A friend of mine sent me an email with some thoughts and experiences from the Excruciation Exam mountain bike race earlier this month.
First time racing the Excruciation Exam
by Luke Fletcher (Houston)
Here’s the scoop on my first excruciation exam race. My long-time friend Chris Sechelski told me about E2 when he started training for it around the end of summer 2011. I decided to race E2 and started training at Thanksgiving; giving me about 6 weeks to get into better shape. In addition to my normal mountain biking, I put my semi-slicks on my mountain bike (I rode my 2010 Specialized Stumpjumper hard tail, 26er) and started doing some road riding as well. Some of the best workouts were trying to keep up with the roadies from Bike Barn (at Cypresswood and Steubner Airline) during their 40 mile rides on Saturday mornings. They would usually leave me in the dust a couple of times on the ride but I worked hard and always caught up with them down the road.
My friend Chris’ computer showed 80.12 miles total distance. I forgot to set my computer until after we came out of the woods at Warda (about 4 miles or so after we started) so my computer showed 74.88 miles, max speed of 36.1 mph, an average of 13.1 mph and total ride time of 5:45.32; so I spent about 51 minutes not riding (eating, drinking, catching my breath, fixing a flat tire, etc…).
It was a blast but one ultra-marathon may be enough for this rider…. we definitely did one of the best since it included 2 very fun trails (Warda and Rocky Hill Ranch) and the scenery was pretty while on the road. And we had really good weather and trail conditions…. it was tough but a lot of fun. It’s definitely tempting to race it again though because you always feel like you can do better and take off time here or there. Chris and I mainly just wanted to finish and have a good time…. mission accomplished.
And the training for it was fun too for the most part; I like the road riding so much that I want to definitely do more group rides with Bike Barn, etc…. in NW Houston but I need to find a new job and then I’ll either have some work done on my old, Centurion road bike or maybe add a new road bike to my collection.
HARD RIGHT
by Steve AÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â DFW Point-to-Point
Entirely by accident, I almost witnessed a “right hook” collision on my way home from work. No, I was not an involved party, but I have to admit it was fascinating to watch the scenario unfold. It should remind us once again that it is unwise to pass on the right.
I was northbound, taking the role of the “red arrow” in the aerial view of Pipeline Road in Hurst, Texas. Pipeline is a somewhat conflicted five lane road. I had come upon the intersection and was watching the oncoming, eastbound traffic for a gap I could safely enter. Coming on, in the right lane (the lane of the green arrow, I saw an…
Big news, bike racing fans.
Come May, bicyclists will zip around downtown Georgetown during the Georgetown Grand Cycling Race in the Streets.
Eight hundred cyclists, including professional and Olympic cyclists from around the country, and 5,000 spectators are expected for the races on May 19-20.
The headline event, a criterium race staged by Holland Racing on a USA Cycling-sanctioned course, will double as the state criterium championship weekend for the Texas Bicycle Racing Association. A criterium is a closed-circuit race on a 1 or 2-mile course. …
My wife was cruising through Youtube and found these videos. The first shows a way to clean chrome with water and aluminum foil. I have never seen this technique before. Rust is not a major problem where I live but this could come in handy. The music is over the top for cleaning some rust.
Here’s an old mans 3 speed raleigh all steel bike i’m restoring, The year of this bike is (1950s), Its not a full restore as i’m not taken everything off more of a fresh’in up, Just caught in the nick of time too as the rust is…
Houston Bicycle Club Montgomery Ride
Distances:Â 26(A), 46(B), 58(C) mile
Saturday January 28th, 2012
Ride through the beauty of the pines in Sam Houston National Forest to Dobbin, Dacus, Richards, and Anderson. Expect hills and country roads. Montgomery High School, one mile west of the town of Montgomery on TX Hwy 105 (on the left coming from Montgomery). Montgomery is 15 miles west of Conroe on Hy 105 or from the south, 23 miles north of Tomball on TX Hwy 249 and FM 149.
Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew Schedule
Feb. 2-5Â Â Â Seguin, TXÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Seguin Outdoor Learning Ctr
Feb. 9-12    Austin    TX         Austin Ridge Riders
Feb. 16-19Â Â Â Dallas, TXÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â North Texas Mountain Bike Patrol
The Trail Care Crew will teach “sustainable” trail building principles, which means building lasting trails that require minimal maintenance. Class participants will learn to apply those techniques in the afternoon field session. Limit is 50 participants – It is free.
