Texas Biking News March 30th 2022

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Illuminated bike parade at Elmendorf Lake Park hosted by Urban 15 for Fiesta

By Jack Morgan | www.tpr.org

An unusual Fiesta event debuts Saturday night. While the event Incognito has been around for years – Urban 15’s George Cisneros devised it – and those origins are far different from what it’s morphed into for this weekend.

“Urban 15 has had a Fiesta event called Incognito every year, and it’s been a masked or a costumed dance party,” Cisneros said.

The pandemic changed all that, of course. Keeping people at close proximity was dangerous. How to add a little distance? Cisneros had an epiphany: bicycles!

Bicycles will keep participants separated. Urban 15’s quirky, lit nighttime parade attire suggested an event that combined bicycles and lighting. …

Wildcatter Trail to provide bike path from Midland to Odessa

Stewart Doreen | www.mrt.com

For Midland bicyclists wanting a safer ride to and from Odessa, there is good news.

Officials in Midland-Odessa are making progress on a pathway that will allow bicyclists the ability to ride and mostly avoid the vehicle traffic that is a fixture on State Highway 191 and its access roads.

It will be called Wildcatter Trail, and project officials told the Reporter-Telegram that a bike pathway will go from the city of Midland to the Midland campus of the University of Texas Permian Basin, then down toward Midland International Airport and across to UTPB’s main campus in Odessa through neighborhoods and other areas of Odessa.

Lori Blong, chair of the Wildcatter Trail committee, told the …

Woman Tours Southern Tier

By Shelly Nevard | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 20: Sierra Blanca, TX to Van Horn, TX

Tuesday March 29, 2022, 32 miles (51 km) – Total so far: 1,186 miles (1,909 km) I slept well in my little room at the Sierra Blanca Historic Lodge in spite of being right next to Interstate 10 on one side and the railroad on the other. Breakfast was served in the Office of the Inn and included fresh fruit, brown and blue hard boiled eggs with very orange yolks, and grits. We ate out in the gazebo and got ready to ride at 9 AM. We said goodbye to our gracious hosts and everyone set out together down the frontage road for just a 31 mile ride. It must have been quite a sight to see us going down the road. At one point there were trucks on one side and a train passing us on the other. The train gave us a welcome whistle. The ride was easy and we had a tail wind. We crossed an overpass over I 10 and got on the shoulder of the highway on the other. Along the highway we …

Colleges celebrate Beer Bike Week

By Tomás Russo and Zoe Katz | www.ricethresher.org

In the week leading up to Beer Bike, each residential college hosts a variety of events for their students centered around their respective themes. The Thresher spoke to the Beer Bike Coordinators at each college to hear about their plans for the week.

Baker College: Marvel’s Gin-ematic Universe (MGU) Presents… Avengers Pregame

Baker College sophomore and Beer Bike Coordinator Ronnie McDonald said that Baker celebrations began this week with the moving of their parade float, a hell car, into their quad. Painting and decorating the car throughout the week is a bonding event for the college.

According to McDonald, Baker has planned secret jacks for the week. On Monday, Baker jacked Martel by driving through their sallyport and parking in their quad in reference to …

Heard around campus: Beer Bike 2022

By Nicole Lhuillier | www.ricethresher.org

The Thresher asked students from across campus for their thoughts, predictions and preparations for the full Beer Bike since 2019. Here are some things they said.

“We’re a pretty well-oiled machine. Guys one through fifteen are all ready for Saturday … We think the beauty of chugging is that really anyone can do it … You can definitely tell the campus is kind of buzzing in a way that hasn’t been happening in a long time … We’re ready to go.” -Ben Thomas, Duncan chug team captain

“I’m really proud of everyone who has been practicing for so long. Hanszen really loves Beer Bike, and a lot of people put themselves out there. I’m just as proud of everyone who has tried to chug and ended up with water all over them as the people who are gonna be on the team … I’m very excited to support our bikers because they also work very hard, so we …

Austin to start work on $460M 2020 mobility bond projects following council vote

by: Candy Rodriguez | www.kxan.com

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The clock is now ticking for the City of Austin to finish up $460 million worth of road projects following an Austin City Council vote earlier this month that approved the release of funds.

Austin crews will now have six years to finish all the projects laid out by the 2020 mobility bond. …

… Bikeways: $40 million

Projects under this category follow the Austin Bicycle Plan’s All Ages and Abilities Bicycle Network (AAA Bicycle Network), which was updated in the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan Bicycle Priority Network. The city says the $40 million “would achieve 70% of the on-street AAA Bicycle Network.” …

What Is Komoot and Why You Should Try It

By Jessica Alexander | www.bicycling.com

Oftentimes, I don’t have a hard time finding time to ride. But, I am definitely a creature of habit, sticking to routes that I know well when I need to fit in a workout or even just a casual, easy spin. As a longtime resident of Austin, Texas, I am a wealth of knowledge when it comes to local routes and places to ride. However, when it comes to traveling, I am often stumped as to where I should spin my wheels.

