Texas Biking News April 3rd 2021

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Southern Tier 2021

By Mike L. | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 13: Caballo and to El Paso: A Century Ride for Jeffrey

Friday April 2, 2021, 106 miles (171 km) – Total so far: 920 miles (1,481 km) We woke up this morning knowing that a century ride (100 miles/day) was a possibility. The winds were forecasted to change against us mid-morning but stay relatively low (4-6, then 5-10 SSE). So, we packed up at Caballo Lake and played it by ear. We were a little late starting today since my sunglasses somehow disappeared overnight and I dumped my bags to look for them after we were packed up. the result was a 30-45 min delay with a 9 am local start. The winds stayed low long enough for us to make it into Las Cruces at a reasonable time and from there, we were both excited to push it to El Paso. The rest of …

Fully supported, CA to FL

By Tom Gray | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 21 – Marfa, TX to Marathon, TX

Thursday April 1, 2021, 58 miles (93 km) – Total so far: 1,114 miles (1,793 km) It was another day of brutal headwinds for the entire route. In the morning I was in a paceline with 6-8 cyclists, each of us taking turns at 1/2 mile pulls. After lunch one cyclist and I alternated 1 mile pulls and stopped for a brief rest every 4 miles.

Before we started …

Day 22 – Rest Day

Friday April 2, 2021 About half of the group took an excursion to Big Bend National Park today. We went …

Bent Back on The Southern Tier

By Andy Lamb | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 9 – Buescher State Park: Almost a perfect bicycle riding day

Thursday April 1, 2021, 56 miles (90 km) – Total so far: 358 miles (576 km) Left the hotel a little before 9. The route headed east from downtown Austin. Had clear blue skies with a slight headwind all day. Stopped for breakfast after about 5 miles since the hotel wasn’t serving their breakfast due to Covid.

One note on today’s route. The is a …

Day 10 – Brenham: The Wildflowers Were In Full Bloom Today

Friday April 2, 2021, 67 miles (107 km) – Total so far: 424 miles (683 km) Left Buescher State Park a little after nine this morning after a cold night. The temperature got down to 39F this morning just before sunrise. Headed east for the most part today. Saw lots of wildflowers today. Winds were from the southeast which of course resulted in being a headwind at times. There wasn’t anyplace to eat before about 20 miles.

Got to La Grange about 1:30 and stopped at the …

Texas Biking from Twitter

Baytown YMCA Gator Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Getting up at 4:40 AM takes a lot of effort but that is what it took to go to the Baytown YMCA Gator Ride. I left home before 6 AM driving to Baytown, about 50 miles away. I experienced my first drive through packet pickup. Only pre-registration for the ride. When I arrived at Lee College there was a line of cars but it didn’t take long to get my packet and find a parking spot. After parking the Jeep I walked around the parking lot handing out Texbiker.net business cards. I have not done that in over a year. The Gator Ride was the last organized ride for me before the virus closed bike rides. This year the ride is a month later rather than the 1st Saturday in March.

The camera setup included the Drift camera mounted under my Bolt computer and the GoPro Hero 7 Black as a handheld camera.

I hoped that would warm up the weather and it did a tiny bit. Instead of temperatures in the 40’s it was in the 50’s. Here is the weather at the start and finish. Not much difference.

  • 4-3-2021 Weather Start of Gator Ride
    4-3-2021 Weather Start of Gator Ride
  • 4-3-2021 Weather Finish of Gator Ride
    4-3-2021 Weather Finish of Gator Ride

Getting the Canyon Endurace CF SLX bike out of the Jeep I changed into my bike ride gear and rode to the starting area. No mass start, riders started onto the route as they wanted. I started at 7:32 AM along with a few others. Baytown streets have rough expansion seams making for a bumpy ride at times. I chose the 51 mile route which turned out to be 52.37 miles. One reason for the extra distance compared to last year was rest stop 3 moved from a fire station on FM 1942 to the Baytown Soccer Park on N. Main which required a .6 mile ride from FM 1942 to the stop and then back to FM 1942. Riding on FM 1942 was on nice smooth asphalt that looked relatively new with a generous shoulder most of the time. The distance from Rest Stop 2 to number 3 was about 14 miles. I stayed at #3 for about 10 minutes eating snacks before leaving.

