Daily News Roundup February 15th – Texas Bicycling

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Tour de Longneques – March 5th Ride Is Almost Here!
from Don Bynum’s Blog
The first Tour de Longneques of 2011 will be Saturday March 5th.
Most riders will start at Castell at the Castell General Store (Tour de Longneques World Headquarters) at 10:00am.Riders who are not yet up to the 38 mile round trip will start at the Llano Courthouse square at 10:30 and head west on RR152 on the 18 mile ride to Castell.  They will meet the 38 mile riders about 1/3 of the way to Castell and, most likely, eventually be caught up to by them near Castell. …

7:00pm – Corinth Park Meeting
from Corinth Cycling Club by Scott Franklin
When: Tue Feb 15, 2011 7pm to 8pm  CST
Where: Corinth City Hall
The Parks Board unanimously approved extending the trail to the 8 acre tract previously mentioned. From there it will be sent to the City Council for their approval. Since it will cost the city nothing and will not be visible or intrusive to the neighbors I don’t anticipate any opposition. I’ll keep everyone posted as the project develops.

Annual Hard Hats For Little Heads Will Take Place Tuesday, FEB. 22 On THE …
by KBTX
COLLEGE STATION, Texas– Texas ENT & Allergy, Aggie Athletes Involved (AAI) and Texas A&M Athletics, along with supporting sponsors want to encourage child safety by giving away free bicycle helmets on Tuesday, February 22 on the Texas A&M campus at …

Safe Routes to School Webinar Coming Up
by Bicycle Retailer
This free webinar will highlight success stories in Colorado and Austin, Texas, that have teamed a local program with a bike shop to enhance Safe Routes to …

Why are bike racers so obsessed with numbered felines?
from Texas Racing Life by Ken
Pardon my corny joke in the Title!  One of my main goals of the 2011 season is to get my Category 2 upgrade.  In the US, road racing is split up into 5 distinct categories, 1 through 5. When you start racing you start at the bottom and work your way up. …

Last week I was huddled around… – February 15th Bike Ride

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What a difference a week can make. Last week I was huddled around a block of ice trying to keep warm. This week the temperature is in the 70’s during the day and in the 60’s at night. I did not ride last evening since it was Valentine’s Day but tonight I was out on the trails and streets on my Motobecane 700HT MTB. I have not rode this bike since February 5th. It was great not riding the windtrainer. Even with the moderate temperature I still wore two long sleeve jerseys, leg warmers and a windbreaker jacket. I probably could have made it with half finger gloves but I played safe and went with the full finger ones. Partly cloudy skies and a calm wind were appreciated. when I left home the temperature was 64.9 and at the finish it was 61.6.

Yesterday my Oregon Scientific weather station decided to stop working. It uses solar powered wireless sensors. I have had it for an unknown number of years. I diagnosed the problem to be the NiMh batteries in the solar units. I thought this would be an easy and cheap fix since thy resembled  cordless phone batteries. A trip to Radio Shack was no help. Looking online I found several sources but they were in the UK. A couple of US sources showed a price of $30 per battery. With two sensors down the batteries would cost 60% of a new weather station. I ordered a new and improved Oregon Scientific WMR80A. This one does not use special batteries.

Ride progress as of today:

  • February miles 123.58
  • YTD miles 341.57

2-15-2011 Ride Summary and Map

Additional charts, weather and Garmin Connect data.

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Texas Bicycling Blog and News Roundup for February 14th

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For my 67th year I … Uh, WHAT was I thinking?
by Gil Jones

Gil Jones
Saturday, Feb 12, 2011 and it is a cold, clear day. Couple of weeks until the 67th anniversary of my day of birth. Dang, it’s colder than forecast, hoping it warms soon. The ride that Don laid out yesterday will be a good one. Now I am wondering about that life goal I set — the one about riding my years in miles each birthday. Since I usually won’t be able to do that on the…

8:00am – CCC Group Ride
from Corinth Cycling Club by Scott Franklin
When: Sat Feb 26, 2011 8am to 11am  CST
Where: Ronny Crownover Middle School
Event Description: Corinth Cycling Saturday Group Ride Information All rides depart from Ronny Crownover Middle School in Corinth 1901 Creekside Drive, Corinth, TX 76210 Group A: 50 – 70 miles This is a fast paced group ride at an average speed of around 20mph with faster points. You may get dropped on this ride so be prepared. Ride Leader – markm@utechdallas.com B Killers: 50 – 70 miles This is a intermediate to fast paced group ride of around 17.5 – 19mph. You may get dropped on this ride so be prepared. Ride Leader – ochoasean@aim.com B Stingers: 50+ miles This is a moderate paced no drop…

