Texas Bicycling Action December 27th, 2022

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Holiday hustle

Nan Dickson | www.tdtnews.com

Colsyn Carrillo, 6, wears a green LED mohawk helmet as he races his bicycle Dec. 17 past the holiday decorations and colored fountain lights in downtown Temple’s Santa Fe Plaza.

Precinct 3 Opens New Timber Forest Drive Bridge

Tom S. Ramsey, P.E. | www.pct3.com

The four-lane bridge features sidewalks and serves to alleviate traffic along West Lake Houston Parkway HARRIS COUNTY, TX – Residents traveling from Humble to Atascocita now have a direct route with the new Timber Forest Drive Bridge completed by Harris County Precinct 3 Office of Commissioner Tom Ramsey, P.E. in partnership with Humble Independent School District.

The bridge includes four new lanes to provide a route over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. This will improve traffic flow from north to south along Timber Forest Drive and alleviate traffic along West Lake Houston Parkway, a route that drivers often take to Centennial Elementary. Additionally, benefits to the community include 8-foot-wide sidewalks along the bridge that provide a safe route for walkers, joggers, and bicyclists.

“The Lake Houston area is booming with …

How to Suffer While Cycling 2022

Veloharmony | www.youtube.com

If you’re in the North Houston area and would like to ride with us: https://groupme.com/join_group/876488…

Prologue: 00:00 Route Map: 00:43 Warming up with the group before Fishcreek: 02:05 Fishcreek Blvd – The open Road: 05:54 Heading East on 2854 in Conroe, Texas: 23:33

Randall Wayne Smith obituary, San Angelo, TX

www.legacy.com

Randall Wayne Smith, 66, of San Angelo, Texas passed away peacefully on December 25, 2022, at his home. Randall was born in Port Arthur, Texas, on April 18, 1956, to his parents Herman Lloyd Smith and Irma Lorraine Slaughter Smith. On May 12, 1978, he married the love of his life Audrey Lesley in Lawn, Texas. He started working in the family business at Moore’s Bicycle Shop in Abilene, Texas. Then started Concho Bike Shop in San Angelo, which is now Concho Power Equipment and has worked there for the past 34 years. He was a devoted Dallas Cowboys fan, and loved playing golf, it didn’t matter if it was 40 degrees or 106 degrees he would still play regardless of the weather. He had the opportunity to play golf in many countries. He is survived by his wife of over 44 years, Audrey Smith, his …

PHOTOS: Mission Carthage celebrates bicycle donations for Christmas blessings project

www.panolawatchman.com

Carthage city officials and representatives from Waste Connections gathered with Mission Carthage representatives at First United Methodist Church in Carthage just before Christmas to celebrate Waste Connections’ donation of kids’ bicycles to the Christmas Blessings project, which helped provide local children with gifts this holiday season.

Tuesday Ride

Mark Noblitt MTCCSA | strava.com

What a beautiful day! Also got to see Michelle MTCCSA/QRT Cycling for her birthday! Yeah, yeah, her husband Sylvan was there, too.

Texas Biking from Twitter

Spin Downs Made A Difference. Zwift Watopia Figure 8 Hills

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I did not check Zwift upcoming events for today’s ride. I looked at Zwiftinsider.com for a route with less than 1000 feet of climbing. I chose the Watopia Figure 8 route with 18.7 miles and 768 feet of climbing. The last time I rode this route was March 11th, 2022 as part of the Tour of Watopia Stage 1. Today was a free ride, just passing Zwifters. There were over 13,000 people online when I opened the companion app to get ready to ride. According to ZwiftInisder.com this route is “Watopia’s “Figure 8” route covers the entire hilly and flat routes in both directions. If you’re looking for a ride around an hour long that includes some short climbs and a nice mix of flats and rollers, this is a solid choice.” I’m beginning to add some extra climbing feet to routes because I ride more.

Today I rode 18.82 miles and climbed 833 feet. Not a big difference in the climbing but when I am watching the feet add up it gives a measure of how much climbing is left. I sped up for 1 sprint and tried to on a KOM but it didn’t make much difference on the KOM. No falling bears along the road but Christmas tree lights and a flying sled were spotted. Music for the ride: SiriusXM Seventies on 7. Out side the weather was fair with 6 mph wind from the west and 55 degrees. Tomorrow it may be in the 70’s and I will be on the road. Looking at the map I’m not sure where the Figure 8 is. Two big climbs and a bunch of smaller ones made my legs work.

The spin downs from yesterday changed the Wahoo Kickr Core to mimic the climbs and descents more realistically. I wasn’t pedaling as hard on the flats but the uphills were harder. Downhills I pedaled lightly and maintained the speed.

It wasn’t all about Zwift today. This morning I took the Lynskey Helix bike to Trek Bike Kingwood. They replaced the SRAM Rival crankset with a new SRAM Rival Quarq power meter crankset. I found them on sale and couldn’t resist. I will change from the Favero Assiomo Uno power meter pedals to Shimano Ultegra pedals. I prefer the clips on the Ultegra pedals. Next up the Cervelo Caledonia gets the same change.