I’ve taken a small part of my off-season to research the best ways to navigate the outdoors via bike, whether you are just looking for a route in your backyard or halfway across the world. That’s how I discovered Komoot. …

Sun City CRIT Sat May 7, 2022 -El Paso VOLUNTEER SIGNUP

Sun City CRIT | www.bikereg.com

Volunteer Check In Tent Assistants Shift #1 – Saturday – 5:30AM to 11:00AM 5:30 AM 2 $0

Volunteer to attend tent with t-shirts, hydration, volunteer sign in, wavier signature etc for volunteers during the day. 5:30AM to 11:00AM

General Event Setup - Saturday 5/7 - 6:00AM to 10:00AM 	6:00 AM 			10 	$0

Remove fencing from truck/trailer and place along course according to fencing map plan and assist with setup of S/F Staging area. Please bring gloves. 6:00AM to 10:00AM approximately

General Event Setup - Saturday 5/7 - 7:00AM to 11:00AM 	7:00 AM 			4 	$0

Assist with placement of registration tent, timing display boards and other items around course

… There more places to volunteer

62-year-old Earl Lee Gregg died following a bicycle accident along Texas 12 in Orange County (Mauriceville, TX)

By Alex Arman | www.nationwidereport.co

Authorities identified 62-year-old Earl Lee Gregg, of Orange, as the bicyclist who died after a wreck Monday night along Texas Highway 12 in Orange County.

As per the initial information, the fatal bicycle accident took place along Highway 12 about one mile east of Texas 62. According to the authorities, at around 9:15 PM, a 2018 Kia passenger car driven by a 24-year-old Orange woman was heading eastbound followed by a 2020 Dodge pickup truck driven by a 55-year-old Orange man.

At some point of time, the bicyclist was struck by a car and pickup. Earl Lee Gregg was …

Saturday Morning Caffeine Cruise – April 2nd 2022 from socialcyclingaustin

Spice Cadets

T REDLINE Nguyen | strava.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Executive Decision: Ride Zwift Stage 5 Tour of Watopia: High Life

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After two back to back 40+ mile bike rides and looking at the weather forecast I made an executive decision for today’s bike ride. A line of rain was approaching from the northwest wetting the streets so the decision was to ride Zwift. I wasn’t sure if there was a make up ride for stage 5 (the only stage I missed) of the Tour of Watopia but the companion app showed one starting at 1:32 PM. That gave me enough time to get everything humming on my new desktop computer to livestream the bike ride.

Stage 5 was titled “High Life” and I chose group B riding the Legends and Lava route. I guessed from the title there would be some climbing and there was. The stage description listed the 15.3 mile distance but nothing about climbing. I went to ZwiftInsider.com to find out more information. There I learned the route include 1,053 feet of climbing. Additionally it said, “This route was designed to hit three different segments which test your sprint, VO2, and threshold power: Sprint: Watopia Sprint Forward, VO2: Titans Grove Reverse KOM, Threshold: Volcano KOM.

Checking for previous rides on the route in SportTracks it showed my only other ride on March 7th, 2021. The distance matched today’s but the climbing was only 861feet. This left me wondering what today’s climbing would be. Today it turned out to be 1,152 feet according to Strava. Checking Strava for the March 7th ride the climbing was same as today as was the distance. SportTracks and Strava apparently calculate this differently. There are other features I use SportTracks for.

As the start time neared the wet streets dried, the sun came out and the temperature started going up from the 60 degrees the rain brought. But I stayed the course to complete the Tour of Watopia, all 5 stages.

Riding the terrain seemed about the same resistance from the Wahoo Kickr Snap smart trainer. My last ride the resistance cranked up I pushed the watts over 200 before the ride began. I didn’t do that today. Maybe I should have.

The number of riders today at the start was around 300 and increased to around 330 as the we rode. I wasn’t near the front the entire ride hanging around position 288 or so. Jumping over to ZwiftPower.com to check the results for group B I came in at 178 out of 182. Group A shows 202 riders, Group C 107, and Group D 9.

ZwiftPower results Group B Tour of Watopia Stage 5
ZwiftPower results Group B Tour of Watopia Stage 5

I record two top results today in Strava: PR on Legends and Lava (1:00:22) and 2nd fastest time on Titans Grove, Southbound (20:08). The March 7th ride had one top result on a different segment. Today’s ride was 3 minutes faster than March 7th.

