Texas Bicycling News – February 13, 2023

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Community Celebration of New Northern Walnut Creek Trail Extension

City of Austin | www.austintexas.gov

Join Austin Public Works Urban Trails Program for an afternoon of public festivities celebrating the opening of a new section of the Northern Walnut Creek Trail! Stop by Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park on Saturday, March 4 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a ribbon-cutting, live music, a food truck, and fun activities on the new 1.3-mile trail.

11 a.m. Council Member Leslie Pool will provide welcoming remarks in the Walnut Creek Park Pool Parking Lot, adjacent to the new trail (12138 N. Lamar Blvd.)

Ribbon cutting ceremony

Live music by Ashton “Infinity Jones” Deary

A youth bicycle ride led by Ghisallo Cycling Initiative

A guided family nature walk led by a Biologist

Food truck with food for purchase

Prior to the event, …

Floresville Hike & Bike Trail Committee meeting

www.wilsoncountynews.com

12 things to do this February, March in Leander, Cedar Park

By Grant Crawford, Claire Shoop | communityimpact.com

… March 4: Take a nighttime ride

The Cedar Park Parks and Recreation Department will host a free, family-friendly glow bike ride and party. During the city’s Kaleidospoke event, riders will complete a 1-mile loop at the Cedar Park Recreation Center. The glow party includes a DJ, a light show, LED swings, seesaws and glow performers. Food trucks, bike vendors and healthy treats will be on hand.

6:30-9 p.m.
Free (registration required).
1435 Main St., Cedar Park.
[www.cedarparktexas.gov](http://www.cedarparktexas.gov/)

Businesses along Texas Avenue concerned about latest TxDOT project

By Tyler Hoskins | www.kbtx.com

On Monday TxDOT began its 5-mile construction project to raise medians along Texas Avenue from University Drive north to State Highway 21.

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – A large construction project by TxDOT between College Station and Bryan has caught some business along Texas Avenue by surprise.

On Monday TxDOT began its 5-mile construction project to raise medians along Texas Avenue from University Drive north to State Highway 21. TxDOT will also remove the traffic signals at Oak and 26th Streets and add new traffic signals at Mitchell and 27th Streets. Several local businesses told KBTX that they were either unaware of the project or angry.

Ag Solar Guard in Bryan is just on business that will be affected along Texas Avenue. Owner Susie Steubing said …

… The current project under construction is at the intersection of Texas Avenue with San Jacinto Street (SH 21). Projects will begin soon to address the section between this intersection and University Drive. The first is a project to add a raised median and the second will add pedestrian and bicycle routes via sidewalks and shared use paths. …

Former CapMetro bus driver accepts plea agreement for killing Austin bicyclist in 2019

www.fox7austin.com

Mindi Stafford pleaded guilty last month to criminally negligent homicide. Former FOX 7 employee Tony Diaz was killed when the bus Stafford was driving ran over him while he was biking on the UT campus on Jan. 28, 2019.

Finally a ss single track mtb ride Harris County, Texas

Shannon Wyatt (Clean) Salsacycles | strava.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

GoPro Battery Delay Then New Caney – Roman Forest Blvd – Oakhurst

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Before setting out on today’s bike ride I watched the Jaén Paraíso race across Spain’s gravel roads with 53km of gravel. No gravel on my bike ride though. I got rolling later than I planned because the GoPro battery was empty and I needed to replace it. With my mounting setup it takes several minutes to get to the battery. Once the battery was replaced I rolled out on my Lynskey Helix bike at 11:47 AM.

The New Caney – Roman Forest Blvd – Oakhurst route was to the north as I rode through Kingwood, Woodridge Forest, and Brooklyn Trails to get to the US59 northbound frontage road. I stayed on the frontage road to Roman Forest Blvd. where I made a u-turn under US59 and headed back to Kingwood. The southbound frontage road took me to Valley Ranch Parkway. I turned right onto Valley Ranch and rode it to FM 1314. Crossing FM 1314 Briar Tree and Oakhurst were next. A short ride on Kingwood Place Drive and I was back to the US59 southbound frontage road to the Kingwood Drive u-turn. Riding north I turned onto Kingwood Parc and to Loop 494. Kings Manor’s streets brought back into Kingwood. As I rode east along Kingwood Drive I heard sirens coming towards me and soon three Houston Police cruisers with flashing lights raced passed me going west. Not sure what was the destination. I finished the ride at 2:15 PM.

Weather: start 69, 57% humidity, dew point 53, mostly cloudy, wind S 8 mph; finish 73, 44% humidity, dew point 50, mostly cloudy, wind S 8 mph.

I ride these roads in different combinations on other routes but not this particular combination very often. Below is some of the other rides on this route.

