Texas Bicycling News – February 11, 2023

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride.

Cheryl Donatto | baytownsun.com

Imagine being inducted into a Hall of Fame for reaching a milestone fundraising total that will help find a cure for a debilitating disease.

Imagine you achieved this by riding a bicycle for long distances. Lots of times.

Imagine you accomplished this while in your 80s and 90s.

I can’t imagine myself doing any of this. At any age.

But I met a man who did just that. His name is Joe Morse and here’s his most remarkable story.

Morse is a 97-year-old active member of the ExxonMobil Cycling Club. He has been raising funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for 11 years by riding in the Texas MS 150 bike rides. In October 2022, he was one of 11 people inducted into the Texas MS 150 Hall of Fame for raising $100,000, forever securing his spot among top MS fundraisers. Three of his team members were also inducted at that level. With efforts like this, it’s easy to understand how the ExxonMobil Cycling Club was able to hit its $6 million Lifetime Fundraising Milestone. …

After Breakfast Club Party Travis County, Texas

Carlos A. Moreno | strava.com

New construction on Fort Worth’s University Drive will bring traffic delays

By Dionne Anglin | www.fox4news.com

FORT WORTH, Texas – Construction starts Monday on a Fort Worth road project designed to improve safety on a busy university boulevard.

The project will add a median, bike lanes and a traffic signal, but it means drivers should be prepared for some traffic delays during construction.

One of the busiest thoroughfares in Fort Worth, University Drive, will see a slowdown come Monday, Feb. 13. …

… The result of the work will be a more urban thoroughfare. There will be a new wider median, improved sidewalks and crosswalks, new bike lanes, streetlights and overall safer intersections. …

Opinion: Hike/bike trail is a ‘thank you’ for county residents

Luis Sanchez, County Commissioner, Precinct 3 | www.mrt.com

A New Hike/Bike Trail is coming to Midland

On Jan. 23, the Midland County Commissioners’ Court voted to move forward on a new hike/bike trail.

I mention this date because this decision was made one day before the City Council voted on the Hogan Park project. I decided not to submit this informational piece to the Midland Reporter-Telegram until (last week) because I felt like the timing was not right. I wrote this informational piece before we knew the Hogan Park decision. I believe now is the time to inform you about the great ongoing project that we as Midland County have been planning for a few months now.

Midland County has voted to plan and build a hike/bike trail that will be located west of the Horseshoe property. This property is about 20 acres and has been vacant for many years. The plan is to go out for “request for proposals” (RFQ) to find the right architect. The permission to go out for …

Round Rock to hold multimillion-dollar bond election in May

www.kvue.com

Round Rock voters will be presented with two bond propositions totaling $274 million for projects to improve parks and recreation, as well as public safety.

ROUND ROCK, Texas — As things continue to grow in Round Rock, two bonds totaling $274 million will be on the May ballot.

The Round Rock City Council voted to put the bonds on the ballot on Thursday night.

The bonds will go toward improving parks and enhancing public safety in the city.

There are two propositions.

Proposition A would make improvements to parks around Round Rock. Proposition A is for $230 million. At Old Settlers Park it will add a new recreation center, a lakeview pavilion and new tennis courts. A new park will go in at Brushy Creek.

The plan also calls for improvements to the Play for All Abilities Park, construction of hike-and-bike trails and additions to Rock’N River Water Park. …

to Memorial Park land bridge and then east side block party Houston, Texas

Mayra Mojica | strava.com

Ya put the load right on me Kendall County, Texas

Brent Wells | strava.com

Excellent turnout for an initially chilly and very windy ride organized by David Patterson. I’m always glad to ride in an unfamiliar territory as long as I have a group with me with members who know where they’re going!? I’m glad that JohnMonroe wanted to get some extra miles in cause I’m always up for that! As always, I am most thankful to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for allowing me to return to this sport, that I love, and for yet another safe ride with some wonderful friends.

Dirty Dozen 2023 2nd 6 hour solo Fayette County, Texas

Per (PJ) Tviberg | strava.com

Holly fantastic ride! Kendall County, Texas

Dina Christal | strava.com

Fight Club HTX Missouri City, Texas

Lupe Ontiveros | strava.com

Felt those Bulgarian squats and jumps today

Morning Ride – Spring Creek out and back Houston, Texas

J. Ramsey | strava.com

Chilly overcast never really warmed up. Gravel bike road /trail / & a few sections of gravel.

