Texas’ Top Two Youth Volunteers Selected

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from businesswire.com

These two youth raised over $700,000 for charities in Texas. Shelby Romero started a charity bike ride and other events. This is amazing.

Patrick Foster, 17, of Sachse and Shelby Romero, 12, of Hutto today were named Texas’ top two youth volunteers for 2009 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program, now in its 14th year, is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Patrick, a senior at Sachse High School, co-founded a nonprofit organization that has raised nearly $300,000 in merchandise and cash donations over the past five years to support American troops serving overseas.

Shelby, a member of the Williamson County 4-H and a seventh-grader at Farley Middle School in Hutto, organized a charity bicycle ride and other events that have raised nearly $400,000 over the past three years for a horseback-riding therapy center for disabled children.

link to the complete press release.

Texas Bike Blog Roundup February 10th

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Another day with too many bikers writing about their activities so I am continuing in the digest mode.

from The Strange Natural

Tour of New Braunfels Criterium 2009
The start of the 2009 Season has begun!!

I was very thankful to be able to stay with Misty’s Parents house in New Braunfels with Shawn and Misty. Thank you VERY much for your hospitality!! I’m looking forward to seeing the new house for next year!

Race Report:
The race got off to a pretty slow start, of course you have your attacks off the front.

from Bike Geek

I’ve used the Weather Underground web site for many years. One of their more recent features is called the WunderMap and I’ve found that it can be quite useful as a “pre-ride” weather source when you’re wondering just how many layers you may be piling on in order to stay warm. In addition to superimposing weather radar over neighborhood level maps, it displays detailed weather information from multiple weather reporting points.

from Nearly Famous Fred – Texas Cyclist

Sometimes, life surprises you in the most unexpected ways.

As a big time, famous writer of a free Internet cycling blog, I knew there would be certain benefits. The parties with rock stars. The world travel. Hanging out with professional athletes. Dating super models. And don’t even get me started on the money. All of these were benefits that I certainly anticipated. But the other day, I discovered a bonus “super power” benefit of writing this blog.

from austinbikeblog.org

Girl Power is the theme of Austin Cycling this spring

A lot of cycling is dominated by men. Head out to most Saturday morning hammerfests or even many social rides, and you’ll find the rides made up of mostly if not all men. (Even rides advertised as can get out of hand pretty quickly.) So it is nice to see this trend being bucked in a major way in Austin with the occurrence of tons of women only and women specific events designed to help female riders race and ride in a nurturing, non-aggressive atmosphere.

from Nearly Famous Fred – Texas Cyclist

In keeping with my stated policy of preemptive self deprication, I have a true story that I’ve been meaning to write about. This story confirms the long held public and personal opinion that I am, indeed, a big Doofus. Please keep in mind that I am willingly telling this story about myself. I only hope that my story can help others.

Last fall, specifically, October 18th, I made the long drive from McKinney to Mineral Wells, TX, for a ride called the Kiwanas Crazy Kicker.

from Bike Geek

Trek Valencia Review : Ride #9 – Dog Sitting by Bike
My sister and her family were out of town this weekend so they asked me to stop by during their absence to feed and play with Hershey, their beagle. Google Maps identified a distance of just over four miles, one-way.

Instead of reaching for the car keys, I decided to take the Valencia…and why not? Cars create most of their pollution in the first few miles of a drive when the catalytic converter is still warming up.

A Digest of Bicycle Blog Posts Around Texas

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The bicycle blogs have been active. Rather than devote a post to each of these I decided to put them together in a digest format. This also helps me catch up.

from the Law Office of David Bosworth, Attorney (who apparently is a bicyclist)

Kelly (Port San Antonio ) with the Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club (hcbtc.org). February 1, 2009.

Of course, it’s another beautiful, clear, cool day in San Antonio – no, we never get tired of them. This was my first time to ride the Kelly ride, which Vern leads every month or so (check out www. hcbtc.org  for the next ride.) It’s a great way to see this area  that has been so important to San Antonio.

from www.guidrynews.com

American Red Cross Tour du Rouge…In conjunction with the six (6) day ride, there is now a one day ride being offered from Humble, TX to Beaumont, TX to lead off the Tour du Rouge.  All cyclists will leave on Sunday morning from Humble, and the one day riders will be bussed back after arrival in Beaumont. The space for this one day ride is limited to 500 cyclists and online registration will begin on January 31st.

from Beginning Bicycle Commuting

Why do you ride a bike to work?

I get asked that question quite a bit. There are lots of reasons commute to work on my bike.

All the way through high school and college, I didn’t own a car. My only independent means of transportation was my bicycle. After college I bought a car, but since I was newly married and we shared one car, I bought a bike and was bicycle commuting way back in 1984. At the time, the reason was, “Because I can’t afford a second car.”

from Far Out Son of Lung
Super Bowl Ride
The day started early. With a commuter bag packed with an extra water bottle, a sandwich, banana & apple and a camera I set off for Bike Mart North in Frisco. Today would encompass roughly 60 miles of riding from Frisco to downtown Dallas. It is the 24th annual Super Bowl ride, designed to bring cyclists together from all over the Metroplex converging on the West End in downtown Dallas.

from Nearly Famous Fred – Texas Cyclist
I didn’t die, which only added to my enjoyment of the ride
Today I’d like to talk about the Super Bowl Sunday Ride that we did yesterday.

