Texas Biking Action February 13th 2021

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Staying focused and motivated

Veloharmony | www.youtube.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

Tour de Zwift Stage 1 Make Up Ride, New York The 6 Train

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I began today watching the Tour de la Provence adding the cyclocross race Brussels Universities X20 Badkamers Trofee. Nothing like watching two races at the same time. I muted the road race until the cyclocross race finished. Watching the racers climb Mont Ventoux with snow on the side of the road got me prepared for riding the Tour de Zwift Stage 1 make up group ride later at 12:03 PM. This was the only stage I missed when the TDZ began. Plenty of Zwifters logged into the game wwith 27,579 when I signed in but not all in the TDZ. When I closed out the number was just over 20,000.

Stage 1 took place in New York Central Park on The 6 Train route. Three 4 mile laps with a .1 mile lead-in totaling 12.1 miles and 679 feet of climbing by the time I stopped the ride I biked 12.5 miles and climbed 702 feet. I never rode this route before. Looking at ZwiftInsider.com the course description, “New York’s “The 6 Train” is the shortest route available for free-riding around NYC. Named for the most direct subway route between Grand Central Station and Central Park, this route covers the “middle loop” of Central Park’s three ground-level loop sections in a clockwise direction.” The climbing included 3 times up an 11% grade. The first time caught me by surprise because the profile changed and then up. I stood on the pedals to get to the top each time, something I don’t do often. I forgot to shift to an easier gear. the profile per lap.

Outside my home the winter weather ruled with 38 degrees at the start and 40 when I finished. Reading the forecast from SpaceCityWeather.com it looks like the next time the temperature will be 60 or above will be next Saturday. This will impact reaching my road miles goal for February. I may ride 500 miles, which hits my goal, but not with the breakdown I planned. I am at 302.43 miles after today’s Zwift ride. 169.5 miles on the road versus my 400 mile goal and 132.9 miles Zwifting versus a 100 mile goal.

During the ride nearby Zwifters showed 265 with me in the 150 range for laps 1 and 2 falling back to 171 as I neared the finish. On ZwiftPower.com I was 79th out of 101. This is a ride and not a race so positions are not fought for.

Yesterday my heart rate monitor dropped the signal too many times to count. Today was much better with maybe 3 or 4 shorts drops, 2 of them when I was out of the saddle climbing the 11% mountain. I didn’t try to reconnect but let it run its course. The popularity of Zwift opens up websites to analyze just about anything Zwift related. Zwiftalizer.com analyzes the wireless connections. I didn’t look at yesterday’s but here is today’s.

Device 2 (device 3 is the cadence sensor) is my heart rate monitor. My desktop computer sits on the floor while my router is about 5 feet above the floor. The cadence sensor is about the same level as the desktop computer. The usual culprit is WiFi signal. I need to change my phone to the 5Ghz WiFi band. My desktop is wired to the router. I am surprised the Wahoo Snap trainer has the highest RX fails. The next ride I will use a USB extension cable to see if the RX fails lowers.

Texas Biking News February 12th 2021

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Fort Worth Bike Sharing to Introduce New Stations

by Sophia Vandewark | fwtx.com

As the world started to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people began to return to the great outdoors. Daily walks and online meetings out in the backyard started to become the norm. As the pandemic continues to stretch on, Fort Worth Bike Sharing has a way to help people continue outdoor activities while checking off their daily to-do lists.

The local bike-sharing company announced that it bought 28 new bike stations that will be put up across the city, with stations being added at places like Bluebonnet Circle and Capps Park.

The plan is to have all stations open by the end of …

Mark Davis tragically is killed in tragic Austin bicycle accident

By GREG HOLMES | www.thelegaladvocate.com

Victim was struck Friday afternoon on E. Koenig Lane

AUSTIN, TX, (February 05, 2021) – Austin police identified the victim of a vehicle vs. bicycle accident Friday, Feb. 5 as 56-year-old Mark Coley Davis.

According to an APD preliminary investigation, a tan 2008 Ford Expedition was westbound in the left-hand lane of traffic on E. Koenig Lane. At around 12:10 p.m., the vehicle struck Mr. Davis who was cycling against traffic.

The victim was transported to Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas where he was pronounced dead a short time after the crash.