Tough day! Great group Washington County, Texas

Sam Diaz | strava.com

20th Education Expedition Bike Ride set for April 1

www.fortbendstar.com

On April 1, the Fort Bend ISD Education Foundation will host its 20th Education Expedition Bike Ride fundraising event.

The route is closely aligned with the 2022 route but includes minor improvements. Riders will leave at 7:30 am from Freedom Field in Iowa Colony through the streets and countryside of Brazoria County before looping back to the finish. Cyclists have the option of four routes: 32, 48, 66, or 83 miles.

Rest stops are themed will be staffed by Fort Bend ISD high school students vying for the “Best Rest Stop” award. A SAG wagon, motorcycle support, and bike shop mechanics will be on the course to assist riders with any needs. …

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

RoadCaptain Adventure in Zwift’s Makuri Islands

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I used RoadCaptain Builder to create this route in Makuri Islands starting with the Chain Chomper route spawning point. I wanted the route to avoid the big climb from the Makuri 40 route and be more than 20 miles. This route is 33.9km long and climbs 289.8m. This an experiment to see how the RoadCaptain Runner program guides me along the route. My last ride it lost connection with Zwift several times and I wasn’t able to make the last turn to complete the route from RoadCaptain Builder.

The ride began on the Makuri Islands Sea to Tree route as you can see in the video. I switched to km to match Zwift with the RoadCaptain window shown in the video. This part of the ride went up the climb I wanted to avoid but so be it. At 6.5km a left turn onto the Fishing Village road appeared and my avatar turned left. The RoadCaptain window showed the roads I was riding and the length to the next change. The Urukazi right turn message came at 13.7km. I made the turn and the RoadCaptain wind dropped the progress bars and told me keep pedaling and ride to start of route. I hoped the progress bars would return but they didn’t. It appears when the progress bars left a portion of the route was left out. The first map is from RoadCaptain with the route as built. I circled the missing roads in blue in the other maps.

2-11-2023 RoadCaptain Route Builder Makuri Islands
2-11-2023 RoadCaptain Route Builder Makuri Islands
2-11-2023 Strava Actual RoadCaptain Route Map Makuri Islands
2-11-2023 SportTracks Actual RoadCaptain Route Map Makuri Islands

Now that I am riding to the start of the route I make several loops through downtown and continue riding until I reach 34.2km or 21.32 miles and the 288m of climbing (945 feet). The ride was not Zwift official route but it was interesting. I don’t know what happened at 13.8km but at least the RoadCaptain window did not flash red during the ride from losing connection with Zwift. Again the Zwift companion app did not connect with Zwift and show the game screen so I closed the app and relied on the ride on my computer monitor only.

Strava reported three PR’s.

2-11-2023 Strava Zwift Ride Summary Makuri Islands RoadCaptain Route
2-11-2023 Strava Zwift Ride Summary Makuri Islands RoadCaptain Route

Texas Bicycling News – February 10, 2023

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Crime Stoppers looking for 2 drivers accused of striking bicyclist during street race

Cody King | www.ksat.com

SAN ANTONIO – Crime Stoppers is asking for the public’s help in finding two drivers accused of street racing and striking a bicyclist on the Southwest Side earlier this month.

The incident happened Jan. 30 in the 1600 block of Quintana Road.

Police said a silver SUV and a gray VW Passat were street racing southbound on Quintana Road when the speeding vehicles approached a VIA bus that was slowing down at a bus stop.

As the Passat inched …

Hays County Sheriff’s Office looking for bicycle thief

by Tara Brolley | cbsaustin.com

KYLE, Texas — The Hays County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a man who stole a bicycle in Kyle on Sunday.

It happened at the Poco Loco located at 798 High Road. The man placed the bicycle in the truck and drove away.

The truck is a red, 4-door Chevrolet or GMC. It has a large grill guard on the front, a drop hitch on …

Austin releases new urban trail plans to promote equitable accessibility

Kylee Howard | thedailytexan.com

The Austin Transportation Department and Public Works department released three new draft plans for an urban trail and other accessible alternative transportation routes as part of their ATX Walk Bike Roll on Jan. 27.

