March Biking Ends on Stage 2 Group Ride Tour of Watopia

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My plan wasn’t to close out March riding the Tour of Watopia but plans change. When I got up this morning the temperature was 72 degrees with a forecast of 75 but the wind increased and the temperature decreased. By the time I had to make a decision to ride outside or in Zwift Land it was in the low 60’s and windy. I chose Zwifting after being spoiled by the warm weather for the last week.

Looking through the upcoming events I found the Stage 2 Group Ride starting at 12:11 PM allowing enough time to get ready. The Group B description lulled me into thinking it wouldn’t be too hard but by the time I finished the 18.53 miles I was sweating a lot. Two puddles on the mat below my Blue Norcross AL bike with the turbo fan at top speed told me the workout was hard as well as the room being warmer from the warm weather. The ride description.

Since this was a repeat ride the number of Zwifters overall was 656 with Group B comprising 319 of them. Earlier I saw there were over 25,000 Zwifters in action in all the events. Peak Zwift is getting higher as a result of the COVID-19 shutdown outside. With my effort I moved up to level 16, unlocked Stylish Shades, and made the Figure 8 Achievement. Strava recorded 3 new personal records. Not bad to end March bike rides.

  • 3-31-2020 Strava Zwift Stage 2 Group Ride Tour of Watopia
    3-31-2020 Strava Zwift Stage 2 Group Ride Tour of Watopia
  • 3-31-2020 Strava Zwift Stage 2 Group Ride Tour of Watopia-2
    3-31-2020 Strava Zwift Stage 2 Group Ride Tour of Watopia-2

Link to my Strava activity page and SportTracks activity page.

March bike rides began in Harlingen Texas after riding the Jalapeno 100 on February 29th and staying there to enjoy different roads and weather. The end came in a fictional world called Watopia in Zwift. During that time I biked 825.78 miles, 731.5 road miles and 94.2 Zwift miles. My goal was 585 road miles and 75 Zwift miles. Year to date: 1560 road miles and 524 Zwift miles. This is the most miles in a month since July 2019 and the most miles YTD since I started biking.

3-31-2020 SportTracks March Rides Summary
3-31-2020 SportTracks March Rides Summary

April moves to almost outside riding with warmer weather. I plan on canceling Zwift until the fall. My goals for April: 600 road miles and 30 Zwift miles. Will the weather cooperate?

Texas Biking March 30th 2020

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Road to NAHBS 2020 – Teaser interview w/ Aaron Barcheck of Mosaic Cycles

By Greg Kopecky | bikerumor.com

Our readers love the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, and so do we. That’s why we were all saddened to learn of its postponement due to the COVID-19 virus.

What to do? The show has been rescheduled to August, but we still have plenty of great NAHBS content to share with you. We’re going to have our usual series of pre-NAHBS interviews to put the spotlight on a handful of our favorite builders – and will start sharing these stories NOW, when the original show was scheduled to begin. Economic times will be tough for us all, but perhaps even more so for small independent businesses. Thus, we feel it is our duty to help promote these builders, and keep the excitement going all the way to the forthcoming August NAHBS.

Please enjoy this interview with Aaron Barcheck of Mosaic Cycles. …

Afternoon Ride-Went for extra miles and got a flat tire

Rosa Guerrero | www.strava.com

Got flat tire at mile 35, must have been a slow leak cause I didn’t hear it pop!! Used my weight to my advantage and rode 2 miles on the flat😬 thankfully park police car passed as I was riding and picked me up!!

Full Squish Shakedown Ride

Will Wylie | www.strava.com

New to him Specialized Enduro. New disc brakes, new tires, new chainring, chain and a new rear shock. Thanks to a friend, little dude can start ripping up trails now.

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Gear Inches Conundrum, Getting Two Bikes Shifting Closer

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Waiting for the weather to resemble the forecast I started thinking about why my two road bikes gears produced very different shifting combinations. This makes riding and selecting the gear combinations to use with a given cadence to go a certain speed challenging. My desire is to select gears in a similar sequence to ride at similar speeds.

