Texas Bicycling News Digest August 10th 2019

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Greenville Gravel Grinder – Greenville, Texas

gravelcyclist.com

September 21, 2019 @ 08:00 – 17:00 WHERE: 2508 Lee St Greenville, TX Greenville Gravel Grinder is a self-supported gravel bike ride on a set route along mixed terrain and roads. The ride starts and finishes at Landon’s Winery in downtown Greenville. The route takes you on combinations of gravel, dirt, portions of the Northeast Texas Trail, and hard surface roads.

There will be two routes to choose from: 30-40 miles or 60-70 miles – each with a wet and dry option. Check our website prior to the event to download the GPS map. …

Police chase man on bike in Southwest Houston

abc13.com

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Police chased a man on a bike in southwest Houston at the 4000 block of Ade and Westpark Saturday morning.

Authorities had initially responded to a call about a man on a bicycle in the middle of the street acting out of control.

Once police showed up, the man took off on his bike. He actually tried …

Saturday to River Road with Cyclones

Eduardo Salas (Cyclones) | www.strava.com

Chasing Watts Century Challenge #2 – Race Station Houston

Lupe Ontiveros | www.strava.com

Chasing Watts H-Town Hundy

Nate Eguia | www.strava.com

A friendly Snake🐍should preferably show mercy BEFORE killing his prey!

Brent Wells | www.strava.com

Ride was super fast right from the start, and that’s always bad for me as I warm up very slowly. Still a great ride with some wonderful folks. The Snake is in el formo primo! Of course I must thank my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ for yet another safe ride.

Palmetto

Francisco Simas – US MES | www.strava.com

NWCC ride

Michelle Casper | www.strava.com

College fraternity’s cyclists use ride across America to raise money, awareness, for the disabled

BY ROB HEDELT | www.fredericksburg.com

DURING the school year, Taylor Babb is your typical college student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He goes to classes, enjoys social functions as a fraternity brother in Pi Kappa Phi and catches up with his family south of Charlotte during holiday and school breaks.

But this summer, the rising college junior joined some 90 other Pi Kappa Phi brothers on a “Journey of Hope” he says has changed his life, cycling across the country to raise awareness, money and support for those with disabilities. …

…“On one of those friendship visits, in Lubbock, Texas, there was this one young man who couldn’t stop cheering and hugging me, saying how much he’d missed me, even though it was the first time we’d met,” said Babb, eyes tearing up a bit at the memory. “He must have hugged me for nearly 10 minutes, and had a huge smile on his face the rest of the night. To him, we were celebrities and that was so heartwarming to see.” …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

Early Start Before The Heat But Not Humidity Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

I made the early start rolling wheels at 7:55 AM. The sun was up but the temperature wasn’t in the 80’s yet. The rote was “Atascocita – Huffman – Walden” riding south and east. My goal was to ride at least 30 miles and I ended up at 33.81 miles pushing the week’s total to 203.98 miles ( I should’ve went .02 miles farther). This makes the 13th week in a row of 200+ miles though this week wasn’t typically the way I got the miles. Due only riding 5 days I biked 4 days of 40+ miles and today’s shorter ride was just enough. For August I am at 312.15 miles, 39% of the way to the 800 mile goal.

Weather during the bike ride: start 78 (97% humidity, 77.2 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind calm. Finish 94 (60% humidity, 78.4 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind SW 12 mph. The humidity with the earlier start made it feel hotter. When I stopped around 17.1 miles to take video of passing cyclists I noticed water dripping from the bottom of my soaked arm sleeves. This hasn’t happened lately with the heat and lower humidity later in the day. I touched them and could feel the wetness.

Other cyclists crossed my route today but not as many as some Saturdays. The video shows the other cyclists along the ride.

I stopped at the Huffman Chevron for ice and water. This covered me until the McDonald’s in Kingwood Town Center where I refilled again for the 2+ miles to the finish. I stopped the Elemnt at 10:40 AM to finish the ride, about the time I start most rides.

Sunday will be a rest day and back biking on Monday. The high temperatures are supposed to hang around until Wednesday or so.

SprtTracks Bike Ride Summary

8-10-2019 SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

Strava Year Progressions YD Bike Ride Miles

Strava Year Progressions YD Bike Ride Miles

Texas Bicycling News Digest August 9th 2019

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Bicycling from Mexico into South Texas gaining popularity

by: Sandra Sanchez | www.kveo.com

HIDALGO, Texas (Border Report) — On any given day, dozens of bicycles can be found chained to posts at the base of the McAllen–Hidalgo International Bridge where many commuters have discovered that bicycling over this bridge from Mexico can be far faster than sitting in hours of traffic waiting to cross.

Folks begin peddling in from Mexico well before the sun comes up, then they board buses or …

ARR leadership for 2020

By pulpwoody | austinmountainbiking.com

Folks, take a new minutes and really give this some thought.

