Just Enough Daylight… – November 24th Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I was able to leave work early today because my employer let us off early for Thanksgiving Day. This allowed me to leave on the evening ride at 4;21. Because I thought there would be just enough daylight to get 20 miles in I rode the Motobecane Le Champion road bike. Since I can ride faster on the road bike than the MTB this seemed possible. Heavy clouds meant darkness did not delay and I pulled in at the finish with just a wisp of daylight. The sun had set at 5:21 PM and I finished at 5:46 PM.

The temperature continues to be warmer than usual with 80 degrees at the start and 76 degrees when I finished. The wind has kicked up with 14 mph from the SSE and 24 mph gusts. I could feel the tailwind on the way back home. No riding tomorrow and Friday looks very iffy with the cold front arriving late Thursday and a 40-45 degree drop from Thursday to Friday. Saturday is a “maybe” and Sunday has a better probability with the temperature expected to hit the mid-60’s. Clear skies are expected as well.

The ride information:

  • November miles 278.10
  • Time riding this month 19:46:58
  • YTD miles 4881.07

11-24-2010 Ride information

Additional charts, weather and map.

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November 23rd’s Texas Bicycling News

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Yesterday during the drive home from work I was listening to one of my favorite cycling related podcasts, The Spokesmen Cycling Roundtable. This particular one was #55 and there was a new member on the roundtable. He was James Moss, a lawyer based in Golden, Colorado. He was on the podcast to offer some legal perspective to a couple of recent events in other states. One was in Colorado where a bike rider was run over by a man in a Mercedes who then left the scene and stopped later to call the Mercedes road assistance phone line about his damaged car. He was ticketed but the local district attorney has entered into a plea bargain. The other case is where a man run into a 10 year old boy and killed him. Now the driver is suing the boy’s parents because the boy was not wearing a helmet.

The roundtable members offer their opinions as does James. During this discussion the subject of what should a bicyclist do when you have a negative encounter with a motorist comes up.

I would recommend listening to this podcast for at least the first 30 minutes. The advice James offers could save you headaches when you encounter that irate motorist.

Cycling – 35 mile ride with a new speed record
by donbynum
Today, John Chalmers, another local cycling geezer, and I rode over to Texas Park Road 4 and across it to The Beast of Park Road 4.  More about The Beast later. The round trip was 35 miles as shown…

Don Bynum

OE West Texas Championship Series – Final
from www.oldtascosacycling.com
The series has now officially come to a close. It was another great year with some awesome venues and great racing. Overall awards were given out after the Marathon Saturday to the top three finishers in each class. If you happened to be absent, first, shame on you, and second, I have the plaques with me. Phill will be posting the final standings shortly on the WTcycling site.

A BIG thanks to Phill Miller for sticking around Saturday to tabulate the overall points. If I would have…

Pair make their own golden age
The Texas Senior Games, recently held in Houston, at least doubled in participation this year. According to Senior Games Association vice president Ken Leventhal, about 2,200 senior athletes took part in the varied athlete venues across the city.

“We had over 350 participants in our track and field meet which is really high for us,” said Leventhal. “There were almost 140 in our cycling events, double the amount we usually get. We had 38 teams…

December 6th Cycling Forum – WCC Community
While we don’t have a December business meeting, the WCC will be hosting a Cycling Forum, featuring the Adventure Cycling Association (Jim Sayer, executive director) and BikeTexas, aka Texas Bicycle Coalition (Robbin Stallings, executive director). It will be held on Monday, December 6th at 7 pm at Pallotta’s Mexican Grill, 2211 Rayford Rd.

Heart of Texas Lab Rescue News Flash: Paws Up for the DOOG Walkie Belt
by Heart of Texas Lab Rescue
There are certain perks when your best friend is the Fit City column writer for the Austin American Statesman. You may get roped into running a marathon, or maybe you’ll be asked to join her on a relaxing 100 mile mountain bike ride through the West Texas desert. You might find yourself on a 55 mile cruise on your road bike in…

The Trails Had Puddles – November 23rd Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

The warm temperature continued for another day. At times today I saw 82 degrees on the weather stats. By the time I got home and the sun had gone down and the temperature was still 79 degrees. Earlier in the day it must have rained because the streets were damp and the trails had puddles in places. Normally in full daylight puddles on trails are not a problem but in the dark it is hard to gauge how deep the water is. Fortunately there wasn’t any deep ones or there was space to go around it. There was one spot with mud across the trail but the grass was dry enough that I made it around without getting muddy. I guess this was the first taste of mud for the Motobecane 700HT MTB but it was just barely. The skies were mostly cloudy but when I was on the way back home the clouds broke enough for the full orange moon to shine through.  The 10 mph south wind was moving enough to keep me cool especially since I decided to wear a long sleeve jersey.

Tomorrow I get off work early for Thanksgiving so I may be able to ride in the daylight for a change. The cold front is still expected to arrive on Friday so I probably will not be riding. This could be bad depending on how much turkey and dressing I consume. Maybe Saturday will warm up enough to ride.

Today’s ride information:

  • November miles 257.99
  • YTD miles 4860.97

11-23-2010 Ride Information

Additional charts, weather and map.

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Easter Hill Country Tour – Kerrville, TX

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Easter Hill Country Tour
Start: Thursday, April 21, 2011 @ 4:00 PM
End: Sunday, April 24, 2011 @ 1:00 PM
Kerrville, Texas
Hosted By The Austin Cycling Association
Welcome to the 38th annual Easter Hill Country Tour, to be hosted (for the first time) by the Austin Cycling Association on April 22-24, 2011.

Online registration

Thursday April 21st

4:00 pm – 9:00 pm. Registration at the Schreiner University Activity Center ***

4:00pm – 7:00 pm. First time ever !!!!!! Cash bar Happy Hour near the Registration desks
Friday April 22nd

7:00 am – 7:00 pm. Registration at the Schreiner University Activity Center ***

7:00 am – 4:00 pm. Rides of 25, 48 & 64 miles. No mass starts. For details see the “rides” page of this site. Afternoon time given is the closing time of the last rest stop.
Saturday April 23rd

7:00 am – 11:00 am. Registration at the Schreiner University Activity Center ***

7:00 am – 4:00 pm. Rides of 19 to 105 miles. No mass starts. For details see the “rides” page of this site. Afternoon time given is the closing time of the last rest stop.

6:00 pm – 9:00 pm. Dinner & Social at the YO Ranch Resort Hotel
Cash bar opens at 6, dinner served from 6:30.
Sunday April 24th

7:00 am – 1:00 pm. Rides of 19, 32 & 41 miles. No mass starts. For details see the “rides” page of this site. Afternoon time given is the closing time of the last rest stop.

*** For the University Campus Map see www.schreiner.edu/campus_map.html

Easter Hill Country Tour