The driver of the …

APD identifies bicyclist killed in North Austin collision

by Sameera Ali | cbsaustin.com

AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Police have identified the bicyclist who was killed in a collision in North Austin.

He was identified as 57-year-old Mark Coley Davis.

The incident occurred on February 5 around 12:10 p.m. on the 900 block of E. Koenig Lane Service Road WB.

Police say a tan, 2008 Ford Expedition was in the left lane of westbound traffic on when the driver attempted to brake and change lanes to avoid hitting the bicyclist, Davis, that was cycling …

The Guide to Austin Architecture adds tour of hike-and-bike trail landmarks

sightlinesmag.org

"Happy Trails" is a tour of landmarks on Austin’s downtown Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail

The Guide to Austin Architecture adds a new tour to its roster today.

AIA Austin’s mobile-friendly website now offers “Happy Trails” a tour of 14 landmarks on the downtown Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail. The tour illuminates fascinating, obscure histories of landmarks that trace the history of downtown Austin’s lakefront revitalization.

“We wanted to share our love for this trail and provide a new experience to Austinites during these strange times,” said Ingrid Spencer, executive director of AIA Austin and the …

Cedar Park moves ahead with new bike lanes, plus 3 more road project updates from BikingATX

Why I Ride My Bike: 10 Reasons

A Dude Abikes | adudeabikes.com

Someone asked me this, and I think it’s a good question. I don’t think about it much, and the answer(s) aren’t necessarily earth-shattering. But I may as well give it a shot. I also want to try to write 500 words in 30 minutes again, so this will probably be a list article. I’m allowed a listicle once in a while, especially in winter, right? Yes. Read on, won’t you please?

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Heart Rate Monitor Went Flakey, Lost Contact Messing With It

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After watching a wet stage 2 of the Tour de Provence I was ready for a bike ride. But lo, the weather outside was too cold and damp. The temperature stood at 38 degrees, way below what I would consider acceptable for human activity. Scrolling through upcoming events in Zwift I selected the ZRG CyclingClub Social Ride starting at 11:45 AM. The route was one I haven’t done before, Watopia’s Volcano Climb After Party. I rode the Volcano Climb but not the After Party portion. It was a long ride for me in both distance (24.32 miles when I finished), and time, 1:30:05. The route is slightly longer than my actual distance but more on that below.

ZwiftInsider.com describes the ride as “If you know your Watopia routes, the easiest way to understand this route is as two laps of Volcano Flat followed by a lap of Volcano Climb ending at the volcano KOM banner. This means the first 36km (22.4 miles) of the route is quite flat, but the final volcano climb wraps it up in painful fashion. In fact, nearly half the route’s vertical gain comes in the final 4km!”

Once the ride was underway with 339 in the group D bunch I stayed with the riders. As a point of reference when I signed into Zwift on the companion app on my phone 28,139 people were Zwifting. I looked for the fence but didn’t see one but I saw the yellow and red beacons of the leader and sweep. Most of the messages were in German since this was organized by a German Club I think. Before the ride I went into my garage and tweaked my kit and bike. This is how I looked until the ZRG ride jersey displaced my choice.

2-12-2021 Zwift Kit and Bike

With the ride underway I stayed with the pack and in front of the fence once it was activated. I slowed some to let the fence gain on me but still with other Zwifters. At some point the fence magically moved in front of me and many others. From then on I was at the fence or behind it. All was going well until something blinked on the companion app and my heart rate monitor dropped off. For the rest of the ride it went in and out. I tried pairing, shutting Bluetooth off on my phone, connecting to the ANT+ dongle but nothing stopped the drop offs. Finally I gave up and let it do its thing. Sometimes it showed a low heart rate compared to my FitBit Versa 3 but recovered to a more reasonable level towards the end of the ride. While all of this happened I lost contact with other riders and slowed which caused me to fall short of the full route distance of 24.9 miles in the allotted time. Since my heart rate monitor worked on yesterday’s ride with no problems I don’t know what the issue was today. Tomorrow I hope the problem doesn’t surface again.

Over on ZwiftPower.com I show as #60 out of the 93 people with profiles there.

Strava hid many Zwift segments at the end of January leaving me with 2.

  • 2-12-2021 Strava Zwift Bike Ride Summary-1
  • 2-12-2021 Strava Zwift Bike Ride Summary-2