2-13-2023 SportTracks Ride History New Caney-Roman Forest Blvd-Oakhurst Route
2-13-2023 SportTracks Ride History New Caney-Roman Forest Blvd-Oakhurst Route

Weather conditions were favorable for a fast ride with the wind at 8 mph from the south. I built my overall average speed up to 14.4 mph and held it until I neared Kings Manor. The AXS.SRAM.com ride report gives my gearing and power data.

2-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Gear Usage by Time
2-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Gear Usage by Time
2-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Gear Usage by Distance
2-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Gear Usage by Distance
2-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Avg Power in Gear
2-13-2023 SRAM Component Summary Avg Power in Gear

Texas Bicycling Action – February 12, 2023

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San Antonio’s population growth adds congestion, danger for local cyclists

by Sam Boykin | sanantonioreport.org

Feb. 20 marks the three-year anniversary of the death of Irie Suarez, a fifth-grade student at Kallison Elementary who was struck and killed by a motorist while riding her bike to school.

Irie lived and died at Valley Ranch, a sprawling neighborhood in far West San Antonio, where new subdivisions are gobbling up former farmland. She was one of three Bexar County cyclists to die in 2020 after being hit by a motor vehicle. In 2021, there were seven such fatalities and nine last year, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

In the eight-county San Antonio metro area, there have been 55 fatal cycling accidents since 2013, and 266 incidents in which cyclists sustained “suspected serious injuries.” Those numbers made San Antonio the country’s 16th most deadly U.S. city for bicyclists, according to an analysis of U.S. Department of Transportation Fatality Analysis Reporting System data by CarInsurance.org.

As San Antonio’s population continues to …

Man on bicycle hit by truck, taken to hospital

by: Dylan Jimenez | www.texomashomepage.com

WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — One man was taken to the hospital after being hit by a truck Sunday evening in Wichita Falls while riding a bicycle.

It happened just before 6 p.m. in the 4200 block of Kell West and McNiel.

A Wichita Falls Police sergeant said the man was riding his bike and pulled out in front of a Ford F250. The man was taken by AMR to United Regional with non-life-threatening injuries.

Super Bowl ride !! It’s always nice seeing my cycling friends

Cesar Gutierrez | strava.com

Super Sunday solo Montgomery County, Texas

Eric Price | strava.com

Afternoon Ride Harris County, Texas

Melissa Kunthea | strava.com

Hoping for a Super Bowl and not a Pander Bowl. Unfortunately that’ll be pushed all evening ?????….other than that, Mahomes and the Chiefs got this one….. Pflugerville, Texas

Sanora Baptiste | strava.com

Don’t let Dexter near your phone Houston, Texas

Deric Delgado | strava.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Zwift – Charting Unknown Makuri Islands Turns

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I waited to start today’s bike as I caught up on all of the races on GCN+. I decided to ride Zwift instead of outside and used the RoadCaptain Builder program to create a route in the Makuri Islands. I loaded the RoadCaptain Runner program started Zwift. After connecting everything I went to the Makuri Islands and chose the Chain Chomper route like RoadCaptain Runner instructed. This route was different from the Makuri Islands route I built yesterday. I thought a new route might fare better than yesterday when RoadCaptain Runner left at 13.8km.

The ride started as planned and I rode the route watching RoadCaptain Runner as the upcoming sections moved by. At 9.8km when I turned onto Urukazi RoadCaptain runner stopped showing upcoming actions and told me to keep pedaling back to the start. I kept pedaling for several km and then I closed the RoadCaptain window and opened the Zwift Companion app on my phone. For a minute or so it did not open to the game but when it did the map was small and my triangle didn’t show on the map. The reason I opened the app was to be able to make turns when intersections came up. After that the ride followed wild card turns. Some of them I took screenshots to record the names. I missed some because the turn info left before I could take the screenshot. The video has all of the turns I made. To be fair, MakurI islands is labeled Beta in the RoadCaptain Builder program.

This is the map of the actual ride from SportTracks and the fit file.

2-12-2023 SportTracks Ride Route Map Makuri Islands
2-12-2023 SportTracks Ride Route Map Makuri Islands
2-12-2023 SportTracks Zwift Ride Summary Makuri Islands
2-12-2023 SportTracks Zwift Ride Summary Makuri Islands

The ride profile above shows one big climb and then some smaller ones when I started taking turns at intersections.

Now that I was making turns I decided to ride the 29.5km (18.43 miles) and the 705 ft. of climbing turned out to be close to the 226.1m meters from RoadCaptain.

2-12-2023 Strava Zwift Ride Summary Makuri Islands
2-12-2023 Strava Zwift Ride Summary Makuri Islands

This ride ended the week and I was on the bike each day, 4 road rides and 3 Zwift rides. I am ahead of the pace to reach my 300 road miles goal for the month with 143 or 48%. this week was the most miles since the week beginning January 2nd this year.