GHORBA Group Ride at Cameron Park!
www.austinridgeriders.com
GHORBA (Greater Houston Off-Road Biking Association) will be holding a group ride at Cameron Park this Saturday January 21st
at 10:00am. The ride is open to all riders and not just GHORBA members so bring your friends and family. The Waco Bicycle Club is providing group leaders to show us around the trails and GHORBA will have water, gatorade, and light snacks for everyone. Meet us near the pavillion on Lover’s Leap Ln!
Super Bowl Sunday, February 5th
www.greaterdallasbicyclists.com
Join GDB as we host our 27th Annual Super Bowl Sunday ride to the West End. This year our host location will again be Dick’s Last Resort. Depending on the weather and rider turnout, Dick’s could be a tad crowded. This year, there is a listing of area restaurants for alternatives to Dick’s. These restaurants have been called and are ready to welcome overflow riders.
Thirteen different ride locations will be taking part in this annual tradition. This is a lively location so bring the smiles, cheers and laughter as you see your friends, meet new ones from the metroplex and have lunch together. If the crowd is too much and there is no seating at Dick’s, you’ve got alternatives! If you wish to make a reservation for your group, these locations will accommodate…
Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club Membership Meeting
January 19, 2012
The January membership Meeting will be held at the Mexican Restaurant. on Ingram Road near the Park-n-Ride (just outside Loop 410). Please come at 6 PM to eat and 6:30 (or so) for the meeting
No Country for Old Goats
Epic riding returns to Big Bend.
By: by Don Stefanovich      www.bikemag.com
Lajitas, Texas, has announced its second annual Chihuahuan Desert Dirt Fest will be held February 16 through 18. The three-day, non-race festival ride is the second in a series of annual events aimed at reviving a remote mountain-bike Mecca—a hotbed of marathon racing during the late ‘80s and through the ‘90s—that as little as three years ago, was off limits to those on two wheels.
Eighty miles from the nearest supermarket, Lajitas isn’t your average mountain-bike town. It’s far from average for any town, really. In fact, it’s not really a town at all. The unincorporated community in Southwest Texas—tucked between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend State Park along the Rio Grande, near the Mexican border and about…
Simple Cold Weather Locking Tip
by Steve AÂ Â Â Â Â Â DFW Point-to-Point
Last winter, I related my problem of a U lock freezing so that I couldn’t open it. This is a lock that I leave at the rack at work. I really do NOT like to lug heavy locks around, but I DO like to lock my bike securely. WD40 helped. The lock was left on the rack as shown above.
HOWEVER, I found an even better solution for keeping U locks operating in freezing cold weather. THAT solution is seen below. What could be simpler than simply hanging the lock so moisture drains OUT of the mechanism…
I have been blessed with no allergies but I know people who fight this all the time. I was not aware of the cedar problem.
Make it Happen Monday: One Big Breath
by Darryl      lovingthebike.com
Right now in Austin we’re deep in the heart of cedar allergy season, and once again it’s wreaking havoc on my cycling lungs. They call it “cedar fever†and a lot of people over here get knocked down pretty hard with the punch it packs each year.
One of the things it does to me is compresses my lungs so that it’s hard for me to catch my breath…not a good thing when you’re out there cranking the pedals. Even when it’s not allergy season, I often find it necessary to take in a big deep breath several times a day. This is a pretty simple thing to do most of the year, but when…
Seen at el Tour de Taco – Bike Friendly Deep Ellum
by Christopher Curnutt         Biking in Dallas
Bike Friendly Deep Ellum put on a great show yesterday. Ok, it wasn’t a show really, it was a group bike ride. The el Tour de Taco adventure began at St Pete’s Dancing Marlin whose staff was very gracious. The excitement sizzled as what must have been between 50-75 cyclists slowly began congregating on the sidewalk and garden patio of St Pete’s. Alex Perez was chosen the official bike wrench as a small line of bikes in need of some sort of repair or adjustment began to take form as…
Delectable Tour de Taco Riders
by UrbanPedal      Dallas Cycle Chic
…Norma’s everyday road bike was incapacitated so she rode her racing bike with toe clip shoes – and a hot little pink skirt! She’s ridden the Hotter Than Hell ride the past 3 years, and bought 3 cool old road bikes on craigslist in the last month! …
Accident raises urgency for Bike Lanes in Dallas (video)
by WFAA
by JONATHAN BETZ DALLAS — An accident that badly injured a North Texas cyclist is drawing anger from the cycling community — especially since it happened on a key bridge that’s been slated for upgrades. But those improvements been thrown into…
5 Tips for Fueling a Century
by Shawn         Texas Mountain Bike Trails
Today we have the pleasure of featuring a guest post from Peter, author of ReadyForPlanB.com where he promotes cycling and vegan lifestyle. Peter went from being border line obese to being a vegan super-cyclist. He put in more miles during 2011 than I have in possibly my entire cycling career. Today he shares tips on fueling…
Planning today’s ride I took several things into consideration.