12-27-2022 Strava Matched Rides Watopia Figure 8
12-27-2022 Strava Matched Rides Watopia Figure 8
12-27-2022 Strava Zwift Ride Overview Watopia Figure 8
12-27-2022 Strava Zwift Ride Overview Watopia Figure 8
12-27-2022 Strava Zwift Route Profile Watopia Figure 8
12-27-2022 Strava Zwift Route Profile Watopia Figure 8

Texas Bicycling Action December 26th, 2022

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Felt good, knee held up! Sure missed riding with these guys.

Charles Strebeck Kerr County TX | strava.com

Richardson business The Bike Shop offers variety of bicycles, repairs, accessories

By jackson king | communityimpact.com

Having been involved in the competitive cycling business for more than 20 years, Felipe Montiel offers a unique perspective on how to best repair a bicycle.

Montiel applies that knowledge to The Bike Shop, located at 1002 N. Central Expressway, Ste. 116, in Richardson. The shop stocks bicycles for men, women and children as well as accessories, bike racks and more. Montiel also offers mechanic experience, repairing bicycles on-site no matter where they were purchased.

“I can help the community to get better bicycles and enjoy more from their bicycles at any level,” Montiel said. …

Road to Hotter’N Hell

by Fun Bikin’ Enterprises | www.bikereg.com

Sat Jul 8 – Sat Aug 5, 2023 Weatherford, TX Are You Ready for a BAG?

Sometimes you need a Big Awesome Goal to get motivated – and this series fits the bill. The Hotter’N Hell is loaded with challenges – Heat and Wind being the biggest challenges – then they add a few hills in just the right places – and 20+ miles of headwind in the last miles of the 100 mile route. Through the years I have noticed that the people who handle these challenges the best are the people who are out cycling in area rides leading up to the HHH. This little secret motivated me to put together a ride series that would help you get ready for the BIG ride in Wichita Falls.

The Road to Hotter’N Hell is a bundle of 4 small community bike rides that are in the final weeks leading up to the Hotter’N Hell. Each ride in our series features challenging routes and a variety of distances blended with …

SCNT B@B

Jim Storey | strava.com

Afternoon Ride Gregg County, Texas

Jason Herrington | strava.com

Doo & Goo Houston, TX

Alison Carey | strava.com

JL Post Christmas Ride Pearland, TX

Rickey Garrett | strava.com

It’s not freezing! Sugar Land, TX

Eric M | strava.com

Rapha Festive500 Day 3 Sugar Land, TX

Virgil Skinner | FBK Cycling | strava.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Avoided No Longer, Zwift Three Little Sisters

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Up to now I have avoided the Watopia “Sisters” routes because of the climbing. Today I tackled the easiest of the Sisters routes. This is a “free ride”, not an event. No hovering leader’s beacon. Before the ride I did a spin down in Zwift and after the ride I did 3 spin downs using the Wahoo Utility app on my phone. The resistance during the ride was harder than I think is right. Going downhill the few times I did on the route the pedaling effort was still high. The next ride in Zwift will see if the spin downs make any difference.

The ride began at 1:10 PM and lasted 1:29:01, about a minute less than Zwift suggested it would in the ride description. The ride was 23.69 miles long with 1,424 feet of climbing. I think that is the most climbing I’ve done in a long time in Zwift. Checking SportTracks I climbed 1,471 feet riding Zwift on February 26th, 2022 on the Yorkshire Royal Pump Room 8 route. Searching SportTracks I found the most Zwift climbing was January 15th, 2021 on the Watopia Mountain route at 1,993 feet. That is a lot of climbing for me. The flat terrain around Houston doesn’t have much climbing.

Before deciding on the Three Little Sisters I went to ZwiftInsider.com to see what I was getting into. The description: “Originally published as a Rebel Route by Zwift Insider in February 2020, “Three Little Sisters” was suggested by Zwifter Gene Kruger. He named it in homage to Zwift’s official “Three Sisters” route which takes us over the Hilly, Volcano, and Epic KOMs. Three Little Sisters, in contrast, takes us over the Hilly, Titans Grove, and Volcano KOMs – in that order. Each new climb is longer than the one before, and we take the shortest possible route to get from climb to climb. Zwift’s February 2022 update included this route as an event-only route that awards an achievement badge. The April 2022 update then made this route free ridable.” The route basics showed no lead-in, distance of 23.4 miles, and climbing 1,316 feet. Not sure where my extra 108 feet came from. I would have preferred to have climbed less.

Around the 10 mile mark I chuckled watching a bear climbing a tree, falling, and rolling on the ground. Glad he didn’t chase any Zwifters passing by. There were some Christmas decorations, trees with lights, and a sled in the sky. There may have been others that I missed.

While enduring the uphills and downhills I listened to SiriusXM Seventies on 7 music. The tempo helped me keep my cadence steady.

I rode some of the Strava segments on other rides based on these two results: 2nd fastest time on Volcano Descent (4:26) and 3rd fastest time on Volcano KOM (15:53). Strava shows 6 segments for the route. I wish the weather listed on Strava was the weather where I am. It is not 79 degrees but 59 degrees here.

12-26-2022 Strava Zwift Ride Overview Watopia Three Little Sisters
12-26-2022 Strava Zwift Ride Overview Watopia Three Little Sisters
12-26-2022 Strava Zwift Ride Route Profile Watopia Three Little Sisters
12-26-2022 Strava Zwift Ride Route Profile Watopia Three Little Sisters