My Lynskey R300 bike’s 52×40 chainrings teamed with a 11×34 rear cassette and 700×33 tires produce speeds different from the Canyon Endurace’s 52×36 chainrings and 11×25 cassette turning 700×28 tires. To compare these setups I turned to gear inches. From Sheldon Brown’s Glossary: “One of the three comprehensive systems for numbering the gear values for bicycle gears. It is the equivalent diameter of the drive wheel on a high-wheel bicycle. When chain-drive “safety” bikes came in, the same system was used, multiplying the drive wheel diameter by the sprocket ratio. It is very easy to calculate: the diameter of the drive wheel, times the size of the front sprocket divided by the size of the rear sprocket. This gives a convenient two- or three-digit number.” The Lynskey and Canyon current gear inch charts.

  • Canyon Endurace Gear Inches 52x36 11x25
    Canyon Endurace Gear Inches 52×36 11×25
  • Lynskey R300 Stock Gear Inches 52x40 11x40
    Lynskey R300 Stock Gear Inches 52×40 11×40

Not wanting to change the gearing on the Canyon Endurace because it is my primary bike I looked at several rear cassette options for the Lynskey R300.

  • Lynskey R300 Option 1 Gear Inches 52x40 11x28
    Lynskey R300 Option 1 Gear Inches 52×40 11×28
  • Lynskey R300 Option 2 Gear Inches 52x40 11x30
    Lynskey R300 Option 2 Gear Inches 52×40 11×30
  • Lynskey R300 Option 3 Gear Inches 52x40 11x25
    Lynskey R300 Option 3 Gear Inches 52×40 11×25
  • Lynskey R300 Option 4 Gear Inches 52×36 11×28
  • Lynskey R300 Option 5 Gear Inches 52×36 11×25

With the different small chainrings different gear inches result with a cassette. In the search for close gear inches and shifting combinations I compared 11×28, 11×30, and 11×25 rear cassettes to the Canyon’s setup. Option 4 and 5 changes the chainring and rear cassette.

In my biking technique for Houston’s flat roads I start off in the small chainring and third cassette gear. On the Canyon Endurace this would be 36×21, producing 45.2 gear inches. For the Lynskey R300 current setup to get a similar pedaling effort I start in the small chainring and fourth cassette gear, 40×25, producing 43.2 gear inches. These are not too far apart but I shift gears at the 1/2 mile mark in my warmup cycle. The 1/2 mile gear combinations: Canyon 36×19 equals 50 gear inches, Lynskey 40×23 equals 47.0 gear inches. At 1 mile I shift again: Canyon 36×17 with 55.9 gear inches, Lynskey 40×21 turning 47.0 gear inches. To go similar speeds the cadence on the Lynskey starts to go faster as the gear inch difference grows. The next shift happens at 2 miles: Canyon 36×16 at 59.4 gear inches, Lynskey 40×19 at 56.8 gear inches narrows the gap some. To recover some of the difference I shift the Lynskey at 3 miles while I hold off on the Canyon to 4 miles. At 3 miles the Lynskey produces 63.5 gear inches from 40×17 gears. The Lynskey uses the 8th rear gear while the Canyon sits at the 6th gear. Mile 4 gets me to a cruising speed that I hold for awhile and shift to these combinations: Canyon 36×15 63.3 gear inches, Lynskey 40×15 72.0 gear inches. When I am ready to speed up I shift to these combinations: Canyon 36×14 67.8 gear inches, Lynskey I shift to the big chainring 52×19 73.9 gear inches. If the headwind isn’t too strong when riding the Canyon I make one more shift to the 36×13 resulting in 73.1 gear inches.

From this comparison the Lynskey gear changes differ by several steps from my base Canyon Endurace shifting pattern. Since I like to think about other things while biking besides shifting patterns I searched for similar patterns.

Looking at the shifting pattern I compared these three. Two do not change the small chainring while the other changes the chainring and rear cassette. The third option costs more because of replacing two components. If I replace two components then I should go with the 36 tooth chainring and 11×25 cassette. The gear inches will still not match because of the different tire sizes.