As I mentioned in my last post, every year on Super Bowl Sunday, cycling groups from all over the Dallas/Ft Worth area, ride to the area of downtown Dallas called the West End, have lunch, then ride home. For Team Bikin, this was about a 50 mile round trip ride. Now usually, a 50 mile ride isn’t a lot to get excited about. But since this was the first time I’ve ridden outdoors in over 3 months, I was extremely excited about it. Some might say, I was down right giddy about it. Given to my Lutheran heritage and upbringing, I smiled myself downright silly.

from Ride Blessed

My weekend was filled with a lot of fun- the kind of fun that wears you out so much you pass out asleep with a smile on your face.  Greg and I made our way to the team shop for some bike work and then to Warda for some great mountain biking.  I’m not sure how many states have this but with TMBRA (Texas Mountain Bike Racing Association) we have what is called paydirt, where you earn standing points and can win some pretty sick prizes by going out and working on the various race trails.  Riders are required to put in 10 hours of paydirt.  Greg and I got 7 done this weekend.  We cut face-slapping branches, hauled junk, and cut a new trail.  It was lots of fun and lots of work.

No Puddles, No Ducks; Mucho Wind and Riders

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Yesterday it dawned on me that the weather for Saturday was going to be great for a bike ride with clear skies and temperature in the 70’s. Looking at the Texbiker.net event calendar I saw the Puddle for Ducks ride in Katy, TX. This ride benefits Ducks Unlimited, a wildlife conservation group in North America. I have ridden in this area before but not this specific ride. Katy is about an hour from my home so I packed up the bike and left just before 6 AM this morning. I was thinking with the ride being rather early in the season that the attendance would not be large. Was I wrong! Cars were lined up to get off the Katy Freeway but we moved through the signals quickly. The parking lot around the Sun & Ski store at the Katy Mills Mall was packed. Since this was a last minute decision I was not pre-registered but that did not take long with the plentiful clipboards and ink pens at the front door of the store. I estimate there were over 2,000 bikers for this ride. The ducks were a no show. Thank goodness there were no puddles either.

We are gathered at the starting line.

We are gathered at the starting line.

After registering I almost walked off without my T-shirt. The T-shirt was unusual; a long sleeved camouflage color with the Ducks Unlimited  logo on the front and the sponsors on the back. You have to look closely to see the sponsors names with the camouflage background. Returning to the Jeep to get ready for the start I got the bike out, grabbed the camera and headed to the starting line. People were already in position. The person in charge announced that people would start based on their average riding speed. This sounded like a good idea to get the faster riders out front of the slower ones. The groups were 21 mph and up, 19-21, 17-19, 15-17 and so forth. I left at 7:48 AM in the 15-17 group so I did not hear the rest. The 17-19 group was very large so there were several groups sent out in batches of 100-200 riders.

My group moved away at a slow pace as we moved through the mall streets. Once we got out of the mall area the speed picked up. After heading west for a short distance we turned south and got the first taste of the strong wind for the day. The temperature was around 60 but the sun was up and we were keeping warm with the pedaling.

I was planning on riding the 70 mile route so I was watching for the markers. At first I kept seeing the white signs along the road with the letters “DU” on them. After seeing 10 or more it finally dawned on me this was for Ducks Unlimited and marked the route. There were no incidents from the start to the first rest stop. A fire truck did come by us as we were waiting to cross an intersection to the first rest stop but there was no indication where they were heading.

Rest stop #1. Water, cookies, fruit, porta-potties.

Rest stop #1. Water, cookies, fruit, porta-potties.

At the start the leader told us the portable toilet company had made a mistake and dropped the toilets for rest stop two at the starting line but they should have them moved by the time we got there. He was right. They were there when I got there. To be safe I stopped at rest stop one. From rest stop one to rest stop two we rode south for about a third of the distance but then we turned and enjoyed a tailwind for most of the miles to number two.

Rest Stop #2. Look at the variety of jerseys.

Rest Stop #2. Look at the variety of jerseys.

Traveling from rest stop two to rest stop three was easy with a tailwind almost all the way. It was at rest stop three that I made my route mistake and missed the road to the 70 mile route. I had looked at the map at rest stop one but did not see the route split there. By the time I realized the mistake I was just continued to the finish riding 45 miles. With the wind this was probably for the best because the return on the 70 mile was into the 23 mph wind (gusts to 26 mph).

Ducks at rest stop #3. The puddle was sand and rocks.

Ducks at rest stop #3. The puddle was sand and rocks.

Heading east from rest stop three was a battle with the wind on my right. At times I could feel the bike being movedby the wind but I was riding faster than most of the other riders for some reason so I got some shelter as I passed them. I could tell when I went beside some object too. Turning south for a short distance brought us to the last couple of miles to the mall parking lot. One of the riders with me commented that we had a tailwind for the last 1/4 mile. I finished at 11:15. Venturing inside the Sun & Ski store there were sausage/bun/pickle on a stick. I ate one on the way back to the Jeep to pack up for the drive back home.

The Puddle for Ducks ride was well organized and the route was mostly flat (1 incline only) across the Katy prairie but the wind was tough. This reminded me of the Jalapeno 100 in Harlingen last year where the wind was 50 mph for the whole ride. Today’s wind wasn’t quite so strong but you could feel it. At rest stop one there was man there making duck calls with his hunting dog sitting beside his chair. No ducks landed or flew by that I saw.

The finish line crowd outside Sun & Ski.

The finish line crowd outside Sun & Ski.