Texas Bicycling News – January 14, 2023

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Pedal the Pacific’s 2023 team meets for first time in Austin before seven-week bike tour

By Jessica Rivera | www.fox7austin.com

AUSTIN, Texas – Pedal the Pacific, a nonprofit group raising awareness about sex trafficking, is getting ready for its 1700-mile bike ride down the Pacific Coast.

"We thought why we don’t we do something when we graduate to spread awareness about this subject, so our friends and family have to ask us why are we doing what we’re doing," says Savannah Lovelace, co-founder of Pedal the Pacific.

With no cycling experience, Savannah and two other friends decided to ride their bikes down Seattle to San Diego.

Savannah brought the idea to …

Blue Agave Camp – Day 3 – Lime Creek Travis County, Texas

Frank Cano | strava.com

Saturday Group Ride San Antonio, Texas

Alex Sungho Hong | strava.com

A derailleur will turn you around…turn you around

Brent Wells | strava.com

How incredibly awesome just to ride OUTSIDE on a beautiful day! I’ve been without my “Red Mistress” for the last week due to the fact that my SRAM Red eTap rear derailleur just mysteriously quit working. Thankfully #VicMaitland Wrong Greg loaned me a Tarmac Disc Sl5 to ride in the meantime. Today’s ride had a nice turn out, and was once again put together by David Patterson who I’m very grateful to. I am also very grateful to Perry Stegall for stopping to wait for me at the beginning of the ride when my computer wasn’t functioning properly. He then bridged us back up to the group at a record pace! 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 great friends

Of course, I had to get a photo as we reached the summit of “The Old Tunnel” also called The Bat Cave, which is really an old railroad tunnel for The Old #9 train which I love!

El Paso Puzzler taste El Paso, Texas

Maga S | strava.com

Harmonie Hall Gravel Austin County, Texas

Amanda Hollenbaugh | strava.com

Day of many mechanicals

Colavita Ride San Antonio, Texas

Mark Noblitt MTCCSA | strava.com

Fun, short morning ride today with a ton of cycling friends — new and old!

Hey Tim! Tyler, Texas

Mike Buenaventura | strava.com

Great ride with the athletes I coach. Some got bike upgrades. Some thought we needed to call out bumps. ? “Hey we ride gravel” ?? . Everybody had a great time.

NICA practice at Warda Fayette County, Texas

Danny Dutton | strava.com

Best route from Port Isabel to CC from bicycletouring

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Texas Biking from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Moved To Rouvy For A Change Of Virtual Ride Scenery

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For a change of scenery for today’s virtual bike ride I moved to Rouvy. I tried Rouvy once before back on November 16, 2019 when I uploaded the GPX file from one of my routes. Today I chose one their routes, Avenue of the Giants, in California. Rouvy doesn’t create a fictional world but uses video from the actual roads on the selections I saw. My other ride didn’t have video, just the route map with an icon moving as I rode. Avenue of the Giants is 19.88 miles long with 610 feet of climbing. It is mostly flat which is one reason I chose it since I wasn’t sure how it managed the smart trainer resistance. I think my trainer put the resistance at 100% and I didn’t see a setting to change it but there may be one. I don’t know much about Rouvy’s settings. I got out of the saddle once on a short climb. I don’t think any climbs exceeded 4%. I installed the Rouvy companion app on my phone but after a few minutes it stopped syncing with the ride. I need to learn more about the app. The sensors connected to my desktop computer via Bluetooth, not my phone like Zwift can.

No crowds like Zwift. I rode with Will, Emma, and Peter for the whole ride. I don’t know if they were actually riding or bots. I liked the left nearby riders panel that showed how much distance between me and them. The climbing feet count down instead of up like Zwift.There is a separate screen that shows the route when I clicked on the icon in the upper right corner. I didn’t see a camera control but a few times during the ride the camera shot changed. The information blocks in the upper left corner could be a little larger for my eyes and the distance to my monitor. They show the upcoming road profile % change and above that is my sensors’ data.