Canyon 52×36,
11×25 Gear
Combination		Gear
Inches		Lynskey 52×40,
11×30 Gear
Combination		Gear
Inches		 Lynskey 52×36,
11×25 Gear
Combination 		Gear
Inches
36×2538.040×3036.036×2538.9
36×2341.340×2740.036×2342.3
36×2145.240×2445.036×2146.3
36×1950.040×2151.436×1951.2
36×1755.940×1956.836×1757.2
36×1659.440×1763.536×1660.8
36×1563.340×1572.036×1564.8
36×1467.840×1477.136×1469.4
36×1373.140×1383.136×1374.8
36×1279.140×1290.036×1281.0
36×1186.340×1198.236×1188.4

The conclusion: buy the 11×25 Ultegra R8000 rear cassette and 36 tooth chainring. The gear inches will be close and the shifting pattern closer than the current ones. Cost to make the change: $89.

Texas Biking News March 29th 2020

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TxDOT to conduct virtual public meeting for new Hallsville sidewalks, bicycle path

By Bridget Ortigo | www.marshallnewsmessenger.com

HALLSVILLE — The Texas Department of Transportation is set to host an upcoming virtual public meeting for the city of Hallsville regarding the new sidewalk and updated roadway near one of Hallsville ISD’s campuses.

The meeting is set to be held online from 4 to 6 p.m. on April 9.

The Rural Transportation Improvement Program of TxDOT’s Atlanta District will conduct the virtual public meeting to solicit public comments and input for the …

Celebrating Women’s History Month at RRPD

www.roundrocktexas.gov

In celebration of Women’s History Month, here are profiles of some of the most influential women in Round Rock Police Department history. …

… Melissa Grubbs was promoted to Commander on January 6, 2020, becoming the highest-ranking female officer in Department history. She currently oversees the Special Operations Division, which includes the Traffic Unit, School Resource Officers, Victim Services, and the Crisis Intervention Team. Since joining the Department in 2003, she has served in many roles, such as Crisis Negotiator, Narcotics Sergeant, and Patrol Lieutenant. In her spare time, she competes in mountain bike races.

Tributes pour in for Valley environmentalist Mark Peña

By Steve Taylor | riograndeguardian.com

EDINBURG, TEXAS – Tributes have been pouring for Mark Peña, one of the Rio Grande Valley’a leading environmentalists.

The Edinburg-based real estate law and title insurance attorney passed away at the age of 57. He had been suffering from ALS, otherwise known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”

Peña’s son, Gabriel, announced the news on Facebook.

“RIP to the strongest man I’ve ever known, Gabriel Peña said. “This morning, Dad stopped breathing and passed in his sleep. …

… “It is with great sadness that we relay the loss of Mark Peña, long time Sierran, past chair of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Sierra Club and a founder of the Ciclistas Urbanos group which was formed to help popularize and advocate for cycling in the RGV. Mark was a wonderful environmental champion in the Rio Grande Valley, and a terrific inspiration for so many. Rest in Power, Mark.” …

Wichita Falls Coronavirus Lockdown Ends Lucy Park Swinging

Durango Texas | durangotexas.blogspot.com

On this, the final Sunday of the 2020 version of March, I opted to return to where I had had myself a Lucy Park Enchanted Forest Mud Bath a couple days ago, to roll my still mud coated bike on a ride through the tulips and other colorful flowers, whilst avoiding any mud traps.

In the first photo you are looking at …

The Journey Is the Destination: Meandering Thoughts from a Bike Dude

A DUDE ABIKES | adudeabikes.com

After many miles over the last four and a quarter years, I’d like to think I mostly know what I’m doing on a bicycle. There’s ways more to learn, of course. Still, it just takes one mistake and you could find yourself in a spot of bother, or should I say spot of splat. Today, I went on a ride with a friend that involved social distancing to avoid other riders, and there were many sidewalks. Towards the end, after about 20 miles at careful pace, a light turned green and I crossed a busy street — but it was the wrong light, not the crosswalk I was waiting for. Suddenly, I found myself in a lane where a car was coming by on either side. Fortunately there wasn’t a lot of traffic and my …

Afternoon Ride

Jim Storey | www.strava.com

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