South wind at 13.8 mph with gusts to 21 mph
Biking over Lake Houston for about 1 1/2 miles each way
Gathering clouds
My physical condition for road bike riding
Route modification if the clouds started dropping rain
The rule I try to follow; start biking into the wind and return with the wind. This addresses two points in my planning: the strong wind and my questionable conditioning since not road biking for so long. With a 75 degree temperature at the start and some sun peeking through the clouds I expected the ride to be warm for a change. This brought me to the riding over Lake Houston point. When I bike over the lake with a cooler water temperature the strong wind blowing over the water is much cooler than the air off the lake. I did not want to dress for the lower temperature for just the 3 miles so I compromised by wearing a long sleeve jersey and a short sleeve one over top. This also handled using sun screen and covered my healing incision on my left arm.
So with all of this planning how did the ride go? The increased to 17 mph from the south with 24 mph gusts so heading into the wind was a good move. It was chilly biking over the lake when I was going to the east but not as much as when I returned back over the lake going west. I rode into the wind going west and the traffic did not block it much. When I was headed east the water was not too far to my right so I expected it to be cooler but because of the tailwind I biked at a faster speed so the exposure time was short. Going west my speed dropped and the exposure time increased even though the cooler water was now the causeway width away. The clouds thickened but no rain fell so I did need to modify my route. This route offers several places to get shelter whereas my northerly route does not.
My physical condition turned out to be good enough for a 15.1 mph average speed over the 29.77 mile route. I pedaled a 22.4 mph max speed as well with an average cadence of 78.9 RPM.With the wind I was not expecting this high of an average speed. Riding into the wind at the start worked well and I enjoyed the tailwind most of the way back. With the mileage today January is at 105.42 miles. Of course this is also the YTD total.
Bias Comparison
by Steve AÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â DFW Point-to-Point
In news articles, such as one in Austin 360 that was published just a week ago, in which cyclists were castigated for running traffic signals, it was stated:
“The difference, though, is in the consequences. A motorist can run a stop sign, collide with another vehicle and roll away with nothing more than a dented fender. If a car, which weighs about 3,000 or 4,000 pounds, collides with a bike, it can do grave damage to the rider. There is no room for error on the bicyclist’s part.”
NOW, in my opinion this represents a “windshield-centric” bias that Austin 360 didn’t get called on, any more than troll commentators about bike-car crashes do. To illustrate it, instead let us change a few words and instead…
Well, I Blew It.
By Justin      The Plano Cyclist
I had posted every day for a while, but I didn’t even manage a pithy post like this one yesterday.
Shoot.
I have a bunch to write about, but little time to do it. However, I thought I’d put some links up ahead of my bigger articles I have planned for next week. Chrome has sent me some shoes to review, but they sent me the wrong size first. They have since sent me some other kicks, but I talked them into donating the first pair they sent to the “Wheels that Heal” benefit for a local cyclist who suffered a crash. Then suffered even more for not having…
DESERT RIDING TIPS
www.elpasopuzzler.com
El Paso is pure Chihuahuan Desert. Riding here can present some unique challenges and people are always trying to figure out how to make their riding experience more enjoyable….which is quite tough to do here.
Since I received an email from one our club members regarding this topic, I figured, “Why not?â€Â After 7 years of pounding around on a variety of bikes, tires, and setups, and being able to successfully complete huge all-day rides in the Franklins without flatting or running out of water, I think I’m pretty…
