Walking by my Lynskey R300 bike on the way to get the CamelBak for today’s bike ride I squeezed the rear tire. It felt a little soft, softer than the front tire. Thinking it might be a slow leak I went to the garage for the floor pump. I pumped the tire up to 82 psi and got ready to ride. No bike races to watch this morning allowed me to start early (for me anyway) at 9:46 AM. This was a good thing since the temperature hit 100 yesterday at Hobby Airport and 99 at Bush Intercontinental Airport. Hopefully I finished today’s bike ride before it got near those numbers.
Riding the Lynskey R300 I set out on my “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route planning on looking at the rear tire when I got back from the ride. I didn’t ride yesterday because I drove back from Mesquite after staying Saturday night and the Mesquite Rodeo Rodeo Road Ride. I thought this would put me further behind YTD 2020 miles but with today’s 33.64 miles I still trail by 132 miles, about the same as before. YTD miles come in at 4,292 for 2021. June stands at 450 as I ride towards my 800 mile goal. This was the 9th time biking this route in 2021; 6 times on my Canyon Endurace and 3 times on my Lynskey R300. The Lynskey rolled to 4,378 miles on its odometer.
I finished today at 12:18 PM before it got super hot. Weather conditions: start 85 (64% humidity, 71.6 dew point), a few clouds, wind NE 5 mph; finish 92 (49% humidity, 70.1 dew point), a few clouds, wind variable 7 mph. With the low wind and high temperatures it felt hot during the ride. This how my bike shorts looked at the end of the bike ride.
1128PM-The crash at SH 242 and I-69 has cleared. A driver who had the right of way was traveling westbound on SH 242 from I-69 when a bicyclist cut out in front of him. The bicyclist was transported to the hospital in stable condition.
Taking advantage of the first dry weekend in over a month I did a DFW to Houston to Austin road trip.
I had not yet visited Houston so wanted to check out the downtown biking the Buffalo Bayou trails.
Spent good part of afternoon riding those trails and took a nice break at the famous St Arnolds bier garden and brewery. Lots of good food, beer, and fun. Place was packed at 3pm on Friday and its hugh.
Next day, went to one of my favorite rides doing the Austin Colorado river, Austin Lake, Barton and Deep Eddy spring creek areas. Nice to get all the nice shade along the trails in Austin.
Officials with the city of Amarillo recently announced new bicycle lanes as well as safety improvements to various "frequently-used cycling areas in several sections of the city."
According to a news release, new bike lanes have been installed on SW 7th Avenue and SW 8th Avenue, connecting downtown with the Rails to Trails. The lanes run from the Hodgetown/Amarillo Civic Center Complex area to Crockett Street and from Johnson Street to Bonham Street. Officials expect the lanes to be operational next week, with the lanes being striped and traffic operations staff adding signage to the areas.
"The new lanes will give cyclist(s) more opportunities to …
Bright and early this morning, we kicked off our Adult Learn to Ride class season for 2021, and it was incredible as always. All the 🚲â¤ï¸ going out to the our new riders, and to our amazing volunteers that cheered, laughed, and sweat this morning to make this happen. #LearnToRidepic.twitter.com/7p1pwPBbiT
Up at 5 AM for a 50-mile ride throughout McKinney, Allen, Plano & Frisco. It was already close to 80° & humid at sunrise. Gotta love Texas summers.https://t.co/gWFwOet6pbpic.twitter.com/oyLqlJRocj
— Maurice Peterson ðŸƒðŸš´ðŸ‡ºðŸ‡¸ (@OregonPioneer) June 13, 2021
El Paso native Carolina Mendez is honoring the life of her father, Gilbert, by cycling the @Texas4000 for cancer — a 4,000-mile bike ride from Austin to Alaska. https://t.co/BTW8bC1NNJ
Highlight of my Saturday was eating 🌮 and riding 🚲 with @LosVerdesATX and @shoalcc. Shoal Creek is a great way to get from downtown to @Q2Stadium with mostly protected lanes and abundant shade. Bike valet service at the stadium was great too! Always more fun to ride w friends. pic.twitter.com/U71ME8XH9i
During their cross-country 4,000-mile journey to raise awareness for cancer, the Texas 4,000 team of cyclists stopped by Providence Children’s Hospital.
“The Texas 4000 2021 team rode roughly 80 miles into El Paso from Sierra Blanca yesterday,†said Carolina Mendez, a member of the Texas 4000 cycling team.
