Texas Biking May 23rd 2020

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Corpus Christi shuts down Ocean Drive lane to promote "social fitnessing"

www.caller.com

The city of Corpus Christi closes a portion of Ocean Drive to promote social distancing while exercising, Saturday, May 23, 2020. The city is planning to continue with the fitness lane next Saturday. Annie Rice/Caller-Times

My Plans Going Forward

Ethan Fischer – Central Texas MTB | centexmtb.com

Once my spring semester ended, I started working full time at the bike shop. Having never worked full time before, particularly outside in the heat and on my feet all day (my previous job was the same so I’m no stranger to these conditions, but I was working half the time), it has been incredibly exhausting and I just don’t have the energy or motivation to do anything, and I haven’t been doing the things I love to do and even though I’ve been working, these last 2 weeks have felt incredibly unproductive. I hate that feeling and I want to get back into the groove, plus I have other side projects I wanna work on too so I need to find a solution that allows me to ride as much as I want, run enough to build and maintain fitness and finish the 1000k, work a full time job, and develop this blog and other side gigs I want to …

Bike Month and BikeUT

parking.utexas.edu

May is recognized as National Bike Month. Established in 1956, National Bike Month is a chance to show the benefits of bicycling and a way to encourage more people to give biking a try!

In a normal year, Bike Month is kicked off here on campus in May with our annual Bike to UT Day. Bike to UT Day has historically been celebrated by handing out breakfast to those biking into campus and holding afternoon cycling festivities on Speedway Plaza. May usually offers the chance to promote various events and organizations around Austin and campus who are encouraging people to get out and get riding.

This year we are …

Out from my driveway to River Rd. and back before heading back out to the Rig beautiful San Antonio weather.

Anthony Evans | www.strava.com

Morning Ride

Randy Surguy | www.strava.com

ATA-MEMORIAL WEEKEND

Jose Gonsalves-Barreiro | www.strava.com

A Century with our Cyclones

Eduardo Salas (Cyclones) | www.strava.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Events Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

3 Goals Wrap Up A 200+ Mile Week

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When I set out on today’s bike ride I had three goals: ride enough miles for the week to total 200+ miles, leave early to see other cyclists along the route, and test the new GoPro mic setup. I accomplished all three of those. I biked 31.34 miles making the week’s total 208.51 miles. The month totals 734.35 miles, 74 miles above my goal. I saw many other cyclists, most of them are in the video but a few surprised me before I could record them. The new mic set improved my voice level but I think the mic position and movement while I rode added scratches maybe from rubbing the jersey zipper. I will move the mic to my helmet strap below my chin on the next ride to see if that helps.

5-23-2020 Weekly Bike Rides Summary

In the video I said the route I planned on biking but I changed it by not going through Walden on the way back to Kingwood. The route became “Atascocita – Huffman – Atascocita” rather than “Atascocita – Huffman – Walden”. The 8:27 AM start would have been earlier except for pre-ride issues. I finished the bike ride at 10:53 AM which helped me be on time for an appointment later.

Humidity didn’t have time to go down with the 8:27 AM start so I sweated quickly. Shorts and short sleeve Texbiker.net jersey were the attire. Weather during the bike ride: start 82 (88% humidity, 78.3 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SE 13 mph. Finish 89 (71% humidity, 78.7 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind S 10 mph. The wind felt good when I stopped on Old Atascocita Road for some of the video clips. I was in the country with all of the smells in the air.

For some reason I got my average speed up quickly to 13 mph and then to 14+ mph and held it above 14 mph until I returned to Kingwood. Long stretches of uninterrupted biking help do that.

Memorial Day weekend and some potential for rain is a good time to take off from biking for two days. This will give my legs some rest.

5-23-2020 SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

Texas Biking May 22nd 2020

Texbiker.net Posted on by

City of San Antonio to Close Stretches of 2 Residential Streets to Most Traffic

by Iris Dimmick | therivardreport.com

A pilot program that will close two Westside residential streets to through traffic could start as soon as early June, making room for more pedestrian and bicycle activity, city officials told the Rivard Report.

The Public Works Department program will close off two low-traffic streets – and connecting side streets – to through vehicle traffic, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to utilize the extra space while maintaining 6 feet apart from people they don’t live with.

With historically low traffic and …

Lubbock PD Officer replaces girl’s stolen bike with a Royal Ride of her own

By Brad Burt | www.kcbd.com

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A little girl in Lubbock is feeling much better after her stolen bicycle was returned to her family’s porch broken, and an officer with Lubbock PD decided to replace her ride.

According to her mother Kailey Vasquez, three year-old Emrie’s bike was stolen from their home, and later returned after it was broken. The family’s …

Austin opens first batch of "healthy streets" in response to coronavirus pandemic

by Bettie Cross | cbsaustin.com

Austin opened its first batch of "Healthy Streets" on Thursday. The Healthy Streets Initiative is an effort to expand space for exercising during the coronavirus pandemic. Three street segments are designated for local traffic only and drivers are also being asked to slow down and share the space with walker, runners, cyclists and skateboarders.

First batch of Healthy Streets to be implemented: …

FRIENDLY FRIDAY

Paolo Margio | www.strava.com

Texas Biking from Twitter

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Headwind (Nothing New About That), Celebrations, and Sadness Biking Montgomery County

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I chose the “New Caney – Gene Campbell Road” route to position me to reach 200+ miles for the week needing one more after today. The 36.38 miles today did that with only 23 miles needed to reach 200+. The week totals 177.17 miles and May totals 703.01 miles. The Lynksey R300 turned to 1,105 miles with this ride. The Lynskey is the first bike in a long time where the original tires lasted this long. My Stradalli original tires had a flat before I took the first ride and the Canyon Endurace original tires couldn’t handle the road debris around here with too many flats to remember before I changed to Gatorskins.

So far in 2020 I rode this route 7 times, 5 times on the Canyon Endurace and 2 times on the Lynskey R300. Strava tells me today was harder than my usual effort. Below is a summary of the 7 rides.

5-22-2020 YTD Ride Summary New Caney Gene Campbell Road

As usual I took a screenshot of the weather as I got ready to leave to remember after the ride. I started at 11:03 AM and the wind caught my attention: from the south at 10 mph with 20 mph gusts. This is not a problem for the first 20 miles of the route but if that held the last 16 miles would be into a headwind. My legs are still tired from this week’s biking so a headwind for 16 miles is not in my favor. Until I made the left turn onto FM 1314 my average speed was 14.1 mph but the headwind wore me down by the time I finished it dropped to 13.4 mph or 13.5 mph depending on SportTracks’ or Strava calculations. At the finish the wind was still from the south but 15 mph. No wonder my legs felt heavy.

I encountered two celebrations along the route. The first was for Journey in Sherwood Trails and the second was a school parade in Oakhurst. The parade comes from the schools being closed for COVID-19 with cars getting signs and cheering people as they drive around neighborhoods waving and honking as children are out in their yards. It touches me to see the people in the parade wanting to cheer up the children who stay home missing their classmates.

I also encountered sadness. I stopped at the Rosewood Cemetery to visit my wife’s grave. After visiting her grave I walked back to my bike and saw a man kneeling beside a grave across the street. I walked my bike closer and asked him if he had lost his wife. He told me she was killed April 26th when her vehicle was hit by a dump truck in Cleveland (not sure what happened). He misses her (she was 42 and he is 43) and they were married for almost 10 years. We talked more and I told him I was sorry for his loss. I did not ask his name. The news story link from Montgomery County Police Reporter.

5-22-2020 SportTracks bike Ride Summary