The Balmoral Blue Lagoon and The Railroad Overpass

Texbiker.net Posted on by

It’s been almost a month since I checked on the progress at the railroad overpass on Timber Forest Drive in Balmoral. I decided today was where i would bike to see how it was going. I got a late start at 10:09 AM from catching up on Texas bicycling news while I was away in Galveston yesterday. I rode my Lynskey Helix bike on the Atascocita -Balmoral – Walden route. Typically this route is 34 to 35 miles and today I rode 35.1 miles. So far this year I rode this route 11 times and most of them have been on Thursday for some reason. The video shows the railroad overpass construction. The Balmoral Blue Lagoon looks so finished and the railroad overpass so unfinished. What takes so long?

9-15-2022 YTD Bike Rides Atascocita-Balmoral-Walden Route
9-15-2022 YTD Bike Rides Atascocita-Balmoral-Walden Route

I’m making good progress for a 200 mile week with 149.03 miles so far. September is looking good as well with 514.59 miles or 71% of my 720 mile goal. Year to date 2022 stands at 7,250 miles exceeding 2021’s 7,127 miles and 2020’s 7,005 miles.

Since Monday’s minor cool front I’ve enjoyed below normal humidity, dew point, early morning temperatures. Those held for today’s bike ride but will probably go away later today on Friday. The wind was 7 to 8 mph during the ride not challenging my legs as much as yesterday in Galveston. Weather overall: start 82 (humidity 57%, dew point 65), a few clouds, wind NE 7 mph; finish 88 (humidity 53%, dew point 68), partly cloudy, wind E 8 mph.

I stopped at Balmoral and took this photo of the lagoon.

9-15-2022 Lynskey Helix Balmoral Blue Lagoon
9-15-2022 Lynskey Helix Balmoral Blue Lagoon

I was busy changing the Lynskey’s RD during the bike ride according to the AXS.SRAM.com ride report with 29 changes. I used the 35×13 gears the most with 1:38:03 time out of the total moving time of 2:59:29.

No Strava medals today.

9-15-2022 Strava Bike Ride Summary Atascocita-Balmoral-Walden
9-15-2022 Strava Bike Ride Summary Atascocita-Balmoral-Walden

Galveston Island: Isla del Sol, Jamaica Beach, And The Seawall

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I backed the Jeep out of the driveway before 8:30 this morning on my way to Galveston. My plan was to bike Galveston Island when I got there. I arrived at beach access point 32 around 10:30 after driving west of there to refresh my memory of the road situation. I unloaded the Cervelo Caledonia, put on the rest of my biking clothes and set out.

I decided to divide the ride into two parts: beach access point 32 west to Pointe West and ride to Jamaica Beach to the east because the road had a wide shoulder in both directions. The second part I would ride on the Seawall. It was easy riding to Pointe West and making the u-turn where the shoulder went away but riding to Jamaica Beach was hard because of the NE 14 mph (and higher) headwind. At Jamaica Beach the shoulder disappeared and I made the u-turn to go back to beach access point 32.

Packing the Cervelo back in the Jeep I thought I stopped the Bolt computer but I should’ve paused the ride and as I drove back to the seawall every time I stopped and started I heard the beep from the computer on the Cervelo. Needless to say when I checked the computer after parking on Holiday Drive it recorded my drive from the access point to there. I had edit the ride when I got back home.

Biking the seawall had the same challenge with the wind. Riding SW was easy but making the turn at the west end of the seawall and riding back to the parking spot was hard work. With school in session the beach was mostly deserted and the parking spots empty in most places.

It was a good change of scenery for biking and a little different from my bike ride June 8th when I combined the two sections I used today. Then I rode 41.93 miles and today I rode 31.96 miles, leaving out the section of San Luis Pass Road (FM 3005) that doesn’t have a shoulder.

This broke up the ride into different Strava activities. On the Isla del Sol to Jamaica Beach I recorded PR on Jamaica Beach to Terramar Beach (23:13). The Seawall ride produced a lot more top results: 7 gold medals, 5 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals. There was one for 13 of the 16 Strava segments I biked. Four of them: PR on 13th to Pleasure Pier (4:37), PR on 45th to 61st ST. (6:11), PR on Seawall race (21:50), PR on 29th to 37th – no lights! (2:50). These were all with the tailwind but I also set some into the headwind.

9-14-2022 Strava Ride Data Summary Galveston Island Isla del Sol
9-14-2022 Strava Ride Data Summary Galveston Island Isla del Sol
9-14-2022 Strava Ride Data Summary Galveston Island Seawall
9-14-2022 Strava Ride Data Summary Galveston Island Seawall

Texas Bicycling News September 13th 2022

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Cruise Austin’s iconic Circuit of the Americas track during bike nights this fall

By Brianna Caleri | austin.culturemap.com

It’s the Circuit of the Americas, not the Circuit of gas-powered vehicles. Starting on Tuesday, September 13, bicycles are taking over. Tuesdays at 6 pm, anyone who owns a bike can take the activity to the max on the 3.41-mile track. After pedaling their hearts out or enjoying a leisurely coast, riders are invited for drinks and food truck snacks.