Cyclist sues TXDoT, says construction caused bike flip
by Southeast Texas Record
GALVESTON – Daniel Valdez is suing Angel Brother Enterprises Ltd. and the Texas Department of Transportation over an accident he insists was caused by …

Kids learn bike safety from MCSO – Conroe Texas Nonprofits, Groups …
from www.conroetoday.com
Bike safety
CONROE, Texas – At the recent “Bike Safety” event held at the Montgomery County Women’s Center’s Reaching Pines community in Conroe, several kids learned the fundamentals of riding safely by Deputy John Godden and Deputy John Lawless of the bicycle patrol unit…

Rockford’s News LeaderDixon quadriplegic makes the journey of a …
by WREX-TV
Arron Roux
He’s relied on just his hands to get him to Texas. “I’m using a hand cycle,” said Roux, over the phone in Texas. “It’s all hand powered. …

BikeMS Multi-Team Training Ride
from Shawnee Trail Cycling Club by sooner1
It’s that time again.  We at Shawnee Trail Cycling Club are planning another BikeMS Multi-Team Training Ride.  Mark your calendars for Sunday, March 27th for a 1pm start.  It’s free of charge, just us doing our part to promote cycling and a worthy local event.

We started this last year to provide an training opportunity for teams involved the BikeMS:Frisco to Fort Worth event.  Although there are a number of rally’s in the month of March and April, none are focused on preparation for this event.  Surprisingly, especially…

What if the weather is bad and you can’t cycle down those Texas roads?
from The Wheel Brothers – Cycling in Texas
You could jump on your trainer and work out – OR – you could head down to the OMNI in Fort Worth http://www.fwmuseum.org/omni-theater-about and go to a screening of ‘Wired to Win’ – Surviving the Tour de France. …

What’s Turning the Bike Spokes on the Net February 13th

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Trail Under Central Progress – More Gabion Walls
from Bike Friendly Richardson by dickdavid
Trail under Central
Still some work left to do
Not much to report today. With all of the bad rain and ice/snow storms this winter, I’m quite impressed with the amount of…

8:00am – CCC Group Ride
from Corinth Cycling Club by Scott Franklin
When: Sun Feb 20, 2011 8am to 10:30am  CST
Where: Ronny Crownover Middle School
Event Description: Corinth Cycling Sunday Group Ride Information – 8:00AM All rides depart from Ronny Crownover Middle School in Corinth 1901 Creekside Drive, Corinth, TX 76210 HELMETS ARE REQUIRED ON ALL CCC GROUP RIDES

Bill Woodard started the forum topic PSA, Running Red Lights
from Frisco Cycling Club
Yesterday afternoon a group of three riders were traveling South on Teel. As they approached The Trails Parkway they made a right turn, without stopping for the red light. The problem with this is that there was a car traveling North turning into the same street that had a Green Arrow. Needless to say there…

Life without a bike
by jonathanngiammarco on February 7, 2011
Two key decisions that affect my day-to-day life, decisions about housing and transportation, were made last spring. Before arriving in Austin, my wife and I decided to leave our car with her in Pittsburgh as she finished up school. Knowing that I would be reliant on…

I do not know who recorded this ride but I thought it would show what some riders do to archive their rides.

Road Biking 6 Feb | Bicycling in Texas
from www.trimbleoutdoors.com

Date: 6 Feb 2011 1:28:39 PM. Source: AllSport GPS on my Sprint BlackBerry 9650. Activity: Bicycling Activity Search Bicycling. State: Texas (TX) …

2011 Tour of New Braunfels Men’s Cat 2/3 Omloop
from Texas Racing Life by Ken
The best descriptive word for this race is frenetic.  The energy and excitement of the two’s getting upgrade points without those pesky 1’s in the mix was palpable.  Most of the 3’s were along for the bumpy ride.
The Omloop course was  great , except for a couple of erosional potholes mostly on the left side of the road.  These would occasionally come out of nowhere and try to lead unwary cyclists into the grass with their siren’s cry…