The highest number I saw was 350 but I may have missed others because I didn’t think to look at numbers until several miles into the ride.

I cut 4 minutes off riding time compared to last year with the slightly shorter distance. Today’s riding time: 3:27:51 versus 3:31:59 in 2020. Today I finished the ride at 11:28 AM.

Year to date miles still trails 2020 by 10 miles. I thought today’s miles would’ve put me ahead of 2020. YTD for 2021 stands at 2,178 miles. On this day in 2020 my ride distance was 36.6 miles.

Strava shows I set 2 personal records and 2 second fastest times on different segments. This ride was harder than my usual efforts.

4-3-2021 Strava Bike Ride Summary

Texas Biking News April 2nd 2021

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Man walking on Tyler’s Legacy Trail saw car get on trail, hit cyclist

By Jeff Chavez | www.kltv.com

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – KLTV’s Jeff Chavez spoke to a man who was on the Legacy Trail Thursday night when a driver got on the trail and hit a bicyclist.

Sam Hawkins actually had to dive out of the way to save his own life and was one of the first ones to call 911. He explained that he was walking on Legacy Trail Thursday night when a vehicle left the street and drove onto Legacy Trail, which is meant for bicyclists and joggers.

“All of a sudden, I hear what sounds like a motor revving at high speeds,” Hawkins said. “Turn around, and I …

Southern Tier with a friend in 2021

By Chris Bradshaw | www.crazyguyonabike.com

Day 31: Buescher State Park – Navasota (92 miles)

Wednesday March 31, 2021 Day 31 – Buescher State Park to Navasota…. was a long day with over 10 hours in the saddle, 92 miles, lots of climbing and of course, 20 mph headwinds. Once we made it to Navasota, we found the campground closed, so I had to ask the local firefighter brothers for some help (from one firefighter to another). They graciously invited us in and let us sleep on some floor space, take showers, do some …

Freewheels Houston connects refugees, vets with bikes they need

Ryan Nickerson, Tracy Maness | www.houstonchronicle.com

The COVID-19 pandemic has offered an opportunity for Freewheels Houston to become more organized and ready to distribute free bicycles to students, refugees and veterans than ever before.

The non-profit relies on residents donating used bicycles so volunteers can clean, fix, and distribute them to people who need them the most. Before COVID-19 slowed down bike donations and reduced the number of available volunteers, Freewheels helped almost 600 people receive free bicycles.

Now they’re ready to do even more. …

Afternoon Ride

Lupe Ontiveros | www.strava.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

History Did Not Repeat On Today’s Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Earlier this morning my Google Nest Hub displayed a photo from 3 years ago today when I had a flat tire. I hoped that didn’t repeat on today’s bike ride. The ride 3 years ago was on a different route to the north.

4-2-2018 Flat tire New Caney

It didn’t repeat today.

I started today’s bike ride at 12:23 PM after waiting for the temperature to get above 60 and doing a few chores. I chose the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route to ride my Canyon Endurace CF SLX bike. I biked 33.43 miles pushing the week’s total to 129.55 miles. That leave 70 miles to make it a 200+ mile week but help is on the way. I will ride the Baytown YMCA Gator Ride tomorrow which in the past covers 51 miles. That would leave 20 miles for an Easter Sunday bike ride. This was the 7th time biking on this route in 2021; 5 times on my Canyon and 2 times on my Lynskey. 2021 YTD miles trails 2020 by 27 miles. I’m not gaining any ground but maybe tomorrow will change that.

That weather I waited to warm up just barely got over 60 and the strong wind had a mean chill to it. Weather conditions: start 64 (30% humidity, 31.6 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind E 14 mph; finish 66 (27% humidity, 31.3 dew point), overcast, wind SE 12 mph gusts 17 mph. I practiced for tomorrow’s Gator Ride when it will be colder at the start and maybe a little warmer at the finish. I wore shores, leg warmers, a long sleeve thermal jersey, windbreaker jacket, and regular gloves. My fingers were chilly until I got to the part of the ride where the sun was out.

With the headwind all the way to FM 2100 I powered through it. 45% of the riding time was spent in power zones 1 and 2 leaving 55% in zones 3 through 7 according to Golden Cheetah. 16% was in zone 5.

4-2-2021 SportTracks Bike Ride Summary