“We are grateful for Providence Children’s Hospital to allow us to donate this bike to a courageous young cancer patient who is battling cancer. We want to show as much support as we can, raise awareness and bring some comfort to the patients and wonderful faculty and staff who serve the individuals who are here.â€
This makes my 10th post with a title including the words “bike lanes.†I’m generally a fan of anything that will separate cars from bikes and pedestrians, or in other words, will save my tuchus and that of other riders from being maimed or killed by cars. As a walker (not of The Walking Dead zombie variety — so far), I often use sidewalks when there are any. I also used them instead of biking on high traffic roads, so I don’t, you know, like, die. Several emails from the City about mobility improvement projects are clogging my email inbox, and with two personal examples, I figure it’s time for an update. Here are just a few of the …
Rode from Arts in the Park over to Anderson Bonner Park for Friends of White Rock Creek Trail meet & greet. Help FWRCT out – they’re advocating for much needed widening and repaving of this trial south of Royal (it’s in good condition going north). pic.twitter.com/TBX6jhg2DY
Wanting to try different bike ride scenery I decided to drive to Mesquite yesterday, stay at a hotel and ride today. I took my Canyon Endurace CF SLX bike. I have not rode this bike ride before and wasn’t sure exactly what to expect being different terrain from my usual bike rides. I was a little concerned about the time cutoff and needing to average 15 mph to get there in time. But I figured if I didn’t make the cutoff it would a shorter ride.
Arriving at the Mesquite High School around 6:45 AM the parking lots were filling up. I suspected that when I got near the high school and the traffic backed up. As Snoopy likes to write, the dark sky to the north looked threatening though the day before I checked the weather forecast and no mention of rain. I picked up my t-shirt and wristband last night so no need to hurry to get them. I walked around the parking lot I was in passing out Texbiker.net business cards as rain sprinkled. I heard some say the start for the 63 mile ride was delayed until 8 AM after a couple of lightning bolts raced across the sky.
Getting the Canyon Endurace out of the Jeep and putting the wheels on I wondered if the rain would increase. It never did, just sprinkled off and on for about 15 miles into the ride. As I prepared to put my biking shoes on I couldn’t find my socks. I left them back at the hotel because I didn’t put them with my helmet and shoes but in my travel bag. With the rain and lightning delay I toyed with the idea of driving back to my hotel which wasn’t too far but decided to ride without socks in case the ride started before I got back.
About 10 minutes before 8 the announcer came on the PA system with an update and instructions. The ride would start at 8 AM and the 63 and 35 mile riders would leave first. He mentioned the time cutoff but didn’t adjust it for the 30 minute delay. This might be a problem. But I reached the cutoff point where the 63 mile route split from the other routes about 9:39 AM and continued on the 63 mile route with no problem.
Another concern was no paper maps. I usually don’t use them but since this was strange roads a map was helpful. Last night I got an email with route gps files which relived some anxiety. I downloaded the route to my recently added Wahoo Bolt V2 computer and hoped this would solve the problem. This morning after I connected my phone to the Bolt I selected the route and wondered how this would work since I never did it before. It worked nicely, just like using Google maps or Waze. In advance of a turn the Bolt would beep and the LEDs would flash at the top alerting me to a coming change in the route. After the change I saw a the next change and how far it was at the bottom of the Bolt screen. I was impressed and did not stray off the route except for the rest stops.
I stopped at two rest stops, the third and fourth but skipped the last one. My CamelBak had enough water and I ate 2 cookies at each stop plus some orange sport drink. Thank goodness it wasn’t lemon-lime.
The ride organization was very good. My route had orange stickers or painted arrows in some places. Every major intersection was staffed with someone pointing the way, most times a policeman or deputy sheriff. The rest stops were friendly, well laid out with plenty of supplies. Ice was hard to get with rest stop 4 saying they were restricted in giving it out due to COVID. Fortunately I got some ice at rest stop 3 (no restriction there though it was in a self-served pitcher) to carry me to the finish.
In the talk before the ride start the announcer warned of some rough road or potholes but thanked the City of Mesquite for filling many of them. I saw some places on the road marked with orange spray paint around problem sections. Overall the roads weren’t too rough though some of the bounciest ones were in town with some nice smooth roads in the rural parts.
Not expecting the rain I wore my new arm sleeves for sun protection and sunscreen. They both came into play after the rain threat moved out. The forecast called for the temperature to be in the 90’s. Weather conditions: start 73 (100% humidity), light rain, wind N 10 mph; finish 81 (70% humidity, 70 dew point), partly cloudy, wind NE 6 mph. Sometimes the headwind combined with a hill but I handled that.
I think I climbed more on this one ride than I do in a month biking around my home and area organized rides. Flat versus rolling hills.