I don’t remember where it was in the ride when I deer ran across the road in front of me and for a second or two the riders in front of me disappeared because the deer would run through them. Traffic on the left passed and parked vehicles dotted the sides. I don’t know if there were sounds because I was listening to America’s Top 40 from 1-13-1973 on SiriusXM Sevenities on 7 channel.

What prompted me to try Rouvy was an email with a discount code for one month. It is interesting alternative. Another one I plan on trying is MyWhoosh. It is free with ads in the game. Routes appear to be in the Middle East. I’ll be back on Zwift for virtual rides too.

GPX in Relive.cc doesn’t follow the road exactly in the video below.

1-14-2023 Strava Rouvy Ride Overview Avenue of the Giants Cal
1-14-2023 Strava Rouvy Ride Overview Avenue of the Giants Cal
1-14-2023 Strava Rouvy Ride Map Profile Avenue of the Giants Cal
1-14-2023 Strava Rouvy Ride Map Profile Avenue of the Giants Cal
1-14-2023 Strava Weekly Relative Effort
1-14-2023 Strava Weekly Relative Effort

Texas Bicycling News – January 13, 2023

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1 big thing: Third Ward bikeway could be changed

Jay R. Jordan, Shafaq Patel | www.axios.com

A controversial bike lane project deep in Third Ward could be redesigned if the City of Houston is ready to pay.

Catch up quick: Construction is ongoing to transform Blodgett Street between Scott and Ennis streets from a four-lane road to two lanes of traffic with protected bike paths on either side.

Several residents, community organizations and District D City Council member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz raised concerns late last year over traffic and lack of engagement and have been trying to stop work on the project.

Driving the news: After hearing from community members, Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, whose office is funding most of the project, sent a letter to Evans-Shabazz and Mayor Sylvester Turner that said the project could be redesigned if the city forked over half of the remaining bill, plus the cost of the redesign — about $8 million to $9 million.

By the numbers: The city currently has …

Police seeking driver of hit-and-run accident

By News Staff | www.theexaminer.com

According to PAPD, on Jan. 5 at approximately 7:39 p.m., a 28-year-old white male on a bicycle was reportedly struck by a vehicle in the 3100 block of 39th Street (westbound). The driver of the vehicle left the scene. The victim suffered “significant,” but non-life-threatening, injuries.

Anyone with any information concerning this hit-and-run accident is asked to call Det. Thomas at (409) 983-8639 or Crime Stoppers of SETX at (409) 833-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be made online at 833TIPS.com or via the downloaded P3 TIPS app.

Woodlands Arts Council unveils its latest artistic beauty, the Give Back Bike Rack

By: Sean K. Thompson | www.woodlandsonline.com

THE WOODLANDS, TX – The Woodlands Arts Council recently unveiled its latest piece of art in the township; their very first ‘Give Back Bike Rack,’ a piece of art installation that serves as a public bicycle rack on top of its artistic presence.

James Stilwell, president of The Woodlands Arts Council spoke at an outdoors gathering at the main entrance of Town Green Park, site of the new installation that was entitled Tokens of Gratitude.

“We’re here at Town Green Park for the unveiling of the Give Back Bike Rack, our first art bike rack in The Woodlands,” he said in an exclusive interview with Woodlands Online. “We have had quite a number of public art pieces in The Woodlands with benches in parks and around The Waterway and Hughes Landing, and we decided …

‘He’s supposed to bury me’: Parents of cyclist killed in hit-and-run plead for answers

Author: Alicia Neaves | www.kens5.com

38-year-old Geoffrey Shafer was hit by a car while riding his bike off Culebra and Arcadia Creek. https://www.kens5.com/embeds/video/responsive/273-6e12336d-a917-4f07-841b-d331caa82cce/iframe

SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio man was hit and killed while riding his bicycle on Culebra Road. His body was left on the side of the street.

That was four months ago.

His mother and father hoped for answers over the holidays, but the person responsible for their son’s death is still walking free.

For the first time, Virgil and Paula Shafer are speaking out about their son’s case. They are …

Heights bikeway on 11th Street set for spring finish

By Shawn Arrajj | communityimpact.com

Work is slated to be completed in the spring on a project to reduce car lanes and add bike lanes to a portion of 11th Street in the Heights.

