. …

…Just south of the Dallas skyline, Fleetwood Hicks is tired of spinning his wheels. He too wants Cuban’s cash, and is about to appear on “Shark Tank.”

His pitch? Hicks is reinventing the bicycle wheel with green, blue, pink, brown and white tires and handlebars in every color.

“Normally all this stuff is like chrome, chrome, chrome,” Hicks said, showing…

Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for February 26th

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HBC Houston Sans Car Ride
Houston Bicycle Club
Sunday March 4, 2012    9:00AM
20 miles, Houston Heights
This is an informal, leader led ride, at a leisurely pace ( Ride speed:  11 to 14 mph )  for those who want to know Houston  and many of its special places, by bike.  Learn basic bicycle commuting safety with a friendly group.  Rest stop will include one of the city’s independent coffee houses.  This ride is normally scheduled the first Sunday of each month and the route will vary at the whim of the leader, but will generally include a “figure 8 pattern” so that riders who do not wish to do the entire ride can easily return to the ride start.

El Paso Bicycle Club Ride
Monday, March 19
Monday Training Ride-5:30 pm
Meet at Rio Plaza (6205 Upper Valley Rd at Artcraft) for a one-hour hard-core ride up Artcraft to Border Crossing and back. 20 miles.

Alkek Velodrome, Houston
The Track will open for our normal Tuesday/Thursday Open Session this week (2/27) for exerienced riders, and next week for everyone. For more information, check out the Track Calendar .

Door Key Road
by Roy and Christine        Pedal Pushers

It wasn’t officially windy. Weather.com does not indicate “Windy” until it is over 20 mph. So 17 mph doesn’t count–unless you are riding into it. And we have an unofficial ride rule that the temperature must be over 55 degrees.
If it’s colder than that Christine wears so many layers she can’t bend her knees. So, 60 degrees with a 17 mph wind does not halt a ride. Thus, some of us bundled up (the hearty wore short sleeve jerseys, but not I) and headed out to Door Key Road.
Although we had been out to Door Key Road many times last season, as it is the new location of the San Angelo bike club’s road time trials, when I was searching for a picture, it appeared that July 2010 was the last…

Pace Bend Women’s Cat 4 race
Velossimo Racing Cycling Team

Velossimo racer Allison Atkinson powered to another victory in the Women’s Cat 4 race at Pace Bend today. This is her second victory now in the past 3 weeks. Very nice result Allison and at this rate you’ll be a Cat 3 in no time! (Apparently the race wasn’t enough miles for her and she hopped on her bike to ride the dam loop back in to town!)…

Walburg
Velossimo Racing Cycling Team

Big congrats to David Arteaga for 5th place at Walburg yesterday in the Pro 1 field. Even more impressive is David had reconstructive shoulder surgery in mid-December and has had very limited training time. Very nice David!

Elbowz Racing

Congratulations to Elbowz Racing Elite Cycling Team! Taking 1,2 at the Walberg Road Race in Austin, Texas. — with Joseph Schmalz and Heath Blackgrove.

Almost Everything Broke – February 26th Bike Ride

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After two days not biking because of cool weather today I got back on the mountain bike. Well, almost. I went out to the garage to get the mountain bike and walking to the door I noticed the rear tire sounded flat. It was. I turned the tire around to spot the problem and this piece of wire stuck out of the tire near a nub of tread. If the wire moved 1/8″ it would have been in the nub and not in the low spot and into the tube. So I removed the wheel and set it down. Going into the garage I got a folding lawn chair (one of those that comes in a bag) and opened it up to work on the tire. As I sat down I noticed one corner of the chair did not look right, the pin broke and the corner sagged but I could sit in it. Next I started to remove the tire from the rim but it would not budge so I went for some tire tools instead of the QuickStik. Finally I got the tire loose from the rim (this is the first flat on my Motobecane 700HT MTB). Getting the patch kit out of the seat bag I found the glue tube hard as a rock. Back to my road bike for another patch kit and a new tube of glue. I patched the tire, put it back on the rim and aired it up. I noticed the rim and spokes were dirty from my recent chain lube application so I got a rag and started wiping the rim and spokes off. After a few spokes I came upon one that moved way too much. So I went to my tool box for the spoke wrenches. Tightening the spoke put everything back the way it should be. Finally I could start the ride.

Overcast sky, 67 degrees and 13 mph southeast wind were the fare for today’s ride. Trying to alter my trail route some I chose a different starting route and then moved to the usual trails. It has been several days since we got rain but places on the trails still are under water. Other places the water receded leaving a lot of mud. My aversion to mud slowed my speed to a crawl which probably accounts for the rather low average speed of 11.2 mph. The route ended up at 13.47 miles. Max speed of 17.8 mph and average cadence of 76.2 RPM. Overall this week I rode 121.68 miles, over five days. February miles stand at 306.55 and YTD totals 573.80 miles. February total biking time: 22:08:28.

Tomorrow’s weather looks biking friendly.

2-26-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

2-26-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

 

2-26-2012 Home Weather Station End

2-26-2012 Home Weather Station End