Texas Bicycling News, Adventures

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Police searching for suspect who ran over man riding bicycle

by SBG San Antonio | news4sanantonio.com

SAN ANTONIO – Police are searching for a suspect who killed a man who was riding his bicycle in 2022.

The crash happened around 9:00 p.m., on Sept. 21, 2022, on the 9100 block of Culebra Road.

According to officials, a stolen white Volkswagen was traveling Southbound on Culebra Road when the vehicle ran over a man riding his bicycle.

The victim, Geoffrey Shaffer, was pronounced dead on the scene.

Officials say the driver of the Volkswagen has not yet been identified. The Volkswagen was found abandoned after the crash on the 4500 block of Cornudo Ridge.

Did a ride with about 40 others, and a lot of us stopped at Tacos a GoGo afterwards.
by u/HoustonAreaCyclist in bikehouston

Bikes and pedestrians now have right of way across MKT trail street intersections
by u/Annual_Fan8199 in bikehouston

18th Annual Houston Heights Bicycle Rally & Scavenger Hunt
by u/yo0hoo in bikehouston

Sunday Funday Solo…414 miles for the week. Yippee! ????? "Bella" BMC RM01 Pearland, Texa

Troy Serrano | strava.com

Sunday Recovery Spin with Kaitlyn San Antonio, Texas

Mark Noblitt MTCCSA | strava.com

Just enough sprinkles to wet the bike for a good wipe down!

Brunch ride with the ladies Helotes, Texas

Action Jackson MTCCSA | strava.com

Bloom Fitness Benefit/Trek Taco Century Houston, Texas

Brett Savant | strava.com

sluggin’ sunday Austin, Texas

Monica Merced | strava.com

CH > Industry Gravel Washington County, Texas

Brad Stauffer | strava.com

Tour de Cafe…..Kora and Rooted Fork Garden Ridge, Texas

Francisco Simas | strava.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Stretched Route Miles, Dog Sprint, Turned Off “Enhanced” Gears, Narrowed Deficit

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I didn’t go to church today because FedEx schedule the delivery of my new bike between 10 and 2. Shortly after noon the FedEx driver brought the bike to my front door and after getting inside and opening the box I got ready for today’s bike ride. I had been thinking of a possible route while waiting for the delivery and decided to ride the Forest Cove – Oakhurst – Valley Ranch route but added some extra streets to increase the mileage. One of those added streets put me in a dog sprint. I wore my Angry Dave’s Bike Shop shorts for the first time. I bought the shorts in N. Little Rock after I realized I left my bike shorts at home. I wasn’t sure how these would wear but after the ride I was please with the comfort.

6-4-2023 SportTracks Recent Ride History Forest Cove-Oakhurst-Valley Ranch
6-4-2023 SportTracks Recent Ride History Forest Cove-Oakhurst-Valley Ranch

Looking at the recent ride history for this route the average distance is around 28 – 29 miles. I wanted to ride more than that to chip away at my month’s goal deficit. Rolling out at 12:38 PM on my Lynskey Helix bike I rode the usual streets for this route until I exited Bear Branch Village on Sandy Forks Drive. In Kings Forest I added a loop for a few tenths of a mile. From there to Briar Berry Lane I stuck to the usual route streets. I turned left onto Old Sorters Road. In retrospect that wasn’t a good choice. Near the sorters road intersection a large black dog spotted and started running full speed on the other side of a fence. I thought he would come to the fence end and not be a problem. But the fence had a nice big hole (maybe more than one) not slowing the dog down at all. He run onto the road barking loudly getting closer to my right leg. I pedaled faster but he matched my speed the closer I got to Sorters Road I began to worry about the stop sign and traffic. What if the dog sprinted with me all the way there. Fortunately about 100 yard from the stop sign he gave up. Later I thought maybe I should’ve gave him a squirt from my water bottle. I have never done that and wasn’t sure the Polar nozzle would do that so I tested and it worked. Now for the next dog sprint I may give that a shot.

I rode north on Sorters Road to the Sorters Mill Elementary School entrance riding through that to FM 1314. FM 1314 to Porter took me to Valley Ranch Parkway. During the ride I thought the gear shifting wasn’t smooth. Stopping at the 7 Eleven I opened the SRAM AXS app on my phone, saw “enhanced” gearing was turned on and turned it off. After that the gear shifting was smooth and in the gears I wanted. The enhanced mode shifted to the next ratio which included the 48 chain ring which I don’t normally use. The rest of the ride was normal and I finished at 3:26 PM.

Checking the added 35.21 miles from today’s ride I am 3.0 days of the 26.7 miles per day average I need to reach my June goal of 800 miles with 80.13 miles so far. Only 1 day behind is good with only 2 rides for the month. Hopefully tomorrow’s ride will narrow the difference.

Texas Bicycling News – June 3, 2023

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Bike vs. truck results in Abilene’s first fatal crash of 2023

by: Manny Diaz | www.bigcountryhomepage.com

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – A bicyclist was killed in a truck vs. bike crash in east Abilene on Saturday morning.

According to the Abilene Police Department on Saturday, June 3, 2023, at 5:12 a.m. the Abilene Police Department responded to a crash near E. Highway 80 near Bandera Park involving a box truck and bicyclist.