The project is expected to increase safety and multimodal connectivity and add safer crossings and on-street barriers for separated bike lanes.

Crews are working to add refuge islands at Nicholson Street, Columbia Street and Northill Boulevard as well as high-visibility crosswalks on Oxford Street and Beverly Street.

Pearce Lane improvements coming for Del Valle

by: Erica Brennes | www.kxan.com

DEL VALLE, Texas (KXAN) — Big improvements are in store for roads in Del Valle, starting with Pearce Lane.

KXAN Traffic Anchor Erica Brennes reports on the changes coming that should make it safer to drive, walk and bike in Del Valle.

In Eastern Travis County, out by the airport, and Circuit of The Americas, and now Tesla, you’ll find the community of Del Valle.

While business growth has been red hot in this part of the Austin area, the roads have taken a beating. Particularly Pearce Lane.

Brad Wheelis, a TxDOT Spokesperson said, …

B-cubed does Bellvelo

Peter Clark | strava.com

Failed to even do one lap, but hey-ho, was a lot of fun…some new roads…great tailwind outbound…you can guess the rest…excellent lunch at the bakery in Bellville..

Heads or Tails! Houston, Texas

Michelle Yoder | strava.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

Took 2 Tries. Tour de Zwift Stage 2 Richmond UCI worlds

Texbiker.net Posted on by

It took 2 tries to ride the Tour de Zwift stage today. My first attempt began at 12:02 ended around 2 miles into the stage when my computer lost connection. I tried to rejoin but it only let me begin a “free ride” on the Richmond UCI Worlds route which Group B rode. So I had to wait about an hour to attempt again. At 1:02 PM I was wary but no problems. This is the first time I have lost the connection since I changed internet providers back in the spring last year. Before that I lost connections frequently. Glad I lost the connection early rather than later in the stage.

My wife and I were in Richmond in September 2015 for the worlds. We saw Peter Sagan win in a sprint. In Zwift I think I saw where we stood. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the ability to bike.

Now connected this would be the third time riding the course since I began Zwifting. The last time was way back on December 2, 2020 when I rode 20.69 miles, slightly more than today. The other time I rode 10.46 miles, 1 lap. Today stage 2 covered two laps for a total of 20.4 miles and 850 feet of climbing. That is less climbing than the stage description said which was fine with me. I checked the number of people online before my first attempt and it was over 13,000. The first time group B was over 1,000 but the 1:02 PM stage was less, I think around 700. Strava didn’t match the previous rides with today for some reason.

1-13-2023 SportTracks All Rides Zwift Richmond UCI Worlds Course
1-13-2023 SportTracks All Rides Zwift Richmond UCI Worlds Course

The climbing came towards the end of the lap after being flat and downhill. Some of the climbs on the turns hit 24% but only for a few feet. I got out of the saddle once on a climb but the rest of the time I shifted gears and pedaled slower. The blue image is from ZwiftInsider.com for 1 lap. On that steep downhill I hit close to 40 mph and those little blips in the valley was a taste of the climbing to come. It was cruel to end the laps on an uphill. The next image is from ZwiftPower.com showing my 357 position out of 369 group B riders. Not great but not last either. From ZwiftPower.com Group A 421, Group C 339, and Group D 21 (women only).

1-13-2023 Zwift TDZ Stage 2 Group B Richmond UCI Worlds Results
1-13-2023 Zwift TDZ Stage 2 Group B Richmond UCI Worlds Results

Since Strava didn’t connect my previous rides I got a bunch of top results.

1-13-2023 Strava Zwift TDZ stage 2 Richmond UCI Worlds Overview
1-13-2023 Strava Zwift TDZ stage 2 Richmond UCI Worlds Overview
1-13-2023 Strava Zwift TDZ stage 2 Richmond UCI Worlds Map Segments
1-13-2023 Strava Zwift TDZ stage 2 Richmond UCI Worlds Map Segments
1-13-2023 Strava Zwift TDZ stage 2 Richmond UCI Worlds Segments
1-13-2023 Strava Zwift TDZ stage 2 Richmond UCI Worlds Segments