As part of multiple mobility projects from the city, the drafts are separated into three plans: sidewalks, crossing and shared streets, urban trails and a bicycle draft plan. According to a Jan. 27 press release, once each of the plans are finalized, the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan will be amended to reflect the drafts. The revised draft will be presented to the city council after it passes review by the Planning Commision in April.

Nathan Wilkes, an engineer and …

#NotBikeFest Ride #3 Brewster County, Texas

Amy Schendel | strava.com

Loops at Lajitas Airport

SBUX Impromptu Ride Missouri City, Texas

Rickey Garrett | strava.com

Volunteer Sign-Up – 24th Annual STORM Hill Country MTB Challenge

South Texas Off Road Mountain-Bikers | www.bikereg.com

Volunteer Information:

Prior to the event, you will be e-mailed a volunteer handbook outlining your assigned tasks. Please review and contact us if you cannot fulflful those responsibilities.

Please arrive on time for your respective duties as they are time-sensitive and critical to the timely and safe operation of our event.

Volunteers will be added to the front gate list and have their land use and camping fees waived.

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

RoadCaptain Runner Adventure – Watopia Beach Island Loop

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Today was a day to experiment with two programs I heard about for Zwift, RoadCaptain Route Builder and RoadCaptain Runner. RoadCaptain Route Builder creates a route using the worlds in Zwift incorporating the available turns without needing to click the turn arrow. I built a route several days ago but I didn’t understand how to use in Zwift. I watched two YouTube videos by the program’s creator and got a better understanding of how to create the route and then use it in Zwift.

Before riding Zwift today I created a route based on the Watopia Beach Island Loop adding a number of turns on to other roads. The Beach Island Loop is 8.0 miles long with 144 feet of climbing. This is the map from ZwiftInsider.com.

I wanted a longer ride but on flat roads too. Using RoadCaptain Builder I created this route. The white roads mark the route. On the left are the list of roads to ride with the length in km and climbing in meters. The distance converts to 15.56 miles. This route goes on roads to the right of the basic Beach Island Loop shown above returning back to a spot where it connects to where I rode earlier and ends there.

2-10-2023 RoadCaptain Route Zwift Beach Island Loop Modified
2-10-2023 RoadCaptain Route Zwift Beach Island Loop Modified

To use RoadCaptain Runner with Zwift I loaded the created route into Runner, signed into Zwift in Runner and then started Zwift. I selected Watopia and the Beach Island Loop route in Zwift and start riding. As I rode when a turn option comes up that I selected in RoadCaptain Builder my avatar turns without any intervention from me. At first I didn’t understand the alerts in Zwift when a turn approached but it seems that is triggered by RoadCaptain Runner before my avatar makes the turn. That’s what I understand so far.

With the Runner window overlayed on Zwift it shows the road I’m riding and counts up the km rode until the route makes a turn. My ride today started out as expected but the Runner window turned red after 1.96 miles alerting me that the connection to Zwift failed. I have no idea how or what caused the failure but Zwift and my sensors were still working. I thought maybe opening the Zwift companion app on my phone caused the problem so I closed it but Runner didn’t reconnect. I stopped the ride, exited Zwift and started a new ride using the Builder route.

This ride went better but the Runner window lost connection to Zwift a couple of times but I continued riding and it reconnected. When Runner resumed it lost the total km rode but showed the road/segment distance count up and the elevation and made the planned turns. It seemed to make the turns as programed until around 12 miles Runner said I missed a turn and to turn back. The problem was the Zwift controls at the bottom of the screen didn’t have the u-turn icon. This meant I retraced the roads heading back to the starting point and not riding the roads in the Builder route. I kept riding until I reached 15.76 miles and then stopped. I exited Zwift and when I checked the route map in Stava and SportTracks I found the spot I couldn’t make the u-turn. I wondered where I was riding after the missed turn. I need to learn more about how this works. I try again tomorrow while the weather is chilly outside.

Below is the route map from Strava. The red/white lines marks where I rode. The loop in the center is where the missed turn took place.

2-10-2023 Strava Zwift Ride Route Map
2-10-2023 Strava Zwift Ride Route Map
2-10-2023 Strava Zwift Ride Summary Watopia Beach Island Loop Modified
2-10-2023 Strava Zwift Ride Summary Watopia Beach Island Loop Modified