Upon arrival, officers spotted a 2019 Freightliner box truck stopped on the side of the road and a bicyclist laying in the roadway. The investigation revealed that the truck was heading west on E. Highway 80 when it collided with the bicyclist, who was in the westbound lane. …

Stay in your lane: Austin looks to reduce crashes on Barton Springs Road

By Andrew Weber | www.kut.org

Barton Springs Road could be slimming down just in time for swim season.

Citing serious crashes, the Austin Transportation Department says it’s considering winnowing down the thoroughfare that runs between Zilker Park and Barton Springs Pool from four lanes to two. The city could reduce lanes for a year, then reevaluate whether it effectively reduces crashes. Austin Transportation Department

In a memo Thursday, ATD said there were 240 crashes on the stretch of road between Stratford Drive and Lamar Boulevard and that, despite efforts to reduce speeding, vehicles typically drive 15 mph over the speed limit. An incident in which a driver plowed into a crowd near a food truck last April pushed the department to look into reducing lanes, the memo said.

Crews could also expand bike lanes along the stretch of road. …

Church opens bicycle repair workshop near trail

Felicia Frazar | seguingazette.com

Bicyclists traversing on the city’s hike and bike trail can see all of the beauty the city holds while out on a leisurely ride.

But what happens when their mode of transportation pops a tire or the chain needs a repair? There’s limited resources in the area.

Proposed Highway 380 alignment environmental assessment completed

The Herald Banner, Greenville, Texas | news.yahoo.com

The Texas Department of Transportation has announced the next step has been completed on a proposed realignment of U.S. 380 between Hunt County and the Dallas area.

TxDOT has issued a final environmental assessment (EA) for the proposed US 380 Farmersville Improvements project, and that the final EA is available for public review.

The proposed project would consist of the new location realignment of US 380 from CR 560 to CR 699 (Hunt County Line) in Collin County. …

… The proposed project would also include continuous, two to three lane one-way frontage roads with bicycle and pedestrian shared-use paths on both sides of the roadway. The proposed project would be constructed within a proposed ROW of approximately 270 to 542 feet wide. …

"Starting to get hot" Ride Pasadena, Texas

Rick Hernandez | strava.com

Plan C Century San Antonio, Texas

Mark Noblitt MTCCSA | strava.com

Sometimes endurance cycling is like basketball in that it requires a fair amount of bobbing and weaving in response to changing circumstances. Had originally planned to be out of town riding today, but that fell through at the last minute. Then, I planned a double metric (125 miles) RT to Kerrville. Circumstances on the road changed, so here we are with Plan C. Really hard but fun day in the saddle with some wonderful friends!

1st century of the year with the SB250 gang!!! Harris County, Texas

Tommy Smith | strava.com

Timberlane Trail Fest Harris County, Texas

Kevin Highfield | strava.com

Group ride from CW. A nice tour of everything at TL.

Adventure Pride Ride p/b Trek HTX & Trek Austin Washington County, Texas

Cés Francisco | strava.com

Thank you Trek Houston and Trek Austin for the food truck and food at Independence General Store

blanco cowboy camp Blanco, Texas

Monica Merced | strava.com

Veloharmony – Fell with 2hrs to go, bike ok – Did some independent exploring too The Woodlands, Texas

Thomas Anselmi | strava.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Making Up Some Lost Miles, A Couple Of Seconds Dancing With My Bike

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Back in Kingwood after a trip to Lancaster, OH, to see my youngest grandson graduate from high school. With 3 days already gone in June I needed a longer than usual Saturday bike ride to make up for not riding two days. My goal for June is 800 miles or 27 miles per day. The route to add miles above the 27 was Kingwood – Stroker Road – Kingwood. I changed up some streets and added a couple before leaving Kingwood riding south on W. Lake Houston Parkway. The ride started at 8:43 AM on my Cervelo Caledonia bike hoping to see other cyclists like many Saturdays. I did see cyclists but I didn’t capture all of them in the video. By the time I finished at 12:12 PM I biked 44.9 miles, or 1.68 days towards my goal.

It wasn’t smooth biking though. I stopped in Town Center to adjust the GoPro mount. While getting off the bike I lost my balance getting my right foot high enough to clear the rear tire, danced around for a couple of seconds and ended up on the concrete. No damages to me or the Cervelo other than looking uncoordinated if anyone was watching.

Last Tuesday while getting the Cervelo rear brake fixed I looked at the rear cassette and chain and realized they long overdue to be replaced. Last night I replaced the rear cassette, chain, and the 35T chain ring. They were all the original parts from when I bought the Cervelo and had almost 7900 miles on them. The mechanic at the Rusty Spoke Bike Shop said he couldn’t remember seeing a chain with that much wear on the gauge. The cassette teeth were thin from the wear. Below is the new drive train.

New Cervelo RAM Rival drive train
New Cervelo RAM Rival drive train

Shifting gears now is smooth like a knife through hot butter. I promise to not wait so long the next time. The problem is the slow wear is not dramatic and easy to forget.

Getting used to the high humidity on today’s ride took some time. On my 2 rides in Lancaster the humidity was around 20% to 40%, rare for Houston. Today’s weather for the ride: Start 76 degrees, humidity 81%, dew point 70.1, mostly cloudy, wind W 7 mph; Finish 86 degrees, humidity 57%, dew point 69.4, mostly cloudy, wind calm. Light wind was good.

6-3-2023 SportTracks Ride History Kingwood-Stroker Road-Huffman
6-3-2023 SportTracks Ride History Kingwood-Stroker Road-Huffman