ARR has been around, probably longer than you realize.(I think 30 years!!!!) They’ve done…probably more than you realize for our local MTB culture. Many of you know that I’ve served on the board and some of you have as well. Many, many of you have helped and still help build and maintain the trails we enjoy. This is because of the ARR leadership and their dedication. And ARR is made up of a few dedicated leaders. Charlie, Kent, Lucie, Val, Rochelle…to name a few. These few people keep the wheels turning, grant money flowing and dirt digging. Without their leadership….who knows where we’d be?

That’s why I’m asking all …

Shoal Creek Protected Bike Lanes in Progress; Dang It’s Hot in Austin, Texas!

A DUDE ABIKES | adudeabikes.com

A while back I mentioned an important victory for bicyclists in Austin, Texas. It was the decision by the City, after the input by citizens, to add protected bike lanes to Shoal Creek Boulevard, a major road used by people on bikes. Today they sent notice that that process has begun. Additionally, it’s pretty hot in Austin, and that’s making biking hard if not downright unpleasant for for many people, self included. So we have the good, the bad, and well, if …

HIRING HEADACHES: Austin’s stretched labor market poised to get even tighter.

By Bob Sechler | www.statesman.com

… Tales of extreme hiring difficulties are nothing new amid the strong Austin economy that has stretched the local labor force to near capacity, fueling intense competition among businesses seemingly regardless of industry and providing qualified job seekers with their pick of opportunities.

“This is the tightest labor market that I have seen since 1999,” during the height of the dot-com boom, said Bicycle Sport Shop owner Hill Abell, who noted that turnaround times for bike repairs at one of his five locations ballooned to as many as 10 days for a short time recently because of high demand and a dearth of bike mechanics. “It has reached a crisis level (and) it’s really having a negative impact on our business.” …

6 Around Town: August 9

www.newschannel6now.com

… Grava Del Fuego If you’ve been interested in the gravel bike trails, this event might be perfect for you.

Saturday, August 10, Grava Del Fuego will get underway for their 100k and intro 25 mile ride at the Wichita Falls Brewing Company downtown.

Things get started at 7:05 p.m.

Now this is an unsupported event, unlike the Hotter’N Hell Hundred, however they will have a cooler a the halfway point of the 100k.

Video: New gravel grind race headed towards a great start

By Camille Connor | www.newschannel6now.com

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (TNN) – Gravel grind races are taking off across the county and it is no different in Wichita Falls. Two of the three gravel grind races debuting during this year’s Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred has already sold out.

“It’s a new challenge. It’s different. I think when hotter n hell decided to introduce that as a new race into that weekend. I think it was such a smart decision because we have people from all over the country coming in just for the gravel race,” said Grava del Fuego Director Vicki Boyle.

Cyclists from all over Texas and Oklahoma are also heading to Wichita Falls for the chance to test their skills early. …

Texas Bicycling from Twitter

New Event Added to Texbiker.net Calendar

Counter The High Heat Index With Ice, Water, and Stops Bike Ride

Texbiker.net Posted on by

Each ride this week has been 40+ miles. That is good because yesterday (Thursday) my commitment didn’t allow time to ride. Today I chose the “May Park Community Center – Huffman” route and biked 42.7 miles. The week now totals 170.1 miles, setting the stage for Saturday’s bike ride to get the week to 200+ miles. August is advancing to my 800 mile with 278.34 miles so far, 35% of the way there.

The intense heat was evident on today’s bike ride with the heat index at 105 (airport) or 114 (at my home weather station). Weather while I rode: start 94 (60% humidity, 78.4 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind S 10 mph. Finish 99 (48% humidity, 75.8 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind S 10 mph. To combat thirst I stopped at the Chevron station just west of Lake Houston and the May Community Center where I found the ice machine thanks to the lady at the front desk. I took a short break at the center to cool some, eat some cheese crackers, and drink cold water. The final stop for water and ice was at McDonald’s in Kingwood’s Town Center.

I started earlier today leaving at 10:46 AM to get in front of the heat but not really. That allowed me to finish at 2:16 PM, more than an hour early compared to the last two rides this week.

Yesterday since I didn’t have time to ride I waxed my chain on the Canyon bike. The last time I waxed it was 6/9/19 over 2,000 miles ago. It was starting to make complaining noises.

The GoPro camera accompanied me on the ride. Below is the video.

I rode the Canyon Endurace CF SLX south and east through Atascocita, Walden, Huffman before going east on FM 1960 and briefly into Liberty County. I don’t ride in Liberty County much and the FM 1960 chip and seal surface doesn’t welcome me either.

No other cyclists were crazy enough to be riding in the heat, at least along my route.

The Luce Bayou extension project work on FM 2100 north of Huffman that had a short detour without a shoulder is gone with a shoulder back in place making for safer riding.

Saturday I will start even earlier to catch other cyclists and avoid the heat.

SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

8-9-2019 SportTracks Bike Ride Summary

Strava Year Progressions YTD Bike Ride Miles

Strava Year Progressions YTD Bike Ride Miles