3-30-2022 Strava Zwift TOW Watopia Legends and Lava Summary Data
3-30-2022 Strava Zwift TOW Watopia Legends and Lava Summary Data
3-30-2022 Strava Zwift TOW Watopia Legends and Lava Route Map
3-30-2022 Strava Zwift TOW Watopia Legends and Lava Route Map

Texas Bicycling News March 29th 2022

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Woman Tours Southern Tier

By Shelly Nevard | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 19: El Paso to Sierra Blanca

Monday March 28, 2022 We began our ride today at 7:30 at the time parents and school busses were dropping off kids. There was a lot of traffic as we left El Paso but by 10 miles we were out in the countryside. There were more plowed fields and fields of alfalfa with irrigation ditches and a few more pecan groves. It was a long ride and there were SAG stops about 20 miles. At the 40 mile SAG stop we were at the abandoned town of Acala. Ali was our SAG driver today. There were miles and miles of desert with distant mountains. We basically followed the border and the course of the Rio Grande. At one point the border wall seemed to …

Early Season Speedwork 3262022

Veloharmony | www.youtube.com

Learn how to keep your cadence high to increase high speed endurance. 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
Old 105 Northbound to Sapp Road: 30:14
Hwy 105 to Highland Hollow hills: 35:30
Longmire Road Northbound: 45:11
Hwy 830 Westbound to Lake Conroe: 57:26

Tour de Houston Returns April 3 from bikehouston

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

I Could’ve Picked An Easier Day To Ride Stroker Road – Huffman

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I could’ve picked an easier day to ride my “Stroker Road – Huffman” route (actually “Huffman – Stroker Road” as I explain in the video) but I didn’t. I knew when I started the bike ride at 10: 31 AM it was going to be windy bike ride but not to the extent it turned out. The Cervelo Caledonia was up to it but time would tell if my legs were. This was the first time to ride this route since September 20th, 2021. Road construction on FM 2100 south of Old Atascocita Road kept the route off my potential route list. I found out how the construction progress was going today and you can see it in the video.

At the start the wind was “only” from the south at 15 mph with 29 mph gusts. The temperature under an overcast sky was 76. By the 1:59 PM finish the temperature moved up to 81 and the wind increased from the south to 23 mph with 32 mph gusts. Every time I rode in a direction with a “S” in it I battled the wind. The other directions east and west were tough too with north being the best direction. I dressed with shorts, a long sleeve jersey, and short sleeve jersey over that. Long sleeves for a chill and sun protection proved wise. I didn’t really notice the chilly wind both times I rode across Lake Houston. A place where the wind was most challenging came while riding south on FM 2100 and moving to the left turn lane at Old Atascocita Road. I had to stand up and pedal to increase my speed the wind was so strong.

Riding east on Old Atascocita Road the wind came from the right trying to push me to the opposite side of the road once I moved from behind the trees. I stopped at the bridge on Ramsey Road to prepare for the ride south to Stroker Road. I think I set a record for the slowest speed for that part of the ride. The headwind was so strong I struggled to keep my speed up to 8 mph and briefly hit 11 mph when some trees blocked the wind some. A couple of photos from the stop at the bridge.

3-29-2022 Cervelo Caledonia Ramsey Road-1
3-29-2022 Cervelo Caledonia Ramsey Road Bridge
3-29-2022 Cervelo Caledonia Ramsey Road-3
3-29-2022 Cervelo Caledonia Ramsey Road-3

Making the right turn onto Stroker Road brought some relief from the headwind. It wasn’t quite so hard to ride to FM 2100. At FM 2100 I walked from the asphalt to the sidewalk because there was a drop off from the FM 2100 concrete. Now came the time to enjoy the wind, and I did, biking north to Old Atascocita Road. I switched from the sidewalk to the closed north bound land and back to the right lane behind the barrels. It was easier turning left onto Old Atascocita Road than it was turning left. I looked forward to the smooth road on Fairlake Lane. I was saddened when I saw the damage the dump trucks did to the recently laid asphalt from the “S” curve to FM 1960. My comments in the video tell why it happened.

Biking west over Lake Houston was hard, especially where the openings under the causeway allow the wind to blow through both above and below the road. On the west side traffic was kind enough to move to the left lane to let me ride where the barriers block the shoulder to Atascocita Shores Drive. From there to Kingwood a tailwind prevailed.

With all of the wind my gear combinations from AXS.SRAM.com were limited with only 19 RD changes. I spent 1:46:05 in the 35×15, mostly into the headwind and then changed to the 35×13 for 1:12:43 with the tailwind or side wind.

3-29-2022 Strava Stroker road - Huffman Summary Data
3-29-2022 Strava Stroker road – Huffman Summary Data