Bike Night is already a tradition at COTA, where bikers have had years of fun on two wheels without worrying about any traffic. The series paused this summer and is back for cooler nights, bike gods willing.

Bikers can take a break at any time and can spend it peering off of the Observation Deck, if they consider hanging out on a …

Thursday Night Social Ride – September 15th, 2022 from socialcyclingaustin

San Antonio’s Síclovía has a new route | Here’s where they’ll be biking and skating

Author: David Lynch | www.kens5.com

The biannual community event reliably draws tens of thousands of San Antonians.

SAN ANTONIO — The biannual Síclovía event – a day for San Antonio cyclists, rollerbladers, skaters and families to commune with one another in the heart of the city – returns Sept. 25, a Sunday.

The health-focused community event, which typically draws thousands and is organized by YMCA of Greater San Antonio, will close down some city streets to vehicles so participants can safely gather. This year’s route runs along North Main Avenue south of Ashby Place before making turns onto Lexington, Augusta, Brooklyn and North Alamo (see …

Texas Tumbleweed 100 bike ride attracting many more riders than last year; organizers hoping for cooler weather than 2021

John Key | www.moorenews.com

With 15 days to go to the start of the 10th annual Moore County YMCA Texas Tumbleweed 100 bike ride that takes place on September 17, 87 people had registered to take part, almost double the number from last year, according to Susan Riseling, chief organizer of the event.

The riders are not just coming from the nearby area. There are people from Bartlesville, Oklahoma; Oklahoma City; Mesa, Arizona; Albuquerque; Santa Fe; San Antonio; and Austin who have signed up and paid their fee of $40/$50 per rider ($25 for children 13 to 17). Last year, there were only 46 entrants at the same time. …

TxDOT Blocks San Antonio Bike Lanes

By Diana Ionescu | www.planetizen.com

Bike advocates often face an uphill battle in their efforts to build safer bike infrastructure in their cities. But even well-meaning local efforts to improve road conditions for people on bikes can be thwarted by state agencies. This is the case with San Antonio, as reported by Jared Brey in Governing.

“Like a lot of other big cities, San Antonio has tried to make some of its streets safer for bikers and pedestrians. In 2017, voters approved a bond measure to fund a range of public-realm improvements, including 200 miles of new sidewalks.” One project funded by this bond, a two-mile redesign of Broadway that would have added bike lanes, was nixed by the Texas Department of Transportation, who claimed that, as a state route, the road could not be narrowed from its six driving lanes, despite having worked with the city on the project for years.

“The moves are in keeping with …

Texas Biking from Twitter

4 Cyclists 3 Bikes, Rare On My Bike Rides

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I wasn’t in quite a rush to start today’s bike ride before 9 AM because when i got up the temperature was 65 degrees. I waited until 9:37 AM to push the start button on the bolt computer to get the ride underway. Riding my Cervelo Caledonia I headed out on the Atascocita- Walden – Huffman route wit a small addition when I reached FM 2100. I rode south on FM 2100 to Spanish Cove Drive and then turned back to the north biking to FM 1960 as I normally do on this route. This added about a mile to distance which was 35.63 miles. This my most frequently used route and today was the 24th ride in 2022.

On weekday rides I don’t expect to see other cyclists but sometimes I do. Today the first one was in Kingwood at Northpark Drive and Woodridge Parkway. Then later on Old Atascocita Road I thought it was three cyclists coming towards me but it was actually four cyclists on three bikes, one being a tandem. I don’t see tandem bicycles very often on rides around here. We exchanged hellos as we passed.

I retired a pair of Primal shorts today and added a new pair to replace them. The new pair are Primal Obsidian Black Label shorts. The padding felt thinner than the other shorts and I wondered how I would feel about that but after a few miles I think the thinner padding was better. Maybe the thicker padding was too much. I’ll see how they do the next time they come up in the bike shorts rotation.

The “cool” front from yesterday lingered here lowering the humidity and dew point again. During the ride I could tell the difference from a few days ago. The wind was 7 mph posing not too much of a headwind issue. My arm sleeves felt good at the beginning of the ride as I rode through shady places. Weather conditions overall: start 78 (humidity 63%, dew point 64), a few clouds, wind E 7 mph; finish 84 (humidity 54%, dew point 66), a few clouds, wind E 7 mph.

It took about 23 miles before I got my average speed up to 14 mph. Once there I held it until I was back in Kingwood. The AXS.SRAM.com ride report data: 35×13 gears 1:36:35 (23.6 miles) and the 35×15 gears 40:55 (8.1 miles). Rear Derailleur Shifts 19.

No Strava medals today.

9-13-2022 Strava Ride Data summary Atascocita-Walden-Huffman
9-13-2022 Strava Ride Data summary Atascocita-Walden-Huffman